The world is (not) growing safer
You’d think a bunch of biblical literalists, or whatever the hell they are, would have at least read the book they’re always swearing by. Haven’t they heard about “sowing the wind, and reaping the...
View ArticleHero Rats
I came across this great story on Ars Technica. Trained rats sniff out unexploded mines. They’re smart, calm, and light enough not to set the horrible things off. And cheap, compared to the $25,000...
View ArticleReporting on Kenya is incomprehensible
I don’t get it. This is from the NYTimes: Michael E. Ranneberger, the [US] ambassador … said that his chief concern was whether Mwai Kibaki, the president, and Raila Odinga, the top opposition leader,...
View ArticleCould we have more like Mukwege, please?
An AP story, via the BBC and congogirl A doctor from the Democratic Republic of Congo who treats women raped by combatants in the war-torn country has been named “African of the Year”. . . . “I am...
View ArticleOut of Africa: Financial Innovation
We’ve made the world a depressing place. Everywhere you look, all the good stuff is buried under a thick and powerful layer of crud. Sort of like an endless mall parking lot. Seedlings push through it...
View ArticleCongratulations to Egypt! … But …
Now comes the hard part. Mohammed El-Baradei talked about the “joy and happiness of every Egyptian at the restoration of our humanity and our freedom.” Unfortunately, no. The regime is out. The...
View ArticleWomen Don’t Need Their Own Revolution
Mary Rogers has made one of the saddest statements I’ve read on the horrible treatment of CNN’s Lara Logan. The gut-wrenching sexism of some of the commentary is sad. One more reminder that we’ve...
View ArticleAn Open Letter to the Left on Libya, Seconded
I’ve been trying to articulate why the intervention in Libya against Qaddafi is a good thing. And why the reflexive rejection of it as an imperialist oil grab is just that: some kind of reflex, not...
View ArticleThe Unseen
This picture hit me. Like a wet fish slapped in my face. It’s part of a BBC photoessay about the poorest of boys in Nigeria finding something to love in their lives in the game of football (what the US...
View ArticleWhat I don’t understand about the Mali fight
From a purely tactical perspective, that is. I keep seeing reports mentioning how the fanatics will melt into the desert and be difficult to root out. Assuming resources — and I do understand that...
View ArticleToday in Racist News
Russian fans shouting garbage. People assuming the worst about gypsies because they have a blonde girl. And in the US, more arguments with neanderthals. Progress? What progress?
View ArticleNelson Mandela
Usually, when some world leader dies, I don't care. More often than not I even think, "Well, that's one less lying mug I'm tired of seeing." But with Nelson Mandela I felt a stab of sadness, as if he...
View ArticleEbola is not Over There
Using the atrocious lack of money for one set of diseases as an excuse to ignore another disease is called compounding the error, not solving it.
View ArticleEbola First World Problems
Now that there have been about seven cases of Ebola in the US, the country is hysterical. Useful actions would be to aid West Africa so the disease is stopped and to have a real health care system...
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