You know, if nothing else, a really good reason for giving the opposition party the government is how many open secrets are revealedThe AfriCom panic wasn't expressed by so many from a bubble of nothing ( Read more... )

The BBC gave a signature piece to the internal refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo streaming close to desolate volcanic areas near the Rwandan border. What always strikes me by these pictures is the relative absence of girls. The lack of talk by these desperate people is shocking enough, but the cynical person could write that off as BBC ( Read more... )

A .pdf map of road blocks, costs, delays, etc. in West Africa.

I've now managed to crawl through half of Lunatic Express*, and switching the radio on, I listen to an interview with Wangari Maathai, highlighting her new book, Unbowed (which I have a copy of, gathering dust awaiting my reading).

*I'm now at the stage of all the mad Ugandan intriguing, with the colonial efforts of Lugard.

1. Lufthansa’s A380s are due to arrive in New York and Los Angeles today.

2. Analysis continues on the violent mess in Zimbabwe. What has always puzzled me about regime loyalists like this is - surely they must know that Mugabe’s rule is on the wane, and they cannot realistically expect to perpetuate this regime past his era … so why the violence ( Read more... )

1. The Iraq War estimated to cost $1.2 trillion these past 4 years. Some suggest what we could have bought for that. This is depressing.

2. The Pro-Life aspects of this story aside ... it nevertheless has a science-fictional feeling to it.

3. More on mobile banking - especially for Africa.

4. A perspective on just how much US surveillance ( Read more... )

1. The price of cold weather...the North East of the country is resembling the mid-90s Montreal ice storm - with power outages and cold-related deaths. Hereabouts, the central valley is declaring a 75% loss on this year's citrus harvest (prices on oranges are expected to rise $0.50 a pound), and a total loss on this month's artichoke harvest...and ( Read more... )

The Beebs wrote about it, and Northwestern University did it.

1. Holy Atomic Tourism, Batman! ... actually, I'd quite like to check that out, when I return to one of my fav spots in the entire US of A.

2. Photovoltaics market in California

3. Ethanol's rise: feeding bellies or feeding engines? Personally, I think so long as trade barriers are keeping Brazilian sugar out, and dentists are busy with corn- ( Read more... )

Some of my happy finds (at bargain prices, to boot) are some excellent CDs of African musicians.

( Read more... )