Mon, 12 Nov 2007

MDG Monitor

This looks interesting - a website which tracks the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the 8 big goals which the 192 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. Where does China stand? Here's a factsheet.

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 18:09 in /china. -- Permalink

Yet another wayside blog

Chris Blattman, an assistant professor at Yale, is blogging about local-level solutions to poverty, political development, and conflict in the developing world, with a focus on Africa. Good reading, but I would of course need more China-related stuff in order to read this on a regular basis.

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 17:56 in /economics. -- Permalink

Hausmann on biofuels and poor countries

Ricardo Hausmann, writing on Dani Rodrik's blog, has published an interesting take on the discussion about biofuels, rising food prices, human rights etc. He's shattering some myths - especially the theory that making fuel from crops will cause higher prices so the poor can't feed themselves anymore. Hausmann, in contrast, argues that biofuels production may well be a "stepping stone" in the development of poor countries, especially in Africa. Highly recommended reading!

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 17:36 in /economics. -- Permalink

A book about the Camorra

Interesting reading, apparently - though not all that well written and translated, according to a Christian Science Monitor review.

Gomorrah: A Personal Journey Into the Violent International Empire of Naples' Organized Crime System. By Robert Saviano. US$25.

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 17:11 in /life. -- Permalink

Schizophrenic programmers

All of us are schizophrenic, as Binny V.A. points out. He should know! Yet I find myself in his post, too.

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 13:20 in /technology/internet. -- Permalink

Almost completely cleaning out my newsreader

I've now reached an all-time low - only 7 unread stories!

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 13:17 in /life. -- Permalink

FTP client: sftp

I find I like the text-based sftp even better than the graphical gFTP. Austere? Perfect for me!

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 12:11 in /technology/internet. -- Permalink

Tor upgrade

I upgraded to Tor 0.1.2.18. Had to install libevent-devel and openssl-devel before the configure script ran all the way. Apart from that, a breeze.

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 12:05 in /technology/internet. -- Permalink

Today's Watchword

Ihr sollt in Freuden ausziehen und im Frieden geleitet werden. Jesaja 55,12
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12

This reading we used for the church service at Neuendettelsau in 2004, just before all of us left for their "mission fields" in Africa and Asia. Also, we sang it during an Amity conference a few years ago. Greg leading our motley crew in song and playing the guitar ...

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 11:00 in /life. -- Permalink

A remarkable website

That's the website of a UK-based family business specialising in old music, above all recorders. The website is unusually well made, almost nerdy, and has a lot of links to interesting resources, e.g. a music dictionary or a collection of composers' biographies, but also unrelated stuff such as free software, online radio and a link to the UK national rail enquiries website. The world news section has links to news sites - and sudokus.

Weird. A webmaster's hobby-horse? Have a look yourself: www.dolmetsch.com.

Posted on 12 Nov 2007 at 10:29 in /technology/internet. -- Permalink