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Showing posts from January, 2011

Collected links

1. The United States of Shame . 2. Football and concussions . 3. Watch TNC eviscerate Rick Santorum and Joe Klein . 4. Information feudalism?   I like it.  5. Speaking of copyright idiocy, there's never a bad time to recommend Free Culture .

Some quality metal: Underoath and The Dillinger Escape Plan

Two solid metal albums have recently captured my ear better than any for a long time.  (They're both pretty heavy, so now's your chance to tune out if you don't like angry vocals.)  The first, by Underoath, is called Disambiguation .  They're allegedly a Christian band, but not obnoxiously so (as opposed to POD, for example).  The lyrics are mostly pretty standard angsty metal fare, and easy to tune out in any case.  Here's "Catch Myself Catching Myself:" The second (and better one) is Option Paralysis , by Dillinger Escape Plan.  A bit more melodic than their previous efforts, and a lot better lyrics than Disambiguation .  Here's "Gold Teeth on a Bum:" Good stuff. Perfect for when you get sick of acoustic indie rock. (You know I love you, The National , I just need to rock out sometimes.)

He joined Peace Corps because of Angelina Jolie?

Kristin pointed me to this article by one Sean Smith, apparently a guy who used to be the Los Angeles bureau chief of Entertainment Weekly : Angelina Jolie is to blame, really. Because of something she said to me in India four years ago, I have quit my 13-year career as an entertainment journalist, have given away almost everything I own, and at 43, have joined the Peace Corps... So I was seeking something authentic when I arrived in India, and I got more than I bargained for. A reported 43 percent of Mumbai’s 18 million people live in slums, and the depth of poverty is soul-sickening. By the time I met with Jolie, I felt raw and rattled, and I was eager to learn how she coped with this kind of suffering in her role as a U.N. ambassador. She said it was painful, yes, but it wasn’t debilitating because she was active. Her work was bringing attention to crises in the world. “If I couldn’t do that, I don’t know how I’d be around it, because I’d feel helpless,” she told me as we drove

The Moshaweng lives, ctd

So this is at least the third continuous day of water, making it the longest flow since I got here (as far as I know). Apparently a small child drowned two days ago in the next village upstream. It's sad, but folks here have little opportunity to learn how to swim. Earlier today when I waded across, a couple kids were crowing about how I had braved near-certain death (or words to that effect), and a group of adults chastised me about how I was going to catch flu. For my part, I enjoyed the simple pleasure of wet sand in between my toes and cool murky water--the blood of the earth--over my knees. Heavenly.

The Moshaweng lives!

With all the recent rains we finally got a decent level going in the river. I waded across a ways upstream from this point and it came up to mid-thigh at the deepest point. I'd say about 100 cfs.

Rainbow

Here's another storm picture to tide you over until I get back in business. Thank god for Isaac Newton, the inventor of these fine items.

Rainstorm!

I'm visiting my neighbor to do some IT stuff, and we got hit by some serious precipitation. It's been unusually wet for the last couple weeks.

Motlakase

It's that time of year again where the power goes out on a regular basis. Yesterday I managed to tempt the gods into both cutting the power and making it rain all day yesterday and today by washing nearly all my clothes and sheets. So I've hung up wet stuff all over my room and am surviving on batteries for the time being. Posting might be a little light until the power comes back.

Book review: The Baroque Cycle

Summary: this trilogy, consisting of Quicksilver , The Confusion , and The System of the World , clocking in at nearly 3000 pages, is a great and entertaining look at the the birth of science and capitalism.  Highly recommended. Stephenson combines what must have been enough meticulous research for several history PhD theses with a mischievous disregard for perfect accuracy.  Stephenson has an eye for interesting historical anecdotes (like the origin of the word "realize"), and though that can be a bit distracting at times, it's never boring.  Real historical figures are press-ganged (to use a favorite phrase in the series) into service as characters of all sorts.  Leibniz, Newton, Peter the Great, Louis XIV, William of Orange, Hooke, Huygens, John Wilkins, Ben Franklin, and John Locke are just a sample.  Leibniz and Newton in particular play major roles and have close relationships with the fictional characters (which are ancestors of characters in Cryptonomicon , a b

I thought my face didn't have enough holes...

...so I added a couple fresh ones. I'm pretty pleased. What do you think? Please constrain your reviews to the ears.  (Meaning, about the hair, I know .)

The "complete protein" myth

I'd like to zero in briefly on this misconception I mentioned yesterday .  I hadn't really heard what it was all about, probably because before I came to South Africa I was pretty carnivorous.  Here, though, I'm about 90% vegetarian, particularly in the village (mainly out of laziness and the quick spoiling time of meat).  Seems like the idea was the meat contains "complete" protein with all the amino acids, while vegetarians should combine foods like beans and rice to get that same completeness.  Sounds plausible, right?  Humans did evolve as omnivores. Apparently not : Here’s where it gets interesting. The idea that plant based foods were deficient in certain amino acids was based on studies of the growth of young rats done in the early 1900′s. A subsequent study done in 1952, looked at human requirements for essential amino acids and found them to be very different from rats. Additionally it showed that the requirements for all the essential amino acids in hu

Collected links

1. The haunting suicide note of Bill Zeller (the creator of MyTunes, if you've heard of that).  It's wrenching, be warned. 2. This dude published his entire genome online. 3. The myth of charter schools.   Apparently it's not quite how Waiting for "Superman" makes it sound. 4. A profile of Colorado governor John Hickenlooper.   I love a goofball in power. 5. Darrell Issa, the new chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is... well, he's either staggeringly unlucky or a straight-up crook . 6. What's wrong with the scientific method?   More than you might suppose.  Quite the unsettling article. 7. How Obama has vindicated Dick Cheney .  Sad but absolutely true.

RIP Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps founder

The great man , one of the last of the old generation of public servants, died yesterday.  His biographer has an excellent obituary : For me, exposure to Shriver was a revelation. I grew up in the shadow of Vietnam, Watergate, the hostage crisis, stagflation, oil crises, impeachment, and later 9/11 and the War on Terror. Public service, for my generation, often seems to be a hollow or futile thing. It can be hard even to say the words "make the world a better place" without having them stick in your throat, so hopelessly naïve and lacking in irony do they sound. For Shriver's generation, their experience of government and of public service was much different. They saw the New Deal help lift millions from Depression; they saw the Allies defeat Totalitarianism; they saw the post-War boom, the Civil Rights movement, and America put a man on the moon, just like JFK said we would. So much that he'd seen and done had instilled in him the faith that public servi

Common misconceptions

XKCD pointed me to this gem of a Wikipedia article the other day. Here are some of my pet peeves: 1) Christopher Columbus's efforts to obtain support for his voyages were not hampered by a European belief in a flat Earth. 2) Napoleon Bonaparte was not especially short, and did not have a Napoleon complex. 3) It is commonly claimed that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from the Moon. This is false. 4) Evolution is not a progression from inferior to superior organisms, and it also does not necessarily result in an increase in complexity. 5) Vaccines do not cause autism. 6) It is not true that air takes the same time to travel above and below an aircraft's wing. 7) Glass is not a high-viscosity liquid at room temperature: it is an amorphous solid, although it does have some chemical properties normally associated with liquids. 8) Eight glasses of water a day is not necessary to maintain health, nor is it specifically recommended. 9)

Peace Corps pulls out of Niger

No word on whether this had anything to do with Stephanie Chance's tragic death last October.  Here's what the Country Director passed along: WASHINGTON, D.C., January 17, 2011 Peace Corps has suspended its program in Niger due to ongoing concerns about volunteer security. All 98 volunteers are safe and accounted for and have been safely evacuated to another country. Volunteers will take part in a transition conference and if possible will be offered the option to complete their service in another Peace Corps country. Peace Corps will continue to assess the safety and security climate in Niger. The safety and security of volunteers is the Peace Corps' highest priority. "The Peace Corps has been committed to development in Niger for nearly five decades," said Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams. "We have excellent relationships with Nigerien people and communities and we are grateful for the strong partnership we have had with counterpart organizations

Our coming Chinese overlords

A lot of what makes China such a player on the world scene is simply the staggering number of people that live there.  China is a really big country .  Well, you might say, duh .  But I think people don't really consider what this means sometimes.  James Fallows had an interesting thought experiment on this topic recently: All of the Americas within US borders . I mentioned yesterday that Thomas Barnett had given a realistic brief appraisal of China's strengths and weaknesses in an NPR interview. A point I particularly liked was this tip for comparing American and Chinese scale: If Americans wanted to imagine what it would take to be "strong" in the way China currently is, he said, all we'd have to do is think of moving the entire population of the Western Hemisphere into our existing borders. Every single Mexican. (Rather than enforcing the southern border, we'd require everyone to cross it, headed north.) Every Haitian, Cuban, and Jamaican. Everyone fro

Flooding in South Africa

The rains have been pretty intense around here recently, though not nearly so much as elsewhere in South Africa : According to South Africa's government, at least 40 people have been killed across the country and more than 6,000 displaced by flooding that has submerged houses, roads and crops since December. Officials estimate the damage to infrastructure and agricultural produce will cost the country millions of dollars, and forecasters predict more rain is on the way. The South African Weather Service said most of the country's rivers, dams and reservoirs have reached their capacity, and any additional rainfall is expected to cause further flooding. Meteorologists blame the downpours on La Nina, a weather pattern associated with recent wet conditions around the world. I'm in little danger here, as the Moshaweng Valley (which is usually dry) would have to flood to something like 100,000 cfs before it reached my house. (I am somewhat-selfishly hoping for at least a

Another new principal!

Today I finally met the permanent principal for my school's foreseeable future.  In case you forgot, my first principal retired three months after I arrived at site (heaven knows why he applied for a volunteer, but as he was a miserably bad supervisor I can't complain), and this last year I had an acting principal while the department was interviewing the prospective candidates.  Today we got to finally meet the selected man and take his measure. I made it clear that I won't be taking formal responsibility for any classes, as I will be leaving before the end of the year and gone for weeks on end helping with SA23's training.  That went over fine.  He'll be one of two teachers in the Senior Phase now (Grades 7-9), and it remains to be seen how he'll perform in the classroom or deal with recalcitrant teachers.  Still, judging from my first impression, I'm cautiously optimistic.  Keep your fingers crossed. I am at the very least relieved to not have to form

Collected links

1. TNC on the 'land-bound Titanic' that was the Confederacy. 2. Paul Krugman on the Euromess. 3. 2010 was the hottest year ever recorded. 4. Neil Gaiman gives writers some good advice. 5. Speaking of drugs, Erowid's always worth a link. 6. List of countries by PPP-adjusted per capita GDP. This is interesting mainly for the occasional massive disparities between different measurements.  For example, the IMF gives Qatar $88,232, while the CIA Factbook gives it $121,700.  Probably safe to say it's a rich place in either case.

Andrew Sullivan's drug-addled readers

Pardon the lack of pictures recently.  My recent travels have left me utterly broke, and I had to borrow money to get enough internet to tide me over until we get paid again and I can buy my customary ridiculously-large data bundle.  Until then (next week sometime) you'll have to be satisfied with text.  For now, here a series Sullivan has been doing on psychedelic experiences (solely for your reading pleasure—of course any and all drug use is utterly wrong and will infect your soul, curve your spine, and keep the country from winning the war). 1. Several encounters with mushrooms (psilocybin) . 2. Finding Jesus with LSD . 3. Enduring Ayahuasca .  This is an Amazonian herbal brew containing DMT (dimethoxytryptamine) and an MAOI (monoamine oxidase inhibitor).  The MAOI is necessary to make the DMT orally active—otherwise it would just be digested in the stomach.  Probably the most famous part of this experience is the mammoth puking session it involves. 4. Ibogaine .  This c

Why I don't invest in the stock market

Felix Salmon has a really good article on the increasing mechanization of Wall Street.  Over the past decade, algorithmic trading has overtaken the industry. From the single desk of a startup hedge fund to the gilded halls of Goldman Sachs , computer code is now responsible for most of the activity on Wall Street. (By some estimates, computer-aided high-frequency trading now accounts for about 70 percent of total trade volume.) Increasingly, the market’s ups and downs are determined not by traders competing to see who has the best information or sharpest business mind but by algorithms feverishly scanning for faint signals of potential profit. Algorithms have become so ingrained in our financial system that the markets could not operate without them. At the most basic level, computers help prospective buyers and sellers of stocks find one another—without the bother of screaming middlemen or their commissions. High-frequency traders, sometimes called flash traders , buy and sell tho

Rape in Peace Corps

The big news rocketing around Peace Corps is ABC's story on rape : More than 1,000 young American women have been raped or sexually assaulted in the last decade while serving as Peace Corps volunteers in foreign countries, an ABC News 20/20 investigation has found. In some cases, victims say, the Peace Corps has ignored safety concerns and later tried to blame the women who were raped for bringing on the attacks... "I have two daughters now and I would never ever let them join the Peace Corps," said Adrianna Ault Nolan of New York, who was raped while serving in Haiti. In the most brutal attack, Jess Smochek, 29, of Pennsylvania was gang raped in Bangladesh in 2004 by a group of young men after she says Peace Corps officials in the country ignored her pleas to re-locate her. She says the Peace Corps immediately began to cover up what happened to her, fearful, she says, of offending officials in Bangladesh.  "When the decision was made that I was to go to

"Ba tshwana batho"

Here's a heartwarming little anecdote.  The other day on the taxi I was sitting next to a father who had his son on his lap.  That in itself is quite remarkable—fathers are scarcer than hen's teeth most of the time.  I was playing with the kid a little, showing him how the drink holders on the back of the seats worked.  Then the kid asked his dad a question in Setswana: "Is this lekgowa [pointing to me] a person like me?" The dad said, in a completely nonchalant tone, "Ba tshwana batho," meaning "They are the same, people." I was gobsmacked.  Here's to non-deadbeat dads and racial tolerance, one tiny step at a time!

Botswana

So I'm officially done with vacation, but I'm still processing the trip, which was truly epic.  I've had game drives, booze cruises, elephants out the wazoo, Victoria Falls, bunji jumping, sweet whitewater rafting on the Zambezi, dancing all night, dolphins, and much more.  Rest assured that there are some incredible pictures and maybe even movies coming up in the future, viz. when I get everything sorted out and organized. Right now though, I'd just like to share a quick thought on Botswana, where I spent much of my trip.  I think I now begin to understand what people mean when they say they've fallen in love with Africa.  Bots is very similar to my corner of South Africa—same people, same language, same type of terrain—yet it is altogether a more wholesome and reasonable place.  As far as I can tell, though the country faces some steep problems (mostly an atrocious HIV epidemic), the people are friendlier and happier, the institutions more sound and effective, a

Pension day

My family's house is where the pension is distributed, which means once per month there is a truck full of money, dozens of grandmas, and several men packing submachine guns hanging around for a few hours.

A guest editorial from Pops

The Voters Speak The voice of the American electorate was heard loud and clear in the most recent election when seven percent of voters changed their minds about who should lead the country during its seemingly inevitable decline. The sharp rightward jog the newly elected members of the legislative branch will bring to lawmaking is widely viewed as a blanket condemnation of anything done in the way of government in the last two years. The broad mandate the voters gave the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives includes bone deep aversion to taxes of any kind and an expectation that a responsible government will find them a job that pays twelve times what a better-educated resident of Mumbai would make. Conservatives hope to even roll back the signature achievement of the Obama administration, health care reform, and return to the solely profit-driven system that has never slowed its progress in bankrupting the nation. They also hope to unleash the banks from new reg

Nonfiction: The Key to New York, part III

[ Continued from part II .] Working with James had its advantages. He had been there for years and knew the history of the store, which was far more interesting than I would have suspected. In the stockroom there was a massive metal grate leaning against the wall. I had never seen it used for anything, and asked him one day what it was for. “This place used to be owned by a guy who was in with the mob over in Jersey. He didn’t pay them some money he owed and just disappeared one day. The store landed in his wife’s hands, and she didn’t know how to run the business. She ended up owing the city a lot in back taxes, and one day the city marshal just came by, forced everyone out, chained the doors shut, and cut the electricity. Well, this was the middle of summer and no one could get inside for about two weeks. Inside was about $200,000 in inventory. When the city finally finished with the store and we got back inside the smell was so bad the first guys had to wear gas masks.

Nonfiction: The Key to New York, part II

[ Continued from part I. ] After a couple days I mastered the cashier business. I felt anxious to prove myself—as a white college graduate, I feared confirming the stereotype of the pointy-headed, useless intellectual. I got very good with the register and the produce codes—though not as good as Sam, one of the sub-managers, who was blindingly fast when he had to take over a till. Virtuosity wasn’t my goal in any case; rather I went for a low error rate, as any cashier more than $20 under for the day’s count was automatically fired. I was never under by more than $5—and that only once—but I was over by more than $20 on several occasions. I never figured out why. I was, however, the most popular cashier. Practically every minor transaction like groceries is carried out with no more than a grunt in New York. I was obstinately polite and cheerful. (Well, most of the time. Some people were just out to ruin my day, because I was a helpless cashier. I bitched them out in the

Nonfiction: The Key to New York, part I

[ Happy New Year!  To celebrate, here's a story I wrote about my time in New York City.  Since I'm on vacation, I'll be posting it in installments Dickens-style .] On 29 September 2008, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 778 points, then a one-day record point drop (though not in terms of percentage). This marked the beginning of what economists call the “Great Recession,” the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. On 8 November, I boarded a plane to New York City, no job prospects or plans in mind. I wasn’t totally helpless. My friend J. was teaching first grade in the Bronx with Teach For America and she was a bit lonely and hating the New York social scene. She said I could come and stay with her and her roommate. I was killing time, waiting for the departure of my South Africa Peace Corps group in July. “I don’t have a job over there,” I said. “It sounds like no one has a job over there.” I had recently graduated with a degree in chemis