James5

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or to email alerts. Thanks for visiting!

The Mothers of the Srebrenica are suing the United Nations for reparations for the failure of the UN to stop the genocide that killed more than 7,000 of their relatives. This will be a very interesting case to watch as it examines the limits of the responsibilities of international institutions.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The two videos below are quite excellent in their execution.

Haunting version:

More prosaic version - that was made first:

For some reason it reminds me of that excellent movie, Children of Men - something about the world falling apart. It’s also interesting how awkward it feels just watching the presenters not saying anything for 2 minutes - tells me something about my social mores.

If you’re wondering how they did it…They split the screen into two and stitched together all the instances each presenter wasn’t talking. It’s more obvious in the second clip. Very clever.

Popularity: 18% [?]

This speech by Clay Shirky is probably one of the most important things I’ve read for a while. In it he answers that question I get asked all to often - “Where do you find the time?”. He estimates that the time Americans watch TV every year is equivalent to 2,000 Wikipedias! In fact, the time watching advertisements is 1 Wikipedia every weekend. Crazy stuff.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Three must read Blattman posts and comments for anyone considering a “one month stint in Africa”. First, so you want to go to a post war zone, then development tourism, and finally development tourism, revisited.

Popularity: 10% [?]

I’m loving this website that documents election results in sub-saharan Africa. It’s a dream for anyone who loves data or just wants to bone up on some recent political history. Hat-tip to Blattman for pointing it out (I think?).

Popularity: 5% [?]