Learning by failing; integrity v humour; China in Africa; South-south solar; behind India's corruption protests; Rick Perry on climate change: links I liked

admit publicly to a 40-70% failure rate on ICT projects? [h/t Chris Blattman]. It’s probably too optimistic to expect some belly laughs from something called the ‘The Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest’ (run by the Union of Concerned Scientists). Hold on…. yep, it was too optimistic. Least worst shown here, and see the others for yourself if you want to cast your vote [h/t John ‘knock em dead’ Magrath] China in Africa guru Deborah Brautigam critiques the Economist scoop on the shadowy (and very rich) China International Fund ‘An Indian college has trained 12 Sierra Leonean women to become solar engineers as part of a drive to bring electricity to rural communities’. Development in a fast-changing world – South-south cooperation, low carbon development etc  . ‘Though bribery, or “graft”, is a fact of life for more or less everybody in India, the demonstrators are largely urban, educated and relatively well-off. “What you are seeing on the street is a middle-class rebellion,” said Mohan Guruswamy, a former senior official in the ministry of finance’. Interesting backgrounder on the Indian corruption battle. It’s not only the middle class though, Mumbai’s famous tiffin wallahs have gone on their first strike in 120 years in solidarity with protest leader Anna Hazare. A brilliant question on climate change to Republican front runner Rick Perry, and a truly lamentable answer (listen carefully to both). My post-holiday euphoria didn’t last long – shades of Mike Hulme’s ‘Why we disagree about climate change‘. [h/t Alex Evans] ]]>