where would they all end up? Not the countries you might suspect – biggest proportional population increases would be in Singapore and New Zealand, according to a survey by Gallup. Biggest losers less surprising – Sierra Leone, Haiti and Zimbabwe would each lose half their population. The powerpoint version of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech + management-speak [h/t Bill Easterly] The most isolated man on the planet [h/t Chris Blattman] Have you checked out the new Aid Data site yet? Vast amount of stats by donor, recipient, purpose etc. They’re still developing the site, but it looks pretty impressive already. I don’t usually link to adverts, but if you’re interested in a career (for want of a better word) in development, you might want to check out Alanna Shaikh’s $2 a month newsletter. A youtube that manages somehow to link Tetris (you know, that obsessive early computer game where there never enough long ones – the last time I engaged with games of any kind) and the rise (and fall) of the Soviet state. To music. With great lyrics. Wonderful. [h/t Global Dashboard] ]]>
I kinda liked it better the way MLK put it. 😉
The ‘Complete History of the Soviet Union’strikes close to the bone but complete it is not. It rather fails to capture the extraordinary ways people built networks of friendly solidarity that enabled people to enjoy flourishing lives (within a resource constrained world)! The kind of world whose passing is both lamented (and gently mocked) in ‘Goodbye Lenin’ (on East Germany) – the terrors, snooping, greyness is not the only story!