Few outsiders know more (or write more intelligently) on Sudan than Alex de Waal. Today he eloquently rips into the ICC: The ICC arrest warrant against President Omar al Bashir heralds a new erafor global governance and human rights. But it is not at all clear what will bethe character of this new e...

My invaluable right hand man in Liberia points me to a Facebook list of "ways you know you work in Liberia." The very best follow: all billboards are about conflict resolution, diarrhoea, malaria, violence against women and the use of condoms potato greens, not potatoes, have become a staple in your...

Anyone who has ever run a survey will know the nightmare that is data entry. How can double entry data entry still yield crap results? Oh, let me count the ways. The last nightmare (in Uganda) was one too many, and I vowed: never again. It was also time to end the medieval and excessive use of paper...

1. The danger in mixing your coms with your orgs 2. Did market reforms kill Russians? The Economist takes down a sloppy statistical study from The Lancet. (Who reviews these things?) 3. Ethnic groups closer to the slave trade have higher levels of modern mistrust 4. Coffee reduces dementia. I knew i...

If you are wondering whether to get a PhD or a Masters degree, or be an evaluator, this blog has some advice for you. When it comes to law school... not so much. I defer, therefore, to Amanda: When I ask them why they would got to law school if they certainly-or-probably do not want to practice law,...

It is one of those mornings in Beijing when you can't tell whether it's likely to pour or whether the sun is simply behind a blanket of smog. I stuff a rain jacket into the basket of my new $40 bicycle and, from my hotel, pedal west to the 10-level Wangfujing Bookstore on Wangfujing Street. Along a ...

While I know that millions of Christians predict the Rapture in our time, I was not aware that some people are actively keeping score. In forecasting the end of days, some indicators are obvious. Number 1: False Christs (there are currently 3). Number 27: instances of Global Turmoil (a conservative ...

Nigerian and Italian gangsters are battling for turf in Naples. Nigerian gangsters have made Castel Volturno a European headquarters. In the 1990s, demand boomed here for African prostitutes -- prosecutors call it "the Naomi Campbell phenomenon." Camorra clans "rented" turf to Nigerian pimps, a line...

Yes, I know we're only in week one, and yes, technically it was released in 2008, but Slumdog Millionaire will be hard to beat for fun and style in 2009. Imagine what would happen if Baz Luhrman and Steven Spielberg collaborated on a Bollywood epic based on love, human depravity, and Who Wants to be...

1. One of the best blog posts I read in 2008 2. When 15MB hard drives cost $2500 3. Build your own refugee camp in 8 easy steps 4. Penguin's favorite book designs of 2008 and Robot 6's 25 best comic book covers (via MoLT) 5. Top 500 worst passwords 6. Science fact A: you can heat water to 400 degree...