Here’s an interesting story, well told, about an industrial process that takes refinery waste from the United States (derived from high-sulfur Mexican crude oil), cycles it through Europe, then dumps the result in West Africa. The company running this racket (or “innovative commodity exchange”, as they call it) is Trafigura. Learn more here: Coker gasoline A small pawn in the game Vast Tank sweetens gasoline BBC Newsnight on Trafigura’s dumping Here’s a quick summary: ...

The Lancet has published an academic paper analyzing the deployment of funds at the Gates Foundation against a backdrop of the actual burden of disease. The bottom line is the Gates Foundation does not come out looking too good, seemingly interested in whizbang gadgets and not in focusing on the job at hand. Another really interesting and sad note was the extent to which being nearby the Gates Foundation, geographically or culturally gets you in the money. PATH and the University of Washington raked in the cash. African researchers? Not so much. ...

There’s a guy in Philly who realized he’s rich, because me makes $30,000 as a community organizer, and many people in the world live on far less. He decided to go on a diet, for his own helath, but also to understand what it means to live on a simple diet. That’s already an interesting story, but what’s really interesting is this video he posted, where he talks about what held him back from starting the project (fear) and what the reality has been (support). This is exactly the same thing I found when I made the big change to leave IT and be a log for MSF. ...

I love Alex Chadwick. He’s proven he’s a real artist for finding stories on 50 cent interviews. He’s Studs Terkel for another generation.

Vasco Pyjama talks about community finance. The ROSCA is known as a “sou-sou” in west Africa, or at least in Nimba county, Liberia. Sousous run for a fixed term, based on the number of members. If there are 10 members and the contribution is $10, each month one of the members will get $90 (9 other members * $10 each). At the end of ten months, the sousou can either be restarted, or the membership can be renegotiated (for example, to drop people who failed to pay on time during the past sousou period). If the sousou is reconstituted with more or fewer people, it doesn’t really change anything, it just runs shorter or longer until the next restart. Sousous run best when they are between 6 and 12 people for social and economic reasons (a 5x - 11x payoff is manageable in a cash society). The order of the payouts is determined randomly at the startup meeting of the sousou. Sometimes people negotiate to trade their places in the payout order in order to assure that the sousou payout would arrive at a time that was convenient for them. ...

When you fall in love with someone from another country, it just happens. Then what comes after that takes more effort. You have to learn to love the other culture you’ve thrown your lot in with. That process is, and will continue to be, a joy for Marina and me. Here’s an article that describes some of what I’ve learned about how life is organized in Europe. I followed the same course, roughly, as the author. Though I have to admit, I was never as skeptical as he was. Perhaps that’s because I was given humanist values by my mother, and I always understood that something wasn’t working right in my homeland. ...

Vinay Gupta published something called the flu code. Here it is in French: La promesse grippe 0.1Beta, version français – Une service dans l’intérêt publique de L’institute pour efrondnomiques Si j’ai des signes d’une grippe éventuel, je vais rester chez moi. Je vais rester àdistance des foules quand c’est possible, et je vais toujours porter une masque dans les lieux publiques. Je vais laver les mains a la porte chaque fois je arrive a ma destination. Je vais me engager de enseigner ces règles aux autres de protéger tous.

Listen to this Planet Money episode, it’s got a really clear example of how banks are allowed to book profits based on people losing confidence in them. It’s really mind bending, and shows two things: one, how the finance industry is a hall of mirrors, and two, how talented Planet Money is at breaking down the mirrors. Keep up the good work guys, when is the Pulitzer prize coming?

We know that a pandemic is coming. We don’t know when and how. Something’s coming out of Mexico (though the index case might have been someplace else, too soon to tell). Is this the Big One, the pandemic that we are overdue for? I am gathering information here to make sure I understand it, and how to protect myself and my family. Avian influenza is influenza type A, subtype H5N1. The porcine influenza found in Mexico is type A, subtype H1N1. Influenza type B is much less dangerous, but is unfortunately not what we are dealing with here. The 1918 pandemic was type A, subtype H1N1 – the same that is circulating in Mexico today. Matching subtypes does not mean that there’s matching virulence, but it’s a clear danger sign. ...

I used this recipe to make lemon custard. But I let it get too hot, so it curdled. So Mari got to sample Lemon Curd instead of Lemon Custard as intended. We liked it anyway! Hint to the reader (i.e. me if I come back to this next time I try it)… you could reasonably start cooking the custard with direct heat, but you should finish it up over a bain marie, to prevent curdification. ...