…from America, reaching out to every corner of the globe, into the hearts of those who have watched us struggle and fail to meet our potential over the last 8 years: Yes We Can! Like a drug-addled celebrity, we’ve hit rock bottom, and now we’re ready to turn our lives around and meet our potential. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to go celebrate the near destruction of the English parliament. (Guy Falkes was clearly a democrat.) Another example of why England is backwards: normal people rejoice at the idea of blowing up their corrupt and greedy legislatures. Bonfire night is unfortunately apparently about celebrating that the plot was foiled! ...

Marina is doing a project right now in her Public Health class where she has to make a project proposal (the whole thing, with the Gant charts, the budget, etc) for a Maternal Health project in a fictional health district in a fictional country in Africa. As we were discussing it, I came up with a question… what is the variation in pregnancy over the course of a year? Is it seasonal? If so, in which cultures yes and which cultures no? Why? ...

Hopping on the meme-wagon for a second here… if you care enough, read these three posts about paper pushing in the NGO world: This Job Is Not Always Fun De-escalating the paperwork in development Kill Your Reports In the last one, Paul considers what happens after the reports make it to HQ, from the point of view of field people: …it seems there is no such impact. Country offices receive little or no feedback on their reports, and individual staff receive none. It’s also hard to identify any link between the reports that are generated in-country and any strategic decision-making, although it’s clear that there is some benefit there. ...

Read this thread on a local geek social group in Leeds. That’s the voice of one scared girl, and perhaps the reality is not so bad. But just the fact that there is one Icelander who’s feeling that freaked out makes my heart go out to her. I’ve suggested to her that one problem is translations, and that she could earn some hard currency by starting a blog with translations of the articles describing the meltdown and then putting a TipJoy widget on it. I’d pay to hear the voice of Iceland from inside, instead of mediated by the Mainstream Media. ...

Another reference I don’t want to lose: Innovation in Africa Tips. Also, why is it “in Africa”? What happened that Africa got so far behind, or is getting so much of the attention? Why don’t we advise people how to make a new clean water technology stick in SE Asia, or in South America anymore? Even a few years ago when I came to this world, there was much more discussion of all the poor places, and not just Africa. ...

Positive Deviance is a somewhat unnecessarily complicated name for something deeply humane and useful: In every village, there is at least one woman (usually a few) whose children are healthier than the rest. For whatever reason, that woman is better at navigating the complexities of village life and child nutrition. That woman has knowledge and skills which can be taught. You find her, you learn from her, you support her to teach her peers. That is positive deviance. ...

Yesterday, I was walking in town and there was a nice guy playing a clarinet in front of North Face. I intentionally fumbled with my coins for a while so as to enjoy his music a bit. Then I paid him a tip and walked along, enjoying the clarinet as it faded behind me. Why can’t I do that for the gigabytes of copyright violations I illegally download? (Note to RIAA lawyers: this is a hypothetical situation. No need to sue me. Thanks.) ...

You can kiss my ass. Talking about the risks faced by humanitarian workers, you said: People in this business have always accepted the risks, there have always been losses, there have always been horrific incidents There is NO SUCH THING as acceptable losses for humanitarian aid. Period. PS: I noticed that, according to your bio, you’ve never even worked in the field. So please do not count my life and the lives of my colleages as “acceptable losses”. Thanks. ...

MoveOn suggests that the best way to further your liberal agenda of reduced carbon emissions is to… (wait for it, wait for it…) Driving Change: Carpool to a swing state If you don’t live in a swing state, how can you volunteer in one? Drive! You can’t make this stuff up… This is like Daily Show funny. This is like irony at 11 on the irony scale. This is like the look on Tina Fey’s face when Palin kicks her off the stage. ...

There’s an interesting little nugget of reality near the end of the first page of Ask the Pilot this week: If I have grown more cynical in recent years, it is travel, I think, that has pushed me in this direction. Exploring other parts of the world is beneficial in all the ways it is typically given credit for… But traveling can also burn you out, suck away your faith in humanity. You will see, right there in front of you, how the world is falling to pieces; the planet has been ravaged, life is cheap, and there is little that you, as the Western observer, with or without your good conscience, are going to do about it. ...