Temple Grandin, PhD

Remarkable individual hits the Primetime.

If the shoe fits...

...it won't slip off. (Something I heard from my five-year-old son the other day.)

Not Forgotten

Seen recently:

An episode of Ian Hislop's documentary Not Forgotten. Among other things, it told the fascinating story of Walter Tull, the first person of African descent to become a commissioned officer in the British Army (it was in World War I, by the way).

Dowden on Africa

Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society, is one of the most readable and knowledgeable commentators on contemporary African affairs. He writes an interesting blog that's supposed to updated weekly (alas, it isn't).

The role of the state

Martin Wolf: interesting as always.

Much ado about coding

Bruce Schneier on the impending encryption-related ban on BlackBerry in the UAE and other countries in the Persian Gulf.

Law and Life of Rome

Currently reading:

Law and Life of Rome: 90 B.C. to A.D. 212 by J. A. Crook.

Fascinating.

Misused words and terms

My fellow netizens, we stand today on the edge of a New Frontier -- the frontier of misused words and terms...

The language is highfalutin but the concern, or more accurately the peeve, is plain enough: the continual (not continous, mind) misuse of simple words and terms in the English language.

And so we launch a new series on this blog: the inauspiciously titled Misused words and terms.

Take the word "obviously" which is derived from the adjective "obvious". "Obvious" means "easily discovered, seen or understood" or "plainly evident". Notice the qualifiers: "easily" and "evidently". Possible synonyms for the adverb "obviously" are "clearly" and "evidently". Now, think: When was the last time you heard someone using the word "obviously" correctly? I'm willing to bet that you can't remember (and I'm not a betting man except when the odds are one to nothing). The word "obviously" is almost always used to mean the exact opposite, i.e., to refer to something that is: (a) not easily discovered (if it can be discovered at all, that is) (b) not easily seen (if it's at all visible in the first place) (c) not easily understood (if at all, even by the speaker or the writer, never mind the hearer or the reader) (d) plainly non-evident.

Or take the term "taxpayers money" which is frequently used in public debate to vilify other, equally legitimate, or perhaps even more legitimate, taxpayers. Consider the attacks on private corporations that are so fashionable these days. These corporations are often accussed of, in one way or another, stealing or squandering "taxpayers money". The fact that private corporations are among the highest taxpayers, both directly and indirectly (through their employees), somehow gets lost in the wash.

Grrrrrrrr.

Warning: Genius at work

Mr. Vusi Mahlasela

Smear campaign

HIV prevention breakthrough reported online in Science.

Vuvuzela on Newsnight

What do you get when you cross a Paxman, a Wallen and a vuvuzela?

This.

Economic Survey of South Africa 2010

A new OECD report.

Kaunda's alternative

Kenneth Kaunda argues that he and his colleagues in the first independent Zambian government had little choice in the policies they adopted. But the policy choices made by Singapore, another small, poor, newly independent Commonwealth state at that time, contradict this view. (Zambia and Singapore became independent in 1964 and 1965, respectively.) Interestingly, Lee Kuan Yew mentions Kaunda and Zambia several times in his book to make precisely this point: policies have consequences. That was true in the 1960s and it is no less true today.

Kaunda reflects

In the latest edition of CNN's African Voices series, Kenneth Kaunda, who looks remarkably youthful for a man in his 87th year, reflects on a long political career. It was interesting to hear him defend some of the more disastrous policies he adopted whilst he was in power: nationalisation (any other approach would have taken too long to benefit the indigenous population); one-party rule (any other approach would have been exploited by racist regimes in the region); and so forth. You see, it seemed like a good idea at the time--and still does apparently. Kaunda's supporters would doubtless point at achievements in health care, education, infrastructure development and regional liberation. However, Kaunda's most notable and indisputable achievement came at the end of his rule when he agreed to re-institute multi-party politics, lost the ensuing election and quietly relinquished power to his political opponents.

Who worked with whom?

Stanislaw Ulam was once asked whether he worked with Edward Teller on the development of the hydrogen bomb. He replied: "Dr Teller worked with me."

Kites over Kabul

Reading: The Kite Runner.

Great first line:

I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.

The Entrepreneur's Studio

Entrepreneurs trading war stories.

Old wine in old wineskins

In the IEA 19th Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture, Prof. Gary Becker proposes a radical solution to the problem of immigration: sell visas to the highest bidders.

However, this "solution" is not really as radical as it sounds: it already exists in a variety of forms, legal and otherwise. For example, many countries have special fast-track visas for investors or high-net-worth individuals--a legal option. On the illegal side, many trafficking syndicates charge huge fees to move their clients across borders, fees that can be collected in a variety of permutations: cash, kind, in advance, in arrears, and so forth.

For Prof. Becker's idea to really work, nation states must completely secure their borders, something even the mightiest nations on earth seem incapable of doing.

Video Technology in Football

A number of crucial refereeing blunders in the ongoing World Cup have re-opened the debate on the use of video technology in football. As recently as March 2010, FIFA President Sepp Blatter was dead-set against it. Consummate politician that he is, though, Blatter will almost certainly respond to "events, dear boy, events". Hawk-Eye might be an interesting option.

Football (Not soccer)

In Vanity Fair, a delightful, little essay on the beautiful game by A. A. Gill:

Look, can we get this straight, right from the get-go, from the first whistle: It’s football, O.K.? Football. Not soccer. It’s never been soccer. Nobody but midwestern cougars calls it soccer...