Friends of African Village Libraries (I post regularly here)- Photos from Gowrie Kunkua community library during the night session, Ghana
- Sumbrungu Community Library nighttime reading
- Résumé du livre Une grande mère criminelle
- Organisation d’une séance de discussion autour d’un livre à la bibliothèque de Dimikuy
- Librarians of Tuy monthly meeting January 2026, Burkina Faso
- Impressions sur la production de livres CMH au Burkina Faso
- Compte rendu de la première rencontre des gérants de la zone du Tuy
- Science fiction books for libraries in Burkina Faso and Ghana
- Animation d’une séance de lecture à la bibliothèque de Dimikuy
- Nyariga Community Library in Ghana, photos January 2026
Author Archives: mkevane
December reading
The Power, by Naomi Alderman. Thrilling in its conceit and execution. Stumbles towards the end (and what ambitious book doesn’t). Nice to see an interesting short frame device (the letters) in popular fiction. News of the World, by Paulette Jiles. … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
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Urban development in Cupertino and SB 35
The organization gained another significant victory last month when Chao won a City Council seat. A second candidate backed by Better Cupertino also appears to have secured a seat by a narrow margin, pending a recount. If the results hold, … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso
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My wife is good with faces, but I am pretty darn good with melodies
Leslie can see a face on television and within seconds recall (even ten years later) another show the person was on. But today I was working and listening to classical mix, and Ludovico Einaudi’s Nuvole Bianche comes on, and I … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso
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Fulani arrested in Ghana over Burkina Faso ties?
The National Security led a joint security operatives to raid the community Wednesday dawn and arrested the 20 herdsmen after conducting house to house search reportedly for weapons.They were all flown in a helicopter back to the national capital, Accra, … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso
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Recent reading: The Big Book of Science Fiction, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
I got this for daughter but ended up reading almost all of it before her… 1162 pages of sci-fi. I was frankly surprised at how bad a lot (most of which I had not read) of the stories were: poor … Continue reading
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Production de livres du centre multimédia de Houndé au Burkina Faso
FAVL se veut l’un des acteurs majeurs dans la promotion de la lecture au Burkina. L’une des stratégies de l’association est de produire des livres et de les mettre à disposition des lecteurs des 34 bibliothèques de son réseau. Les … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso
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Séance de discussion autour d’une bande dessinée Kouka, au Burkina Faso
Ce matin (27 novembre), le temps d’un délestage, le staff de FAVL a mené une petite discussion autour de la BD Kouka N°13 intitulée La malle du père de Bila. Cette bande dessinée est l’œuvre du RENLAC (Réseau national de … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso
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Great tour of the international space station from 2016
Posted in Personal Kevane life
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Tessa Hadley’s story “Cecilia Awakened”
Daughter and I listened to Tessa Hadley: “Cecilia Awakened” on drive up from southern California. I thought it a nice meditation on “being a writer,” as the story leads up to the switch in point of view at the end … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso
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The number of women in Congress hits a record high after 2018 midterm elections
By press time, at least 92 had won in the House and 10 had won in the Senate (joining 10 already in the upper chamber) for a total of 112 women — the most women to serve in Congress at … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso
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The 20 years ago wayback machine… DJ Daydream – Make Your Own Kind of Music
Posted in Music
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Uber co-founder eyes downtown San Jose historic building
Uber co-founder and former chief executive Travis Kalanick’s new realty investment enterprise has obtained a contract to purchase the old Hank Coca’s Furniture store and Odd Fellows building at 82 E. Santa Clara St. The building became available after Leisure … Continue reading
Posted in San Jose
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Small facts I always forget: US has no restrictions on dual citizenship
Anticipating Nov. 6 election when many of my fellow citizens will vote their preference to live under a right-wing autocracy that uses mass media to boil blood just because they are mad about a trans kid in Nebraska whose gender … Continue reading
Posted in United States
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Recent experiences with minimum wages
A nice The New York Times story on Seattle that prompted this roundup (HT:Bill Sundstrom): “In their latest paper, which has not been formally peer reviewed, Mr. Vigdor and his colleagues considered how the minimum-wage increases affected three broad groups: … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso, United States
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Some readings on the economics of private prisons
Here is a Brookings Institution report: “The 2016 Nobel prize-winner in Economics, Oliver Hart, and coauthors explained that prison contracts tend to induce the wrong incentives by focusing on specific tasks such as accreditation requirements and hours of staff training … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso, United States
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Did capitalism reduce global poverty?
You will find that questions being asked, rhetorically, all over the Internet and especially academic Twitter. I think many people conflate “recent small policy change towards market liberalization” with capitalism. What is missing in these discussions is an agreed upon … Continue reading
Posted in Development thinking
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Great story on gender equality (er, lack thereof) in professional labor markets in Japan
Yuka Ogata, one of the few women in the Kumamoto municipal assembly in southwestern Japan, petitioned the council last year to let her breast-feed during sessions. Her request was rejected. She then asked for day care to be provided and … Continue reading
Posted in Gender
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More annals of correlations wrongly attributed as causation: The more equal women and men are, the less they want the same things
I can’t believe that Science published this without referees strenuously objecting and recommending that the language be modified. But I guess in academia clickbait is becoming the norm, too. And nothing is more clickbaitable than “men from Mars, women from … Continue reading
Posted in Gender
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In happened sooner than I thought: Baobab beer in microbrewery in New Jersey
The couple says they are creating uniquely flavored drinks based on their backgrounds, with Leo Sawadogo working on a beer made from baobab tree fruit from his native Burkina Faso in western Africa. Source: Long-awaited microbrewery opens in Montclair | … Continue reading
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Building housing in San Jose
My response to a friend and neighbor: “I have no problem with 3-4 story housing all along the corridors, throughout the city, and higher heights on larger lots like the old hospital site. So when the planner you quoted gave … Continue reading
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Michael Kevane 