Author Archives: mkevane

Probably Trump meant “consideration” but something in him said “use a bigger word”… By the way, the Trans-Pacific, if you look at the TPP, a total disaster, which, by the way, Marco is in favor of, they need — it … Continue reading →

Suggests just how easy it is to make a ton of money through corruption when you have a billion dollar company basically wanting to “give” you $500,000 with no oversight. In a contract signed several years ago, Nike agreed to … Continue reading →

I read Michael Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things. Definitely compares nicely to Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow, if you have read that. A missionary travel to Oasis, where the Oasans are a remarkably simply, vulnerable, Jesus-loving agrarian society. … Continue reading →

Tidjane Thiam, the chief executive of Credit Suisse, has asked the company’s board to reduce his bonus, days after the Swiss bank reported a multibillion-dollar loss in the fourth quarter. “I have asked the board of directors for a significant … Continue reading →

The amazing astronaut is Sunita Williams.

My brother gave me this CD for Christmas.  It makes an addictive present, and you will never, ever, forget Yuri Gagarin, Alexei Leonov (did you even know he was the first person to walk in space?) and the three astronauts … Continue reading →

Smith accuses economists of being blithely callous.  But he seems unable to appreciate how narrow-minded his own “attack on economists” is, because by his notion of what is fair and just only Americans matter. Who cares what happens to the … Continue reading →

Nice perspective from Anthony! I come not to praise the superiority we feel about library service in the United States, but to bury it. This issue of VOYA [February 2016] concentrates on how technology continues to move evermore rapidly to … Continue reading →

Slade House, by David Mitchell. A haunted house horror story, sort of. More interesting as a technical challenge: create a vivid character and virtual reality, one for each decade, from 1970 to present.  In some ways Dorian Gray, and the … Continue reading →

It looks like the Splendid Hotel and Cafe Cappuccino attack of January 15 2016 evening in Ouagadougou was an AQIM-organized attack, with the possibly declared purpose of attacking France, which leads operations against AQIM in northern Africa and the Sahel.  … Continue reading →

As usual, nice summary commentary from Jean-Pierre Bejot: Discours très généraliste. En cette journée qui vient clore « la glorieuse page de l’histoire récente de notre peuple », Roch Kaboré s’est bien gardé d’évoquer quoi ou qui que ce soit … Continue reading →

I agree with Tyler Cowen that this summary is extremely helpful.  Unfortunately the media is not going to let this story go unless something more serious happens (like a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran? No this story would probably … Continue reading →

The trouble with fans and reviews like this one is that they are dreadfully wrong about one important point.  It is a movie for 12 year old children.  Land Before Time also created a “mythology”… Doc? The Mysterious Beyond? But … Continue reading →

Returning to Mali, how are policymakers supposed to act on Elischer’s analysis? The “international community” is supposed to “note” the “destabilizing” influence of Dicko and other Salafis in southern Mali. Then what? Demand that Malian politicians repudiate Dicko? Seek to … Continue reading →

The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma is a harrowing novel set in the 1990s.  A middle-class professional family in the town of Akure unravels, with brother killing brother.  The novel works as a metaphor for Nigeria, as a classic-style tragedy, and … Continue reading →