Friends of African Village Libraries (I post regularly here)- Daytime session at Sherigu Community Library
- La deuxième journée des activités de café littéraire à la bibliothèque de Boni
- Échanges avec la nouvelle gérante de la bibliothèque de Koho
- Reprise des activités de la bibliothèque mobile Pénélope
- Sortie de la Bibliothèque Mobile Pénélope à l’école Sainte Thérèse
- Bonne nouvelle pour les amoureux de la lecture à Niankorodougou
- Bibliothèque communautaire de Zimtenga ! Les livres attendent patiemment le retour des communautés
- Bilan des activités du mois d’août de la bibliothèque de Bougounam
- Bilan des premières journées du café littéraire
- Nyariga community library, daytime activities
Author Archives: mkevane
John Cochrane podcast… worth a listen
A nice interview with John Cochrane from University of Chicago on Economic Rockstars. He has good sensible things to say about all sorts of subjects, and you learn he is an avid glider pilot. Wow! Highly recommended, but for me … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching macroeconomics
Comments Off on John Cochrane podcast… worth a listen
Libraries pass the Pritchett postulates of development test with flying colors!
From Alex Tabarrok at Marginal Revolution:. After promoting women’s groups in West Bengal as a route to development a West Bengali woman asked Lant Pritchett: You all are from countries that are much richer and doing much better than our … Continue reading
Posted in Public library history
3 Comments
The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes
Got The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes from the library after reading a Burkinabè author cite him as an influence. I was like, “Who is this guy?” Fascinating and sad story. The fiction is exactly as advertised: lurid hardboiled … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on The Real Cool Killers by Chester Himes
Grammar Girl : “On Accident” versus “by Accident”
I still cringe when my children say “on accident” but I do not correct them… Barratt’s study is dead on, is my personal experience. According to Barratt’s study, use of the two different versions appears to be distributed by age. … Continue reading
Posted in Being a teacher
Comments Off on Grammar Girl : “On Accident” versus “by Accident”
Take 15 minutes to watch The Six Dollar Fifty Man
The Six Dollar Fifty Man Sukie and I had watched it several times some years ago. We just watched it again. Wow, great job, Directors – Mark Albiston & Louis Sutherland, Writer – Louis Sutherland, Producer – Wendy Cuthbert
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Take 15 minutes to watch The Six Dollar Fifty Man
Why use R instead of Excel or SPSS, for quantitative archaeology or any social science for that matter!
For a long time archaeologists had few options to deal with these problems because there were few alternative programs. The general alternative to using a point-and-click program is writing scripts to program algorithms for statistical analysis and visualisations. Writing scripts … Continue reading
Posted in R statistics
Comments Off on Why use R instead of Excel or SPSS, for quantitative archaeology or any social science for that matter!
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh
I had recently read a short story and then Nekropolis by McHugh, so I ordered China Mountain Zhang. Great novel. But not what you think it will be. As numerous commentators point out, it is an ambitious sci-fi novel about … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh
Michael, can you recommend some fiction podcasts?
Funny you ask, yes I can. I love going on a long run and listening to someone read and short story and then discuss. This week I heard three. Richard Ford reading Raymond Carver’s “The Student’s Wife”. Pretty sad. OK … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Michael, can you recommend some fiction podcasts?
Something I need to remember…
reading a 100M csv file into R, read.csv takes 61s, and with read_csv in readr just 3s. That’s amazing. #rstats @hadleywickham a great job via Hadley Wickham (@hadleywickham) | Twitter.
Posted in R statistics
Comments Off on Something I need to remember…
Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle
Found this in the university library. Realized I had never read Dick. All books, or just this one, use abbreviated sentences? Makes for interesting style. Noted. Light rain falling in San Jose. Just south of setting of novel. San Francisco … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle
A glib take on whether Puerto Rico can fix economy from The New Yorker
Surowiecki a bit glib, if you ask me. Does he have any evidence that the government has not been supporting the tourism sector? Has the Dominican Republic strategy perhaps generated a lot of environmental spillovers? DR also is five times … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching macroeconomics
Comments Off on A glib take on whether Puerto Rico can fix economy from The New Yorker
My sister Bridget Kevane reviews and interviews Thomas McGuane
BECAUSE I LIVE IN MONTANA and because I have always heard Montanans talk about Thomas McGuane, I set myself the task of reading all of his work: 10 novels, several books of essays, and three collections of short stories, including … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on My sister Bridget Kevane reviews and interviews Thomas McGuane
Wait, what? Really? This is what an “acclaimed” show does?
PG: One of your most memorable moments is Sally’s sleepover at a friend’s house. She’s watching TV and starts masturbating to an actor on “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” The friend’s mother catches her and sends Sally home to her mother, … Continue reading
Posted in United States
Comments Off on Wait, what? Really? This is what an “acclaimed” show does?
Economists being useful
Go James Stock! CONGRESS long ago established a basic principle governing the extraction of coal from public lands by private companies: American taxpayers should be paid fair value for it. They own the coal, after all. Lawmakers set a royalty … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching macroeconomics
Comments Off on Economists being useful
Why can’t I have an opinion about corporate taxes like anyone else?
A colleague here at SCU shared with me this: “Corporate taxes account for about 10 percent of the total tax take, at $273.5 billion in 2013. Lawrence Kotlikoff, an economist at Boston University, calculates that eliminating the corporate tax, while raising income … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching macroeconomics
Comments Off on Why can’t I have an opinion about corporate taxes like anyone else?
China Miéville’s The City and the City
I was skeptical before starting China Miéville’s The City and the City. I had read and enjoyed Embassytown, but he did go on and on towards the end and I found myself skimming a lot. The City and the City … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on China Miéville’s The City and the City
Science fiction round-up: The Year’s Best Science Fiction 1997
I checked this collection by Gardner Dozois out from the library (yes I still do that). Science fiction generally holds its own: 20 years later most of the stories in the collection read like they could have been written now. … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Science fiction round-up: The Year’s Best Science Fiction 1997
Listening to Sebastian Barry read James Joyce’s story Eveline
I was out for a long run yesterday on San Jose’s wonderful Guadalupe Park… well maybe not so wonderful but a nice place to run very convenient to our house. Half of the run is alongside the airport, and you … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Listening to Sebastian Barry read James Joyce’s story Eveline
Bastards (Les Salauds) by Claire Denis: a film to avoid
I’ve always thought Chocolat by Claire Denis to be a wonderfully complex film (even if the Norwegian pastor is cringe-worthy). Since then it has been all downhill for her unfortunately (Except for Beau Travail which is, well, at least interesting), … Continue reading
Posted in Book and film reviews
Comments Off on Bastards (Les Salauds) by Claire Denis: a film to avoid
