Blogs I Follow
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Recent Posts
- Walter Isaacson, The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
- The Corner that Held Them, by Sylvia Townsend Warner
- Flux, by Jinwoo Chong
- V.V. Ganeshananthan’s novel “Brotherless Night”
- Making New People: Politics, Cinema, and Liberation in Burkina Faso, 1983-1987, by James E. Genova
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Friends of African Village Libraries (I post regularly here)
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Category Archives: Burkina Faso
Adam and Allison Grant rewrite children’s books and much fiction: “Noble deed doers, you should first lecture the victims and help them help themselves more otherwise you are an enabler…”
OK I’m making fun a little, but their essay on The Giving Tree just rubs me the wrong way. Instead of marveling at the moral ambiguity of the book, the impulse is to “fix” it by explaining to you child … Continue reading
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Great article in The New York Times about rural America and public services
I watched the fight unfold with a sense of sadness, anger and frustration. I started arguing. It didn’t work. The pay request was pulled from the Quorum Court’s agenda.I didn’t realize it at first, but the fight over the library … Continue reading
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UEMOA : La masse salariale du Burkina a dépassé la norme – NetAfrique.net
Burkina on a public employee spending spress? Selon la commission chargée des politiques économiques et de la fiscalité intérieure de l’Uemoa, la masse salariale du Burkina présente un taux de 48%, dépassant ainsi la norme Uemoa qui est de 35 … Continue reading
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Completion of road Dédougou-Tougan… will this lead to a bump in votes for MPP in 2020?
Dédougou-Tougan : 60 ans après, le rêve se réalise Kantigui a été témoin du branle-bas de la population de la capitale provinciale du Sourou pour traduire reconnaissance au président du Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, ce mercredi 26 juin 2019. … Continue reading
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Revenue-strapped government of Burkina Faso? I don’t think so.
Government revenue has been rising steadily over the past 15 years. While there are many competing demands for funds, the amount available has increased. So analyses that start by saying “the government does not have the funds” are misleading. the … Continue reading
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How much is the Trump trade war helping African consumers of soybean?
According to the IITA, Africa imports about 1.5 million tons of soybean a year. Let’s say that Trump’s trade war with China has been the reason that soybean prices have fallen from $10 a bushel to $7.50 a bushel over … Continue reading
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Should anti-vaccination parents be liable under tort law if their child infects a baby and kills them?
With the current measles outbreak this is a “live” issue. From Dorit Reiss at UC Hastings College of the Law: Further, we do make exceptions and impose liability for nonaction when there are strong policy reasons. When parents decide not … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso, United States
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Teaching… and research… that is what a university is.
Just saying, and regardless of controversy, this is what I look for in a university president: when she needs to make a pithy statement about her university, learning and research are the things she mentions. Athletics is not mentioned. Buildings … Continue reading
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Report: Housing bill law could almost triple size of Palo Alto
One of the most controversial of these measures is SB 50. Hailed by advocates as a solution to the Bay Area’s housing shortage, the bill would override cities’ density rules, height limits and parking requirements in areas near public transit … Continue reading
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Points of comparison with Burkina Faso about transition if al-Bashir is ousted in Sudan
I have not followed Sudan politics in over a decade, but I do follow Burkina Faso pretty closely, and in October 2014 long-time president Blaise Compaoré was ousted by street protests. Basically, regime insiders had to choose when to run, … Continue reading
Posted in Burkina Faso, Sudan
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My relationship to piano almost exactly described
I am not yet even close to Jennifer Weiner’s level after two years of one hour a week lessons, but I know the feeling (and the 15 year old). I open my book to Chopin’s waltz in D flat major, … Continue reading
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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