Opalo's weblog

• A lyrical justification of monotonicity in consumer choice

  Posted: October 26, 2011, 1:13 pm by kenopp

  I doubt my microeconomics prof. (Kyle) reads this blog so I am gonna go ahead and quote a section of an email he just sent out (which also just made my evening): For fun for those of you still reading, you can find a lyrical justification of monotonicity in consumer choice in the song Society [...]

• Quick Hits

  Posted: October 25, 2011, 12:52 am by kenopp

  Teodorin Obiang’s free ride is over. The son of the Equatorian dictator has had some of his wealth seized by the US government on suspicion of money laundering. For more on Equatorial Guinea read Ian Birrell‘s piece at the Guardian here. Check out the Peter Gastrow Report on Transnational Organized Crime and State Erosion in [...]

• To all the Wananchi out there

  Posted: October 24, 2011, 11:15 pm by kenopp

    Filed under: africa Tagged: Al-Shabab, Kenya, Kenya at War, Nairobi

• Our man in Mogadishu

  Posted: October 24, 2011, 10:08 pm by kenopp

  QUICK UPDATE: Two separate minor explosions rocked Nairobi in the last 24 hours, one at a club on Mfangano Street and another at OTC. One person has been confirmed dead and several people were injured. By targeting ordinary Kenyans in the eastern reaches of the city (instead of other soft targets in upper class parts [...]

• Congrats to the All Blacks

  Posted: October 23, 2011, 2:29 pm by kenopp

  New Zealand just won the rugby world cup after a 24-year wait. The other finalists, France, put up a most spirited fight. The final score was 8-7. I wish the Boks had gone all the way but for the next four years the All Blacks will be worthy world champions. Here is presenting the NZ [...]

• Saturday afternoon procrastination

  Posted: October 23, 2011, 4:04 am by kenopp

  This is some scary stuff (don’t worry, no one gets hurt): Filed under: africa Tagged: animal behavior, Big Cats, Gauteng, Johannesburg, Kevin Richardson, lions, Pretoria, Private Game reserve, south africa, Wildlife

• Millenium Villages and their impact

  Posted: October 22, 2011, 3:35 am by kenopp

  How successful are millenium villages as crucibles for experimentation on development? And can we measure their impact? Sachs defended the project’s claims of impact based on before-and-after analysis. He and Prabhjot Singh wrote that one cannot compare trends at the intervention sites to trends elsewhere: “The logic is also flawed. In a single-intervention study at [...]

• Kenya at War/Christmas in Kismayo?

  Posted: October 19, 2011, 4:56 am by kenopp

  UPDATE II: John Campbell over at the Council on Foreign Relations discusses the extent of US and French assistance to the Kenyan invasion of al-Shabab controlled regions of Somalia. Check it here (with the caveat that grenade attacks are NOT common in Nairobi) UPDATE: Reaction to the Expert Comment from Middleton at Chatham House: Middleton [...]

• Protestant ethic and the spirit of democracy?

  Posted: October 18, 2011, 12:14 pm by kenopp

  This article explores Protestantism’s inadvertent, historic role in dispersing elite power and spurring democracy. Economic and political elites typically hoard resources and perpetuate class distinction. Conversionary Protestants undermined this social reproduction because they wanted everyone to read the Bible in their own language, decide individually what to believe, and create religious organizations outside state control. [...]

• SFAS 2011 Conference Program

  Posted: October 17, 2011, 8:48 am by kenopp

  “The Black Atlantic: Colonial and Contemporary Exchanges” October 28-29, 2011 Stanford Humanities Center Friday, Oct. 28 Registration 2:00-2:30pm Opening Keynote (Bruce Hall, Duke University) 2:30-3:45pm Panel I 4:00-5:30pm Trading Race: Colonial and Contemporary perceptions of Race Panelists: 1. Dana Linda (UCLA) White Noise, Black Masks: Recapturing Race in Hispanic Caribbean Prison Narratives 2. Michael Ugorji [...]

• We finally have a winner for the Mo Ibrahim Prize

  Posted: October 10, 2011, 10:16 pm by kenopp

  UPDATE: Check out the Mo Ibrahim Index of Governance here. The usually suspects – Botswana, Cape Verde and Mauritius -  lead the pack. ************************************************* The BBC reports: Former Cape Verde President Pedro Verona Pires has been awarded this year’s $5m (£3.2m) Mo Ibrahim prize for good governance in Africa. The prize committee said Mr Pires, [...]

• The illusion of modern-day meritocracy

  Posted: October 9, 2011, 5:54 am by kenopp

  That is, most observers—novelists, economists, and laypersons alike—tend to assume that labor income now plays a much bigger role than inherited wealth in shaping people’s lives, and that human capital and hard work have become the key to personal material well-being. Although this is rarely formulated explicitly, the implicit assumption seems to be that the [...]

• Remembering Steve Jobs

  Posted: October 6, 2011, 5:38 pm by kenopp

  Apple has forever changed the way we interact with technology. In memory of its co-founder Steve Jobs check out his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford: Also, check out Melina’s tribute to Mr. Jobs here. Filed under: africa Tagged: apple, remembering steve jobs, steve jobs

• Drought is an act of nature, famine is man-made

  Posted: October 4, 2011, 10:13 am by kenopp

  Check out this new campaign video by ONE.org You can sign the petition here. HT HuffPost Filed under: africa Tagged: Addis Ababa, Al-Shabab, amartya sen, Bono, Dadaab, Drought, Ethiopia, Famine, Garissa, George Clooney, Horn of Africa, Jessica alba, K'naan, kakuma, Kenya, mandera, Mogadishu, moyale, Nairobi, ONE.org, Somalia

• TAZARA Pictures (Preview, see link to original post and more pictures below)

  Posted: October 2, 2011, 11:30 pm by kenopp

  The original post is here. More of the pictures are here. Filed under: africa Tagged: Dar es Salaam, Kapiri-Mposhi, lusaka, Mbeya, mkushi, Nakonde, tanzania, TAZARA, Zambia

• What does a Sata Presidency Mean for Zambia?

  Posted: October 2, 2011, 10:18 pm by kenopp

  UPDATE: For a closer take on the Sino-Zambian connection check out Louise Redvers’ piece for the BBC. ************************************ So the Economist beat me to writing about what a Sata presidency means for the Zambian economy, especially with regard to foreign investment. For the two of you out there who are not conversant with the campaign [...]

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Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes