South Sudan: A Cartoon History

This is amazing: an actual real cartoon history of the latest round of civil war in South Sudan, words by Alex de Waal. (via Tom)

Important Research Funding Opportunities: Quantifying the economic impact of Shakira (for UNICEF)

"Shakira Mebarak, world-famous singer and songwriter, is a devoted advocate for children. The singer, known professionally as Shakira, was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador on 24 October 2024."

Which is all very well and everything, but surely what we all really care about is exactly how valuable is she to the UNICEF marketing team? And what is it about her that makes her valuable? Are singers more or less valuable than actresses? Blondes or brunettes? Men or women? Does fundraising value depreciate over time with age? If you've always been fascinated by important research questions like these, well do UNICEF have the RFP for you (sadly I think the quantitative celebrity fundraising research and analytics team at my office is busy right now, so I'm generously passing this on. You're welcome). Thank god UNICEF is taking evidence-based decision-making seriously where it really matters.

"Quantitative Research: Identifying the Right Celebrities for UNICEF Partnerships & Public Attitudes towards Celebrity Partnerships 

The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to seek proposals from qualified agencies to provide quantitative research (using System 1 approach) for identifying the right celebrities for UNICEF partnerships & Public Attitudes towards Celebrity Partnerships."

How to quit your job in style

HT: Scott

I'm English and I love the EDL

The English Disco Lovers.

Our aims are very clear - we want to accumulate more likes than the English Defence League on Facebook as well as outranking them on Google. By doing this in a light-hearted way we aim to show them for what they really are - racist, outdated and the type you wouldn't invite to your disco.

One World, One Race, One Disco. 

Hate Racism, Love Disco.

Awesome. Here's the Facebook and Twitter

Excellent World Bank blogging

This is very entertaining. Apparently its now ok for World Bank staff to elaborately and brazenly take the piss out of the editor of the Lancet and DFID staff. HT: JustinSandefur

Probably the best Ugandan lifestyle & events website

InKampala.com went live today, check it out:

Cash Rules Everything Around Me (South Sudanese Pound Music Video Edition)

HT: Bored in Post Conflict

Economic models are so unrealistic

Sometimes listening to criticisms of models feels a bit like this. 

Wobbly

I'm quite partial to unlikely cover versions. So versions of Joy Division with wobbly bass get my mark of approval. This is Control by Spoek Mathambo. [Cover of Joy Division's 'She's Lost Control'].

HT: Bombastic Element

Notes of a Subpar Footballer

The organiser of my indoor football team is blogging our travails. This one is probably of limited general interest, with the possible exception of my mum. I scored a goal!

The World on Facebook

Via: The Guardian Datablog

Google Beatbox

Beatboxing with Google Translate.

HT: The very excellent kmtlondon.com

How to dance (for men)

"The head, neck and upper body come out as the key features that are important for good dancing and that surprised us," said Neave, whose study is published in the journal Biology Letters. "When you see brilliant dancers, you'll see their bodies, heads and necks are all doing ever so slightly different things in time to the music."

Will Brown, a psychologist at the University of East London, said more work was needed to disentangle why dancing is attractive and its biological significance.

"When you have so much movement data from a relatively small sample of dancers, you might get chance associations between certain moves and dance attractiveness," he said.

From the Guardian (not the only thing I ever read, honest). HT: Herrmann

“I-spy” Scotland

1 hour in Edinburgh and already I have spotted:

• Man in Kilt:                  Check
• Junkie:                           Check
• Edinburgh Castle:      Check
• Can of Irn Bru:            Check

Bias

Brooks discusses the Well-Plannned Life vs. the Summoned Life.

Could this be a good excuse for those of us who never plan more than 5 minutes ahead?

Is it possible I like Searchers because of my personality type?

That is Easterly on why he isn’t a planner. That’s ok Bill. Half of the reason I like randomised trials so much is because it’s a bit like gambling…

Reasons to buy a pink car

Figure 2. Theft risk by colour (%), cars up to three years old, 2004-2008, the Netherlands

Note: Left bars relate to 15 most popular makes in the Netherlands (Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Citroen, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, Peugeot, Renault, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo). Right bars exclude the three luxury makes (Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz).Source: CBS/RDW

Ben Vollaard, VoxEU

Back to the future

Watch out for Marty McFly on a hoverboard…

Did I ever tell you about the Obama t-shirts in Juba?

 

Originary

Born in

Africa to

Manage

Americans

 

Awesome. Also, Yasir Arman, the SPLM candidate for President of the Republic of Sudan (not Southern Sudan) is standing on a platform of Hope and Change. Check out the website.

Happy International Women's Day

Fun & Games

via Ugandan Insomniac - A new story by DC Comics set in Northern Uganda. More images here