Dambisa Moyo. DEAD AID: why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2009. Pp. 188. $24.00. ISBN-13: 978-0-374-13956-8.
“The notion that aid can alleviate systemic poverty, and has done so, is a myth,” Dambisa Moyo writes in her polemic. Pop stars like Bono and Bob Geldof may attract millions of donors and dollars while singing for aid and debt relief, but Africa continues to lag behind in every aspect. Moyo explains that the Marshall Plan, which re-financed a badly damaged European infrastructure after World War Two, is the wrong model for assisting Africa, which lacks infrastructure altogether. Emergency humanitarian aid notwithstanding, systemic aid is encouraging corruption, bureaucracy and dysfunction. Expansive loans engender expansive debt. Continue reading →
Helene Cooper tells us pre-revolutionary Liberian society rivaled Victorian England when it came to matters of social correctness, as she describes a privileged 1970’s childhood at her family’s main residence in Liberia, a twenty-two room behemoth over-looking the Atlantic, called Sugar Beach. Cooper is a direct descendant of the freed American slaves whom sailed from New York to Monrovia in 1820. Unwelcome in both the United States and Africa, these free men of color founded Liberia with blood, sweat and firearms. After the free men subjugated the indigenous tribes, they installed themselves as the ruling class, their new tribe called ‘the Congo’, until two brutal revolutions destroyed Liberia one hundred and fifty years later.
Cooper’s mother takes in a local impoverished girl, Eunice, from the Bassa tribe as a foster daughter. Fostering was a common idea for Liberia’s elite ruling class. At first we see Eunice habitually running away—Eunice’s Bassa mother dutifully marching her back to the Congo Coopers, knowing Eunice can only move out of poverty by living at Sugar Beach. Eunice becomes a sort of doppelganger to Cooper, passim: what if Cooper had instead been born into a lower class? Continue reading →
Crude World: the Violent Twilight of Oil
The thought that our world may currently be at peak oil production is an idea widely debated. Irrespective of political and social belief systems, mathematically and pragmatically, a time of peak oil will certainly happen. Known quantities of existing mineral deposits are considered national secrets to oil producing countries, so accurate estimates have not been readily availed. Hard data on remaining oil reserves are elusive, and the speculators can only proffer an educated guess on what is left.
While the US imports more oil from Canada than any other nation in the world, implying a sense of security due to friendly relations, Maass does not see the Alberta tar sands as a viable solution to impending oil shortages. Further, these Alberta hydrocarbon extraction programmes are considered an environmental disaster. Nor do Venezuelan deposits of heavy oil appear likely to succour the ache of exerted supergiant oil fields in the Gulf nations. It’s running out. Saudi Arabia, with twenty-one per cent of the world’s known oil reserves, may have sufficient quantities to last several more generations, but problems related to shortages will start long before the last few drops of petroleum are extracted from the Arabian Peninsula. Continue reading →
These ten tips of advantages and disadvantages are from The Author’s Toolkit by Mary Embree.
1. Finding a book publisher
a. Advantages
i. Not only will it cost you nothing, you may get an advance. The publisher will pay for printing, editing, promotion, distribution, etc. The perception is that it is more professional than self-publishing book, although that perception is changing as the quality of self-published books improves.
b. Disadvantages
i. The author loses control. Royalties are much lower per book than the author’s potential profit margin on a book the publisher to get the book out.
2. Co-publishing with an established publisher
a. Advantages
i. The publisher will know how to edit, promote and distribute the book. The costs of producing the book will be shared. The author will have the benefit of the publisher’s professional advice.
b. Disadvantage
i. The author has less control than if he did it all himself. The author must share profits with the other publisher. There could be disagreements that are difficult to work out.
3. Self-publishing a book the traditional way
a. Advantage
i. The author has control of everything but the printing of the book. All profits belong to the author alone. If the author has a niche market, he could make a greater profit than any other way.
b. Disadvantages
i. It can cost between $3,000 and $10,000 or more for printing alone. Unless the author can do it all himself, he must find qualified people to edit, create the cover and interior design and typeset the book. The author must do all the promotion, distribution and sales. Unless he has a ready market for it, he may never recover his initial costs to produce the book.
4. Self-publishing using print-on-demand
a. Advantages
i. Small numbers of the book can be printed coasting $3 to $10 per book depending on the size, number of pages, and type of cover. The author could have 50 to 100 small paperbacks printed for a total cost of a few hundred dollars. She would not have storage problems for a few books. Additional books can be printed as needed. Time is another advantage. The book can be printed in a few days.
b. Disadvantage
i. The cost per unit is usually higher than ordering from a regular printer.
5. Self-publish a spiral-bound book
a. Advantage
i. Photocopies can be made and books bound the same day by most photocopying companies. Or the author can purchase a binding machine and bind them herself as she needs them.
b. Disadvantages:
i. It can end up costing more than print-on-demand and does not look as professional. Spiral-bound books have no spine on which to put the title of the book and because of that, many book stores and libraries will not carry it.
Everyone loves being inspired, we get great work done, time fly’s by without noticing and we feel a sense of peace and joy in what we are doing. I used to think moments of inspiration just came on good days when things lined up right for one reason or another. According to Wayne Dyer, this is partly correct! It’s not a coincidence that I feel inspired when events or things line up in our favor.
Consider that the word coincidence relates to the mathematical ideas about angles that coincide.
When 2 angles coincide they are said to fit perfectly together, not accidentally.
Now what if we purposely aligned our behavior every day with exactly what makes us inspired, it sounds real simple doesn’t it! We would just need to find out what makes us inspired.
Well take a look at the word inspiration, to Wayne this means being “In-Spirit”.
When we are in-spirit we are inspired. Being in-spirit is being connected to our source (God).
If you found any of that remotly interesting, this book will teach you to stay inspired throughout your day.
Imagine every moment connected to your source of unending inspiration. All it takes is a return to form, be like your creator. Simplify life, Slow down, always seek to give and to serve others, enjoy the moment, listen and believe that everything is part of the whole, yet a unique expression of it.
If you really think about it, who has ever felt inspired to do something after telling a lie, cheating, committing a violent act, yelling etc. etc.. It is the opposite of the feeling of inspiration, and unlike God.
