Youtube of the week - RSAnimate

This channel is fantastic. Internationally renowned thinkers, writers and philosophers speak as an amazing white-board artist animates their ideas with a marker. Check it out! I'm addicted.

Here is Ken Robinson's talk on the failures of our current education paradigm:



There are plenty more at http://www.youtube.com/user/theRSAorg!

So you want to go to grad school do you...

How was your education?

I recently stumbled across www.truthaboutib.com, which I think is a fascinating example of the single-mindedness that unfortunately seems to be increasing in present-day media. It's so unabashedly single-minded that I thought it was worth a mention.

The website, written somewhat anonymously by wealthy suburbanites from Upper St. Clair, PA, is essentially against the International Baccalaureate high school curriculum on the basis of it touting "anti-American" propaganda. Their tag-line is "IB's primary purpose is to promote globalism and turn our children into global citizens. TAIB'S primary purpose is to celebrate what it means to be American and to preserve freedom for our children and grandchildren."

The IB: shameless anti-America propaganda

The essence of the site is difficult to capture from any single quotation, but this one does the trick, I think. In response to Federal funding for disadvantaged schools to adopt the IB, the site claims that "school administrators believe this is "free" money that schools can use to further their new world order agenda. What they are really doing is enslaving the very children in their care to a future of unsustainable debt and anti-American indoctrination. "

What exactly is threatening? Let's see... they quote the IB's document, emphasizing "In the PYP [Primary Years Program], the attempt to define international-mindedness in increasingly clear terms, and the struggle to move closer to that ideal in practice, are central to the mission of PYP schools." The document continues outlining the importance of re-thinking to avoid bias. In response: "IBO's own document as a direct assault on our Constitutional and Judeo-Christian values must be deaf, dumb and blind."

Now the website does have certain valid points about cost, penetration, and recognition in the US marketplace, but most of the flames emerge from paragraphs of this America-before-the-world (or America is the world) type banter.

In one section, a student tries to argue for the importance of international understanding to the website's editor, to be told "Your [time] would have been better spent studying our Constitution and Declaration of Independence to better understand your rapidly disappearing rights as an American and what is really most valuable and worth fighting for."

I'm not trying to make a value judgement here. Probably the editor believes the greater truths of the world are contained in America's founding documents, and that's fine. But to actively seek to prevent others from knowledge, especially knowledge based on the present world's condition, seems pretty anti-freedom, which you might say is anti-American.

Stuff like this does tend to make me uncomfortable, and if you are sickened by closed mindedness, avoid visiting the website. (They've even got a whole page dedicated to pro-IB comments that they have shrugged off).

Education isn't for everyone...

Kyoto Prototype

On my last visit to Nairobi a few months ago I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a fascinating fellow by the name of Jon Bohmer. Jon is the founder of an energy solutions company called Kyoto that won a huge competition put out by the Financial Times (and another from Brit Insurance Designs of the Year) for their solar oven. Kyoto has high hopes for revolutionizing all Kenyan energy systems.

Jon's wife Neema is a well respected member of a Somali tribe in Kenya that has recently inherited a vast expanse of beautiful land in the Rift Valley. Their plans for this land are just as grand as the land itself. But before getting into the big picture ideas, Kyoto has been not-so-quietly offering up innovations for saving energy. Take a look for your self.

The question that is invariably asked about projects like this is: Do these products actually sell? For now the answer is still no. Jon explains that it is difficult to get people to change their habits especially with regard to everyday routines such as cooking, washing and lighting.

According to the WHO, 1.6 million women and children die each year from smoke inhalation. This does not come a surprise for people that have seen the way food is cooked. However, out of all the products the one with the least appeal is the solar oven. Despite its obvious health advantages, people just can't get with the idea that you can cook with the sun (when it is out) and would always rather see a flame or proper oven at work on their food. I suppose sometimes you'd rather spend the extra money to get what you like.

On thing Jon believes firmly, if incorrectly, is that he cannot give these things away for free. He argues that a free item that necessitates a change in behaviour, is not likely to be used, whereas a small investment of money obligates a small change of behaviour. I disagree. If people are fully aware of the financial and health related gains in a new product, they are just as likely to use it either way. Jessica Coen and Pascaline Dupas agree. They set up randomized trials in Kenya using bed nets to test this question. They found that free ones were just as likely to be used as ones that cost 3USD. Unfortunately this study is not open to the public but one using pregnant women as the sample is.

Whereas all of the smaller products can save people time, effort and money if they so choose, the bigger projects in the works promise structural change. As of very recently, Jon and his team can install an array of private, portable, affordable and easy to maintain solar powered appliances including solar water pumps, solar air conditioning, solar desalinization, and general solar electricity. In the areas of Kenya that get sun everyday these really work well, including the land he has married into! Their scope for energy production in the rift valley is huge. He says within two years they'll be up and running, providing Kenyans with cheap and reliable electricity! A recent study of medium sized firms in Africa found that electricity was a major constraint on growth.

Another project that seems a bit further off involves algae. According to Jon, algae can be used for cleaning and fertilizer, but most importantly algae is a great source of nutrients. He believes firmly that algae can be the source of food security for millions of poor East Africans and beyond. If energy/money saving solar ovens can't find demand among the poor, will edible algae?

Also in the works is a Kyoto Institute at Narok University, where the team hopes to disseminate the value of solar energy and other innovative energy solutions. Maybe he'll be able to convince a young troop of Kenyans that a little algae for breakfast is a good thing. Go Kyoto!

Website of the Week - Gapminder

You may say that Gapminder.org is old news. Well, that may be true; it blew up on the scene in early 2006. Since then they have not only been updating their software, statistics and style, but also producing an ever growing number of videos promoting "a fact based world-view." I use quotation marks because that is a direct quote from the site, but also because macro facts such as these have been the folly of development economics since the 60's. However, if we are aware of their limitations, as those at Gapminder are, the numbers are still compelling.

Gapminder is best put to use when debunking myths. One of my favourite myths is the answer to the question "What stops population growth?". On numerous occasions I have taken up the task of overthrowing popular misconceptions apropos this topic.

A popular fallacy I have dealt with is that war, disease and natural disasters help to curtail the growth of our population. If we do not closely examine the issue of population growth it is easy to fall into that trap. As Dr. Rosling will show you, the complete opposite is the case:



Broadly speaking, better health care and better education are the only things that slow population growth rates. (China notwithstanding)

Many other entertaining videos can be found at gapminder.org including this one where Dr. Rosling predicts when the income per person in India will catch up to the US.

Africa Goal and Goal Condoms

In a previous post about the regulations that FIFA has placed on advertising in South Africa, I mentioned how I thought the poor would not benefit from the World Cup. When I wrote that post I had forgotten about a project several friends of mine started for the last world cup. Their initiative is brilliant:


"Africa Goal was initiated in line with the World Cup 2006. A team of nine people from diverse backgrounds travelled from Kenya to the West Coast of Namibia, projecting live World Cup matches every evening for the duration of the football tournament, together with HIV and AIDS information videos. Following the success of Africa Goal 2006, the same team, building on their experience gained and lessons learnt, is proposing the 2010 Africa Goal Project. Africa Goal 2010 will start in Nairobi, Kenya and end in Johannesburg, South Africa. The team’s journey will follow the “AIDS Highway” through Eastern and Southern Africa, where increased mobility and migration in conjunction with rising disposable incomes and the associated escalation of transactional sex along this central transport and trade route were a major contributor to the spread of HIV through the region."


Its an amazing adventure that I wish I could be a part of. Maciej Sudra, currently a High School Teacher at the International School of Harare, and Matt Herren, the CTO at a software company called Blankpage AG, are co-founders of the project and all around stellar guys. Also, two more friends and vital members of the team are Ana Sudra and Chris De Nogales who are also brilliant designers and visual artists. 


For this World Cup they have also put their talents towards creating a world cup condom initiative: Goal Condoms: 

Their practical approach to disseminating such vital information should be a lesson for the bigger, more well-financed initiatives. Speaking of finances, if you like the idea why not send them a shilling or two?

Best of luck and hats off to you guys!