- Bono spoke at this week’s TED conference. Here’s the TED blog post and CGD follow-up posts from Charles Kenny and Andy Sumner.
- Favorite Mali reads of the week – Bruce Whitehouse’s [in my opinion, the best source on understanding Mali] latest on understanding the Tuaregs and Todd Moss warns of 3 mistakes the U.S. should avoid making in Mali.
- Two funny pieces on the Pope’s retirement. The first, a job description from Foreign Policy. The second, a cover letter by John Ortved for McSweeny on why he would like to be Pope. Ah, it’s reminiscent of that time Sachs nominated himself for World Bank presidency!
- Australian billionaire reveals plans to build a Titanic II. Doesn’t sound like the best idea…unless theis means there will be a movie sequel? “Oops! Rose let’s go again” ? Maybe this couple will play the lead roles.
- When physicists get engaged.
- And on that note, The Economist’s gushing index should not go unmentioned, an index that measures all the mushy words spoken by actors & actresses in their Oscar speeches (tempted to borrow this model and make a chart of all the mushy things Bono says in his ONE speeches…).
My little sister leaves for Namibia next week to do some work for a cheetah conservation fund. So this video is for her – what the African savannah would look like if its animals lived off of McDonald’s:
