Blog Entries
Five questions, five answers
25 February 2022 — This from a chat group today: Five questions I have been asking myself that I cannot seem to find addressed by the Media and its plethora of Investigative Journalists: 1) Has Russia forfeited its place on the UN Security Council, and Putin as its current President? 2) ...
The problem with y’all…
24 February 2022 — I got gently berated by a reader today: “Kanthan I love your tweets but please cut out this terrible y'all term. It grates.” I sympathise; it can trigger a stereotype (accurate in this case) of the American South, as noted here: Whenever someone wants to make fun of a...
Sanctions will hurt the US more than Russia
23 February 2022 — Putin is in a far stronger position than Biden. There are only two things we need to know to understand why, but I’m going to give you eight reasons. 1. The price of oil. Oil and natural gas are the biggest revenue drivers of Russia’s economy. For the longest time,...
The Ukraine conflict explained in one minute
22 February 2022 — As a species, we’re programmed to take sides; even when we have no skin in the game. I know lots of people who will see a sporting event on TV involving people or teams they know nothing about and will immediately start rooting for one side. If we understand how that works...
Don't wait! Eat that marshmallow!
21 February 2022 — 50 years ago, Stanford University psychology professor Walter Mischel ran an experiment to test the concept of delayed gratification in children. Basically, Mischel left a marshmallow in front of a child and told the child that he (or she) could eat the marshmallow, but if...
Have you seen a scaly anteater? Me neither...
20 February 2022 — Yesterday was World Pangolin Day and here’s what’s going down with our neighbor, Namibia. Namibia has recorded 320 cases of crimes involving pangolins since 2017 Authorities had confiscated 1 505 pangolin products, including 15 carcasses; 81 live animals, 193 skins;...
India's millionaire class — average age 35
19 February 2022 — The Hurun India Wealth Report 2021 was released yesterday. This report is the second annual birds-eye view of India’s wealth landscape. The Hurun Research Institute surveyed 350 dollar-millionaires. Their average wealth was US$ 6.7 million with 12 percent of them worth...
Why doesn't Zimbabwe use South Africa's currency?
18 February 2022 — I’m sitting in a hotel room in Harare, Zimbabwe, and engaging in a bit of a gedankenexperiment. Here’s the scenario: 1. Almost 10% of Zimbabwe’s official GDP comes from expat remittances; most of this from South Africa in rands. 2. In spite of this, the Zimbabwe economy...
Some things just don't feel right...
17 February 2022 — An upsetting story from Reuters yesterday. “Two years after she went missing, a 6-year-old girl has been found alive and in good health in a makeshift room underneath a staircase in a house in New York state…” Now you might well ask why I find this upsetting? You need to...
A good news story out of Kenya
16 February 2022 — Here's a stat that Unicef trots out almost every year: Every two minutes, a child under five dies of malaria. In 2019, there were 229 million malaria cases globally that led to 409 000 deaths. Of these deaths, 67% (274 000) were children under 5 years of age. This...
Thoughts on the passing of P.J. O'Rourke
15 February 2022 — I'm wistfully saddened at the news that P.J. O'Rourke died today — wistful because I always wanted to meet him but never got down to doing something about it. His writing was the single reason I subscribed to Rolling Stone magazine in my student days at Princeton in the...