Category Archives: all

Education

Posted on July 18, 2010 by ast

There’s no magic bullet in fighting poverty but… education is the single best way to improve people’s lives. It bolsters economic growth, reduces extremism and social conflict and reduces run-away population growth… – Nicholas D. Kristof Truer words were never … Continue reading →

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Ginger Spice and Madhav Kumar Nepal

Posted on October 9, 2009 by ast

From the 12th October issue of The New Yorker. After sitting down, [pop singer and former Spice Girl Geri] Halliwell said that she had recently been to Nepal, where she met the Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal. “You know guys—you … Continue reading →

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The Credit Crisis explained

Posted on March 4, 2009 by ast

Thanks to George for pointing me to this. The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

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Five things I would potentially miss if Microhoo happens

Posted on February 9, 2008 by ast

If Microsoft does buy Yahoo!, these are five things I would be worried about: Flickr, where I have been a “pro” member for some time now. The Photos application on Facebook might be the top photos webapp on the internet … Continue reading →

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The ITAPPMONROBOT Saga

Posted on December 18, 2007 by ast

I have been reading the site http://www.thedailywtf.com for some time now. Its tagline is “Curious Perversions in Information Technology,” and it’s true to both its name and tagline: it’s basically a blog with submissions about technology WTFs, strange error messages … Continue reading →

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Two tidbits

Posted on November 19, 2007 by ast

A couple of completely unrelated and slightly old, but interesting pieces of news: Now that the Nepalese army (hopefully) doesn’t have anyone to fight at home, some Nepalese special forces have been deployed to Darfur as peacekeeping forces. From the … Continue reading →

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Netflix Progress Prize

Posted on November 14, 2007 by ast

The annual Progress Prize for the Netflix contest has been announced. The prize was won by Team BellKor, two researchers from AT&T Research who “blend[ed] 107 individual results” to come up with their 8.5% improvement over Netflix’s Cinematch algorithm (Thanks … Continue reading →

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Happy Tihar, everyone! Suntiya bhintuna!

Posted on November 9, 2007 by ast

Wikipedia entry on Tihar, the Nepalese festival of lights (and a lot more). And from the BBC website, “Nepal dogs honored” (thanks to Rosie for the pointer). I just realized that they could be talking about our politicians (they’re not).

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Colbert mania

Posted on November 2, 2007 by ast

Stephen Colbert has been in the news a lot lately, especially with his new book I am America (and so can you!) (currently #1 on the New York best sellers’ list, as he just pointed out himself on TV), and … Continue reading →

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Movie: The President’s Last Bang

Posted on October 28, 2007 by ast

The President’s Last Bang (2005; Korean, with English subtitles) is a dramatization of the 1979 coup in South Korea that removed president Park Chung-hee from power. It is well-acted, stylish and very violent, though never unnecessarily so. I did feel … Continue reading →

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