Podcast monologue on Africa

The UC podcast gave an issue about Africa which has also been podcasted in the CFR series. Princeton N. Lyman, adjunct senior fellow for Africa policy studies, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) holds a talk about Africa. His monologue takes us beyond the crisis in the Sudan and civil war in the Congo. It touches upon democratization and economic development.

Princeton scratches the surface and is probably telling nothing more than an average reader of BBC news's Africa section would already know. It is just that many people, including myself, never read much in that section - if at all. So, it is a 15 minutes well spent. Lest this quarter of an hour not go lost, one should continue to follow, or read more.

Princeton recommend the book he co-authored and that supplied also the long and unwieldy title of the podcast: Beyond Humanitarianism: What You Need to Know About Africa and Why it Matters.

The daily Whiplash (1)

Today, Thursday, things are brightening up a bit. Until the day before yesterday I suffered tremendous pains. Yesterday pains were much less, but I felt groggy like a drunk. Today even that has improved. There is still a little pain, also after taking pain killers, but not the kind that drives one up the wall.

The feeling is only mildly miserable and mildly unstable. What remains an insufferable element of the party is the maze of bureaucracy. I have seen around eight doctors by now and am about to see at least three more and each one of them has his own quirks. In any case none of them has any time for me and the surrounding secretaries just as much as them act as if I am a nuisance, a disturbance and generally stand in their way onto infinitely more important, if not pleasurable activities, so what the hell am I doing here. Similarly works the insurance. The only pleasant exceptions were the Police and most of all the garage that repaired the car.

So far so good, I'll keep you posted.

Updated Audiobook podcasts from Openculture

Openculture left us a quick note to let you know that they “re-orged” the Audiobook Podcast Collection. The list, which had become a bit unwieldy, is now broken down by genre: Literature/Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. And, within these categories, the texts are organized by the author’s name. Finally listed are also the Audiobook podcast sites.