There are about 200 million people working abroad, which is a stable 3% of the world’s population. The money that these people send home is called remittances. Remittances can be viewed as a kind of development aid and is a very important bonus for the families that stayed behind in often impoverished countries. In fact, the total amount of remittances exceeds the value of official development aid (see a graph here).

However, remittances aren’t entirely positive, generally speaking. They are of course beneficial for those receiving them, but one shouldn’t overestimate their effectiveness in the fight against global poverty.

Disadvantages of remittances

• Most of the remittances do not go to the most needy. Poland and Mexico receive large chunks of total remittances; African countries much less.

remittances by destination

(source)

• Even the remittances that are sent to the poorest countries don’t necessarily benefit the poorest people in those countries. You need money to emigrate, hence migrants tend not to come from the poorest families.
• It’s impossible to target remittances towards development priorities.
• The emigration that is presupposed by remittances is often a brain drain, although not necessarily. Some groups of immigrants are above average in education, some are below.

Advantages of remittances

• The money goes directly and almost completely to the beneficiaries (minus the commission taken for the international payment by remittance agencies). This is not the case with official development aid where there’s always a margin taken by the overhead of aid agencies or NGOs.
• Similarly, there’s no part of the money deviated by corrupt officials, also contrary to official development aid which is often easier to steal.

All in all, remittances are a powerful, if not very accurate weapon in the fight against poverty. There is therefore a strong case in favor of allowing more migration and lowering the restrictions on the free movement of labor (see here). Migration can of course create problems (especially when it leads to cultural friction), but it is also a solution. The migrants themselves often have a better life. Around 75% of them go to countries with a higher score on the Human Development Index. Their families at home obviously benefit as well. And if we believe in trickle down economics (which we should to a limited extent) then we can assume that when these families have more money, the economy around them also benefits to some degree.

But there’s not only the money. There are also knowledge transfers, and we can reasonably hope that migration promotes intercultural understanding. It’s often easier to fear and hate what you don’t know. The countries of origin, which are often less free and democratic than the countries of destination, may also learn the benefits of freedom.

More on remittances. Some statistics and maps. More on migration. Something on the strange case of reverse remittances is here.

“Os ricos são diferentes. Eles têm mais dinheiro.” A fase é atribuída ao dueto Scott Fitzgerald e Ernest Hemingway. Que dupla! E que sentença! Digna de Otto Lara Resende, que foi o Pelé da frase no Brasil. Dentre suas pérolas, saco esta: “Mineiro que fica em Minas tem defeito de fabricação.” Boa, não? Mas fiz essa divagação para citar matéria de capa da revista The Economist, em sua penúltima edição, sobre queda de fertilidade da população mundial.

A revista chama atenção para o fato de que na metade do globo a taxa de fecundidade está em torno de 2.1%. Ou seja, índice considerado ideal por assegurar a reposição da população no patamar da estabilização. Festeja The Economist a expectativa de que entre 2020 e 2050 as taxas de fertilidade mundial estarão abaixo do limiar de renovação ou reposição da população. Sem dúvida, um sopro de ar fresco para a crescente pressão sobre o meio ambiente nesses tempos de aquecimento global. Tudo isso porque países em desenvolvimento estariam imitando os opulentos no controle populacional. À medida que a riqueza “per capita” aumenta, tende a crescer também a limitação voluntária do número de filhos. Famílias menores, rebentos mais afluentes. Um ciclo que se auto-reforça. Assim tem sido, pelo menos até recentemente.

O diabo – o diabo malthusiano – é que quando a parte mais necessitada do planeta resolve frear seu crescimento, vêm agora as nações do primeiro mundo e decidem fazer tudo ao inverso. Afinal, os ricos são diferentes!

Pesquisa divulgada recentemente pelo jornal Washington Post mostra que, após atingirem determinado estágio de desenvolvimento, muitos países ricos voltam a ostentar taxas crescentes de fecundidade. Isto acontece geralmente quando se atinge um IDH (Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano) em torno de 0.9. A tendência foi verificada em 18 dos 26 países arrolados nessa categoria. Isto posto, a expectativa no caso é voltar-se ao modelo da família numerosa do passado, quando os filhos representavam uma vantagem econômica. Uma prole avantajada agora é luxo! Pra gente que tem bala na agulha. Ora, sendo assim, dirá alguém que a propensão de um mundo cada vez mais próspero é caminhar para a superpopulação e os riscos aí envolvidos. Mas…pensando bem… melhor evitar palpites quando se trata de previsões sobre população. Malthus arriscou e até hoje leva chumbo grosso. Bom mesmo é ficar na moita, esperar pela cor da fumaça, mineiramente, como diria Otto Lara Resende.

Uwe schrieb am 27.10.09:

“Liebe Freunde des Unikat’s,
da meine Frau und ich ein Modell der ersten Tikro Serie von April 2006 besitzen, würde mich interessieren, ob es bereits Erfahrung mit der Umrüstung auf einen Rußpartikelfilter gibt. Er besitzt zur Zeit die gelbe Euro3 Plakette und sollte eigentlich ohne Probleme auf Euro4 und dementsprechend grüner Plakette umrüstbar sein.
Unser Peugeot Boxer ist ein 2,8l HDI mit 94KW und den Schlüsselnummern zu 2.1 von 3003, Nr.2.2 von 00000000, Nr 14 von 1999/96/EG;A,GKL:G1 . Danke für einen einfachen (preiswerten?) Tip.

Schöne Grüsse von Uwe”

HDI shows Balochistan, Sindh most neglected – Sindh below Punjab, NWFP in all sectors except education

Courtesy: The News, Thursday, October 22, 2009

By Mehtab Haider

ISLAMABAD: The Centre has found that Balochistan and Sindh, the most neglected federating units in terms of Human Development Index (HDI), will ultimately cause inclusion of backwardness as an indicator for multiple criteria for finalising the NFC Award.

The inclusion of backwardness into the multiple criteria will pave the way for transferring more resources towards these two federating units in the forthcoming NFC Award.The deliberations for the National Finance Commission (NFC) are under way to finalise vertical and horizontal distribution of financial resources. It has been decided that the distribution of resources under the Federal Divisible Pool (FDP) will be made on the basis of multiple criteria but now the provinces will have to evolve a consensus on exact weightage given to each criterion for each of the criterion within the multiple factors.

On the request of the Finance Ministry, a special presentation was prepared called ‘A Brief on HDI by Provinces’ by taking into account four sectors, including education index, health index, facility index and economy index, a copy of which is exclusively available with The News states that the overall HDI for Pakistan stands at 0.561, which by international standards, falls in the category of countries with the Medium Human Development.

The HDI (0.561) for 2006-07 when compared with HDI computed by the UN for 2005 for Pakistan (0.0551) indicates a slight increase of 1.8 per cent. With HDI of 0.551, Pakistan stands at 136th position out of the total 177 countries in accordance with the UN Human Development Report 2007-08.

The findings state province wise analysis indicates that the HDI 0.602 in the Punjab stands first and it is even 7.3 per cent above the national HDI, followed by the NWFP with 0.563 that is almost equal to national average.

Sindh’s HDI stands at 0.507 and Balochistan’s at 0.443, which shows that the province of Balochistan is the most backward province in terms of HDI. “Balochistan is almost 21 per cent below the national average while Sindh is below the national average by 10 per cent,” the report added.

The analysis by sector wise indexes for the provinces indicates that the Punjab is leading in all the sectors among the four provinces, except for the economy index, for which the Punjab stands second, Sindh remains below as compared to the Punjab and the NWFP in all other sectors except for education, where its performance is slightly better than the NWFP and Balochistan, however, far below as compared to the Punjab. The NWFP has done well compared to Sindh and Balochistan in almost all sectors, however, marginally below in education by Sindh but surprisingly the NWFP is above all the provinces in economy index.

Balochistan is far below in almost all sectors, except for the economy index where it stands after the NWFP. The details of sector wise analysis show that the national education index stands at 0.768 while it is 0.839 in the Punjab, 0.695 in Sindh, 0.693 in the NWFP and 0.591 in Balochistan.

The report states that Punjab is better among all the provinces in both Adult Literacy Rate (ALR) and Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) and also above the national average. Sindh is better than the NWFP and Balochistan in ALR, the NWFP is better than Sindh and Balochistan in GER.

Source – http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=204451

Sunset after the rain. View from my office, Freetown, Sierra Leone

When I was in Thailand I met a woman from Zimbabwe who was trying to convince me to return to Africa. “It’s in your heart,” she said. “I can see it in the way you dance, the way you greet and interact with your African colleagues, the way you talk about it – you obviously know Africa well and should be there.” At the time I simply responded that I was happy to be in Asia now.

I thought about what she said for a long time. Everywhere you visit or live has an impact on who you are, the ways in which you see the world, your approach to people and cultures. I realized at the time that Africa taught me many things, as Asia was also teaching me.

Africa taught me about the nature of struggle; it taught me how to develop a thick skin and endure whatever life or people throw at you. It taught me to be strong and hard. It taught me the value of community, family, and how focus on this contributes greatly to the quality of life in general.

Asia taught me gentleness. I learned how to be soft in approach, to take responsibility for my emotions and presence and how to approach everything and everyone with compassion, even-tempered response to everything that comes, and the true value of friendship.

I’m not sure what I’m supposed to learn now that I’m back on the “Mother Continent” and living in Sierra Leone.

Culture shock – been there, done that.

Mom in Canmore Alberta

So far I’ve faced a massive culture shock – perhaps greater than I’ve ever felt or faced thus far.

I had five months in Canada before coming back to Africa which were incredible. I always enjoy going home as it gives me an opportunity to rest, recover from my journey and “lessons,” and work on a more spiritual side of myself. And as my mom says, “an opportunity to be taken care of” when my career and travels are so centred around taking care of others.

The culture shock has been mostly a result of the contrast between approaches to people. In Thailand (and Asia in general, it seems) you learn quickly to be soft and considerate at all times, but if and when pushed very far you can show a bit of your hard or firm side. Sierra Leone is the complete opposite: be tough and strong, and once you trust (if ever) you can show a softer side of yourself.

I have never been in a country with so much screaming and yelling. This is the first thing I noticed upon arrival. Men yell at women and at other men, women yell at their children, the children yell at each other and the dogs on the street, taxi drivers yell at everyone. It now seems like a weekly event – the woman across the street, sounding like a deeper-throated version of a chicken, screams at gawd-knows-whom every Saturday morning at around 8am and continues for at least 2 hours.

Good morning.

Additionally, as you can imagine, I’ve been thoroughly taken advantage of given my initial “soft” approach to people. Here, softness is considered a weakness – that you’re an easy target for constant harassment for money, Canadian citizenship (the most-desirable country of the year, I’ve heard via expats. Yippee.), sex, jobs, anything you may own or be wearing at the time. While I encountered a lot of this in the DRCongo, it is just simply more intense here. It all makes sense when you put it into context though.

Sierra Leone is third to last on the Human Development Index, meaning it is indeed amongst the poorest countries in the world. A colleague told me that there is a 60% unemployment rate, and the youth, while considered the future of the country, are so frustrated and disillusioned from lack of opportunity and sheer boredom that they end up going to the “dark side” in the end.

The view from the airplane, somewhere over Sierra Leone

Nation-wide psychosocial disorders.

After a particularly frustrating day this week I came home and re-watched the movie Blood Diamond – mostly in efforts to make historical and psychosocial sense of what I was seeing and encountering. I’ve now come to the perhaps obvious conclusion that the whole country is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (in combination with other issues, I’m sure). Symptoms of this include:

• re-experiencing original trauma(s), by means of flashbacks or nightmares;
• avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma;
• increased arousal, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep;
• anger;
• hyper-vigilance;
• significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (e.g. problems with work and/or relationships).

With a whole country limping (literally – see tortures inflicted during the 11-year civil war) towards the possibility of a better life, it’s not difficult to see why everyone is yelling.

Housing Crisis 2009 – or how Naphiri got screwed without even a kiss.

When I arrived I stayed in a small guesthouse called the Solar Hotel. I realized early on that the $90/night fee would very quickly eat through my rapidly dwindling funds (see: constant harassment for money) if I were to stay there long. As a chunky white girl alone in Africa, you can naturally assume that you’ll end up paying four times the price as everyone else so paying “international prices” for a hotel was just not an option when I was already paying so much for basic necessities like food and water.

I asked all my colleagues and new friends if they knew of longer-term (cheaper) places to move to. I spoke to a particular driver at work who seemed friendly and helpful. We’ll call him Murray for now. He vowed to try and help me out by asking around to his contacts as well. My direct supervisor invited me to her house one day where I met a lovely Sierra Leonean landlord, let’s call her Trudy, who had a spare flat in a complex in a nice area. I called Murray to help me to see the place. My first mistake: I told him that I trusted his judgement given that this is his country and he knows what to keep an eye out for when looking at homes.

We saw the place and I instantly fell in love. A two-bedroom furnished apartment with good water, electricity, freshly painted and tiled walls and floors, and a very accommodating landlord – all for under US$5,000/year (a miracle in this country, I assure you!) plus utilities. Murray didn’t say much but just looked around and simply nodded to everything I said regarding the place.

The next day he said he’d thought about it more and felt that UN security would not approve of it for me. He cited missing barbed wire at the back of the building and convinced me that the neighbourhood was actually quite sketchy. Murray went on about how my security and safety is absolutely paramount (ironic in the end). He said that I should look at a place he found for me as well – to keep an open mind and have options in the end.

I liked the idea of comparison shopping and so went to this new proposed place. Huge. 3-bedroom mansion with a giant paved backyard (house parties, anyone?!), boys’ quarters (i.e. small maid’s room off the back of the house), a gazebo in the garden (where the DJ booth would go, of course), and absolutely no furniture (including fridge, cook stove, or anything beyond a concrete floor and walls for that matter – well, AND the DJ’s gazebo, of course). I told him that the house was way too large for me and that I had originally had no plans for getting a roommate, never mind investing what little money I had left – from having to pay an entire year in advance – into basics like a bed or fridge. Thank gawd I bought a portable gas stove before I left Canada or I would have gone hungry for the first week (or have paid for inflated-price restaurant meals at least twice a day).

African plumbing made easy...

In the end I got caught up in Murray’s arguments that this was the best option I would ever find; the negotiations with the landlord that found me suddenly paying US$500 more than the original price for the year; and the whirlwind of bed shopping in a crowded market downtown (I’ve loathed public markets ever since getting mugged in one in Johannesburg).

Murray asked me at one point what I was doing with the boys’ quarters. I made a deal with him that if he dealt with the workmen who were required to repair the electricity, plumbing, doors, locks, etc, etc, etc ad nauseum issues that plagued this old mansion (with gawd knows what kind of history), he could have it for free. Besides, I told him, I would feel safer with the neighbours seeing that a man also lived on the premises. I trusted this guy so completely that I even lent him an expensive extra celphone I had when he said his was not working (don’t worry, I get it back in the end).

Trudy called one day, after a week of living in Hell Mansion, to ask why I didn’t call back to do a security assessment (requirement for UN staff) on her apartment. I told her the whole story and expressed my intense regret for not taking her lovely flat [insert sound of yelling workmen in my house in the background - here]. Then the truth came out. Apparently Murray returned to the flat the night we saw it to demand a commission for finding the place for me. Trudy basically told him to take a flying leap as it was my supervisor, a personal friend of Trudy’s, who had found the flat for me. My supervisor, who had been out of the country on business when all this was going on, was also told about Murray’s treachery.

I suddenly realized that I’d been taken for a ride – that Murray now had made a commission off of me, had a free place to stay, AND a free cellphone (which by this point he’d personalized and added new ring tones and photos – NOT standard practice for someone “borrowing” something).

Thank gawd I work with lawyers.

I managed to wiggle out of the existing lease for the mansion and am now fighting to get back some of the US$1000 deposit I put on it (am conceivably skeptical about its return). My flat at Trudy’s is spectacular and exactly what I wanted from the very beginning. I have a fridge, a soft comfy bed, gas cook stove, sofa set, and almost all the amenities of a flat in Canada. And no Murray or other roommates hanging around to figure out how to screw me further.

A home-made ladder (no, you couldn't pay me enough to get up on it!), Freetown

I love my home now.

My supervisor suggested after the incident to make a formal complaint against Murray, as the drivers are expected to be the “ambassadors” for the organization – helping us out-of-sorts newbies get our grounding and all the basics we need to live. I have a hard time, despite getting screwed, putting a Sierra Leonean out of a job, no matter how dubious his motives may be. I vowed to base my decision on writing a complaint on his reaction to the news of me moving out. To my surprise, he came bouncing into the office after the weekend talking about how great it was that I moved into Trudy’s and how I would be much happier there. I’m thinking he figured out that he was caught. I scrapped the complaint letter and am watching him carefully now. He gave me back the phone.

The right decision?

Admittedly, I took the job here primarily based on the the focus and projects, as well as the compensation. I’m on a 3-month consultancy contract and the organization really wants me to stay on for an additional year. Unfortunately an extension can be offered only at a ¼ of my consultancy pay and comes with a “demotion” in title on the CV under a different contract. Hmmm… As always I’m reading the air and the surroundings while staying open to the new, but I also have a hard time breaking commitments already made. I also like the focus of the work I have planned for next year: more edutainment initiatives around justice and sexual and gender-based violence. I’m planning on a trip back to Thailand at Christmas to get a bit of R&R, pampering, and some of my stuff I left in storage there. I’m hoping that regular trips to “sanity” outside of the country will help with keeping that soft gentle and loving side I worked so hard to develop in Chiang Mai.

I think that the hardest part of all this is simply feeling that as much as you crave it, you could give Sierra Leone the earth, moon, sun, and all the money in the world and it still would seem to make little difference.

My hopes are that I’ll start seeing more of the “positives” in the country. I’ve begun meditating regularly during the day to keep my stress and anger levels low – especially when waiting hours for transportation or dealing with yet another person trying to get my attention for somethingorother.

Breeeeeathe deeply…

Will do.

And if all else fails, I’ll just put my head out the window and scream really really loudly.

Maybe that way I’ll blend in.

As anyone that has gone onto Yahoo! knows, the Human Development Index is out. The HDI is usually considered the most ‘official’ ranking of livability of countries.
Highest:                                                                    Lowest

1. Norway                                                 172. Moxambique
2. Australia                                              173. Guinea-Bissau
3. Iceland                                                 174. Brurndi
4. Canada (FUCKING EH )             175. Chad
5. Ireland                                                 176. Democratic Republic of Congo
6. Netherlands                                       177. Burkina Faso
7. Sweden                                                178. Mali
8. France                                                 179. Central African Republic
9. Switzerland                                       180. Sierra Leone
10. Japan                                                181. Afganistan
11. Luxembourg                                   182. Niger

Guess which number the United States is.

No, really, guess.

…

You really must guess.

…

GUESS, YOU JACKASS.

…

DOWN IN NUMBER THIRTEEN. HAHA WE BEAT YOU.

So I did some digging around. And by digging around I meant Wikipedia.

So this is how they do it. They take life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, school enrollment ratio, and standard of living (aka how rich they are). They mash them all together to create an average and BOOM! Ranking of the countries.

I looked around some more and apparently Canada tops the list by getting number one EIGHT TIMES (fuckYES). Norway got it seven times. Japan got it three times and Iceland got it twice. They revised some of the lists this year, and unfortunately in the revised one, Canada only nabbed two top spots out of eight. Norway got the rest. But that’s my Canadian mind talking.

Then I checked out some of the lists from the year before, to see if anything has changed. The data off of which the HDI is calculated is in the bracket.

2009’s data (2007): 1. Norway 2. Australia 3. Iceland 4. Canada 5. Ireland
2008’s data (2006): 1. Iceland 2. Norway 3. Canada 4. Australia 5. Ireland
2007’s data (2005): 1. Iceland 2. Norway 3. Australia 4. Canada 5. Ireland.
2006’s data (2004): 1. Norway 2. Iceland 3. Australia 4. Ireland 5. Sweden
2005’s data (2003): 1. Norway 2. Iceland 3. Australia 4. Luxembourg 5 Canada

Does it EVER change? Apart from switching around a few places, the only changes to the top five are Canada dropping out in 2006 (to sixth place, big whoop), and Luxembourg in 2005. Norway, Iceland, Australia, Canada and Ireland seems to be owning everybody, by the looks of it.

Do you notice how they’re all neutral (not counting NATO and past world wars)? But then you can argue about the World Wars, since Australia got dragged in to both forcibly, Canada had to join WWII to show he wasn’t a mama’s boy as British as he seemed, Norway and Iceland got invaded, and Ireland was a part of The British Empire in World War I so…

Maybe trades are better coz no country holds grudges against them or something…?

The list has been criticized for being too focused on money and not on the actual happiness of the people. Well let’s just see about that…

Satisfaction with Life Index (because this one looked like it made more sense than the ‘Happy Planet Index’)

2006 Rankings:

1. Denmark                                  168. Swaziland
2. Switzerland                            169. Georgia
3. Austria                                    170. Belarus
4. Iceland                                    171. Turkmenistan
5. The Bahamas                        172. Armenia
6. Finland                                   173. Sudan
7. Sweden                                  174. Ukraine
8. Bhutan                                   175. Moldova
9. Brunei                                    176. Democratic Republic of Congo
10. Canada                                177. Zimbabwe
11. Ireland                                178. Burundi

OH MAI. NORWAY DOES NOT SHOW UP ON THIS ONE. NEITHER DOES AUSTRALIA. Other countries in the top 10 HDI that are not in the top 10 SLI are: Netherlands, France, Japan, and Luxembourg.

Japan not showing up is expected. The amount of emos in that country is astronomical.

The countries in the lowest for both lists are Brurndi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. I’m not sure if Brurndi is crappy in general or something, but Democratic Republic of Congo was a given. First of all, it’s in Africa. Second, it’s ruled by a dictator. Third, it’s shit poor. Fourth… well it has the word ‘democratic’ in their country name. Which other country has the word ‘democratic’ that we know of…? People’s Republic Of Tyranny, if you will.

How does this relate and why should we care? I don’t know. Just look at all the graphs before moving to a country based blindly on HDI. Norway may be number one on the list, but chances are if you move there, you’ll spend all of your life savings within the first month and get savagely attacked by polar bears. You’ll always need to conserve water in Australia. ICELAND HAS NO TREES (and is bankrupt), Canada is awesome (if you don’t live in Toronto or Vancouver) and Ireland… fiddily dee! Potatoes!

*shot*

I would write more, but I’m hungry. I don’t even know what’s the main point in this article (did I even have a point when I started?), so I’ll leave it at that.

All I know that is when I get rich, I am SOOOOO packing my bags and moving to Svalbard.

– Annie (brb gone to get food)

It’s not every day you hear of a seven-employee startup making its own TV, much less a 100-inch laser 3-D TV, but that’s what a bootstrapped company called HDI out of Los Gatos, Calif. has done. Chris and I went on a fieldtrip to HDI HQ last week to see the set in action.

HDI’s 100-inch TV gives off a 1920 x 1080p image from three RGB laser-illuminated micro display imagers. It’s not thin like plasma or LCD, but it’s nice and bright and refreshes quickly at 360 Hz. HDI thinks it can sell the TV for $10-15,000, undercutting what people are used to paying in the home theater market. HDI’s TV can also do 2-D (in fact, it was only in the middle development that HDI realized it could combine 3-D with such a nice screen). The demo unit weighs 80 pounds, is 10 inches deep, and draws 190 watts of power.

Panasonic’s 103-inch 3-D TV, by contrast, weighs hundreds of pounds, takes in something like 1.5 kilowatts, and costs $75,000. HDI’s first prototype was finished last month, and at the moment there are only two working TVs; HDI is trying to develop a portable projector version so it can do a roadshow.

Five-year-old HDI spent three years getting this particular technology working, but now it’s in a bit of a rush. The Blu-ray 3-D standards are to be decided this December, and HDI is worried they will go the way of NVIDIA graphics chip standards for PCs, which are based on a system that uses special shutter glasses, which are synced via infrared and help viewers alternate right and left eyes so they can parse 3-D video. HDI’s system is based on the alternate model of dual output TVs and passive polarized glasses.

HDI's RGB projector

HDI has funded $5.5 million in development and technology acquisition out of its founders’ pockets; CEO Ingemar Jansson was a co-founder of Digital Reflection Inc, while CTO Edmund Sandburg was at Ampex and also DRI and designed HD laser projection systems for the military. They bought the intellectual property behind dual 1080p Liquid Crystal on Silicon imagers from a company called MicroDisplay Corp, which had more than $50 million in funding for rear-projection display technology and went out of business.

Japanese CE execs demo the HDI TV

Now that it has everything working, HDI needs more money and a strategic partner to manufacture its displays and bring them to market. The day Chris and I visited Jansson said he had just finished entertaining a group of executives from Sony, Sharp, Toshiba, JVC, Hitachi and Mitsubishi (pictured), who’d all made the trek to Los Gatos to see the laser TV for themselves.

Jansson is a bit of a snob about other 3-D technologies, and he said a third motivation for coming out of stealth is to counter the perception that 3-D is a “cheap trick,” given current systems give something closer to “two-and-a-half-D.”

As for Chris and my impressions of the TV? Well, it was pretty awesome. We watched a wide variety of content, from animation to sports to refurbished classic films to a 3-D home movie to games. The action popped out of the immense screen and immersed us in each clip. When confetti rained down and a sharp object approached, I definitely flinched. The experience made us realize, though, that in addition to HDI and others making the watching experience enjoyable, there needs to be an awful lot of work done to make good 3-D content. Even the best display in the world can’t overcome that problem.

From Nate Silver’s blog, an invaluable resource for statisticians and other people interested in data:

The amount of development aid per capita, in terms of donors and recipients has risen dramatically over the last 30 years – using 1975 as the approximate end of the direct colonial period with the independence of most Portuguese colonies – and small but perceptible increases in human well being have been seen in least developed countries (those who rely the most on aid). (source)

He doesn’t claim, nor should he, that the former is necessarily or exclusively the cause of the latter. Official development aid (ODA) may help countries achieve development, but there’s no universal agreement on that (read Bill Easterly’s blog for instance, or the writing of Dambisa Moyo). What is clear, however, is that specific types of development aid help to solve specific types of problems (such as malaria for instance). Just looking at total amounts of aid given or received isn’t going to tell you much about the usefulness or effectiveness of aid. Large total amounts aren’t necessarily better than small amounts.

The following chart illustrates total development aid flows from all donors to “Least Developed Countries” (or LDC), or those countries who have a human development index (or HDI) of less than 0.5, using constant 2007 US dollars, on a per capita basis [per capita of receiving countries, FS]:

(source)

The large increases in total aid flows have resulted from several trends: First, more donors are present, as oil-rich middle eastern states and others have since the 1980s begun to provide a significant portion of development aid. Second, OECD countries have increased both in number and in disbursals. Large disparity occurs between countries in terms of per capita aid, however, largely driven by high-profile events such as conflicts, natural disasters, and political commitments to domestic populations by former colonial powers.

Since independence and decolonization, and assisted by development aid and strengthening of domestic economies and social systems, the least developed countries have made slow but steady progress toward human development:

(source)

More statistics on development aid are here. Why this is a human rights issue is explained here.

The UN Development Program (UNDP) published the 2009 Human Development Index this week, examining three dimensions of human welfare: living a long and healthy life, having a decent standard of living, and being educated. The Index considers 182 countries, and divides them into four categories: very high human development, high human development, medium human development, and low human development.

The first 38 countries made the very high development category, and include Norway (ranked 1), Australia (ranked 2), and the US (ranked 13). Countries 39-83, which include Bahrain (39), Chile (44) and Peru (78), achieved high human development.  The largest number of countries, numbers 84-158, falls into the middle development category, and El Salvador (106) falls somewhere in the middle of this group.  Other middle development countries include Armenia (84), Guatemala (122), and Honduras (124). The bottom tier include countries such as Togo (159), Ethiopia (171) and Niger (182), that have achieved little in terms of human development.

Despite falling from a raking of 103 in 2007/08 to 106 this year, El Salvador’s overall score rose from .735 to .747.  Since the 1990’s El Salvador’s performance has increased at an annual rate of .99% from a raw score of .573.

While these indicators provide an overall view of how a country is development, the UNDP also created other indices that provide a more complete picture of such issues as poverty and the empowerment of women.  The Human Poverty Index (HPI-1) for example examines the proportions of people living below the measure of the HDI.  While considering the same issues of health, education and standard of living, the HPI-1 also looks at adult literacy, percentage of population expected to live past the age of 40, number of people not using water sources, and the percentage of youth who are underweight.

This year, El Salvador’s HPI-1 score is 14.6%, which gave them a ranking of 63 of the 135 countries considered.  In 2008, El Salvador had a score of 15.1% and was ranked 35 of 108 countries. (See table below for 2009/2008 scores)

To cover gender-related imbalances not covered by the HDI, the UNDP added the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) in 1995.  The GDI measures the same indicators as the HDI, though it captures inequalities by adjusting downwards to reflect the status of women. The greater the difference between the HDI and the GDI numbers, the greater the inequalities between men and women.  The 2009 report indicates a 99.1% difference between the HDI and GDI, with 85 of the 155 countries of the GDI scoring better.

The UNDP also considers migration, and the economic benefits that result from the money remitted back home to help family members or the greater community. The 2009 Human Development Report noted that El Salvador has an emigration rate of 14.3% – 86.8% of Salvadoran immigrants are living in the U.S.

Over the past few months, the Funes Administration has begun enacting reforms to the health and educational systems that, if successful, will result in higher levels of development.  The country, however, continues to face significant economic development issues that have been exacerbated by the global economic crisis.  Funes and team has a lot of work ahead to lessen the dependence on remittances and create sustainable jobs at home.

Facts never lie, do they? Contrary to the shameless hype, hoopla and chest-thumping by the slumdog media about their shithole’s “economic boom”, “rising economic strength”, “emergence as a world power” etc. etc. the United Nations Development Program’s 2009 Human Development Report confirms what the entire world already knew – slumdog India is a Third World shithole!

Out of 182 countries, the savage slumdogs are ranked 134 in terms of the Human Development that’s even worse than some countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Ranked 134 out of 182! A sign of an “emerging power” and “a future superpower”? Perhaps the world needs to coin a new phrase that would reflect the reality about the land of the filthy slumdogs – rising shitpower India. What else can one expect of the slumdogs who kill their own daughters even before they are born? What else can one expect of savages whose idea of entertainment is watching bollyshit films that glorify rape and abuse of women? What else can one expect of nasty barbarians who treat hundreds of millions of human beings as “outcastes” and “untouchables” and murder them for entering temples or using water from public wells? Shithole India is the world’s only shitpower whose shameless slumdogs are proud of their own status as a Third World shithole!

Infant mortality rate highest in India: Report

New Delhi: India has the highest infant mortality rate in the world, a nationwide survey reveals. India has slipped from 128 to 134 rank in 2009 according to a United Nations Human Development report…

…The high mortality rate is also due to fact that India ranks 171 out of 175 countries in the world in public health spending. What is worse, it’s the state in which the child is born that decides how long he would survive. Highest rate of malnutrition are in four of five states in India. Uttar Pradesh has has the highest neo natal mortality rate with 96 deaths in 1,000 births, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 94, Orissa at 91 and 85 in Rajasthan…

IBN Live

Shameless savages! Worthless subhuman sewer-bred Indian rats! Pathetic deluded morons! Uncivilized, cow-piss drinking, untouchability-practising scumbags! Smelly, curry-munching, “eve-teasing”, human-sacrifice practising, bollyshit-watching slumdog mongrels! Murderous, dalit-butchering, female fetus aborting criminals! Filthy, crude, illiterate and semi-literate savage criminal rapists inhabiting the world’s lagest open shithole! Shame on you, dirty Indian slumdogs! Shame on your filthy shithole land populated by the world’s most revolting scumbags!

In the latest Human Development Index (HDI) compiled by the United Nations, Norway came out on top as the best place to stay today.

HDI is an index used to rank countries by level of “human development”, which usually also implies whether a country is developed, developing , or underdeveloped. Needless to say, it is an index also where one sees the grave disparities between rich and poor countries.

The development index is a compilation of 182 countries ranked by the UN Development Program (UNDP) on standards based life expectancy, literacy, education and gross domestic product (GDP) per person.

Australia and Iceland completed the first three spots. Niger, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic were all found at the bottom of the list.

It was China that was seen to have made a significant stride in improving the welfare of its citizens as it moved up as the 92^nd most developed country due to an improved income levels, life expectancy and educational standard.

France which was not included in the top 10 last year made a come back this year to rank 8^th.  The United States placed 13^th, slipping one spot down from last year.

This year’s index is said to have been based on data from 2007 and does not consider the impact of the global economic crisis.

The UN development index showed the top 10 countries as follows: Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan.

The guys left on Monday 3rd of August around 00.30 in the morning. They took their flight back to Dublin and as planned I slept at St Paul’s, the hostel were my team stayed for the last two weeks. I meant to spend one more week in Rwanda, travelling on my own, visiting a few more places and getting to know new people.

But instead, the same Monday at noon I had a meeting with Eddy, the CEO of Camara Rwanda. He told me about the necessity of the local branch to grow up: Camara Rwanda had just taken off a few months ago and the first deliveries of PCs to schools (and trainings) took place during July, when the Irish volunteers came over. It was a successful beginning for Camara Rwanda: the volunteers from Ireland (and also Eddy) really did a great work and the word of mouth among other schools in the Bugesera District also wanted Camara PCs. On top of that, a new container full of computers was on its way to Dar Es Salaam (and therefore Kigali), so more work for Camara Rwanda would be coming soon. Camara Rwanda’s hub needed to be set up and consequently more people were required in the staff!

Camara Education has a “hub” in every country where it operates. In these hubs PCs are stored, refurbished and prepared to be sent to schools. The last part of the process that was taking place in Dublin and Belfast for the last few years from now on would be done in Kigali, in the case of Camara Rwanda. Eddy needed a hand to do so, and he offered me to stay as a member of the team. During that 20 minute meeting with Eddy, we talked about my work in Camara Rwanda, my duties and my responsibilities. Moreover, he offered accomodation in his place. Obviously I could not reject such a great opportunity!

The following picture galleries and texts will give you an idea of what’s been going on at Camara Rwanda for the last two months. Enjoy!

• Visits to Schools.

Before Camara computers can be delivered to schools, the first step is obviously making contacts with them. The standard procedure consists of a visit to the candidate school in order to interview the headmaster (principal), check out the room which is supposed to have the PCs and give advice in regards the way the computer lab should be set up: normally schools need to make a proper electric installation, improve security and ventilation conditions, buy/build adequate furniture… Once the lab is ready, the school fill in an application form and only then they can purchase the computers. After bringing the PCs to the school, normally another visit takes place in order to make sure there are no technical problems and then the trainings are arranged according to the school’s calendar.

These pictures were taken in the Kirehe district, a remote area close to the Rusumo border with Tanzania. Thanks the the VSO volunteer Sonya Fay, I could visit a number of schools and headmasters and let them know about Camara. During my trip we visited some schools in Nyakarambi, Nyaribuye and Rusumo sectors. In order to get to the schools, we had to take mototaxis through non paved roads. It is worth to say the landscapes were stunning!! But it is also true that after one hour of motorbike oneself ends up covered in dust!

VSO (Volunteer Service Overseas) is an NGO based in UK. They send off volunteers to different developing countries. In Rwanda, VSO has community of around 50 volunteers, most of them focused in education matters. Sonya works for the District of Education of Kirehe in Nyakarambi. In the pictures below, a few moments when visiting Rugarama Primary School. Rugarama students won a prize on Science experiments among many other East African schools. The headmistress (a lovely woman) wanted to show us the whole school. The students were even ready to do a demo of their science experiments!

In Nyakarambi I also met Andy, another VSO volunteer who teaches English at Rusumo Primary School. He also runs the library of the school which, by the way, was recently decorated very nicely by students, teachers and VSO volunteers.

Other times both Eddy and I have headed to schools together in order to fix technical issues, meet more headmasters and check future computer labs. On the right, Eddy is configuring a printer at Gihinga Secondary School. Gihinga is located in the Bugesera District, where Eddy made the first contacts and Camara started its operations.

The last group of schools I’ve visited belong to the Adventists. They have very nice Primary and Secondary Schools, and also an Institute of IT and Management. Last Wednesday I had visited the schools in Gitwe. The Vice Director invited me to came in to some of the classrooms after a nice lunch at his place and he looked pretty keen taking pictures of me and his students!

• The Hub

The Hub is the heart of every Camara branch. Inside, local volunteers help in refurbishing PCs to be sent to schools. Like in Ireland, our volunteers are the engine of Camara, without them, the whole Project would not be possible! At the beginning, Eddy and I were the only ones refurbishing PCs… our facilities were empty of people! Piles and piles of CPUs were waiting to be processed… In the last but one picture of this set you can also see Claude, our guard. Although he only speaks fluently Kinyarwanda and he had no experience with PCs, so far he has showed deep interest in computers, and now he is able of installing Ubuntu, knows the inside parts (hardware) of a PC, and his typing and English have immensely improved!! Claude also makes sure everyday our tea program for volunteers is always ready, and even makes sure there is nice music playing inside the hub! (Look at his speaker -last picture of the set-, it is pretty cool and damn, sounds really loud and well!)

Our first volunteers started to pop in August and now they show up everyday. They brought life to Camara Rwanda! Thanks to them, Eddy, Ali (our Technical Director in Africa who visited us for one week), Brian (a former volunteer of Camara Uganda who helped out with his programming skills) and I, many improvements and changes have been done to the Camara Rwanda hub: now we have a very nice team of volunteers who are 95% autonomous when it comes to refurbishing PCs. They open PC boxes, they blow the internals of the PCs, install Camarabuntu + Wikipedia, they check every single PC in order to ensure our quality standards and finally they label and put all PCs ready in the database of the inventory! On top of that they have already started teaching hardware to the “newcomers”. They even create their own badges!! A new eWaste management program has also begun and trainings on Word Processor, Spreadsheet and Presentation will start next week!! Some of them will be teachers for our schools! Amazing, isn’t it?

Our volunteers first of all blow and clean the internals of the PCs. By doing so, we make sure that no dust will damage the machines.

Afterwards, they remove the hard drive and they put it inside one of our “Camarabuntu Installation Stations”, in order to install Ubuntu OS + Wikipedia and educational packages.

After this, they put a hard drive which is ready back inside a CPU without hard drive.

Now it is time to check a whole PC, label parts and boxes, do the inventory and put it inside the Check Out room!

After one day of hard work, it is time to count PCs!! And leave everything tidy and ready for the next day!

A new day comes and more CPUs are waiting to be refurbished!

Our eWaste Management program. Two volunteers are our “eWaste Management Officers” who make sure the program runs appropriately and raise awareness about eWaste among other volunteers. So far, in Camara Rwanda we demanufacture broken PCs and parts and we separate the waste in plastic, metal, glass, paper, electronics, batteries and ink cartridges. Not bad, eh?

Some pictures of the Irish volunteers.

Our office! A bit tiny for the two of us working at the same time…

Below you can see pictures of our “peer 2 peer” table. In there, our volunteers get training on hardware (now our teachers are also volunteers). After 5 days of training, they are able to tell every part of a PC and they are able to mount one from scratch! They become really experts!

• Our Volunteers.

The following set of pictures is a small homage to our volunteers. Kate, one of my housemates, has taken some nice pictures of some of them. She is a volunteer involved in several projects in Rwanda, but has also offered to help out Camara Rwanda by writing a newsletter and carrying out some trainings on Open Office.

The first local volunteers came over around the third week of August. Since then, the word of mouth has been extremely efficient: so far we have around 130 volunteers in our records!! This became a problem since not all of them fit in our facilities at the same time, so they had to be divided in weekly groups of 12 people. We have waiting lists to come in until December. There is even a guy from Uganda -Robert- who heard about Camara Rwanda and came to volunteer with us. He shows up every day!

In exchange for their help, our volunteers get free training on hardware, ubuntu installation and basic administration and basic networking. In the near future, trainings on web design and Open Office will also be offered. And, of course, we thank them every day with some tea and bread!

Aloys
Eddy’s cousin. He sang in a hip-hop band in Kigali alongside his brother some time ago. Now he and Amani (below) are waiting to start college in January. He would like to be an architect.

Amani
One of our firsts volunteers. He shows up every afternoon!

Jean Aime
He is our “PC Refurbishing Coordinator”. Studied accountancy for 2 years.

Wellars
He is waiting his course of IT to start. In the meantime, he gives a hand in Camara while getting some experience with computers. He has just become our “Resources Manager”.

Kamali
He just passed the hardware test last week. Now is learning how to install Ubuntu and Wikipedia and the whole process of refurbishing PCs at Camara Rwanda.

From time to time, we try to look after our volunteers organising special events. Last one took place at Amahoro Stadium: we invited around 20 volunteers to watch the Rwanda – Egypt qualification match for the South Africa World Cup. Although Rwanda lost, we had a great time!

• Container #2 offloaded!

The following collection of pictures was taken around 3 weeks ago. Camara Rwanda container number 2 was shipped in summer from Belfast to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. From there it reached Kigali. In order to be offloaded, we asked our volunteers to give us a hand. Gratefully, some of them waited until late in the evening to do so. In around 1 hour and a half 220 boxes were offloaded and properly stored in our facilities!! Thanks a million guys!

• Life outside Camara.

It is true that Camara Rwanda takes almost 100% of my time here in Kigali, but there is always some moments to relax and chill out a bit. At home, Eddy lives with his fiancee, Nadja, although she is in Belgium at the moment. They also had two puppies, Alain and Sami who had brought some funny moments so far. Unfortunately, Alain died a few weeks ago after getting some digestive disease which the vets could not find out.

The house is quite big and there is also place for other housemates. Penelope and Thomas were the first guys I met. She is Australian and he is from Switzerland. Both decided to move to Rwanda for having a long term life plan, perhaps for two years o more. Thomas is a geek of golf and Penelope loves cooking. Both are a nice couple and from time to time we meet up for dinner. Kate is the last incorporation at home, she is from Massachussets and, as commented above, she is involved in several projects with HDI (Health and Development Initiative – Rwanda). You can have a look at: http://hdirwanda.org/. And she will soon be a Camara Rwanda volunteer, writing a newsletter and carrying out trainings on Open Office!

Jeremy is librarian from New York who spends almost all his free time playing the saxo and the clarinet. He came over to Rwanda for one month in August after setting up an NGO called Parade of One (http://www.paradeofone.org/) the aim of which is to bring art and music outside US and Europe. Parade of One meant to commemorate the 15th aniversary of the Genocide by bringing saxo music to the streets, bars, clubs and hotels of Rwanda. He stayed at Eddy’s place. During this time, he performed in Kigali almost every day, but also outside the capital, like in Butare or Gisenyi. I attended three of his gigs and they were great. Jeremy was always on fire!

A few views from the balcony of Eddy’s place. We have the airport just in front of us. Fortunately, the air traffic is not much, but seeing an airplane landing is always an experience!

One afternoon at Lalibella, a nice Ethiopian restaurant.

The 26th and 27th of September were both Eddy’s and my birthday. What a casuality! We celebrated them together and blowed a 59 candle cake (26 + 33). 33 more years will have to pass until I blow the same candles!

Finally, enjoy some pictures of our last housemate. He is Frankie (aka “The Little Dude”). He looks very cute although he is very brave and can even bite Sami!

Since I will stay for a long period of time in Rwanda, more posts with fresh news will be posted soon. Stay tuned!

Photos

HDI Rankings

see larger image

uploaded by Mritunjay

Gone are the days when development was measured as a function of GDP or Per Capita GDP. Human Development Index is the in the thing. Today businesses feel tempted to move to the BRIC markets as it’s where the growth is. The question that begs an answer is: has this development actually contributed to the living standards of the people in these countries?

In the 2009 raking of nations based on HDI which ranked 182 countries; 2 BRIC markets rank in the High Human Development bracket at ranks 71st (Russian Federation) and 75th (Brazil). China is clubbed under Medium Human development at 92nd while India lags behind at a distant 134 in the same bracket. The country to top the charts in the Very High Human Development bracket is Norway while Niger is at the bottom of the charts at 182nd position in the Low Human Development bracket. 12 UN members were not ranked in the study. These rankings represent statistical values for 2007 data.
Commenting on the rankings the resident representative of UNDP Patrice Coeur-Bizot said that the Indian progress has been steady in terms of the actual rating improvement it has made from 0.556 in 2000 to 0.612 in 2007. Though the progress may be significant, it has still a lot to do in order to move up the HDI ladder with the leader Norway holding the fortress at a high 0.971 in 2007.
One reason that ensures that the country could not move up the ladder from its spot a year ago is the fact that only income is responsive to short-term policy changes. Health and education take longer to improve. In the HDI ratings the factors that are accounted for apart from GDP are life expectancy and literacy.

The BRIC growth story is surely true but exceptions go beyond the HDI ranks. The International Business Report (IBR) by Thornton International lists Mexico among top four destinations for investment and development opportunities. China, India and Russia hold top three spots.
Surely, the BRIC markets are growing but they need to ensure that the growth is inclusive and all the citizens get the fruits of the development.

NowPublic

I don’t really know how to say it in my own words because Engadget said it best.

Before Mitsu can even take the logical next step, a California startup has arisen to introduce what it calls the world’s first laser-based 3D HDTV. We’re talking 1080p 3D like you’ve never seen before, with CTO Edmund Sandberg noting that this production is smoother than RealD, Dolby, film and pretty much every other 3D solution. The secret here is in the speed; this set is so fast that the image “no longer needs to flash from one eye to the other,” and no flashing should equate to no headaches.

[Engadget]

To make a long story short, I completed my first cross country.  We flew to Cleveland Hardwick.  It was a nice flight and it only takes about a half hour to get there.  I was a little nervous, but I knew that I had planned everything and that it was a good day to fly.  I don’t fly much on the weekends.  I find that I can usually schedule during the week with no problems.  Unfortunately, this week there had been a number of issues that prevented me from flying this cross country during the week.  It happened to work out so that I could get it done on Sunday.  The airport is different on the weekends.  I expected to see more people on the GA ramp, but that wasn’t the case.  I saw very few people, but there were noticeably fewer aircraft as well.

Just after arriving, I checked the weather and verified my planning.  Everything still checked out, although there was some weather moving into the western part of Tennessee that would be here later in the evening.  It was a good day to fly.  I went out for preflight, which involved making sure I had the correct sectional, nav log, and my e6b accessible in the cockpit.  As usual, everything checked out.  Hopefully every preflight will go this way.

After preflighting the plane we got in, strapped in, and started the engine.  I radioed for clearance, gave the destination and preferred heading and altitude, and was issued a clearance.  Everything was going according to plan.  Josh set up the GPS and dimmed it so that I couldn’t peek.  We took off and were cleared to our requested altitude (4500 ft) in short order.  Unfortunately, we were issued a heading that wasn’t directly on course, which meant that once ATC had cleared us to “resume own navigation” we were off course.  We were nearly to the lake before this happened, so I was well to the right of my intended course and nearly past the second checkpoint (it was a short flight).  This was exacerbated by my slight inability to detect my reference points.

I managed to get back on course by the time we reached the third checkpoint (Madisonville KMNV).   After that it was smooth sailing all the way to Cleveland.  With the exception of my initial issues, I spotted all my checkpoints.  Though to be fair, I didn’t select the best checkpoints to begin with.

Where the real issue came in was with the E6B and keeping track of everything while flying the plane.  While I am confident in my abilities to pilot the plane and perform maneuvers, until today, I did all this without anything that wasn’t mounted in the panel.  Now I was combating a giant sectional, that despite my refolding needed further condensing, an E6B, a nav log, seeing the checkpoints and flying the plane.  This new workload was quite taxing to say the least.

The next  issue came when I made an attempt to calculate my ground speed with the E6B.  As we overflew Madisonville, I started the clock and I noted the time at McMinnville (the next checkpoint).  I pulled out my E6B, looked at the nav log to determine the distance we had traveled, and dialed in what I thought were the appropriate numbers.  This yielded a result that was way off.   It looked as though all the practicing I’d done was in vain.  From what I understand, the much maligned analog E6B is the preferred device of the FAA examiner that will be administering my check ride.  Anyway, Josh ran me through two other ways to determine ground speed.  One was to simply call ATC and ask and the other was the GPS.  As we were discussing this, Knoxville Departure cut us loose just over McMinnville.   This was a first for me and I was surprised how far out we were.

We arrived at Cleveland shortly there after.  We entered on a 45 for the downwind to runway 3.  Josh mentioned that he didn’t recommend flying in and out of Cleveland if you were hungry because the base leg is basically directly over a strip of restaurants.  A quick glance down confirmed this.  The other end of the airport is surrounded by ridiculously huge houses.  One of which is on a hill straight in line with the runway.  It is crazy.

I was pretty high on final and I made a pretty bad landing.  We taxied back, I took off, and stayed in the pattern.  The second landing wasn’t spectacular but it was better.  I don’t know what the deal is.  We were going to taxi back, but there was a guy on downwind so we elected to use the taxiway.  When we reached the hold short line, he radioed that he was going to fly around town a little bit and reenter on a base leg for 3.  We elected to take the runway, which we stated on the radio, and we began taxiing out.  This was met with the other guy’s immediate call that he was on final for 3.  Josh told me to “turn and take off now”, which I did.  It was absolutely ridiculous and we’re pretty certain it was intentional.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and we used the GPS on the way back.  We flew over the corn maze.  It was a Chikfila maze.  Once we were about 20 miles out I called approach and told them we were inbound for landing at McGhee Tyson.  After we were closer to the field they set us up for a straight in approach on 5L which is currently 2500′ shorter.  This would be my first landing on this runway since they started the Taxiway B project.  It made me a bit nervous because I didn’t want to drop it in too short.  Unlike my previous two landings, this one was actually good.  It was an excellent end to the lesson.   The next lesson would be my second cross country and it would be tomorrow.  We’ll be headed to London-Corbin (KLOV) and maybe eating at the restaurant there.

Economic Growth- Increase is a country’s GDP

Economic Development- The development in a country’s quality of life

HDI- Human Development Index- A value that takes into account a country’s average life expectancy, literacy rate and GDP per capita to show quality of life

The HDI of Malaysia is 0.816

Wer ist noch vom HDI / Gerling – Umzug in Köln betroffen?

Das ist doch kein Zustand 24h mit dicken LKW vor meinem Fenster herzufahren – und das soll 4 Tage noch so weitergehen?!

Warte gerade auf den zuständigen Sachbearbeiter beim Umweltamt bezueglich Genehmigung fuer Nachtarbeit (0221 – 221 25374 => einfach mal anrufen). Fazit nach vielen Gesprächen: Genehmigung kann nicht zurückgezogen werden.

Stellungnahme vom Logistikleiter Thomas Helkenberg, auf die Frage was man denn gegen den Lärm tun könne ist ein freches “Einfach die Fenster schliessen” – na vielen Dank für das professionelle Entgegenkommen.

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