Global Exports ~ Physical Stuff Sold Internationally

HowMuch maps the Global Export Economy in One Map... 

"We got our numbers from the World Trade Organization [...] The WTO tracks the total value of physical goods each country sends across its borders. Remember, these numbers exclude services -- we are only focused on physical items. To create our map, we changed the size of the country depending on the value of exports, and we likewise added a shade of blue for easy reference. This approach highlights the outliers and identifies several key trends."

Enlightenment Now ~ Pinker on Progress...

Professor Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress summarizes proof that health, wealth, and happiness are improving worldwide due to enlightenment values of reason, science, and humanism. He discusses this in his TED talk Is the world getting better or worse? A look at the numbers...

"We will never have a perfect world, and it would be dangerous to seek one," he says. "But there's no limit to the betterments we can attain if we continue to apply knowledge to enhance human flourishing."