Slum Solutions ~ Seeking More Prosperous Paths

As the New India Rises, So Do Slums Of Laborers writes Emily Wax in the Washington Post. There are tens of millions of migrant workers laboring in some of the most dangerous construction conditions on the planet. Wax spotlights 10-year-old Gudiya's family experience and the work of organizations like Mobile Creches which serve to help the children of these workers...

Gudiya, whose name means doll in Hindi, boiled a pot of lentils for her family on what passes here for a stove -- a pile of kindling surrounded by rocks. That's because this is Gudiya's home: a construction site. Gudiya has grown used to being shuttled from one such site to another. Two years ago, her parents gave up farming for jobs spawned by New Delhi's construction bonanza. They have helped build shopping malls, houses and highways, aspiring to one day be part of a new, more prosperous India. But with every glass-and-steel skyscraper and high-tech call center that goes up, a slum also rises. And efforts to demolish those slums have only pushed thousands of migrant worker families like Gudiya's to squat in the very structures they are building...

For most migrant workers in India, like Gudiya's parents, the decision to work in construction is born of a lack of options. For a few, it offers a chance for social mobility. In Gudiya's case, she is able to attend a Mobile Creches primary school, a small concrete structure on the dusty Gurgaon construction site...

"I enjoy being a learner so much. Math is my favorite," said Gudiya, whose tiny ribs show through her dress. She looks several years younger than her age... "It's not as safe as the village. But at least here she has some schooling," said Vimal, her mother. "I will stay working under the sun's hot fires to see my child get even a little learning done, so she won't be dumb like me and have to carry loads for the rich people."

See more in Emily Wax's video story...

Tube Map ~ Harry Beck's Delight-by-Design!

Click Here --> Standard Tube Map <-- TFL Map of 2010...

The 1920-30s was a time of tremendous innovation in metropolitan London, especially in the realm of public transport and urban design. This is when the clean lines of the Underground logo first emerged, when clear san serif fonts were used throughout, newly built stations designed along modernist lines, and -- in a real triumph of urban innovation -- Harry Beck designed the Tube Map diagramming the routes of the Underground in a simple but quite readable and usable fashion! Design impressario Edward Tufte recommends Ken Garland's history book, Mr Beck's Underground Map, and if you're curious about a quick graphic history of Tube maps, check out the London Tube Map Archive! Here's a more contemporary version of Beck's map... Beck's delightful map has been emulated around the world -- including here in Boston -- and is a great illustration of simplicity in design. Consider how much more difficult it would be to understand the actual geographic mess of the real transit systems in cities worldwide! FYI, the BBC4 did a nice video review of this Tube history which you used to be able to find on Smashing Telly, but it seems now down.

Sky Green ~ Fantastic Dubai Sport Übertecture!

Imagine playing tennis here at Dubai's 321m high Burj Al Arab hotel together with Agassi and Federer (photo taken in 2005)!

Afghan Girl ~ A Life Revealed...

Thanks to the not-always-so Cynical-C for spotting the famously beautiful and hauntingly memorable Afghani woman, Sharbat Gula, whose teenage portrait by Steve McCurry graced the cover of National Geographic in 1985 and whose story was finally fully discovered just a few years ago...

Slo-Mo Lighter ~ Nice Spark, Gas, Flame Combo!

Lovely...

Powell Endorses Obama ~ Crosses Party Lines...

Former Secretary of State, Retired General Colin Powell endorses Senator Barack Obama for the US Presidency in this sequence on Meet The Press... Interesting to hear General Powell's comments about the inappropriateness and narrowness of Republican campaigning, the increasing Republican party shift further to the right, and the lack-judgment demonstrated by Senator McCain's pick of Governor Palin. General Powell contrasts these practices with Senator Obama's openness and inclusiveness. Says Powell:

"Which is the President we need now?" "I've come to the conclusion... he is a transformational figure... I'll be voting for Senator Obama."

As an aside, Powell said he is deeply troubled by Republican personal attacks on Mr Obama, especially false intimations that he was Muslim.

"Mr Obama is a lifelong Christian, not a Muslim", Powell said. But then he noted: “The really right answer is, what if he is?” “Is there something wrong with being Muslim in this country? No, that’s not America”.

In this context, Powell mentions a photoessay in a magazine featuring a Muslim US soldier's gravestone, Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. The photos are by Platon, published in the New Yorker, and here's the image of Corporal Khan's mother at his grave...

Samuri Granny ~ Small Stature, Big Impact...

She'll kick your ass. Granny martial arts expert Keiko Wakabayshi effortlessly neutralises opponents and is an essential part of military training...

She tells her students to look at her and believe that nothing is impossible. After flooring an opponent she tells them: "Don't think it's unbelievable. The physique doesn't matter." Sparring is regarded as the most effective method of teaching martial arts and senior Italian military officers hope the experience of being humiliated by Miss Wakabayshi will toughen up their soldiers. Miss Wakabayshi trained for many years to achieve her level of expertise and believes she can carry on defeating brawny soldiers for years to come. The term martial arts is synonymous with the Far East, but actually derives from Mars, the Roman god of war and literally means the "arts of war".

Global Rwanda ~ Drops French, Adopts English

President Paul Kagame and fellow political leaders of Rwanda, the small but populous central African country, have decided to drop French and shift to English as their global language of choice. This means young Rwandan children will be taught in English. Rwanda thus joins the anglophone East African Community of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, they apply to join the historically British Commonwealth, and in many other ways they shed their sordid belgian-french francophone past. Says Yisa Claver, director of policy in the Rwandan Education Ministry in a Globe & Mail article...

"English is now the business language. Rwanda is trying to be a knowledge-based economy. English is the language of research. We're trying to be a regional hub of ICT [information and communications technology] and English is the language of ICT. Rwanda is now in the East African Community, where the official language is English. Rwanda is trying to have a service industry as a priority - we don't have diamonds and minerals and all those things, we want tourism and all those guys speak English . . . China! The World Bank! The UN! Their first language is English. For God's sake, this is a noble decision."

Many tech-and-media-savvy young Rwandans had already decided that their future lies in English. "I grew up speaking French," said Jean-Pierre Niyitanga, 25, who manages a media training project. His parents still speak to him in Kinyarwanda. But these days, he goes by J.P. and when he chats at Bourbon Coffee, it's in English.

Word.

Amy Smith ~ MIT's Breakthrough Leader!

It's really great to see our MIT colleague Amy Smith tapped as the 2008 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership Award winner!

Africa Translogistics ~ Vital Networks & Nodes!

Very interesting to read in the Economist this week about Network effects: Connectivity and commitment pay dividends in African transport. Current road and rail networks are ill-maintained, incomplete, and beset with roadblocks, bribe-barriers, and worse. Ports and freight-handling are similarly undercapitalized and constrained. But, as the Economist spotlights, bold businesses are dialing things up in Africa, including especially Bolloré, the French conglomerate...

As a port operator, stevedore, warehouser and freight forwarder, Bolloré handles 80% of west Africa’s exports (excluding oil) and 25% of east Africa’s—in short, nearly all of Africa’s cotton and cocoa, as well as much of its coffee, rubber, and timber. With offices in 42 African countries and 20,000 of his 31,000 employees based in Africa, Mr Bolloré is bullish on the continent’s prospects. Bolloré Africa Logistics accounts for $2 billion of the group’s $10 billion annual revenues. Its head, Dominique Lafont, predicts 12-17% annual growth for the division for the next five years. He believes better logistics are vital to reduce poverty in Africa. A new warehouse for perishable goods, or a new garage for repairing overland lorries, he reckons, create more lasting benefits to Africans than most aid projects do. Bolloré’s aim is to exploit the massive unrealised potential for trade between African countries by being the first to link the economies of the Francophone and English-speaking parts of Africa. It wants to do this by establishing a 26,000km (16,000 mile) pan-African network of “vital corridors”, making use of whatever infrastructure is available, with long sections of transit by barge down the Niger, Congo, and Nile rivers deep into the interior.

Most excellent!

Our Sun!

Special thanks to Paul from GeekPress for spotting this amazing solar sequence in Boston.com! Here's just one sample of the images...

Religious Stupidity ~ On the Dangers of Driving?!?

Yes, religious wingnuts in Israel and Saudi Arabia both have at least one thing in common: they're stupid about different dimensions of driving automobiles. In Israel, wingnuts resented the fact that an Israeli Arab freely chose to drive his own vehicle on a day and time of his choosing. In Saudi Arabia, wingnuts resent any woman who freely choses to drive any vehicle at any time. Both are silly. And both should be broadly disparaged as misguided misanthropes whose wingnut outlooks are no better than those of an ape. And that's actually insulting the ape!

Being Informed? ~ Republicrat vs. Demoblican...

Check out the latest debate. Both are being classic politicos, distorting essential issues and historic facts. Both candidates are offering up foolish formulae to solve complex issues. And worse. I'm pretty disgusted with how little "democracy" is delivering...

John McCain Votes for Barack Obama!

Watch the proof for yourself on CNN...

Condometrics ~ For Data-Driven (and Safe) Sex !-)

Geekologie spotted this delighter! But will Americans be able to deal with metric measurements?-) Being curious about the resulting facts, I discovered that Condom Country -- one of the very first e-commerce sites ever on the web, founded in 1994 by MIT students who entered the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition when I was running it! -- posted this histogram... I freely admit I'm an outlier on this distribution;-)

Overfishing Bluefin ~ Tragedy of the Commons

I've become especially interested in the Tragedy of the Commons recently, since so much strife results from this phenomenon -- and so much irreversible ecological destruction. Witness the extinction of the carrier pigeon and moa, saga of Easter Island, probable demise of the Mayans. Professor Jared Diamond's Collapse covers much of this terrain. Today I want to spotlight the Bluefin Tuna, an amazing fish... Historically widely spread in northern and southern oceans...Researchers are tracking these fish using a growing set of measurement and tracking tools. One especially cool example of this is TOPP -- Tagging of Pacific Predators. But increasingly these fish are being consumed by humans -- some would argue over-consumed beyond the replenishment rate or carrying capacity of the fisheries. This is big-business with fish taking first-class flights around the world to reach target markets, such as the remarkable Tsukiji in Tokyo... We need to figure out better alternatives to free-range fishing since this leads to the Tragedy of the Commons where no one has the incentive to maintain the system for the long-term and everyone exploits for their short-term benefit. Perhaps -- and I emphasize perhaps, if done thoughtfully and with a better understanding of the ecosystemic feedbacks involved -- through organized Open-Ocean Ranching we might be able to maintain and even grow global stocks, much like land-based ranching has lead to a boom in cattle and other food animal stocks. This -- in principle -- might allow us all to consume tasty sustainable sushi!

Brain 'Boosters' ~ Unapproved Neuroceuticals...

The BBC writes today of a Nature poll in an article titled Brain boost drugs 'growing trend'...

Neuropsychologist Professor Barbara Sahakian of Cambridge University said safety evidence is urgently needed. [She] shows 17% of students in some US universities admit to using the stimulant Ritalin (methylphenidate) - a drug designed to treat hyperactive children - to maximise their learning power. One in five of the 1,400 people who responded to the Nature survey said they had taken Ritalin, Provigil (modafinil) or beta-blockers for non-medical reasons. They used them to stimulate focus, concentration or memory.

Urbanizing America ~ Where To Find US...

80% urbanized. But not just anywhere. In these top-spots...

Changing the Game ~ Biz Book by Edery & Mollick

David Edery, co-founder of the MIT Game Tycoons and most recently with both MIT CMS and Microsoft, tells me that his book Changing the Game, co-authored with Ethan Mollick, is now shipping! They write about the transformative role of games for business.

Buffett's 3-i's ~ Innovators, Imitators, and Idiots!

Watch Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose last week. Wide-ranging hour-long exclusive conversation. Among things he discusses are Innovators, Imitators, and Idiots;-) A voice of reason in turbulent times with lots of panicky people...