100 Open Lectures All About Africa

When I have some time, I plan to go through this fabulous list of open lectures about Africa.

"As the world become an increasingly interconnected and truly global marketplace, it becomes ever more important to learn and understand the history, culture and economic roles of nations around the world. Africa is no exception, and this collection of lectures, many from renowned scholars, researchers and innovators, will help you better understand the many varied regions of Africa and the continents changing role in the world marketplace."

Canadian Place Name Trivia

Some interesting Canadian place-name trivia. In all, we have a lot of pleasant places, but we’re not all that creative when it comes to lake names! (“hey – that lake looks pretty long, let’s call it Long Lake!”)

Source: http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/info/trivia_e.php

Most Common Place Names in Canada

Rank	Place name	#
1.	Mount Pleasant	16
2.	Centreville	15
2.	Lakeview	15
3.	Pleasant Valley	14
4.	Fairview	13
5.	Rosedale	11
6.	Salem	10
6.	Bellevue	10
6.	Springfield	10
6.	Glenwood	10
6.	Richmond	10
6.	Riverside	10
6.	Westmount	9
7.	Maple Grove	9
7.	Greenfield	9
7.	Victoria	9
7.	Sunset Beach	9
7.	Sunnyside	9
7.	Little Harbour	9

Most Common Feature Names in Canada

Rank	Place name	#
1.	Long Lake	203
2.	Mud Lake	182
3.	Long, Lac	164
4.	Long Pond	152
5.	Rond, Lac	145
6.	Green Island	132
7.	Long Point	125
8.	Big Island	120
9.	Narrows, The	118
10.	Truite, Lac à la	113
11.	Round Lake	109
12.	Otter Lake	108
13.	Black Rock	103
14.	Long Island	101
14.	Perdu, Lac	101
14.	Moose Lake	101
15.	Little Lake	100

Beer for Data Sharing in Afghanistan

The Taj in Jalalabad, Afghanistan is indeed an oddity. Not only is it the only bar in eastern Afghanistan, it is also the location where an ingenious "Beer for Data" program began. Put simply, if visitors to the bar have useful data (gps plots, imagery, technology white papers...) they can trade this information for a beer.

source: Human Technology Network

Luggage Handling

You always expect for your luggage to be treated badly when putting it onto an airplane, but check-out this picture and video of a luggage container stuck in the engine of a Japan Airlines flight out of LAX. Crazy.

Source: BBC

Sandbagging effort in Fargo

This video captures 20 minutes of sandbagging at the Fargodome.

Little Red Riding Hood - animated infographic style

Slagsmålsklubben


Source: flowingdata.com

One Night in Bangkok Music Video

I love this one-hit wonder song by Murray Head, but hadn't seen the music video until today.

Microsoft's Vision of 2019

<br/><a href="http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

Evergreen Line

So Stephen Harper was in town recently, and was found giving a press-conference announcing that "The Rapid Transit (Sky Train) Line To Coquitlam will be built". Unfortunately Glen Clark promised the same thing in 1999 (check out this 1998 news release talking about a "Broadway-Lougheed-Coquitlam-New Westminster" sky train route. Hopefully this time we can trust the politicians.

Zimbabwe introduces $50 billion note

Zimbabwe's central bank will introduce a $50 billion note -- enough to buy just two loaves of bread -- as a way of fighting cash shortages amid spiraling inflation.

source: CNN