In the news

Federal judge withdraws an earlier court order, letting WikiLeaks.org have it's domain name back. Damn right. Jonathan Glater discusses the issue further.

Israel kills 61 people in one day. I can't find words.

Women voters are moving away from Clinton towards Obama; enraging some feminists, whilst others say they won't vote for an early supporter of the Iraq war just because she is a woman. Robin Tuner discusses the gender issue further.

Check this out, even I get a bit worried: Savulescu & Sandbert (2008) Neuroenhancement of Love and Marriage: The Chemicals Between Us. Neuroethics 1(1), p31-44.

Insignificant?

Male chimps do not know or care for their offspring. Females cooperate in caring for their children, and young chimps are therefore acutely aware of the rise and fall of alliances between females.

Far as I understand. How do the bonobos do it I wonder.

Semi-decent 34 min lecture on clinical trials. Alternatively there's 'An Introduction to the Methods and Ethics of Clinical Trials' on iTunes (54min) that's a bit less formal.

Nicholas Hope talks about the awakening of Asia, prospects for 2008 and the future (1hr13min). A lot of the economics is over my head but it's a very good lecture, particularly the Q&A session starting at about 50min, which focuses on corruption in China. Hope also makes the interesting observation that India, unlike China, does not have a large aging population for the younger generation to take care of.

Daniel Ellsberg, who made the Pentagon Papers public during the Vietnam War, draws paralells between Big Brother government during that and the current war (UChannel, 67min). Excellent talk. Great voice.

Pretty interesting article on why it's ok to be sad (hat-tip Laura).

Finally, WikiLeaks survives thanks to a Swedish server that specializes in websites hunted by the establishment (e.g. The Pirate Bay). Whooooo!

The usual suspects

Press
Democracy back online in Pakistan. Fiedel Castro resigns. Clinton tries to shoot down Obama for borrowing part of a speech from a friend (please don't let this matter...). Feminists blame Clinton's falling behind on sexism. Swiss bank Julius Baer spawns a court order to close down wikileaks.org after hundreds of documents about its offshore activities were posted anonymously on the site (!!@£$%). Finally, Microsoft DreamSpark provides students with free development tools. Clever move.

Video
Joseph Stiglitz discusses globalization (FORA.tv, 1h36min). Slow at the start and an annoying eh-frequency, but the man was not awarded a nobel prize for nothing. Note: when asked about the recent upswing in the economy of Africa he replies: "What's making a difference for Africa is China. China is now giving more aid, for infrastructure for example, than the World Bank and the African Development Bank combined". To be compared with the 0.15% of GDP the US spends foreign aid (i.e. one fifth of the 0.7% target agreed on by advanced industrial countries). Also, Charles Anderson explains in serious depth what biofuels are and which ones are worth the hype (googletechtalks, 59min).