Blood and Milk

• Why you can’t understand global health
  [11 Mar 10, 5:14am] This is another reprint from my sadly abandoned Global Health Basics blog.If you are reading this blog post, you can’t really understand the most important dynamic in global health: poverty and ill-health. They go together in a powerful vicious cy…
• Is Bill Easterly useless?
  [9 Mar 10, 11:28am] Bill Easterly’s blog, Aid Watch, is taking some criticism in the development blogosphere right now. I normally try to avoid discussions like this because, honestly, my opinions change every 35 seconds about what the right way to blog about developm…
• Drinking Our Own ORS
  [7 Mar 10, 7:01pm] (This is a reprint of a post I wrote for my Global Health Basics blog, which it turns out I have neither the time nor the technical prowess to maintain.)In social media, they talk about eating your own dog food. In global health, I think the equival…

UN Dispatch

• North Korean Defectors Describes Arms Export
  [10 Mar 10, 7:32pm] A major South Korean newspaper ran an article today about North Korean arms exports. It’s a fascinating view of one of the scariest parts of a frightening economy. A major South Korean newspa…
• Will Africa meet the MDGs?
  [2 Mar 10, 6:12pm] A new paper argues that Africa – the whole continent – is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). That comes as a surprise. A new paper by Maxim Pinkovskiy and Xavier Sala…
• The Coming Flood of Electronic Waste
  [24 Feb 10, 6:58pm] Consumers in the developing world are rapidly increasing their purchases of electronics – computers, cell phones, toys, cameras. Disposal capacity isn’t keeping pace. Consumers in the de…

My Tajikistan

• seeds and nuts
  [9 Mar 10, 10:14am] Especially peanuts coated with sesame seeds and honey, and almonds with a white sugar coating.Permalink | Leave a comment  »
• Sunny afternoons
  [5 Mar 10, 10:27am] My whole family is sitting out in the yard, getting sunshine.Permalink | Leave a comment  »
• umbrellas
  [8 Feb 10, 6:35pm] Umbrellas carried in snow showers.Permalink | Leave a comment  »
• driving
  [15 Jan 10, 10:31am] Any time I perform a tricky car maneuver - parallel parking, k turn, backing up - every pedestrian in the vicinity starts making hand gestures to guide me.Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Twitter

• alanna_shaikh: @texasinafrica Good grief. What a bunch of imperialist cr*p.
• alanna_shaikh: Probably a bad sign - on 1st glance, thought this article said "Easterly charged for selling whale meat" @bill_easterly http://ad.vu/xxny
• alanna_shaikh: Rt @tatevik Just saw photos of ex colleagues at an NGO party. Yuck. Empty faces, forced smiles. Hate NGOs, hate "international development".
• alanna_shaikh: @cpaladines I just started getting emails because I am signed up for the facebook cause...
• alanna_shaikh: So, @cpaladines has a great point. Nowhere on this site do they tell you where your donation is going. http://ad.vu/xxn9
• alanna_shaikh: @cpaladines miles and raise $1000 before she died. (and she died without achieving it) but the site doesn't convey the story at all.
• alanna_shaikh: @cpaladines I think you're right...it's a great story - this woman's cancer progressed beyond treatment and she decided to walk 400 miles

Global Dashboard

• Obama explains climate deal at G8
  [22 Sep 09, 10:49am] Related posts:Charlie Brooker explains the newsObama/Cheney – Duelling speechesReax to Obama in Jerusalem – you’re a pussyRelated posts:Charlie Brooker explains the newsObama/Cheney – Duelling speechesReax to Obama in Jerusalem – yo…
• Modern Piracy – No One Say Arrr
  [23 Jul 09, 11:24am] I was all set to write a doom and gloom report on ocean freight for my first Global Dashboard post.  After all, fuel is getting more expensive, and piracy is getting worse. This can’t bode well for the industry that transports at least 90% of the…

Recipe Blog

• Recipe: My Mom's Persimmon Bread
  [16 Feb 10, 12:57pm] Ingredients:1 ¼ cups sugar½ cup butter, softened2 large eggs1 ½ cups persimmon pulp½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup milk + 2 tsp lemon juice)1 tsp vanilla2 ½ cups flour1 ½ tsp baking powder1 tsp salt1 cup chopped nuts, if desiredInstructions: Heat o…
• Recipe: Embarrassingly Easy Quiche
  [9 Dec 09, 12:52pm] I am bitter about this quiche because it’s so good. Why have I wasted so much time making real quiche when I could done this all along? Tools: Oven, pie plate Ingredients: ½ cup bread crumbs Butter to grease pie plate 3 eggs 1 cup whole milk…
• Recipe: Vaguely Asian Roast Chicken
  [15 Nov 09, 3:01pm] Chicken breasts have vanished from Dushanbe’s grocery stores. I’ve roasted a lot of chicken as a result, and this is the recipe I’ve come to rely on. It takes a little extra work, but it’s well worth it for the deep flavor (not easy to achiev…

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Selected Writings

• How I am Preparing to Get Alzheimer's
  Bottle Rockets: Is Polluted Breast Still Best? How Not to Help Haiti What We Talk About When We Talk About Aid