!

Lots to blog about, but here's the biggest item of late:

-----Original Message-----
From: TED.com [mailto:support@ted.com]
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 6:01 PM
To: Knowles, David C.
Subject: We've received your TED2009 membership form

Thank you for submitting your TED2009 registration form. We received it and look
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----

I applied on a fellowship grant since I'll never be able to afford to pay my own way, especially not after a year on half my salary. And with the freaking exchange rates here in Africa, where most currencies are actually APPRECIATING against the USD. A gallon of gas costs about $12 here now, so you all can just quit your whining about prices there - I'm not going to be able to do any personal travel here because of that.

Not to mention food. I am now utterly convinced that Africa's going to be hit first and hardest and longest in the coming global food crises. You can't even get a basic lunch here for under $10US anymore. The first world's demand for cheap food and their collective power to secure it is going to starve millions (more) in Africa - mark my words. More on this soon.