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Excellent Kevin Kelly piece makes clear that the Amish aren't Luddites, just extremely careful adopters of technology. They say no to most new tech, then carefully evaluate whether it should be used in the community.
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Neal Stephenson tries to understand the FLAG cable – and the physical infrastructure of the Internet – through a bout of "hacker tourism", tracing the cable around the world. A tour-de-force, and one of the best pieces I've seen that explains the physics, politics, importance and history of these cables.
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A major raid on Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army by Ugandan forces with south Sudanese and DRC cooperation failed… badly. Many hundreds of innocent villagers were killed. And now the NYTimes reports that US forces provided intelligence and coordination support – does Africom, which is increasingly using African proxies to fight local wars (like Ethiopia's US-supported intervention in Somalia) bear responsibility for the consequences?
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PEJ study sees a shift in Washington reporting, not just a decline. There are vastly more correspondents for non-US newspapers accredited to cover Congress, including Al Jazeera, which rivals US networks for size. Also there's a rise in single-topic newsletters – they're expensive and reach elite audiences, which could be troublesome if they're providing the best available coverage.
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Ushahidi and FOKO Club track and map political violence in Madagascar, using citizen media reports and reports via SMS
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Stephen Brill's plans to save the NYTimes via micropayments