Links I Liked

We lost a giant last week. Hans Rosling made geeks look cool, proved that Swedish students are less intelligent than chimps, and made everyone who has ever lectured realize just how boring we really are. Whether you are celebrating his life, or discovering his genius for the first time, here’s a sample:

200 years, 200 countries and a massively positive story of human development, all in 4 minutes

Mashing a lazy newsman on Danish TV ‘There’s nothing to discuss. I am right and you are wrong.’

A greatest hits compilation (stay with it through to the sword swallowing)

And his work lives on in the Gapminder site that he founded ‘to dismantle misconceptions and promote a fact-based worldview’. Check it out – it’s amazing.

Meanwhile, on other issues

US presidential slot: Mr Men does the Mexican wall, while other cartoonists are also having a field day. Liked this one on checks and balances. But Richard Reeves begs to differ. ‘Trump’s Presidency has been, so far, a brilliant political success’ and is well on course for two terms, he reckons.

Chris Blattman has found a Hemingway app to sharpen up his writing style

Going open access has seen IDS get five times more readers for its journal

‘The world is suffering from complexity fatigue. The symptoms are a longing for simple answers and a world free of interdependencies’. Bill Below on the OECD Insights blog