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No, you just lied. Less than 10% of the bottom half have negative wealth, by the admission of the same group that compiled the data for that statistic. Although I don't see how any amount of negative wealth affects the truth or importance of the statistic at all. From the same link above:

If you leave out everyone in net debt and recalculate, the number of billionaires who own the same as half the world would be 56.

Less than the number of seats in a double-decker bus.

Some charity book-stores already sell their wares online
eg, Oxfam:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/second-hand-store

I'm inclined to the view that the scanner/resellers are providing a service, and are thus justified in marking up the price.

It might be interesting to see if there is a difference between state run libraries, and community/company run libraries in this. I can't help feeling that the bargains from libraries are indifference to taxpayers' money.

In the UK, Oxfam (a large charity) separates out it's book donations, and sells them in dedicated Oxfam book shops, and prices them with an eye to maximising their cash value. If a charity can do that, why on earth can't a library? They already have the staff, the software (a number of library catalogue systems now link their book records to Amazon), and the retail space.

'haiti needs complete rebuilding not temporary relief which will vanish once the earthquake new disappears from the front pages. it needed that much money and more before the quake even hit. not it needs demolition and rebuilding not quick fixes and temporary aid.'

Haiti desperately needs both immediate relief and longer-term help. Several of the aid organisations now responding to the emergency already have long-term commitments to Haiti. One I happen to know about is Oxfam:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/haiti-earthquake.html
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/where_we_work/haiti.html

They make efficient use of donations, with only 10% going on (essential) running costs, and work directly at a local level rather than just dishing out the cash:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/faq/other.html#admin
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/what_we_do/binmyth_slideshow.html

'haiti needs complete rebuilding not temporary relief which will vanish once the earthquake new disappears from the front pages. it needed that much money and more before the quake even hit. not it needs demolition and rebuilding not quick fixes and temporary aid.'

Haiti desperately needs both immediate relief and longer-term help. Several of the aid organisations now responding to the emergency already have long-term commitments to Haiti. One I happen to know about is Oxfam:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/haiti-earthquake.html
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/where_we_work/haiti.html

They make efficient use of donations, with only 10% going on (essential) running costs, and work directly at a local level rather than just dishing out the cash:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/faq/other.html#admin
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/what_we_do/binmyth_slideshow.html

'haiti needs complete rebuilding not temporary relief which will vanish once the earthquake new disappears from the front pages. it needed that much money and more before the quake even hit. not it needs demolition and rebuilding not quick fixes and temporary aid.'

Haiti desperately needs both immediate relief and longer-term help. Several of the aid organisations now responding to the emergency already have long-term commitments to Haiti. One I happen to know about is Oxfam:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/haiti-earthquake.html
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/where_we_work/haiti.html

They make efficient use of donations, with only 10% going on (essential) running costs, and work directly at a local level rather than just dishing out the cash:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/faq/other.html#admin
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/what_we_do/binmyth_slideshow.html

'haiti needs complete rebuilding not temporary relief which will vanish once the earthquake new disappears from the front pages. it needed that much money and more before the quake even hit. not it needs demolition and rebuilding not quick fixes and temporary aid.'

Haiti desperately needs both immediate relief and longer-term help. Several of the aid organisations now responding to the emergency already have long-term commitments to Haiti. One I happen to know about is Oxfam:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/emergencies/haiti-earthquake.html
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/where_we_work/haiti.html

They make efficient use of donations, with only 10% going on (essential) running costs, and work directly at a local level rather than just dishing out the cash:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/faq/other.html#admin
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/what_we_do/binmyth_slideshow.html

A high proportion of clothing in developing countries is second hand clothing from the west. So it's likely that the guys got no idea what it is that he's wearing. Apparently the second hand clothing trade creates employment but does undermine local textile industies. People like the cloths because they are cheap and they appeal to some more than the traditional garb. Oxfam did a report (although it doesn't mention Liberia): http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/trade/downloads/research_shc.pdf

Are deserts expanding from global warming ?

In the link (2) cited below, the article mentions "the world is becoming warmer and drier, and this means there is less water to support plants and animals". This is not necessarily true. In fact, long range forecasting models predict that along with global warming comes a wetter world. Although the moisture may not be spread equally across the globe, while some deserts might expand, so too would some rain forests. Furthermore, according the US Environmental Protection Agency, little research has been done on how global warming might affect deserts. The EPA even points out that while one model shows an increase in deserts by 185%, another shows a decrease by 56% (4).With such uncertainty I believe it is too difficult to determine how much if any of desertification is due to global warming.

(1) http://www.ieca.org/Resources/Article/ArticleChinaAdvancingDeserts.asp

(2)http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/ontheline/explore/nature/deserts/prtconserve_desertification.htm

(3) http://www.mrdowling.com/607-deserts.html

(4) http://yosemite.epa.gov/OAR/globalwarming.nsf/content/ImpactsDeserts.html

Oh, and by the way, London had the worst snow in 50 years at the start of February. Your point was ???

For every example you can Google, I can Google a counterexample !

For me, professionalism isn't anything to do with money. It's about doing a job properly. I used to work as a shop volunteer for Oxfam, and I always acted in a professional manner, no different from if I were being paid.

Certain Easter eggs are juvenile and unprofessional, and I would prefer them not to be present in software I use, whether proprietary or Free. If a programmer wants to make a space invaders game, let him do so... and release it as such. There is no stifling of creativity. It is a good idea to stick to the Unix philosophy of each program doing a specific thing in a streamlined, efficient manner.

have a look at who took out the loans in the first place , more often than not its a puppet government
installed by a western country composed of people
who grew up in the west. Its hardly representative
of most of the population.

The problem with defaulting on the loans is that the WTO is then allowed to change laws in the countries in question , which results in manditory privatisation of national services to coporations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Agreement_on_Trade_in_Services

This deepens the debt by taking money out of
the contries and keeps them locked in to outside
control. The debt repayments dwarf any aid we
give .
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/debt_aid/bn_wbimf_blindspot.html

This is being done to provide cheap food and commodities in the west , the same will happen
with biofuels. Remember that the US owes lots of
money , would you like it if that happened to you ?

Toodle-pip
Amias

And I do mean a little research... First, I watched both videos. The most notable thing is that neither Oxfam's video-mentioned webpage nor the video itself actually says what Starbucks is doing. They say that starbucks is preventing the manufacturers of this coffee from using the names of the coffee, but that's as close as they come to discussing the actual situation. I was however able to find the information on Oxfam's site using google: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/press/releases/starbucks26 1006.htm. Here's the meat:

Last year the Ethiopian government filed applications to trademark its most famous coffee names, Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. Securing the rights to these names would enable Ethiopia to capture more value from the trade, by controlling their use in the market and thereby enabling farmers to receive a greater share of the retail price. Ethiopia's coffee industry and farmers could earn an estimated £47 million extra per year.

£3.2 billion company Starbucks prompted protests against the applications to be filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The USPTO has denied Ethiopia's applications for Sidamo and Harar, creating serious obstacles for its project.

What, exactly, does "prompted protests" mean? It's a little further down.

Starbucks intervened in the USPTO decision by prompting the National Coffee Association of USA, Inc. (NCA), of which it is a leading member, to oppose the approval of the trademarks.

At a meeting held this past July at the Ethiopian Embassy, Embassy staff and advisers met with the NCA president to discuss a letter of protest filed against Ethiopia's trademark applications. Ethiopia had submitted its applications about one year earlier. According to staffers, when asked why after a year of doing nothing the NCA had decided to take action, the president of the NCA told them Starbucks had just brought it to the NCA's attention.

Okay, so if Starbucks is part of the NCA, then they didn't prompt anything - they just did it.

Let's take one more look at the press release.

The Ethiopian government presented an agreement for Starbucks to sign in September, recognising the country's rights to the names Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe and stating that additional benefits generated would go to small-scale coffee farmers who are currently living on the brink of survival. However, Starbucks has yet to respond affirmatively.

"Starbucks works to protect and promote its own name and brand vigorously throughout the world, so how can it justify denying Ethiopia the right to do the same?" asked Phil Bloomer.

Starbucks claims that to do so would be illegal, as far as I can see from their video. I don't know how that works out - maybe a lawyer can explain. But September? It's probably taken this long for their legal department to figure out what it says, let alone how they feel about it. We're talking about a document that would have legal repercussions in at least two countries, and possibly in every country in which Starbucks does business. I wouldn't sign the fucker either.

Now let's take a look at some other documents I just googled up...

http://www.coffee-tea-etc.com/coffee/faq

The cost associated with coffee is only 15c/lb, which is less than half a penny per cup of coffee.

There's about 25 16oz (coffeeshop standard) cups of coffee per roasted pound. Three cents per cup would be $0.75/lb. Starbucks claims they pay over the fair trade price, which is under a buck and a half per pound.

http://www.theotherjournal.com/article.php?id=198

Oxfam does this. But if you actually gave a shit you'd know this already instead of blindly bashing the $100 laptop project. After all there's more than one way to try to help others and nobody is forcing you to do it their way.

Hand-dug wells:

1. Oxfam well building guide (up to 30m) (0.5MB pdf) (html)

2. Tearfund well building guide (up to 50m)

You're right of course. Patents are for ideas. The parent is an ignoramus (sp?!).

But, companies do try to patent (and often succeed) each pill and jet turbine. If they can get a patent covering ostensibly the same thing but in a different enough way to encourage the patent examiner that "in balance there's probably something new in the patent application" then you get extra years out of your invention.

Extra years = extra $$$ (Profit!!).

And terms are way too long.

In the UK we have SPC's (extra long terms for drugs companies). But drugs companies spend alot more on marketing than on R&D. Go figure. http://www.egagenerics.com/gen-phrmapatents.htm and http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/health/o pb16_globalhealth.htm and others that you can google for yourself.

The point for software patents is that compensation is good for inventors. There should be reward too. In software patents a cap on profits of 10 times the country of origins annual wage should be more than sufficient. Anything more than that hurts innovation as it encourages innovators to leave the industry and party!

There has already been a mild turn-around in the hyperactive NGO world view on global trade.

For example, Oxfam recently complained about the EU blocking Chinese textile imports.

There are children starving because of me. Dying. Seriously. I either have to not think, be okay with that, or go insane. I'm wavering between the first two.

Then I'm glad to offer you a way out: You could support: Oxfam, or Save the Children, or Medecins Sans Frontiers, or any of countless others.

Seriously, $10.00 can buy the antibiotics to save someone's life in for example, Bangledesh. Give that once a month and at the end of the year think to yourself there are twelve people alive because of you.

Sure, I'm preaching, but don't pretend there's nothing you can do. :)

http://www.phones4charity.org/
http://www.actionaidrecycling.org.uk/
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_you_can_do/recycle/ph ones.htm
http://www.recyclingappeal.com/

..a link to Oxfam, a development, advocacy and relief agency working to put an end to poverty world-wide?

Unwanted mobile phones are still valuable they contain precious metals such as silver (Ag), gold (Au) and Palladium (Pd), as well as copper (Cu) and plastics that can be recycled

There are actually plenty of companies making money, if not fortune, by ripping of valuable materials from the old phones - here's one. They are for now atleast a gold - and a silver mine. I quess you will find out this in US as well, as your mobile phone penetration goes high enough for this "mining business" to turn valuable - they need masses of cell phones for it to be profitable.

If any UK companies have old computers, and want to get rid of them they can be donated to Oxfam.

The minimum specs are well below what your average company would use: P120, 8MB RAM, 500MB HDD, and it all goes to a worthy cause.

Oh, and if your PHB moans, remember to tell him/her that it's tax-deductable!

If any UK companies have old computers, and want to get rid of them they can be donated to Oxfam.

The minimum specs are well below what your average company would use: P120, 8MB RAM, 500MB HDD, and it all goes to a worthy cause.

Oh, and if your PHB moans, remember to tell him/her that it's tax-deductable!

Didn't we used to call these people political philosophers?

Also, it seems to me that globalisation is too large a subject to be resolved in a few editorials. here are Oxfam's more considered views on the subject.

• Oxfam GB
• Oxfam Community Aid Abroad (Australia)