Tom Courtright

I see all the Latin American countries above that line - where happiness is outperforming income - and think about the abundance of plazas, parks, and trees there, and that they invest in buses and metros.

we believe we are special and we simply are not

Why BYD Keeps Shocking the World The Chinese carmaker says it can charge EVs in 5 minutes. Can America ever catch up?

The question is no longer if EVs are going to dominate the future. That’s fairly obvious. The question is now if the US is going to have any role in that market. Right now, it’s not looking promising. heatmap.news/electric-veh...

Takeaways From Our Investigation Into Domestic Worker Abuse in Saudi Arabia (Gift Article) Housekeepers from East Africa suffer beatings, starvation and sexual assault in Saudi Arabia. Here’s what else we learned about the cross-border trade in domestic workers.

Our reporting found that powerful lawmakers and security officers in Kenya and Uganda, well-connected businessmen and Saudi royals own agencies that profit off these domestic workers and perpetuate a vicious cycle of abuse. Here are the main takeaways.

East African Housekeepers Face Rape, Assault and Death in Saudi Arabia (Gift Article) East African leaders and Saudi royals are among those profiting off a lucrative, deadly trade in domestic workers.

For more than a year, my colleague Justin Scheck and I looked into why domestic workers from across East Africa, who are promised jobs and a better life in Saudi Arabia, continued to face abuse, starvation and death. Here's what we found.

This should be one of the biggest stories in the world right now. Millions of people are either directly or indirectly dependent on the Kafue river for their survival. This is crazy.

It would be helpful if more people understood renewable energy is actually an extremely disruptive technology and the reason monied interests are trying to make folks hate it is that they are the ones which will be disrupted.

A short trip to the land of all foods 🍽️💨

Walked past a delivery driver on a motorbike in Johannesburg speaking Luganda. The bodas are coming.
@tomcourtright.bsky.social

The boda boda board game is almost ready 👀

Brought to you by the madmen of Lubyanza:

Join the waitlist:

www.lubyanza.com/the-boda-boa...

Portrait of Antonius Emanuel, Kongo’s ambassador to Rome, ca. 1608.

the international activities of pre-colonial African travelers were often facilitated by the expansion of African states’ diplomatic and commercial interests.
www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/internal-d...

Institutions are not self-executing. Enough people must be willing to do the right thing by the rules.

Boda Boda riders launch initiative to establish own bank Kampala, Uganda  – The United Boda Boda Cooperative Union has launched the National Boda Boda Stage Development Model to unlock the financial independence of the riders. The Model is a professionaliz...

It is indeed one of the most explicit in that regard that I've seen:
www.pmldaily.com/business/202...

ABA It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law and in an orderly manner that respects the lives of affected individuals and the work they have been asked to perform. Instead, we see wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself, such as attacks on constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, the dismantling of USAID and the attempts to criminalize those who support lawful programs to eliminate bias and enhance diversity. We have seen attempts at wholesale dismantling of departments and entities created by Congress without seeking the required congressional approval to change the law. There are efforts to dismiss employees with little regard for the law and protections they merit, and social media announcements that disparage and appear to be motivated by a desire to inflame without any stated factual basis. This is chaotic. It may appeal to a few. But it is wrong. And most Americans recognize it is wrong. It is also contrary to the rule of law. The American Bar Association supports the rule of law. That means holding governments, including our own, accountable under law. We stand for a legal process that is orderly and fair. We have consistently urged the administrations of both parties to adhere to the rule of law. We stand in that familiar place again today. And we do not stand alone. Our courts stand for the rule of law as well.

Someone at the American Bar Association ate their Wheaties this morning.

The recently launched United Boda Boda Riders Cooperative Union (UBBRCU) - a group which did not exist a month ago and almost no one outside government knew was coming - has now been designated in charge of bodas for the country.

In Kampala, a motorcycle driving license costs on average around a week of profit. 15% of drivers have them.

In Bangkok, a motorcycle driving license costs around a day of profit. 85% of drivers have them.

How Bangkok registers and regulates boda bodas:

(East Africa: It's Possible)

Chaos on wheels; reflection of Uganda’s economy and society - The Observer We are approaching Centenary park trotting away from the heavy traffic and the January heat combined with a what’s becoming a “smogsville”-Kampala. At that junction, the traffic lights change to red, ...

"It’s survival of the boldest, and everyone seems to have a PhD in improvisation."

observer.ug/viewpoint/ch...

I'm deeply saddened to share that Donald Shoup passed away last night. He was the ideal academic—curious, methodical, and concerned with turning ideas into real-world change. TAing his parking course these past few years has one of the greatest honors of my life. Rest in peace, Shoup Dogg.

Supersizing vehicles offers minimal safety benefits — but substantial dangers The safety benefits of larger vehicles top out quickly once curb weights exceed the fleet average, a new IIHS study shows.

This will surprise many Americans:

According to a new study, gigantic SUVs are no safer for occupants than merely big SUVs.

"For vehicles that weigh more than [~4,000 lbs, the fleet avg], there’s hardly any decrease in risk for occupants associated with additional poundage."

Much of the ChatGPT usage is where I am (East Africa) is driven by a desire to have "perfect English."

Personally, I would much rather read something that has original thoughts and grammatical mistakes than I would have to read something with no original thoughts and commas in the right place.

Sifting through a lot of ChatGPT-written applications is such a massive waste of my time.

If you didn't take the time to write something, why should I take the time to read it?

Screenshot from "Letter from our correspondent" in "Papua New Guinea Courier"

The Papua New Guinea Courier is in rare form.

Most boda boda apps don't put the Presidents face on their visors.

Might be controversial and even in contradiction of where most of my pay comes from, but if there is going to be foreign ownership of transport businesses in East Africa, pursuit of economic justice would say the better choice would be Asian ownership over US or EU ownership.

Extremely important. Ride-hailing - of all kinds - necessitates empty vehicles somewhere, going to pick someone, looking for work, etc.

That in and of itself is highly wasteful, causing traffic, air pollution, etc.

@vincentfoucher.bsky.social hi 👋 I'm interested in chatting for a piece about Guinea & Uganda. How can I best get in touch?

cannot be said enough that for a decade a critical number of americans have simply refused to accept that he means what he says

The new Union boda app in Uganda, purportedly by and for boda boda riders, uses an image of a motorcycle fit for southeast Asia or a Uganda of 20 years ago