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'via Blog this'

Great physicist Richard Feynman was also a poet credit Physics Buzz: A universe of atoms, an atom in the universe

 The great physicist Richard Feynman (of QED, Los Alamos, space shuttle, strip clubs and bongo drum fame), was enamored with the pure joy of finding things out. Feynman believed the beauty of science could outweigh what any poet or painter might ever imagine about the world. The deeper our knowledge of any question, the greater our enjoyment can be, he thought. And he had a way of taking this child-like fascination with the world around him and turning it into scientific discovery. 

Feynman's Nobel Prize came from watching someone throw a spinning dinner plate in the Cornell cafeteria. Feynman noticed a relationship between the wobble of the plate and the rate of its spin, he worked out the equations for wobbles and eventually applied them to the spin of electrons. The implications for QED were profound and he received a Nobel for "deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles."

This playful fascination with the way things work made Feynman uncomfortable with the non-scientific world's view of science. The world is concerned with the use of things-what new cure or convenience will this discovery bring? Journalists express the weight of a discovery in terms of its utility, not in terms of the idea. His best example of this is that the radioactive phosphorus content in a rat's brain degrades by one-half in a period of two weeks.

A journalist would express such a find in terms of implications-this might help lead to a cure for cancer. But the underlying beauty is in the idea of the thing. A scientific appreciation for the concept itself leads to a far more enticing conclusion; the molecules in your brain are constantly being replaced. You have memories from years ago, and yet the molecules in your brain are new. Such an idea tugs at the nature of consciousness. If our body is made up of different parts then it was years ago, what makes us who we are?

There are the rushing waves
mountains of molecules
each stupidly minding its own business
trillions apart
yet forming white surf in unison.

Ages on ages
before any eyes could see
year after year
thunderously pounding the shore as now.
For whom, for what?
On a dead planet
with no life to entertain.

Never at rest
tortured by energy
wasted prodigiously by the sun
poured into space
A mite makes the sea roar.

Deep in the sea
all molecules repeat
the patterns of one another
till complex new ones are formed.
They make others like themselves
and a new dance starts.

Growing in size and complexity
living things
masses of atoms
DNA, protein
dancing a pattern ever more intricate.

Out of the cradle
onto dry land
here it is
standing:
atoms with consciousness;
matter with curiosity.

Stands at the sea,
wonders at wondering: I
a universe of atoms
an atom in the universe.

Richard P. Feynman
(1918-1988)

Physics Buzz: A universe of atoms, an atom in the universe

Science and Poetry_book reviews and links to ten works via American Scientist

Anna Lena Phillips reviews 

Poetry and science go way back: Over the centuries, they have occasionally gotten together, like old friends who find themselves in the same city and meet up for tea, only to head home the next day and lose touch again. Much has changed since the two disciplines’ earlier encounters—which resulted, for instance, in late-1700s scientific treatises written in poetic form. Poets who investigate scientific concepts, and scientists tempted by verse, are now crafting work that invites readers into scientific cultures and bodies of knowledge even as it raises questions about the research enterprise.

The six books reviewed in this issue of Scientific Ameriacan:  five poetry collections and one book of essays—are a sample of recent work in poetry that engages with scientific and mathematical constructs. At the end of the section, we present new poems from four poets whose work is informed by science.

MORE:

Poetry in the Wild: Emily Grosholz reviews Approaching Ice, by Elizabeth Bradfield, and Darwin: A Life in Poems, by Ruth Padel.

Quantum Metaphors: Robin Chapman reviews Intersecting Sets: A Poet Looks at Science, by Alice Major.

Querying Science: Rick Mullin reviews Hypotheticals, by Leigh Kotsilidis.

Songs of Scientists: Sarah Glaz reviews The Scientific Method, by Mary Alexandra Agner.

A Useful Pageant: Anna Lena Phillips reviews Between Page and Screen, by Amaranth Borsuk and Brad Bouse.

*

Projection, by Anna M. Evans

Mosquitoes, by Alison Hawthorne Deming

Baffle Gate, by Matthew Tierney

Holy Heathen Rhapsody, by Pattiann Rogers

Source American Scientist

This is worth further blogs and comments. Many thanks to American Scientist.

Famous Poets and Poems are listed by category

Thematic Poems and Poetry

Unfortuneatly at first glance 

I have not found poems by scientists.

Still the resource is rich

and

must be satisfied by the list of 

Nobel Prize Poets.

Not bad for a start!

Or how about success poems

a usefull theme in this day and age.

New Young Author, Scientist and Astronomer_Black Ink Obelisk (Aubrey J. Sanders): Somata (poem)

Only one declared poem from a list of 51 entries to

The Open Laboratory 2012 – the final entries 

Many of the titles appear to be poetry (in action) but a bit guesome for my delicate taste.

The one I vote for is N° 4

4. Black Ink Obelisk (Aubrey J. Sanders): Somata (poem)

POETRY BY
AUBREY J. SANDERS

Somata

I was born a body of worlds
a carnal web of cosmic pearl
billions of stars that hold me to my bones,
and when one day their cores collapse
I will shed my skin in ash
and sleep among the mosses and the stone.

I’ll grow into the vine that licks the ruin
writhe beneath the savage moon
my scattered cinders eaten at the roots,
and when the ravaged willow moans again
she will take me in her veins
and shake me from her hair an astral fruit.

For we forgot a fact that we once knew,
the only ancient truth,
the knowledge of our primal origin:
That from the feral night we came as dust
born from stellar wanderlust
and unto the stars we will return again.

Aubrey J. Sanders

from the original source (Sci American ref. below) I deduced that it is fair and proper to reproduce Aubrey's poem awaiting her response to my request for further action. 

("re-post the entire list of 51 posts that will be published next year. Congratulations to all!")

Whether you read poetry or science the list below is worth a visit

Read more and enjoy.

1. Anthropology in Practice (Krystal D’Costa): Unraveling The Fear o’ the Jolly Roger

2. The Artful Amoeba (Jennifer Frazer): Bombardier Beetles, Bee Purple, and the Sirens of the Night

3. The Atavism (David Winter): The origin and extinction of species

4. Black Ink Obelisk (Aubrey J. Sanders): Somata (poem)

5. Blogus scientificus (Alex Reshanov): Shakes on a Plane: Can Turbulence Kill You?

6. Body Horrors (Rebecca Kreston): This Ain’t Yo Momma’s Muktuk: Fermented Seal Flipper, Botulism, Being Cold & Other Joys of Arctic Living

7. Boing Boing (Lee Billings): Incredible journey: Can we reach the stars without breaking the bank?

8. Boing Boing (Maggie Koerth-Baker): Nuclear energy 101: Inside the “black box” of power plants

9. Context and variation (Kate Clancy): Menstruation is just blood and tissue you ended up not using

10. Dangerous Experiments (Joe Hanson, It’s Okay To Be Smart): On Beards, Biology, and Being a Real American

11. Deep Sea News (Miriam Goldstein): DON’T PANIC: Sustainable seafood and the American outlaw

12. Empirical Zeal: (Aatish Bhatia) What it feels like for a sperm

13. En Tequila Es Verdad (Dana Hunter): Adorers of the Good Science of Rock-breaking

14. Endless Forms Most Beautiful (Kimberly Gerson): Romeo: A Lone Wolf’s Tragedy in Three Acts

15. Expression Patterns (Eva Amsen): Make history, not vitamin C

16. The Gleaming Retort (John Rennie): Volts and Vespa: Buzzing about Photoelectric Wasps

17. Guardian Science Blog (Karen James): Space shuttle launch: ‘I feel the percussive roar on the skin of my face’

18. Highly Allochthonous (Chris Rowan): Ten million feet upon the stair

19. History of Geology (David Bressan): It’s sedimentary, my dear Watson

20. Laelaps (Brian Switek): The Dodo is Dead, Long Live the Dodo!

21. The Last Word On Nothing (Ann Finkbeiner): Science Metaphors (cont): Resonance

22. The Loom (Carl Zimmer): The Human Lake

23. Neuron Culture (David Dobbs): Free Science, One Paper at a Time

24. Neurotribes (Steve Silberman): Woof! John Elder Robison, Living Boldly as a “Free-Range Aspergian”

25. Not Exactly Rocket Science (Ed Yong): The Renaissance man: how to become a scientist over and over again

26. Observations of a Nerd (Christie Wilcox): Why do women cry? Obviously, it’s so they don’t get laid.

27. The Occam’s Typewriter Irregulars (Richard F.Wintle): Genome sequencing, Shakespeare style [combined with] Genome Assembly – a primer for the Shakespeare fan

28. Oh, For the Love of Science! (Allie Wilkinson): The distance between your testicles and your anus, ‘taint unimportant

29. Pharyngula (PZ Myers): Dear Emma B

30. PLoS Blogs Guest Blog (T. Delene Beeland): Saving Ethiopia’s “Church Forests”

31. The Primate Diaries (Eric Michael Johnson): Freedom to Riot: On the Evolution of Collective Violence

32. PsySociety (Melanie Tannenbaum): Sex and the Married Neurotic

33. Puff the Mutant Dragon (“Mutant Dragon”): Sunrise in the Garden of Dreams

34. Reciprocal Space (Stephen Curry): Joule’s Jewel

35. Sciencegeist (Matthew Hartings): I Love Gin and Tonics

36. Scientific American Guest Blog (Casey Rentz, Natural Selections): How to stop a hurricane (good luck, by the way)

37. Scientific American Guest Blog (Cindy Doran, The Febrile Muse): Tinea Speaks Up—a Fairy Tale

38. Scientific American Guest Blog (Deborah Blum, Speakeasy Science): A View to a Kill in the Morning: Carbon Dioxide

39. Scientific American Guest Blog (Andrea Kuszewski, The Rogue Neuron): Could chess-boxing defuse aggression in Arizona and beyond?

40. Scientific American Guest Blog (David Manly, The Definitive Host): Mirror images: Twins and identity

41. Scientific American Guest Blog (Rob Dunn): Man discovers a new life-form at a South African truck stop

42. Scientific American Guest Blog (Jeremy Yoder, Denim and Tweed): The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Natural Selection and Evolution, with a Key to Many Complicating Factors

43. Scientific American Observations (George Musser): Free Will and Quantum Clones: How Your Choices Today Affect the Universe at its Origin

44. Skulls in the Stars (“Dr. Skyskull”): Mpemba’s baffling discovery: can hot water freeze before cold? (1969)

45. Superbug (Maryn McKenna): File Under WTF: Did the CIA Fake a Vaccination Campaign?

46. There and (hopefully) back again… (“Biochembelle”): In the shadows of greatness

47. This May Hurt A Bit (Shara Yurkiewicz): Fragmented Intimacies

48. The Thoughtful Animal (Jason Goldman): Rats, Bees, and Brains: The Death of the “Cognitive Map”

49. Uncertain Principles (Chad Orzel): Faster Than a Speeding Photon: “Measurement of the neutrino velocity with the OPERA detector in the CNGS beam”

50. Universe (Claire L. Evans): Moon Arts, Part Two: Fallen Astronaut

51. The White Noise (Cassie Rodenberg): How addiction feels, the honest truth

List from  Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

Ref Scientific American Blog

Free Website Directory Listing & PC Help

Free Website Directory Listing & PC Help link added to my Side bar - Top Left

Nice site worth a visit

Big Money_Big Crime series_Anatomy of China’s Money and Murder Scandal follows earlier post based upon a Harlan Coben quote a Thriller

With hindsight I guess I can consider myself to be a relatively intellectually sheltered, strongly committed, perhaps over committed, and focused scientist and engineer. Little did I suspect that the theme "Big Money_Big Crime" could develop to such an extent bringing to light, so to speak, the darker side of "human endeavour." The very stuff thriller crime writers thrive on. Could it be that reality surpasses fiction by a long chalk!

Today's news and video  on Yahoo news:

Anatomy of China’s Money and Murder Scandal_Video Link
by Christiane Amanpour, Matthew Drake, Iva Zoric, David Miller and Mark Monroy

can safely be added to the rapid first list drawn up in my earlier post Big Money, Big Corruption_Quotes from Thrillers_Harlan Coben BETA VERSION_HOT TOPICS

"Allegations of bribery, corruption, even charges of murder ha s one of China's most powerful families sitting on the outside of power looking in.

Bo Xilai was once a superstar in the Chinese Communist Party, but no longer. He's been under the microscope for his own abuse of power and lost his job because of it. Additionally, his wife is accused of murdering a influential English business man, and his son can't stay out of the tabloids for his partying ways.

But this is about more than a corrupt family. This scandal has rocked China's Communist Party and has pulled back the curtain on the Chinese political system, giving us a chance to take a unique glimpse into an increasingly fractured government.

Joining us to discuss China's public relations nightmare is Richard McGregor, Washington Bureau Chief for the Financial Times." source Yahoo.

Let me apologise for the ,as yet, bias in my preliminary list and of suspects mostly political-dictatorships and the likes. The obvious poor coverage of say the business sphere, a somewhat greyer area in which fortunately there must be more ethical, if only because of strong legislation and financial and economical controls, internal and external to the business venture,  natural (market) or man made (Gov, expert Auditing etc. )  without going into detail, each of us can remember cases in the business and commercial world  or too whereby common sense and decency are thrown to the wind. Currently in France, certainly not alone,the continuing rising gap between minimum wage evolution has lost all comparison with rewards in the CAC40 Top Dogs.  (bonuses, golden parachutes...)

I encourage readers to drop a line on their own personal experience and knowledge of cases of "Big Fortunes - Big Crime and the contrary, well earned well deserved rewards be it reward in terms of money,  scientific,  medical or social endeavour.

Cheers All

Transcending_ Al.Hy interprets "La foule" en direct -live on TF1 _A Star is born

 An astonishing re-interpretation of Piaf's "La Foule" The Crowd in english. by this young artist "Al.Hy"

 It is well worth viewing and listening to this video live-no playback stuff this evening (21/04/2012) It is well worth suffering through TF1 and Co's publicity.

France and the french show business system (the establishment) have at last allowed young vocal talent to express itself and there is lots of it.  TF1 by allowing practically instantaneous video downloading is a clearly helping to open the dam flood gates. I never thought that one day I would compliment TF1 Cheers TF1 and The Voice.

Big Money, Big Corruption_Quotes from Thrillers_Harlan Coben BETA VERSION_HOT TOPICS

"Behind each big (massive) fortune lies a big crime"

Percieved World Corruption Map

quoted from Harlan Cobens Thriller, entitled Promise me _ Promets -moi in the french version I have just finished reading. The remark is attributed to Coben's character, The Big Jake, on page 305 edition pocket (Fr)

I must admit that, such a thought, stated so succinctly, had until now, occured to me, at least not consciously.
Assuming Coben's remark is not a reflection on his own revenue I shall take the remark litteraly and in doing so little did I suspect that the subject is a HOT TOPIC INDEED.

Fact or Fiction
The apparently outrageousness of such a statement shocked me into thought. How far is such a statement true?

I believe that I have a  scientific mind and as such facts, evidence must be acquired.
From recent memory what evidence could I muster up?

Numerous cases of dictatorships:  for example from recent revolutions in norther africa-The Magreb: Lybia of Gaddafit(1,2), Tunisia of Sidi Bouazid(3,4,5) Egypt's Mubarak, (6,7) and lately Syria's "Marie Antoinette" (8) came rapidly to mind and are references below [1 to 8]

and what about the rest of Africa, most of us from memory can remember a few scandelous and bloody examples:  Idi Amin Dada, in Uganda and Jean-Bedel Bokassa (president of Central African Republic) [9,10 ]
The length of my first lists are becoming uncumfortably long [  11 to 17 and far from exaustive!]


In Europe of course Vladimir Putin is a prime suspect.

Reference 7 below brought my attention to Forbres - great defenser of great wealth.  This provides an interesting list of people and companies to examine in depth,  enought to draw up a reliable statistical population one would think. 


What about the corruptors [ Ouch!]

Richard Drayton: The wealth of the west was built on Africa's ...

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/aug/20/past.hearafrica05

Block all www.guardian.co.uk results

20 Aug 2005 – Richard Drayton: The wealth of the west was built on Africa's exploitation ... As Malachy Postlethwayt, the political economist, candidly put it in 1745: ... For the colonial Americas were more Africa's creation than Europe's: ...

The Roman Catholic Church does not escape indem

Effects of the Crusades

www.middle-ages.org.uk/effects-of-crusades.htm

The Crusades contributed to increase the wealth of the Church and the power of ... The crusades could not fail to affect in many ways the life of western Europe. ... As to thepolitical effects of the Crusades, they helped to break down the power ...

Google Search Key: Wealth and Politicians Corruption in Western Europe

It rapidly becomes obvious that Political corruption is a central figure in this theme 

1. Corruption And Democracy: Political Finances, Conflicts of ... - Google Books Result

   books.google.fr/books?isbn=9287163553...Council of Europe. Octopus Programme - 2008 - Law - 218 pages
   Those who have greater wealth can purchase a greater voice in the outcome of the public ... but is also controversial in the established democracies of western Europe. ...Other types of political finances are clearly illegal and corrupt.79 These ...
2. [PDF] 
   

   COMPETITIVE CORRUPTION Factional Conflict and Political ...

   politics.as.nyu.edu/docs/IO/4756/golden2.pdf

   File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
   by MA GOLDEN - 2001 - Cited by 93 - Related articles
   litical corruption in a democratic context occurs despite a wealth of ..... Carbó, eds.,Political Corruption in Europe and Latin America (Bassingstoke: Macmillan, ...Political Parties in Italy: A Case of Systemic Corruption,” West European Politics ...

3. Political and Governmental Corruption

   edu.learnsoc.org/.../19%20politics/...

   Everyone knows what political corruption is, but it is notoriously hard to define. .....Italy is probably considered the most corrupt country in western Europe. .... Marcos bullied wealthy families into giving up their holdings to his family and friends.

Dances with Thieves - By Anne Applebaum | Foreign Policy

www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/12/dances_with_thieves

Block all www.foreignpolicy.com results

12 Jan 2012 – If the West is really serious about combating corruption in the rest of the world, it can ... cost Russian taxpayers in lost income, jobs, and national wealth? ...And neither the British legal system, nor the British political system, cares ... West Europeans, that is, with a large dose of Eastern Europeans on hand to ...

Wealth, Business and Corruption

(TBD)

Délits d'initiés

THE GREAT PARDON

Guns, Germs, and Steel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel

Other peoples, after having thrown off colonial domination, still lag in wealth and power... He believes this is due to the societies' military and political advantages, ... Europewas the ultimate beneficiary of Eurasia's East-West orientation: in the ...

Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society | Chapter 21: The ...

college.cengage.com/history/west/perry/western.../chapter21.html

Block all college.cengage.com results

190+ items – Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society, Ninth ...

Why did industrialization begin in western Europe? Why not elsewhere

Western Europe accumulated wealth from fifteenth through eighteenth century

EXCEPTIONS (which confirm the rule?)

-Lottery winners (collusion)

-Genuine Inventors, and busness phillanthropists

NB few or no Nobel Prize winners enter the Forbes Top Wealthy
North Africa


Readers comments particularily appreciated - especially to balance what my blog must appear as stongly biased in the fight Good vs Bad!!

1. Libya News - Revolution and Aftermath (2011)

2. The $200 Billion Gaddafi Fortune: A Good Percentage is Owed to ...

Tunisia 

3.Ben Ali sentenced to 35 years in jail | World news | guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/.../ben-ali-sentenced-35-years-j...

20 Jun 2011 – Former Tunisian president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, found guilty of theft... deceived into leaving Tunisia, has accumulated vast wealth from his ...

4. How Tunisia's revolution began - Features - Al Jazeera English

5. Tunisian revolution claims victim in French cabinet as foreign minister quits

Egypt of Mubarak

6.

Ben Ali's fortune and the Mubarak network: A misleading parallel ...
►►	www.france24.com/.../20110208-ben-ali-fortune-tunis...7 Feb 2011 Block all www.france24.com results

7. Estimates Of Hosni Mubarak's Extreme Wealth Appear Exaggerated ...

www.forbes.com/.../estimates-of-hosni-mubaraks-extreme-wealth-ap...

Block all www.forbes.com results

7 Feb 2011 – ABC News and The Guardian have run stories putting Mubarak's wealthas high as $70 billion. The Forbes wealth team finds this to be highly ...

Syria

Syrian Refugees in Libya Compare Notes on Twin Uprisings

8. Syria's "Marie Antoinette"

Asma al-Assad, Syria's Marie Antoinette - The Washington Post ...

www.washingtonpost.com/...syrias-marie-antoinette/.../gIQAbb5sXS_...

Block all www.washingtonpost.com results

24 Mar 2012 – While bloodshed continues, she shops for crystal-encrusted shoes.

BLACK-AFRICA 

9. Biography: Idi Amin Dada

africanhistory.about.com/od/biography/a/bio_amin.htm

Idi Amin, who became known as the 'Butcher of Uganda' for his brutal, despotic rule whilst president of Uganda in the 1970s, is possibly the most notorious of all ...    cf. also recent references   BLACK-AFRICA below?

10. BBC NEWS | Africa | 'Good old days' under Bokassa?

www.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7803421.stm

2 Jan 2009 – The BBC's Mike Thomson goes in search of the man history calls one of Africa's most bloodthirsty monsters.

BLACK-AFRICA  RECENT REFERENCES

11. Rich Presidents of Poor Nations: An African Story of Oil and Capital ...

www.truth-out.org/rich-presidents-poor...african.../1330443407

28 Feb 2012 – As corrupt African leaders accumulate wealth, the African people are saddled with debts and watch helplessly as their natural resource

12. France probes African leaders' wealth - News - Mail & Guardian Online

mg.co.za/article/2010-11-15-france-probes-african-leaders-wealth

15 Nov 2010 – Three African leaders and their families are to be investigated in Paris for allegedly embezzling state funds to acquire vast assets in France.

http://www.iq4news.com/iq4news/photo/african-leaders-and-wealth

13. 

African leaders urged to spread the wealth | Reuters

uk.reuters.com/.../05/.../idUKLDE64O0I2._CH_.24... - United Kingdom

Block all uk.reuters.com results

25 May 2010 – China and other emerging economies having big impact * Governments told to come clean about mineral deals By Ed Cropley ...

1. 14. Oil wealth can't enhance development –World Bank ... - African Leader

   6 Mar 2012 ... By African Leader, New York City and Punch. The Vice President (Africa), World

   Bank, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, has warned the nation's leaders ...

   
   

15. Who Were Africa's Richest Dictators? - Forbes

8 Nov 2011 ... The richest men in Africa in recent history may well have been some of its... The

Billionaire Who's Squandering His Wealth On African Leaders ...

16. African leaders who have voraciously stolen national wealth are to ...

16 Feb 2012 ... Transparency International wants all African leaders who have voraciously stolen

national wealth from their respective countries removed from ...

1. 17. Who Are The Richest Presidents Of Africa?

   ... the fact a lot of presidents in Africa will not reveal their wealth.

Délits d'initiés  (FR expression for Manipulating the markets 

(sorry I did not realise I had slipped into French)

18 Délits d'initiés, manipulations de marchés : ce que prépare la ...

lecercle.lesechos.fr/node/39964 - Translate this page

14 nov. 2011 – LE CERCLE. La Commission Européenne souhaite renforcer la répression des délits d'initiés, et de nombreux autres abus de marché tels que ...

19. Enquête sur un vaste délit d'initié à Wall Street

www.lemonde.fr/.../enquete-sur-un-vaste-delit-d-i... - Translate this page

25 nov. 2010 – La justice américaine met la touche finale à une enquête de trois ans pour délit d'initié, qui pourrait être la plus vaste de l'histoire du pays.

REFERENCES FOR FURTHER STUDY

CORRUPTION PERCEPTION

http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results

Corruption And The Global Financial Crisis Forbes Mag (my altenative title:THE BIG BOYS beat the SMALL FRY)
Daniel Kaufmann 01.27.09, 2:58 PM ET 

"It would be very convenient to start this article by stating that corruption is a challenge mainly for public officials in developing countries and that it is unrelated to the current global crisis.

I also wish I could claim that corruption has declined worldwide as a result of the global anti-corruption and awareness-raising campaign, the many effective anti-corruption commissions, and the recognition that poverty and culture are the reasons why corruption prevails.

But none of it is true."

"In truth, anti corruption commissions, revised laws and awareness-raising campaigns have had limited success. Focus on petty or administrative bribery has been misplaced at the expense of high-level political corruption."

The Kaufmann Governance Post 

Kaufmann writes in his blog about ideas, findings, current events and initiatives on Governance, Corruption and Capture, around the world. 

Transparency, corruption and governance matters, evidence-based

Transparency, corruption and governance matters, evidence-based