ie Jews of non-European origin. Make up about half the Israeli population, used to be more until the last Eastern European influx. According to Thinking Allowed, Israeli society is divided between the professional, political class of Ashkenazi Jews and the working class, often right wing (!) Mizrahi Jews – state sponsorship of the arts, for…

The bank of Zimbabwe has started issuing 10 Trillion dollar notes. Inflation is so high to now lack any real meaning – nobody wants this country's money. Except coin collectors, maybe.

250th Anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. He has many champions, but his reputation is also tainted by associations with drink and womanizing. The truth is hard to come by – there isn't even an accepted collective works, let alone an accepted biography. What is clear is that he died in poverty, aged just…

From In Our Time (Radio 4). The Qing dynasty was failing. The emperor was busy playing diplomacy games with foreign powers, negotiating trade treaties and the like, meanwhile corruption in the hinterland meant that essential flood prevention dykes were no longer being maintained properly. A flood followed by a famine led to mass hunger and…

Hadn't really appreciated that this was happening, but of course it makes perfect sense. In the digital world, instead of giving away a few freebies to attract paying customers, it makes much more sense to make your service free to the majority, and charge a small number of dedicated users for professional or specialist services.…

The most famous library of all time. Established by the Greeks in their new city in Egypt, an attempt to put them on the map, and pull influence away from the homeland. In the same way as Alexander wanted to rule the whole world, the library sought to contain all knowledge. It contained millions of…

Paolo Pellegrin, Magnum photojournalist: "There is a whole gallery of pictures I couldnx92t bring myself to take. I work in a landscape of human suffering; there is an Italian word x91pudorex92 which means modesty in front of the suffering of others. I need to be comfortable with what I do and, of course, I am…

There are now 2.5 million less sheep in Scotland than 20 years ago. A third of the flock in the Highlands and islands has gone. Part of the reason is declining subsidies, part of the reason is that people eat less lamb. The rate of decline accelerates as services such as transport and feed become…

From Unclutterer http://unclutterer.com/2009/02/26/could-your-productivity-benefit-from-a-professional-nagger/ As someone who is chronically disorganized and has a tendency to procrastinate on the dull but necessary, I could probably benefit from professional nagging services.

What do Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Mingus and Louis Armstrong all have in common? Scottish surnames, that's what! Scottish slave owners gave their names to generations of black Americans. Similarly, Scottish migrants may have influenced American blues music with their own traditions of acapella singing. Now it has been suggested that rap music may link in…