Guest post by Jeff Mosenkis of Innovations for Poverty Action.

• A very nice obituary of D.A. Henderson, the public health official who ended up leading the crusade to eliminate smallpox in a time when nobody believed it was possible. Sounds like a biopic waiting to happen. (h/t Dina Pomeranz, as usual)
• Why the Syrian Civil War only seems to get worse, according to political scientists (both sides are being propped up by outside forces, which means no side can ever really lose, and there’s no incentive to protect civilians, among other factors).
• This made the rounds – there are so many NGOs in Kibera, Nairobi that they have to pay local people to attend their programs.
  • But Ryan Briggs cautions that before making too much of this, remember that reporters have an incentive to look for the surprising cases.
• A nice history of how Nancy Birdsall made the Center for Global Development a leader in the field.
• Recent big (20% in 6 months!) growth of mobile money use in Kenya is being driven by mobile phone-based gambling/betting. (via NextBillion)
• A nice review of reviews from Rachel Strohm: What works in promoting governance reform in low-income countries?

Econ blogger lifecycle (somebody catch Chris up when he comes back):

The econ-blogger lifecycle, just for @ModeledBehavior and @Noahpinion pic.twitter.com/96Emge2tKH

— Cardiff Garcia (@CardiffGarcia) August 25, 2016