Everything you need to know about modern business. Well, maybe not quite, but Forbes' Ten Laws of the Modern World is a concise guide to success for technology businesses.

Over the years, the condescending idea that "they" aren't ready for democracy has been used to justify all sorts of autocratic behavior. Developed nations have tended to favor "stability" over democracy in their foreign policy, and autocrats around the world have declared that they know what is best for the masses. It isn't so. Metafilter presents a collection of links comparing democracies to autocratic regimes. The most interesting (long) shows that developing democracies outperform developing autocracies on almost every measure, from public health to economic stability.

I have serious disagreements with the notion that the US can, or should, overthrow regimes we don't like and impose democracy by force. But the common argument that citizens of dictatorships "aren't ready" for or "don't want" democracy is patronizing, often racist, and just plain wrong.