100 000 Congo Rapes Every Month For Smartphone Coltan - Keith Harmon Snow

The visual used is a picture of a Congo girl talking about the rape she was subjected to. She doesn't seem to have any scars so she's probably one of the lucky ones that didn't have a rifle barrel inserted in her vagina or a blade whipped across her face. It's hard to be sure she isn't permanently disfigured as well as emotionally scarred for the rest of her life. We can't see the full story.

The two video clips slightly overlap each other but I assure you that Keith Harmon Snow is such a compelling and informed speaker that it is worth repeating a few minutes of viewing.

It is within our power as a collective to find a way to stop the rape of DRC the country and Congolese women. It's just wrong. Keith Harmon Snow needs money to keep doing his amazing work. Go give him money and don't be tight.

Rare Earth Coltan - The Smart Phone Material 5 Million Died In The Congo For

Ten minutes ago I didn't know why the DRC war happened or what Coltan was. Now I know.

The war beginning in 1998 that pitted the armies of Congo, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola against those of Uganda and Rwanda induced the largest humanitarian disaster since World War II, with an estimated four million Congolese lives lost. Congo's first national elections since 1965 have taken place, but true peace and democracy remain elusive goals.

Russell Davies - Newspapers 101

I've been meaning to do a write up on one of Russell Davies signature posts recently about small pocketable items. Stuff we like to carry round in our pockets with memento or souvenir value and which may also have a utility of some sort. It's a lovely post because it touches on some thoughts I'd been having about minimalist lives which in principle amounts to humans, the clothes we wear and a thing. The thing would be the artificial extension of man. The thing that separates us most from other species in that we utilize tools (and more complexly social objects). It would be a smart device and we're already seeing the emergence of such a device with increasingly powerful iPhones that have the ability to process augmented reality and do quality fry ups. OK I"m kidding on that last point but the collision of Smart Phone and Netbook design is a hint at the future and I suspect that some collision of recombinant-culture-technological-forces, with ever increasing miniaturisation points towards the likely utility of that, and which we will likely carry around in our pockets. I'm guessing hand bags will probably be extraneous accessories which females are unlikely to dispense with and frankly I'm quite fond of bags myself but in principle the clothes aren't so necessary in a hot climate. Or at least less of them.

In any case go and read Russells excellent blog and some of his seminal posts such as this recent candid and very funny post on dancing which is quintessential Russell, as well as 'more ideas, less stuff' or brand polyphony which back in the day (some four years or so years ago) was a real challenge to the traditional received wisdom of how marketing communications worked and when the reliance on USP or proposition testing was ubiquitously held as the most effective and valid methodology.

In any case the reason for this post is that Russell has unearthed a gem of a book for young people on the newspaper industry, by Ladybird and which chimes just nicely with todays business model for a business in transition (to put it mildly).

Brilliant isn't it? I know I shouldn't but this Ladybird parody arrived in my email via Cambodia of all places not so long back and I think it echoes quite nicely with what that whole straightforward and clear renaissance in language theme which is the signature of progressive marketing communications in London. I love it very much, but which of course in this instance is meant to be (and is) hugely funny. I'm very fond of progressive London's aversion to business bullshit, and which of course I was most certainly guilty of at one stage in my career although I never repeated that grubby little number 'heads up' because it's just annoys the hell out of me as if someone is doing me a favour sharing information that they otherwise wouldn't. Anyway, this is more charming I think.

Qik

Some of you have been viewing my Qik videos already, so I thought that now was as good a time as any to introduce them formally. I first came across Qik on Robert Scoble's blog and I thought it was a neat feature having the live video to internet on a Nokia N95 which is the smart phone I'm using. I also thought it would compete with some of the other video to net features like Kyte.tv or Ustream but as I've been using it I've also come to appreciate that its a cinch to use and has one extra feature that gives the broadcasts currency; there is a check box to send a link to my twitter account immediately. So it's kind of fun getting twitters back from friends about what they imagine I'm doing to whom in that hot tub in the second bathroom of the Hutong I'm intending to move into. Evidently my twitter chums have quite vivid imaginations!