Ha! This is the way you stop terrorists and tyrants...

... deny them their weapons.

Basically, a shipload of weapons and/or amunition was on its way from China to Zimbabwe but because the goods had to get to the land-locked country through a port, dockworkers in several coutries refused to unload the shipment. Awesome.

The ship will likely return to China where officials regard it simply as a "transaction" and are not commenting on the political issues.

[I heard this on the CBC this morning, but couldn't find a story on their site, so here is more information from Thaindian News.]

Making a Difference a Dollar at a time...

Yes, it's a little break from my usual sarcasm and navel-gazing to look at the "bigger picture....



Maybe you've heard about microlending or microfinance, maybe not. Basically, it's exactly what you would expect: small scale business loans (under $100). However, Kiva takes it one step further, allowing people like you and me to fund small businesses in developing countries through local financing organizations. It really does look easy: register, browse borrowers, pick one (or more), and lend as little as $25 using your credit card or PayPal balance.

This is way more useful to the world than so many other things I regularly throw $25 at... in fact I think this is a great family activity, and we may actually decide where to invest as a group.