Mexico hates Emo

Blender and star reporting are like milk and bourbon. But Senior Editor Josh Eells did a great piece called The Eyeliner Wars. While trying to find the story online, I found a related one on NPR. 

Basically, Mexico is rapidly becoming more liberal. Goths and Emo kids are not as hip here because of how quickly it hit mainstream, but over there it is aspirational and somewhat underground still, and the Mayor and others in politics are not so happy. Looking for a political drum to beat, they label these non-conformist as anti-church, anti-family trouble makers and has put an all out ban on Emo. One kid's trash is another kids treasure. It makes you wonder how other US trends fair overseas. 

Coltan

One of the best articles I've read on Coltan. Basically, Coltan is the new blood diamond. It is a metal mined in places like Canada, Australia, and the Congo for tantalum. Tantalum is used in hi-rel capacitors because of it's great thermal properties. It is used in cell phones and laptops. Demand has forced the US gov to keep reserves. Price has gone way up and so has the fight for profits. Congo has been victim to internal and external profiteers, resulting in bloodshed, humanitarian and environmental crises, and little attention from the international community. Many companies including vodaphone and nokia have spoken to their supply chain to stop using the metal in their capacitors, and US-based Kemet is swearing that all coltan is from the non-Congo region.