Forgotten Bird of Paradise

Stills from this amazing documentary which focuses on the little-known Indonesian occupation and oppression of West Papua. As the video's description explains: '...the critically acclaimed undercover documentary, 'Forgotten Bird of Paradise', on the West Papua independence struggle... produced by English filmmaker Dominic Brown, who travelled in West Papua without the knowledge or authority of the Indonesian authorities. The film provides a rare and moving insight into the ongoing struggle for freedom being fought by the West Papua people against Indonesian colonial rule.'
























Watch the documentary in full (26mins):

South Sudan

Images from this article South Sudan: The Newest Nation in the World on The Atlantic published July 11th 2011.

Various observations from Cairo, Beirut and Uganda

A selection of images from the blog Future Perfect by Jan Chipchase. Fascinating observations and various fleeting glimpses into everyday life, urban fabric, graphic design, technology, micro enterprises and other particular subtle details witnessed in Cairo, Beirut, and Uganda.







'Phone number for sale in the electronics market. 50 Egyptian Pound (6 Euro) premium for an easy to remember number sequence, and an additional 25 Egyptian Pounds premium for older operator prefixes that suggest the person has been ‘mobile’ for a while (the operator ran out of numbers, was allocated a new prefix).'


Run don't walk


Monopoly, Reverse Engineered











You’re a road-side vendor offering phone charging services – what are the pre-conditions for investing in a solar panel for your business? A lack of mains electricity or very poor mains electricity; cost to buy, maintain; versatility; risk of theft (for smaller panels); effectiveness (speed of charging, discharging); weather conditions; an ability to purchase said solar panel; and ultimately a willing consumer base in range of a cell tower.

Are you going to invest in a solar panel if its likely the grid to extend to your neighbourhood. This isn’t an environmental investment, its cost driven.

On this trip I’ve seen off-grid road-side charging services using a single solar panel to charge phones. The photo above actually shows a solar panel for sale – the owner stall was recently connected to the grid – his business undercut.

Cost of a car battery recharge? ~1,500 Shillings (~0.6 Euro)
Cost of a phone battery recharge? ~500 Shillings (~0.2 Euro)

For people of the grid power don’t come cheap.



Phone charging stall