Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

"In the years of the American war in Indochina, the tiny landlocked country of Laos became the most heavily bombed country on earth. Some 30 million tonnes of bombs rained down on the population of Lao in a deluge of death and destruction. And still, each year at least 400 Laos are killed by Unexploded Ordnance (UXO). Not mines, as in Cambodia, but unexploded bombs, missiles, and bombies - brightly coloured anti personnel cluster bombs particularly attractive to children. It is fitting in a time of media dominance of events like war, and our increasingly short term memory for horror, to remind ourselves that long after CNN packs its cameras, BBC reporters take off their flak jackets, and the ABC has filed the footage, the aftermath of war goes on. And on. And on." Melody Kemp

"In August 1981, IBM introduced the 5150 personal computer. It was not really the first personal computer, but it turned out to be 'The PC,' and it revolutionized not just business life, but also the way people thought about the world. No good deed goes unpunished: by making the PC, IBM practically destroyed itself as a company. Its innovation gave rise to a huge number of new and dynamic companies, forcing IBM to reinvent itself completely in order to compete with them – just one example of the socially transformative effects of the PC. ": Harold James