Did you know that Kim Kardashian is in Botswana at the moment? (That's the country in Africa named Botswana, by the way, in case you were thinking it might be some new jungle-themed club in LA.) What could possibly explain Kardashian's decision to travel to such a poor African country? Diamonds, of course! Kim and boyfriend Reggie Bush made the trip as "representatives" of Russell Simmons' Diamond Empowerment Fund, a foundation backed by companies like DeBeers that assists "economically disadvantaged people in African nations where diamonds are a natural resource." But DeBeers & Co. is totally getting its money (or diamonds') worth. Kardashian is learning all sorts of interesting things about the economy of Africa, and she's sharing her newfound knowledge on Twitter: "Did u know that 75% of Botswana's economy is supported by diamonds?" Actually, we didn't. But now we do! We fully expect to see Kim talking economics with Jeffrey Sachs when she gets back to the States. In the meantime, you'll find a few more of Kardashian's revelations—opposite a photo of Kim in a bikini, weirdly—below.

Here's a preposterous contrarian strategy: Evil diamond merchant De Beers is more than doubling its marketing spending this holiday season, because they have "new research showing diamond jewelry will be the number-one gift for the holidays in 2008." Oh really? Diamonds made out of compressed spam, boiled into a thin soup and served with watery Kool-Aid, maybe. De Beers says their ad campaign will be "philosophical." That philosophy is egoism with a touch of apocalypticism. [WWD]