February 2006 – Page 2

back from hiatus

A small round-up of thoughts that have been coming up during my recent visit to Bavaria where I’ve tried to fix Mbuzimoja’s laptop. Problem was that she had left the recovery cds in EAK and now try to imagine how difficult it can be to install an OS like WinXP on a laptop with all these small driver issues like missing USB (!) support and even service packs not bringing the required change. Alternative OS like (K)Ubuntu or Knoppix weren’t an option, but in the end, it all worked out and in terms of IT-related convenience, I can now safely send her back home.

1. Been mentioning this issue before, but securing intellectual property and the amount of time and energy it requires to get a product on the market over here in Germany is just horrible. There’s this good friend of mine who recently moved to Taiwan for good – yet alone for this reason of "getting things done", e.g. to develop ideas and to get them out as ready-to-buy products. I might consult him over an idea I had.
I think this barrier is one of the reasons why some great product ideas are still sleeping in drawers somewhere and not yet marketed. Stupid! I only hope that some wise chinese engineers are already checking out websites like shouldexist.org for useful input…

2. The West is so modularized. It seems we’re living in a world of pictograms that indirectly give us instructions on what we’re allowed to do. The matrix, this special frame society has put on itself can be seen everywhere and without these small, but yet elementary guidelines, chaos and anarchy would rule. True?
I shot this pic on the train last night and wondered how passengers would react if someone just comes and applies some totally irrelevant and moronic stickers instead. Would they be left flabbergasted or are they already used to this frame so that they would sort out things for themselves? And could you imagine ppl in Nairobi slums like Kibera to put up sign post with pictograms to organize e.g. water and sanitation issues? Would they need it? And would there be anyone feeling responsible for it?

3. Is there any place (on the inet) where we can find templates or images of the old BlueBand Logo? As Msanii_XL mentioned earlier in the comments section, this would really make up for a stylish Jamhuriwear. I need to get this on a t-shirt!

4. I will need to work on the spam-filters of my mailboxes. 244 emails on my uhuru.de account out of which only ~10% were private emails is just too much for five days…

5. Kudos to The Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) whose website I’ve only recently discovered via an article in a Deutsche Bahn magazine. What an interesting project!
On the other hand, it seems, Kenya is only interesting to them once the stories cover the following subjects: a)slums/hunger/drought/aids/etc., b) tourism and c) kenyan athletes. Please, there’s much more news from Kenya that could be interesting for the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, Riemer-san has send me this picture (thx!!) of a proud Philip Boit as shown in a german newspaper the other day:

6. Had the chance to eventually see "Darwin’s Nightmare" and "The Constant Gardener" over the weekend. The Constant Gardener….well….nice camera work (~City of God-style) and good to ~~see~~ hear they used some nice Ayub Ogada tunes on the soundtrack (and not only once!). Sawa!

As for Hubert Saupert‘s "Darwin’s Nightmare" (review), the portrait of this man, an askari/watchman on a fish-reeeesaaaaach (research) compound, left me completly astonished. Yet alone for the constant mentioning of this man (with his extreme facial expression most prolly due to HIV related diseases), I think Saupert deserves an extra prize.
This man has left a lasting impression on me and you just have to see for yourself how he speaks – closing one eye, turning the head to the side and putting on this serious Bwana Bunduki (C.I.D.) expression on his face. A picture of a man that has seen everything, and although he praises war activities as a way to bring prosperity and economic stability to the region, you would like to hug him for just being as unique as he is. Saupert, I think, felt similar and resourcefully used this man’s explanations to avoid any direct voice-over(ing).
This documentary contains so many small details that already speak for themselves and those who feel the silent moments and stills the camera catches also don’t need any further explanations.
What a great piece of documentary which clearly deserves 10+ out of 10 points!

7. Trigon-Film, this swiss-based independent film foundation which also provided me with Sarasin’s documentary on Boubacar Traoré last year, mentioned the release of "Congo River – Beyond Darkness" in their newsletter. I will need to get my hands on a copy soon! Interesting to note that they’ve used Lokua Kanza as the soundtrack music – an artist who has only recently been touring the continent and even performed at the French Cultural Centre in Nairobi.

Quid novi ex…, part 2

Half a year ago, I blogged on plug-ins that enable video chat via Skype.
Today, I’ve eventually downloaded a new Skype 2.0something release that includes video chat: "Smile, wave or say hello to anyone, anywhere in the world with free one-to-one video conversations".

Ok, I see……yani, does anyone of you out there (Hello World! :-) actually use this videonimoja feature?

0,02 shillingis

To me, the recent turmoil in Kenya’s internal politics regarding the (not so new) revelations on the Goldenberg and Anglo Leasing scandals, which comes along with an almost embarassing process where we see politicans blaming each other, clinging onto their reputation and what’s left of their integrity, clearly shows that the Republic of Kenya has in the past been run by people that have no problems with looting public funds for their own needs and using the juridical system to play according to their rules.
The shocking news is that almost every big name in the political scene seems to be involved, hence I wonder where Kenyans will find uninvolved and honest politicians that are willing to stand up for their country and resist any temptations in terms of becoming corrupted or betraying their people in any other way.
How – and this isn’t about Kenya only – are the corruption networks in the civil service supposed to be uncovered if politicians – in their position as role models – themselves behave in such autocratic ways?
In the end, it seems, it’s a matter of trusting elected leaders – and this, for me, is the biggest betrayal – a betrayal of confidence. I don’t know if all the looted money could ever bring back the faith the Kenyan public has put into the Kibaki government after the peaceful and democratic transition from the Moi era. Was it worth it?
Kenyans clearly deserve better than this.

Congotronics

Mingiedi, leader and likembe virtuoso

More than a year after its initial release on Crammed Discs (label) in January 2005 (true? or was it 2003?), the Congotronics series with Konono N°1 has eventually received my attention.
This beautiful and ingenious arrangement of traditional mbira/likembé/sanza/thumb piano sounds, amplified with hand-made microphones built from magnets salvaged from old car parts, is just the perfect background tune for my research on water & sustainable development in Kenya – a paper that has kept me busy for the last couple of days and thus kept me away from blogging.

The musicians come from an area which sits right across the border between Congo and Angola. Their repertoire draws largely on Bazombo trance music, but they’ve had to incorporate the originally-unwanted distorsions of their sound system. This has made them develop a unique style which, from a sonic viewpoint, has accidentally connected them with the aesthetics of the most experimental forms of rock and electronic music, as much through their sounds than through their sheer volume (they play in front of a wall of speakers) and their merciless grooves. (source)

Just in case you can’t get into this special music, the pictures showing the artists and their methods alone are proof enough that there’s something very special about these guys and the efforts they have spent on getting their music heard.

Yes, that’s a wodden microphone!

AMG’s allmusic review says: Part traditional, part African rhumba, part smart avant-garde electronica, Congotronics is the sound of an urban junkyard band simultaneously weaving the past and the future into one amazingly coherent structure, and not only that, you can dance to it.

geektine

attn: single & frustrated female friends of mine
(i know you’re reading this :-)

A geek for a boyfriend isn’t a bad idea

"There’s a whole bunch of really nice guys out there you may not have even considered yet. Men of substance, intelligence and stability – geeks! (…)
And they’re useful. They can fix things. In this techie world, it’s great to have a boyfriend who can make just about anything electrical behave itself. And geeks always call you when they say they will – now isn’t that something!"
(source: Lifestyle Magazine, Sunday Nation)

BUT DO I SAY?!?! emoticon

P.S.: "Watch for guys wearing T-shirts with software logos."

being mobile

What are the three major issues I have with mobile computing?

1. access to a network (inet et al)

2. access to static data

3. consistent power supply

Lady Mbuzimoja, this particular friend of mine who has her own notebook but not her own blog ;-), today reminded me of getting my own notebook. I think she said that because she wants me to be a bit more mobile….

Some years ago, when the term "technomad" wasn’t yet defined, I had an Acer 513T notebook (ok, laptop) which helped me get going. Upon settling here, I realized I wouldn’t need it anymore and sold it to another friend. Although I actually enjoy being without a notebook/mp3 player/pda/etc (owning = obligation to use it!) and my Nokia 6230 (mp3!) being enough in terms of mobile devices for the moment, I am often tempted to look out for really kewl gadgetimojas that I should get one day.
On the other hand – didn’t I just mention that there are some issues with mobile computing that irritated me a lot in the past? Hmmm…

1. Let’s pretend an all-area-access to networks is being worked on at the moment – be it Cable, DSL, WLAN, GSM/GPRS, packet radio, etc – all these access technologies are being deployed and since you can already send an sms from the top of Mt. Longonot in Kenya to almost any other GSM network in the world – why worry? In fact, here’s a nice how-to-install guide for your own (rural) wireless network.

2. The networks being deployed and flash/portable memory becoming more and more available, users aren’t forced to keep all their programs and static data on their computer’s HDD. Instead, computers are regarded as workstations only and if they brake, we just exchange them without the loss of any data.
Operating systems like Windows or Ubuntu are pre-installed and the hassle of adjusting this and that is gone. Just switch it on and use it. Who knows? Maybe in a few years time, computers will have fixed OS like PDAs have or our good old homecomputers had in the 1980s.

3. Despite of all sexy advantages a mobile gadget has, I think the quest for consistent and almost infinite power supplies is still the biggest problem. Of course, there will ~~always~~ often be a socket nearby where you can recharge the batteries inside (be it at home, in the train, on safari via solar energy or a local duka that normally recharges mobile phones using an ordinary car battery, etc.) – BUT! – what if we could find a way to recharge the batteries / generate electrical energy the moment we need it? I think that’s still the most interesting part of it. Generating the energy when we need it – thus changing battery design.
Users are human beings and we have lots of kinetic and thermal energy that goes wasted. What if we could find a way to turn that into electrical energy? Imagine, there are even ways of using the heat of waste water to generate energy!
I say: if we can produce energy out of human excreta (not only Biogas!), there sure has to be an intelligent way to propel our mobile gadgets with such alternative energy as well.

Many of you out there have already been talking about Negroponte’s $100 Laptop for kids and I guess that’s also because of the useful and integrated wind-up mechanism that generates enough power to run this machine without connecting it to any electrical socket. To my mind that’s THE best part of it – despite the aim of introducing the computer world to future generations.
How about if we could have a wind-up handle / dynamo system ready for our current laptops/pdas/mp3 players/mobile phones (thx Bwana Baylis:-) ? I know there are some available already, but the market isn’t really that huge. And this quest for alternative energy resources isn’t just about buying solar panels or fixing dynamos to our gadgets – it’s about getting electrical power instantly – whenever we need it.
I think batteries should only be used as capacitors but not as primary energy resources. However, any interim solution like solar/dynamo is better than being dependent on power sockets.

Meanwhile, Lady Mbuzimoja’s notebook has a dead battery which needs to be replaced. She can’t get that battery in Kenya and instead of going for a sustainable and intelligent power supply, she has to settle with just another Li-On battery.
How come manufacturers are putting so much effort in making all those mobile gadgets more and more powerful while at the same time ignoring to answer questions on sustainable, reliable and intelligent power supply systems?

simumania

Back in those days when I had a job with this french oil company, I sat in an office with 3 other slaves and our main job was to co-ordinate the price market at their local petrol stations here in Germany. That was at the end of the last century, right after my apprenticeship.
Since all gas prices are indicated on a stand outside next to the street, price marketing is a sensitive business and our telephones rang all day long, from 7a.m. just until 8p.m. and sometimes even earlier and also later than that. Alas, also during the weekends.
Imagine being woken up by a mobile phone as early as 6 a.m. just to hear the voice of an angry petrol station owner who tells you that the competition on the other side of the street in this and that city has gone down with his pricing and asks you for a permission to reduce his price by 1 cent as well… How am I supposed to know if he is telling me the truth, let alone the fact that it takes some time to even understand his strange dialect of what’s supposed to be Gaammaaaan with which he prattles into the phone? I think you get the point…

So, the job being somewhat 24/7/365-exploitive and on the other hand turning me into a bag of nerves, I am still reminded of this job whenever a telephone rings. Well, I am over it by now, but there are some SIEMENS mobile phone ringtones that I just can’t stand and which remind me of this well-paid job (the incentive, most definitely, they really paid good money – but what’s all the pesa for a 25year old slave back then when you just can’t buy time/freedom/uhuru/leisure time to relax?).

"how I always answer my phone" (toothpastefordinner.com)

Mobile phones have this wonderful advantage of containing something known as "on/off"-button. Since I chose to become a student again, and since I am NOT doing business again where the refusal to pick up a phone equals lost business, I nowadays sometimes choose to switch off my phone or just let it ring. Why? BECAUSE I CAN! THAT’S WHY!
And yes, there’s no Caller Identity Display (CID/CLIP) on my fixed line phone so it’s always like playing the lottery whenever I pick up the phone. It could be my relas with an important message, friends, job-offers, enemies (?), dumb companies trying to sell me some bogus deals or maybe even the lottery, telling me I’ve won (well, they have my e-mail so wtf… ;-). That is, according to Murphy’s Law, most of my friends try to reach me whenever I am busy³, trying to concentrate on work/ on something really important. That just isn’t fair!

There’s this article I read about Esther Dyson some years ago in which she is quoted as having said something like: "I know (that) I’ve completly recovered from working on monday mornings when I realise that I forgot the PINumber on my mobile phone."
Fortunately, it’s not yet that serious.

Kashionimoja

my old CASIO fx-85v calculator

Isn’t it ironic?
Just when my studies are coming to an end and most arithmetic exams already written, I eventually realized today that I could actually go and substitute my beloved and almost rotten CASIO fx-85v calculator with a new one. Mind you – I’ve already reserved a few stickers for the cover of any new calculator – so this flag & car stuff will remain (Kiku’s style :-).
I think I got this one in 1992, and according to what other people use, this machinimoja here is old kabisa. SO OLD! The keys have a very soft, almost spongy pressure point, there’s no 2nd DOT display to double-check the last entry and some functions are missing.

Being a bit perfectionist on all buy-technology-matters, there’s this gap between the decision to buy a new calculator and the actual decision on which model it should be. I think I will go for this ~~CASIO FX991MS~~ CASIO FX-991ES scientific calculator, however, I just can’t decide…
Any recommendations? Thx!

Update:

my new CASIO fx-991ES calculator

The difference between Mama fx-85v and Kijana fx-991ES is like driving my old Tembomoja compared to a 2006 Lexus GS. Both will get you from A to B, but using the new one is just much more convenient.