<< Specifications: About 320sf, 12′ x 16′ x 16′
I somehow like this small house :-)
Ever wondered about the National Guard / Police in Lousiana and the on-going rescue operations?
I don’t know about the States (=> it is forbidden to listen to police/fire department/rescue/etc. radio communications (BOS) on 4m and 2m band over in Germany), but someone hooked up a radio scanner to the net some years ago and now we’re able to follow the radio communication of the National Guard over in Louisiana. As far as I hear it now, their communication seems to be quite disciplined.
Of course there are many more radio scanners online. I especially like those VHF ones for they usually cover local radio traffic. Nice!
…And the internet is one of the reasons why my interest in amateur radio/ham radio stopped way back in 1996 when I first got online. Next time I am in Kenya, I’ll take my HF/VHF/UHF radio scanner with me and look for a nice, high alltitude shamba in Limuru where I’ll put up my antennas :-)
73s de jke
An interesting story about a coder in Accra, Ghana:
<< Besides being compact, his programs also write frequently to disk, reducing the chances of losing data if power is lost, as it often is. Because Internet connectivity remains relatively expensive, his programs also work offline as much as possible. And to combat the rampant piracy, beta versions of software rarely leave Soft’s premises, finished products don’t have an autoinstall function (you need a Soft technician to launch them), and batches of bug fixes are often delivered individually to customers rather than generally released. (…)
Software vendors doing business in Africa constantly battle technological ignorance. (…) >>
This is SO true…not only on the African Continent…
<< Ghana’s* educational system is exceedingly theoretical and designed to train people to manage, say, a Mercedes dealership rather than to build a Mercedes," Chinery-Hesse says. "What we require is more practical education. >>
* = Ghana, Germany, … you name it, same problems everywhere. Imagine I had to learn FORTRAN for my studies in civil engineering. Why? Because it is a) simple, b) shows the structure behind coding and most importantly c) the prof only knows Fortran as a programming language. C++? Visual Basic? No chance!
[found via: cyrusfarivar.com]
Maybe we actually don’t have the time nowadays for creating altruistic tribute websites or other passionate stuff, LAKINI – since I received an email late last night from Hash from whiteafrican.com, who’s been answering upon a comment I’ve put in his blog before, and wapi he came up with this idea of using my term "Gadgetimoja" for "a website for all gadgets African-related", I thought about a relaunch of tusker.info as a start (tusker.info & tusker.de are currently on hold // offline // on sale at www.sedo.de but still registered on my name).
I don’t know about you guys, but I think there are a few Wazungus* out there who still have a vivid interest in Kenya/East Africa and would like these things to be online. I am talking about Mzeecedric or Bwana 58 (who’s currently working on an alumni page for the German School Nairobi @ xnbo.de along with Bwana Hamisi) or anyone else interested in contributing to such a website. Ndiyo, Hash or bART :-)
Which things? Ahh…yes: tusker.info, gadgetimoja.com or or or….you name it. Anything that we would like to work on. Maybe even this gadgetimoja.com nini in form of a blog so everyone can contribute. However, since all this is just a spontaneous idea, please feel free to comment on it and maybe soon we’ll be able to come up with another interesting website. Even if it’s just another, however maybe bigger tribute website for the Tusker beer….
*Wazungu: as in the traditional meaning of "zungu" = strange. NOT as it is used nowayads for Europeans or even "white persons".
…zu: Gadgetimoja ==> hier
A few days ago, A.-M. had met an old mate from school (~1985) at her night-shift job. Haia! Can you imagine meeting someone after 20 years who had been schooling with you when you were like 7 years old? She’d been in the same class with this guy 20 years ago and they only met by chance while being assigned for the same night shift. Talking about their CVs or so, they instantly figured they’d been schooling together.
So, last evening, the bathroom needed a break and A.-M. persuaded me to join her and Marc (our school mate from those old days back in NBO) for a beer at an “African restaurant”.
We didn’t anticipate anything, since most “african shops/restaurants” here in Germany are run by folks from West Africa.
On arriving at this lovely spot called “Enjoy Africa” in the heart of Freiburg, Germany, we soon heard some familiar voices and language fragments that seemed to be Kikuyu..
It turned out that the restaurant is run by our new friend Rachel Kamau (from Kenya!), who’s really doing a very nice and assiduously job. She’d come to Germany a few years ago and upon asking her for her motivation, she told us that she had always wanted to open up her own little restaurant and, my dear wanainchiis, in case you ever happen to come to Freiburg (close to the french & swiss border, btw..), please make sure to check out this wonderful spot.
Rachel served us with some really good, fresh and cold beers and since we were damn hungry, we ordered NYAMA CHOMA (of course!).
Nyama Choma, my dear friends, in Germany. YESSSS!
Also, Rachel’s home made stew with rice (Royco Mchuzi Mix taste!) was superb, and no matter what, I’ll sure be back for more!
We stayed 5 hours at this place and for the first time since leaving Kenya some years ago, I felt like being back in my fav. pubs in Kangemi. In fact, I haven’t stayed this long in a german restaurant so far.
So comfortable, good food, nice drinks, cool music + videos (kenyan hip hop, soukous/lingala, gikuyu+luo music), nice people around – could I ask for more?
Rachel, thank you very much for this great evening! I really enjoyed it!!!
Rachel’s fine restaurant “Enjoy Africa” (“Restaurant afrikanischer Spezialitäten”) can be found at Hugstetter Str. 1 in D-79117 Freiburg, Germany. Tel +49-(0)761-7677444 // open from 3 p.m. – 3 a.m. (mondays closed).
p.s.: Kilonzo, a friend of mine who did his master on tropical water engineering in Suderburg, recently told me about this nice spot in Bremen by the name of “Hakuna Matata” – another restaurant run by a kenyan lady. The other day while visiting my parents in Bremen, I tried to track it down, but I couldn’t find it though. Guess I’ll soon have another approach. In fact, this said restaurant was once mentioned in a weekend magazine within the Daily Nation (~sometime in early 2005).
The other day I received an inspiring telephone call by my dear friend A.-M. from Freiburg in southern Germany, who had been schooling with me way back in Nairobi. She asked me to help her renovate her awful 80s-styled bathroom, which had been left within a “light-brownish” state since the mid 1980s. Knowing how much it means Continue reading “the bathroom story”
This water-purifier for instant use seems to be quite interesting:
>LifeStraw is a personal, low-cost water purification tool with a life time of 700 litres – approximately one year of water consumption for one person.<
[Found via gizmag]