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23:12
Christmas, Lights, Action!
» For Love and Money Christmas, Lights, Action!
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23:11
BRITISH COUNCIL NAIROBI PRESENTS WAPI: ADAM vs EVE
» Kenyanpoet BRITISH COUNCIL NAIROBI PRESENTS WAPI: ADAM vs EVE
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21:06
Danger Ahead: The Next Move Could Leave Kenyans Numb With Shock
» You Missed This 
For one magical moment in the recent post where I reproduced the hate literature being distributed in the Rift Valley, all major Kumekucha contributors for once seemed to find a common ground. Everybody agreed that this was something that Kenya does NOT need.
It is my sincere hope that what I am about to say will be received in the same spirit because it is bigger than petty partisan politics. It is more important than PNU and more important than ODM, ODM-Kenya and any other political party for that matter.
Let me also emphasize that it has nothing to do with tribalism. The truth is that greedy politicians have always managed to rally their tribesmen around themselves in their grand mission to enrich themselves and to destroy any obstacle standing in their way. This appeal to the tribe has always worked like magic. For instance nobody talks about Anglo Leasing any more because the widely held view by those supporting PNU is that there is a bigger enemy that has to be dealt with first. Little do they know that this election is all about retaining power so as to continue with the plan of personal enrichment and more Anglo Leasing by certain individuals in the current government. It has nothing to do with our poor Kikuyu brothers, some of whom have suffered more than other communities in Kenya, losing scores of relatives who basically died for nothing.
In the same way, Tom Mboya was NOT assassinated by the Kikuyus and neither was Robert Ouko bumped off by the Kalenjins. NO!!! This dirty work was carried out by individuals who fell back on their tribes for support after their evil mission was accomplished.
For some time now, there have been rumours (mainly brushed aside by most wise know-all analysts) about an impending political assassination. Interestingly this rumour has been strongest amongst security personnel (which should tell you a lot.)
Read more -
The PNU MOU That Nobody Is Talking About
» You Missed This Guest column by Kijana M. Kibisu
One question that has refused to go away is why the leader of the official opposition party would abandon his constitutional role to support the re-election of a sitting head of state. Historians tell us that this unprecedented action has already Uhuru a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
What historians forget to add is that Uhuru's move took months of negotiations with the current regime. In a series of meetings brokered by Central Province old guard, John Michuki, Njenga Karume and Kibaki's Muthaiga golf club friends, Uhuru was prevailed upon not only to abandon his plans of running for the top post in 2007 but also to reunite KANU by making peace with Nicholas Biwott's New KANU. Further, he was asked to keep a decent distance from Raila's Odinga's ODM. These discussions culminated in the signing of a secret MoU between Kibaki and Uhuru. So what was Uhuru promised in return?
By agreeing to support Kibaki's PNU, KANU was allowed the privilege of preserving its identity within the umbrella party. While other parties were being pressurized to accept joint nomination under PNU, KANU was exempted. The second part of the MoU dealt with campaign funds.
Read more
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18:34
who will save these men?
» Black Looks The Sudanese government are holding 27 men believed to be “prisoners of conscience”. Amnesty International believe the men have been tortured and may be sentenced to death. The men are: * Abdel Jalil al-Basha (m), Umma Reform and Renewal Party General Secretary * Yaqoub Yahya (m), former army [...]
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18:31
8W Computing
» Kikuyumoja's realm Germany’s Heise Online (IT news) carried this not-so-new-news today about the ALEUTIA E1 Desktop computer which is said to consume only 8W and comes with a 200 MHz CPU, 128 MB SDRAM, 2 GB CF card, 3 USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 NIC, VGA up to 1280×1024 and an interesting carry-on size. Best features though are that it runs on Puppy Linux (2.14) OS which looks similar to what experienced users may be to used to from the MS-Windows environment.
This machine is based on the eBox-2300SX “Mini Green PC” and has - in my opinion - just been equipped with some sexy marketing keywords (Africa, rural, internet, power supply, solar, etc.), although these guys behind Aleutia have indeed found the right arguments to promote their product.
So….no matter what technology you prefer (given the many different systems we have been blogging about during the last two years), my question is:
would YOU buy this for your folks back home @ shaggs*?Yes?
My other question is: IF these computers are so much better - how come they are never bought by dev aid agencies who are supposed to know the disadvantages and unreliability of a MS-Win machine in most office environments all over the world and who actually have the political and economical power to stir such purchases in this direction?
I know that in most cases, money is just given to someone who then arranges a deal with a local HP, DELL, IBM representative + WinXP + the usual setup. So instead of talking about sexier computer solutions that may be more reliable in unstable working conditions (power supply, heat, dust, many users, malware, etc.), how about some political will from top-down that directly promotes the purchase of such computers in future?(*i think that most ppl will just have an older MS WinXP laptop which is then forwarded to younger members of the extended family and which will presumably die after the first half year in use due to an unstable power supply, some heat problems or malware and/or missing WinXP recovery CDs…now IF i was much more into IT and an unemployed graduate of any varsity, I’d buy these used computers from KTs and refurbish them with a stable X release and then sell them to folks upcountry. but hey - that’s just me thinking loud…)
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17:12 The Man of a Thousand Voices
» Cock And Bull If you are a cartoon buff, then you might be interested in knowing the following trivia about Mel Blanc, “The Man of a Thousand Voices“.
Melvin Jerome Blanc (May 30, 1908 – July 10, 1989) was a prolific American voice actor. Although he began his nearly six decade long career performing in radio and television commercials, Blanc is best known for his work with Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation (and later for Hanna-Barbera television productions) as the voice of such iconic characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester the Cat, Tweety Bird, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam, Barney Rubble, Mr. Spacely and hundreds of others. Having earned the nickname “The Man of a Thousand Voices,” Blanc is regarded as one of the most gifted and influential persons in his field.
On January 24, 1961, Blanc was involved in a near-fatal auto accident on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. Hit head-on, Blanc suffered a triple skull fracture that left him in a coma for three weeks, along with fractures of both legs and the pelvis. After his recovery, Blanc reported in TV interviews, and later in his autobiography, that a clever doctor had helped him to come out of his coma by talking to him as Bugs Bunny, after futile efforts to talk directly to Blanc. Although he had no actual recollection of this, Blanc’s wife and son swore to him that when the doctor was inspired to ask him, “How are you today, Bugs Bunny?”, Blanc answered in Bugs’ voice. Blanc thus credited Bugs with saving his life.
Though his best-known character was a carrot-chomping rabbit, Blanc himself did not like the taste of raw carrots. Additionally, munching on the carrots interrupted the dialogue. Various substitutes, such as celery, were tried, but none of them sounded like a carrot. So for the sake of expedience as well as personal taste, he would munch and then spit the carrot bits into a spittoon rather than swallowing them, and continue with the dialogue.
Blanc’s will stated his desire to have the inscription on his gravestone read, “THAT’S ALL FOLKS“, considered by some to be one of the most famous epitaphs in the world.
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16:02
Petals Of A Rose
» Cock And Bull Just take a good look at a rose and see the way the petals unfold.
The objective of each petal in the rose is to dazzle with its beauty, bath the world with color, and refresh the surroundings with its fragrance. However, it is not until all the outer covering petals have opened up that the inner petals will have the opportunity to bloom in the sun.
For you to be born, your parents had to be born, they had to find one another, so that they could give birth to you. If you are in a relationship, the parents of you partner had to be born, meet and give birth to him or her so that you could meet and fall in love. For you to read this, my parents had to be born, meet and give birth to me, and the Internet had to be invented. It is like you being a petal inside a rose. And so you see, before you are finally able to stand out in the sun and dazzle with your beauty, bath the world with color, and refresh the surroundings with your fragrance, many more petals before you will have to open.
If you have recently lost someone who is important in your life, it is good to understand that his or her going away is yet another outer petal that opened so that you may get closer to your chance to bloom in the sun. And just like that petal whose objective in life is to give beauty, color and fragrance, you too will realize you purpose.
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Africa's Top Five Kings of Leather
» You Missed This 
The five shortlisted top 5 African footballers for the year 2007 could as well be described predictable. Who can fault the Drog with his appetite and thirst for goals or 'new' Thiery Henry in Emmanuel Adebayor?
Essien's physical presence is almost become synonymous with Chelsea and we already had Samuel Eto as the face of World cup 2010 to be staged in South Africa. While Kanoute may not be a 'very popular' (in the traditinal sense), the versatile Malian is the heart of his national side. He recently measured to that bill and reputation by scoring the decisive goal that ensured Mali joined Africa's elite footballing nations in Accra next month.
With all the five nominees virtually being West Africans, where does that leave the rest of the continent? Or put different is playing in the Premier League the alpha and omega in football? Where are East, South, Central or North Africans?
Well the jury is still out and very soon we would be victims of the same media blitz where any mundane dribbling is speedily judged world class. Poor Benni McCarthy could not feature anywhere despite his form for Blackburn. Woe unto other African footballers plying their trade outside Europe in general and England in particular.
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14:05
Thought for the Day
» Hapa Kenya "Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. (And, when I watch the changing demographics, it is clear I am the sheep in this equation.)"
--James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
Blogged with Flock
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13:26
What Kind of Geek are You?
» White African Scott Johnson has created a hilarious poster of 56 geek-types. Which one are you?
So many choices… I think I best fit the mold of a “photo geek” (or an “MMO geek”, I love playing online games when I have the time).
You can buy the poster here.
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13:01
Fannie Lou Hamer's long road to Denver, the 2008 Democratic National Convention
» Marian's Blog The 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver marks a mere forty (40) years since Fannie Lou Hamer became the first post-Reconstruction Black American official delegate of a U.S. national political party convention. So many other things about the 1968 Democratic...
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10:36
East Africa’s Broadband Initiative Back On Track?
» dkFactor 
This month, the construction of the $235 million East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) project will begin following the approval of $70.7 million in start-up funds from the IFC, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), Germany's (KfW) and the AFD of France.The 10,000km fibre-optic cable connecting South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan will be laid by French firm Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, while firms from Britain , India , Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates and the US are also part of the ambitious venture.
Initially the EASSy initiative would cut costs by up to two-thirds. Current costs of internet access in the region range from $200 to $300 a month.
Let me also point out that Kenya probably stands to benefit the most from this initiative for a number of reasons:
- It has both the population level and a density of private sector activity to be different
- Consumer and Business confidence has increased substantially with a liberalised regime. We hope that a similar climate can be maintained after the 2007 elections
- The market is readying itself for the arrival of cheaper bandwidth. This is evident with the increase in the number of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) companies already maxing out the available satellite bandwidth
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6:42
Zuma for President?
» Kenyan Pundit This is for Sijui So I tend to avoid blogging about SA politics on this blog, because I don’t have much of a local perspective beyond what I get from the local media (I’ve found SA to be a difficult place to integrate into/get localized, but that’s a story for another day). [...]
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we love our laptops
» Black Looks Our laptops are green And I’m in wi-fi heaven Tags: Nigeria $100 Laptop South Africa Share This:
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bremer beat generation
» Kikuyumoja's realm Ein liebenswerter Artikel von Gerhard Augustin über…sich selbst…der heute auf der einestages website erschienen ist. einestages möchte das “kollektive Gedächtnis unserer Gesellschaft” sein - für mein Verständnis die Neon-Erweiterung des SPON mit ebenfalls moderierten Beiträgen.
Ich finde es auch immer wieder sehr schön zu sehen, welche Meilensteine der deutschen Kulturlandschaft zumindest zuerst bei RadioBremen gefördert wurden. Aus Deutschlands kleinstem Bundesland kamen zumindest öfter mal gute Impulse, auch wenn GA in einem taz-Interview selber sagt: “Der Prinz, der Bremen wirklich wachküsst, muss erst noch geboren werden.” Tja.
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The Controversial Hate Leaflet
» You Missed This 
There is a good chance that the 2007 general elections will be remebered as the "propaganda elections."
What may not be legible in the image;
Raila says; Kyo jilil Kenyit ab tomonwok sisit ak aeng (1982), raini kokanamak.
List of people waiting to be hanged; Ruto, Philip, Cheserem, Kosgei, Gideon, Kulei, Sumbeiywo, Biwott, (the last two not legible).
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2:39
Postpone Safaricom IPO?
» bankelele Today's debate on the KISS 100 morning show was whether the Safaricom IPO should be postponed to next year.
No dates have been announced but it was (and still is) widely expected to kick off on December 10.
Those in favor of a delay rightly argue that most Kenyans struggle from December to February with holiday bills (extra food, travel, gifts) and school expenses (in addition to January fees, there are new uniform and book costs as well) and their little savings will not be available even for this much anticipated IPO
They also argue that the December 27 election will be a distraction to investors who will be out of Nairobi.
Those in favor of the IPO taking place in December that, the fewer buyers the better, since it will be over-subscribed anyway and this will just give investors a slightly better allocation. They also argue that they have saved for this and should be rewarded for their efforts at being prepared for the IPO.
Readiness factors
- The market is ready, and no marketing will be necessary for this IPO. Investors are ready to buy now, then deal with what they bought after.
- Timetable will be tight, but other countries are able to do it. Giant Indian bank ICICI's June '07 IPO ran for only four days and was over-subscribed on the first day.
- Stockbrokers say they are not, and have asked that it be delayed till next year, but they'll just pay their staff extra to work overtime during the holidays (and hire temps/interns to plug the gaps).
- Banks have abundant liquidity and will have loan packages towards the IPO to lend out the day after any announcement is made
- A local financial firm CCS Financial solutions (not to be confused with CFC Financial services) has come up with a financing product (in conjunction with ABC Bank) that will also deal with the inevitable refund cheques. (Read more at Nairobist)
- A correction: NSE Chairman Jimnah Mbaru is not contesting for the Starehe seat in the upcoming elections.
verdict: As with Kenya Re, I advise readers to by pass IPO's - but what are your views, to go ahead or not?
Turbulent 2008
- Could liquidity be drying up in the world credit markets?
- Is there any fundamentals behind the high price of oil, or is it only the fear factor?
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0:49
Choosing Shame Wisely
» Cock And Bull It always is surprising when one learns about the things that various people are ashamed of. From people who are ashamed of their own bodies, to people who are ashamed of the way politicians bicker with each other, it is obvious that there is a rich variety of shameful associations from which to choose from in the catalogue of life.
As we choose what to be ashamed of, let us pick wisely and not include the things that we cannot do anything about in the list. And for heaven’s sake, let not talking about God be one of the things to be ashamed of.
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0:32
Daily Moments
» Cock And Bull Becoming close with another person requires effort. If the person is in a place where you are not able to see him or her physically, then it is important that both of you find an effective means of communication. I find that talking to a person who is far away for just a few minutes each day, might result in both of you becoming closer than even if you were physically together. But I suppose it is all because of the value that is attached to those few minutes.
I suppose the same approach can be taken by a person who yearns to have a better relationship with God. A few minutes with God each day is sufficient to create a very closer and personal relationship over a long time. And just as there are various approaches that different people take to communicate with one another, I believe that a person should choose a means that works most effectively between him or her and God. We all should.
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0:12
It Is Wonderful!
» Cock And Bull 
The sun coming up in the morning at Bamburi Beach in Mombasa
Fishermen arrive at the shore in a canoe from a night fishing trip
This morning, I met an old couple walking along the beach. The woman was small with age and her back was already bent. The equally old man had folds of skin hanging all over his topless torso. The man was holding the woman’s hand as they slowly shuffled along the water’s edge. I walked closely behind them and occasionally, the man would halt their slow convoy to point out something out in the open sea. When a loud engine noise sounded overhead, the man looked up as he shielded his eyes, and I heard him report to the lady that it was a twin engine aeroplane passing by. At that moment, he was her eyes.
And as I passed them, I remembered an episode of Friends in which Phoebe (one of the characters) says: “It’s a known fact that lobsters fall in love and mate for life. You know what, you can actually see old lobster couples walking around their tank, ya know…holding claws.” Isn’t it wonderful!