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• December 22, 2008
• 16:11

  Re-using a wheeled carriage for babies to make a living

   » ‎ AfriGadget

  Tags:  Recycle amp Reuse  

  Madmoet Abrahams has been living and working on the street for more then 20 years now. He found a great way to make a living. Everyday you’ll find him in the streets of Cape Town, South Africa collecting White paper. 1 KG of White paper will pay him 23 South African Rand (approximately $2.35) at the paper scrap yard.

  

  Per day he makes more or less 50 Rand. He is a hard worker. I met him in the pouring rain, which didn’t stop him from spitting through the bins in search for more paper. He saved money and bought a bicycle for 300 Rand last year. The bicycle, in combination with his creative re-use of a wheeled carriage for babies connected to it, allows Madmoet to make twice as much money per day! His big dream is to have a paid job and a house.

  This friendly, clever and hard working man can be reached under the Sunlam bridge in Cape Town or somewhere on the street…

  
  

• 15:02

  telefonische Erreichbarkeit zum Festnetztarif

   » ‎ Kikuyumoja's realm

  Tags:  Gadgetimoja  

  In 2008 haben die meisten Internetsurfer ein Konto bei Skype, Gizmo oder anderen sog. Internet Messaging Diensten. Der große Nachteil von Skype & Co ist jedoch, dass man nur online erreichbar ist (PC muss online sein), eine Weiterleitung auf ein Telefon kostenpflichtig ist und/oder bei Skype zB eine lokale Nummer - wenn überhaupt - nur gegen Aufpreis erhältlich ist. Außerdem ist Skype recht teuer - mal abgesehen davon, dass niemand weiß, ob der Dienst wirklich so sicher ist. Mein Kumpel KP sagt mir, dass Skype in China abgehört wird. Für unsere instant messaging Kommunikation zwischen Dland & China verwenden wir daher einen privaten & verschlüsselten Server in Deutschland.

  Wem das jetzt alles zu kompliziert ist und wer einfach nur telefonisch über eine Festnetznummer erreichbar sein möchte, kann sich entweder einen Telefonanschluss legen lassen, einen entbündelten DSL Anschluss mit VoIP Telefonnummer beantragen oder einen O2 Handyvertrag mit zusätzlicher Festnetznummer für den Bereich im Umkreis des Wohnortes klarmachen. All diese Varianten gelten aber nur für einen festen Wohnsitz.

  Wer wie ich öfters umzieht, mobil bleiben muss aber trotzdem auf den Komfort einer Festnetznummer nicht verzichten möchte, dem sei folgende Alternative ans Herz gelegt, die ich nach 4 Jahren Gebrauch wirklich nur empfehlen kann:

  Sipgate.de

  Bei Sipgate.de gibt es nach der Registrierung & Verifizierung durch ein Ausweisdokument eine kostenlose Festnetznummer (sofern verfügbar), über die man dann erreichbar ist.

  Und zwar weltweit.

  Früher hatte ich hierfür immer eine Bremer Telefonnummer, mittlerweile habe ich eine Frankfurter Nummer beantragt - der Wechsel fand innerhalb von 2 Werktagen statt! Neben Sipgate gibt es in Dland natürlich noch ein paar andere Anbieter, allerdings gibt es nicht überall eine lokale Festnetznummer. Lokal bedeutet hier: eine 069 Vorwahl für Frankfurt am Main (statt bundesweit einheitlicher 0180er Nummer).

  Weltweit bedeutet: überall wo ich einen (breitbandigen) Internetzugang habe, bin ich über meine Frankfurter Telefonnummer erreichbar. Wenn ich also über die Weihnachtsfeiertage nach Bremen fahre, kann ich mein Telefon dort anschließen und bin weiterhin über die Frankfurter Nummer erreichbar. Gut für mich, gut fürs Geschäft. Weil: eine Festnetznummer ruft man schnell mal an, eine Mobilfunkrufnummer dagegen rufen nur diejenigen ungehemmt an, die keine andere Möglichkeit haben oder für die ein Anruf netzunabhängig gleichteuer ist. Anrufe ins Festnetz sind also oft günstiger - daher möchte ich auch übers Festznetz günstig erreichbar sein.

  Hier in FFM habe ich ein Targa VoIP Telefon direkt über LAN an den DSL Anschluss des Vermieters angeschlossen. Wer kein eigenständiges VoIP Telefon hat (gibts bei eBay ab 30,- EUR), das so wie mein Telefon ohne den Umweg eines aktiven Computers direkt an den DSL Anschluss angeschlossen werden kann, greift alternativ zu seinem besseren Nokia Handy, dem iPhone oder anderen Handys, für die es eine Softwarelösung gibt. Um die ganze Funktionalität auszureizen, habe ich den Sipgate Anschluss natürlich auch auf meinem Nokia N95 Handy konfiguriert. Wenn ich jetzt also meine Frankfurt Festnetznummer anrufe, klingelt es gleichzeitig auf meinem VoIP Telefon in Bremen (natürlich grad nicht eingesteckt), auf meinem Targa VoIP Phone in Frankfurt und auf meinem Handy. Ideal!

  Zwei weitere Gründe, die für Sipgate sprechen:

  a) die Sipgate Website ist komplett personalisiert:
  Konfigurationseinstellungen werden pro Endgerät personalisiert dargestellt, d.h., ich sehe eine Seite mit Screenshots für zB mein Handy und den nötigen Einstellungen, die nur für mein Sipgate Konto gelten. Das ist echt super praktisch!

  b) Wer lediglich erreichbar sein möchte, zahlt nix.
  Erst wenn man selber über Sipgate heraustelefonieren möchte, muss man sein Konto bei Sipgate aufladen. Dies kann später auch automatisch geschehen, zB bei Unterschreitung des Guthabens eines bestimmten Mindestbetrages.

  Selbstverständlich gibt es bei Sipgate auch einen netzbasierten Anrufbeantworter, eine Faxfunktionalität (Faxe verschicken & empfangen) und eine eigene (vorkonfigurierte!) Softwarelösung für den PC.

  Wer wirklich nur günstig übers Internet telefonieren möchte und wem die Erreichbarkeit über eine Festnetznummer egal ist, fährt natürlich mit InternetCalls besser. InternetCalls gehört zur Betamax GmbH, die auch VoIPStunt , VoipBuster und SIP Discount betreiben. InternetCalls hatte ich vorletztes Jahr auf Empfehlung von TurboDave ausprobiert, eine recht günstige Alternative. Wer eine Fritz!Box am DSL Anschluss betreibt und fürs Sparen ein paar Umstände in Kauf nimmt, kann je nach Bedarf einen günstigen VoIP Anbieter aussuchen (zB Anruf von Dland nach Kenia aufs Handy kostet bei Sipgate 0,35€/min und bei InternetCalls 0,19€/min.).

  Für Entwicklungshelfer und andere Exildeutsche ist ein Sipgate Konto + Erreichbarkeit unter einer deutschen Festnetznummer (bei vorhandenem Internetanschluss) meiner Meinung nach die beste Wahl. Vor allem auch deswegen, weil sich die komplette Abwicklung der Buchhaltung und Einstellungen bei Sipgate online erledigen lässt und flexibel genug ist, Änderungswünsche zeitnah umzusetzen.

  

  

• 14:39

  I'm dreaming of a sunny christmas

   » ‎ Paza Sauti
  Living in this great land of multiple opportunities you get to appreciate Christmas and the holidays even more than others do, because deep down the Kenyan in you knows the true meaning of the holidays.
  And what is the true meaning of Christmas you ask my friends?
  

  1. It is definitely not the depressing replaying of slow jingle filled play lists that constitutes carols but the constant rumble of Mario by Franco from the row of bars at the local shopping center open all 8 days of the week including sunday.
  2. It is not the singing about a good for nothing donkey named Rudolf and his red nose but about the nameless goat that just graduated summa cum laude to a half rack of ribs after years of intentional fattening just for this moment.
  3. It is not about uncontrolled spending in buying of stuff the recipient will probably return if not re-gifted, but the sharing of stories and tales that are ceremoniously repeated by a certain relative 3 cousins deep that always feature a new twist every year.
  4. Its never about a fat fictional old man who climbs down chimneys at night in the name of delivering gifts to thy young children (i think that's psycho and under psychological evaluation Santa/father Christmas would at some level qualify as a class A pedophile but that's just me thinking) .. but about genuine appreciation of time spent with thy children.
  5. I don't know about you but playing in sub-zero temperatures is not something I'd want to do for long periods of time, even when the event is referred to as sledging. I'm liable to catch a cold. people do die of pneumonia ladies and gentlemen.
  6. Do we really have to resort to spiking our milk to stay cheerful in this frigid temperatures so we can call this the good times, when we would all be requesting the next tusker baridi to quench that baada ya kazi.
     

  I propose we pull a P-Diddy and remix this carols .. because right now I'm dreaming of a hot, sunny christmas somewhere in the vicinity of Maragua, with 8 cousins from the city who answer to similar names chasing the chicken, women in the smooty mud kitchen gossiping over burnt stew, fellow men argue the latest political casualty while turning the ribs on an open fire, sipping on a never ending supply of frothy beer.
  Now that's is the REAL meaning of Christmas.
  happy holidays everyone and have a merry merry Christmas
  credits to darling. 

• 14:03

  Idiots at Kenya Pipeline Company exposed

   » ‎ Rants, Raves & Reviews

  Tags:  Review  

  Many Kenyans are plain ignorant (or plain stupid or worse)...
  
  Whereas the KPC has been denying it is at fault for the recent fuel shortages... it turns out they are largely to blame... but the average (stupid?) Kenyan would rather listen to officialdom...
  
  Here are links: BD editorial blaming KPC (& about time... I preceded them by a few days!)
  KPC's 'fake' upgrade commissioning (KPC invited his kibziness for no good reason)

• 13:10

  South Africa sides with anti LGBTI rights in UN declaration

   » ‎ Black Looks
  South Africa along with the US sided with the usual anti-same sex equality suspects in the recent UN declaration to decriminalize homosexuality. It is rather disconcerting that the only country in Africa to show support for equality and human rights chose to ignore calls by LGBTQI groups and the weight of conscience applied [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "South Africa sides with anti LGBTI rights in UN declaration ", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/12/south_africa_sides_with_anti_lgbti_rights_in_un_declaration_.html" });

• 11:40

  Why I blog about Africa

   » ‎ KA-INVESTOR
  Bankelele tagged me to share my reasons for blogging about our beloved continent, Africa.
  
  As an African blogger, I consider myself lucky to be born in this ‘virgin’ land of hidden opportunities and vast potentials. For these I tell the untold story of the millions of voiceless Africans that are caught in the straggle for survival and the inequities we’ve all been subjected by the few and foreign.
  
  I blog for Africa as my chronicle of the happenings in the business Africa that few know but many participate without knowing. To tell the stories that others don’t have time for, but yearn for unconciously. It’s my secret sense of pride to speak for the black soil my fore fathers stood steady on, fought the wars and drew blood to shape my destiny and for those that will come yonder. I speak of African issues from an African boy's view and not the negativity and misrepresentations i see in the foreign media that i don't and can't relate to.
  
  I blog about business and finance, among many other salient and puny issues, in Africa to widening my scope of thinking and learning about the Africa frontier markets. To share out my wild thoughts and let other invade them with their own. I share what I’ve gathered in the asymmetrical African financial world, where the story of the stockbroker and fund manager is told with a bated breath and not for the investors that oil the wheels of the markets.
  
  In this assimilated African blogging sphere, I’ve met and made many friends, associates and acquaintances – some faceless, others nameless but all in all making this journey worth taking. I thus tag the following African Bloggers: Savvy Investor, UG Investor, Kenyanomics, Business in Focus, Concept and Emerging Africa Capital
  
  

• 10:20

  Victory for human rights in Uganda

   » ‎ Black Looks
  It is now over three years since Victor Mukassa’s home in Kampala was illegally invaded by the Ugandan police and her guest Oyo Yvonne was detained and abused. Victor and Oyo decided not to take the easy option and walk away but instead chose to sue the Ugandan Attorney General for violating their [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Victory for human rights in Uganda", url: "http://www.blacklooks.org/2008/12/victory_for_human_rights_in_uganda.html" });

• 3:26

  Operation Mtandao And Other Stories..........

   » ‎ My part of the world.......

  Tags:  life  

  Long time no hear people! It's been a while since I blogged, but a hiatus is always in order I think. Anyway I was reading this article from the Nation and it was such pure comment gold I had to blog about it.
  
  A survey at a top boy’s school entitled Operation Mtandao indicated that 80 per cent of the 60 secondary school students queried use the Internet for entertainment and socialising, including looking at what they described as pornography.
  
  A survey at a top Nairobi girls’ school entitled Prison Break found that 87 per cent of the students would sneak out at night to go to clubs or to meet their boyfriends.
  
  Another entitled Shag is now the Hug found that 36 per cent of the girls had already had their first sexual experience, while three quarters of them were now sexually active.
  
  Due to editorial constraints I feel it is my obligation to inform you that several other surveys and studies were left out. These include;
  
  1. Blow job is the new hand shake
  2. Anal sex is now the new missionary
  3. Herpes cold sore is the new pimple
  4. Fisting is the new hand clap
  5. Cunnilingus is the new massage
  Please feel free to leave the names of other studies I may have missed in the comments at the end of the post.
  I've also been gathering steam to blog about work which is turning more and more into a page from Dilbert with each day that passes. Case in point would be how staff in my Department got tired of being sent out meeting requests via Outlook which my Head of Department would then reschedule and send again and again. You could answer an invite for a meeting 3 different times due to his puttering around his schedule. Of course people got tired of that and didn't always answer the invites. So come meeting time he would have to go to people's offices in person and remind them about the meeting. Needless to say a Team Meeting was called about that and we were told to check our invites diligently, I almost wanted to tell him that he needs to spend less time fooling around with Outlook; but we both know I have bills to pay so that wasn't happening.
  Anyway you know how it is when you get back on the bike, you can't ride too long before your legs begin to hurt and your crotch feels like hell; so I'll let this post end here.
  Have a great Monday.....

• 1:43

  the party began

   » ‎ REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
  
  

• 0:59

  It's Beginning To Feel A lot Like The End of An Era

   » ‎ You Missed This
  You saw it with your own eyes last week.
  
  First it was the ODM. It ran a picture-perfect coronation of it's handpicked officials at Bomas. It called that charade democracy. Then it was the PNU. Full of incredible energy, it completed the ODM picture by following suit, picking a leadership top-heavy with old men in spite of the healthy presence of the youth and women. That was democracy. If anybody still expects such parties to be avenues for ideological, issue-driven democracy, think again. These parties have become comfortable with tribal politics and the shameless babysitting of mass movements without a discernible purpose other than as vehicles to access state power for the sake of it. If they cared any bit about Kenyans, there wouldn't be Kenyans shedding tears in the IDP camps, others stuck in Uganda, while we celebrate Christmas...a full year later. How can these folks sleep at night?
  
  Like I said last week, Kenyans have now learnt who the real enemies of progress in this nation are. They are aware that they have MPs who don't care about them, who bring home some 250,000 shillings to the constituency every weekend and distribute it...then gladly call it representation. They are aware that their MPs voted not to pay taxes, and are never there for them when the prices of essentials like unga go up, gas/petrol disappears just when we should be heading home for the deserved break, work to curtail press freedoms, and say nothing when Kenyans are clobbered in full view of dignitaries and the international media.
  
  This shall end.
  
  Starting next year, all like-minded Kenyans must come together to actively seek ways to get our country back. We will lay out strategies for lawfully educating Kenyans on the shape and vision of an alternative form of democracy, one where people are elected not because they are Kikuyu or Luo or Kalenjin, but because they have a vision that works for Kenya. We will lay out a blueprint that will detail our progressive politics and answer in numbing detail how we will tackle Kenya's problems when our time comes.
  
  I'm aware that the Odingas and the Mois and the Kenyattas and the Kibakis will do everything in their power to stop Kenya from going the way of an issue-oriented democracy where the nation is paramount, but we will go toe to toe with these oligarchies. We will defeat them and usher in a new era, where the institutions of our nation will be reformed and the nation's leaders made answerable to the people who elected them...in every sense of the word.
  
  So as this year closes down, let's take this deserved break aware that the journey to finally and fully liberate Kenya cannot actively start any later than June next year. June 2009. From where I stand, the mood in Kenya has revealed to me that it's beginning to look a lot like the end of an era in Kenya...the era of big family politics in Kenya. The end of dynasties and birthright politics. The beginning of nation-building, where Kenya doesn't feel like two nations...one called NAIROBI, where the money is and everybody wants to go...the other called KENYA where poverty and hopelessness are turning our sons and daughters into militiamen.
  
  Folks, this is our moment. Let's seize it.
  
  Merry Christmas to Kenyans at home and around the world.