Category Archives: This, that & the other

Random Post: Out of Tea & Iphone ramblings

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Image from forota (one of my favorite photographers, check out his other shots)

Tragedy is…running out of Kenyan tea. What to do? Get some English breakfast tea from the local grocery store and dream of pushing a cart in Nakumatt soon. This diaspora life sucks, especially when the weather becomes surly.

Reasons why I am resisting the urge to get an Iphone
1. In the US it means switching to AT&T. I am happy with T-mobile and I am not switching to a network that has less than stellar coverage (just my opinion, the last time i tried AT&T I was in college and couldn’t get signal around my Uni, which was smack in the middle of the city) An aside, why isn’t there a text message plan or package that includes international text msgs? Gosh its 2007 and didn’t Friedman say the world is flat? Why aren’t service plans getting cheaper in the US? As a consumer I don’t really see much competition in that arena…prices are just about the same across the board and It wouldn’t make much sense to get the Iphone without the data plan anyway.

2. I would want my Iphone unlocked, free and ready to roam to Kenya or any other place in the world with a GSM network…which is pretty much the whole world. I do not shy away from tinkering with phones, but I don’t think I want to brick an expensive bit of tech then go through a 19 step recovery process
. If it was 5 steps sorta like the grief process, I might reconsider…NOT! Even if you sign a contract with AT&T and ask for unlock codes when you are travelling, something that carriers do for you without batting an eye…not happening, not possible, no way Jose, *hapana (not to be confused with the amazing Bryan Habana!).
I think I would be wiling to pay extra to have an Iphone that i could use in any network though.

3. Why buy it when it doesn’t have 3G capability now, and when tested against the RAZR and even the T-mobile sidekick much favored by rappers and a certain Hilton progeny, took forever to open a page in a download race? (To be fair, the comments indicate that it may be faster than reported, but everyone has a reality distortion field around them). Oh as with apple products that are shape shifting, paradigm blasting, fat burning and calorie free there are always rumors. The rumor/confirmed fact masquerading as a rumor is that the Iphone in 2008 will actually have 3G capability and on the horizon the Iphone could even be Wimax capable.

4. The wi-fi capability is nice, but when traveling, good luck finding open networks that wont charge you an arm, a leg and kidney to connect. Special offenders – some airports like O’Hare in Chicago. I do not like paying for wi-fi esp. when its almost 10 bucks for just a few hours. Perhaps i should try Fon again.

Via 69Mb:The Iphone is Kenya bound in November apparently, which network will it be chained to and how much will the data plan for that be? Not clear from the BDAfrica article, probably in the 5000Ksh range like the Blackberries? Carrier specific phones are not a good idea in Kenya, I enjoyed the freedom to pick which carrier i would go with depending on their rates, and I think the Kenyan consumers and all consumers for that matter need to be able to make the best choice of data plans regardless of the hardware.

All this…and i still ogle at the thing each time I see it! Ok, that is the end of my little screed for today.

Btw, Liz Henry is tweeting the ‘She’s Geeky’ UnConference.

DMKW – Diary of a Mad Kenyan Woman is back!!!!!!!!

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Odds and Ends

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Pardon the light posting…my attention has been diverted a bit to a couple of gigs that are keeping me away from the blog. While i get my schedule rearranged and all that good stuff…Please head on over to

Afrigadget for a very Afro-cool post from Henry Addo

A ’10 questions’ interview of Steve ‘Ntwiga’ and Afrigadget team at the Sietch.

Subscribe to the Global Voices podcasts

Check the site of the Afro-preneurs who are holding an event… (that i hope someone blogs or tweets for us who are away)

TIDE (Technology, Innovation, Design
and Everything)- Innovation Series Event *this Saturday September 1st,
10-12pm at Grand Regency. The guest speaker will be Joseph Mucheru, Google
Kenya CEO. The entrance charge is Kshs.1000. This talk is open to all
persons and is not a technology only event, it will focus on innovation in
Africa from a business and entrepreneur point of view.

Last but not least, check out the 5 dollar solar thermal water heater from Instructables (Requires modification).

I almost forgot…you have got to watch Vusi Mahlasela. From Ted Blog

AOB – Agony is: finding your web host’s site has been hacked into. :( so if the blog is not reachable, i have a backup, i am keeping my fingers crossed that it gets sorted soon.

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Random travel post

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This was my first time flying with Air-France, i typically do the KLM thing all the time, but Air France offered the best fare at the time when i was looking for tix.Good thing you can still earn miles since they have a partnership agreement and are part of the ‘star alliance’ with KLM. The plane from Newark to Paris was a new looking Airbus A330. The interior was a snazzy looking navy blue with off white, there was a faint hint of ‘new plane smell’. It had an interesting addition of a web cam; well, make that a ‘nose cam’ where the images of what is going on in front of the plane is displayed on the screen in front of the seat.Nothing particularly interesting happened before we took off, just airport staff walking into a side entrance. I wished one of them would stop and do a little dance just to liven things up, perhaps something like Hugh Grant’s moves from the movie Love Actually? Flying these days is just drudgery. :)

We left Newark at about 19:10 so it was still sunny out. After take off the ‘nose cam’ pans to the bottom of the plane giving you a view of the land below. The pilot seemed Jazzed about this and pointed out Central Park NY when we flew over it. I wasn’t impressed. The nose cam is cool though. Aerial view of central park…not so much. During the trip, the plane sounded abit noisier than the KLM flights i had taken before, a little crickety during turbulence, its a good thing disposable ear plugs are provided, or perhaps its because of where i was sitting, just behind the left wing.

Food – med

Lint from little blanket on black sweatshirt – Very High

Courtesy of staff – med

Overall experience thus far – so, so.

I will skip the whole thing about Air France being able to check baggage all the way to Nairobi, but not able to give me all the boarding passes, especially the boarding pass for flight from CDG to Nai. The agreements between airlines appear to favor baggage but not people?!!! I am just used to having all my boarding passes before i leave. Oh well, maybe its because my ticket was ‘cheap’

Paris wifi which they pronounce weee feee (?!!) cost $16 for an hour…I really should write my posts without being connected to the net. A few habits that i have to shed very very quickly.

The folks in Nai, see you at the geek dinner . Other readers, please check back starting June 3rd for posts from TED Global ‘Africa The Next Chapter’ – Arusha.

**Disclaimer – During the coming week, if I drop too many exclamation marks from over excitement, please oh please forgive me! (see see i started already)

My next flight is on KENYA AIRWAYS! I hope they have the KCC butter with the meal, or is that only on flights from .KE?

Other random items from Wired mag from this month…wired.com and just search for the stories, had to do this post without looking up the links. Fuel costs $4.20 in Nairobi, $4.17 in Mumbai and woudl you believe that in New Jersey its $2.99? How now?! Does the ‘Arm pit of the US’ have oil refineries nearby or an invisible pipeline to oil deposits on the moon? :) (NJ is actually pretty ok, i was just told that it was the arm pit of the US the other day, laughed my head off. Would that make california the tanned and buff abs of the US?) moving along… Cows emit more methane gas by burping than by farting.What with all the 4 stomachs, who can name them? (No googling?!)

Currently reading ‘The best Technology writing 2006′ compiled by Brandon Koerner. (Link is on my sidebar) – Very cool book. What i could garner from it so far…to be a good tech writer, you need a narrative and some banging metaphors.

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Odds and Ends

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Whis brought up an important issue on the last post – CFLs in Uganda. Namely that CFLs contain mercury, a heavy metal that is quite toxic and dangerous if not disposed of properly. A common concern is mercury in fish which results in the advisory for pregnant women to avoid eating fish. I decided to buy a CFL since my desk lamp light blinked out and in the process try to answer Whis’ question about disposal. Home Depot, $5 dollars for 1 40watt bulb and i was set.
CFL front DSC02393

CFL back DSC02394

Desk lamp with CFL DSC02396

And voila! Light! DSC02398

What i was able to find on the package no less, is that in North America, lamprecycle.org is a great resource, it has the state and EPA regulations for disposal of spent lamps. It also points to Earth911 where you can enter your zip code and it gives you the location of your local recycling center.

As for Uganda: I am afraid Whis i do not know…couldnt find a website for now, the other ministries appear to have a site but not the Energy ministry. Info from anyone there on the ground is greatly appreciated.
Daud in Kenya also pointed to the launch of PANARECC

Panerecc Launched at the Grand Regency on Thursday 26th April 2007

The Parliamentary Network on Renewable Energy and Climate Change (PANERECC) is a proposed Parliamentary network to promote renewable energy and climate change policy and particularly the synergy between New and Renewable Energy (NRE) as a tool for combating climate change

As of this posting I am getting a 401 error on their site, so check it again later.

Other Stuff

Tech/Internet – Its a bad URL world out there i.e malicious code can found on the URLs of sites …so get Finjan secure browsing addon for firefox. (Yes i know that attempt at channeling 3-6 mafia was lame oh i will say its maxi priest “Uuu baby its a wild world ” Bugger, that aint it either, i am leaving it in the post despite its hobbliness.)
Econ -2 links to articles by James Shikwati, he is one of the speakers in the upcoming TED Global. Link 1 on harmonisation of tax laws in the EAC with the somewhat hilarious question â??Will the East African Federation increase the size of matoke on our plates?â?ť Link 2 – “Urbanizing Kenya to fight poverty”. Speaking of urbanization and poverty, Atanu Dey has excellent posts on this very issue.

Music and TV (Diaspora US): VH1 soul has a cool program One Planet One soul, airs on sundays. Soul from Africa and aroung the world. Likes of Les Nubians, Somi etc. This was also mentioned over at Annansi Chronicles, a very cool blogger and designer, check out the blog here and the cool afrocentric tshirts here. If you arent subscribed to Benn Loxo yet and you are a world music fan…what you waiting for?! Gems on that site i tell you.
Annoyances: SMSs asking you to not buy gas/petrol on May 15th. Here is the snopes entry debunking that urban legend.
Last but not least, thanks for reading this far… and Happy Mothers day to all moms, especially our fellow bloggers who are new moms, KP, Mrembo and Medusa.

DSC02403

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Planet Earth Series

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I had to make a quick note for US readers of this blog who have discovery channel, science channel or eh heh, bittorrent.

Planet Earth – TV Series

Its stupendous, visually captivating, and absolutely fascinating.

It is airs on sundays at 8pm, discovery channel. More info and online video available here.

For Science channel air times click here.

It was shot HDTV format, so if you have one of those high end HDTV screens…I am seriously envious. The technology used to film the series is also quite impressive, as reported by Sonia Zjawinski in wired mag article *’A view to a Kill’ – “Every hunt you’ve ever seen on a nature show has been a scam”.

Until now, the false advertising has been a regrettable necessity: If filmmakers try to follow a high-speed chase by air, the blare of the helicopter blades scares off the action.But in March, when the BBC series Planet Earth premieres on the Discovery Channel, viewers will see a single wolf hunt from start to finish. There’s also a bioluminescent light show of a vampire squid deep in the Pacific, a blue bird of paradise dancing in the New Guinea rain forest, and lions attacking elephants at a watering hole in the Botswana desert all brought to you by the humble hi-def digital camera.

While on the topic of TV, a couple of current favorites,

Dr. Who – Not sure when the new series starts up again on BBC America – Can’t wait.

Robin Hood – Saturdays at 8 CDT

Hustle – The new episodes begin wednesday april 18th on AMC at 10 EDT, 9 CDT.

Oh, and 30 Rock! – Very funny show.

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Kenya Believe It?

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Treachery afoot: Chinois – Kenyan edition 2

October last year, I posted my reaction to the gifting of oil to china by the Kenyan president and his officials at the energy ministry, there was a bit of discussion, consternation and a comment implying that this was somehow o.k for kenya. You can read more here.

Story via Sociolingo and link to the story on Allafrica. (original appeared in The East African)
Now, it emerges that the very generous and *unprecedented! gift of oil to china from Kenya is being ‘regifted’ in the form of a possible sale on the open market. Just how rude is that?

There was outrage among European oil exploration companies interested in Kenya when it emerged last week that the state-owned National Oil Corporation of China – CNOOC – has quietly put out notices offering to farm out to third parties some of the oil exploration blocks granted to it by President Mwai Kibaki in April last year. The EastAfrican has seen a brochure the Chinese company distributed at the London Africa and Mediterranean Scout Check meeting recently. In an *unprecedented act of generosity, the government of Kenya last April gave the Chinese exclusive rights over a total of six out of 11 available blocks, including the hotly contested Blocks 9 and 10A in the Mandera area.

Now now now, there is an interesting, pertinent and unanswered question in that article, same question we had last year:

“What does the Kenya government gain in this transaction?” asked a representative of a European oil-prospecting firm that has put an application for exploration acreage.

The answer I reckon would be the good fuzzy gooey touchy feely collective altruistic feelings that will wash over us when we realise that China will get… “cash”. How does that make you feel? huh? does it affirm your belief that nations have an underlying sense of caring and exhibit random acts of extreme kindness, preferably dispensing with oil exploration rights to later be sold off? Makes you feel all nice and happy doesn’t it.

In the brochure, CNOOC announced that it is interested in farming out a portion of its working interests in Kenya for “cash,” future cost or a combination of the two; “alternatively, a proposed swap of acreage will also be considered,” it adds.

Well, attempts at snide remarks aside, this stuff is not adding up. Some roads in Kenya have been built and are continuing to be built by Chinese companies, so why wasn’t it clear from the ‘gifting’ of the oil that the roads are what we get in exchange for giving away oil blocks? What else are we getting or not getting? Oh well… i write to Prudie.

Dear Prudence,

My president gave a very nice gift of oil to China last year, my friends thought it was an early christmas gift and all…now china is selling those oil rights and is poised make a killing. I have several conflicting feelings about this ofcourse, as i cant help thinking that I am is getting the short end of the stick. Please include your thoughts on re-gifting (i know regifting exists since i saw it on Seinfeld), un-gifting if there is such a thing, and any guidance on the morality of gifts between differently endowed countries (I am talking natural resources). Thank you!
-A very kind kenyan.

AkalaNote1:I am shamelessly borrowing the title of this post from Stephen Colbert.

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Reflections and such

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Now that i am settled back in, i.e caught up with Dr. Who, and Psych episodes that i missed while i was away, amongst other ‘settling in’ activities, here are reflections about the trip.

This was more of a family type trip involving a lot of eating, chilling, recounting old stories – such as the one about me in standard one, going to school with both shoes on, coming back in the evening with only one shoe. When asked what happened to the other…this was my reply “we were playing football, i kicked the ball, the shoe went in the same direction as the ball, the ball came back but the shoe did not”. I was informed that i actually said it with a straight face.

I spent most of the time in shags (upcountry), drove while in Eldoret but was worried and left my cousin’s engagement party early,was afraid it would rain and the car would get stuck in the mud – Not a good prospect when there are no dudes in the car, see… men are good for some things you know?! Well, we still got stuck in the road about 100 meters from the house – It did rain, a lot. I do not recall Decembers at home being so wet, i enjoyed it nonetheless, everywhere was green, lush and wonderful.
I had to ask my cousins in the car with me to keep reminding me to keep left. It was hardest to do this when turning onto the highway. Speaking of which, it would be nice if we had a section of the road for bicyclists, they kept getting into the way. That was not nearly as disconcerting as having a matatu stop smack in the middle of a major road to let passengers in and out, a few expletives did escape my lips.

I attended a concert, Papa Wemba at the Carnivore on Dec 29th – It was preety nice and interesting, his scantily clad dances had all the dudes’ eyes popping out of their heads, well, the male dancers could really break it down too. I was abit tired from the drive from Eldoret so pardon the fact that i just have these two pics.

The people from Project Fame (Kenya’s equivalent of American Idol) were there at the concert, they sang with Papa Wemba – Lots of talent there. I felt bad for making fun of Ms Abura’s outfit – it looked like a toga. (sorry!) All in all it was enjoyable, i just didnt hear my favourite songs like ‘Yolele’… oh well.

Here are two songs for your enjoyment: ‘Show me the way’ and Yolele. (I will take these down in afew days – click on the link for the song.)

Click here for a short clip i took (.49 secs)

Other random tips i should have posted for diaspora folks:

- Carry some clothes that are a size bigger, it is possible to add weight in a very short time.

- Do not believe the dudes who talk you into going with them to F1, saying things like ‘oh its not so bad, people go there with their significant others these days’. Especially if the dudes saying this are also KT’s like you, how the heck would they know?

- This one is not silly – Ssembonge’s tip on checking your dollars to make sure they are not the 1996 series…on point, i looked at afew of the notes i had and just about slapped myself.

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