Live at the Barcamp

Setting things up

An the games began


and continued
Chilling out in the google room.

Le Barcamp c'est back!

When: Saturday, June 21
Time: 10am - 5pm (of course, this goes later, and I would stick around for any evening fun and conversation...)
Where: Jacaranda Hotel - (website) - (Google Map)
[UPDATE: venue was officially changed to the Jacaranda Hotel in Westlands, sorry for any confusion. We will NOT be meeting at the 680 any longer.]

Barcamp Nairobi '08 is an unconference made up of of technical professionals, Internet enthusiasts, bloggers, designers and other clever people in the Nairobi area who wish to share and learn in an open environment.

Attendees don't just watch a set list of speakers. They give their own talks. Podcasting. Web standards. Microformats. Gum stick computers. Physical security. Robotics. Evolutionary algorithms. It can be anything. This event is not just for stuffy developer types - one of the best barcamp presentations ever given was about sandwiches. Barcamp is what you make of it.

Groan of the week: The Finance minister made a sin-tax error in his budget speech!

PRICE WARS: EPISODE II - The Empire strikes Back

War!
A lot is afoot in the galaxy, the war is beginning to gather pace. Thegreen empire is doing well, trade is at an all time high and profitsare unprecendented. This time the empire is kind enough to 'reward'it's subjects for their loyalty. Free calls all night from 9 to 6 onlyafter paying the required tribute no less. The masses get excited andresort to their peculiar habits and the network soon gets clogged.

Meanwhile on the other side the members of the red alliance continueenjoying the congestion free network. However there is a sense thatthe green empire could yet have some more tricks up their sleeves...

Great Scot!

Now let me turn my attention to the greatest football team in the world and its manager the one and only Sir. Alex Ferguson. When he took up the job way back in 1986 he promised to "knock Liverpool off their perch." That took a while to accomplish as he got his first league title in 1993 and has since then guided his team to within 1 win of Livepool's record 18 triumphs. What's interesting to note is that he is the only coach to have survived since the inception of the English premiership, only Arsene Wenger comes close at 12 years. During last night's champions league final one of the commentators remarked that he's the last of the old style managers. Nowadays they are controlled by billionaire owners but he has a firm grip on things, cross his path and you are out of the door ask David Beckham and Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Another thing to note is how patient the club was with him, it took him 4 years to win his first title the 1990 FA cup. I don't know how long he would last today, patience paid off handsomely. Another Interesting thing to note is that he is like the only manager of a big European club still in his job since 1999 when they won the treble. Truly a great man and their latest victory crowned a fantastic season.




The attack has been on a roll this season with the trio of Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo all in the double digits. Of course the biggest hero of the latest triumph is the Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, what a season he's had. As Randy Jackson of American Idol would say check this out dog.

	Appearances	Goals
Premier League	38	31
Domestic Cup	3	3
Europe	11	8

The stats speak for themselves and he got a good number of individual awards too. Let's see whether he'll become the first premiership based winner of the FIFA World Player of the year award. He has often been criticized for not performing on the big stage, I'm sure has now answered his critics with his performance at the final.

The success has been a great team effort and a special mention is in order for the exceptional defensive partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic with the support of Patrice Evra and Wes Brown. The shrewd summer buys also helped with all 3 major signings Anderson, Nani and Hagreaves settling well into the team so much so that Paul Scholes long injury absence went almost unnoticed.

There's little more one can say about that ensemble of the worlds most talented footballers and their Manager so I'll leave it at that. Congratulations Manchester United!!






And now for something completely different. Thank you John Terry! you were well, Terrific

Price Wars!

A long time ago in a country not so far away...

The evil monopoly of the sole operator affectionately known as 'Posta' draws to a close. It is the dawn of new area, people all over celebrate the arrival of the new operators who will give them the freedom to communicate. Slowly everywhere what was previously a status symbol finds its way into the hands of the ordinary mwananchi. However the costs are high, they have to 'recoup their investment' they say.

A battle ensues, one of them does not read the market well enough and falls to the wayside. The other continues to gain more and more market share until it becomes almost another monopoly. Congestion sets in, people get well acquainted with the words 'mteja hapitakani' so much so that they become part of the vocabulary. Still they hang on after all the services are cheap(within the network). The second player is down but not out, tries to get back in the game but nothing doing, the force is too strong.

However more is happening in the galaxy, two new players are coming in, this could herald a new age of competition. An oracle predicts that soon the rates will go down to 2 bob. Even before the words can be digested we hear 3 bob being mentioned somewhere with a swift response of 10 bob from the other side...

The story unfolds...

Marking Territory

This time I take you to the Nairobi Safari Walk- beautiful place, If you haven't been there what are you waiting for?

This past weekend a few friends and I visited the place this past weekend to hang out and check out some of the flora and fauna. Got to see quite a number of the animals on display but we couldn't spot the leopard( pun very much intended)However the king of the jungle was very visible and that's what I'll dwell on for this post.

First let me say that lion is a true poser like Alex from Madagascar. I don't whether he could see us but he was strutting majestically in his enclosure like a model on the runway. after strutting his stuff he positioned himself on a platform and gave some very deadly poses like a magazine shoot even turning his head so that we could get a better view. Then again all the showbiz could be my imagination but I must admit it seemed uncanny.

The view from behind the glass was no enough to satisfy us so we went for a closer look right next to the chain link fence. Got to see the lionesses up close and got a couple of photos for good measure. Never been that close to a lion before wonder hoe it would have been if there was no chain link but I digress. After our photo shoot with the lionesses Mr. Simba came by and started rubbing his neck on the fence. .

After the rubbing he proceeded on to his territory ritual. He turned away from us and as we were about to start snapping away the beast released some marking fluid(otherwise known as urine) from it's posterior right at us! For some reason the girls in our group got the lion's share(groan!) of the stuff. I guess the chicks had acquired a new admirer in the lion. This whole experience of course attracted some amused looks from the other visitors who also gave us some knowing looks outside the gate.

On the brighter side at least now we can walk in the park and fear no lions as we've already been marked.

This story is all true, I'm not lyin' to you( final groan or is roar?) I have availed a nice shot of the offending beast at the top of this post.

Views from the Great Rift Valley

A little eye candy from the Great Rift Valley, one of the wonders of our world. Photo credits all yours truly. Enjoy


This photo was taken by chance from inside a moving vehicle way back in 2005.
Location: Corner Baridi



The next one was also taken from a moving car- nice view of Mt.Longonot.
Location: Nakuru highway






A view of the valley side on Ngong hills

Location: Ngong Hills