I Blame Technology

to all those lives lost in the beauty of hitech

You have been praised for speed,
you have been worshipped for efficiency,
but you killed my daddy,
in haste you consumed him,
in a motorcar accident,
forever he is gone,
I blame you oh technology!

That atomic bomb in Nairobi,
you maimed my uncle,
that plane crash in New York,
you destroyed precious lives,
you created the plane.. a mass coffin,
you invented the skycrapers,.. the destroyer,
I blame you oh technology.

You made medicine,.. and poison,
you thought out the jets,.. and the bombers,
you made the nuclear power,.. and the bomb,
i dread the solution,.. lazed with a problem,
I blame you oh technology.

Seronei arap Chelulei Cheison

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Educate the Girl, She'll be Secure.....and you're Secure

When my sister sat her form four certificate exams in 2004, she had reached where many did not imagine she would make when, at 28 and with two kids, she decided to return to school. A divorcee, the brave lady shoved aside her hair piece and slid into the primary school uniforms to share a parade square with her son, then 11, and attend classes being taught by teachers who had, a decade earlier, shared a classroom with her. The painstaking effort and ability to withstand ridicule in the village meant Felister Cherotich Cheison was taking the setback in her stride. When she sat her class eight and came top of her class, a neighbour was so incensed that she beat up her son with insults of "how could you let a grandmother like me defeat you?". Yet Ms Cheison had shown the village that she was not a grandmother, but a mother with grand ideas!

When the Daily Nation reported in March 2004 that she had done marvelous at Moi Girls High School, Eldoret, I could not help shading tears of joy from afar here in China. For yet I supported her during her education and even secured the guarantee of a friend to pay for her fees while I pursued my doctorate, I had least expected the result. Not that I doubted her ability. NO. But surely, at 32, she was arguably the oldest regular student in any formal schooling in Kenya. She did not disappoint! Felister is of small built, which doesn't betray her history. She could hardly be noticed by her classmates to be older than them let alone that she was a divorcee, and a mother to boot.

One lesson I learnt from the story of my sister is the vulnerability of the girl-child. I realised how insecure my daughter was except if she had a career and thought that Ms Cheison should serve as a inspiring role model for girls. Granted, when the urgency of a husband, even those village idlers who run away with your girl, bites a woman, she is not easy to convince otherwise. But look at how many women live in regret thereafter. My sister lived with her husband for 10 years, and thereafter the man hightailed to live with another woman. This is a story that is repeated over and over again in Africa. A man is experimenting with a woman, then he vanishes to start over again. In his wake he leaves fatherless children and woman that is soon to be rejected by the in-laws. If there was ever a way to secure the life of a woman, it must surely to ensure economic independence. Education, being the only equaliser, is the only asset any family can bestow the girlchild. Like the story of my sister startled me to the reality that my daughter is exposed and insecure, Felister's future is definitely secured in her success academically. So, too, is my family's future. For with her sucess, one heavy burden is roled from our shoulders. But how many more girls out there are being married of in their teenage years and without the option of escaping from the condemnation that family and society is driving them into?

As the adage goes, "Educate a boy and you educate one person; educate a girl and you educate a generation"

The Wrong way to Tackle Corruption in Kenya

The move by Raila Odinga to bar the government from implementing the dreaded Ndung'u Report on land grabbing deserves condemnation by all Kenyans who are driven by a desire to see the anti-graft war gather steam. It's sad that Raila, hitherto perceived by many of us as an astute crusader for the rights of the down-cast is going down the same road as the 'Mafia'. It should be recalled that the said report has not been released by government although this is not to insinuate that the contents are that well secured. At least the public, and potential victims, are privy one way or another to the deliberations and contents of the report. Obviously, anybody who suspected that they had reason to fret must have had feelers sent into the committtee.

However, to run to court and block a recommendation is preposterous, pre-emptive and defeatist if not cowardly. By moving to court, Raila has denied the antigraft crusade the face of one fearless figurehead. No doubt from here the war is no longer a genuine desire at reparation but it will be justified as political and Raila's win in court should send a chill down his political spine (if he has one!). Surpringly just like Biwott before them, who went to court to sanitise his name, the present rulers are falling over each other in rushing to court to frustrate Kenyan efforts at recovering our pilfered wealth. I wonder what Raila will say hereafter about the Anglo-Leasing suspects. No amount of explanation will wash and he should know that a win in court is a lose in the court of public opinion. And as somebody said,"he who undermines public opinion will be undermined by public opinion". I am at a lose as to which one he prefers since he cannot have both "you cannot eat your cake and have it!".

Kenyan Students in China Need Famine Relief!

We received a rather interesting letter yesterday from the Kenyan Embassy in Beijing. What an insult! The Embassy has no doubt improved since the last change of guard. Admittedly the previous Ambassador was a total disappointment. When he was replaced by Her Excellency Madam Solitei, those of us who had had some run-ins with the previous boss were relieved. Actually, since the arrival of the new Ambassador, the embassy has adopted a very positive trend where the kenyan community was constantly appraised on anything of interest to us here. It is in this light that I wish to loud the officials concerned who have given us a sense of belonging.

The students in China from the third world countries are the most underpriviledged. At US$100 and US$185 a month as stipend for undergraduate and PhD students, respectively, with those masters students somewhere between the two, many students have to get some help from their home governements one way or another. However, we kenyan students are doomed to the mercy of the host government. So when the plea came yelling down at us in our email boxes today, all of us felt it was an insult! And not without reason. Any Kenyan who has had a problem in China and sought help from the embassy has wished for once that he were not called a Kenyan at all! I had a nasty brash with them on one occassion, and I'd rather not talk about it. Suffice it to say that it is more urgent for them sometimes to deal with a dead student than to pre-empt it. Thank God for the abundant health that we continue to enjoy in this land, a kenyn would rot in pieces, abandoned just like that!

Granted that the government has never seen it wise to supplement the measly resources we are given by the host, is it a wonder that many an educated Kenyan runs away from our motherland in serach of greener pastures! Last year, it was reported that Kenya contributed to brain drain from Africa in proportions that were alarming. If this goes on, the report was shy to conclude, the country will be left in the hands of artisans with professionals running to Botswana, Namibia, UK, USA and Australia. For why would one be asked to be patriotic on an empty stomach?

On this note, therefore, I call upon the embassy in Beijing to liaise with the government back in Nairobi to ensure we are well fed and clothed before they come begging from us the few ren min bi. Imagine how many students have to ask for colleagues from other countries for a couple of hundred yuan at one time or another which is to be returned at end of the month, only for the cycle to be repeated mid-month. How many Kenyan students are persevering in this jungle without ever having to afford a computer which goes for as low as 5000Yuan, whereas those from Uganda, Tanzania and rwanda are wallowing in excesses provided by their governement? What do I say, for just like the Kenyans in Wajir need famine relief, Kenyan students in China need famine relief!

Overcoming Mozilla Firefox's appetite for memory

I have been using Firefox (FF) since the days of FF1.0. Nothing has been worse than the current complete instability of the popular, easily personalised web browser. Admittedly, the FF1.5 is a tremendous leap froward and huge gains were made on the ability, even of a complete novice, to customise it with the numerous extensions. My favourite is the weather extension that enables one to get an up-to date weather info, built-in right into your browser. What's more, the availability of local city weather beats the Yahoo! Konfabulator widget to the tape with regard to some relatively unknown cities in continental China. Nonetheless, there have been wails and not-entirely-unfounded grouses about what are probably mislabelled as "memory leaks".

Were it not for the ease with which FF is customisable and the fact that a Personalised Google Homepage with password access is comparatively easily available in FF than IE, I would have folded shop and high-tailed back to the latter. But each time I start IE (now I run IE 7 Beta 2), I have to sign into my Personalised Google Homepage. Besides, the favourites in IE 7 need to be opened individually whereas in FF 1.5, I have what I designated as the home tabs which I can open in one swoop. So what is the memory leak fuss and what causes it? In a blog, an engineer attempted to explain it but this did not molify the large number of disciples of FF. Personally, I have had to wade through quite a journey through a jungle brainstorming the possible causes. I haven't any definite answer but I have somehow identified the numerous, sometimes hastily designed extensions as a possible cause. I had a number of extensions which I have since uninstalled to make the browser leaner and although I have gone through half a dozen crashes today alone, the memory problem has definitely come down. In this light I only have the following extensions: Update Notifier, Gmail Manager (I have a dozen Gmail a/cs!), Forecastfox, NoScript, Google Web Accelerator, Google Safe Browsing, Flashblock, Blue Frog Anti-Spam, Tab Mix Plus, Google Toolbar and Talkback. I admit that when I had Fasterfox running with Google Web Accelerator the memory problem was more pronounced.

On a normal day, I have a streaming TV from BBC World, as well as 8 or so tabs, a pdf, powerpoint and a number of MS Word documents all open at the same time. Even as I compose this, Microsoft Windows Defender Beta 2 is running and now my 512MB RAM is not depletted (actually FF is running at between 8~38% CPU memeory). Before prunning out the other extensions FF was persistently and tenaciously stuck at 100%. Before I treamed the extensions in FF1.5, by this time I would be snailing through the pages and tabs. It seems therefore safe to point a finger of suspicion at one or more of the extensions as the possible memory guzzling culprits. Which ones they are, let's all get out shovels in hand to dig them out! In a nutshell, FF developers need to put in place a stringent quality control mechanism for the extensions engineers. Without this, the main purpose of FF will be defeated. Notwithstanding, some of the barrages of posts on Ben's blog may have included malicious individuals bent on nothing else but to discredit FF. We, who enjoy the services of the browser ought not lose sight of the fact that it is free. While we outdo each other in discrediting and rubbishing the efforts of FF army of volunteers, we should be ashamed that we haven't as much as suggested a way out of this quagmire.

On the same breathe, could Google consider assigning more resources to dedicated FF developers? The reason is simply because there seems to be some unique chemistry between the two as evidenced by the bundle called Google Pack. For whenever anybody grouses about the pitfalls in FF 1.5, surely Google will by default be taking a beating. It is therefore in the long-term global image of Google to help streamline this very addictive web-browser!

What is your take on these, guys?