Down at the Swahili Cultural Centre in Mombasa testing the Seacom undersea cable. Just watched a live address from Tanzania, awaiting another from the other simultaneous launches across South Africa, Uganda and Mozambique.

Am sure what y’all want to know is the speeds: I just did a speedtest.net on it and ping 387ms, download 5mb mp3 file 39sec, 35mb video 5min.

Also awaiting address from Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete. Video quality is amazing, no delays, perfect.

All IT types I have shared details on Twitter with amazed at the speed. Actually most are unbelieving if it is actually happening.

First, that title is misleading. There is no actual moving on happening around here.

First, who is filling KBW with useless job advertisements? It is so irritating that am hit by endless vacancy announcements. Is it just me or…

So I marked another birthday yesterday. Marked is really the wrong word to use, considering that besides the midnight Harry Porter premiere, my day was craptacularly usual. I dont feel any much older, yet. It normally grows on me in the succeeding months. But its good to be officially older by a year, goes a long way in being taken as a ’serious Kenyan.’

Oh, the movie? Dumbledore dies in the Half Blood Prince. I was shocked when I saw it. So I came back to the office the next day and at least two guys know I have read the book.

I have selective memory loss? I forget.

A prime plot suitable for commercial re-engagement has recently become available smack in the middle of the city centre.

Nakumatt Downtown; the good days

This here on the right is what it looked like in the good days, when it was Nakumatt’s busiest store, open 24 hours a day and despite its challenge in space, bringing in quite a sizeable percentage of revenue mostly because of its location and therefore, convenience

And then one warm and airy afternoon, the beginning of what would be the end happened.

Downtown burns

Because of a mixture of greed, avarice, poor preparedness, poor planning and even a poorer response to emergency, it went ka-BOOM and took with it almost 30 Kenyans’ lives. And even worse, the management, and some leading newspaper, had initially indicated that nobody had been trapped inside the fire. And oh how they were wrong!  

So this (above) is how it started, covered live by all the major, and minor TV stations, the first of a series of tragedies in the subsequent fortnight..

But finally, Woolworths House, whoever owned it has decided to clear the place, maybe for a parking, maybe for an office block, maybe, just maybe for a 24 hour supermarket to be built at that very place.

So did we learn anything from this tragedy? And how many people will be comfortable entering whatever will replace Downtown?

So Coke introduced Schweppes Novida into the Kenyan market this week after brewing giant EABL’s Alvaro nearly cannibalized its market.

And I tried the pineapple. There’s Apple and Tropical as well.

For full disclosure, am an Alvaro fanatic. The Novida pineapple tasted EXACTLY LIKE ALVARO! Only 30ml less than Alvaro that comes in 330ml.

So what’s the deal with that?

So, after taking its majority stake, the good people at France Telkom finally launched its global Ornage brand in Kenya. So now Kenyans have three mobile service providers.

Quite some good rates as well; Ksh 7 to call any landline, Telkom wireless (now called Orange Fixed Plus) and any other Orange number. And the assault base: Ksh 14 to call any other network. Now in Nairobi and Mombasa, and coming soon countrywide.

The good Frenchmen feel they will break Safaricom’s jinx on we good Kenyans. Will they? Well, the good people at KTN, the home of business will let us know.

May you find serenity and tranquility in a world you may not always understand. May the pain you have known and the conflict you have experienced give you the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism. Always know that there are those whose love and understanding will always be there, even when you feel most alone. May you discover enough goodness in others to believe in a world of peace. May a kind word, a reassuring touch, and a warm smile be yours every day of your life, and may you give these gifts as well as receive them. Remember the sunshine when the storm seems unending.

Teach love to those who hate, and let that love embrace you as you go out into the world. May the teachings of those you admire become part of you, so that you may call upon them. Remember, those whose lives you have touched and whose have touched yours are always a part of you, even if the encounters were less than you would have wished. It is the content of the encounter that is more important than the form.

May you not become too concerned with material matters, but instead place immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart. Find time each day to see beauty and love in the world around you. Realize that each person has limitless abilities, but each of us is different in our own way. What you feel you lack in the present may become one of your strengths in the future. May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility. Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience. May you find enough inner strength to determine your own worth by yourself, and not be dependent on another’s judgment of your accomplishments. May you always feel loved. – ANONYMOUS
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. – ALBERT EINSTEIN

I see no better way to remember his 90th birthday this than with his own quote:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Enough said

So I am a day older than I was yesterday. Little difference!

All the same, thanks for all the wishes I have gotten from everyone. I can not possibly reply to each personally so take this all of you as the appreciation. Small problem though: where is the money? I thought we agreed you would send me money so I can buy birthday presents of my own? I am still crossing my fingers for that

Muchias gracias!

Again.

This time it took Kipkalya Kones and Lorna Laboso. Also his (still unnamed) bodyguard and pilot.

Rest in Peace.

Grass will grow

By Roald Dahl

The most important thing we’ve learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set –
Or better still, just don’t install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we’ve been,
We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone’s place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they’re hypnotised by it,
Until they’re absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don’t climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink –
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE! HE CANNOT THINK — HE ONLY SEES!
‘All right!’ you’ll cry. ‘All right!’ you’ll say,
‘But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!’
We’ll answer this by asking you,
‘What used the darling ones to do?
‘How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?’
Have you forgotten? Don’t you know?
We’ll say it very loud and slow:
THEY … USED … TO … READ! They’d READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching ’round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it’s Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There’s Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They’ll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start — oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They’ll grow so keen
They’ll wonder what they’d ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

————

My, my, this has got to be one of my best poems of all time.