My China phone

Mobile phones (or cellular phones, or just plain simple cellphones are nowadays usually multi-functon gadgets. From digital cameras to position locator, it is unfair to refer to them as just phones. I'd rather call it something to the effect "multi-function, pocket-fitting device. A stylish name might sound like mufpod.

My rather low-cost china phone, apart from cellphone and texting that are standard, includes many interesting features. I particularly like-

• capability of fitting two simm cards, meaning supporting two network service providers simultaneously;
• it has an FM radio, and is equipped with telescopic antenna enabling users to rid themselves having to use cumbersome headphones that act as antenna-this feature puts to shame the more costly so-called genuine Nokia sets
• Flashlight, a white-LED that can be quite handy
• a memory card. I have fitted a 2 gigabyte micro-SD card that is capable of holding many mp3s (the set also plays mp3-pro tracks). The information such as calendar and alarms is held on the memory card, so the internal memory remains for important things such as phonebook entries.
• bluetooth capability, a handy feature for exchanging pictures and files with other bluetooth-capable devices
• A micro-usb ports lets users plug into computers using the standard usb cable.
• Nokia BL-4L is a standard battery for most Nokia phones. The vendors of china phones sometimes fit low-costing look-alike battery that does not have much life between charges, likely cheapy NiMH. When this is replaced with genuine Li-ion battery, the life between charges improves dramatically.
• MP3 player that, combining with large memory card capability and shuffling feature, is quite a gift for us lovers of diverse music. It can play back video clips but not recording. Not bad.
• Sound recorder: again, tapping the potential of the storage capacity, it is possible to record stuff of interest to you: sermons, radio program, read in some stuff from a notice on the wall, bark of a cat, meowing of a dog, laugh of a baby, anything.
• Camera-the quality of photos is a far cry from a standard digicam, but good enough where there is no alternative at hand
• Standard "narrow-pin" nokia charger port, replacement of which can be easily obtained if it gets damaged, car lighter-socket chargers are also easily obtainable.
• UDX is a means of backing up your entire phonebook, where the app writes an xml file onto the SD memory card. When phone is corrupted or lost, the backup can be downloaded back into the restored or replacement set, or any UDX-capable cellphone. I like this feature. The xml file is all-text with html-like tags, therefore copying it somewhere as a security feature. I promptly sent it to myself as an attachment, so that the email containing the attachment remains stored into my email archive for retrieval anytime anywhere if needed: It can also be opened by a text editor where it displays showing xml tags, with no difficulty of picking out the info such as name, cellphone number, home number, email etc.
• Internet capability: the set is internet-capable. Although it comes hard-coded for china service providers, local cellphone companies are capable of configuring chinaphones for their network. The Pollex browser is not exactly OperaMini, but you can't get everything always, can you.
• Alarms, calculator, reminders and such features are all there. Plus, it has Flight mode that will enable you to play included games even in places where phones should turned off due to microwave interferences precautions.

For a mere fifty dollars, it was a good buy, I'll say it was a fine buy, and if something happens to it, I would go for the same set anytime. I love my cellphone.

Email stuff to yourself

It happens many times that you may require some information to complete some form or attach to some documents for mailing or submitting somewhere. If it is at home or office, well and good, you'll retrieve it from the computer, make a print. However if you are nowhere near the place, it may mean having to take a taxi ride to get it. It may also mean to miss a deadline.

We all use email, webmail. A personal mailbox is a secure storage location that will keep your info, locked in with your password.  We can access our mailbox at any place with internet connection. Therefore all you have to do to keep the information that you are likely to need often, send it to yourself as an email attachment.

Some stuff you can send yourself:

• Photocopies of passport pages (required to obtain visas etc)
• Debit card and similar plastic cards (bank account number, card number, expiry month and year, cvv code)
• Certificates and licences (academic, professional, registration).
• Curriculum Vitae (What your professional self is made up of)

Hard disks may crash, DVDs may break, but commercial webservers shall be there all the time 24/7 with impressive availability of 99.99%.

When you have turned your email into a valuable vault, I needn't say that you need to be double-precarious: don't allow computers to remember your email password, even your personal notebook--have it remember others such as e-zine registration. You should also not use obvious giveaway names like "My Standard Chartered Debit Card.jpg", just in case: I might use "SC-plastic.jpg".

Share this information widely, generously.

Facebook claims a US politician's carreer: About time

He clung for a long time to his lawmaker position after his lewd-photos-on-Facebook were exposed. Finally, though, the news headlines indicate he has tendered his resignation.
Ignorance? Fact that he may have not physically met his Facebook "friends" did not make him any cleaner. Bamboozling that it were a mere chat, I, you and him knew well where it would lead to, given chance. Would Anthony Weiner like it if he were to learn that some grumpy old men were undressing for his daughters to see? Think, too, of wife. Kids. Co-workers. This slime is the last thing the injured Dem party needs at these times.
Reminds me of the buffoonery of military leader during Okinawa military base scandal a while back--said something to the effect They shouldn't have raped the school girl, Okinawa is full of cheap prostitutes, they could have picked those ...

Computer viruses: could be scam

Kaspersky pop-up informed me today I have two more days before it would expire. I got thinking, this is some sort of blackmail, something malicious. Why would there be new viruses all the time so as to make it necessary to update the antivirus software all the time? And how come the antichr--ooops--antivirus companies snap up new viruses really quick, prepare the antivirus on the fly? It is quite possible this group of seemingly do-good guys may also be writing some of the virus code. I guess I am not the first to figure this out.

The move by Microsoft to provide 'lifelong' protection to its customers having legitimate copies is all we need to have antivirus bubble burst. Even if they were to be contracted by Microsoft and other OS developers, they wouldn't be selling nearly that many licences as they are doing now. And I can see this coming real soon, the antivirus folk better looking for something else to do.

There are also ways to sidestep antivirusists: running linux and its family is one. Working offline is another. Installing older versions e.g. Windows-98 is yet another - newer viruses are not backward-compatible, they would be thrown into confusion when they find themselves attempting to rough up the older OS.

Let us give them some break, though. Antivirus companies have also assumed a role of educating mankind about the many hoaxes circulating in the internet; and they have been equipped to detect adware.

Russia, China, Rescue Libya

Driving drones in a sovereign state, running stealth sorties at night, implementing military finest arsenal against a third-world nation. That is what is apparent in this Nato-against-Libya warfare.
With the west claiming to be the sole superpower, I was much relieved when I heard in the news that Russia does not approve this ongoing sending a posse after Muammar Qadafi (for what wrong? How many are doing worse??). Africa, the aid-dependent domain, has been humbled into silence, with little effort to dissolve the west-borne crisis. I'd like to hear more rebuke to Nato action in Libya from Russia, ah, and China, the forthcoming superpower.

Gone too soon...

Agnes Shirima, January 1, 1982 - April 21, 2011

I usually don't like addressing the dead persons in second person tense like we usually see done in papers and speeches, because I am doubtful they can hear or read. I, however would like to tell, document, blog, post about them so that people can get to hear about them. Agi was a wonderful girl, simple, friendly, beautiful, good-natured. If she ever behaved otherwise, it was nowhere near my presence. I coined a name for her, "Mtoto wa Kizungu" from her habit of smiling whenever I talked to her, or whenever our eyes met-a behaviour usually found with white girls, maybe from their upbringing.

Some may forget her, but I'll never forget her. To me Agi ranks high among friends, and her abrupt demise (from malaria, of all diseases) was a shock to me.

What if a virus is detected on CD?

My Avira Free (but great) antivirus yelped when I tried to access a CD i'd recently created. It seems one of files on the CD, an executable freeware "neosetupfull262.exe" had a malware identified by signature TR/BHO.FlySwat.2. The file sets up Neoplanet browser. Why need any fringe browser with goodies such as Firefox and Chrome available at no cost? There is a reason - to discourage persons who go about prowling what is in my History, where I've been surfing: such nosey won't be looking for NP as a browser.
It would be safe as long as I didn't use the executable somewhere. But someone else might, and there goes flyswat and all the evil associated with it. What would you do? This is what I did:
I copied the contents of the CD except the infected file on the hard drive: no space problem, I have a half-terra external to my disposal. Next I had to put the CD to end of life. Did this by inserting it in a newspaper and snapped it. doing it with bare hands might harm, as a thousand shrapnels of incredible sharpness get formed when it gives-you don't want one of these to lodge into your cornea.

The Japan accident and future of global nuclear energy

Nuclear calculations which eventually lead to superheated steam driving turbines for electricity generation are complex. One fact is, however, known to all: The "fuel" that power such plants has a bad reputation: ionizing radiation. This invisible output from nuclear power plants is known and all safety precautions are taken to keep it where it shall not bring harm to living things - because if it does, the consequences are ugly.

To contain the harmful stuff, the nuclear plant is assembled inside a strong casting that would contain the contents in all foreseeable forces of nature and, possibly, man-made forces.

The Japan plants that suffered a damage recently were no different, only what hit them was unforeseeable. First there was an earthquake - Japan lies on one of the world fault lines and has been experiencing earthquakes, characteristic of such locations. When tectonic continental plates separated by the fault lines move against each other, the resulting "groan" is the earthquake we mortals experience. A strong quake usually measure about 6 in the Richter scale. The Japan one measured 9, no less! Never before had the region experienced such an awesome rocker. As if the locality was doomed, the quake triggered a tsunami that sent out a four-storey wall of water toward the shore and into the country, sweeping everything on its way. Cars and fishing boats appeared like matchboxes being tossed around a bathtub, when played back by the TV networks. Many lives were lost, many persons are misplaces and shall be in the near future.

Now, now. This calls for global co-operation to meet the issues that must be solved with co-operation of all humankind:
1. Fossil fuels are down to a trickle, they won't be there forever.
===================
2. Pollution caused by fossil fuels is causing big trouble, particularly climatic change. Even if reserves were to last forever, the world cannot continue with the pollution consequences they cause. Boeing 747 uses approximately 1 gallon of fuel (about 4 liters) every second (science.howstuffworks.com). The Schipol - Beijing flight, non-stop, takes 13 hours, therefore consumes 13*3600*4 = 187,200 litres. This is almost one thousand 210-litre drums! for this one plane on this one route.
===================
3. Nuclear energy is clean, nonpolluting energy source, but an accident causes hell. The action that calls for global co-operation is location of these plants. Looking at the map showing fault lines and continental plates, one notes that Japan is prone to suffer earthquakes, therefore not a good place to place high-risk structures. On the other hand, Africa north of equator is mostly Sahara desert which is thinly populated, and quite distant from the fault lines. This would be an ideal place to place global energy kitchen, whereby deep down the gigawatt nuclear plants could be built. The units would be built in such a fashion that should an accident happen to one of them, it could be shut down with the rest taking over.It is altogether unreasonable that France, lying so close to the European fault line, should be a nation depending more that 70 percent on nuclear energy, and even exporting some to other European neighbours.
===================
4. Renewable energy is another alternative the world is looking at: our dear sun pours down more energy than the world would need, only if we could catch and harness it. Much research is needed before much progress could be expected. Other renewables have been considered and are being researched. Wind farms are contributing a narrow slice in the global energy pie, hopefully use of renewable energy, including wave enegy and biofuels, as many firms and governments tend to encourage development in this direction by offering grants and tax incentives.
===================

Is Libya to follow suit after Somalia?

Arab world was experiencing political tremors, starting from Tunisia, whereby the decades-long leader was forced to flee out of country. Then a domino effect that was left to run alone in general. Until.
With Tunisia as eye-opener, virtually every Arabic nation in North Africa and Middle East felt the stirring, clamouring for changes, amongst the younger citizenry, to rid themselves of royal and despots rule. Eventually this scalar wave hit a spot, Libya. The world has heard of stories how Libyan leader of many years, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi carves the national cake for all Libyans to share with generosity, to an extent there cannot be uprising due to dissatisfaction.
Meanwhile, The West held Qaddafi , despite all effort by him to mend fences, play a good peer. So the Arab revolution of these few months provided a way to do something about the man they reluctantly "deblacklisted" as supporter of terrorism.
When uprising was still in its zygotic stage, French leader Sakozy declared recognition of the new opposition government in Libya. Sometimes back, the first wife of Sarkozy (before Karla Bruni) negotiated a deal that released Bulgarian nurses who had been convicted of infecting Libyan kids with HIV. Her heroic action earned her a divorce, it seems, and thereafter Bruni. Methinks the haste of endorsing opposition may have relationship to this incident. I am at loss how he managed to convince other western powers including US to support this funny setup (no-fly zone ha-ha) aimed at flattening Libya and starting awarding contracts for digging Libya oil for woman-made "humanitarian reasons"
After a lot of Tomahawks found their target in the Tripoli presidential residence (do disable anti-aircraft batteries, the invading forces said) African Union at last woke up and called for immediate cessation of military operations in the Libya domain. I don't see anyone heeding this call, considering all the firepower building up in the Mediterranean right now. Jane's Defense must be having their day in weaving stories of the latest in war toys, with precision of homing on target with accuracy of ±0.27 mm (hey, I made this up, but that's how, er, silly some of these things are reported).
Who makes a decision to go into military offensive in America? Going by what we hear, a typical American wouldn't be able to locate Libya on a map, less so worry about the people of Libya getting an unfair deal from their leader. Obama wouldn't spend a cent to worsen the already troubled US economy. That leaves Pentagon who may whisper to government something like "we have this new DNA-guided missile we wanna test, we already have Qaddafi DNA" or "We still lack sufficient experience of war in Africa deserts" met by budgeted emergency funds (and sometimes when real emergencies such as Katrina come around they find govts with their pants down). I've read enough LeCarre and Forsyth to get a hang on behind-the-scenes decision synthesis of the war machinery. I wait and see.

Middle East and North Africa Political Revolution

Here were a handful of countries that were doing well, were peaceful and unassuming. Until something triggered a domino effect that started with Tunisia and shook the entire MENA. Tunisian big man bolted, left the country. Egyptian president stepped down. Other countries in the region quickly started providing consessions to keep their people happy, promising they would allow for leadership change.
Libya also found itself in this wave. I had been hearing that Qaddafi was so good for his people, everything was free and plentiful, why would anyone rise up against this person? Well, I do have a reason to believe that in this one case there could be some external coercing: The country is rich in oil, and many a power would like to lay its hands on that oil, they can't do it with Muamar Qadaffi in power. So when this godsend of turmoil in the region ensued, the agents went into an overdrive to see to it that something gets done. As the situation there is far from stable, with loyalists and militants still in running battles, time will tell.
I've also been thinking who might benefit most if almost all MENA countries changed governments or became lawless like the Somalia of today. I wonder if some little, cunning, non-arab country in the region is behind this caper!

The rise and rise of ceremony industry in Tanzania (2)

c - Ceremony
In the past it used to refer to wedding exclusively. But it seems the masses want to do it more and more, that they started making extension of the "c" to also cover send-off parties, graduation ceremonies and, lately, funeral ceremonies.
So far for the left-hand side of the equation.
M(c) - the Master of Ceremony (increasingly also goes for Mistress of Ceremony)
C - Catering
D - Decoration
T - Trumpets
S(M) - Music system
V - Video shoot
P(s) - Still photos

T(B) - Bride Transport
T(G) - Groom Transport
T(P) - Parents Transport

I - Innuendo (Cake, Ndafu, Champagne...)

The rise and rise of ceremony industry in Tanzania

y = f(x) is probably the most re-used statement in math and engineering. Founded by Euler, it reads, y is a function of x. Emerging during Form Three additional math class, students instinctively hate it, but, hate or like, it comes to make permanent presence in our day-to-day lives. The stuff in parentheses can take a head-spinning complexity to describe a normal, uncomplicated scenario.
That brings us to the blog subject: Tanzania, by the ranking in the UNDP Human Development 2010 Report, is among the poorest nations in the World, ranking 148th in the 160-nation list of world nations. It is surpassed with countries marked by internal strifes such as Zimbabwe and Liberia.
Not only is Tanzania peaceful, it also has the largest landmass among the countries of East Africa, as well as many kilometres of rivers and square kilometres of lakes.
One might think with all this contrasting situation, Tanzania would be rushing to drag itself out of this fix at the bottom of nations to climb up to its rightful place where other nations with similar blessing on the human development chart roost, countries such as Malaysia (57) and Algeria (84). It is to the contrary: Where hard work to tap the fat of the land would be a logical direction, people have concentrated in providing services that has the effect of collecting the little money the individuals get (meagre salaries for employees, bribes for uniformed officers, corruption stash for politicians, and under-priced sales by farmers) and blowing it up in ceremonies. The function takes the shape

This is the social equation of ceremony. Sometimes ago, "ceremony" would be referring to wedding. No longer so. Now we do have graduation (from pre-school, from primary school, from o-level, from a-level, from first degree, from 2nd degree, from 3rd degree, from degree mills (pacific western type)etc. ceremony might also be referring to send-off and to bereavement.
Ceremony comes with many things, therefore the Schroedinger-like equation above. In that equation, c represents any of the several ceremonies named above. Mc is the Master of Ceremony. Some individuals that are wordy have been popular lately, whereby they do that alone for living. Since the carreer goes on in places one can hardly avoid liquor, and liquor has bad reputation of damaging vocal cords, they try to avert this by swallowing raw eggs every now and then, said to smoothern the voices. C is catering. D. T. SM. V etc. shall be the subject of the next post.

Technology advancement showed Aero the door

When I bought my Compaq Contura Aero 486 I was full of pride, for it was such a handy little thing. with 4 MB Ram and 170 MB HDD, it was cool, I was using Wordperfect 5.1 for Wordprocessing, Lotus 123 for spreadsheet and Harvard Graphics for presentation. Nicely compact, I used to carry it with me whenever I went.
With the hardware limitations that it had, I could only install Microsoft Windows 3.1 Operating System. That OS was running with DOS in the background. Then I got a break: a niece of mine living in Washington DC was coming over to Tanzania. I promptly searched (with Alta Vista, those days Google was unheard of, not yet born!)and located a store that sold stuff online. I requested her to buy me a 16 MB module that would bring RAM to 20 MB. It meant I would be able to install windows 95, no less. The "thingy", as we would refer the memory module, arrived instact, costing about $75, a Kingston KTC-Aero/16.

By and by, tek revolution took place, I acquired a pentium, but i still kept the Aero.
Recently going through some stuff i hadn't touched for years, I re-discovered the Aero. I uttered a yelp of joy, retrieved it, placed it on a desk and opened it. Mmmh! The liquid--or whatever the LCD screen is made up of--had kind of flowed out and the otherwise nicely turgid screen was shapeless like a bad shrinkwrap. I shut it and dropped it in the trashbasket. But wait, I told myself: the hard disk may still contain some data, and the memory module might be of use to someone somewhere.
Bye, tough little hero, I told it, you did quite a job during your heydays.

Contribution for weddings and stuff

Some interesting New Year resolutions, from Dr. Olomi

I wholeheartedly support Dr Donati Olomi in this analysis. Please share this widely. Sorry if you can't understand the language. Info applies for Tanzania.

Nimekuwa nafuatilia jinsi desturi ya kuchangia na kufanya sherehe kubwa inavyozidi kushika kasi, ikipelekea ule wigo wa kuomba michango kupanuka kiasi kwamba sasa hata mtu ambaye jina lako halijui vizuri anaweza kukuomba mchango.
Aidha michango na sherehe hizi zimekuwa mzigo mkubwa sana kwa baadhi ya watu, ikiwa ni pamoja na wale wenye kipato kidogo wanaochangiwa na kulazimika kulipa michango hiyo kwa miaka mingi. Je, wajua kuwa kuna familia ambazo zimefikia kulazimisha ndugu wauze mashamba au mifugo mtaji ili kupata fedha za kuchangia sherehe?. Je, wajua kuwa kuna watu ambao zaidi ya nusu ya kipato chao wanatumia kuchangia sherehe na huku wakishindwa kulipia huduma muhimu kama shule, matibabu, lishe, nk. Na kuwa wakati mwingine wewe au mimi (au wengine kama mimi na wewe) ndio wenyeviti na makatibu wa sherehe hiyo?. Na ni sisi tunaoona fahari ya kutumia milioni 30 au zaidi kwenye sherehe usiku mmoja?
Kuna kijana mmoja jamaa yetu juzi juzi alipata shule Australia akawa anatafuta mchango wa dola 5,000 aende. Alipata 2,000 na amwekwama kwenda. Mwaka kesho akisema anaoa tutamchangia milioni 15-20!!!. Hii si hadithi, ni ukweli, na ni kielelezo cha ulimbukeni tuliofikia.
Siku za karibuni nimetambua kuwa kuna kundi kubwa tu linasikitishwa na huu mwenendo, na hata kutambua kuwa tunaweza kuwa tunaandikiwa dhambi kubwa (na hukumu yatusubiri) kwa jinsi wengi wetu tunashindwa kusaidia mambo ya msingi lakini tunakuwa wepesi kutoa kwenye sherehe. Wengi wanaamini kuwa tumeshatumbukia kwenye lindi la mazoea ambapo hatuwezi kujitoa mpaka upepo uje ubadilike wenyewe!.
Mimi nafikiri wasomi tuna jukumu muhimu la kuwa chachu ya mabadiliko pale ambapo mazoea yenye madhara yanavuka mipaka na kuweza hata kuwa chanzo cha ufukara na kuviza maendeleo.
Ili kubadilisha hili jambo, lazima tuanzie mahali. Mimi napendeleza na kuanza kutekeleza. Kuanzia Januari 2011, nitapunguza michango ninayotoa. Nitatoa tu kwa mtu wa karibu sana , na nitachanga kidogo. Usishangae nikakuchangia 20,000/= kama ulitegemea 50,000/= kwa mfano. Kuanzia July 2011, nitaacha kabisa kuchangia sherehe. Badala yake nitakuwa nachangia elimu pale ambapo mzazi hayupo au mhusika kweli hana uwezo na pia nitachangia miradi mingine ya jamii na maendeleo.
Je waniunga mkono? Kama ndiyo sambaza huu ujumbe kwa mtandao wako.

Dr. D.R.Olomi
Box 35036 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

When occult took corporate dimensions

At a little village called Isimila, on the Iringa-Mbeya road (Highway A-104), there has been a tomb with reputation - a myth really. It is said when electrical power lines were laid to pass above the tomb, the power did not flow, no matter what technicins did to troubleshoot. Then the Iringa old "wise" men pointed out the reason - it's the tomb. The company then circumvented the tomb contrary to the survey map, and, lo, electricity flowed. The skewed-for-no-logical-reason lay of pylons provides a good fodder to tour guides.
Recently, though, when a road-building firm had wanted to run a straight path that would go right over the tomb, they were warned of futile attempts of works in the past.
I was tickled to learn that they contracted some people "who would risk their lives" to shift the tomb at a (rather exorbitant) fee. It's not uncommon to hear of shifting graves-even entire graveyards-out of "respect for the departed".
I'd love to hear explanation to auditors as to why the exercise of moving the solitary tomb should cost so much. To keep off spirits? Belief in the supernatural is commonplace in sports in Africa, some soccer teams even keep in payroll "an expert" who shall help "enhance" the team. Coach, it seems, takes second place...

2011 is here

The year past got me to think, is the clock going backwards? Religious skirmishes at several spots in the world, John-Silver-type piracy in full bloom, increase in belief in occult and zodiac among population (can you in your right mind believe the position of planet Mars will bring you luck? Aah!). Meanwhile politician continued making the country their playground, full of numskulls (numskulls that included professors and thousands of graduates). The stylishly-written contracts continued to benefit devil's agents. How much do they want to leave for their families when they croak, anyway? What's the point of stashing the steal in foreign banks, yet deny thievery?
Then came election, led by the star of change. Political bridge was shaken! indicator of what is in the future. Zanzibar election outcome was a win-win for all players.
I lost Ade, my sister, one of the closest to my heart. I owe her a book i must complete and publish for the world to learn a few things. More obituary, Dr Gregory Njau, Bobby Farrel.
Reunion of sorts, touching base with Brandon, Willemijn and Pallav. And Kissoon and Sheila.
2011 no much resolutions, except giving (however little i have) and coming to terms with procrastination.

Tanzania Democracy, politics, private press

October 2010 Elections
Tanzania was heated up in the month of October, for, at the end of that month the General Elections would be held. A once-in-five-years event, the president, members of parliament and councillors get elected by secret ballot.
During the past elections the Ruling Party, Chama cha mapinduzi (CCM) had been winning president and MP elections by a comfortable margin. Their candidate, the incumbent Dr Kikwete was expected to be re-elected for the second and final five-year stint. In 2010, the strongest opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA)departed from the tradition of party chairman running for president (he would run for MP of constituency. Other parties followed suit). CHADEMA candidate for president was its Secretary General, Dr Slaa, MP for Karatu, a vocal legislator.

The campaign was heated, and, at times, violent. Charged election campaigns brought massive following and prediction that voter turnout would surpass previous election years. Voting day eventually came. Save a glitch here and there, the National Electorate Council had done a good job of availing and equipping.

As results were being called out, it did appear the opposition was headed to pick some of votes and constituencies that would have gone to CCM. Counting was going slooowly. To cut long story short, Before presidential results were announced, Dr Slaa called a press conference that he had proof there was foul play, and that the Commission should not announce results before the irregularity was straightened out. Anyways, the results were announced. The odd thing was in the percentage of registered voters who actually voted. Less than half voted! CCM presidential candidate won by 61%, a rather low margin compared to past elections.

In Zanzibar, the elections were such a bliss that many a dowager will talk about for the coming days. Having earlier voted for government of national unity, the outcome of voting was close, between the Civil United Front (CUF) candidate, Sheikh Hamad, and the CCM candidate, Dr Shein. Unlike the previous two that were marred with violence, this time around atmosphere was peaceful, and when Shein won by a narrow percentage, Hamad conceded and immediately congratulated him. Zanzibaris had managed to bury the differences that had made everyone uncomfortable for years.

The parameter that was key in these elections was corruption. It might as well be said that the opposition drumming of how it would stamp out corruption may have contributed to these funny results.

Papers, television and radio:
Most of the media are either owned by or sympathize with one of the main candidates or other. Reading or watching what was being reported had this bias that was quite an irritation.
Winners and losers
W: Dr Kikwete - President of Tanzania
W: Dr Slaa - Runner-up with more than 20% votes
W: Mr Mrema - Member of Parliament for Vunjo Constituency by Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) ticket.
W: Mr Mbowe - MP for Hai, Chadema
W: Mr Mnyika - youthful and charismatic, MP for Ubungo, Chadema
L: Mr Fahmi Dovuthwa - Presidential candidate who brought up in the rear, his unorthodox offer of his votes to CCM candidate (whatever motive) not taken
L: Mr Mbatia - Chairman of NCCR-Mageuzi party who ran for Kawe Constituency and lost to Halima Mdee
W: Ms Halima Mdee - MP, Chadema. Beat all odds to snatch Kawe, the stronghold of CCM.
L: Mr Basil Mramba - CCM, Rombo, to Chadema candidate, Selasini. Grass-eating gaffe is not forgotten by many.
W: Mr January Makamba - MP Bumbuli. I approve the approach used to unseat the incumbent. I wish more young persons would do that in their respective parties.
W: Mrs Rita Mlaki, for figuring how to get back into the parliament.

Chile rescue: engineering par excellence

Thirty-three miners were almost a kilometre down deep in earth's bowels. Some earth movement caused a section of the tunnel to collapse, trapping them in. Efforts to find out if there were survivors were made.
Something akin to a miracle occurred. When sinking long holes in a rather try and error manner, then retrieving to see if anything--just anything--got on the drill tip. At one such time, a piece of paper was wrapped on the drill bit. Unfurling it, and there was a note written on it. The information was sufficient to launch a flurry of activities that culminated into the thirty-three miners rescue earlier this week.
The challenges to engineers were daunting. At some 700 metres below the surface drilling a hole capable of lifting the men to safety was a mammoth-sized problem. That was when the world noted the special position of engineers for mankind. So long have they floated in the oceans with thousands of tons of freight, or cruising high in jumbo jets; taking it for granted that the craft are just there, not observing the fantastic engineering of them.
I take this opportunity to salute all involved in the rescue operation, and kudos to all the people of Chile for the miracle.

eThinkTankTz mourn Andrew dACHI

When the news of the passing of Andrew Dachi Kapaga (ADK) hit the list on 30 September 2010, it set forth a long series of reflections mostly by those having had business acquaintance with the outgoing IT hero. Andrew had been those one of those persons with two self-fanning driving attributes: his insatiable desire to stay abreast with new developments in the trade, and willingness to share--by teaching, practicing and otherwise--with others. This made him popular among superiors, colleagues, trainees and mankind. It would not do justice to let the long list of eulogies posted on eThinkTankTZ pass into "yesternet" unnoticed, therefore I am putting them in their entirety on my blog. There is no doubt that dACHI was a really good person. May his relatives and friends read this and feel pride, such a good man we are missing.

#17125
From: Aziz Mongi
Date: Thu Sep 30, 2010 7:20 pm
Subject: Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more aziz_mongi
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

Colleagues,

It is with deep sadness and sorrow that I am today the harbinger of not-so-good news.

My uncle, colleague and friend, Andrew Kapaga Dachi, has passed away sometime between yesterday and today. I received the phone call from another colleague today, who does not have the full details of Dachi's death, but he promised to share more information as he received it.

This came to me as quite a shock, because it reminded me of what I was thinking only three days. I was thinking whether any on of us is prepared for their own death. What does happen if you dont wake up tomorrow? Are you prepared? I better get started with the preparations, because your Last Day on Earth is Allah's Secret! Only He has knowledge of it, and you are never really prepared.

You may die of natural causes - such as diseases, coronary or pulmonary failure, etc. - or by accident. But you will never really know when you will go. That is a fact.

Dachi had moved to Botswana, where he established himself as an IT guru and entrepreneur, being based in Franscistown. He commuted to Gaborone - for work projects - on a regular basis. He had also set up a company, called ISA Business Consulting, together with some local partners. He had acquired many clients and with the success, he had ventured into other non-IT projects, such as real estate and entertainment!

Dachi was in Tanzania recently during August-September, we worked together on an IT Security project for a public-sector client. He was truly one of the most knowledgeable persons in IT and Data security; he had the mind of a genius. He taught himself ALL that he knew on IT and Data Security. He could scan your entire network and show you all the security weaknesses, and provide you with a solution on how to fix them. This is something that is seriously lacking in many of our private- and public-sector data networks. How I wish Dachi was here to help us find our way in this melee of DDoS attacks (a local network just suffered this earlier today...) and other malicious attacks, such as website defacing, etc. How I wish.

I truly respected Dachi, he taught me a lot, mostly, he taught me discipline and patience. He taught me never to give up, especially when things are rough.

I will truly miss him. I am sure many of his former colleagues at COSTECH and other entities will too.

Innalillahi Wa Innalillahi Raaj'un!

Aziz Losika Mongi, ICT Consultant & Entrepreneur
"The journey of a thousand miles, begins with one step." - Chinese Proverb
".... and a roadmap!" - Uknown


#17126
From: John Magoha
Date: Thu Sep 30, 2010 7:56 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more mgosingwa2000
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

May his soul rest in peace and Allah grant all of us the courage and wisdom to learn from his successful professional life.
Ameen

John

Sent from my iPhone4 by AT&T



#17127
From: H M HAJI
Date: Thu Sep 30, 2010 9:47 pm
Subject: Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more hajihm
Online Now Send IM
Send Email Send Email

Wananchi

Me too, received this sad news with great shock, I wish strength to those who were closed to him like me, I know dACHI for a quite long time, few years ago I was one of the referees for his online MBA programme in Holland, definitely we will miss him, I will always remember my dear compañero dACHI way back in Havana and back in Tanzania chanting "Spanish Latino" to remember our days over there. Oh! My GOD, what a loss.

Innalillahi Wa Innalillahi Raaj'un!

_____________________________________________________________
Haji, H. M.,
Digital Forensics Consultant.
United Kingdom.
Email: h.haji@...
_____________________________________________________________

#17131
From: Yassin Mshana
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 4:14 am
Subject: RE: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more ymshana2003@...
Send Email Send Email

WHAT HAPPENED???
Wote ni Wake na Kwake tutarejea.
Dua zetu zisikike. Amin!!


#17137
From: Hebron Mwakalinga
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 12:52 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more hmwakalinga
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

Aziz and all ITzens of .Tz

It is quite sad to hear the passing away of Mr. Dachi, really he was one of the few pioneers of IT Security in Tanzania, I interacted with him in early 1990s when Internet was just making its way in the country.

Mungu awape nguvu wana familia na yeye amlaze mahali pema peponi.


Hebron Mwakalinga

Facilitating Markets for Development

Mikocheni B, Kambarage Street (former Garden Street, Block No. 371

P.O.Box 78496. Dar es Salaam.



#17138
From: Pantaleon Shoki
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 1:03 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more shokipn2000
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

Dear ALL

This is really a sad news. However, that is GOD's wishes. Mungu ailaze mahali pema peponi. AMINA

Pantaleon N Shoki
Managing Director
Victoria Research Bureau Ltd
Mwanza-Tanzania
http://myprofile.cos.com/shoki





#17136
From: ciwTz
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 12:35 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more ciwtz
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

I'm sorry to hear of Dachi's death.

I have some tribute to pay for dACHI (how he preferred to write his name):

Andre was one of old timers like me who had began tinkering with computers since the ages of Quattro-Pro, Lotus-1-2-3 and Wordstar 2000. In those days everything was proprietary. Like John Dvorak, dACHI was nimble enough to update himself with challenges of times in IT industry. When sony was marketing its first CD-writers for TShs 2 million at the Kilimanjaro Hotel during AITEC exhibition, I and dACHI gasped with awe at the beauty of one having such drive. Writable media was TShs 10,000. It was unimaginable that writable CDs would come to cost about 200 Shillings some decades later, or a writer would be ripping at more than 50x, yet costing about TShs 40,000.

We saw first GUI OS matching in and capturing people hearts. Those fonts!
Yes, I am going to remember The Big Man dACHI. Patiently explaining sectors and heads, CDS-ISIS and DBaseIV to newbies. In those days the hard disks were 500 megabyte size, but we managed very well. Today we have two tera-byte drives that weigh a fraction of their ancestors of 1990s. We are still seeing surprises, as if there is no end to innovation: There were no re-writable CD's then, no DVDs. Now there are even HD media.

dACHI, your contribution from the days of COSTECH to Raha dot com etc was quite significant. Bye! (*sob*).


#17140
From: Msafiri kimario
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 2:24 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more lenduli
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

Dear E think Gurus,

Personaly I don't know him, but according to his profile given by other Gurus in this forum for sure he was a great guys of our times especially for young IT's who had a lote to learn from him.
My Almight God reast his soul in eternal peace and hope we will always cherish his contribution toward ICT for development not only in Tanzania but also in Africa as he was strugglind to desserminate his knowledge beyound Tanzania.

Cordially.

In GOD WE Trust

#17141
From: "Kweba, Bulemo"
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 6:34 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more bkweba
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email


Rest in Peace Dachi,

Dachi came to our graduating class ( Forodhani Secondary School 1991) to demostrate Computers and its pheripherals.
Its because of his inspiration and his love of IT that some of us choose this field as our lifetime career.

He will be sorely missed.

Bulemo Francis Kweba
The Hague, Netherlands

#17144
From: vinod gandhi
Date: Sun Oct 3, 2010 12:30 am
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more metrovin
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

am sorry for his sudden demise. can anyone let me know what happened to him

god rest is souls in peace
amen
vinod

#17128
From: "apollobs_temu"
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 12:50 am
Subject: Re: Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more apollobs_temu
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email


Ndugu zangu



This shocking!!



Yuko wapi? What happened? What are the plans?



He taught many of us many things, and many of us aspired to achieve what he had

achieved!



Databases, from days of DBase III, III+, IV and outside IT, talk about physical

training, Karate!!



If feels like unreal



My heart goes out to his family members and close friends.



Andrew Dachi - you will be missed, terribly! This is one BIG loss to the country

too and the IT Profession.



Mungu amrehemu.



Regards



Apollo Temu


#17129
From: "apollobs_temu"
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 12:59 am
Subject: Re: Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more apollobs_temu
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email


More information is posted be it still limited


http://innomosha.blogspot.com/2010/09/taarifa-za-msiba.html



Perhaps it is a denial element in me that makes one start looking for more info



Please let us know if anyone gets more information.



Regards



Apollo Temu


#17130
From: Yassin Mshana
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 4:06 am
Subject: RE: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more ymshana2003@...
Send Email Send Email

Innalillahi Wa Innalillahi Raaj'un.
God lent us and now has called back. Ametutengulia ndugu yetu dua yetu asikie Mola Aiweke roho yake pema peponi. Amen!

#17133
From: "Benn Haidari"
Date: Thu Sep 30, 2010 10:31 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more benn.haidari@...
Send Email Send Email


Innalillahi Wa Innailayhi Raajiuun,
When he was in Botswana, were writing to each other, but in the lat 2 months I did not get any mail from him.
May God give im a better place in the heaven.
Benn

#17134 From: Frank Kanani
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 9:13 am
Subject: Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more frankanani
Online Now Send IM
Send Email Send Email

Although no words can really help to ease the loss of our loving brother, we just know that we are very close in every thoughts and prayers.My sincere deepest sympathies goes to his family and friends, may his soul
rest in eternal peace…......
Mungu aliumba na yeye ndiye aliyetwaa kazi ya Mungu haina makosa! Mungu akutie nguvu.......

#17135
From: Prosper Kaberwa
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 11:56 am
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more pkaberwa
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email


May God grant him eternal Peace. Amen

PK

The longest journey starts with the first step - Chinese
If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything! - Unknown

#17139
From: Edwin Mpogolo
Date: Fri Oct 1, 2010 1:29 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more empogolo
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

A really sad day for all of us in ICT

He introduced me to Internet well before the World Wide Web, tossing me a Tourbus once a week to worm around the Internet and send results a week later (Was it through Satelife?). Then gave me Clipper - man that was something, to create nice graphical interfaces with a professions touch - and make money too! And he has not returned my Ilma la Duce Betamax Video since 1987! But no I can't complain.

I talked to him last only three months ago - that is after he got my number through my email to eTTTz

Fare well thee, good old dACHI! You were a jolly good fellow, and will certainly be missed by many of us ICT old hands!

May the Almighty Rest Your Soul in Peace!


#17142
From: Muttagirwa Yahoo
Date: Sat Oct 2, 2010 2:33 am
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more muttagirwa
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

RIP Dachi... Too soon to call off ... But ur shared moments n memories'll last forever
Dr Longino


#17146
From: Sendoro
Date: Sun Oct 3, 2010 9:41 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more sendoro
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

Dear All,

I had worked with late Dachi, surely he was among those ICT gurus in the country, this surely a loss to ICT industry and Tanzania as a whole.

RIP Andrew Dach!!! Indeed that is our destiny.


Regards
Sendoro


#17145
From: Stephano Ole-Teveli
Date: Sun Oct 3, 2010 7:56 pm
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more ndiango
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email

Dear All,

Poleni sana ! Andrew dACHI was a dear friend and it is so sad to hear that he is no longer. May God rest his soul in eternal life. I knew him since 1984 and have worked with him in the eighties and nineties. He is a real IT Guru. I can't find words to describe him ! Let us be ready because no one knows when the time comes for departing from this corrupted world.

I wish to get more details on when this occurred and the funeral arrangements.

Stephano Ole-Teveli
P.O.Box 14693
Arusha, Tanzania


E-mail: stefano_ndiango@...
stefano@...


#17147
From: "Masaro, Arnold"
Date: Mon Oct 4, 2010 9:17 am
Subject: RE: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more arnoldtmasaro
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email


It says a lot when peers mourn the passing of a colleague like this. It not only says that we are saddened, but also that we salute the accomplishments of the departed.



I worked with dACHI on one assignment in 1998. Indeed, he was a true scholar and a gentleman.



May God rest his soul in eternal peace.




#17150
From: "DS"
Date: Mon Oct 4, 2010 11:43 am
Subject: Re: [www.eThinkTankTz.org] Death Announcement: Andrew Kapaga Dachi is no more dsawe
Offline Offline
Send Email Send Email


Hear, hear,



That's very well put Arnold. Our departed colleague had indeed many

accomplishments to his name.



On my side, I'd known Dachi since back in his Costech days, but we lost touch

along the way after his move to Botswana. It was back in mid-December 2009 that

we were able to get back in contact again, thanks to Facebook, but only for a

far too brief exchange of messages.



May his soul be blessed with Eternal Peace.

DS.

The Gullible

Ads on tv and radio get to a point of having me want to puke. A more-than-it-deserves emphasis has been placed on importance of washing hands using water and soap (i wonder if there are people who use kerosene and soil to wash hands). Again and again it goes. In one instance, a good goal scorer, asked what makes him perform, pipes, "I wash my hands with soap and water"--HOGWASH! In yet another, a woman who inherited huge wealth because of cooking expertise, "confided" that the secret behind her success lay on washing her hands with soap and water. The BS goes on and on.
Who sponsors this nonsense? USAID. If anyone comes across this post, please let them know although statistically many of us are dumb, there are spikes in that continuum, that don't put up with nonsense.

Ads are not everyone's business. There has to be professionalism in preparing them. If I had my way, I'd fire every one in the soap-and-water series of ads. As for USAID, there are more effective ways of spending those greenbacks. We do have malnutrition because of poverty, desks and chairs not enough to meet need etc. Any grown up (4 and above) knows about washing hands with soap and water.