-
18:55 Nairobi Sit-hi Can-soul: Wea Illiteracy “Rains” Soup-rim
» Kenyanentrepreneur.com You have to watch this video. The Nairobi City Council apparently has a list of houses that are built on illegal road structures, which they say have to come down, but if this is how they are going to “attack” this problem, then they are down right crazy! They almost demolished this family’s house, [...]
-
17:12
Kenya in the Olympics
» Kenyan Pundit I want to join everyone in congratulating the Kenyan athletes for a tremendous performance…the marathon gold was the icing on the cake. And then I’m going to rain on the parade by asking why the hell there were more officials than athletes in the Kenyan contigent that went to Beijing? According to the Nation: [...]
-
16:03
Allowance: Pay as you Sleep Romance
» You Missed This As the debate rages on the proposed allowances for the wives of the PM and VP, other Kenyans are taking the quest for material wealth to another level. A kilifi man has been denied his conjugal rights by his legally married wife because he cannot make enough money from his job of extracting coral blocks from the floor of the Indian Ocean at Bofa.
To spite her husband even more, the unhappy lady had the audacity to bring in her civil servant lover to pose as a cousin in counseling the STARVING husband who had threatened to commit suicide if access to the goods were denied. What is more, the lover even had a sumptuous lunch made the very lady who is the item of both lust and tension. So what does this sorry story tells about the Kenyan society in general?
What happens in our homes and houses is a reflection of the wider national philosophy distilled to its indivisible parts. The quest for material wealth overrides any virtues we stand for a society. The worst bid lies in the fact that DISHONESTY has become the defining trait for most Kenyans. We live our lives for others and SUCCESS is measured in the obtuse magnitude of opulence no matter how the resources were acquired.
Peddling fleshy goods
While products and beneficiaries of fraud will readily dismiss such concerns as thinly-veiled jealousy/envy, its remains an unsustainable lifestyle that only succeeds in massaging you ego to the detriment of your integrity. You don’t have to be a preacher to leave within your means and peddling what lies at the junction of your lower limbs in the height of self low esteem.
Trust typical Kenyans to stop at nothing in their quest to join the SUCCESSFUL club. No wonder one commentator here tongue-in-cheek offered to marry any aspiring PM or VP without any conditions provided she was guaranteed the legal spot to earn the proposed allowance. You see, no price is too steep to pay as the end apparently justifies the means.
Predictably, we will be shamelessly atop hills condemning the Kilifi woman in public but the truth is that our own lives are but variations of the same selfishness. Surely DECEPTION and FRAUD remain our collective forte as a nation.
-
12:04
Mwangi and Coach Caroline Discuss Culture Shock and the Psychology of African Immigrants
» The Displaced African Let me apologize for constantly interjecting with”Yup!”, “Yes!” and “Mh mh” all the time. The mindset I went into this audio with was that it was a discussion as opposed to an interview and so that’s why I kept making those interjections.
That aside, I think this interview is extremely valuable.
Repetition of Truth
It is amazing how whenever one pauses to ask questions like:
What holds people back abroad?
You get the same answers again and again and again and again. One of them is:
When people immigrate abroad, they forget that they are not just competing with their peers or learning from their countrymen but competing and learning from people from all over the world.
So listen to this audio and you may pick up something new, but at the very least, you get reminded of the fundamentals.
Some Other Quick Things
This audio is long but I will release it and leave a gap between this and the next post, so listen to the first part today then pick up where you left of tomorrow or when you can.
PS: I am aware of the problem some folks have listening to these audio, and videos, in places where high speed Internet is as real as a Unicorn/Centaur Tupperware party.
I am fully aware of that and am working on it: A solution shall be found.
Audio File
Download audio file (Coach Caroline Call with Mwangi.mp3)
Things Discussed
1) Brief introduction of Coach Caroline
2) We break down the 4 stages of culture shock
3) We discuss our own personal experiences with culture shock (she went straight to the “shock”)
4) Coach Caroline discusses her initial peer group
5) She also tells her story as an immigrant
6) Patterns she has noticed in behavior of Africans in the States
7) “The herd mentality”
8 ) Transitioning and learning when immigrating
9) Losing your identity abroad and the blessing therein.
10) Racism in the United States
11) Cultural differences
12) The importance of having a vision and the challenges of having a vision as an immigrant
13) The power of the Internet and telecommunication
14) Getting caught up in fancy titles and ideas instead of falling in love with the process and goals.
15) Stories on taking action
16) Ideas for getting out of inertia. Echoes the same ideas I got from Kirk Nugent and for more ideas on how to put this into action check out this article from Steve Pavlina.
17) Caroline’s most important piece of advice for people who are just about to leave home and immigrate abroad.
17) Dreaming big
18) What you can tolerate you won’t change
19) Much much more…………….
-
11:02
OlyMpics!
» tHiNkEr'S rOoM AbsurdityKenya as usual sent a delegation that was top heavy, rich in officials, officers and attaches and wanting in athletes. And even those officials, officers and attaches were only going to exercise their right arms raising forks and tankards to their lips. I am informed our new Sports Minister took along the fruit of her loins at the expense of stadia officials. I no longer pretend to be surprised. Where can I as a citizen get a list of who went to Beijing with their bill footed by me, the taxpayer?
GymnasticsA female Chines gymnast rejoices under the name He Kexin. For a she, being called He no doubt can lead to a somewhat delicate social faux pas. He (she) has spent a lifetime enduring the little embarrassments that are inevitable when a she is called He.
Here He is
SwimmingFew things can cause more consternation than swimming in a pool against Michael Phelps. From the looks of things he has a small outboard motor that he makes religious use of.
Tearing it up
While fellow swimmers subsist on diets of lentils, cold water and the memory of chicken, Michael Phelps was gorging himself on pizzas and burgers. Michael Phelps has the distinction of taking home more gold medals than
- The entire US track & field team
- Africa
- Countries 9-85 in the medals table
Usain Bolt is clearly the man of the moment. 3 gold medals, Olympic records and 3 world records later, he shows no signs of slowing down. The fellow ran so fast the camera covered him to the finish line and then back to get the fellows straining for 2nd position.
Bolt Of Lightning
Once upon a time I ran the 100m (humble school sports days, not Olympics!) and I can assure you few things are as agonizing as running as fast as you possibly can and watching some fellow pulling away from you! It’s just a matter of time before sour grapes (see below) label the poor chap Saddam Usain
To the doofus who had a Michael Phelps moment and dived for the line in the 400m: chap, in London 2012 there will be rules against low flying aircraft.
Finally to ground!
If a virus descended upon the Olympic village this night, 8 people would emerge unscathed. These would be the US men & women’s relay teams, who have amply demonstrated they can’t catch anything.
Whoops!
Long DistanceKenenisa Bekele is a man I respect. The guy appears to have extra lungs somewhere on his person. Few things can be as depressing as being a participant in a race with this chap.
Living legend
For instance, some hapless fellow was lapped by Bekele in the 10,000m. As Bekele comfortably glided past, the fellow had a flash of hope until he realized that to win the race he had to overtake Bekele twice.
Paula Radcliffe is a heart wrenching figure indeed. Every time she’s on TV she is either in her trademark agonized hunched run, looking like she is in acute distress (or constipation), or she is in an inconsolably tearful state. Or both. Can she get some honorary award of some sort?
BoxingOur representatives in the boxing events returned with little fanfare last week after being summarily eliminated.
There’s no shame in losing. After all you lost against some of the best in the world. What is not in order is attributing your loss to the electronic scoring system. My friends, that one is not convincing.
FootballI had the pleasure of watching the women’s final match between USA and Brazil. My friends that was some of the best football I have ever seen.
CyclingWith its proliferation of cyclists, I was surprised that Kenya did not send an cyclists to Beijing until I remembered that we are under an administration that would win a clean sweep of medals for gross incompetence, blatant corruption and 1 x 40 gorging of public coffers
Tae Kwon doCuban Liu Kang Angel Valodia Matos changed the Olympic sport forever when he kicked the taste out of a referee’s mouth
Finish Him!
Sour GrapesIf you go to any American news site covering the Olympics you will be pleasantly surprised to find that according to the medal standings America is first. The criteria they use is number of medals. Using this warped logic, if you have 2 bronze medals you are placed above a country with a single gold. You’d think finding some sense would be simpler than finding weapons of mass destruction. In Africa we should divide number of medals by nuclear reactors to get who is first.
AOB
Guess which movie some relay teams would rather not watch?
Ok, that’s my last shot. I promise. FYI I have once in my distant past dropped a baton too
SHORT BRIEFS #1
AOB
Only In KenyaWorld domination: T-53
Technorati tags: OlympicsPics from a variety of sources, including Reuters, The Times
© M for tHiNkEr'S rOoM, 2008. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:
-
8:32
Solar Map SF
» Afromusing This is the San Fransisco Solar Map.
You can enter your address and it would give you relevant information such as the potential size of a PV system, and its approximate cost. This is definitely an example of how technology can be used to help people make informed decisions about renewable energy.
More on TreeHuggerBefore you ask…when are we going to have something similar for Kenya/Africa? Soon, very soon. I refuse to use the phrase ‘Watch this space’. So ‘Soon’ it stays.
-
4:11
Levy Mwanawasa should never have been president
» The Benin Epilogue Part I: Africa-Ready for Business He lacked charisma, wit or style—the sort of qualities that propel populists to high office in much of Africa. At rallies even his own supporters were fast bored by the former lawyer’s monotone drawl. His ill-health and slurred speech, the results of a car crash, led to nasty jibes about his mental capacity. When he narrowly won his first, disputed, presidential election in 2001, opponents dubbed him “the cabbage”, deriding him as a stooge for others more powerful. READ MORE
-
0:14
Who Funds ICT Start-Up's?
» bankelele Who Funds ICT Start-Up's?