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• August 16, 2009
• 22:09

  A Locally Fabricated Radio Station at MFA

   » ‎ AfriGadget

  Tags:  AfriGadget  

  

  I’m a sucker for radios and antennas, and was just so excited to see the guys from Accra Polytechnic at Maker Faire Africa. Hayford Bempong, David Celestin and Michael Amankwanor are three members of the National Society of Black Engineers who have created a full radio with their own funds and brains.

  They showed up at the event and setup the local Maker Faire Africa radio station, running at 101.7 FM. In conjunction with the speakers that they setup for the close proximity announcements, the radio was used to transmit up to a couple thousand meters away and spread the word about upcoming activities.

  Basic electronics

  David Celestin has been building power inverters and other electronic devices from scratch since he was a teenager. Below is one of his first power inverters, that still works, and which runs out of a little box. You can tell it is all fabricated from scraps and locally available materials.

  

  Here is their home-brew VHF SWR meter:

  

  Antennas

  The team also creates their own antennas from scratch, including the “slim jim” below, “ground plane and a circular antenna.

  
  
  

• 21:44

  Agriculture and Metal Fabrication Meet in N. Ghana

   » ‎ AfriGadget

  Tags:  AfriGadget  

  

  

  This is a corn planter. It costs approximately $10 (15 Cedis) to make, and it significantly decreases the time that it would normally take to plant corn. This invention came about by taking a look a medical pill dispensing devices and transferring that knowledge to his communities needs.

  Shamsudeen (”Sham”) Napara lives in the norther part of Ghana, which is a lot more rural and isolated than the southern part of the country where you find Accra, or the central part, where you find Kumasi. He has a metal fabrication shop where he builds tools, mostly for agricultural needs of those in the surrounding areas.

  He was at Maker Faire Africa this weekend and I was completely amazed at both the ingenuity and the quality of his work.

  Shea Nut Roaster

  

  That’s not all that Sham has been up to though, in fact, he’s been busy with a couple other projects. Specifically, he’s been working with Amy Herman from the Univesity of Indiana to figure out how to enhance traditional processes familiar to those in Norther Ghana. This means he does a lot with Shea nuts and the processing of them. It is one of the few fields dominated by the women in the community, and a lucrative business, since the processing from raw to refined can net a good margin of profit.

  Below is a shea nut roaster – a small version, since the large ones are the size of a table. It costs around $40 (60 Cedi), and it decreases the time and energy normally expended in the work of getting the nuts ready for processing.

  

  

  Soap Cutter

  Though he has many more inventions in his workshop in Northern Ghana, the last of the three items that he brought to Accra was a soap cutter. It’s a device that has a hinge on one end that opens and closes with piano wires and guitar screws to hold wire tight across the device. As it is closed, it slices the soap cleanly.

  

• 18:00

  Is Imanyara Fighting Impunity or Kibaki?

   » ‎ You Missed This
  
  Honourable Gitobu Imanyara has crafted a private member’s bill seeking to establish a local tribunal to try PEV perpetrators. This comes after MPs unanimously shot down Martha Karua’s bill proposing the same. What is more, they threatened a repeat performance to Mutula Kilonzo. The turnaround amounts to liking the message but hating the messenger or grabbing ownership of what you hitherto loothed.
  
  Imanyara’s bill comes with the knockout punch that specifically strips the president of immunity. He says his singular goal is to end impunity. So the question follows whether he equates the reigning impunity to the person of the president.
  
  Don’t be vague, let’s go to The Hague was the clarion call of the heard in parliament. They chanted and shouted themselves hoarse but in the long run to show the MPs who the real bosses were, the cabinet disabused them of any pretensions of power and came with the TJRC gimmick.
  
  Imanyara and his ilk may mean all the good things for Kenya. But one is left wondering whether personalizing the crusade against an individual and not the office takes the wind off the legal sails.
  
  Parliamentary dictatorship
  What is more, Imanyara intends to give MPs the exclusive power of parliament, executive and judiciary all to themselves. They will debate, legislate and enact the bill without reference to any other branch of government. One would wish MPs were that objective and honest to be trusted with this parliamentary dictatorship.
  
  This impunity hydra mutates into many shapes and forms. Granted, any Kenyan suffocating from yoke would readily and unreservedly support anybody with a blade aimed at any of the monster's many heads. But the double standards and hypocrisy leaves you fearful of another mutant masquerading as a saviour. NA BADO.Kumekucha

  
  

  

• 14:42

  KQ Strike Weekend

   » ‎ KA-INVESTOR
  
  For three days now I’ve been following the Kenya airways strike with a very personal interest (as a shareholder and having a close family member as a passenger). A 21 days strike notice was given and expired exactly at midnight on Friday August 14, 2009. The workers union 130% raise demand (unreasonable!) was only able to be met by an 8% increase (only!) from KQ’s management. The difference set the stage for one gruesome workers strike.
  
  KQ management tried every trick in the book to avert the strike, including a court injunction banning the strike and negligible increase to the initial 8%. But by then the strike was inevitable. And they’ve had to settle for a 20% salary increase that will see the airline spent an extra Ksh.900 Mln on these increases.
  
  The international departure section at JKIA, on Saturday morning was a total mess. Long disorganized queues to nowhere characterized the airport. I dropped off a passenger at 6.30am for a 9.15am flight, but by an hour after departure time she had not even check-in. and even after checking in and waiting for the flight the whole day (with little communication on the flight’s fate) the flight was cancelled. As I write this her flight has not yet taken off.
  
  What is the implication of this strike to KQ and its stakeholders? It’s obvious that the airline has been set back several hundred millions (estimated to be over 400 million) in revenue over the last three days. This may take KQ months to recover (that is if they ever recover the Ksh.5.66 bln loss reported in its previous year). Then there is the issue of lost customer confidence, which I don’t know how they will work around this.
  
  Despite KQ recovering a little bit from the oil edging deal that contributed largely to their losses in the previous year, the workers strike this year will surely make their recovery much difficult, if it won’t contribute to another loss.
  
  A detailed analysis @BusinessDaily
  

• 11:56

  sex on a car, in a house and on my bed. Fucking steamy!

   » ‎ make mine a double espresso...
  So... This weekend was tri varsity weekend. it's a rugby tournament, three universities take part. This year it was held at Rhodes University, that's in grahams town. All the seniors swear by the legendary-ness of the event.
  I HAD TO GO!!!
  we went by road, about an hour and a half from P.E. Drinking games in the van, it was a sunny day, by the time we got there we were maaaaaaddd tipsay!!!
  I had called my friend, let's call him ka-mbugua. (pun very much intended to the wambui otieno sagga!) he said he's gonna be there.
  So... I've known him for about two years now. He's studied at a nearby town here in SA. We're not extremely close but everytime we get together, we do stuff!!!
  He's two years younger than me... Actually me and his older sister were in the same class in primary school.
  So we drank, we drank, we drank, i can't emphasize on the booze enough.
  
  So remember, i was on drought. I hadn't gotten some in forever.
  
  Ummm so he came.
  
  Fast forward...
  
  We started making out and whatever...
  
  We went to this house party in the town. It's a really small town so everything's close together and it gets really crazy during tri varsity. People run around naked, pass out on the road, everything. Think 'varsity students gone wild!!!'
  
  So me and my friends, ka-mbugua ditched his friends and chilled with me and mine. The horniness just checked in!!! We started kissing outside the house, he pinned me to the wall, his hands were everywhere... Then, we moved to the parking lot/garage. Our clothes were on the floor, we fucked on a car!!! The security lights were going on and off. It was so hectic! I was trying not to scream, and it was funny... Hahahahaha!!! We went back into the house.
  Drinks.
  Drinks.
  Drinks.
  
  we went to buy food. Then we just walked around the town... Walking, kissing, dancing, just being drunk college kids.
  Then he was like we should find a b&b or a motel. Yo!!! Hormones are hectic! We actually went back to the house where the party was at, found a room, locked the door, clothes on the floor, yeah ka-mbugua is younger than me, but fuuuuccckk, the sex was awesome! Someone started knocking on the door...
  ''fuck, someone's at the door''
  ''shit i'm about to cum!!!''
  ''don't stop... harder''
  KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!
  ''i'm not gonna stop''
  ''fuuuuuuucccckkk! Fuck! I'm cummin!!!''
  
  Hahahahahaha! Then we got dressed and left.
  
  Then we went club hopping on foot. When we weren't drinking, we were making out.
  Hahahahahaha! That boy!
  
  We got on a bus to come back home... I fell asleep at some point. I woke up when i felt him pulling on my zipper. his hand on my clit. Fuck! I wanted to scream! it was some hour in the am so people couldn't see us. Kissing, touching, heavy breathing...
  
  Hahahahahaha!
  
  We got back to my place at around 8 or 9 this morning...
  My housemate heard me screaming when he was getting ready for work. We were both so tired but crazy horny from the ride back. Shit, it had been so long so i enjoyed! Wawawawawawa!!!
  Shit...
  My bed still smells of him.
  We figured it was pointless to put our clothes on so we just slept nude. I would touch him or he'd touch me and we'd do it again and again and again...
  
  It was so hectic!!!
  
  Everytime!
  
  I'm exhausted...

• 9:17

  Sunday To Do

   » ‎ Delusions of Grandeur

  soundtrak: ESPN SportsCenter (sweeeeeet!)

  things to do today:

  + run
  + clean room
  + get gas
  + target
  + write some entries already…
  + read a book
  + study for gres
  + play sims 2
  + write

  more later.
  peace.

• 8:51

  Poetic Identities: 1

   » ‎ Black Looks
  I have become increasingly addicted to poetry particularly where it  is concerned with notions of identity, the politics of location and universal struggle.  HERE Joyoti Grech answers that familiar and so loaded question “Where are you from“  and other questions which constrict one’s being and becoming more than….. In Answer to some questions In answer to some [...]