1. 9 May



    TANO - MAY 9

    One. My dismissive joke about John McCain’s legislation that would stop cable TV companies from charging us for all their channels offered instead of the ones we actually watch is that the Senator is still mad about not getting enough media love in 2008, but my more serious comment is that the bill is challenged to work since the cable companies will play with the ala carte pricing formula to the point where you can conceivably have a higher monthly cable bill with fewer paid choices…

    Two. After reading the CNN article, “Why China is getting involved in Africa’s health issues,” what seems to be missing from this discussion is China’s increasing direct investment in Africa and that the African labor force will grow to 1.1 billion people by 2040…

    Three. GPS tells you that you’re about to drive down a road, but your eyesight combined with your basic intelligence (presumably) tells you that you’re about to drive down some stairs, and the GPS won out?

    Four. The previous point gives me a Gwyneth Paltrow flashback: she should hook up with GPS-Told-Me-To-Jump-Off-the-Roof-So-I-Listened Guy to camp out at the nearest mall parking lot and hold a vigil for the release of Google Glass if she believes traveling 3,400 miles east of NYC is necessary to find a dinner party where its guests can hold conversations about “politics, history, art and literature - all this peppered with really funny jokes.”

    Five. I’m not a fast food eater, but those of you who like that stuff but are against fast food workers striking to earn a proper wage should consider how you feel about pissed-off, underpaid employees flipping your burgers…

    song currently stuck in my head: “come live with me angel” - leon ware

    [Photo from MyUpperWest]

     

  2. 24 Dec


    I don’t have this Wax Poetics issue! Via longliveamilcar: waxpoetics #39 | Fela

    I don’t have this Wax Poetics issue!

    Via longliveamilcar:

    waxpoetics #39 | Fela

    (Source: amilcarology, via warm-ways)

     

  3. 27 Oct


    Trailer to the movie, When China Met Africa.

    The world has heard Hillary Clinton’s subtle warning and China’s direct response, but wouldn’t you like to see and hear other viewpoints about Afro-Sino fusion? Perhaps from Africans?

    song currently stuck in my head: “in the thick of it” - sunburst band feat. angela johnson

     

  4. 1 Aug


    africaisdonesuffering: Can Africa’s Inye Thrive a West-Dominant Tech Industry? We know that the iPad has revolutionized the way that people interact with their world, much like the iPhone did. Inspired by that revolution, Saheed Adepoju, a young Nigerian man, is trying to do the same thing in Africa. Adepoju developed the Inye which is an 8 inch tablet that runs on the Google Android platform that comes in at an affordable $350 when compared to the iPad at $700. Adepoju wants to bundle the tablets with apps that, for instance, bring awareness to users about HIV, water, and sanitation. How sexy is that and does it matter? Is the African market decidedly different to be drawn by the Inye? For the middle and upper class, in most African countries, the appeal of products like this is to demonstrate their wealth, i.e. conspicuous spending, but will they be put off by the practicality, will they even want the ‘affordable’ product? For those who are decidedly less well off, is the practicality enough for the $300+ investment in a tiny computer? Personally, I think it’s wonderful we have such a perfectly timed development by a person from the continent, but I wonder just how far government connections and family money will get his dream. The reason western developed electronics thrive not only domestically but internationally in addition to quality, is that product branding makes us believe we need this new shiny toy in our lives. The sheer reach of advertising dollars behind new products is staggering. So how can Adepoju make the impact he wants? At the end of the day, he would have to find a way to paint this as a product for the African market beyond water, sanitation, and disease control. While these are significant part of the average African’s life, products like tablets not only allow us to connect but they also allow us to escape. Adepoju will have to create the kind of world members of the continent will want to escape to; one that resonates with a majority of the continent. That, I feel will be his challenge. continue reading Cool statement of African technological empowerment. The Inye could be used to document Africa’s poverty and land pillage, as well as improve delivery of education… song currently stuck in my head: “we can live forever” - sunburst band

    africaisdonesuffering:

    Can Africa’s Inye Thrive a West-Dominant Tech Industry?

    We know that the iPad has revolutionized the way that people interact with their world, much like the iPhone did. Inspired by that revolution, Saheed Adepoju, a young Nigerian man, is trying to do the same thing in Africa. Adepoju developed the Inye which is an 8 inch tablet that runs on the Google Android platform that comes in at an affordable $350 when compared to the iPad at $700.

    Adepoju wants to bundle the tablets with apps that, for instance, bring awareness to users about HIV, water, and sanitation. How sexy is that and does it matter? Is the African market decidedly different to be drawn by the Inye?

    For the middle and upper class, in most African countries, the appeal of products like this is to demonstrate their wealth, i.e. conspicuous spending, but will they be put off by the practicality, will they even want the ‘affordable’ product? For those who are decidedly less well off, is the practicality enough for the $300+ investment in a tiny computer?

    Personally, I think it’s wonderful we have such a perfectly timed development by a person from the continent, but I wonder just how far government connections and family money will get his dream. The reason western developed electronics thrive not only domestically but internationally in addition to quality, is that product branding makes us believe we need this new shiny toy in our lives. The sheer reach of advertising dollars behind new products is staggering. So how can Adepoju make the impact he wants? At the end of the day, he would have to find a way to paint this as a product for the African market beyond water, sanitation, and disease control. While these are significant part of the average African’s life, products like tablets not only allow us to connect but they also allow us to escape. Adepoju will have to create the kind of world members of the continent will want to escape to; one that resonates with a majority of the continent. That, I feel will be his challenge.

    continue reading

    Cool statement of African technological empowerment. The Inye could be used to document Africa’s poverty and land pillage, as well as improve delivery of education…

    song currently stuck in my head: “we can live forever” - sunburst band

    (via freeandeasywandering)

     

  5. 25 Jul


    I would love to get the original Soul to Soul movie poster…

    I would love to get the original Soul to Soul movie poster…

    (Source: ohbliv, via blackrockandrollmusic)

     

  6. 2 Jul


    Bamako, Mali photographer, Seydou Keïta is my guess for who took this shot. I’m not 100% certain, but I’m at least 99% convinced…

    Bamako, Mali photographer, Seydou Keïta is my guess for who took this shot. I’m not 100% certain, but I’m at least 99% convinced…

    (Source: caughtsouls, via drum-taps-deactivated20121024)

     

  7. 30 Jun


    Os Ipanemas - Kenya

    (Source: soundcloud.com)

     

  8. 30 May


    The state of the Africa Land Rush, 2012. Source: Organic Consumers Association article, Obama Leaves Monsanto in Charge of Ending Hunger in Africa…

    The state of the Africa Land Rush, 2012.

    Source: Organic Consumers Association article, Obama Leaves Monsanto in Charge of Ending Hunger in Africa…

     

  9. 10 May



    AFRICA OFFICIALLY TAKES CENTER STAGE

    Goldman sachs Africa's Turn Investment Equity research development business baye kambui tumblr blog mental unrest

    Yeah, I know — Africa has been an area of interest for all sorts of intentions over the years, but you might be interested in Goldman Sachs’ perspective on why they consider Africa a hot business growth opportunity, The rest of you received a hint that it was Africa’s turn for an economic close-up after Junior Bush created an online business exchange for the continent and established the US military’s Africa Command…

    song currently stuck in my head: “simbarer” - antonio carlos & jocafi

    GS Africa

     

  10. 30 Apr



    China 'picking up the pieces' in Africa

    You all might remember the day US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said we should look at Chinese aid to Africa with a wary eye. Sounded funny at the time, if you dig what I’m saying. Although we should question stuff like the establishment of Chinese free trade zones in Africa…

    Via b-sama:

    Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi insists China is now coming to the rescue of Africa after a failed Western ideology of the past three decades has let the continent down.

    He said the so-called Washington Consensus that aimed to liberalize the economies of developing countries had demonstrably failed and the Chinese were now picking up the pieces.

    “The official doctrine among the international financial institutions which in the past determined policy in Africa was that infrastructure would be taken care of by the private sector. Well, we have waited 30 years and nothing much has happened,” he said.

    “When the Chinese companies came in and started building infrastructure in a big way they were filling this major gap in the development of Africa. We, in Africa, should feel very satisfied with it.”

    Zenawi, who was speaking from his expansive office complex near the center of Addis Ababa, said China’s investment in Africa was transforming the economic fortunes of the continent.

    (read more)

    (via guerrillamamamedicine)

     

  11. 25 Apr



    plays: 239

    Thank you, drum-taps: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti—“Unknown Soldier, Pts 1&2”

    Unknown Soldier (Barclay 1979).

    (via drum-taps-deactivated20121024)

     

  12. 18 Apr


    Mad flamingos in that photo…

    Mad flamingos in that photo…

    (Source: nativethoughts)

     

  13. 15 Apr


    Dynamite album. Nicole Mitchell and her collaborators should be taken seriously…

    Dynamite album. Nicole Mitchell and her collaborators should be taken seriously…

     

  14. 11 Apr



    MORE KONY TRICKS

    kony 2012 spies for ugandan goverment kambui black star news blog tumblr mental unrest

    You already know what I think about the Invisible Children organization that runs the KONY 2012 campaign.

    The question that kept nagging me was why the Know Kony guys went after an exiled warlord but paid no attention to the resident dictator who is ruining Uganda?

    We now know the answer, thanks to WikiLeaks. Invisible Children is a spy asset for the Ugandan government!

    Well…at minimum, the Know Konyites helped the Ugandan government locate and capture Patrick Komakech, a member of a relatively new Ugandan government resistance group called the People’s Patriotic Front (PPF).

    You may call the Invisible Children’s actions “mission-creep,” but I call that mess acting like a government spook.

    Big up to Black Star News for breaking the story and to Foreign Policy for picking it up…

    song currently stuck in my head: “tell me a bedtime story” – herbie hancock

     

  15. 24 Mar



    He walks freely…I know where he eats dinner every night.
    — 

    An apparently incredulous Laura Seay, Moorehouse College professor, on Bosco Ntaganda, a Rwandan warlord wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court [PDF] since 2006 for enlisting and conscripting child soldiers while he was head of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP). Ntaganda was never arrested and is currently affiliated with the Congolese national army, where he continues to forcibly recruit child soldiers and has been linked to mass murders and disappearances in the region.

    Bosco Ntaganda congo kony baye kambui blog mental unrest

    Unlike warlord and Internet superstar Joseph Kony, Ntaganda – nicknamed “The Terminator” – can be easily located for arrest since he is a social regular in the Congolese city of Goma, where he hangs out at high-end restaurants and owns a few local businesses. Speaking of businesses, rumor has it that Ntaganda is illegally mining gold for sale overseas.

    And you thought your “People to Know” list would be restricted to Kony(!) Be sure to add Ntaganda as well, okay?

    (Source: trust.org)