2 things, lets head off the 'Not about Slavery' crowd at the pass.
1: Lincoln, and the North fought the Civil War to preserve the Union. But lets not forget the South fired the first shot and seized Federal property. The war to preserve the Union turned into a war against Slavery out of necessity. You can see Lincoln evolve, to the point that when he thought he would lose the 1864 election, he had a meeting with Frederick Douglass to try and urge him to get as many slaves out of the South via the Underground Railway before the elections.
Lincoln was assasinated by John Wilkes Booth, who spoke the following words a few days before assasinating Lincoln.
"I had never seen Mr. Lincoln up close and I knew he was a tall man, however nothing could have prepared me for the sight of him. A long shadow did he have. And his arms, when at his sides, touched near his knees. Very professionally he said that there would never be any suffrage based on differences in the way people look. Upon this, Booth turned to the two of us and said, “That means nigger citizenship. Now by God I’ll put him through!”
Lincoln was killed, Reconstruction collapsed, and for the next 100 years, African Americans in the South were subjected to the same deprivations of Slavery just without the term. Up until the 1964 CRA (things weren't rosy in the North, but they were a hell of a lot better than the South for African Americans, read "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson
For the Civil War years, read "Battle Cry of Freedom" by James McPherson, read "Grant's Memoirs" or watch the 27 part lecture (1 hour each) by Yale Historian David Blight.
2: For those claiming the Civil War wasn't about Slavery, get real. It was very much about slavery for the South. They were fighting for States Rights, the right to keep slaves. The South knew they had to expand Slavery to survive, the North wanted to contain slavery. The South knew it was all about slavery at the time, a fact they proclaimed in speeches and also clearly documented in the Articles of Secession (I've included relevant passages below).
'Declaration of Causes of Seceding States'
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html
--------
Georgia
For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery.
Mississippi
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.
South Carolina
The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery,
Texas
We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.
That in this free government *a
I was one of those who took the online "Intro to AI" class Advanced Track.
While I didn't do as well as I'd hoped (screwed the pooch on the final and ended up with a 78% total score), I do have to say it was a really great class and that he and Prof Peter Norvig deserve a ton of credit for this. It was both engaging, well presented and mind-stretching. I did find myself consulting the Khan lectures on Probability and Linear Algebra quite a bit.
and i had a kenyan client who told me that when they went to atms to withdraw, they carried shotguns with it. go figure what goes about in corporate practices.
Look, it's unity100 being a moron again!
You're ignorance/racism is causing you to make up stories about Kenya.
Your poor grammar is causing you to make up stories about ATMs armed with shotguns.
Yup,
I'm Kenyan. I don't carry a shotgun to the ATM (in fact, I don't even own your shotgun). unity100 sounds like your typical racist/ignorant troll.
Everything you said is true except the last bit, "this is a huge, huge, blow to Google." Cynically, there is no way some small Kenyan firm is going to be able to bring a serious lawsuit in the US against Google. Google's legal team would crush them, tie them up in series after series of motions, and bankrupt Mocality before any verdict could hope to be passed. Such is the nature of large corporate legal teams.
Mocality doesn't have to bring a lawsuit against Google in the U.S, they could bring it in Kenyan court (because claiming to have a relationship with Mocality falls under 'fraudulent Business Practices'), and even then, they might not have to go to court.
The bad publicity is enough to put a serious dent in Google's Africa Strategy. Also, this is spreading far beyond just Kenya (where it is a big story), it's on Techcrunch and a number of other sites.
it is not a fucking department. it is a local branch in kenya, then, some branch in india. doing exactly the same things all kenyan and indian businesses do. are you saying that google has instituted a policy for scam-calling business owners to trick them into paying them to have a domain name and a website hosted on google's servers ? does google have a hosting business ?
First,
Your statement is bull. I'm Kenyan, and this is not standard operating procedure for Kenyan businesses. It behooves you to do some actual research (or even read the actual article) before spewing crap.
Also, even if this was SOP, didn't your parents ask you "If all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too?". Wrong is wrong, most people know that. Germany was always the laughing stock of Europe because German businesses for the longest time could deduct bribes paid to foreign governments from their taxes. They would have loved your viewpoint.
Anyway, with that out of the way, the blog post is pretty detailed. Google really has only 2 options
1: Explain
2: Admit culpability
This is a pretty freaking big story in Kenya right now. Google is pretty well known, they've been doing a huge push to win Kenyan businesses to their services, they've invested heavily both in physical infrastructure and capacity, and this is the kind of shennanigans that can really sully a companies reputation, especially when it seems like Goliath vs David and Goliath is playing dirty.
Think of the after-image blindness, the same way when someone flashes a flashlight in your face, even for a moment your vision is impaired afterwards, especially if your pupils were open all the way due to darkness adaptation. Now imagine that happening when your landing a plane, at the very moment you really need said vision.
Thanks for this. The idiots doing this need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I have a red collimating laser for my telescope, even though compared to green lasers it's relatively weak, it can still cause eye damage. It is not a toy.
I'd think it'd be pretty hard to accurately aim a laser pointer at a moving aircraft. I'm surprised it's such an issue.
The beam spreads out. i.e for a green astronomical laser, at a certain distance, that beam could be a few meters wide. It may not be that dangerous at that distance from a permanent visual damage perspective, but the distraction and shock it causes pilots (and drivers, there have been idiots pointing these at drivers) is significant. I'm an amateur astronomer, and I don't use a green laser for sighting (I have a Telrad).
However, I do own a red laser for collimating my telescope (a 12 inch dobsonian). If I remember correctly, green lasers (used for pointing) are much stronger than your average red collimating laser (which can itself cause eye damage).My concern is that the few idiots who are doing this will affect the ability of people like me to use collimating lasers. I'm also concerned that I'll be outdoors and a curious cop driving by will stop by, question me, and upon finding a laser in my eyepiece case, throw me in the slammer.
I say, if you find someone doing this (pointing lasers at planes and cars), prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
I'm Kenyan, Nigeria is another country thousands of miles away, on the other side of the continent. generally I consider people who can't tell one country from another idiots. Do you require further explanation? I'd be happy to draw you a diagram.
Lot's of ignorance in your post, so lets tackle it one at a time.
"I'd also like to know what apps they're actually using, rather than "here's what may happen, thanks to the awesome power of open source that couldn't possibly happen with any other platform because they're all evil evil evil!" (Seriously, does the author really believe an app to help farmers sell their stuff couldn't have been developed on iOS or Windows or Blackberry? Come on!)"
If you're a software developer in Kenya (it's a booming industry), chances are that you're developing for mobile. There are a ton of programs out there, from the forementioned M-PESA (mobile banking app, first of its kind in the world), to apps like Ushahidietc. Just Google it, look at Kenyan tech blogs (there a ton out there, starting with White African's), I mean, knowledge is but a mouse click away, and it stops your from opining on stuff you have no idea about.
"I suspect those people who own these cheap phones are using them like everyone else in the world - texting their friends incessantly, taking pictures of their sandwiches, being annoying on buses, and so on. But that's not a particularly compelling narrative."
Just like in the West, some are, and some are using their phones for business. Even in the rural areas, farmers are using web enabled phones (and computers) to look up pricing and to figure out how to maximize their profit (who is buying what, when and at what price).
I'm Kenyan, living in the U.S. Last time I went back home, I bought a cheap internet enabled phone for about $60, and that is what I used while traveling. Next time, I'm buying this phone, which is much better. In Kenya I had coverage everywhere . Cell phone service is pretty cheap, and Kenya does have the iPhone, but considering it costs about $600, it makes sense to spend $80 on an Android phone unless you really must have an iPhone.
White African covers the Kenya tech scene, especially mobile. He has a relevant post from a few months ago.
Kenya’s Mobile & Internet, by the Numbers (Q4 2010)
http://whiteafrican.com/2011/02/18/kenyas-mobile-internet-by-the-numbers-q4-2010/
Mobile Web Content in East Africa
http://whiteafrican.com/2011/05/22/mobile-web-content-in-east-africa-report/
Yes, yes and yes. I'm an amateur photographer and I always shoot in.NEF (Nikon's RAW) due to the latitude availed. Also, computer processing is always better than in-camera processing.
However, I am not happy about the proprietary nature of NEF (and lets not even get into Nikon encrypting the white balance issue). I have about 100GB of photos that I intend to run through a batch process to convert to Adobe's DNG (Digital Negative), which they are trying to turn into a standard. I don't want to be stuck 10 years down the line when CaptureNX2 doesn't run on a new O.S.
I totally agree with this.I have both an Nikon d70 and a Shen-Hao HZX (4x5 inch camera) and you wouldn't be able to pry the 4x5 from my hands.I rarely use it compared to the D70, but when I do, the images are astounding (you can blow up one image to about 4x5 feet at 300dpi).
I think that digital and film both have their place and it is pointless to try and replace one with the other.
One other thing, the whole loading the darkslides manually can be done using a loading tent or even by using a Fuji Quickloader and forgoing the whole headache (though if you want a film that does not come in the Fuji Quickloader packs you are back to using film holders.
Oh yeah, another thing, there are a million ways to screw up with large format until you get it down.
I know what you mean. The relative anonymity of the net allows people to say things that they would not otherwise say to someones face. I think that says something pretty bad about us as people. All it takes is one troll to ruin a message board/discussio n group.
Aaah yes, lets break out the old stereotypes. If I had a penny for every time some idiot asked me a stupid question about Africa ("so, do you live in trees","Where did you learn to speak English, tie your shoelaces..." etc etc). I would be a millionaire many times over.
I'm Kenyan and I speak English, Swahili and my native language Kikuyu. Of the 3, swahili is the
one that is closest in written form to how it is
spoken. So yes, swahili varies regionally. In high school, for Swahili literature we studied a couple of books "Kinjeketile", "Kusadikika" written by Tanzanian authors and there were slight differences with Kenyan swahili, but not many. So yes, For regional variations of pronounciation,
is much easier to learn than English or Kikuyu. If you are ever curious as to what swahili sounds like you can listen to Kenyan news broadcasts on the net(you can also watch Kenyan news but for a fee and I forget the web site)
You are right. The problem is that IQ tests are also culturally biased. In the case of Africa, Africans tend to be MORE educated than Americans. (I know that is true of where I come from).
The problems with so called IQ Tests is that not everyone understands that they are a measure of what you know and not your innate intelligence.
The nasty consequence of this comes when they are used to justify social policy. The authors of Bell Curve are known to have a dislike for remedial programs like Head Start etc that help minorities and the poor.
So what better way than to essentially argue that blacks are not doing badly due in large to social factors but that they are naturally dumb.
That way, they can then argue that remedial programs are a waste of money ("these people are just this way and there is nothing that we can do").
A few good books that debunk this are;
Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It
by Peter Sacks
Intelligence can be taught
by Arthur Whimbey, Linda Shaw Whimbey
The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence, and the Future of America -- by Steve Fraser
And of course the classic;
The Mismeasure of Man -- by Stephen Jay Gould
Now an interesting aside. The country I come from
had what was called the quota system (affirmative action under another name). It worked like this.
In order to go to a National High School (very desirable), you had to do very well at the national Standard 8 exams (Eighth Grade).
However, a certain number of spots were reserved for kids from poor rural areas. I was a city kid, middle class etc. We resented these quota system kids and made fun of them, considered them dumb etc.
National High schools have much better resources teachers etc. At the end of High school in the National Exams, quite a few of the best performing students were produced from these National High Schools. Quite a few of the students were quota system kids!
So like in America, the problem was not one of a lack of innate intelligence but an issue of resources, a supportive learning environment and
remedial programs.
Regarding Cambridge/Somerville, once I began looking for owner occupied it went well. I actually live in Somerville and I love the Somerville/Cambride area. Now only if it did not have winter:)
I know what you mean about immigrants resenting African-Americans (even some Black Africans, Afro-Carribeans do this until they realize as far as most Americans are concerned skin color trumps all, they suddenly find themselves black too).
Most immigrants fail to look at history and see how African Americans arrived where they are now.
In addition, there are all the stereotypes about African Americans perpetrated in movies that are consumed all over the world (including ironically
Africa).
I mostly agree. In most cases where I determine it was discrimination I have ruled out all other possibilities. Like the real estate agent who balked already knew everything about me (age, work, marital status etc) and yet he agreed to meet with me. It is only when he saw that I was black he balked. We had been looking through the classifieds and then calling for specific apartments.
On the bright side, when I said screw real estate agents and we went with for rent by owner (thank you Craigs List!) , we had much better experiences. This could be a function of the area that we was looking in (young, liberal etc etc).
Most discrimination is not conscious, I suspect that the real estate agent saw my skin and he discounted everything else I had told him and decided that I would be a waste of time. It does not have to be conscious to do harm (another funny story about why I do almost all my financial transactions like getting car loans etc etc online).
I am not that old (30 yrs). OK, OK, so maybe I am getting up there:)
The short answer to your question, both
I came to Boston in 1992, when it was a very racially troubled city. In the following years I had a few nasty things happen to me. Over time it has gotten much better but sometimes I wonder whether I am just fooling myself.
Maybe what has changed is my social situation and the circles I travel in. I live in a relatively liberal part of Massachusetts (Somerville/Cambridge) where this stuff tends not to happen (it happens but very rarely). My friends tend to be more international, I have a few friends who are white American,but most of my friends are from other countries, including in Europe. Now I am going to stereotype so bear with me ***, maybe it is because most native born Americans (both white and Black) have an ignorance of Africa or the rest of the world so I am forever getting off-putting questions (you guys have streets, houses cars etc etc!!). With non-Americans, I don't find myself having to explain myself from scratch. This is not true of all but it happens more times than I care to think about.
As far as Boston goes, there are still parts of the Boston area that I still don't feel fully comfortable going to, but they are getting fewer and fewer.
However, as our most recent experience demonstrates (and it was Cambridge/Somerville real estate agents) all is not rosy. Yes things have gotten better over time, but if I were to give a percentage I would guess that 30% is due to changes in society and 70% is due to my change in life situation). It makes a big difference when you can sort of pick and choose whom you are going to deal with, a luxury that I really did not have in the beginning.
I think the measure of any place is whether you would be willing to bring up your children there. At this point, if I had children I would not want to bring them up here. However, this is probably not true of other parts of the U.S.
I worked for some time in San Francisco and absolutely loved it (too expensive to live there though)
In 1976, I was told I was free as a result of reaching 18 years of age. All I was given was instructions that I needed to go out and join the job market... even though I'm white, I was given no property, and no special birthright.
Slashdot Mirror
2 things, lets head off the 'Not about Slavery' crowd at the pass.
1: Lincoln, and the North fought the Civil War to preserve the Union. But lets not forget the South fired the first shot and seized Federal property. The war to preserve the Union turned into a war against Slavery out of necessity. You can see Lincoln evolve, to the point that when he thought he would lose the 1864 election, he had a meeting with Frederick Douglass to try and urge him to get as many slaves out of the South via the Underground Railway before the elections.
Lincoln was assasinated by John Wilkes Booth, who spoke the following words a few days before assasinating Lincoln.
"I had never seen Mr. Lincoln up close and I knew he was a tall man, however nothing could have prepared me for the sight of him. A long shadow did he have. And his arms, when at his sides, touched near his knees. Very professionally he said that there would never be any suffrage based on differences in the way people look. Upon this, Booth turned to the two of us and said, “That means nigger citizenship. Now by God I’ll put him through!”
Lincoln was killed, Reconstruction collapsed, and for the next 100 years, African Americans in the South were subjected to the same deprivations of Slavery just without the term. Up until the 1964 CRA (things weren't rosy in the North, but they were a hell of a lot better than the South for African Americans, read "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson
For the Civil War years, read "Battle Cry of Freedom" by James McPherson, read "Grant's Memoirs" or watch the 27 part lecture (1 hour each) by Yale Historian David Blight.
2: For those claiming the Civil War wasn't about Slavery, get real. It was very much about slavery for the South. They were fighting for States Rights, the right to keep slaves. The South knew they had to expand Slavery to survive, the North wanted to contain slavery. The South knew it was all about slavery at the time, a fact they proclaimed in speeches and also clearly documented in the Articles of Secession (I've included relevant passages below).
'Declaration of Causes of Seceding States' http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/reasons.html
--------
Georgia
For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery.
Mississippi
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.
South Carolina
The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery,
Texas
We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.
That in this free government *a
I took the class too and would have gladly paid $100 or more
I was one of those who took the online "Intro to AI" class Advanced Track. While I didn't do as well as I'd hoped (screwed the pooch on the final and ended up with a 78% total score), I do have to say it was a really great class and that he and Prof Peter Norvig deserve a ton of credit for this. It was both engaging, well presented and mind-stretching. I did find myself consulting the Khan lectures on Probability and Linear Algebra quite a bit.
and i had a kenyan client who told me that when they went to atms to withdraw, they carried shotguns with it. go figure what goes about in corporate practices.
Look, it's unity100 being a moron again!
You're ignorance/racism is causing you to make up stories about Kenya. Your poor grammar is causing you to make up stories about ATMs armed with shotguns.
Yup, I'm Kenyan. I don't carry a shotgun to the ATM (in fact, I don't even own your shotgun). unity100 sounds like your typical racist/ignorant troll.
Everything you said is true except the last bit, "this is a huge, huge, blow to Google." Cynically, there is no way some small Kenyan firm is going to be able to bring a serious lawsuit in the US against Google. Google's legal team would crush them, tie them up in series after series of motions, and bankrupt Mocality before any verdict could hope to be passed. Such is the nature of large corporate legal teams.
Mocality doesn't have to bring a lawsuit against Google in the U.S, they could bring it in Kenyan court (because claiming to have a relationship with Mocality falls under 'fraudulent Business Practices'), and even then, they might not have to go to court. The bad publicity is enough to put a serious dent in Google's Africa Strategy. Also, this is spreading far beyond just Kenya (where it is a big story), it's on Techcrunch and a number of other sites.
it is not a fucking department. it is a local branch in kenya, then, some branch in india. doing exactly the same things all kenyan and indian businesses do. are you saying that google has instituted a policy for scam-calling business owners to trick them into paying them to have a domain name and a website hosted on google's servers ? does google have a hosting business ?
First, Your statement is bull. I'm Kenyan, and this is not standard operating procedure for Kenyan businesses. It behooves you to do some actual research (or even read the actual article) before spewing crap. Also, even if this was SOP, didn't your parents ask you "If all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it too?". Wrong is wrong, most people know that. Germany was always the laughing stock of Europe because German businesses for the longest time could deduct bribes paid to foreign governments from their taxes. They would have loved your viewpoint. Anyway, with that out of the way, the blog post is pretty detailed. Google really has only 2 options 1: Explain 2: Admit culpability This is a pretty freaking big story in Kenya right now. Google is pretty well known, they've been doing a huge push to win Kenyan businesses to their services, they've invested heavily both in physical infrastructure and capacity, and this is the kind of shennanigans that can really sully a companies reputation, especially when it seems like Goliath vs David and Goliath is playing dirty.
Good article, but that one line is pretty condescending.
Think of the after-image blindness, the same way when someone flashes a flashlight in your face, even for a moment your vision is impaired afterwards, especially if your pupils were open all the way due to darkness adaptation. Now imagine that happening when your landing a plane, at the very moment you really need said vision.
Thanks for this. The idiots doing this need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. I have a red collimating laser for my telescope, even though compared to green lasers it's relatively weak, it can still cause eye damage. It is not a toy.
I'd think it'd be pretty hard to accurately aim a laser pointer at a moving aircraft. I'm surprised it's such an issue.
The beam spreads out. i.e for a green astronomical laser, at a certain distance, that beam could be a few meters wide. It may not be that dangerous at that distance from a permanent visual damage perspective, but the distraction and shock it causes pilots (and drivers, there have been idiots pointing these at drivers) is significant. I'm an amateur astronomer, and I don't use a green laser for sighting (I have a Telrad). However, I do own a red laser for collimating my telescope (a 12 inch dobsonian). If I remember correctly, green lasers (used for pointing) are much stronger than your average red collimating laser (which can itself cause eye damage).My concern is that the few idiots who are doing this will affect the ability of people like me to use collimating lasers. I'm also concerned that I'll be outdoors and a curious cop driving by will stop by, question me, and upon finding a laser in my eyepiece case, throw me in the slammer. I say, if you find someone doing this (pointing lasers at planes and cars), prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
I'm Kenyan, Nigeria is another country thousands of miles away, on the other side of the continent. generally I consider people who can't tell one country from another idiots. Do you require further explanation? I'd be happy to draw you a diagram.
Rushton, is that you?
Lot's of ignorance in your post, so lets tackle it one at a time. "I'd also like to know what apps they're actually using, rather than "here's what may happen, thanks to the awesome power of open source that couldn't possibly happen with any other platform because they're all evil evil evil!" (Seriously, does the author really believe an app to help farmers sell their stuff couldn't have been developed on iOS or Windows or Blackberry? Come on!)" If you're a software developer in Kenya (it's a booming industry), chances are that you're developing for mobile. There are a ton of programs out there, from the forementioned M-PESA (mobile banking app, first of its kind in the world), to apps like Ushahidietc. Just Google it, look at Kenyan tech blogs (there a ton out there, starting with White African's), I mean, knowledge is but a mouse click away, and it stops your from opining on stuff you have no idea about. "I suspect those people who own these cheap phones are using them like everyone else in the world - texting their friends incessantly, taking pictures of their sandwiches, being annoying on buses, and so on. But that's not a particularly compelling narrative." Just like in the West, some are, and some are using their phones for business. Even in the rural areas, farmers are using web enabled phones (and computers) to look up pricing and to figure out how to maximize their profit (who is buying what, when and at what price).
The amount of ignorance and condescension on this thread is amazing.
I'm Kenyan, living in the U.S. Last time I went back home, I bought a cheap internet enabled phone for about $60, and that is what I used while traveling. Next time, I'm buying this phone, which is much better. In Kenya I had coverage everywhere . Cell phone service is pretty cheap, and Kenya does have the iPhone, but considering it costs about $600, it makes sense to spend $80 on an Android phone unless you really must have an iPhone. White African covers the Kenya tech scene, especially mobile. He has a relevant post from a few months ago. Kenya’s Mobile & Internet, by the Numbers (Q4 2010) http://whiteafrican.com/2011/02/18/kenyas-mobile-internet-by-the-numbers-q4-2010/ Mobile Web Content in East Africa http://whiteafrican.com/2011/05/22/mobile-web-content-in-east-africa-report/
You're an idiot.
Yes, yes and yes. I'm an amateur photographer and I always shoot in .NEF (Nikon's RAW) due to the latitude availed. Also, computer processing is always better than in-camera processing.
However, I am not happy about the proprietary nature of NEF (and lets not even get into Nikon encrypting the white balance issue). I have about 100GB of photos that I intend to run through a batch process to convert to Adobe's DNG (Digital Negative), which they are trying to turn into a standard. I don't want to be stuck 10 years down the line when CaptureNX2 doesn't run on a new O.S.
I totally agree with this.I have both an Nikon d70 and a Shen-Hao HZX (4x5 inch camera) and you wouldn't be able to pry the 4x5 from my hands.I rarely use it compared to the D70, but when I do, the images are astounding (you can blow up one image to about 4x5 feet at 300dpi).
I think that digital and film both have their place and it is pointless to try and replace one with the other.
One other thing, the whole loading the darkslides manually can be done using a loading tent or even by using a Fuji Quickloader and forgoing the whole headache (though if you want a film that does not come in the Fuji Quickloader packs you are back to using film holders.
Oh yeah, another thing, there are a million ways to screw up with large format until you get it down.
I know what you mean. The relative anonymity of the net allows people to say things that they would not otherwise say to someones face. I think that says something pretty bad about us as people. All it takes is one troll to ruin a message board/discussio n group.
Aaah yes, lets break out the old stereotypes. If I had a penny for every time some idiot asked me a stupid question about Africa ("so, do you live in trees","Where did you learn to speak English, tie your shoelaces..." etc etc). I would be a millionaire many times over.
I'm Kenyan and I speak English, Swahili and my native language Kikuyu. Of the 3, swahili is the one that is closest in written form to how it is spoken. So yes, swahili varies regionally. In high school, for Swahili literature we studied a couple of books "Kinjeketile", "Kusadikika" written by Tanzanian authors and there were slight differences with Kenyan swahili, but not many. So yes, For regional variations of pronounciation, is much easier to learn than English or Kikuyu. If you are ever curious as to what swahili sounds like you can listen to Kenyan news broadcasts on the net(you can also watch Kenyan news but for a fee and I forget the web site)
You are right. The problem is that IQ tests are also culturally biased. In the case of Africa, Africans tend to be MORE educated than Americans. (I know that is true of where I come from).
:)
The problems with so called IQ Tests is that not everyone understands that they are a measure of what you know and not your innate intelligence. The nasty consequence of this comes when they are used to justify social policy. The authors of Bell Curve are known to have a dislike for remedial programs like Head Start etc that help minorities and the poor.
So what better way than to essentially argue that blacks are not doing badly due in large to social factors but that they are naturally dumb. That way, they can then argue that remedial programs are a waste of money ("these people are just this way and there is nothing that we can do"). A few good books that debunk this are;
Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can Do to Change It by Peter Sacks
Intelligence can be taught by Arthur Whimbey, Linda Shaw Whimbey
The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence, and the Future of America -- by Steve Fraser
And of course the classic;
The Mismeasure of Man -- by Stephen Jay Gould
Now an interesting aside. The country I come from had what was called the quota system (affirmative action under another name). It worked like this.
In order to go to a National High School (very desirable), you had to do very well at the national Standard 8 exams (Eighth Grade).
However, a certain number of spots were reserved for kids from poor rural areas. I was a city kid, middle class etc. We resented these quota system kids and made fun of them, considered them dumb etc.
National High schools have much better resources teachers etc. At the end of High school in the National Exams, quite a few of the best performing students were produced from these National High Schools. Quite a few of the students were quota system kids!
So like in America, the problem was not one of a lack of innate intelligence but an issue of resources, a supportive learning environment and remedial programs.
Regarding Cambridge/Somerville, once I began looking for owner occupied it went well. I actually live in Somerville and I love the Somerville/Cambride area. Now only if it did not have winter
I know what you mean about immigrants resenting African-Americans (even some Black Africans, Afro-Carribeans do this until they realize as far as most Americans are concerned skin color trumps all, they suddenly find themselves black too).
Most immigrants fail to look at history and see how African Americans arrived where they are now.
In addition, there are all the stereotypes about African Americans perpetrated in movies that are consumed all over the world (including ironically Africa).
I mostly agree. In most cases where I determine it was discrimination I have ruled out all other possibilities. Like the real estate agent who balked already knew everything about me (age, work, marital status etc) and yet he agreed to meet with me. It is only when he saw that I was black he balked. We had been looking through the classifieds and then calling for specific apartments.
On the bright side, when I said screw real estate agents and we went with for rent by owner (thank you Craigs List!) , we had much better experiences. This could be a function of the area that we was looking in (young, liberal etc etc).
Most discrimination is not conscious, I suspect that the real estate agent saw my skin and he discounted everything else I had told him and decided that I would be a waste of time. It does not have to be conscious to do harm (another funny story about why I do almost all my financial transactions like getting car loans etc etc online).
I am not that old (30 yrs). OK, OK, so maybe I am getting up there :)
.
The short answer to your question, both
I came to Boston in 1992, when it was a very racially troubled city. In the following years I had a few nasty things happen to me. Over time it has gotten much better but sometimes I wonder whether I am just fooling myself.
Maybe what has changed is my social situation and the circles I travel in. I live in a relatively liberal part of Massachusetts (Somerville/Cambridge) where this stuff tends not to happen (it happens but very rarely). My friends tend to be more international, I have a few friends who are white American,but most of my friends are from other countries, including in Europe. Now I am going to stereotype so bear with me ***, maybe it is because most native born Americans (both white and Black) have an ignorance of Africa or the rest of the world so I am forever getting off-putting questions (you guys have streets, houses cars etc etc!!). With non-Americans, I don't find myself having to explain myself from scratch. This is not true of all but it happens more times than I care to think about.
As far as Boston goes, there are still parts of the Boston area that I still don't feel fully comfortable going to, but they are getting fewer and fewer.
However, as our most recent experience demonstrates (and it was Cambridge/Somerville real estate agents) all is not rosy. Yes things have gotten better over time, but if I were to give a percentage I would guess that 30% is due to changes in society and 70% is due to my change in life situation). It makes a big difference when you can sort of pick and choose whom you are going to deal with, a luxury that I really did not have in the beginning.
I think the measure of any place is whether you would be willing to bring up your children there. At this point, if I had children I would not want to bring them up here. However, this is
probably not true of other parts of the U.S
I worked for some time in San Francisco and absolutely loved it (too expensive to live there though)
In 1976, I was told I was free as a result of reaching 18 years of age. All I was given was instructions that I needed to go out and join the job market... even though I'm white, I was given no property, and no special birthright.
Hmm, I respectfully disagree. I suggest you take a look at White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack