Imekuwa Kitambo

Sikumbuki mara ya mwisho nikiandika chochote kwa hii lugha. Nafikiri ilikuwa katika mtihani wa fasihi ya KCSE. Lahaula! Nimesahau vitu kama minyambuliko wa vitenzi, mithali na kadhalika. Ninashuku kama ninaweza kufunza mtu yoyote kuhusu kiswahili. Nifanyeje? Labda nitaanza kuandika hapa saa zingine kwa lugha halafu tuone itaendeleaje? Labda hata siku nyingine hivi karibuni, nitaandika hapa kuhusu "Jifunze kiswahili". Au sio?

It's Our Turn to Eat

Kenyan elephants are 'smart'

Kimani the elepahant. Can you see his collar? It carries a SIM card.

I a country that largely depends on subsistence farming, it is devastating when your crops are destroyed, especially if the very crops take a year to mature. In regions bordering the game parks, elephants are known to wait till harvest time before they come and 'eat' the entire harvest in 'one seating'. Kenya is currently trying a new piece of technology where they insert a 'warning card' in elephant's collars such that it alerts the rangers when the elephants have gone near a geofence monitored by GPS. Read the story for yourself.

Apparently, you can track the elephants by GoogleEarth. I am going to try and do that sometime.

Anti Obama book launch in Kenya? How about NO!

Next time you think about launching an anti-obama book, think twice about it. Dont try to do it in a country where every single living thing, including plants and microscopic organisms love him. Yea, let me just tell you that if Obama really wants to be president and lets assume he doesnt win in the US, the Kenyan president might be willing to step aside and let him lead Kenya and all Kenyans will be receptive of that. Dont quote me on anything.

Who does this guy think he is? Trying to donate $1000 to Obama's brother? Does he have any idea how the justice system is in Kenya? Hopefuly his balls dont get squeezed at the famous Nyayo house like they did to detainees in the early '80's. I have a feeling that wasnt a good experience.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7656546.stm

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4897758.ece

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,433701,00.html

Goat Condoms - Only in Kenya

Yup, only if we could control the people population like the Maasai control their bucks from impregnating the female goats, we wouldnt have an overpopulation problem. You see, there is a contraceptive that is made from cow skin and then slid down to the shoulder area of a male goat. This device is called an olor.

You hadnt heard of the olor before, had you? Now you have. The thing is, you have to kill a cow, then cut off a small piece of hide so you can tie it around a buck to prevent it from ummm ... humping female goats. Yea, it only makes sense to those who need to do it. But seriously, think about the desert ... dry, no vegetation, no water. Ok? Got the picture. Now think of a cow and a goat. Which is better suited to survive such harsh conditions? Wouldnt it make sense to sacrifice one cow to save many female goats from unwanted pregnancies? Man! Those maasai people are smart. 

Its only a matter of time, though, before the bucks figure out a way around this. You feel me?

The other option is to separate the males from females. But that requires fencing and more boys to heard the separated goats. You would also need money to buy fencing requirements. Well, if you are a maasai, money is probably not the most important thing to you. Your wealth is judged by how many cows and goats you have. So, why would you need money when you can make the best of what you own?

I am Kenyan and I approve this technology. It has worked for the maasai goats, it should work for everyone else!

Michael Phelps' Parade of Gold.

There was a parade yesterday in Towson, MD to honor the olympians from the area.  It was hyped more as a parade to honor Michael Phelps than all the olympians. Of course we all know that if the medal tally was ranked by gold, Phelps would have been  right there on 9th place with Italy. I say, he should buy his own country, be the president, the people, the athletes, the bank (he's got the $$$), the husband, the father, the thief, the good samaritan ... his mom will be the mother of the country and the country will need a first lady.

Here are some pictures for you.

Congressman John Sarbanes' office helped get me out of Mexico. So I got to yell out "Congressman Sarbanes, You are Awesome! Thank you!" I was wondering when that was going to happen, but at least I got it out of the way and in public!

I asked Jessica Long why she wasnt wearing her medals. I didnt hear her response, but she responded.

Katie Hoff. She was just chillin' ... 

I dont remember what I yelled out here, but I definitely yelled out something nice.

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon were also in attendance.

Debbie and Hilary Phelps were signing autographs ...

but Michael Phelps wasnt.

Michael Phelps had more security and more throngs of people following than the gorvenor and the mayor.

"Michael Phillips" again.

He was wearing the same outfit that he wore in this commercial ...

 ... and this one 

So, a bear walks into a sandwitch shop ...

Conflict of Interests - Doctors, Patients and Money

A while back, NYTimes carried a story of a widely controversial practice involving some physicians at the Harvard Medical School. Dr. Joseph Biederman, Dr. Timothy E. Wilens and Dr. Thomas Spencer had been caught red handed after receiving more than $1 million in consulting fees from drug makers without disclosing them to their employer. 

Today, the same congressman leading the inquiry into such behaviors, senator Charles E. Grassley, just uncovered another shady deal. One of the nations’ top psychiatrist Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff of Emory University failed to report that he earned more than $2.8 million from drug companies despite having signed papers and repeatedly vowing to the University authorities that he wouldn’t take anything more that $10, 000. From reading the article, it appears that Dr. Nemeroff had an electronic altercation with one of the deans at the school and it seems to me that he didn’t care much about what the dean had to say. 

These articles appear in big time news agencies because they involve the big fish in the water. I wonder how many other such controversies are going on and not being caught by the mainstream networks because they involve the small fish in the ocean. 

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, are required to reveal any outside sources of incomes. The NIH strictly prohibits such dealings that could bring about conflicts of interest and usually relies on respective schools for oversight. Most schools (like mine) usually have their researchers sign paperwork promising that they will refrain from conflict of interest acts. 

I am sure these same doctors signed paperwork promising that they wouldn’t write favorable reviews about devices made by the same drug companies giving them hundreds of thousands of dollars in consultation fees. They must have also promised (on several occasions during their career development) that they wouldn’t vouch for unapproved drugs to be used to treat the patients they should be standing up for. 

In reality, no one is really keeping an eye on any of these researchers. The schools usually expect their employees to follow a certain code of conduct and schools seldom check to verify voluntary disclosures when it comes to outside earnings. With current tight budgets and almost no grants being awarded by the government these days, drug companies are capitalizing on such with their bottomless resources. 

In the wake of these findings of the Grassley-led inquiry, some drug companies including Eli Lily & Company and Merck & Company have announced that they will be publicly disclosing fees paid to physicians. Some states already have such requirements and it also seems that in the near future, it may be a federal requirement.

Swimming Lessons

I have a HUGE goal that I have set for myself. To attain this goal, I have set myself a "list of things to do". The list inludes a) run a marathon next in 2009 b) learn how to swim c) do a triathlon in 2009. 

Running a marathon has been in my plans for a long time now. But as I always say, I want to run one when I know I am ready. I was so close this year before I ended up with a back injury that I cant pin point the cause. I had reached a point where I was doing some 90-100 miles per week with my long runs exceeding 2hrs 15mins (I ran a 2hrs 45min long run once and felt like a horse doing it) and really good strength workouts.

I also had so much school work which had me loggin in a string of 100hr weeks! I have since settled to a normal 60hr week (haah!). My synthesis (or should I say my drugs?) had me running crazy. All that time and all that research but nothing has really changed much albeit I foresee some great things sometime in the near future.

Anyway, back to that GOAL. I started swimming lessons today. When I called the swim instructor last week, our conversation started like this:

Me: "Hi, my name is Kip and I am calling to find out about swimming lessons."

Instructor: "Bla bla bla bla ... What's your child's name?"

How dare she say I have a child?

I had been taught a little, by my friend Alyssa, about swimming. I basically dont know how to breath right while swimming. And yes, I taught myself how to float! But what will floating do for me without breathing? Alyssa steered me towards the right direction on how to breath while in water but I was still having trouble and my pool closed. So, I thought it would be a good idea to pay someone with a pool and who does instruct for a living. My instructor's name is Annie. She is one of the trainers at the Michael Phelps Swimming Pool a.k.a Meadowbrook Aquatic Center. (Yes, Michael Phelps train(s/ed) here and (I believe) owns the place).

Ms. Annie is phenomenal. After introducing herself to me, she said "We are going to do Bob ..."I didnt know how to respond to that although I later learnt that its a jargon she uses while instructing. She had me learning all those breathing techniques within 45 mins (totally worth the $50/hr I am paying) and even had me doing back strokes. I have never floated on my back. Yea, I am putting my back into it (all pun intended).

Triathloning also involves biking, just in case you dont know. My friend Elf a.k.a Ryan McGrath lend me one of his bikes so I can use it for training (are my friends AWESOME or what?). I have been bking to school (45mins out, 45mins back) and have gone out several times on weekends for longer rides (1.5hrs +). I grew up biking a lot, so that was easy to pick up on. I know I need some instructions on this but I am not worried. I'll worry later when my tail gets smashed by big boys.

One other exciting recent development came last Monday. I was out jogging (no, I wastn running) when Joe, of Joe's Bike Shop here in Baltimore, MD came up to me. He was biking from somewhere. After saying hello and all that, he said "So when are you going to come in so I can hook you up with a bike?" My response came in between my breaths as I mumbled "Saturday!" I cannot wait for this day. He helped me get Elf's bike into good road shape (Elf's bike is a $3000 bike!) a while back. After I asked him if I could be a good cyclist, he basically said that if I had a better bike, I would perform better. Who knows what's in store for me?

If you read this far, I am sure you are a fan of mine. I am a fan of you too!

 

If You Were a Boss ...

I got an email from a friend today that I thought was interesting. The email seems to have originated from some Bill Collins (State President, NJ NAREB). I copied and pasted the email. Here it is.

If You were The Boss... which team would you hire?

With America facing historic debt, multiple war fronts, stumbling health care, a weakened dollar, all-time high prison population, skyrocketing Federal spending, mortgage crises, bank foreclosures, etc. etc., this is an unusually critical election year.

Let's look at the educational background of the candidates and see what they bring to the job:

Obama:
Occidental College - Two years.
Columbia University - B.A. political science with a specialization in international relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

& Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank 894 out of 899 (meaning that, like George Bush, McCain was at the bottom of his class)

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire to lead the most influential nation in the world?