Randomness

okay, a quick one here.
Finally!!!!! The Crick boyz have cracked it down south. This was loooooong overdue, and a breath of very fresh air. The 20 run victory over the Zims could not have come at a better time, both for the boyz and for coach Baptiste. I must say that there is marked improvement in this team, and once again my apathy towards it has been dissipated. Good luck to the guys in the next two one dayers during the weekend, I will sure be rooting for you guys.

So China has decided to graciously grant the government (and the people??) of Kenya some odd 600 m for infrastructure development and pledges to give more, "as soon as Nairobi provides its list of priority projects" Wow!! What generosity!! Apparently no strings attached, really maybe not in the near future. I heard one nteresting anecdote from Pat Robertson of the 700 Club fame, of the way the US armtwisted Brito , which was then the world superpower but was deeply in the red. Brito went to borrow a long term interest free loan from the Stato, but no, Uncle Sam would have none of it. Instead, they lent the Brits some ching, but with rather long strings attached, literally forcing the Brits to 'reform' in the way they were running the Empire. Long story short.....China is Uncle Sams biggest lender. Siku moja wacha tu.....we are also getting into that box. Hmmmmmmm, but I wont mind a shiny new sea port and railway line coming our way. Tuko kwa box nyingi sana, one more wont hurt, au sio.

Piezoelectric Traffic Jams

We all hate traffic jams (well not all of us if you count those hawkers and the criminally inclined), at least I know I do. The prospect of remaining static at a time when you are supposed to be moving is never anyone’s pound of meat. We all know what it means to be stuck in a jam on one of Nairobi’s major highways, whether its Mombasa road, Thika road, Uhuru highway, Jogoo road, we all agree that it aint what one looks forward to. We all bemoan the amount of manhours wasted and the amount of fuel our (mostly ‘preowned’) jalopies consume, not to mention the harassment by matatus and the resulting chaos thereof.

What good can come out of traffic jams, one may ask. What about the end of power rationing, the reduction of power bills!!! Impossible, eh! Not according to Innowattech. This company has developed an innovative way of generating clean (green) electricity, called piezoelectricity. This is the ability to produce electric power in response to applied mechanical stress. In this case, electricity is generated by using piezoelectric materials under busy roads. How, you may ask? Well, a layer of piezoelectric crystals is layered under the tarmac, and this produces electricity when squeezed. Piezoelectric generators then harvest this energy and stores it into roadside batteries for onward use/distribution. The same technology can also be used on airport runways, railways and busy walkways. Apparently the Piezo Electric Generator (IPEG™) should be able to produce 200KWh, while a four-lane highway would produce about 1MWh of electricity, per kilometer, enough to provide power to 2500 households.

Now that is a system that can (theoretically) work here in Nairobi. No infrastructure is required. You don’t need to set up wind farms or solar panels and use up vast areas. You simply have to use the roads that you already have. In Nairobi we have perennially busy highways, walkways and fairly busy airports. Well, let’s not talk about the railways. Wouldn’t it be nice knowing that you are generating electricity, even as you stew in a cocktail of fumes and angry hooting in the midst of a never ending vehicular queue? As for the politico-economic viability of this venture is concerned…..well God knows? I don’t think the likes of Agrekko would smile at this idea.

Watch Innowattech’s presentation here.

Hello Blueswift

Hello blueswift, been such a long time since I posted something on your hallowed pages. Quite a pity, since I had promised that I would be posting more often. Guess, I sometimes overestimate my “gentlemanliness”, or do I just underestimate my “ruffianness”, my inability to keep promises?? Either way, am not going to give any more promises. I will post whenever, wherever and however in whichever situation of which I don’t know. Anywho, it’s good to be back writing.

I just discovered that am not the commentator that I used to be. Many things come and go and somehow I don’t find that particular itch to voice my opinion about them. Well, right from the social, political even the religious scene. I find myself rather aloof and detached. Is it a good thing? I don’t know. Is it bad? I don’t know either. My fence sitting is rather depressing…..yeah so I guess its not such a good thing.

Well, apparently, there will be no more Tusker at the next Safari Sevens. I don’t know why yet, but apparently there has been a disagreement over the sponsorship deal which according to KRFU included sponsorship for the Elgon Cup, EABL doesn’t want any of that. Methinks its ego stuff, just don’t know whose ego is bigger or more fragile. It would just be a pity if “Africa’s premier sevens tournament” dwindles off. Hope it aint déjà vu the cricket style (I since gave up on Kenyan cricket). But I guess, EABL is the bigger loser as things stand now. I guess gauging from the way corporates were trying to associate themselves with Kenya sevens much of last year and this year, there is no need to panic.

Now some dudes really know how to push the envelope far. Milton Mbhele!! If u aint heard of that name then I don’t know. Dude sure knows his ways with his damsels. How he convinced four chics to wed him on the same day will remain the stuff of legend for days to come. And dude got style too, white limo and white suit….. Well, food for thought there.

Stereotype

Stereotype
Retro boom box
Ancient jukebox
Mirthless fools box
A song?
A serenade?
A dirge?
A rapturous war cry?
Stuck
Like a scratched vinyl
Over and over again
A monotony
A dreariness
A never ending tedium
Typecast
Labeled
Tagged
Lopsided viewpoints
Asymmetrical standpoints
Unbalanced opinions
Fallacious arguments

Stereotype
Pious mock ups
Nefarious lockups
Hypocritical cover ups
Masks
Masquerades
Pretensions
Subterfuges
A façade
A white washed veneer

Stereotypes
Hiding behind
Judging
Maiming
Destroying
Killing
All coz of
Stereotypes
Retro boom box
Ancient jukebox
Mirthless fools box

LIFE

Life
Shall we deny
When breathed into us
Shall we not receive
What is offered to us
All else is unreal
Except this

Beauty
Shall we deny
When graced
Shall we not take in
What we behold
All else is unreal
Except this

Charm
Shall we deny
When enticed
Shall we not give in
When bewitched
All else is unreal
Except this

Kindness
Shall we deny
When it is granted us
Shall we not accept
What is given to us
All else is unreal
Except this

Happiness
Shall we deny
When it floods our hearts
Shall we not flow
When overwhelmed
All else is unreal
Except this

Love
Shall we deny
When it visits us
Shall we not take
What is given to us
All else is unreal
Except this

BLISS

Please bliss me
This bliss will please me
Please heal me
Can you really feel me
Please fill me
Infirmity may chain me
Oh please bliss me
This bliss will free me

Please bliss me
Please don’t chill me
The chill will kill me
No mortician will chill me
Please fleece me
From thoughts that freeze me
Insanity flees me
Yes this bliss frees me

Please bliss me
Come down and fill me
With peace that stills me
To serenity it steals me

SwiftyBack

The swift is back and is as blue as ever. Now I know in most cases blue denotes a feeling of grief and other undesirable emotions. But this is the cheery, sunny morning blue sky swifty BLUE. Yeah, been accused of being on strike from this place….let me call it a go-slow…is there any difference????? Anyway I sure am glad to be up and blogging again, not that I have lacked anything to write about. Its only that the quiet private me surfaces every now and then and I feel like mmmmmm naaaaah this is not for public consumption so I clamp up and avoid the keyboard but for purposes of typing in a web address or some other mundane task.

Crick-it!!
Hmmmm, back to one of my favourite topics, sports and cricket in particular. Kenya thumping Canada and Bermuda in the past few weeks is just superlicious!!! Granted that they are relatively weaker teams but it sure does make up for a lot of good especially after the shenanigans of the Twenty20 World cup in SA not so long ago. That was a breeze through and I thoroughly enjoyed it, however I still feel they need to play stronger opposition more often, currently it’s the likes of Bermuda and Canada benefiting…judging from the better performance they (Bermuda) displayed in the ODIs.

Did I hear something to the effect that EABL are jumping back in to sponsor the lads……hmmm, it could only become better.

Positives for the recent matches:

Alex Obanda…the teen sensation!!! Yaani if this lad was in UK or India or wherever he could be a celeb like no-one’s business.

Thomas Odoyo proving that the ICC Associate player of the year award he got was no fluke for several match winning performances with his bat.

Hiren Varaiya regaining some of his lost form, manze 10 wickets in one game is no mean feat!

Sevens
The IRB rugby sevens season is here and about, have lots of expectations from the Kenyan team especially after last season’s impressive performance. So on 30^th this month the guys plunge into the field against Samoa…hmmm not a team anyone would want to open their season with. Dubai will be a very hostile hunting ground for the guys, but all the same, the Swift wishes them all the best.

Well, I will let that be my oeuvres d’entrée for this season. Yeah, I’m calling it a season coz I believe there’s more to come and in quicker succession this time. No more go-slows or strikes or whatever you may want to call it. Hasta luego.