Of Life, Values and Goodies in tragedy

Kamuzu's health care policy was among the 4 Major Development Goals(MDGs)Malawi had. Good health, Good shelter, Good food, and Good clothing. His slogan was "riches are in the soil" to encourage farming. He built corporations to do most commercial farming for exporting. He built corporations to build commercial buildings that still make our cities pride. These can't be built by individuals and still be an attraction to the city. He built a corporation to build good houses for employees and individual had options to purchase some. The houses are still around many and still standing strong and beautiful over the recent built. Most of the corporations have been sold off to people who have torn them apart.

Probably the foreigners when they came used to say these Africans why should they have a better life than us? Filled with jealous at our way of life they broke so much. I hate to say even the health sector.

Should we not have free medication if we can afford it? Of course, Americans pay so much for their health which kills them in the end. It's not wise to make money on somebody's life. You are going to watch Bill Gates die before you just because he has lost documentation to indicate he is the monies. How he ends up in a situation like that? No computer can predict. For chance happens to all whether rich or poor, the Preacher says. So I guess when the rich who could afford to leave America for what they thought an honorable looked at us thought we need to pay for medication so we can be rich like them. We should keep money in banks to feel rich. Mmmh, riches are still in the soil the bank is the krawl and the granary. How good it feels to sit on your verandah sipping a four o'clock chombe tea which your wife brews just right, milk and everything including stork margarine and blue ribbon bread on a white tray.

So your child comes and says, dad I need a new shoe. And Mtheto and Willie are around at the time. I say with pride, why don't you and Willie get one of the kids in the krawl for sell. Buy yourself your volleyball kit and studio gear you asked for the other day. Yes, the one with black and white sparkles. The little clever one. Yea, that one. Buy her some new Bata shoes as well.

Isn't that a life!

When I see the health disease the Americans have, how fast it spreads to our lands, I really need to say a word.

Obama having set foot on this continent and learned from his relatives the values and priorities we have. The American way looks ugly. Not in the bling, but in the quality of life.

My quality is filled with happiness with family joys and no lack. The American life sounds so much loneliness and alot of worries about bills. Medical bills, telephone bills, health bills, cable bills, gas bills, life insurance, this insurance, that insurance, credit bills, so on and so forth which have just accumulated with too much marketing telemarketing frauds unsettling peoples comforts and joys to buy that which they don't need into their homes and enough fear to ensure they pay monthly insurance premium for fear it might break when it just rots in a dusty corner. Why? The price was high so it should last as long as possible. Mmmh.

If Kamuzu said we don't need television, he said just right! We don't need American TV. We don't even live in Iraq to know what worries Americans in Iraq. We can best use it to relearn our cultural values. Yea, by American standards most of our cultures are evil. I have seen a vast vacuum of the goodies only our culture can give. I have seen in so many different ways God filling the vacuums of our culture. I have seen many stumble into something our culture gives and help build their lives. The problem is its not formalized. We have men of God who have known our culture and known the word of God. They can screen through our cultural activities, with the word of God. They have done this for many years, I would love they also touched on the issues of marriage.

Though we have learned different values of sexual purity there is still a gap to bridge us into marriage. We get to the point of readiness but don't know what to do. The result is again temptation unwanted pregnancies abortions and with a lot of temptation even become unfaithful. Why? We don't know how to get married. It seems parents expect us to already know because they have always known but we don't. Maybe they expect us to just stumble into it. Yeah, we will but still with fear whether we have done the right thing. Of this fear, it is easier for those who have not been taught the Christian purity values though many still have been taught faithfulness and abstainance.

We need to be bridged into marriage. It is the safest place for grown up youth to be in. We end up having problems in modern marriages, due to the neglect of a simple value. Respect for the husband. A little disrespect really comes in hard for the husband. With all the gender equality stuff, its like a weapon wedged against the husbands. You girls you should know we love you and protect you delicately. We see how vulnurable you are naturally that's what makes us want us to shield you from anything harmful (don't feel over-protected for whatever we see drives us to do so).

When you look at gender violence and think empowering women is the solution, sometimes you make them really disrespect us and that pain and provocation is too much. It takes great patience not to react violently. This is what breaks many marriages.

The same disrespect in the homes, now drives the old men to seek for even younger girls who should really be their children's wives. They become a very welcome prey having been starved by their wives (female power they call it) and their wives gone to bridal showers advising the same young brides who might have served their husbands when they were at anothers bridal shower or kitchen party or something, when they should have been spending this time with their husbands.

Sunday afternoons are too long to be spent alone at home. This time is to spent with family after a hard working week and restful Saturday.

Why bridal showers which involve only women? Why not something that can involve the husbands and the young men? Don't young men need to get advice also? Bachelors party? If done together, it might be a way the husbands to spend time together with their wives get to know each other better as they express themselves in an environment that allows to talk about marriage issues.

Then marriages would be better arguments less with the wife and the husband freely expressing themselves, issues of disrespect forgotten for there is mutual love coming from really understanding each other.

Their young boys and girls would then feel at peace to live in their homes instead of friends homes which have similar problems and end up in places where girls meet starving husbands and the boys are too pure for girls and the thought too delightful, and the result is abortions.

In the meanwhile women are just out feeding on female power and advising their husbands muses. What about the boys? Really struggling with temptation to resist these cute young virgins when they should be in marriage with the fiancee, they should have spent quality time with this Sunday afternoon but is out with this cash machine who also gives her more goodies than her pure boy. The boys end up yielding to this same temptation when the marriage which should have been a home, ends up a thorny nest with disrespect from their wives and the afternoon is too long.

What should we do with this tragedy?

Men, call you boys mobile. Take them to the place of temptation let them know why their girls are disrespectful and absent. It will equip your boys to wade the environment better and keep the girls home and maybe turn the wives heart back to their marriages and save the day.

Writing Code.

Typists spell check.
Programmers compile.

Linguists study literature. Shakespeare.
Programmers study code.
_why?

It's worth studying.

A good code carries a signature.
It talks the skill, the "attitude",
The influence and finally,
The dexterity of the fingers
that wrote it.

JQuery. the JR question.
_Why all the complicated big stuff that do little?
Do more with less code.

Ext. Yep, I'm smart.
Let me do my stuff.
It's blue shirt smart with a gift.
Do you have a question?
It's my own thing.

So goes mile. Walking in strides.
Little big steps that walk the world.
Keep walking. You'll get there.

Watch. My own little k.
It's pronounced kappa.
Solves 7 thesis
In 7 days.

It is too small to do more.
They say.
I wanna break a rec.

Watch 3x30 man.days
Specified in 3 weeks.
Done in 7 days.
_why do more?
7 hours.
That's a legacy.
Do you want more?

My foot. Miles gone.
Walking strides.
Around the world in one day.
Watching the lucky stuff.
Making my own.
Quietly brilliant.
With dotted eyes, o i's
A stroke of genius.

Yep! It's been here all along.
Where have you been?

IPv6: Reloaded

After looking at the advocacy and reasons given even the incompatibility factor, I smell something fishy with this IPv6 addressing system implementation.

The push does not seem to come from an engineer. And engineer would take seriously the issue of compatibility especially a computer engineer.

It is a core part of his training for an engineer to design a change over plan that minimises costs and ensures smooth transition from an old system.

It is a grave engineering mistake to disregard compatibility. So many things would break resulting in great losses, both financial and with high possibility, life.

However, politicians can demand such a push and in their political mind would prefer mass media to do drive the change over than practicality of the solution.

It raises questions like how much control can one have over an IPv6 network compared to IPv4? What would the reason for jumping IPv5 when it seems most problems IPv6 is solving can be solved by the combination of IPv4 and IPv5?

We might fall into a trap we understand not.

I thought about the internet. Why do we need it? Communication? True. With who? I found that my average communication I do on the internet is still with my fellow malawians. But the tools I communicate with are not in Malawi but outside. Yes, they are free tools but the fact that they are free, is the reason I use them. The fact that I use them, makes me need to connect outside Malawi which at the end of the day, at national level, it is a great expense.

The allocation of addresses Malawi has for the number of ISPs available (those are who need public up addresses) I feel should be enough. We have less than 100 ISPs. How many ip addresses is that? If we might need more than 500 public ip addresses, the somewhere somehow is a big abuse of ip addresses. Something MACRA might want to look at. A proper design of the domain name system would enable us to reduce dependence on the outside network and therefore reduce the cost of connectivity. Most of us are forced to use the freely available tools because few good are provided and in a restrictive manner which with reduced dependence on outside internet would be available cheaper. There have been talks of a national internet exchange provider which allows for local exchange of local content. We have had a national infrastructure(MTL) which against all economic reasons was privatized. It is good that MACRA is creating a fibre network but much has been invested in creating the previous infrastructure and for a long time making it very possible MTL was for ill reasons privatized and at very small value than the infrastructure available.

It seems even companies like Airtel don't value infrastructure much than they do a customer base. They can overhaul the whole network(it is easy anyway you just buy new access points and connect them to talk to each other over already built transmitters). How much would an access point cost? Not worth the worry I think.

So what is the cost of building a transmitter for some radius? What is the cost maintaining it? What would be the cost of using it? Take away the cost of connecting outside Malawi, the cost communication is unbelievably low. Put in place the tools for communication locally, dependence for external tools is little. Now having reduced the dependence of external tools, the need for external communication is further reduced and by a great percentage I think. When external communication outlets are reduced, the cost of maintaining such shared on over the whole population of Malawi. This by a great percentage would bring the cost of communication. That is what fuels economic development.

I wish government, would allow me even fund me to implement such for the population of Malawi. Not single handedly but I can get a work force to achieve this. We will buy same tools as other networks and maybe cheaper and better, but we will manage them better and reduce the cost greatly.

My contacts are down below in one of the posts.

My HTC Tether

Maybe someone is wondering, has he won another phone, this HTC Tether? I have won but not a phone nor a competition but an idea to connect from my home town in Mzimba and managed to download a file for my Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

So after the cafes have blacklisted me for using the computers efficiently i.e. getting what I need in a smallest time possible making a lot of savings, I thought I can't go quarreling with cafe people forever (they steal anyway the slower the internet the greater the profit, I give them less profit for I having research on my phone, I go directly to what I failed to get on my HTC from the cafe spending little time possible). I thought either I should building me an ISP right away or find another way to connect to the internet and get my downloads otherwise would unnecessarily lose friends (I wonder though, sometimes you go to a friends cafe to push them on).

Airtel airtime is still expensive and the service still a little poor. This has kept me from using most of the features on my phone. This time I had smaller downloads so it isn't much of a worry but does have potential.

So I got me an Airtel Daily bundle managed to use the internet longer than I have ever done. I managed because being a new installation, I was able to track and turn off automated updates. So there was little background traffic possible. This is not always the case on some computers.

So far, I managed to download sqlbuddy which is about 300kb and was downloading a php interpreter which is a lot bigger 13mb. Started around 87% data remaining on my bundle it exhausted about 67% of,the download. The peak speed I got so far came up to 18Kpbs. Meanwhile I couldn't browse other pages which were painfully slow. So I just left it to the download. Now remains. If I finally top up my data, would I be able to resume where I stopped? Yet to be tested.

Why am I against a Political Councillor?

After my father's death the department of surveys and physical planning has been allocating people on plots we have always known to belong to us. This has happened always when everyone of us the children are off some to work and some to school and my mum is alone at home in Mzimba.

The first time it happened, we found out that most of the important documents were mising from the lands office. Fortunately there was a file which was thought to contain information about an already sold off plot but had information enough to reproduce the documents of all our plots. Even though, this information was available, we have been trying to get the lands office to reproduce these documents without much success.

When we left home having agreed they would resolve these issues with her, they turned against her putting in conditions which on her own she could not fulfill therefore frustrating the process of resolution. Aside from that they decided to allocate some other people on our other plot again not following the laws.

All these actions were done in the name of subdivision of the land and would not have been effected without written documentation and our signed agreement and the approval of a councillor.

These actions appear to be deliberate and seem to take advantage of our absence and the fact that mum cannot resolve them on her own.

This is something I cannot allow, if today I fail for lack money to go to court, I will do so when I do get the money. Those who have built their houses on our registered lands will have to demolish them. No new law has effect on the land registered under the law this land is.

I can do so because I am not ignorant but there are many who are and can't afford to go to court and fight against the monies. Things would be worse for a political councillor than an administrative one who can at least execute his job without partiality.

And for the corrupt officers, I would love they were also replaced in favour of impartial officers who will do their jobs well and avoid much bloodshed rising due to land disputes.

The current law has in place many mechanisms to avoid land disputes if followed.

And I feel most of the corrupt practices so rampant in our nation today were resolved automatically during Kamuzu's era through the same laws a careful study of the laws and ways of governance could be of much benefit for integration of these laws into the current government system.

Making Google AppEngine Portable

Working without a computer has often forced me to depend on small portable tools enough to fit on my flash drive. It hasn't been difficult to carry around a wamp server and a good editor some reference files, even ruby on rails sdk.

It has been a little difficult to put a Google AppEngine on my flash. First the sdk could not install on a flash, it could not access or create applications hosted on the flash disk. As such, if I am developing on an offline computer, I have had to deploy the app through my mobiles 3G tether. I used more than K300 which I could use about less than half to deploy through a cafe.

But cafes most of the times don't allow installation of applications. So left me stranded for a while, to work anything Google AppEngine for its support would give such huddles.

Past few days, working with version 1.37, I decided to just copy the Google folder from the programs files and the python compiler and copied it to my flash drive basing on the reasoning that in its restriction to desktop only was based on common drive letter not fixed to c: since installations can be on other drives yet on the desktop. So copying as whole to the flash drive, I would fool it to think its still on the desktop. I tested it and found that it worked fine and tested it again at a cafe it worked but I had to reconfigure it so it could be aware of the python interpreter folder. All the same I found it worthwhile for deploying my apps.

It still needs to write to registry which could be fixed, I think. This would be probably the reason it seems to lose configuration is the change of drive letter of the flash when used on different PCs.

I wonder however if version recently released allows portability. It could be great to work with it with less huddles possible.

District Councillors

The Laws of Malawi have given a great chuck of responsibilities to the district councillor which most without understanding, have neglected the position and I should say we are at a dilemna to get back or these responsibilities which have match retarded development in the towns and districts.

While most of these responsibilities are seen as duplication of most of responsibilities in the district commissioners office, the presence of the councillor and the district commission was a benefit as they automatically checked corruption at district level.

Some have reasoned with the availability of MPs, it is again a duplication of political responsibilities, I somewhat agree and I feel it wouldn't be a good idea to make the position of the councillor a political position though the position is still much required.

The thought to make it political must have arisen at the thought that during the MCP era, the MP was elected into the party by the community in much the same way as the councillor. So on the turn of events into the multi party era, electing MPs through political parties it might have been thought the councillors be elected in the same way.

Looking at history at how the parties have sidelined other individuals not belonging to the party, it would be chaos at district/town level as the arrogance of the partisan councillor might highly disregard the roles of different departments in the district commissioners office which interface with the councillors. This will erode development at a faster rate than has been when the civil servants had almost no authority with the invasion of the partisan positions.

At low level like town or district level the partisan MP had less responsibility or authority over activities affecting individual citizens. With a partisan councillor, I fore see much disputes concerning land issues, much disregard for town and physical planning than has been already, much favoritism based on party membership.

I see the councillors office as an interface between the people and the district commissioner who is more like a government envoy in the district and the district commissioner the interface between the people through the councillor with the government. The district is much closer to the people to understanding their problems and the district commissioner much closer to the government to report, administer duties of the government in the district.

The difference therefore before the MP is the reprentative of the people on the issues of concern in parliament, while the councillor is an administrative position interfacing the people together with the district commissioner on issues of district administration.

I would therefore prefer an administrative non partisan councillor than a partisan one.

I have taken long to speak on the issue as I thought it would bring political confusion with the elections in advanced stage. But I have taken this chance while misappropriation of funds is being resolved for there is room for reconsideration for the position.

I believe instead of creating more political problems we are wise enough a nation to come with creative and fair ways to resolve our national issues without much influence or copying from the western or other forms of government.

Of Numerous Programming Languages in One Head

My Curriculum Vita is packed with many programming languages than most would ever expect. Is it just a claim to booster it or reality? In reply I should say those are languages I have successfully and productively used before. But it does not necessarily mean they are the only languages I know nor does it mean I can't use other new languages. How possible is that?

I started programming when I was in first year while we get started on computer science in second year at college.

Looking at already written working programs, I learned by trial and error experimenting with my own code. This wetted my appetite for programming and gave me ideas where to look and what to catch from the coarse work.

I studied about what great programmers wrote of their path to greatness I looked at the necessities of each module in the route map how I benefit from it.

As a programmer, I had to learn and understand my tool to the very core and all aspects of it. That included network engineering. Though networking was offered among the modules, there was not much practice allowed.  I should say my experience in the two Internet Service Provider has covered much of the required practice and more. I have practiced my knowledge and perfected it having learned from two great engineers Dr. Busiso Chisala and the brother Richard Chisala.

Most other modules become more important in implementing various algorithms and solutions to computing problems. So programming became to me not just knowing a language but the workings of a computer and various problem solving algorithms so that the primary thing becomes understanding a problem, and forming up a solution and finding away to implement it. Among ways of implementing is a programming language, chosen depending on various considerations and trade offs which include platform compatibility and also interoperability with other existing computing solutions to co-operate with the new implemented solution.

So knowing just a language becomes useless. So how do I jump into a new language and use it productively? Every language has a syntax and semantics. Understandind the similarities, differences, strengths and weakness of a new programming language has proved worthwhile for me.

So for one day Google Appengine was introduced. For the rest of the day I knew about the competition, I formed up a problem and its solution; for a few moments that evening wrote my own hello world; During the night searched up the framework documentation ways of implementing my solution. I was too tired to work that night. So I rested till morning. I did not even find time then for I had to get to Sunbird Capital Hotel as soon as I could so I couldn't miss a thing. At around 8am, I started the implementation while listening and participating to the activities of the day. I got a normal lunch, by 4:45pm I was done. But had to make a few final changes to make it look better after clothing it with the CSS. Broke a page in the process.

All the same the Application share a job won first prize. The original design with improvements is hosted at http://sharemwjobs.appspot.com.

The first public release still have some technical glitches but would hopefully be unveiled sooner.

While the final release is in process, I see no reason why people shouldn't use sharemwjobs.appspot.com to play around with it and even seriously share jobs for it has full functionality already.

So try it. Share jobs at http://sharemwjobs.appspot.com/

© Kondwani C. Hara

North Korea and Stuff

I am asked by friend on a statement I said against western media.

People of North Korea are running away from N. Korea en mass. Shall we blame western media for this?

Suppose the whole North Korea left North Korean land because of a war they don't want and nobody is listening to their voice to back them up. For western media is bent on seeing North Korea razed to the ground. Who wants to die.

North Korea has no nuclear weapons to defend it self, but it does have plutonium missiles. About 3 of them it seems, can it defend itself against a super power which repently developing other nuclear weapons(advanced it seems). The world does not understand that North Koreans are innocent of the nuclear weapons, are innocent of the missile that shelled the island. How can the world protect North Korea? For the world is brain washed by western media and know only that North Korea is secretive therefore not much should be expected to be heard from it. But North Korea, is speaking and its voice is small. The western media is louder and muffles the North Korean media.

Has not South Koreans accepted responsibility of the missile that shelled the island during a military exercise and killed people? Has not North Korea denied responsibility of the missile? Has not the west already justified an attack on North Korea and already found out that the secretive state has no nuclear weapons to be feared during the invasion?

Who will protect the people of North Korea? They are en mass running away from being innocently slaughtered by an angry western world. For Asia does not wish to get involved nor should it, Africa has to feed its own people and can't afford to waste its few it has also begged to do war against its unreasonable donor nor should it. It is a crime to slaughter innocent people. The same butcher is quick to punish others. Let it now slaughter itself for its murders.

En mass they should leave and let only the land maybe without life in it to suffer loss. Let the west allow all innocent women and children and soldiers who don't want war to leave North Korea. Let all innocent men also leave, let birds of the air animals that creep the ground of North Korea leave North Korea before North Korea is razed to the ground. Is it easy to make life than to destroy it?

Let the creator of life take care of his own life and let no-one destroy life created by somebody else. Let it alone. For whoever you are you too are created. Yet there is an enemy. He comes but to still kill and destroy.

Shall your hands be guilty of this innocent blood? For God will demand repayment for every tooth removed from an innocent man.

© Kondwani C. Hara

Arsenal 2 - 0 Spurs

That was what I had today during Arsenal and Tottenhum Hotspur game. It might be some caught it and the confidence it is fulfilled. I was excited as well. But the outcome did not tarry with the predicated result. What was it then? I remember confirming if I really had to put 2 for arsenal and for Tottenhum Hotspur to put Spurs. That's what they were being called on the radio anyway. So I put Spurs as I had confirmed.

The result was now written as Arsenal 2 - Spurs 0. The game ended Arsenal 2 - Spurs 3. I thought at the end of the game what could it be? Am I hearing from God? I waited and accepted my fault maybe it was wishful thinking.

But the words I had to confirm and yet that is how it seems to be. I checked my motivation, yes I did want to win. I could win as I see it I could also win as God desires.

What did I see in the end? Arsenal might have aimed for the goals they wanted. Tottenhum my have been prepared for anything. When Arsenal got their expected goals, they may have planned for a defensive game. Tottenhum might have anticipated this and might have been prepared to attack a defensive team. So anything unlike our interpretated expectation makes the prediction or prophesy false and we lose faith easily.

In their own strength Arsenal could have recovered from the unexpected change but after the half-time with little coaching, and already in a different game mindset it was difficult to recover. For in-game success, the supports act as spurs they incite or stimulate. For someone who is achieving less than his potential and is not encouraged, his performance dwindles more and more. I remember someone commenting Arsenal playing a brilliant game during first-half. But someone commented of an ever deteriorating performance in the second-half.

So here goes: Arsenal the Team won 2 goals. The spurs, the supporters won no goal. The goals they were supposed to win, were supposed to be in spurring (supporting the losing team). The defence they were supposed to give, was in supporting the losing team.

So indeed Arsenal 2 - Spurs 0.

Whenever you do good and work hard your success is your own. You benefit from it alone and those who find help from the help you give.

There are some that make want to make you look bad out of jealous. The break what you build and blame it on you. In the end there are some who do see your success. And these acknowledge. These are the ones who are for you than those that have found fault with you.

Understanding that you are not as bad as others want to make you look, can help you spur yourself on despite the noise from those filled with jealous because of your success.

© Kondwani C. Hara

Poor Service Provision

Connectivity in Malawi is plunged with so many problems from high costs, congestion, unreliability, etc.

Where do these problems come from and how can they be resolved?

Having done business planning, on costing, for one to make profit, they have to sell their products and services at a price higher than what cost they have put in. However, to maintain profit, if the cost increases the price automatically increases. Is there a way to lower down the price?

A careful understanding of what cost goes into communication media would better resolve what price the use of the media should be. Take for example the copper wire which formed the MTL backbone. It has high capacity but the cost of using it is too high. Maybe higher than Optic fibre. Is this realistic? For one the cost of material for installing the copper wire, is expected to be lower than the that of fibre, the cost of maintainance should be lower than that of fibre and I would expect copper wire to be more durable than fibre so frequency of breakdowns should be lower. This further reduces cost of maintainance for fibre. Because the fibre and copper are shared for many users the cost per user should be much much lower to each user.

The cost of installation should be in my opinion the most variable with one factor of maintainance cost for each media which should cover the difference between various media in terms of depreciation.

The cost of usage should be sorely related to cost of labor doing daily maintainance. For cost of labour is the most stable, it is expected the cost usage to be stable.

Since communication is the major determinant for prices of most goods it is expected that these prices would stabilize and be lower for the benefit of humanity.

What of congestion? Each provider wants to have as many clients as possible as such they put as many strategies to keep their customers for themselves. But does each providers provide what the user really needs? In my opinion, if you have 100 customers, you can invest to provide services for 100 users and still get profit on your investment. Similarly if you have 1000 users. While the perception of profit seems higher for 1000, in reality it isn't much of a difference, as the cost of providing 1000 increases therefore the price of service provision if maintained such that selling to 1000 users fixes the profit margin. Unless the cost for providing is cotmpromised should there be big difference in profits. Now compromising the costs directly amounts to poor services. Which in most cases amount to congestion, unreliability, etc. In the end only providers are happy non of the users are.

There restrictive strategies the service providers put on their customers further increases the costs the customers have to pay to user their services to their satisfaction. For customers have different needs not all of which are satisfied by the providers. It is better therefore that providers put away these restrictive measures for users to use services of their choices to their satisfaction without extra costs. And if a provider has to put restrictive measures then it should be bound to provide all the services the user wants and for the users satisfaction. This then should give less choice for the provider on what and how the service should be provided than for the user. For telecoms it also means removing the extra charge to another network. For the user will always have the need to communicate to someone on another network. And the user shouldn't do this at extra cost.

Different users have different connectivity uses. Restrictive strategies put users who use a less of the resources to a disadvantage than those who use a lot of resources. I.e. users who do a lot of downloads need a seperate connectivity service and users who user the connectivity for simple browsing and data communication. So the usage can be equated to providing quality service to 100 users and to 1000 users. There should be profit still due to the cost/price difference.

Of Mental Illness

Just last week Malawi News released an article on mental illness. The doctor is an expert seemingly, but this is the first hand account.

What is it? Is it a demon? Is it damage of the brain? Is it an infection? What is it?

I will try to explain its psychology, and touch on the physical and spiritual part of it.

St. John of God about whom the house of hospitality is was a person like you and me. His conversion to Christianity was very strong and dramatic in the society that people thought he had gone mad. They treated him like a mentally ill person. In this treatment he endured much pain and understood the pain these people go through. He started giving then shelter and food taking care of them. If St. John of God lived today he would rather want less patients hospitalized who come for first time but justified and would love those really needing care being treated humanly and with love. Not like animals. For these people too have feelings and experience a lot of heartache and to make it worse they added on all their emotional pain and physical abuse they get, from those who have not understood.

Of all the diseases in the world mental illness is not. For it seems nothing to do with infection or physical damage if it was it would have another name.

Yet it is and begins with emotional pain from emotional abuse. A very grave and acute accusation can bring one so low with guilt that he becomes incapacitated to do anything. His state of mind at this moment to understand why? He might stay as such for long that his behavior is noticed by other people as strange. When a word of a priest, a witch doctor or medical doctor declares it mental illness. All sorts of thoughts and fears come among the community and stigma follows from all the history that has accumulated who mentally ill people are.

The devil it is said is an accuser always accusing us before God but Jesus is always interceding for us before God.

Whenever we curse someone we allow the devil to abuse the person. Whenever we bless someone we deny the devil any action but allow God to resolve the problem.

In the state of accusations from men and / or the devil, these men do feel the guilt. And in their guilt and the dirt they feel inside manifests even in their action. I guess that is why they would rather eat the food from the dust bin than from the plate. They would rather have something dirty than something clean for it is the outward reflection of the guilty they feel and in doing so, an attempt.

At this point when one is labeled mentally ill and the society has registered it. It does not matter what was the cause of initial fear but what surrounds the person shapes the person's behavior and further reaction to society.

It now becomes a disease of a society in terms of emotions like fear from from the harsh treatment he has received on the basis of the label, violence (there is no place he is allowed to stay because of the label he is kicked this way and that) some people around him ridicule him and he has to defend himself, his kind of life becomes whenever I do this action I get peace of mind, whenever I do this, people give me food. Whenever I hold a stone in my hand and stretch the other people give me some money. He might have even the accidental event that brought this combination for begging that he even call the stone my lucky stone. And carries it wherever he goes for it brings him luck and the food to live another day. Is there violence in such a man?

I noticed that after such a long treatment by the society they get to lose the sense of what is right and what is wrong. This would be the reason why Jesus told the mad person he had healed, go and tell your people what God has done. For he has again to learn the ways of the society. This is a form of behavioral rehabilitation.

I have managed so far after overcoming the guilt and accusations to live with confidence among people. An article like written in Malawi News just recently presenting the mentally ill as time bombs can incite such a fear and hatred among the society for the mentally ill that makes life so difficult for them. I met one in such a person. The way he walked, he was in a state of such restlessness may be wondering why is this world suddenly harsh?

Whoever put such an article whatever was his motivation why not just come up to the one person you have a problem with than put so many other people in trouble. (I dreamed about it this day and there was a person who had a problem with me who decided to incite some trouble because of my refusal to associate myself with them). Does such not such a revelation come from God as warning about events of the day?

How do we deal with mental illness? The are cases in which accusing demons keep on following them around for society in cursing such people have given them room. In their own solitary moments they seek to find some truth that justifies the injustice and pain inflicted on them in most cases they dwindle down in self accusations. Because somehow God does not allow it their attempt to relieve themselves by killing themselves fails and they live another day. They survive from day to day pick some food and eat and move on find a shelter to sleep in. Sometimes, in their pain they get some relief from the flashes of interesting memories they have gone through. So yeah, they laugh when they are alone. It's only a relief from emotional pain.

Whenever you find them talking alone, there has been no ear to listen to the emotional hurts and pains from the unjustly harsh treatment they have received from the society.

In defining, which of the actions of the society was right and which was wrong, they to what extent were they wrong from the punishments received, they get relieved of their guilt and they get to understand which of those in the society were just bad and impossible. This justification of their actions shields and insulated them better of future emotional pains and abuses. For at list now they can justify themselves by the truth they have known about the further accusations and abuses. For further rehabilitation its necessarily love that completes the rehabilitation. The mad person benefited much from the peoples trust in Jesus that he really had been healed. It's up to the society to love such people. Jesus himself was called a nazarene and rastamen far the principles of the nazarene. This allows for a fewer of these mad men find love and acceptance in a society. The only mistake of the rasta men is in their understanding of Haile Selas as Jesus(messiah). As much there are messiahs from different oppressions Haile Selas could be categorically put among people like Moses who sets Israelites free from captivity. It is wrong to worship him for he like all other redeemers other than Jesus they are also just servants like also angels who carry messages of God to men. Only for Jesus has it been declared from God, that every knee shall bow and every toung confess that Jesus is Lord. For Jesus, it has been said the lamb of God that takes away our sins. No other root of David has such title. For end redemption is from sin and eternal damnation only this lamb of God, Jesus has been given a task of such messiahood. God has said of Him that we listen to Him. For he Jesus is the only begotten of God. He is the only one who came from God for the purpose of showing the way, the truth, and the light to salvation from sin and eternal damnation.

He give instructions of what is the right way. Among these instructions, he says, whoever does good for such as these does it for Jesus. Whoever does not do good for such as this does not do so for Jesus.

Love is the only cure of such an illness. It takes patience as well for having accustomed to pain and multiple betrayals, an act of love might take time to make a difference. If it is followed by the expected betrayal anyway it widens the gap wider. So when you give love with conditions, such love has many times caused pain already in their lives. When you give further rebuke, its the many rebukes that weighs them down already. So, just love and kindness is all they have been missing in all their lives. No more pain. Physical or Emotional. Just love and kindness.

God bless they that love such people.

Genesis 6

During this time. A torment of a soul is heart breaking. God looks down at His creation, souls of men tormented and abused by the fallen angels.

God tells Adam don't take this fruit you will die. Adam is deceived to still take it because the woman has already taken it. Should I let my woman die and live alone again? It is better that we both die together. So for her he eats it. He doesn't know the torment of this death but God does. I will try to take care of you my children even though you may still suffer more before the redemption comes.

They had to leave the garden of Eden to cultivate the ground. In cultivating their mind was at least calmed down for it was taken away from the fear of the unknown. And life was bearable. They lived in torment until each alive for a thousand years. Until it was prophesied one would come who would set us free from the curse of the ground.

Since livestock had been contaminated man even though at first had been given both meat and plants to eat, they now ate only plants.

The accounts up to Genesis 5, were written not in complete sequential order but in parallels to allow for explain different instances of events of particular interest. So Noah was born. And the sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

When God looked at the torment of the souls of men during this time. He was very sorry and saw it better to let the men die. And die and the Nephilim also.

During this time there must have been a beast that God particularly was interested to destroy. The falling of the rain would entangle it deep in the under the mad that when the land dries up, it would also bind this beast.

Meanwhile among men there is one man, Noah. Him God wants to preserve he has not yet been touched by the contamination of the fallen angels.

After the rain this beast is buried at a certain instant when Pereg was born, he divides this world breaking this beast apart. That is how this beast died.

In the pursuit of riches. There is an element which the world seems to be following and at sales at high price there are places it is found. The love money is the root of all evil. This evil thing which through astrologers followed in predicting stocks, at this one very moment there was a war and reports of war world over, this very thing had a very high price.

Those that pursued this wished to create the similar circumstance which because of the nuclear bombs, the world was destroyed (in my perception split in peaces) and I could feel the ground that the world wobbling. People running all over and there was much sinning around the place I was. People could just not control themselves.

It is difficult for me to differentiate which of the events which happened around me was the present or the future. Unless somebody confirms these events who was present with me during this time. But there were many things I observed and did in resolving issues around me.

This war in pursuit for nasquad predictions breaks the world in peaces and releases this evil of all evil bound around the time of Genesis 6. So stop!

Resolving Israel and Palestine

I remember reading a biography of Golda Mere once a female prime minister of Israel. It gives an account of how Israel was resettled after world war 2 Hitler persection. It was resolved to repatriate the Israeli to their land which was a British protectorate at the time.

Among the first zionist in the repatriation, was Golda Mere. It gives an account how the desert land was bought from the Arab and Palestine residents with deeds. How the desert land was reclaimed and made arable. We have also in our secondary schools examples of settlements which reclaimed land from desert lands. Kibutz. Or something like that.

When someone is in distress and left without home what's available to him becomes a home. Though useless to those who already have a home it is precious to him without. One takes very good care of what's precious to them even if the same may be useless to others.

The Israeli reclaimed a useless unhabitable land from the Arabs and Palestines who took it to themselves to sell it. They turned what was useless, precious. And Arabs and Palestine cry foul for losing what they considered useless. So the fight an innocent people and an innocent people fights back and claims more in 6 days. The rest of the resolution follows from the history from there which land rightly belongs to the Israeli and which land does not.

Daniel reminds God of the 70 years Jeremiah prophesied that the Israeli will return back to their land. In Jeremiah's account God tells Jeremiah to buy some land and store the deeds in earthen ware for preservation. Those who bought land on repatriation must have followed this and kept safe the deeds. These deeds give the Israeli the rightful and legal claim to the land that was bought. From my trust in God and understanding of his faithfulness and how he makes things easier, I think the land bought with deeds available should be enough for all the surviving (remnant?) Israeli to fit in.

So there is Palestine and Gaza strip. I think these lands are separated with Israel in between. These lands can't make one state and peace remain. Governing these lands would also be a problem. How can one leader run a land another land when shared resources have to go through an unwilling land. That I think is the major problem which should not be adamantly held on to. At very best Gaza strip can operate on its own as full state and Palestine the same. Yes they are of the same tribes but look we the ngoni's in Malawi are in separate regions and separate countries yet we commemorate our culture together. The chewa's the same. Some chewa's are from Zambia and Mozambique. Look at Swaziland an island of a nation yet peacefully coexisting. The Palestinians, Israelis and world have much to learn how we govern ourselves peacefully and respect our ways.

We have less problems than the world has yet the world forces its solutions on us which cause trouble than solve problems.

Plight of the Teachers

Whenever I speak to my girl on the limited time Zain still gives us, she is almost always complaining about a cough. My brother is well from time to time complains the same. Of course they are asthmatic, and so am I. But I haven't had a cough for a long time. The only time I had it was when I was lecturing at University of Livingstonia. Chalk.

When did we notice this chalk problem, long time. Then people who had worst of the problem were allowed to transfer to other posts. But there have been many unwillingly made teachers, wanting to pursue the career of their choice such that they have abused this right so much that it makes it difficult for those who really need its benefit to get helped. So my brother and my woman are stuck in the career they have been forced into and it hurts their health and they can't get our even in their own field of education to pursue positions that are closer to their choices.

Some where in the search for solutions, nose filters are suggested. But its a solution that would cause students to make life difficult for their teacher. How about whiteboards and their markers? I should think the cost shouldn't be far from the cost of repainting the board and cost of buying new pieces of chalk. Besides the markers may last longer than the chalk and the whiteboard might not need frequent repainting. And further why stick to the past problematic blackboard? Even though the asthmatic are much more sensitive, the non-asthimatic are not left unaffected. Soon or later they might develop a worse problem from chronic exposure. It is not the chemical composition only that causes damage but also the dust itself which is a foreign body when inhaled in the lungs.

If this may be found too expensive still, the cost of their transfer should buy individual teachers portable whiteboards which they may use in the classrooms they teach and a supply of markers for each for their use. And further all for all schools being built now onwards, should have whiteboards in every classroom installed. This is the only way we can completely solve the chalk dust problem.

Of Licensing and Reality

I can't drive a car without a licence. I can't get a licence without learning how to drive. I can't start learning how to drive without a provisional licence. Is a provisional licence irrevocable? I find that it doesn't but it does expire. Suppose it has expired I am I barred from getting another provision licence after previously failing to pass a driving test to get a licence? I find that it would be unfair to do that for some are real quick learners some are damn slow learners. Hundred times Edison failed before he found the breakthrough formula to create the bulb he so much wanted.

If we are going to continue giving full licences to the newbies so many accidents are bound to happen. Look for learner drivers we put even a placard learner. So that learned drivers can drive cautiously with reasonable consideration. Traffic regulators also treat learners with reasonable consideration.

If we shall want fulfilment of every one condition of operation for a mobile operator being established, then no mobile operator can get started for everyone starts at one. It's time provisional licences were made available so that who can try can do so. Of 10 companies trying out to setup mobile operators there is bound to be at least 3 which would be successful. These can be pruned further according to adherence to conditions of licence and other laws of Malawi.

It's time licence regulators revoked licences of the two for once. Only once have I heard Zain being warned. But how many fair trade laws, consumer protection laws have, even operation laws have been violated by the two operators and the rest of the private sector? How much transparency is in the private sector for the government to be the only one to be expected to be transparent. Food for also for Transparency International. For most trouble starts brewing from the private sector which try to twist government arms for its own profit at the expense of real lives. The duty of the government is also to protect people from people without fear, favour, or partiality.

IPv6

In computer science we have always learned of ways of transitioning from an old system to a knew system and these ways are designed to allow for seamless change over without disrupting normal business usage. Some of the ways include running two systems in parallel, gradual change over various system components, backward compatibility and so on and so forth.

For software/hardware changes backward compatibility has, been the favourite. This works better if the newer version of software/hardware has made major changes.

IPv6 has been designed without giving room for backward compatibility. This I think is very un Computer Science like.

There are these problems of so much hardware being dumped prematurely for not being compatible with the new IP addressing system. The ways available for cooperating ipv4 and ipv6 require careful study of the system and skilled expertise to make the change. But does this change stay permanently? Until the company can buy new equipment.

I thought the problem of IP addresses being exhausted is because we are using from the same pool world over. There used to be classes of IP addresses which have now being discarded to allow for usability of classless ips to solve the IP address shortage.

Looking at the local area network design and IP addressing, it is possible to use the 192.168.0.0 network in one organization and the same address block in another. This is a range of IP addresses.
Suppose we take the whole ipv4 range and privatize it at ISP level, then we have a big range that one isp can't exhaust(or not atleast for the time being) for no isp provides to customers of multitude the whole current ipv4 users world wide. If then the ISPs can make the changes to make ipv4 compatible with ipv6, the customers whose use ips just for communication for the purpose of their daily business wouldn't even have a worry of what ipv6 is about.

The only businesses I see being affected by the change are those who provide internet services. And not many businesses do so. If they do, it is usually through dedicated internet service providers. Very few companies indeed host their own internet services.

It therefore remains the ISPs problem.

Further more if the ipv4 pool can be privatised at isp level, the isps have chance of selling their old incompatible hardware to their customers, in favour of hardware which makes using ipv4 and ipv6 easier. It is easier to manufacture compatibility hardware than to configure incompatible hardware to be compatible with ipv6.

How about putting a Nat-device between your hardware and isp instead of rebuilding the whole network on ipv6? Let the Nat-device worry about compatibility not you. Are there such hardware yet? I would love to make one.

Operation Bwezani: Zain, TNM, (Deliberate?) Errors

The problem of communication has been the most critical in my life these days. Considering places I have managed to live with comfort, I find it easier communicating before actually going there. This has been my way of sorting out things even when I was at Mzuzu University managing Ultinets ISP. The way of communicating was not with expensive means but the same free google talk. Sometimes the network was always slow at Mzuni but stable enough for gtalk. Now out of office and out school, I have often found my blackberry 8800, very convenient and cheap than going to a cafe.

With my HTC Legend the cost of operation has been a little expensive compared to the blackberry. TNM network advertised a good solution(net mobile unlimited) which would put the blackberry out of business looking at the range of smartphones available which offer a wide variety of functionality than the blackberry. Unfortunately, the 'unlimited' as limited as 20mb is to a phone. I finish it in 4hrs just browsing and no downloads on my HTC. If I do tethering, it finishes in around 1 minute. So yeah, very limited and expensive. (maybe its success is little because people were promised much and get so little.)

I thought Zain would think better to introduce an unlimited data bundle with their 3G. So then those who can't afford the BMW of phones(blackberry) or would rather prefer the Mercedes Benzs and the rest of Phones could also be happy with an unlimited data bundle. But I guess they already have a mind of their own.

I should say that these smartphones are very under utilized and expensive on volume bound data plans. There battery life also reduces as so much power is used to try to synchronize in the background when the volume is exhausted.

The 20mb at K80 is much better pricewise than at  K150 but it is not easy to find out how much one is using for the Zain bundle than it is for tnm. As such, it is better to remain with what is accountable than to use something blindly. Both are supposed to expire in 24hrs and are used in less than 24hrs. How does one know he is using what he has bought? So in the end the cost of blindly using a service is much worse than using with full knowledge and acceptance for at least you use it with trust and peace of mind having considered all the risks.

So Zain advertises that they are cutting down the price by 56% it becomes very comparatively welcome and also a fulfillment of the promise to increase talk time to 200 minutes a day which our colleagues in India use 400 minutes. The advert puts out 56% slash down but the tariff is in fact 56% increase. Yesterday, I thought it was a mathematical mistake, but I today, having spoken to their call centre which is at their head office in Lilongwe, I am not sure it is a mistake. I visited the former head office in Blantyre and was directed to Chichiri shop where  it was confirmed that the highest charge was 39cents per minute. He could not tell me their standard rate but insisted on telling me according to my tariff plan.

In my economic use of communication tools I made calculations for the tariffs of all telecoms providers and found that the most expensive was the Zain peak tariff on macheza. But coupling with family and friends and off peak it was bearable and almost economic looking at the fact the communication with other networks was comparatively lower and not far from the home network tariff. The most expensive has been, in my observation having converted all tariffs to Kwacha, K33 and the lowest K9. Access communications must have started at K30 for this may have been perceived as being on the lower side than the competition.

Taking the K33/min as previous price and increasing by 56% I find K51.48. This much closer to their current tariff per minute. But if I slash this down by 56 percent, I get K14.52.

Here is the most accurate presentation:

On rewardz, 1 min costs 23 points and 1 sms costs 10 units. In Kwacha:

1 min costs 23 x K1.40 = K32.20

56% increase is K32.20 + (K32.20 x 56/100) = K50.23

56% decrease is K32.20 - (K32.20 x 56/100) = K14.168

So that means the previous price was between K32.20 and K33, since the current 56 percent increase is between K50.23 and K51.48.

This means that the decrease should be between K14.168 and K14.52. In other words we should be paying around K14 during peak hours and even lower off peak.

Why have I chosen K1.40 not K1.60? I think it suffices for K1.50, which is wholesalers price of 1 unit, gives 1 min costing K34.50 whose 56% increase is K53.82. So the cost of one unit is between K1.40 and K1.50.

Does having many companies to encourage competition help? TNM has advertised their tariff to be K22 off-peak and K52 peak-time emulating Zain's error. I guess they expect that after advertising there is a large population that has not noticed the blinding difference so that the fewer population that does notice this should be easily frustrated. Clever? No cheating themselves. People are not happy. They have complained and no nobody is listening and nobody is taking action.

Is CAMA seeing this? When people remain silent it is just means that they suffer in silence.

Does Macra allow these two networks to keep licences of operation after all their exploitation they have done on the citizens of this nation? It is bad to do business this way. There are many laws of fair trade violated and whoever is responsible for enforcing fair trade laws do something please. It does not have to take an individual to complain for a regulatory body to take action. But just the regulatory body to observe laws being broken and make corrections. If they are deliberate violations or violations out of ignorance, correction is still important though retribution might be different. Zain has had a warning before. It's now a different company but most management and probably legal advisers are the same and if the company keeps records, it is aware of the warnings for change of ownership does not discard the company's previous records.

Emulating they way of it's fairness, Zain after having left their customers with negative points for redeeming rewardz which Zain thinks the customers haven't earned (is it a small thing to endure these instabilities during change overs), Zain would only be fair to return to its customers all the money it has overly earned during this period of their mathematical or deliberate error. TNM should also return to its customers what it has overly earned imitating Zain's error.

Further, may they refund all the costs incurred by its customers during their times of instability.

I hope this as fair as fair should be.

Let not men suffer for the sake of companies if companies can't suffer for men. Further, let men not suffer for any reason on behalf of companies. I might add and say let companies suffer on behalf of men as men have for companies.

Something my mum

When I was young I wrote a flower verse for her.
Now I am old. Survived more because of her love. My mouth is dry of anything that more special than I have ever done. But to remember her. She has been a mother of many. Her love is wider than her own family. She has taken care of many. For she has loved them so. There are many who remember her. They have learned much from her. And yet among the many, I have been loved. Her child. Her joy. I love her. My mum.

Of Joblosses and Servicing the Citizenry

There was a time a preaching to establish/privatize a company saying its establishment would create jobs for the unemployed. So companies were privatised and jobs were lost and foreign people worked in our land. Companies were established few jobs were created the rest went to foreign people on our land. Profits went outside our land. Of course costs went high operation with foreigners is expensive. Services dwindled for there was nobody to maintain broken assets as foreigners prefered to work from home.

About everybody I know is at capital hill. For there is no stability in private companies or ngos. Capital hill is clouded.

We are still lacking though on the most vital services and we are very skilled and nobody is employing us. Will the government get the next mobile licence, and the ground line also, and many other services, for we are there and many of us to run it at profit and low cost and high quality. Then we will buy Malawian and the private companies overburdening us with high rates and poor services will lose business and leave. We will once again regain our lost glory when we lacked nothing.

Have we forgotten communication is the oil for economic development? Have we forgotten we need to ensure every citizen is well fed has a good house, good clothing, good health and good food.

We have enough hands to build us good houses, enough hands and creativity to cloth us with the envied nzika wear, enough doctors and nurses and enough equipment just lying around in hospitals because graduates who know how to use them best are in ngos. Enough food already, what is poverty then when we have so much lying around without being utilized?