Chiperoni ku Basel

Author: nchenga

  • Adding a Flickr gallery to my website

    Like Stefan, I’m looking for a simple way to display my Flickr photos on my website. A couple of weeks ago I had a short look at the tan tan noodles album.

    satellite

    Today I tried out Satellite. It’s a simple php program that connects to your Flickr account. Simple and easy in setup.
    There are a couple of little things to improve. For instance, I would prefer if clicking on an image in the photoset sends me to the normal Flickr page instead of the static version.

    It’s installed at www.chiperoni.ch/photos/

  • Free Software for Malawi

    Alex Antener presents a talk on his Malawi projects:

    Freie Software – Eine Chance für Afrika, (in German)

    Very interesting, and lots of screens with GNU Linux.

    [update] The official recording of the talk is available online.

  • BBC World documentary

    BBC re-visits Madalitso in Mangochi District:

    The small town of Monkey Bay on the banks of Lake Malawi, like so many other small towns and villages throughout southern Africa, is being destroyed by HIV/AIDS. We return to Monkey bay where Joyce Lwanda jumps from class to class struggling to teach an entire primary school on her own. For the children taught by Joyce, head teacher at Kankhande primary School, HIV is both a threat to their lives, and for those lucky enough to avoid the worse affects of the disease it may just take away their best chance at Education. Joyce one of the few teachers that seems to bother to appear at school regularly is HIV positive.

    On return to Monkey Bay we also reunite with one of last year’s brightest pupils at Kankhande, Madalitso Mola. Madalitso like so many children in the school is an orphan. One year on, we see how Madalitso’s life has changed, has he too started to show signs of the disease that most likely took his fathers life, is he another one of Africa’s hopefuls lost to HIV?

    It discusses the WFP school feeding program and improvements at schools.

    If you get a chance to see it, let me know your opinion. I’m sure it will be repeated at various intervals.

    I’m viewing BBC World TV on my PC using Zattoo.
    The audio lags just a little bit, but the overall quality is good. And it’s live streaming.

  • Novartis Campus



  • Dead Media

    There’s a workshop on Dead Media

    at the LIFT conf.

  • What is a liquid?

    What is a liquid?

    “Liquids” under the new provisions include:

    * Aerosols
    * Chocolate spread
    * Cream cheese
    * Creams
    * Deodorants
    * Drinks of all kinds
    * Foams of all kinds
    * Gels
    * Hair gel
    * Liquid lipsticks (e.g. gloss)
    * Liquid mascara
    * Liquid/solid mixtures
    * Lotions
    * Oils
    * Pastes
    * Peanut butter
    * Perfumes
    * Roll-on deodorants
    * Shaving foam
    * Shower gel
    * Soft cheeses (e.g. Camembert) and cheese spreads
    * Soups
    * Sprays
    * Syrups
    * Toothpaste
    * Water
    * Yoghurt
    * or products of similar consistency

    The following items will not be regarded as liquids:

    * Chocolate-spread sandwiches
    * Hard cheeses (e.g. Edam or Parmesan)
    * Peanut-butter sandwiches
    * Powders
    * Solid lipsticks
    * Talcum powder

    Seen at Swiss

  • Overcoming the Digital Divide in Malawi

    Interesting:
    Overcoming the Digital Divide in Malawi

    via Hacktivate

  • unforced rhythms of grace

    (Disclaimer: rare confessional blog entry coming up)

    Monday, at about 17:22, some waiting room…

    Virtual audio streaming going on in my head:

    “So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”

    It’s a fact. When I reach my personal end of the world, I start praying. Deep down I am a Christian. I can’t help but pray. I find comfort and courage in beautiful, century-old poetry snippets.

    There are so many situations we cannot control. Where we depend on other people and other people’s judgement.

    Note to myself: Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.


    BTW, this post was inspired by fresh air.

  • On Preconceived Ideas

    Video podcast on statistics vs. sweeping generalizations

    Hans Rosling is professor of international health at Sweden’s world-renowned Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a non-profit that brings vital global data to life. With the drama and urgency of a sportscaster, he debunks a few myths about the “developing” world.

    via Climb to the Stars.

  • The Mpemba Effect

    The Mpemba effect is the observation that, in some specific circumstances, hotter water freezes faster than colder water.

    via Kottke

  • Have Pride in Liwonde



    See Go2Malawi.com on re-introducing lions to Liwonde Park.

  • Potential Risk to Hearing?

    study:

    Sound Output Levels of the iPod and Other MP3 Players: Is There Potential Risk to Hearing?

    via Guy Kawasaki

  • text snippet

    On the maximum saturation point:

    If a new blog is being created every second, it’s worth mentioning that one is being abandoned every 1.5 seconds.

  • playland

    Weekend is WordPress playland here at the headquarters of Chiperoni.ch. I upgraded to the latest version of WP 2.0.5 and started playing around with the Tarski and Simplr themes. Quite undecided still. Will probably return to the previous design any time soon.

    Here’s the current Tarski setup:
    tarski

    And Simplr:
    simplr

    Also included is the usual WP plugin and howto browsing. See, for example, this description how to add a Flickr slideshow.

  • A conference about technology in our society.

    yay, I’m going to LIFT 07.

    How about you?

  • Cameras at Flickr

    Cameras being used at Flickr

  • random text snippet

    Everyone is a marketer, even people and organizations that don’t market. They’re just marketers who are doing it poorly.

  • Google Trends for Malawi

    Google Trends for search item malawi

  • Sunrise in November



    Same place, same time, different season.

  • Malawi bloggers on Madonna

    My Google alert for news on Malawi has never had so many US and European articles as in the past months. All because of Madonna. Topics such as the last General Elections or bad harvests – which have a much bigger impact – were only covered by the usual outlets (BBC World, CNN). I remember searching Malawi forums for news on the election results.

    A friend asked how Malawians see Madonna’s recent adoption of a Malawian baby boy. I haven’t heard much. Cos I’m here in Basel. But here’s a summary of Malawi bloggers that referred to the celebrity news:

    • Mike of Hacktivate built the Kumbali Lodge website, where Madonna stayed 😉
    • Alex of Lix.cc posted this excellent caricature of NGOs and their reaction (rough translation: the child needs to return, is that understood?). He helped to keep us informed during the last General Elections by setting up a web server at the Polytechnic and posting news and comments at frequent intervals.
    • and Soyapi uses the Madonna news item to point to Malawian software that you can also “adopt”.

    I guess, there’s more out there. And more to come when Madonna goes back. I hope, she’s not in it for the PR only. In my humble opinion being adopted by a rich celebrity doesn’t really mean you’ll have a better life.

    But even for Malawi, you can say that blogging technology has made it simpler to read personal thoughts and reports on news items.

    Feel free to leave a comment.

    BTW, this blog post was again inspired by fresh air.

  • today’s WikiHow

    Google’s WikiHow suggestions continue to be a great source of entertainment. Today’s link gives advice:
    How to Be Thankful

  • constraint-driven creativity

    inspiring:
    Kathy on not waiting for the muse

  • MT vs WordPress

    text snippet:
    WordPress has done a far better job of growing their community

    I agree

  • The Weekend Post

    Do you write imaginary blog posts while doing other things? I do. For example, I’m always writing blog posts while I’m jogging. Pumping fresh air around my system inspires the blogger within. BTW, I’m also writing virtual novels and software reference guides 😉

    I just went for a short, slow jog around the block and wrote a virtual post on the movie I saw yesterday.

    Un Franco 14 Pesetas

    The film is about the film director’s parents that moved to Switzerland for work reasons in the 1960s. They enjoy living and working in Switzerland and actually find returning to Spain a lot more difficult than they imagined.

    I felt the topic was really interesting, but the screenplay was weak and lacked depth. At times the film was too slow. And there are no surprises.

    I’m afraid, the virtual blog post was better…

    Next film to watch is Il Caimano or maybe Das Fräulein.

  • more wall tiles