Archive | January, 2009

google blacklists the entire internet as “harmful”

31 Jan

Some of you may have noticed this, like I did, while searching for something online. This is a very interesting case of how much the internet relies on Google.

On Saturday, 31st Jan, for about 40 minutes, all search results from Google were labelled as “This site may harm your computer”. I thought I was the only one experiencing it, but it felt odd that evey single site would be blacklisted, so I did a proxy check, same thing, then searched around for other people having the same issue. Turns out it was a global event. I even watched it on CNN later in the day.

Amusingly enough, a search for “google” returned the same error. Essentially Google blacklisted it’s own website!
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small reminders

30 Jan

Just a small reminder about today’s Poetry Recital.

The Lantern Meet presents “Tales by the Campfire”

Today, Fri, 30th January, 6:00 PM, at the National Theatre

More details at The Kampalan.

Also, the 2009 Uganda Best of Blog Awards are just around the corner. We need your input! So far, the discussion is very spirited!

Click here to contribute!

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Audio: Chris Rice – Questions for Heaven

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Offtopic:

Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.
- Steven R. Covey

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Uganda Best of Blog Awards 2008 – A few questions

29 Jan

The Uganda Best of Blog’s Awards are coming up, and after a few impromptu discussions with Jackfruity, Darlene, Ivan, Rev, and I, it was decided we’d put a small suggestions announcement here.

Since this is your thing, we need a little help from you guys, the Blogren.

Without further ado…

A. Categories

Last year’s UBOB Awards had the following categories:

  • Ugandan blog of the year
    Open to any blog written by a Ugandan or focusing on Uganda
  • Best post
    The single best piece in the Ugandan blogosphere
  • Best blog in Uganda
    Written by anyone living in Uganda
  • Best overseas Ugandan blog
    Any Uganda-focused or Ugandan-authored blog written in a foreign country
  • Best writing
    Intelligent, witty, feisty, eloquent or just plain funny
  • Best design
    Best overall design and layout
  • Best photography
    Best photo taken by a Ugandan blogger and posted on his or her blog

Question 1: Do we need more categories? And if so, what would they be?


B. Prizes & Awards

To spice up the awards, Node Six has offered to provide free hosting for 3 years as prizes for the winners in five (5) categories. (To explain this more, this allows you to get your own address, like 2weakdudes.com, edgeofinnocence.com, angelakintu.com, as opposed to a Blogspot or WordPress address.)

So far then, we have:

  • First Prize for 5 Categories
    Free hosting + Domain Name (.com, .net, .info, .org, .biz) for 3 years.
  • Banners / Badges / Medals
    Someone suggested adding banners to the winner’s site, kind of like medals.

Question 2: Which five categories should have the hosting prize.

Question 3: Do you have suggestions for the other prizes? i.e runner up, etc. Someone had suggested free pizza or drinks, or something like that.

Ivan pointed out that some categories are a little redundant, like “Best Designed Blog” seeing as we all use templates.

Lastly, it was proposed that BlogSpirit be the central voting point for the UBOB awards.

So, that’s a wrap. Let the discussions begin.

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Audio: T.I. – Swagga Like Us (Ft. Kanye West, Jay Z & Lil Wayne)

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Offtopic:

In the name of the hungry, of the naked, of the crippled, of the homeless, of the blind, in their name, I accept the award.
- Mother Teresa

The test of any man’s character is how he takes praise.
- Anonymous

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The Lantern Meet presents “Tales by the Campfire”

28 Jan

First off, thank you Ms Caffeine for reminding me to put this up.

There will be a poetry recital this Friday 30th January 2009. I missed the last Lantern Meet, but I’m hoping this would will be just as fabulous. All you poetry fans, you need to check it out.

Here’s something from their Facebook page:

TALES BY THE CAMPFIRE; A Poetry Recital – Fri, 30th January

For one night and one night only The Lantern Meet will have a grand recital at The National Theatre main auditorium.
Showcasing the freshest batch of poetry out a possible 400 pieces, this event will enthrall, excite, and thrill!!

With guest appearances from exciting, never-before seen guest stars and great performances from familiar faces, come and see why the Lantern Meet has gained its reputation for delivering quality everytime!

Go show some poetry love good people!

I wonder if they do Haikus, my favourite type of poem. Ridiculously hard to write.

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Audio: John Legend Ft. Andre 3000 – Greenlight

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Offtopic:

Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry.
- W.B. Yeats

The only problem
with Haiku is that you just
get started and then
- Roger McGough

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rite of passage a.k.a we did the jump!

27 Jan

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Offtopic:

Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.
- Thomas Fuller

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of random updates

25 Jan

Howdy world. Nothing much to say today, as Sundays are wont to be.

Had a successful meeting today, after weeks of misfirings on a critical project, client was happy. We have a followup meeting on Tuesday, but for today, I’m elated. I even had a celebratory ice-cream with the dude I’m subcontracting.

Right now, I’m surfing n chilling online talkin’ to a gorgeous babe. She’s hilarious beyond belief, a tad local, but all out super awesome. She’s now on notch 5, which on a scale of -10 to +10 is really rockin!

Tomorrow is D Day. Bungee Jumping.

And Mama Pete, here we come!

Oh yeah!

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graduation speeches – help needed!

24 Jan

One of my employees is graduating and I just might have to give a speech.

What exactly do employers say in these speeches, because I haven’t got a single clue.

Help!

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the bungee jumpin thang

23 Jan

[ Correction - it's 60,000/= not 50,000/= ]

26th January, it’s on!

We’ve been jazzing about it for way too long, so this year, we decided we’d just go do the damn thang.

We’re going bungee jumping, a few friends and I, on the 26th January, 2009, while the rest of the country is watching Kololo things.

So, just to make sure we have everyone on track, I’m taking roll call. Not all of these people are bloggers, by the way.

  1. King [ Chief coward ]
  2. Jason [ Deputy coward ]
  3. Darlyne [ who'll be doing it for the second time round ]
  4. Martha [ who's still deciding whether to be a coward or not ]
  5. Silverbow [ Certified coward, who apparently will only be there to hold our stuff and provide moral support while we do the deed ]
  6. Johnnie [ who chickened out of his own bungee session. Wimp! ]
  7. Chris [ a friend who's still not sure, mbu it depends ]
  8. Patricia [ a friend, who immediately said yes ]
  9. Susan [ a friend who's still not too sure. Are you coming, Sue? ]

Apparently it’s 60,000/= to jump only, so we’ll have to organise our own transport or something along those lines. Meals are another story, we’ll see.

Have I missed anyone?

Will you be joining us?

—

Audio: T.I. – Live Your Life (Ft. Rihanna)

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Offtopic:

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
- Andre Gide

I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.
- Rosalia de Castro

We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character
- Henry David Thoreau

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umeme – vein splitting rantings

21 Jan

There is nothing as obnoxiously vile as MegaCorp X that has a government monopoly on a service that is in high demand by consumers and consistently goes out of their way to violate all the relevant consumer protection laws. Knowing that we, the consumers have no option but to use their service no matter how crappy it is.

MegaCorp X in this case being Umeme.

As an individual consumer of electricity, and as a small business owner who relies on Umeme’s power to do business, my hate relationship with Umeme has been a longstanding one. Their inefficiency, corruption, beauracracy and sometimes downright stupidity makes you want to drop some kind of electro-bomb at their various “head quarters”. Give them a power surge of epic proportions just to hit the irony home.

(more…)

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getting started with BlogSpirit v2

19 Jan

Yeah, you’re most likely going to get fed up with hearing about BlogSpirit, but until it’s working satisfactorily for everyone, it’ll be fairly prominent here.

First off, please direct all complaints and queries to post at Node Six. Makes tracking everything much easier.

I’ve uploaded a simple “Getting Started” walkthrough for BlogSpirit over here, for the less tech savvy, even Antipop, self confessed technophobe, should find it easy to follow. Click the image to view the page.

Getting Started with BlogSpirit

This should help ease the orientation just a bit.

To get a feel for the new BlogSpirit, here’s a screenshot of what my custom feeds look like.

Rogue Spirit

Still has a long way to go, but so far, it’s working beautifully for us.

To signup and login as a beta tester, please header over to http://www.blogspirit.ug

Also, please direct all complaints and queries to this post at Node Six, makes tracking everything much easier.

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