Social Networking

So, less than an hour before posting this (I started writing this 10 minutes after, but well, with typing and stuff, time flies), I saw a status update on Facebook that really was an eyesore. Here it is:

"believe in God but don't pray enough coz He don't believe in me. Still pray for redemption so when I die bury me with a neck full of rosaries and Jesus pieces"

I couldn't let that slide, so I commented:

"WAAAAAA! ZI! I can't let that slide!
belief in God, by definition (to some point), means that God believes in you (If we are talking about the same God worshipped in the Christian faith).
If you're of the opinion that God doesn't believe in you, what makes you think He's going to redeem you. And how does being burried with a bunch of rosiaries going to help you? It's like the Pharaos of Ancient Egypt. Did their gold and servants follow them into the afterlife? Did they help?
And who's to say if you pray enough. Enough for what?" *Forgive the misspelled words, I was in a hurry to get my thought across.

I had posted my comment 5 minutes after he updated his status. I patiently waited for him to notice the comment and explain himself. 10 minutes after his update, he updated something else completely. On looking through my news feed, I was he had been steadily updating stuff for over an hour.

I, of course, began thinking. So... Here we have a social network. Elements of a social network are generally simple: we have a page dedicated to a person, or interesting subject. There's a place for other people or interesting subjects to post stuff and there's a place where the person or interesting subject in question can update a status (generally an interesting thought to be shared with the world). With most of these, there's a chance to comment on the idea.

So, what does this mean for me? It's simple: status updates are interesting things you want your friends/subscribers/stalkers to think about. A comment shows that the audience is interested in the topic at hand, and it's, at the very least, a question of honor and politeness, to reply to the comment and, if possible, post your own, to get a discussion going.

Now, there are, evidently, some people, who appear to miss this point (or I simply have had it all wrong all these years), who simply update stuff for the sake of doing it. But this raises the question: WHY? If it's not important to you what your subscribers/friends/stalkers think of the topic at hand, then WHAT'S THE POINT OF PUTTING THE TOPIC UP AT ALL??? You might as well write it on a piece of paper and then burn it! In fact, writing something on a paper and burning it is a symbol with various meanings, so there may be a point to that, at least! :P

I should be grateful to said friend, though. His pointless gesture gave me a topic to write about (I've been thinking of what to write about, and he gave me the topic).

"You're on Facebook, right?"

This is a question that used to actually have a point, some years ago. It is fast losing importance (if it still has any these days). Social networks, like Facebook are on quite a boom. There are all sorts of statistics on the number of users on Facebook, the number of pages, the number of likes... I'm fast getting tired of these statistics, because after some time even they lose their importance and significance. So now we have a place where we can meet people. We are now in age where most of people's communication and interaction goes on in cyberspace. We have all sorts of ways to communicate with our friends and acquaintances: Facebook, Twitter, Skype, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger... the list is endless! Each has its own pros and cons. Each has a MASSIVE user base. And each one is there to make communicating with people easier. And, indeed, they succeed! Most big companies now know that the internet is the best place to advertise and Social Networks provide the perfect base to have an advertisement go viral.

But where are we going with this? We have all sorts of people in this picture: con artists, activists, politicians, humanitarians, animal rights people, big companies consolidating their customer base, small companies trying to make a big break, individual people, groups... I could go on. Each of these people have their own agenda, be it to steal money, information, accounts, virginities, find friends, make friends, get customers, feed propaganda... Social Networks are powerful tools. And they can be used in any way.

Now, I'm not here to say it's wrong, or point out all the flaws. It is important to mention, however, that people should be careful. Most awesome things these days begin in social networks. But, just as easily can begin terrible things. And, as users, we need to keep in mind, what we're doing and what is our goal. As soon as you start drifting in something this big, you get lost and that's when things get thick.

Now, I've lost my train of thought and probably don't have anything more to rant about, so I'll end there.

Quickie to Kenya - Part I (Preparation and journey to)

So, at the end of a long and eventful summer, I chose to to take a trip back to Kenya. I mean, why not? A simple wish, if there ever was any, right? WRONG! This trip takes the first place in the list of hectic and annoying trips and I'm writing this post even before I've gotten to Kenya. OK, maybe it's not as bad as the trip I took earlier this year... So, Second place then! I should start at the beginning...

Some may remember from my last post that I had a LOT of paperwork to deal with after the trip. Archimedes Foundation has a policy NOT to give any funding if there's paperwork related to the subject yet to be handed in. A very good, solid policy that I understand. What I don't understand is their paperwork policy on proving that I took the journey! We all know how annoying it is to book a flight and stuff, right? Now, imagine having to get the airline to send passenger itinerary to you personally. It took several months (I lost count at 1) to get Turkish Airlines (the same guys who cancelled my flight for reasons I chose not to recognize) to send itinerary of my flight to and from Nairobi (as they were the people who funded my return flight, they had to be informed of my presence on each flight till Helsinki). Once that was done, I went to Tallink to get their little piece of paper saying I was on the early morning Ferry to Tallinn from Helsinki. Lastly I went to the Estonian Air offices to get the Itinerary for my flight to Stockholm (I had to pay them 12 EUR for one sheet of colourful A4 paper!!! Can you believe that???). Of course, by the time all that was done, there was about one week left before I embarked on my second trip. That meant that I didn't get the money for the journey before. I'll get it after. And since I didn't plan my money well this semester, I ended up taking a loan from both my mother as well as my granddad, to whom I already owe two or three months' rent (Yes, I must pay rent to live with my grandparents).

So, bearing in mind my financial problems, I still had a journey to plan and with the clock ticking, I didn't  have many options. The cheapest way was for me to get from Tallinn to Stockholm via ferry and then take Qatar Airways to Nairobi and back the same way (here's hoping that the holders of the World's Best Airline award for two years running don't cancel flights due to bad weather often during the summer...).

A little hindrance was the fact that this time I didn't have a travel partner with whom to share the heavy load of stuff. Very annoying was the fact that Arlanda Airport is about 40 km from Stockholm and the ferry drops everyone off smack in the middle of Stockholm. So, here I am, with a heavy box (yes, boxes again) on my back and half an idea of how to get to Arlanda. In the end I chose the easy and lazy way out. I wait for a taxi with some semblance of a decent price and ride in relative style to the airport. Along the way I realize that the taxi has no speedometer. None. It also doesn't have the little needle that shows the engine's rpm, so I  (and by my logic the driver) have very little ways to figure out the speed of the V-hicle. I resort to looking at the signs that show how far places are and timing the time taken between them. My first check informed me that the driver was doing 180kph. The second 120 kph and I didn't have time for a third. Now, last I checked, such speeds are not allowed in the EU unless on some major high speed highway (like the Autobahn, or something)... I shall not dwell on the matter. I shall simply be thankful that I arrived at Arlanda in one piece and stuff.

Once on the plane to Doha, I had the honor and pleasure of sitting next to some old guy who looked like he could barely take care of himself... I had to help him fasten hi seatbelt, adjust his seat and pick his food... However, as I don't know him, I shall leave it at that and move on to rant about something else... Like the PA system. I noticed as I boarded, that Qatar had annoying earphones so I dug mine out of my bag and used those during the flight. It was ok, except for when the Qatarese chose to use the PA system. I'd be deafened, because EVERYBODY knows when you use PA, there's only one volume level: LOUD!!!

We arrived in Doha at night. Something close to 10 pm, or something. The sun had set and I was prepared, somewhat, for a long and uneventful cold night at the airport (my plane to Nairobi was the following morning at 7.50). This wasn't as expected. As soon as I stepped off the plane, I was stunned be the air. IT WAS FREAKING 35 DEGREES!!! WHO THE FUDGE HAS AN AIR TEMPERATURE OF 35 DEGREES SO LATE IN THE DAY?! It felt as though I was in the exhaust cloud of some big engine! Thankfully the airport, though still under construction, had air conditioning (So I DID get my cold night at the airport, partially as expected...). The next annoying thing was the fact that I suddenly realized that I had left Europe. And that entails, not only changes in weather conditions, but also changes in other standards, including socket shapes! It took me about an hour before I could find a socket, which was worn out enough to shove my big European plug in (they have British sockets; yeah, those ugly 3-pin rectangles). It was only after I had spent the most boring all-nighter of my life that I realized that they had universal sockets deeper in the airport, meant for silly tech nerds (like myself) who forget to carry their adapters.

On the ride to Nairobi, I, once again, had the pleasure and honor of sitting next to someone who could barely take care of themselves. Only this time, I'm sure of the nationality: Chinese! It was weird, sitting on a plane filled 60% with Chinese. It comes as no surprise that Air China (or whatever they call it) wants to organize a route to Nairobi. That should make it easier for the Yellow Communists to colonize Kenya financially (contrary to what may be understood as hatred, dislike or any other negative emotion towards the Chinese, I have nothing at all and actually like the way they do some things).

All in all, not a bad journey! Could have been more interesting, of course, and it could have been a hell of a lot worse!

You Child!

I was walking home from school today and when passing through a park, I noticed a group of kids (probably 1-4 grade) arguing. There was a big black school bag lying on the path and one kid was walking round without a bag. The argument was about his responsibility in carrying his own bag (which I presumed to be the one on the ground). The kid was complaining that it was too heavy. When asked why he had packed so much junk, he replied, "It was my mom who packed it! Tell my mom to pack less stuff then!" By then I was out of hearing range, but I could still hear them arguing.
My mind chose not to ignore that short exchange. First off, the bag was lying on the ground about 300-400 meters away from the nearest school. It obviously didn't have millions of little feet and wasn't made of Sapient Pearwood, so it didn't make it there by its-self. I began thinking of the probability that the kid (obviously spoiled) had asked one of his friends to carry it for him. That would explain the conversation (if you can call that shouting match a conversation...) and it may help in explaining how the bag succeeded in reaching that far.
I began thinking of how that child was being raised. The very fact that he was irresponsibly leaving his bag on the ground (or in the care of someone else) and the probability that he had dared to ask someone else to carry it for him (because he obviously had no interest in carrying it...) gives a few hints. Let's not forget his words: "... my mom packed it ... tell her not to pack so much, then...!"
So here's a child, who's incredibly spoiled. So his mother packs his bag for him at age 8 or 9. I remember when I was that age I was in 5 grade, where I packed my own bag, covered my own books and walked to school alone. The chances of me leaving my over-sized bag on the road or having one of my friends carry my bag for me were equal to 0. I'm of the opinion that he didn't complain about the weight of the bag in the morning when his mother packed his things for him... I doubt he cursed his mother in school for lack of reading/writing material. And now in the early evening (about 14.00), here he is, complaining about its weight in front of 4 other kids with similar bags similarly filled with books and stuff (bags, which I'm inclined to believe they packed themselves).
This called to mind a situation, where a cousin (aged 3) was walking in the gutter. I told her to walk on the road. She said no. She fell shortly after and cried for five minutes. I told her, again, to walk on the road (after picking her up and dusting her off). She said no again, and continued walking in the gutter.



People frequently ask me what I think of Estonia and the life here compared to Kenya. I doubt my answer has changed much in the two years I've been here... I always say that the quality of living here is pretty good, that the four season set-up is interesting, that the people are friendly, helpful and resourceful and that most of the women are good looking and a load of other stuff for another post. Despite all that, I seem to have something against havind to raise a family here!
I have quite a few reasons for that last statement. To begin with, I dislike the fact that some family members feel the need to spoil children and criticize (negatively) the idea of strictness. How on earth can you raise a child who'll understand that elders are to be RESPECTED and who'll deal with their own stuff, like they should (for example: CARRY THEIR OWN FREAKIN' BAGS, PACKED  BY THEIR OWN GRUBBY HANDS) when there's someone who's constantly butting in and countering your instructions?!
My next point is slightly contrary to my previous one, but so what? I, obviously, can't watch over my child 24/7... And so, I'd hope that the people who are with my child at any given time can be trusted with the correcting and teaching of my child. That means that in school the teacher should be looking out, to make sure that my child isn't bullying or being bullied and if one of the previous mentioned is happening, put a stop to it in a fashion that could be permanent! And yet I hear that teachers these days are only paid to try to pour knowledge into their students. All raising and correcting is to be done by parents. Go figure.
My last reason is that I really dislike how people raise their kids round here. And that meant that other people's kids will be a bad influence on mine. I mean, seriously! A parent who packs her son's bag (a son who's old enough to pack his own bag) and doesn't notice that he might feel the bag to be a little too heavy for him...
I'll just leave it there.

Quickie to Kenya - Prelude (The previous trip)

Right, so, I took a trip to Kenya this year (twice). Though the first time was in February, I felt it wise to write about it, because, hey, why not? I get to rant and my readers (if there are any of them) might find enjoyment in it.



So, cause my parent's so awesome and so am I, I get these so called free trips to Kenya twice a year, courtesy of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research and the Archimedes Foundation through their Compatriots Programme (Yes, I know... Enough with the links). Cool, right? Weeelll.... Not quite. Let's not forget that dealing with government agencies tends to have a LOT of a little special something. I think it's called PAPERWORK!
In the agreement it states that I must prove that I travel to Kenya when I say I do. And I think, "Well, hey! The easiest way to prove my presence is to get an ugly Kenya Passport Control stamp on my shiny new EU passport and show the Archimedes bastar.. Ahem... PEOPLE (I meant to say people) the desecrated passport." Simple! Guess Again! The annoying bastar... err... PEOPLE... choose to have the most annoying policy I've ever seen: "We DO NOT accept Passport Stamps as proof of visit." Yes, you read right. The passport stamp, whose sole purpose is to record that the person, onto whose passport the stamp had the honor of being placed on, was indeed at a particular place at a particular time, is NOT accepted as a valid verification of travel. Instead, they expected me to collect all my boarding passes and/or tickets from the travel, put them in an envelope and send them to the foundation. It's a little hard to do so, when half the boarding passes got left in Kenya (and thrown away in Kenya two days after my departure) and the others got lost and misplaced on the way back. Neat! So, what must I do if I can't give them boarding passes? I must go to ALL the travel companies I traveled with and ask them to write a letter, or produce itinerary proving my presence on their vessels. It's clear now that instead of wanting me to prove that I went to Kenya, they want me to detail my route and in that way show that I went there, which, to me, doesn't make much sense, given our agreement. I should make a point of reading through it again to make sure I didn't misunderstand... Next thing I know, I'm not allowed to complain about them :P



Right, so I had a messed up amount of paperwork to deal with on my return. But that's not all. The route to Kenya was mostly uneventful. I flew with the Estonian national carrier, Estonian Air to Stockholm and then took Turkish Airlines to Nairobi, with one stopover in Istanbul. I got to Nairobi in the early morning, when my parent is probably the least productive. Which was annoying given that that was the time I really needed her to be alert (not that she can't get up fast or anything...) I passed through passport control without problems (though with 40 EUR less in my pocket... Tourist visas leave quite a mark!) but get caught up in Customs. Kenya has some really weird customs! I mean, we have Masais, who kill lions to prove their manliness, Kikuyus, who LOVE their money and Luos who love their fiss (fish, for the ignorant readers), to name a few. We also seem to have airport officials who feel that everyone who comes in has something to declare. There is NO "Nothing to Declare" section. Everyone must (apparently) pay a little something to the dear customs people. It was very annoying having to open my boxes (boxes because you can shove lotsa stuff in them and they don't weigh much in themselves and open, because the Kenyan government seems to have missed the memo saying, "Customs works better with X-Ray machines!") It was also just as annoying to have a stranger lean over and look at the contents of my box and then ask, "So, how much is all this worth?" Excuse me? how much is it worth? Interested in selling it are we? Seeing that there was no other way to get past these annoying customs, crowding round my box like vultures, I called the Estonian Consul (the sleepy parent). The Consul went on to diplomatically make things clear to the disappointed Customs official: The contents of the box are property of the Estonian Consul (who, as a diplomat, is exempted from paying taxes or any other excuse the officials can use to try and get money out of me) and the bearer of the box is the son of said Consul (meaning he is, similarly exempt from taxes). And should the official not believe what is being said to him, he is permitted to take the boxes into custody and once the workday begins, someone from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would show up and make things clear. I got through customs pretty fast after that call... WITH my boxes :D



The part of the trip where I was actually in Kenya was pretty good. There was a small matter with the heat, that I got used to very soon, and my travel partner from Estonia had a pretty good time at the coast and Masai Mara. We even went to Bungoma and had fun there!



The route back was the most er... INTERESTING. All's well that ends well, right? Well, this DIDN'T end well at all in my books. So, we had a flight in the early morning and we got to the airport on time for that (somewhere near midnight). I start to look for the Check-In desk, that should be up. Noticing its absence, I ask an airport official where to find it. He points in some vague direction saying, "It's normally over here, but look!" he points at the departures list/screen, "The flight is cancelled!" And there I stand looking like an idiot feeling very sure that only seconds before that same screen showed that Check-In was underway. One hour or so later, an angry mob is waiting outside the Turkish Airlines cubicle and the idiot in there didn't look like he gave much of a damn. Half an hour or so later, a woman and another man (the man seems Turkish) show up and say that they'll deal with us soon. They say that the flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Istanbul (Let's not forget that the northern hemisphere was under the impression that they had what they call Winter). I'll skip through the part where I thought that to be a load of hogwash and the wait as well. I shall, however say that we got a flight to Helsinki via Amsterdam, because they simply couldn't find a way to get us to Stockholm. Once in Amsterdam, I got the very bright idea that I should find the Turkish Airlines box and tell them that they should, instead, take me to Tallinn (I mean, why not?). The guy behind the desk looked at his computer and says, "We can't take you to Tallinn, but I see here that your original flight took you to Stockholm. I'm sure we can get you there at around the same time the other flight would have gotten there!". Anyone smell something fishy here? But since my luggage was already on its way to Helsinki, I chose to go with them there (what I'd give to have The Luggage from Pratchet's Diskworld...). And to finish off my journey by air, the plane arrived in Helsinki 15 minutes too late for me to get on a ferry to Tallinn.

Murphey's Law isn't it?

Sound, Speed, Action!

Welcome, dear people, to a brand new September! My university life (which was on pause for a month or two) is back on again and boy is it going to be hectic!

Let's have a quick overview of my summer right about... now!
What I thought would be a summer full of stuff turned out to be pretty relaxed... I messed around with the EstCube program for a month or so, then went on to messing round with the Clarinet at an awesome camp. The camp changed my entire outlook on how I've been playing (and I've been playing for about 5 years!). Immediately after I was thrown (or threw myself, I'm not sure of the details...) into the mad cyclone known as the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO). After that I had an easy time. A very close friend (close enough to be a relative) came over to visit from Israel and shortly after I went on my visit to Kenya (expect a handful of posts on this!).

See ya!

Because I wanna!

Why do we do the things we do? I can't tell how many times someone has asked me, why I do or did something. I find the answer to be very simple: I wanted to. Some say that's not a good enough reason... They expect some long story about how I needed to do something in order to obtain something... Frankly, I find those so called reasons to be a big load of bull.



Let's break it down a little bit. Let's go back to when we were kids...
What does a child do, when he (I'm a guy, the masculine pronoun comes more naturally to me... sorry, girls!) sees something cool? He either goes and takes it, or, if unable to do the afore mentioned, calls out to mommy or daddy and says, "I want that!" Then mommy or daddy let's his or her brain go through an algorithm, that has been perfected over years, that determines whether little tyke can get whatever it is that he wants. Now, for arguments sake, let's say that the algorithm determines that little tyke can't get said cool thing. Now mommy or daddy generates some random excuses as to why tyke can't get the thing. They go along the lines of, "you've been a bad boy", "we don't have the time", "you already have something like that", "you already got a new toy last week", "you don't play with the toys you already have" or, if tyke is slightly older and bigger than a toddler, "you're grades were terrible last term!". And so, Tyke (it seems that that has become his name...) must start compiling his own little algorithm that he can use to get what he wants. The algorithm is usually known as finding a reason. So next time he'll say something like, "I did good last term. Can I have that?" or "I need that so that I can do this". And he'll start thinking like so: "I have to do that, or else I'll not get this".



In a way, it's good. Kids get to understand the idea behind cause and effect and get a feel for the worth of things (kinda like, just because he took the trash out once doesn't mean he gets a brand new X-Box). But it makes life much more complicated! I mean, life is SO much simpler, if you know that I'm only attending this seminar because I want to. Not because my mommy told me to. And also not because my best friend dragged me to it, threatening to kill me and steal my girlfriend if I didn't. It also means that I and I alone make the choices in my life and the choices I make are in my own interests (Note: I didn't say that they were in my best interests). I find that people who have all sorts of reasons to do something or other are actually coming up with ways of having something else take responsibility for their own actions. I mean, it's like "Yeah, I punched that person in the face and I know that's assault, but it's because he insulted me!". That sentence is of equal meaning to this one: "That man said something and I felt that it wasn't the nicest thing to say. I chose to get angry and to show my anger, I smashed his face in with my fist, knowing full well, that that is also not a nice thing to do and is generally not acceptable in society." What I see there is simply, "He said something. I didn't like it. I chose to punch him in the face because I wanted to."



Anywho, I'm rambling. And I suddenly realised, that there is an important aspect of "I wanna" that I haven't looked at yet. So as you may have guessed, I really like wanting things. But what are the benefits? For one, I only do things I want to do or things that end up with a result I want to have. That means I'll never be angry or sad because of having to do something I don't want to do.
Another great thing is that if my only reason to do something is that I want to, and have no reason not to, then I can very easily discontinue long term projects and things if and when I don't want to any more. Simply because I have no reason to continue. There's nothing holding me down or tying me to some unwanted task.



Now, I've rambled and been grouchy for long enough and you have seen that I promote being whimsical, so long as you don't get in the way of my whims. It makes life so much easier and nicer, doesn't it? Have fun, and do stuff you want this summer (and after too, if you want to...).

Summer

Today marks the beginning of Summer Holidays in all public schools in Estonia. As of today, every singly snot nosed kid is free to do with his or her time as he or she sees fit. For myself, this day is the day of my last exam for the semester, which is a good thing. However, I wouldn't consider this to be the beginning of my holidays. I still have a few projects to finish off and all sorts of other stuff.
Today also marks the beginning of a new blog of mine, that took the address this one used to occupy.

In any case, I wanted to have a post talking about Summer and the freedom it brings along. Why is it important?
The first reason is one that I can't explain as well as I'd like to because I, personally, don't understand it. I shall, however, try and do my best. The first reason is the most apparent and, probably, obvious: THE WARM WEATHER! We, who have lived under the Equator for any considerable period of time don't understand why these northern people dream of and practically covet the sun. I have realised during my one and a half years here that they don't like the Winter. I mean, yes, Winter is fun and beautiful with all the snow, but the cold seems to get to people and it makes them similarly cold in personality. They're less relaxed in the cold and tend to curse every day which brings negative temperatures. I don't understand them... I, having lived in a warm climate for around 17 years find the cold an interesting and welcome change. There is one thing that a young man could look forward to in Summer: the women tend to wear more revealing clothing and sunglasses, which would be out of place in the winter, hide staring eyes. Hate it or love it, it's a fact and from those facts many conclusions can be drawn. I leave them to you.



Closely linked to the warm weather is the second reason people love Summer: FREEDOM! Of course the word in caps lock can be understood in many different ways. In Africa it tends to be related to the ability to do something without a party attempting to disrupt that activity. The freedom I want to talk about is the ability to do something that was previously not possible due to weather conditions. In Winter, someone walking around with a nice comfortable T-shirt and shorts is going to end up with a cold or flu at the very least. Similarly, a nice swim in the sea involves a long and tedious ice-breaking session that has very little to do with getting to know one's companions. After the ice-breaking session comes a short burst of activity involving a few moans, probably some shrieks and then a flurry of activity in the direction of the nearest source of warmth (usually a sauna). I am yet to find someone who'll go frolicking in the sea for hours at a time in Winter. During Summer however, one can walk around in clothing as light as one wants (something a very large amount of people take advantage of). If a Kenyan grandparent were to be brought here in the middle of Summer I'm sure they'd be stunned by the amount of skin shown (though late Spring can be even worse...).



And lastly: Winter is dark. Surprisingly dark. The sun rises at around 8 or 9 in the morning and sets ad around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Thus, the sun is out at the same time people are at work or school. Also, if someone's lucky enough to be outside during this time, chances are clouds cover the sky and block out the sun. Needless to say, if someone gets sunshine during Winter, they're lucky. It's no mystery why people over here wish each other sunshine the same way I'd wish you a good day!
Summer is the exact opposite of Winter. The sun is always up. It practically doesn't set! Whenever I feel the need to spend the entire night and part of the early morning studying the sun is on its way up again by the time I'm turning in. And when did it set? Oh, at around 11 pm... I, who have learned to tell the time from the amount of sunlight  or from the sun's position in the sky find it remarkable that I simply can't do that any more. I'd need to change my algorithm on a weekly basis in order to make use of it over here and it would only work during Summer because in Winter, there's no sun!
And we all know that darkness tends to get to people. I can definitely say for sure, that Estonians are more fun during the Summer and slightly annoying during Winter.

Oh, there's one more reason why people love Summer: school holidays. I rest my case.

Publicity

We all want to be famous, or at least that's what I've gotten from people over the years. The question should be: what do you want to be famous for, and with what audience. And, of course, what will be the means to that end?



In Estonia, there's a big campaign to publicize the Sciences and to motivate more young people to participate in them, to take them up and study them. The vice dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Tartu, Mart Noorma, is of the opinion that the sciences are the key to Estonia's future. He sees a future where the world is powered by Estonian inventions and programs and I agree with him, in most respects and I certainly would like to see a future with inventions I made or helped make.
Let's have a look at how this small northern country is going about this campaign. For one, there are very many magazines, which deal with the sciences and they're all good quality publications, which have articles from all sorts of interesting sources. In terms of reading material, there's enough to go round.
A very powerful tool for this cause is the science centre, "AHHAA", which is simply a BIG building filled with all sorts of interesting sciency and techy things that kids can mess around with. It's practically fun for the whole family! Just go there with the kids, unleash them on the centre ,let them learn, explore, invent and discover! And at the end of the day, the kids had fun and actually learned something!
Another very powerful and interesting thing that has been tried is a television game show, "Rakett 69", in which I have had the honour and pleasure of taking part. The idea is to get around 15 undergraduates and high school students, who have a passion for the sciences together and have a game show on the subject. In the end of each episode, one contestant gets kicked out until there's only one left. The winner gets a 10,000 euro prize and other cool stuff. This should show kids and teenagers how fun the sciences can be and, in some ways, it succeeds. Unfortunately, the outcomes are not exactly what the organisers would like, but it's a very good attempt, in my opinion.
And lastly, the country declared 2012 as the Year of Science and declared the university town of Tartu as Europe's Science Capital (or they're in the process of doing so, it's a little confusing). The idea is to have all sorts of people coming to Tartu to show their awesome inventions, thoughts, ideas... and to have the Estonian people learn from them. Kinda in collaboration with this is the BIG IPhO Physics Olympiad, that has young people from all over the world for 10 days or so in Estonia. These are VERY powerful motions these Estonians are putting in motion!

Now, I'm not only Estonian, but also Kenyan, as I try to tell some people (and what some people keep reminding me, in turn). In Kenya, unfortunately, there isn't a big campaign on the sciences or any field of knowledge, for that matter. So, I asked myself a quick question: What's important to a Kenyan? The answer, in my opinion, should be taking care of the family. Part and parcel of taking care of family is having a job, to put food on the table. And what's necessary, for a job to be successful? Clients! And the best way to get clients? Publicity in the form of advertisements!
So, how do these go in Kenya? We have billboards, radio, television (yes, dear first-world people, Kenya does have TV!), even cell phones are used for advertising things! Now, I chose to pick a company, that's relatively new, that's trying to strike it big in the IT field. I'll not give their name here (that would be mean) bu I'll have a look at how they're going about their publicity. They have been on television multiple times explaining their ideas and thoughts in an attempt to get people to understand the importance of their product (just as businesses do). I feel that they're forgetting a fundamental thing. Who are their targeted audience and does that audience pay attention to the medium of communication they're using? I find that the company in question is intently (oh, so very intently) shooting in the wrong direction! The TV times they get are less than ideal, because at that time, nobody who'd be interested in them is paying any attention! A waste of energy and time. They've also been trying to attract a user base in Facebook and Twitter. Now, Facebook might be an "OK" place to attract customers, but Twitter? No. I find that Twitter, for one, is a waste of time (I'm not going to deal with social networks right now, but expect a post on them soon!) and certainly not a place to try and promote a new brand. When it comes to social networks, there's a certain way of doing it and it depends on the network in question. Twitter is, in my opinion, more of a place to simply keep fans and followers entertained with witty sentences that make very little, if any, sense. Facebook works for a brand only as a base for viral ads. Facebook and a good viral campaign is like a forest fire in the dry season. The company in question doesn't have a very good viral campaign, but once it gets one, I'm sure it would be VERY effective.



But, why am I writing all this? I have very many thoughts and ideas and I need a place to put them. I hope someone gets an idea or two from reading this stuff!
Feel free to post a comment or ask a question! You may also criticize, should you see the need to do so.

I don't know. *The ravings of moi.*

I watched Dreamgirls.



I generally have a list of movies that leave me in a contemplative state of mind. And it's usually also very pessimistic. I thought I'd take the time to share. To show a sliver of a darker side... my darker side. The side that I try to keep locked well away, because it leaves me with a sorry feeling inside. Dreamgirls is one of the three movies that breaks the chains and demolishes the doors that hold the darker side back.



It's interesting how a complete stranger, who knows what he's doing can change the lives of so mane people for the worse. A man who was unknown to everyone just came in all of a sudden and in a matter of days was already calling the shots in a big singer's life and had three talented singers under his foot. An interesting quote: "Michelle, he can quit, but you can't."
It led me to think of all the big changes brought about by new faces. Are they really in the interests of the subjects? What happens to the people who don't want to go with the flow? There's a quote from a source I have forgotten, that goes like this: "Do not doubt that a small group of individuals can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that has." Now, let's bring one more aspect into it: in a small group of individuals, there is usually one person with the potential to have the rest of the group following his or her lead. Now, put two and two together and you get that one very powerful individual with a small group of influential followers (or henchmen) has the power to change the world. That is a very scary thought.



Immediately after watching the movie, I checked out Facebook. My old, once prestigious school has a group on Facebook, where the alumni and some students discuss issues regarding the school. If you haven't read my post on St. Mary's School, now's a very good time to do so. Here's the link. An old schoolmate of mine posted an interesting message. The thing is, the school is losing what we call the Saints Spirit, a very powerful tool in the life of any Saint. Now I'm sure that even someone who knows nothing of this spirit can understand the problem: the source of the Spirit, the institution that spreads the Spirit seems to be fresh out of it. Which means that the school isn't producing any more Saints. That's a problem that most alumni, who know of the problem, are trying to fix. And in my pessimistic state of mind, I looked at the situation with the eyes of a sceptic. If around 80% of the school population doesn't know what the Saints Spirit is and the 20% who DO know what the spirit is are in their last years of school, then, quite frankly, I have lost my hope. The Saints Spirit is gone. Getting it back will be unbelievably difficult.



This post has no real topic, I apologise. I'm hoping from one thing to another, simply speaking my mind. Dreamgirls is a very good movie and I strongly suggest you, my readers, watch it if you haven't. If you have, watch it again. You'll be surprised, what you missed the first time. One thing I got this time that I seem to have missed before was the determination of people. Someone who has been beaten to the ground, betrayed by the people most important and loved can keep going. I always believe that if there's a will, there's always a way, but if I were in a similar situation, I'd lose my will. It made me think: what's most important in my life? And, to tell the truth, I don't know. I really don't know. I have a lot of respect for my mother and she has this line that really annoys me sometimes: "If you don't know, then who does?" Right now I don't even have the answer to that question. I realised I'm lost at sea, with no hint of a direction and I can certainly say this: swimming in a sea with no direction can get VERY tiring.
In the movie, Effie White (Jenifer Hudson) was left alone at a time when she needed her fiends the most. The only thing that kept her and her newborn daughter safe was her love for singing. If I were to put myself in her shoes, I'm not sure what would happen. I have very many hobbies, but I also lose interest in them very fast. The only interests that have stayed with me for any measurable period of time are computers and physics. And physics has started to fade away. If I were in a situation where I was out of options, I don't know what I'd do, and that's a very scary thought.



I think that's enough rambling and raving for one post. You may notice that I didn't publicize this post. It was mostly to find out how many people actually have an interest in what I write. Feel free to comment down below on anything you feel like (so long that it is in some kind of context... any will do :D )

The Tartu Bike Rally and stuff learnt from it.

So, I went for the Tartu Bike Rally (it's a road race thingy that takes place once a year and attracts quite a few thousand participants, including some on the biking champions of the world. The first thing I told my granddad after the race was: "Remind me never to try that again!" Don't get me wrong, it was an awesome experience and was wonderfully organized (comments on that later on), I just didn't like it. I had gone for a Bike Marathon (cross country this time), organized by the same guys in Autumn and I must say that I liked that one more.
So, what did I dislike about this one? Well, for one, I believe I placed third last (at least I wasn't the last one...). Everyone has an excuse for everything, so here are my excuses:

• I didn't train
• I had a bad bike
• I chose the longer, harder route
  

The training bit... well... frankly, if I get time to go on a bike rally, it's great but train? Nah! I'm not the kind to train by riding my bike round the country (or town/city).
The bike was NOT IDEAL. But, given my options at the time, it was the best I could pick, so I'll not complain (especially because the owner of the bike is going to reading this :P ).
And the last of my reasons: I, the idiot that I am, picked the longer route. I had a choice between 137km and 74km. And I chose the 137, because I could. Why not? I died very many times during the rally. My back side is hating me (and dishing out some serious payback) and my legs are planing a mutiny. We'll see, if I can get up tomorrow (I'm not expecting to).
Besides my own stupidity, there was actually another reason as to why I didn't like the rally: people's lack of respect for the environment. At the starting line, I saw that the more serious cyclists had some interesting shirts or bags into which they had stuffed all sorts of edible stuff (at least I think the weird tubes and cigar sized things were edible...). They had also screwed, taped and fixated many other things onto their bikes, like tubes, pumps, lotsa water and other unknown stuff. They were pretty well stocked, I must say! Two minutes into the start, I rode past a pump lying in the middle of the road. It had been ridden over multiple times and was broken. Similarly, once in a while, I'd find a bicycle chain lying on the road and lastly, practically everywhere along the road was the debris of gluttonous eating. Abandoned water bottles, half empty stuff-tubes and sachets of other stuff lay along the entire route. I never got lost because all I had to do was follow the trash trail. It led me to think: so, we're x km from the start. You have carried the full packet all this time. Now that you've emptied it, it's much lighter and takes up less space in your bag/pocket... WHY CAN'T YOU PUT IT INTO THAT SAME POCKET IT CAME FROM??? As much as I know it's the organizers' responsibility to clean up after us, it's much easier for them if we DIDN'T actively throw stuff away.
There's another way of looking at this: why are we in the rally? If your answer is "to train", then you're an idiot. You don't have to be in a rally with an entrance fee of 70+ EUR to train. If it's for the prizes, then I'd say that you're chances of getting any prizes are incredibly slim, if you have so much heavy stuff holding you down. The only reason I found as to why to be in the rally was: to enjoy a competitive ride around a beautiful country. In which case, the sight of abandoned bottles, sachets and tubes (I even saw a pair of socks...) doesn't enhance the view.
Another thing that I failed to understand. One other reason as to why I was among the last was because quite a few people chose to chicken out during the rally. I overheard two people at a water point talking of leaving because things weren't looking good for them. My opinion: Life isn't meant to be easy and things don't always have to look the best for you! I'm sure I'd really want to have a straight, downhill road for 137km. But that would simply not be challenging at all. Where's the fun in that? And once again: people paid quite a bit of money to participate. What's the point of chickening out and letting that money go to waste? So you're not among the leaders. Big deal. With that attitude, you don't deserve to be among the leaders and I'm not sure you deserve to participate at all.
Right, then! I've complained and cursed myself for my stupidity, it's time I had a look at the awesome bits. The first of which: DAMN those organizers were serious! They had police cars patrolling and stuff to keep idiotic motorists at bay and had the entire city ambulance service driving around making sure everyone was alright. AND, they had a firm, that dealt with bikes also on patrol to fix broken down bikes and stuff. I award top marks for that! Next: the water points were the only things that kept me going. I have no idea why I'm calling them water points, because water was not the only thing you got there. There were rehydration drinks, free bottles (full of rehydration drinks with the firm logo on them), rye bread, raisins, bananas, raisin bread, cheese bread, salt... And most of them also had a bike mechanic, who'd fix your bike, should you see the need. One word: AWESOME!
And the ting that just made my day was not by the organizers (though I'm not sure about that...). After the second last food point, someone had spray painted onto the road: "PÄIKE JA RÕÕM!". Translation: "Sunshine and happiness!" and later on, at the top of a hill: "JÕUDU!" trans: "Strength". That someone had taken the time to try and make people happier as they went by was just touching. That was great.



So, to conclude on what I learned:

• I am a crazy idiot.
• People have little regard for the environment.
• Organizers should take a leaf or two from these guys' book
• There are actually people in Estonia, who try to make people happy (a precious few, but they are there...).
  

St. Mary's School

We stand for God and for His glory,
The Lord supreme and God of all,
Against His foes, we raise His standard,
Around the cross, we hear His call,
Strengthen our faith, redemer,
Guide us, when danger is nigh,
To Thee, we pledge our lives and service,
For God we live, for God we die,
To Thee, we pledge our lives and service,
For God we live, for God we die!!!!

I am ashamed to say I had a small problem with writing the first verse or our school song. The problem being, I had forgotten what came after the sixth line.

It has been about two years, since I finished high school in Kenya, at the top of my class. Within that time, I have finished high school a second time, had a handful of interviews on national TV, two interviews on a regional radio station, been a small TV star and enrolled in the university I wanted to study in since I was a child.
Within the same amount of time, my old school, the once great St. Mary's, has lost more teachers than I realise, lost more students than I can count and lost more credibility than I'd like to expound on.

During the course of my last 2 years in the institution I love, many changes (most of which were for the worse) were being made and even then many teachers and students left. Now all that's left are a handful of teachers and a old compound, with very many memories. I'd hate to think of what older Alumni see in what now holds the name of our school. It's painful to watch, read and hear, how the school has changed. The facilities are covered in filth and need serious maintenance, the quality of education is going down and even the Saints Spirit, that lurks about the halls and compound, that should keep us together is no more. All that's left of the Spirit is in the Alumni, who quietly, each day, pass on a small portion of the Spirit to other people in their day to day lives.

It is time the Alumni came back to their old school and restored it to its former glory. Steps have been made, associations and groups formed, long conversations and meetings, petitions, arguments, the list is almost endless. But aside from the removal of part of an ineffective administration, nothing has been achieved and the school is in a very bad state. In any case, the poor administration was replaced with an equally poor, of not worse admin, so I'd say it was a step back. "Better the demon you know, then the angel you don't."
I feel that this is because the wrong steps were made. Rather than trying to remove the administration that we feel is wrong, we can try to change it. It is only wrong because it has no sense of the Saints Spirit. We, who have the Spirit should come together and, with our actions in restoring the school (at least in restoring the physical facilities that we have the power to do), we can pass on the Spirit to those who don't have it. We already do it every day to our business partners and contacts. Why not bring our torches back and recindle the fire that should mould our children to be Saints?
The Saints will march in and restore the great institution and oh, Lord, I really do want to be among the number, when the Saints go marching in.
It can be done. It should be done. And if we chose to take the time and the effort, it SHALL be done.

We all know this line: "Once a Saint, always a Saint!". I feel that the same applies to the institution that makes Saints.
"Once the Institution, always the Institution!"

Nationality

It has been about one and a half years since I left the country I have lived in for my whole life to go back to the country of my birth. I thought it would be fun and interesting and, in a sense, it is. But there are a few things I grow tired of. One of them is this question: "Do you feel more Estonian or Kenyan?" This abominable and annoying question is one that my new countrymen feel important to ask no matter where I go, be it school, family or even among strangers. I found the best answer to the question a few weeks ago. and it goes like this: Let's shine two light sources at the same spot on a white wall. One source gives out red light and the other gives out blue. Now, look at the wall and tell me: is the colour of the spot red or blue. Is it more red than blue?

Growing up in Kenya, nobody ever was interested in my nationality. and why should they? Kenya has so many tribes, nationalities, families and countless other social divisions, that there's no point of trying to find it out. In any case, knowing about it didn't make much of a difference. It's not like knowing someone's nationality changes the person. In fact the thing that's going to change with that information is the asker's perception and paradigm of the person. All those who people in Kenya, who asked me where I was from, didn't ask me wbout my sense of identity. It wasn't important. They wanted to know what the place was like and how fun it is to be in. After all, that's all they saw as important (I agree with that perspective). Being more Kenyan or Estonian never crossed their mind. I was Andreas and I was the way I was. Full-stop.

Estonia is, needless to say, different. People here have this weird need to find the sources of everything. The fact that I'm part Kenyan is very important to them and I fail to see the reason why. I see us all as people and I really don't like the fact that they don't. I don't study social psychology or sociology (that would by my mother and a few other friends) but I have come up with my own understanding of why this is so: Estonia is a small country, in very many ways. Not only does it have a small area, but the population of the entire nation is less than the population of Nairobi (the capital of Kenya, for you ignorant readers), something close to 1,2 million. This country actially has a real possibility of going extinct. Their history is also full of all sorts of invasions and other unpleasant things and that has left in them a sense of identity that I don't understand. They want to keep their culture pure and maintain their family ties. And so they look at outsiders differently. They are either potential threats (they can be in terms of physical attacks, or even threats in that they dilute the culture) or they are interesting spices to add to the already conc brew. In my case, I'd be an interesting spice, but only if I feel more Estonian in nature. If not, I'd be more likely to dilute the culture. I'm rambling, probably... Don't take me too seriously, eh?

Now, here's where I'd probably say I'm more Kenyan, but I should perhaps point out that I just spent an entire morning listening to Eric Wainaina (one of Kenya's best musicians, for the ignorant people) and, frankly, there's nobody who can listen to Wainaina and NOT feel a little more patriotic to the country under the equator. In any case, it helped me realise what I don't like about Estonia and what I love about Kenya: in Kenya, I can do whatever I feel like doing, so long as I have the necessary resources and I don't inconvenience a fellow Kenyan, without worrying about people judging me. I grow tired of having to watch my every move (especially the movements of my tongue and my fingers on the keyboard) because someone is going to get insulted (that seems to happen a lot). I, for one ave grown weary of people chosing their words carefully around me, because they think I'll get insulted and angry.

This long post has tired me, so I'll end with this: I like politically and socially correct Estonia, but miss carefree Kenya.

Take Two

Heya, people.
I remember about a year or so ago I tried having a blog, but because I didn't have a reason at the time, it died out and I chose to discontinue it. I deleted it.
Now here's take two. I have a reason to speak my mind and so I shall.
Unlike my old blog, where I simply wrote what came to mind, this time I'll write what I really want to write about. The things that I feel are most important for me to tell you: the nice, lovery people, who have taken your time to read the ravings of a crazy idiot like myself.
I hope you guys will be as entertained and informed by me as I am. And should you want to, feel free to leave a comment or two.