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Hacktivate

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Alpha hacking my way through life

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Africa: 222   |   Malawi: 4   |   Visits: 559   |   Page Views: 600   |   Links (Blogs): 302   |   Links (Posts): 427

iPod Touch on Ubuntu via VirtualBox

So I finally am able to do full syncing on my iPod Touch with iTunes despite running only Ubuntu. I use Virtualbox to create a virtual instance of Windows XP. VirtualBox makes it really easy to install Windows within Ubuntu. There were a couple of hurdles to jump to

Military Service in Israel

A few years ago I had an incredible couple of weeks traveling solo through India. One night I had dinner with a group of young Israelis who invited me to join them. It was great. I did not know about mandatory military service in Israel and how both men

Obama on Africa

Last night Obama was on Letterman and spoke at length about Africa. Not even looking at what was said - the fact that Africa was being discussed at all was great. But looking at what was said is pretty great too: Dave: “Well, it’s pretty short now.

Github is forking incredible

Github is incredible. They are doing everything right…down to the fact that they don’t use www in their url. That kind of stuff does impress me. This article summed up their approach (which I found quite inspirational). (Git allows people to collaborate on software projects, to share, merge, follow,

OIBM in the Wall Street Journal

Check out this article about Claudia’s bank in the Wall Street Journal The promise and problems are clear in Malawi, where the nonprofit group Opportunity International holds $15 million in 150,000 accounts in a banking system for the poor. The organization uses armored trucks equipped with ATMs that

The pizza man of Newark airport

So I had a manic, aimless, highly productive and ultimately very useful tramp across the eastern seaboard a few weeks ago. Lots of flying, driving, hiking, cycling, walking, yadda. Measured against expectations, no question, the best meal I had was in the Newark airport. I got in the line

Wireless for Sony VGN-NR220E on Ubuntu

The Sony VGN-NR220E makes a great Ubuntu machine, and thanks to a deal I found here: http://dealnews.com/categories/Computer/PC-Computers/PC-Laptop/49.html It cost around $600. Installing the latest Ubuntu (Hardy) on it, made almost everything work, including very nice desktop 3D effects. (to really get the cool stuff do: apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager) But

Weather insurance in Malawi

My wife is head of microfinance banking at Opportunity International Bank of Malawi. They have many amazing programs including biometric identification at ATMs, mobile banks that visit rural areas, plus good old fashioned microfinance that is having a big impact on Malawi. One of the more interesting things that

Text editors and electric kettles

A few weeks ago I was asked to meet with a company that is selling a software product for doing hospital management. On first glance the product seemed nice, truckloads of features and modules in a fairly clean layout. But there was something wrong with it, something I couldn’t

Zomba Plateau Map

Claudia and I will be spending Christmas on the Zomba Plateau, at the high commission cottage. We really like it there, but have always struggled finding a decent map for hiking around the plateau. Here is one - it’s not the greatest, but it will help. Enjoy! Mountain

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