Weekly Recap
Posting again so soon may spoil you, but I'm running that risk.
It's been a slow week here in Kampala. On Monday, we cranked into the week with the strongest of intentions and a positive outlook on scanning those 200,000 files. We did scan over 400 discreet images in the last week, a number that I'm currently comfortable with. Plus, on Friday I went in and pre-screened several issues of our current journal; those should be faster to scan tomorrow morning.
We had dinner with a delightful Kiwi and his wife (Finnish, likewise delightful) and their German friend (also delightful) who had wonderful things to tell us about Ugandan agriculture and the creeping Chinese presence here. China has big money invested in Sudan (especially southern Sudan, where most of the oil is), and they've only just started taking an interest in Uganda. Some people, myself included, think this might mean an oil pipeline through Juba, down to Gulu and then on to Mombasa. There are other likely routes, but an increased Chinese presence here speaks to stronger ties economically. Our Kiwi friend told us that their main short-term interest will be food, which is cheaper to produce here. And there's rumors that the Chinese are behind the massive lays of fiber-optic cable here in the city. No one knows whether it's just Chinese money, or there's some other reason behind their involvement. I, for one, see no purpose in burying millions of dollars of dark fiber here, but others might.*
*Whew* By mid-week, we were run down and more than a little tired.
But things went ary on Thursday. We had guests come to see our work, check out our process and gawk at the cool stuff we have access to. But after they left, so did we, felled by something unpleasant and intestinal. After a nap, Ron and I took Denise out for a nice Italian meal nearby.
Friday was bad. I made Denise stay at home, but I only stayed in the office for about an one-and-a-half hours. By the time I made it home, I was in the mood for a nice long shower, a toilet, and some groundnuts.
Yesterday was better, though. I did some laundry, played around all day, and we ate at one of the local pork joints for dinner. Splendid!
And today, I read a whole book.
And tomorrow, my fantastic girlfriend begins her new job. Yay! So exciting! Congratulations!
And really, pictures are coming.
--------------------------------------------------
*Here's a doozy of a conspiracy theory for you:
1) Google needs to get chummy with the Politburo, looking to stake a claim in the net market in China. Gets burned in the process by privacy advocates.
2) Google now in China, but realizes that the Chinese will finally break the IPv4 Internet.
3) Google/China now invest massively in dark fiber to force widespread use of IPv6 addressing outside the entrenched US/Europe markets.
4) US/Europe get pulled along within a couple of years. Buzz permitting. (Or, alternatively, IPv6 is branded as the 'poor man's internet,' becomes a standard only for developing countries, and never gets admitted into the developed world.)
It's been a slow week here in Kampala. On Monday, we cranked into the week with the strongest of intentions and a positive outlook on scanning those 200,000 files. We did scan over 400 discreet images in the last week, a number that I'm currently comfortable with. Plus, on Friday I went in and pre-screened several issues of our current journal; those should be faster to scan tomorrow morning.
We had dinner with a delightful Kiwi and his wife (Finnish, likewise delightful) and their German friend (also delightful) who had wonderful things to tell us about Ugandan agriculture and the creeping Chinese presence here. China has big money invested in Sudan (especially southern Sudan, where most of the oil is), and they've only just started taking an interest in Uganda. Some people, myself included, think this might mean an oil pipeline through Juba, down to Gulu and then on to Mombasa. There are other likely routes, but an increased Chinese presence here speaks to stronger ties economically. Our Kiwi friend told us that their main short-term interest will be food, which is cheaper to produce here. And there's rumors that the Chinese are behind the massive lays of fiber-optic cable here in the city. No one knows whether it's just Chinese money, or there's some other reason behind their involvement. I, for one, see no purpose in burying millions of dollars of dark fiber here, but others might.*
*Whew* By mid-week, we were run down and more than a little tired.
But things went ary on Thursday. We had guests come to see our work, check out our process and gawk at the cool stuff we have access to. But after they left, so did we, felled by something unpleasant and intestinal. After a nap, Ron and I took Denise out for a nice Italian meal nearby.
Friday was bad. I made Denise stay at home, but I only stayed in the office for about an one-and-a-half hours. By the time I made it home, I was in the mood for a nice long shower, a toilet, and some groundnuts.
Yesterday was better, though. I did some laundry, played around all day, and we ate at one of the local pork joints for dinner. Splendid!
And today, I read a whole book.
And tomorrow, my fantastic girlfriend begins her new job. Yay! So exciting! Congratulations!
And really, pictures are coming.
--------------------------------------------------
*Here's a doozy of a conspiracy theory for you:
1) Google needs to get chummy with the Politburo, looking to stake a claim in the net market in China. Gets burned in the process by privacy advocates.
2) Google now in China, but realizes that the Chinese will finally break the IPv4 Internet.
3) Google/China now invest massively in dark fiber to force widespread use of IPv6 addressing outside the entrenched US/Europe markets.
4) US/Europe get pulled along within a couple of years. Buzz permitting. (Or, alternatively, IPv6 is branded as the 'poor man's internet,' becomes a standard only for developing countries, and never gets admitted into the developed world.)
<< Home