2010

Mshua

Steampunk Pen ! A Pen That Can Do It All

This pen has to be the most amazing pen ever. It looks like a gun with a bronze/gold color. To be more precise it is a steampunk pen that looks like the Swiss knife, and it has a lot of functions. It can be a flashlight, a pen of course, a flash drive, a spoon, a knife, a fork, a toothbrush, a nail clipper, etc.

So if you are on the go, just grab the steampunk pen and you are ready to run to wherever you need to be at. The flash light is blue and it looks like a laser pen, but I guess it’s not dangerous as the blue light is weak. If you need to eat fast food for example you can always use the knife, the spoon or the fork to finish up your meal. And of course it has a watch, so you can see what time it is in any situation. I think it might be a bit clumsy writing with the pen because of all the stuff that is attached to it, but better to have a clumsy pen than no pen. Something that reminds me of this steampunk pen are these calculators from the past.

Tanzanian dig unearths ancient secret

The remains hold clues about Africa's ancient history

Tira Shubart Off Mafia Island, Tanzania

A discovery which a Tanzanian archaeologist believes will change how East African history is regarded has been made on tiny Juani Island, off the Tanzanian coast.

These discoveries show the people here were interacting with other civilisations - and long before the Islamic era

Prof. Felix Chami

Felix Chami, professor of archaeology at the University of Dar es Salaam has uncovered a major site on Juani, near Mafia Island, which he believes will substantially increase the evidence that East Africa was part of a wider Indian Ocean community. Previous to Dr Chami's other discoveries on the Tanzanian coast, scholars had never considered East Africa as part of the ancient world.
The professor had been alerted to the existence of the cave by two local men who informed Peter Byrne, owner of a small lodge on Mafia Island and supporter of efforts to discover the intriguing history of these small islands - which are now entirely dependent on fishing.
Cave spirits
We sailed on a dhow from Mafia Island to a beach on nearby Juani Island which Dr Chami believes may have been an ancient port since the Iron Age.

Juani island has lush vegetation

Unlike the other islands, Juani has fresh water and soil suitable for agriculture. The two local men, whose curiosity had overcome beliefs that the caves are inhabited by spirits, led us more than a kilometre along jungle tracks.
The men hacked a path through the luxuriant growth with pangas which revealed a collapsed coral cave around 20 metres in diameter.
With the help of hanging vines we climbed down into the cave.
Major site
Scattered throughout the seven to 10-metre-high overhanging cave were shards of pottery, human bones and three skulls.
Dr Chami examined the skulls but said only carbon dating would establish their age. He was most excited by the large habitable area of soft loose soil, at least 50 square metres.
"There could be three metres of layers here to establish a cultural chronology," he says.
"This is a marvel. I believe this was a major Iron Age site. I can assure you this will change the archaeology of East Africa."
Felix Chami will return to the site with his team after the rainy season to start a full excavation.
In the past five years Dr Chami has overturned the belief that Swahili civilisation was simply the result of Indian Ocean trade networks.
Trade secrets
"It was thought that Swahili settlements were founded by foreigners, particularly by Islamic traders," he says. "But these discoveries show the people here were interacting with other civilisations - and long before the Islamic era."
Dr Chami believes the coastal communities may have been trading animal goods, such as ivory as well as iron.

Professor Chami got inspiration from Ptolemy

Dr. Chami utilised the writings of Greek geographer Ptolemy (c.87-150 AD) who described settlements in East Africa as "metropolis" and also referred to "cave dwellers". Ptolemy even specified a latitude eight degrees south on a large river -the location of the Rufiji river.
It was there on the hills above the river that Dr Chami found the remains of settlements with ancient trading goods and evidence of agriculture.
Directly opposite the Rufiji delta are Mafia & Juani Islands.
Dr Chami's excavations uncovered cultural artefacts which have been carbon dated to 600 BC.
They included Greco-Roman pottery, Syrian glass vessels, Sassanian pottery from Persia and glass beads.
But Felix Chami believes the new site on Juani Island may well be the most significant yet. 

Cool Mobile Phone Concepts

Showcasing the coolest most creative and interesting concept mobile phones from around the world. Most of us have a mobile phone nowadays but is yours as cool as these following concepts? They are concepts though and some of them are better than others as you will see!


Android Flip Phone Concept
During the past couple of years, smart phones have evolved to a point where they've more processing power than computers from just a 10 years ago. However, design hasn't changed that much but this innovative concept design entitled “flip” from a designer named Kristian Ulrich Larsen is something very different and fresh.

The Egg Mobile Concept
Check out this cool concept mobile phone from designer Roman Tubl, the Egg. It features an iluminated red strip around the phone, and has a flexible true colour display. The screen is a touchscreen like that of the iPhone, and it is designed to provide tactile feedback. There is also Bluetooth, a USB port, WiFi and a 3.2 megapixel camera as well as 4GB of memory to store all your MP3 and movie files. We love the design of this cool mobile phone!

John Stephen Akhwari - the greatest last place finish ever

John Stephen Akhwari (b. 1938 in Mbulu, Tanganyika) was an Olympic athlete at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. He represented Tanzania in the marathon.
During the race he fell, badly cutting his knee and dislocating the joint. Rather than quitting, he continued running. He finished last among the 57 competitors who finished (74 begun the race). The winner of the marathon, Mamo Walde of Ethiopia, finished in 2:20:26, "Akhwari finished in 3:25:27, more than an hour after the winner, when there were only a few thousand people left in the Olympic Stadium and the sun had set. 17 of the 74 competitors in the marathon that day did not finish the race. John Stephen Akhwari, bloodied and injured, was not one of them."[1]
As he finally crossed the finish line the a cheer came from the small crowd. When asked by a reporter why he continued running, he said simply, "My country did not send me to 5,000 miles to Mexico City to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race."
The competition won him the title of "a King without crown."
Akhwari competed for ten years after the 1968 Olympics. He finished fifth in the marathon at the 1970 Commonwealth Games. There was an article written up in Delta Air Lines' Sky Magazine.

Akhwari has lent his name to the John Stephen Akhwari Athletic Foundation, an organization which supports Tanzanian athletes training for the Olympic Games. He was invited to the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He later appeared in Beijing as a goodwill ambassador in preparation for the 2008 Games.

"Most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to take part; just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well." --Olympic Creed--

dont just start.kijana ni muhimili wa taifa,

DO YOUR PART.