Having long hair has always been a hobby of mine. What better way to keep hair long than to lock it? Yes, locking the hair into great DREADlocks!!

School days were fun. Always wanting to be at loggerheads with the authorities. Unfortunately this never happened the way I wanted it to – to be punished for having extra long hair just like those that hard extra bald head.

I was known as Matrix from the time I was 8years as I was a genius in mathematics. At that time I never understood what matrix meant; only my teacher knew. Thanks to continued education, I got to know about it at senior secondary school.

By the time I was in senior school, I had a massive AFRO hair style – about 31cm long. Matrix had an afro. He came to be known as Afro, but soon he became both – AFROMATRIX. I must admit that I inspired a lot of mates to go the African way. Afros were becoming a tradition in the school.

After school, I got tired and trimmed the hair to the minimum, and trying to maintain a bald head. This didn’t work at all. It’s difficulty waking up every morning and having to comb the hair, style it and all sorts of things. After a few years – in May 2003 – I had my last hair cut.

Within a year my hair was back to it’s normal Afro status. Being inspired by Real Africans Standing Tall Actively, I just found my hair locking. Combing was no longer on the agenda, nature had to take its course. It’s pretty simple to have natural dreads. Have long hair, stop combing it, and keep washing it. And I did just that. Always wash the hair.

Our hairs are natural locks. You don’t need to use chemicals, what for? I pity you who go an extra unnecessary step of applying herbs, chemicals and who knows what to make dreads. Be natural, unless you aint a natural African.

Being a successful broadcaster, I was and am already a public figure. Having beautiful Afro Dreads made me more visible. I enjoyed it while it lasted.

There is a sensational connection with the people when you have dreads. A dreadman is a peace-loving person, and when people met me, all they could naturally do was to smile and greet me – stranger or friend alike.

I remember receiving special treatment almost everywhere I went. I was proud of being African. Being able to share smiles, and some laughter. In my area I was a sole DREADman. And you know what this means!!!

“Are you a rasta?” No am not.

“But you have dreadlocks.” Yes I have dreadlocks. I could ask if they were monks since they had absolutely no hair on them. And after this they understood that am African and proud.

It is a great misconception that having the hair locked is Rastafarianism. It is greatly influenced by it, but I believe it takes a lot to be a Rasta than locking the hair. Just like Morgan Heritage said, “you don’t haffi dread to be rasta. It’s not a dreadlock thing but a conception of your heart.” And many people hide in the name of dreadlocks.

People are bringing a lot of shame to the rasta world simply because they think having dreads is a passport to Rastafarianism. Rastas are peace loving people. They advocate for social change, social justice, unity and love.

People saw this in me, and that is what I meant to do, though not a rasta in that sense.

The only sad thing about having good DREADS and being a broadcaster is that you are no longer a private person. No more privacy. You are in the public lime light. You cannot hide. And since you are always in the open, you have to be the best a human being can be. It’s very easy to be and do good. It uses less energy, and it motivates a number of people that would otherwise have no hope for a good thing on this earth.

Time came when I wanted to have some privacy to myself. Privacy to do what I wanted to do without anyone noticing that am around. I needed to have time to myself. No matter how much people love you, you must always have time to yourself. That’s the only way you can know who you are and what you are here for.

A lot of people get swallowed in the name of doing good for the people, and yet they do bad to themselves and the immediate people around them. This is misplaced pride.

People came to know me as Matongo, the dreadlocked, and not Matongo, son of Maumbi. Now this is dangerous, people no longer know you. What they know is your hair. The hair was definitely not me, but a part of me.

This became a food for thought. As much as it is good to have an ID people associate you with, people have to know the real you. I was losing my real identity – and had to something.

It was not easy after five years to cut very beautiful Gold locks, but it had to happen. 6 Jan 08 was the date that brought back the Matongo Maumbi in me. I cut and archived my locks in my house.

I felt liberated. This is when I came to know who knew me as me, and those who knew me just for the locks.

It’s interesting how suddenly people do not notice am around unless I mention so. My mind is free, but I don’t know for how long I can live without my long hair, and maybe dreads.

One thing am happy about is that I have isolated those that only associated with me ‘cos of the dreads. What I have are people that know me, with or without dreads. Even my girlfriend is at peace with me now. I no longer cause that public attention to the people.

It’s been a number of months since I cut, and I have been cutting every month or so. It seems I just can’t move away from having long hair. I feel the locks are coming back soon. I don’t know what to do and I know what to do. What do I do?

I enjoy whipping people with dem locks. We shall see what happens. Don’t advantage of things and people just because you are dreadlocked, let things and people appreciate what comes from a Real African Standing Tall Actively.

The next time you see me with dreads, don’t ask me why I have them back – I love them…………

Carbon footprinting--a topic that I didn't know much about until a few months ago--is getting some serious mainstream attention. Everyone wants to know: just how many greenhouse gas emissions are generated in order to make the products we consume?

Take Apple for example. Want to know how many kilograms of greenhouse gases are emitted from your iPod nano? Check out the environmental performance report that the company posted last month. The MacBook Air itself might weigh less than 2 kg, but by the time it ends up in the recycling depot, 340 kg of greenhouse gases will have been emitted in order to make it, ship it, use it, and discard it.

Apple's not the only one who's started following their carbon footprints. The UK's Carbon Trust would like companies to start labeling products to reveal the footprint of different goods and services. Think of it as a nutritional fact label for the environment.

What else can you learn from carbon footprints? Quite a lot, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tesco learned the recipe for a low-carbon load of laundry (liquid detergent, cold water, and don't touch the clothes dryer); Patagonia found that its largest footprint was the polyester in its jackets; and Aurora Organic Dairy discovered that cows are gassy, gassy beasts.

Following carbon footprints can also help you figure out how to be a low-carbon consumer. For instance, around 70% of the carbon emitted over the life-cycle of a Toyota Prius comes from the fuel used to move it. That means that driving less frequently, more efficiently, or buying a smaller car with even better mileage can make a big difference.

But if you are thinking of trading in your old computer, think again. Since most of a computer's emissions are from the manufacturing of semiconductors, it's best to get as much life out of your PC as possible before retirement. Of course, if you can power it with renewable electricity, all the better.

The sun was setting as we said goodbye, knowing that we had a good 2 hour journey in the dark ahead of us. I wasn’t too concerned. [...] I think I was smiling the whole way.

Though my frustrations about the project still stand, they’ve been tempered by my sense of hope. [...] The cooperatives can still meet their targets. There are people like Tangson and Kennedy who want to see it succeed. So this thing we’re trying to do…there’s a chance it just might work after all.

Thulasy Balasubramaniam, a friend from Calgary, is working with Engineers Without Borders in Zambia. She is assessing the suitability of a market for sorghum--a drought and heat resistant alternative to maize, the staple food crop in Zambia.

Her job hasn't been easy. Heavy rains and flooding damaged the sorghum demonstration crops: farmers have reported losses of 50 to 80% this year. Along the way, Thulasy has struggled with feelings of powerlessness and frustration.

I worked very hard alongside my hosts, trying my best to keep up and realizing all along that not only have my muscles atrophied from under-use but so has my mind. The abundant world in which I was raised has actually limited my ability to conceive of what is possible, of what my body is capable of, of the elegance in simplicity.

There is so much we can do.

At the same time, here is always a kernel of hope in Thulasy's posts. Through patience and guarded optimism, she has been buoyed by examples of success. At the same time, she's uncovered a deeper understanding of life in rural Zambia, and the incredible people she now calls friends. And did you know that they make Gouda in her town of Kalomo?

Whyson, my co-worker, says that when outsiders see images of village life or drive through in roaring white land-cruisers, they say, “Oh, these people are suffering.” Yes, one cannot deny that there is a fair bit of suffering in rural Zambia. But what visitors fail to see, Whyson says, “is that these people are living.”

Thulasy is entering her second year of life in Zambia; I wish her all the best and look forward to hearing more of her stories. Especially if they involve moonbows!

We ran through the spray of the Falls in darkness, chasing moonbows as if they were pixies, trying to touch them with our fingers and toes... We screamed at the top of our lungs, giddy from enchantment (but also ridiculously cold from the Fall’s spray). We marveled at the beautiful circle in the sky as its light fractured into a spectrum of colour, made sparkles of the billowing mist, and all the while, lifted our spirits.

Last October, we released a report: "Factor of 2: Halving the Fuel Consumption of New U.S. Automobiles by 2035". The piece got some attention from Joe White at the Wall Street Journal just a month before the U.S. Energy Bill increased fuel economy standards for the first time in 20 years.

The report details design and sales mix changes that could halve fuel consumption (measured in liters of fuel consumed per 100 kilometers) in the average new vehicle sold in 2035. This translates into a fuel economy of roughly 50 mpg by 2035--a target that is nearly as ambitious as the 35 mpg by 2020 requirement in the Energy Bill.

The report is available on our research group's website. Check it!

One of the things on my mind these days is finding a job. A career arc I never considered:

"This what becomes of reformed gangsters: they leave the life to become mathematicians. But Smiley was not one of those studious types who disappeared into hermitage or exile. He was an exhibitionist who slept naked and solved theorems while the glass from the overhead sky-light magnified his derivations and graphs".

From Salvador Plascencia's The People of Paper.

A friend of mine developed a website that shows energy use in buildings on the MIT campus. The graphical interface lets you browse through the years, tracking the evolution of energy use in total energy, electricity, steam, chilled water, or gas.

Can you spot the most energetic building on campus? (you'll have to switch to watts per square meter--it's tiny!)

Interview by Brenda Zulu

African Journalists need to embrace the new revolution of Web 2.0 tools if they are to catch up in this globalised World. Below find an interview on Web 2.0 with Matongo Maumbi a journalist from Zambia whose blog matongo.blogspot.com

Maumbi recently attended an online training focusing on Web2.0 tools organized by PenPlusBytes, the International Institute for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Journalism. In 2006, PenPlusBytes launched an online course on ICT Journalism in Africa and it attracted about forty three participants from nine countries spread across Africa, Europe and Asia. You were one of these fortunate students.

Why did you want to engage in such a course? What were your needs?

Matongo: I engaged in the course because I have an interest in exploiting ICTs at personal level and also professionally. I have been working as a broadcast journalist since 2001 and I was lucky to have been exposed to the computer and internet right from the early days of my career. My ICT knowledge is driven by personal interest and enthusiasm. I needed some professional guidance on using ICTs in my career as well as how I would fully utilize them. I needed to know the pros and cons of using ICTs . The limits, the potential benefits the fun of using the internet and how to explore it better.

What did you learn? What did you prefer (e.g.,. learning about new tools, engaging with other journalists, sharing your ideas and knowledge with others, working together on a common article, networking and interacting…)?

Matongo: I learnt quite a number of things. I initially only took blogging as an adventure. Writing whatever came to my mind without any real set objective or target. I guess this was because I did it just out of interest and curiosity. I learnt how to conduct better online research for background information. How to source documents, how to set good parameters for searching. My knowledge on Web 2.0 was improved. Blogging is a good place to express oneself freely without the censorship of your editor or superiors on your work.

How does, what your learnt, influence your current journalism practice? How did it modify your way of working? How did it nurture your work (if so)? How do you apply what you learnt?

Matongo: I preferred learning new tools and also interacting with other journalists from across the continent and globe. As curiosity satisfaction was among my needs, I was really looking forward to learning new tools on ICTs. My mind was more set on learning new tools from what I already taught myself. I guess from the many things I learnt, I now spend less time on the internet. I spend less time because I know better how to conduct my online research with in the shortest possible time but with maximum information. As I am now working better with internet, it has encouraged me to continue getting a local touch to what I read on the internet. During the course I found my self working on fewer but better researched programmes that are of great relevance to our catchments community.

You created your own blog. How do you use this blog? What is the main purpose (PR, information sharing, interacting….?). Did you reach your goal? What are the strength and the weakness of such an exercise?

Matongo: Initially had a website aimed at doing radical campaigns online on things that affect Zambia. Time and resources could not allow me to continue and my site died out. Then I though of creating blog with a similar aim. I basically transferred what my site to the blog. I use the blog to make and achieve my thoughts online. As my blog is more of expressing my self, I have not yet set a good objective. In a small way I have reached my goal of transferring my thoughts online. The greatest strength is that you are your own editor and can write anything you fell is morally right at your own pace and space. You get unlimited freedom besides that fact that you have sensitive stories. Weakness comes in as most of the time I only write about my thoughts without backup professional thoughts. This creates a sense of non credibility from readers. Updates are seldom coming on the blog as I use company equipment and internet to do the updates.

What are the main challenges for African journalists to use Web2.0 tools? Do you think that most journalists have already a "mindset" for Web2 tools? What would the African Media community gain by using Web2.0?

Matongo: The main challenges of African journalists using web 2.0 tools is that we do not have our own working space. We have to rely on computers and internet from our offices. How on earth could one fully use web 2.0 tools when one does not have their own resources? The mindset for most journalists is there but a mindset with out resources is meaningless. Internet connection and access is very expensive for most journalists and even when it is affordable it is very slow. There is plenty to gain such as information sharing, unlimited power to express oneself (group) without the trouble of going through the censoring editors and managers.

Do you think that web2.0 applications - if well used by African journalists - can make the Internet more "relevant"? How so?

Matongo: I think Web 2.0 tools if properly used can make it more relevant. There is a lot of information that African Journalists have but because they have to go through editors, such info is suppressed. Mostly it is as a result of editors, managers not appreciating the role of ICTS tools.

Have you advertised your blog. If yes to whom and how?

Matongo: I think my blog is an isolated one. I have not advertised it. The only people that know about are my friends. I never thought of advertising it mainly because I think I do not update it regularly.

Are you making money from your blog?

Matongo: I am not in any way making money from my blog . I still do not fully know how I can tap into that potential. I do not really see how I can make money. I guess this is something I have to learn next. I know I have what it takes; I just do not have the right guidance.

Have you taught other about blogging?

Matongo: I have not taught any of my close friends' blogging and taking full advantage of the internet besides e-mail messaging. Training for African Journalists in necessary on new web tools because these are new things which are not taught in Journalism. It is also important to note that a blog helps to store content online for African Journalists which has been for a long time been stored in paper form. The content put on a blog is shared and people learn from that kind of content.

A friend, in a letter from Mozambique, writes about 2 years of life in Rwanda, Zambia, and Malawi:

I have been silent for close to 340 days. This is not that I did not want to share, but I think it is because I felt that I had nothing worth sharing. When you live in a place for a number of years, the strange becomes normal, the amazing becomes ordinary, and the unusual becomes common place.

Meeting after meeting I met people who themselves were passionate for development and the benefit of people in their own countries and communities:

• a man in Northern Malawi who had operated a food security program in 5 districts for 8 years without any funding
  
  
• a husband and wife couple in Central Malawi who had given up civil servant jobs in the early 1980’s to start a community based farming project and have transformed their valley from a dry, infertile wasteland to a 20 hectare oasis;
  
  
• a group of gentlemen in central Zambia who were in the process of setting up a small corn grinding mill and vegetable garden to generate money to run several development projects in their community

And these stories represent only a small sample of people I came into contact with.

How could I not love this place?

How could I not have hope for the future?

You can read more about his work here.

Well, the secret's out. Here's our opinion on how to get more miles per gallon:

"Engine and vehicle technologies have improved steadily in the past 20 years, and vehicles have become more efficient. But without either a push from CAFE standards or a pull from soaring fuel prices, the higher efficiencies are routinely offset by the increasing size, weight, speed, and performance of many vehicles.

"The unsettling result is that in the last 20 years the average fuel consumption in new vehicles has not changed.

"But there are ways to lower the cost and the burden of relying solely on regulation. Measures that could stimulate consumer desires for fuel economy would ease both the costs and uncertainty borne by manufacturers."

(P.S. Not that it was a secret or anything.)

Douglas Engelbart thinks that improving the way we relate to information can solve urgent problems in the world.

In a talk to the Technology and Policy Program here at MIT, Engelbart shared how his personal goal of boosting the human capability for coping with world problems drove his careear.

Most notably, he spoke on how it's not enough to match the fit between tools and human factors--on a more fundamental level, it's also essential that both work effectively with basic human abilities. Accroding to Engelbart, these include: sensory, perceptual, motor, and mental skills.

This seems very appropriate coming from the creator of the mouse. Engelbart has a broader vision about how navigating and displaying information can improve out abilities to cope with big problems. He's got specific ideas: Collective intelligence, open hyperdocument systems, and a project called HyperScope.

Engelbart seems bang-on with a number of these ideas, which relate to his work with hypertext in the past. Some of these ideas echo existing applications. For instance, I've always thought it was cool how the New York Times website supplies definitions for any word you double click on in an article.

I've started up a new blog at http://blog.chrisevans.fastmail.fm/. With any luck, this blog at TakingITGlobal should update along with the new one.

Yesterday the MIT Corporation announced that it will divest from Sudan.

MIT's cautious statement acknowledged that the U.S. and United Nations "have declared that certain acts there amount to genocide" and cited "the risk of MIT being associated with truly abhorrent acts" as a motivator for divestment "as appopriate".

I've blogged before about MIT's well-endowed endowment, and previous calls for divestment from Sudanese interests. There's no way of knowing the magnitude of MIT's commitment, as the Corporation doesn't discuss its investments as a matter of policy.

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Education is one of the fundamental human rights and it is also contained in the MDG targets for 2015. Very soon we shall mark the half way point for these goals to be achieved.

This is achievable, and we shall achieve. The question is: What quality of Education shall we achieve by the year 2015? The Government in Zambia has made a lot of strides in making sure that the citizenry is eduacated. Primary schools (upto grade 7) have almost been all fade out and high schools (grades 10 to 12) have been introduced. The primary schools are now basic schools (grades 1 to 9).

This is a good idea. Children can now have a basic education. With basic education, children should as well be equipped with the learning environment they would encounter when they qualify to Grade 10. At the moment there are seldomly any basic school with lab facilities to foster for some practical works. more can be said on this, you may add your own thoughts.

The basic schools have now out numbered the high schools. So, where do those children that qualify to go to Grade 10 go to when the high school are already filled? They have nowhere to go to besides going back home and trying to help with different chores at home or worse still, start with the vices we teach them against. Again, you may add more of your thoughts.

The majority of the teachers in these basic schools are trained to teach upto grade 7. Now they have to be tasked to teach grades 8 and 9 - without training!! The infrastructure is not enough to handle the many children and teachers. There is understaffing, and many teachers have to do double classes. this is not just a double class. It's a class where you would have grade 3 and 4 pupils learning in the same class. What logic there is in this I still do not understand.

The children have been learning for free upto Grade 9. And they were happy the government was helping them. They would qualify to go senior secondary, and now be faced with the headache of searching for at least half a million kwacha to get to school. Free education should be free education at all levels otherwise we are moving more steps backwards than we are forwarding.

Government should not just upgrade the grades in schools, they should upgrade all the staff, infrastructure and financial help for education to be for all at all times.

Zambia needs a much dedicated effort in achieving education for all. it is achievable.