Asalam aleykum, my brothers and sisters.
As you may have recently realised, too many people are dying. Given, they are going back to our Father, but that doesn't make the transition any easier. So i dedicate this blog to all those who've lost a loved one... Feel free to write your RIPs.
Militant out.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Easy Cash Project
Introduction:
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) have taken over from exchanging hard cash and cheques, which still remain the main sources of exchanging of money. Recently, mobile phone operator, Safaricom, made advancements in EFT by creation of the service M-PESA. As the first of its kind in the world, this is a service that allows any registered Safaricom subscriber to send and receive money, directly from their cellular phones. This has proved to be both convenient and profitable.
Statement of the Problem
Although M-PESA is available to a wide range of clients, the services offered are limited and it is not able to reach everyone. Considering the number of other services that could be offered other than just sending and receiving money, and buying airtime.
Currently there are two other mobile service providers, namely Celtel Kenya and Telkom. Clients who use these services are locked out of the use of M-PESA.
Existing Systems
Current methods of payment apart from M-PESA include bank transfers, credit and debit cards. All of which are limited to particular people, and according to their income. Credit cards on the other hand have been perceived as a preserve for the wealthy, due to the stringent requirements one has to go through to acquire one.
Concept
Easy Cash (e-Cash), proposes to be an extension of the current M-PESA service, guaranteed to put Kenya on the map.
e-Cash will have the following features:
a)Enables transfer of funds between registered mobile subscribers, no matter what operator they use.
b)Serve as a ‘mobile bank’ so to speak, and enable its clients to even pay bills such as restaurants, power, water, etc. just through the touch of a button.
c)In partnership with international money transfer services such as Western Union and Money Gram, have the potential for a client in Atlanta Georgia, USA to send a few dollars from his/her local Western Union to his/her grandmother’s mobile phone in Kisii or Kisumu, with the option of local or foreign currency.
d)Eliminate those annoying lines in banks. Just simply go to any e-Cash agent, deposit the money into your e-Cash account and send it directly to your bank account. There is also the possibility of accepting banker’s cheque too.
e)Inherit all the basic features of M-PESA, such as buying of airtime, and add on a few more that make it basically irresistible.
f)Serve as a 24 hour borderless bank, by using existing Western Union or Money Gram networks all over the globe.
g)Faster cheque processing (banker’s cheques only) than most banks.
h)Instantaneous transfer of money globally.
i)Safer mode of money transfer than credit cards.
How to Bring it into Operation
Safaricom were able to embed a menu into their SIM cards that allowed their clients to utilise this service. This could create quite an expense, in terms replacing all the subscriber’s SIM cards and issuing new ones.
Instead, we approach this from a different angle. On one hand, all new SIM cards could come equipped with the new e-Cash menu. On the other hand, clients who have cellular phones which can connect to the internet, can download the menu directly to their handsets for free, from their operator’s websites.
A central management system, will be put up to control the network, act as a database to hold all the clients’ accounts and connect to various mobile service providers, banks and money transfer companies.
Possible Risks and Limitations
A number of threats exist to this concept, that is:
a)Loss of funds due to the system being hacked or collapsing.
b)Loss of the client’s funds due to him/her sharing the secret code or PIN number.
c)Access to a client’s bank account could lead to misuse of confidential information.
Estimated Budget
The cost of developing such an expert system which will be able to intergrate with the banks’ systems, the mobile operators’ systems and the money transfer agents’ systems could fall around the area of about 10 million
This however does not including the cost of developing the menus to be embedded in the SIM cards and the menus for download, which have to be custom made for each model of mobile phone.
We could be looking at a total cost of approximately 20 million shillings.
Militant out.
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) have taken over from exchanging hard cash and cheques, which still remain the main sources of exchanging of money. Recently, mobile phone operator, Safaricom, made advancements in EFT by creation of the service M-PESA. As the first of its kind in the world, this is a service that allows any registered Safaricom subscriber to send and receive money, directly from their cellular phones. This has proved to be both convenient and profitable.
Statement of the Problem
Although M-PESA is available to a wide range of clients, the services offered are limited and it is not able to reach everyone. Considering the number of other services that could be offered other than just sending and receiving money, and buying airtime.
Currently there are two other mobile service providers, namely Celtel Kenya and Telkom. Clients who use these services are locked out of the use of M-PESA.
Existing Systems
Current methods of payment apart from M-PESA include bank transfers, credit and debit cards. All of which are limited to particular people, and according to their income. Credit cards on the other hand have been perceived as a preserve for the wealthy, due to the stringent requirements one has to go through to acquire one.
Concept
Easy Cash (e-Cash), proposes to be an extension of the current M-PESA service, guaranteed to put Kenya on the map.
e-Cash will have the following features:
a)Enables transfer of funds between registered mobile subscribers, no matter what operator they use.
b)Serve as a ‘mobile bank’ so to speak, and enable its clients to even pay bills such as restaurants, power, water, etc. just through the touch of a button.
c)In partnership with international money transfer services such as Western Union and Money Gram, have the potential for a client in Atlanta Georgia, USA to send a few dollars from his/her local Western Union to his/her grandmother’s mobile phone in Kisii or Kisumu, with the option of local or foreign currency.
d)Eliminate those annoying lines in banks. Just simply go to any e-Cash agent, deposit the money into your e-Cash account and send it directly to your bank account. There is also the possibility of accepting banker’s cheque too.
e)Inherit all the basic features of M-PESA, such as buying of airtime, and add on a few more that make it basically irresistible.
f)Serve as a 24 hour borderless bank, by using existing Western Union or Money Gram networks all over the globe.
g)Faster cheque processing (banker’s cheques only) than most banks.
h)Instantaneous transfer of money globally.
i)Safer mode of money transfer than credit cards.
How to Bring it into Operation
Safaricom were able to embed a menu into their SIM cards that allowed their clients to utilise this service. This could create quite an expense, in terms replacing all the subscriber’s SIM cards and issuing new ones.
Instead, we approach this from a different angle. On one hand, all new SIM cards could come equipped with the new e-Cash menu. On the other hand, clients who have cellular phones which can connect to the internet, can download the menu directly to their handsets for free, from their operator’s websites.
A central management system, will be put up to control the network, act as a database to hold all the clients’ accounts and connect to various mobile service providers, banks and money transfer companies.
Possible Risks and Limitations
A number of threats exist to this concept, that is:
a)Loss of funds due to the system being hacked or collapsing.
b)Loss of the client’s funds due to him/her sharing the secret code or PIN number.
c)Access to a client’s bank account could lead to misuse of confidential information.
Estimated Budget
The cost of developing such an expert system which will be able to intergrate with the banks’ systems, the mobile operators’ systems and the money transfer agents’ systems could fall around the area of about 10 million
This however does not including the cost of developing the menus to be embedded in the SIM cards and the menus for download, which have to be custom made for each model of mobile phone.
We could be looking at a total cost of approximately 20 million shillings.
Militant out.
The Story Of Militant: Part 1
Asalam aleykum, my brothers and sisters.
Well, it seems like unless i explain to you how this formerly innocent altar boy ended up here, you won't understand where i'm from plus there'a some stuff i would like to get off my chest.
First of all, i'm the fourth born of a family of five, and if you know anything about large families, then you know i've had to hustle for everything i have and own. Shit, till now new stuff still jazzes me 'coz i'm not used to buying or being bought for stuff, it's been hand me down's after hand me down's...
I'm very spiritual, when i was a kid, i believe i used to talk to God almost everyday. I know what you're thinking, seriously, there are things i've been through that should have killed me, and yet here i am pissing off the government...
So anyway, some assholes say i converted to Islam because of this girl i met. Well, all i can diplomatically say is that, she may have played a role, but it wasn't so i could get into her pant... Seriously, who's that lame????
Anyway, she gave me a Quran one day, i felt like it was what my life was missing, and i guess as they say, the rest is history.
Guess what, a few days after i took my Shahada, she told me that Muslims who sin alot have an opportunity to redem themselves by introducing someone else to the religion, kinda like those piramid schemes! WTF!!!
Needless to say her and I didn't exactly work out. But hey, it was the perfect "divorce", i got to keep our child, Islam.
So anyway, i isn't hard to tell, i am a very troubled soul. But hey, we all have our skeletons, right?
I don't like attention, contrary to popular belief, despite being that everytime i decide to voice my opinion, people shut the fuck up! What can i say... But everyone around me has attention issues, and when i say everyone, i mean everyone! Yeah, you too!
I prefer to hang in the background and play the strings, but i do not manipulate people. See, when you take a drunk out of a bar and give him a Quran, he'll look at it, promise to read it, eventually.
I did. For a while, it did work out for me, till this girl decides to start making certain requests that when exactly against my new found lifestyle... So i can't say it's totally my fault that i backslid
Okay, i think i'm telling y'all too much...
Militant out.
Well, it seems like unless i explain to you how this formerly innocent altar boy ended up here, you won't understand where i'm from plus there'a some stuff i would like to get off my chest.
First of all, i'm the fourth born of a family of five, and if you know anything about large families, then you know i've had to hustle for everything i have and own. Shit, till now new stuff still jazzes me 'coz i'm not used to buying or being bought for stuff, it's been hand me down's after hand me down's...
I'm very spiritual, when i was a kid, i believe i used to talk to God almost everyday. I know what you're thinking, seriously, there are things i've been through that should have killed me, and yet here i am pissing off the government...
So anyway, some assholes say i converted to Islam because of this girl i met. Well, all i can diplomatically say is that, she may have played a role, but it wasn't so i could get into her pant... Seriously, who's that lame????
Anyway, she gave me a Quran one day, i felt like it was what my life was missing, and i guess as they say, the rest is history.
Guess what, a few days after i took my Shahada, she told me that Muslims who sin alot have an opportunity to redem themselves by introducing someone else to the religion, kinda like those piramid schemes! WTF!!!
Needless to say her and I didn't exactly work out. But hey, it was the perfect "divorce", i got to keep our child, Islam.
So anyway, i isn't hard to tell, i am a very troubled soul. But hey, we all have our skeletons, right?
I don't like attention, contrary to popular belief, despite being that everytime i decide to voice my opinion, people shut the fuck up! What can i say... But everyone around me has attention issues, and when i say everyone, i mean everyone! Yeah, you too!
I prefer to hang in the background and play the strings, but i do not manipulate people. See, when you take a drunk out of a bar and give him a Quran, he'll look at it, promise to read it, eventually.
I did. For a while, it did work out for me, till this girl decides to start making certain requests that when exactly against my new found lifestyle... So i can't say it's totally my fault that i backslid
Okay, i think i'm telling y'all too much...
Militant out.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
10 Years On
Asalam aleykum, my brothers and sisters.
First of all, let’s have a moment of silence for all those who perished during the August 7, 1998 bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salam.
*****************************************************************************
Secondly, if you were wondering why us, poor little Kenyans, well, August 7 1998, marked the 8th anniversary of American soldiers landing in Saudia Arabia. Remember the early 90s movie with Ice Cube, he was a marine or something... Yeah!
Screw these selfish ass, bastards that call themselves Congress!!! Do you know that the Kenyan Government for the past 10 years has been trying to get the American Government to pay victims for their personal injuries and hospital bills, but the Congress has refused each and every time.
Well, I can’t say I believe that statement 100%, but there is some truth behind it. But I can’t still believe that these people would be so self-centred, cold and such assholes, as to refuse to compensate these poor victims, who btw, were place in harm’s way because of them in the first place!!!
It’s like I’m Uchumi, then some jerk-off decides to open a Barclays Branch in my shopping mall. Then there is a robbery where people inside the Branch and the shopping mall get injured and some lose their lives. Honestly, as much as Barclays is full of douches (no offense if any of my readers are employees of Barclays, I just have issues, they trying to rob me!!!), they wouldn’t pull a fast one like that.
Screw these bastards! No I wish I were President. Now would tell Ambassador Rannenburger to move the embassy to North Eastern and if some Somali dude wants to bomb it, that isn’t my business!!!
Militant out.
First of all, let’s have a moment of silence for all those who perished during the August 7, 1998 bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salam.
*****************************************************************************
Secondly, if you were wondering why us, poor little Kenyans, well, August 7 1998, marked the 8th anniversary of American soldiers landing in Saudia Arabia. Remember the early 90s movie with Ice Cube, he was a marine or something... Yeah!
Screw these selfish ass, bastards that call themselves Congress!!! Do you know that the Kenyan Government for the past 10 years has been trying to get the American Government to pay victims for their personal injuries and hospital bills, but the Congress has refused each and every time.
Well, I can’t say I believe that statement 100%, but there is some truth behind it. But I can’t still believe that these people would be so self-centred, cold and such assholes, as to refuse to compensate these poor victims, who btw, were place in harm’s way because of them in the first place!!!
It’s like I’m Uchumi, then some jerk-off decides to open a Barclays Branch in my shopping mall. Then there is a robbery where people inside the Branch and the shopping mall get injured and some lose their lives. Honestly, as much as Barclays is full of douches (no offense if any of my readers are employees of Barclays, I just have issues, they trying to rob me!!!), they wouldn’t pull a fast one like that.
Screw these bastards! No I wish I were President. Now would tell Ambassador Rannenburger to move the embassy to North Eastern and if some Somali dude wants to bomb it, that isn’t my business!!!
Militant out.
Destiny
Asalam aleykum, my brother and sisters.
Do you wonder what your destiny could be? If there is a grand plan that you are part of? For centuries, man has been fascinated by the stars. Wondering what could be out there.
You know, there are people who every morning, look at their stars, hoping to get a heads up on what their day will be like. Others just shrug it off as just some person trying to make ends meet by selling dreams to people who are desperate to hear them.
But just maybe, what if there’s some truth behind it? For centuries, many great minds have been fascinated by the starry sky. From Nostradamus, to the “primitive” Mayan people of Central America, they all were or claimed, to be able to make predictions based on alignment of the stars.
As for myself, well, I won’t shrug off some of their findings, neither am I 100% that they are true. But one thing I do know is that our destiny is great. Each and every single one human being on this planet has a part to play in the greater plan, destiny.
So I’m not going to give up, till I fulfil mine. I hope you don’t give up on yours.
Militant out.
Do you wonder what your destiny could be? If there is a grand plan that you are part of? For centuries, man has been fascinated by the stars. Wondering what could be out there.
You know, there are people who every morning, look at their stars, hoping to get a heads up on what their day will be like. Others just shrug it off as just some person trying to make ends meet by selling dreams to people who are desperate to hear them.
But just maybe, what if there’s some truth behind it? For centuries, many great minds have been fascinated by the starry sky. From Nostradamus, to the “primitive” Mayan people of Central America, they all were or claimed, to be able to make predictions based on alignment of the stars.
As for myself, well, I won’t shrug off some of their findings, neither am I 100% that they are true. But one thing I do know is that our destiny is great. Each and every single one human being on this planet has a part to play in the greater plan, destiny.
So I’m not going to give up, till I fulfil mine. I hope you don’t give up on yours.
Militant out.
Do The Stereotypes Define Us?
Asalam aleykum, my brothers and sisters.
Have you ever noticed in almost all movies and series out there, the hero or heroine of the story always has some interesting issue? From having a very troubled childhood, maybe being bullied as a kid, having some terminal disease, or being an orphan.
Then there’s the other angle of the hero or heroine, never being able to hook up with the person they “love”. From Spiderman to Batman, from Smallville to The Matrix, all the heroes in these stories had to almost sacrifice their life to be with the one they love.
Are we seriously that desperate to believe in love that we actually create all these impossible situations to satisfy our fantasy for the perfect love?
Must we believe that love is such an illusive experience, that we must suffer a hero’s fate to find it? Must we choose between life and death, or even sacrifice our destiny for love?
Must is be so hard to love? When’s the last time you saw a movie, where the hero was just some ordinary kid with extraordinary talent? Maybe one who already had a beautiful girlfriend, or let’s even push the envelope and say he’s gay.
Would that make his efforts less acceptable? Would it make all the good that he does null? I say screw the stereotypes. I want to meet an intelligent blonde, a white guy who won’t be scared to live in a predominantly black neighbourhood. An “African American” who has never been to prison. How about a tall Chinese person?
Do these stereotypes define us?
Militant out.
Have you ever noticed in almost all movies and series out there, the hero or heroine of the story always has some interesting issue? From having a very troubled childhood, maybe being bullied as a kid, having some terminal disease, or being an orphan.
Then there’s the other angle of the hero or heroine, never being able to hook up with the person they “love”. From Spiderman to Batman, from Smallville to The Matrix, all the heroes in these stories had to almost sacrifice their life to be with the one they love.
Are we seriously that desperate to believe in love that we actually create all these impossible situations to satisfy our fantasy for the perfect love?
Must we believe that love is such an illusive experience, that we must suffer a hero’s fate to find it? Must we choose between life and death, or even sacrifice our destiny for love?
Must is be so hard to love? When’s the last time you saw a movie, where the hero was just some ordinary kid with extraordinary talent? Maybe one who already had a beautiful girlfriend, or let’s even push the envelope and say he’s gay.
Would that make his efforts less acceptable? Would it make all the good that he does null? I say screw the stereotypes. I want to meet an intelligent blonde, a white guy who won’t be scared to live in a predominantly black neighbourhood. An “African American” who has never been to prison. How about a tall Chinese person?
Do these stereotypes define us?
Militant out.
What's Right and What's Wrong
Asalam aleykum my brothers and sisters.
I was watching this movie that just came out, with Katt Williams, Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan just to mention a few. Basically, Ice Cube has to try and stop his son from moving to another state with his baby mother since, apparently, ex-convicts can’t travel out of the state or something like that.
Anyway, it got me thinking. When do you say someone’s crossed the line? A man who robs a store to feed his starving family, and a man who robs the same store to enrich himself, in the eyes of the law, is there a right or a wrong?
A few years back, there was an article in the paper, where an elderly man was convicted for robbery with violence, for stealing his neighbours chicken. So you know, in Kenya such a sentence earns you the death penalty. Despite there not being any official killings since the 1982 coup.
Personally, I don’t think the judge morally should have passed that judgment. I believe he should have been judged based on intention and not act alone. We can’t view the world in black and white; there are a lot of grey areas.
Would you blame me for crawling into your house and stealing your money, if I had family to feed? What’s if I did it to enrich myself? Think about it…
Militant out.
I was watching this movie that just came out, with Katt Williams, Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan just to mention a few. Basically, Ice Cube has to try and stop his son from moving to another state with his baby mother since, apparently, ex-convicts can’t travel out of the state or something like that.
Anyway, it got me thinking. When do you say someone’s crossed the line? A man who robs a store to feed his starving family, and a man who robs the same store to enrich himself, in the eyes of the law, is there a right or a wrong?
A few years back, there was an article in the paper, where an elderly man was convicted for robbery with violence, for stealing his neighbours chicken. So you know, in Kenya such a sentence earns you the death penalty. Despite there not being any official killings since the 1982 coup.
Personally, I don’t think the judge morally should have passed that judgment. I believe he should have been judged based on intention and not act alone. We can’t view the world in black and white; there are a lot of grey areas.
Would you blame me for crawling into your house and stealing your money, if I had family to feed? What’s if I did it to enrich myself? Think about it…
Militant out.
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