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Hey guys; just a small announcement. Last Friday’s #TodaysReads will be the last one of the series. While it was fun putting up such posts everyday and letting you know what I was reading, it was always an experiment just to see what it could become.

So now we’re here, 2 weeks later, and after asking my editor to review the last two weeks and whether he felt it was worthwhile to continue, he got back to me with the single best reason we should discontinue the program: the site was beginning to look like more like the #TodaysReads of Sidney than my private thoughts.(This is why he’s editor and I’m just a writer)

Are you audacious? This post is a constant reminder to be so over the top and courageous with my plans.

The product only works on tablets.
The VC: “Aren’t you concerned that tablets skew older, that most young people use phones, and isn’t your business depending on attracting young users?”
The entrepreneur: “Well, eh, uh etc.”
He talked for a long time, but he didn’t have an answer.
It pissed me off because the answer was obvious.
His game is going to be so incredible that it will sell tablets. Kids, adults, everyone is going to have to get one just to run this software.
Now, to pull this off you have to have a PhD in Chutzpah.

“It works like the brain.” So? Because I’m so into artificial intelligence, I’ll start with a post on it. Here we’re reminded that just because something is described as being like the brain doesn’t mean that it is important or even revolutionary.

But here’s the thing: this “like the brain” label usually isn’t a lie — it’s just not very informative. There are many ways a system can be like the brain, but only a fraction of these will prove important. We know so much that is true about the brain, but the defining issue in theoretical neuroscience today is, simply put, we don’t know what matters when it comes to understanding how the brain computes. The debate is wide open, with plausible guesses about the fundamental unit, ranging from quantum phenomena all the way to regions spanning millimeters of brain tissue.

COMPLIANT MOA ROLLS OUT CASHLESS PAYMENT “1963 TRAVEL CARD” With the new rules requiring public service vehicles to have cashless systems, Compliant decided to have first mover advantage and launch their own card. Given that Equity has generally failed with it’s Beba card, one has to wonder if they’ll be able to hack it. Finally, no bus company covers the whole of Nairobi, so will that mean we’ll have to carry dozens of cards?

Rubik’s cube invention: 40 years old and never meant to be a toy I have only ever solved one of these once in my life. My editor has a system that usually allows him to work one out in minutes. I hate him so much :D. Yesterday was the toy’s 40th birthday. It joins only a handful of other toys that’ve made it that far such as Lego and Barbie.

The real reason net neutrality is right Yet another reason for net neutrality and I think one that supersedes them all. Not that the others are wrong but this one is particularly good. I’ve written about my own thoughts on neutrality here.

The ISPs and entertainment companies want to restrict the flow of the Internet for their own purposes. It would make some sense, if they had developed the Internet, but they didn’t. It was paid for by US taxpayers. It was a good investment, as long as it doesn’t get foreclosed on. Funny thing is I don’t remember when we took out a mortgage on the Internet from these guys?

Thigh butt It being a Friday, I think we can start on a light note. The moment I read this definition, someone came to mind :D. Urban dictionary often has hilarious definitions like this and sometimes they bring a smile to your face. Other times it’s disgusting. So it’s a bit of a hit or miss.

The ratio of thigh to butt on a woman; easily viewable by a visible “crease” between the thigh and butt. The thigh to butt ratio is larger based on the length of the crease

Microsoft made a secret book for Nokia employees before its takeover The coolest way to introduce one company to another is to chuck out a book that shows the history of both companies. The book isn’t just a bunch of words but includes several cool illustrations.

In the months leading up to Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s phone business, the two companies approached Shoreditch-based media company TCOLondon to secretly build a unique book for the nearly 20,000 Nokia employees set to join Microsoft. The 128-page book was edited and illustrated in London before being printed and shipped to employees in more than 90 cities in 53 countries.
It’s a celebration of the rich history that Nokia and Microsoft both share, including etchings of Nokia’s origins in a paper mill in Finland and Microsoft’s roots in New Mexico. Illustrations range from the first-ever GSM call to surgeons using the Kinect sensor for operations.

French journalist Camille Lepage killed in CAR While the world focuses on Nigeria’s missing girls, Sudan’s descent into civil war, let’s not forget the Central African Republic which has been suffering war for some time now from sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians.

Security in CAR has deteriorated in recent months. Around a quarter of CAR’s 4.6 million population have fled their homes since conflict erupted in March 2013 between mainly Muslim and Christian militias.

Half of Kenyans fear torture in custody This is so sad. Like I wrote in my post about the legality of the Somali crack down, it’s entirely too easy to take the government to court over human rights abuses. More than that we have a judiciary that seems happy to smack down both the executive and the legislature and put them in their place, in fact I’d say they’re looking for every opportunity to do so.

How the Middle Class Lifestyle Became Unaffordable If you want to understand where the economy is headed and why it’s there, you need to read this. Seriously though, I need to move out of the middle class as soon as possible.

Why have the costs of a middle class lifestyle soared while income has stagnated? Though it is tempting to finger one ideologically convenient cause or another, there are four structural causes to this long-term trend:

They’ve offered me a nice job, these rabbits This story features an old high school friend of mine whose made a business out of rearing rabbits. Just goes to show there are so many ways to make a living out here, not just getting a job.

His mother, a nurse, offered him Sh20,000. He raised Sh15,000 from friends.
Today, Rume’s venture has multiplied tenfold. He owns more than 100 bunnies and reckons he has made close to Sh200,000 since he started. “I sell the animals to farmers and there are people who come to buy them from here.”

Today my mom will die Today is mother’s day and I thought I’d share this story that’s just a reminder to love your mother while you can. Also, you could read this post I wrote for my mother on her birthday.

If your mother is alive, you don’t know just how lucky you are. Go see her on Mother’s Day and tell her you appreciate her. Yes, even if you’re gangsta. Especially if you are gangsta. You have the time now, but you don’t have it forever. So go ahead and tell her. It will burn her heart with love.

Increasing CO2 may threaten human nutrition If you needed even more reason to do something about global warming. This is something I’ve always been passionate about especially since watchinh the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” - if you haven’t watched do so this weekend and then come back and thank me.

According to the UN, wheat, rice, and maize—a mere three out of the Earth’s 50,000+ edible plants—provide 60 percent of the world’s plant-derived food energy. In the developing world, they provide up to 70-80 percent of the energy in a person’s daily diet. These crops are key providers of micronutrients like zinc and iron, which they draw up from the soil.
As we continue to spew carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, however, we may be less able to rely on these crops. A meta-analysis indicates that grains and legumes grown at elevated CO2 levels have lower concentrations of zinc and iron, and some crops also have reduced protein levels.

Sudan: Hate Radio in South Sudan, Long After Rwanda Said “Never Again” Today we start with South Sudan which has been rapidly descending into civil war. This piece which comes to us from allAfrica is written by a Rwandan, Sunny Ntayombya, comparing the hate speech that’s happening in that country to what happened in his and hopes that the world doesn’t just sit back and watch the blood bath. I’ve been watching this situation for weeks and have repeatedly said that it’s time the Kenyan army went in and controlled the situation for the good of everyone, particularly us *cough* oil *cough*:-D.

So I want to try something new that may or may not work. Everyday when I wake up the first thing I do is check my news feed for cool things that I usually share with my followers on twitter and more recently, so that people who consistently read the links I post can find them, I’ve been tagging them with #todaysreads. Now I want to bring a few of those links here to the blog.
I’m doing this because on twitter, with a 140 character limit, doesn’t provide enough space to leave a comment on why you think someone should read this or any thoughts on the link. I’ll be able to do this on the blog quite easily, though it may not always happen. I think I’ll limit the number of links to about 6. Now lets begin: