In Uganda...

After 3 weeks there, I observed that in Uganda...

• they don't eat lunch


• they are very patient and don't need to discuss what is about to happen...


• they love African tea (hot milk, ginger, teabag)


• they say 'ehhhh' or 'heyyy' to acknowledge listening or sympathy and 'mmmm' to mean yes or listening


• women wear long skirts


• they have a soft handshake, and gently point to or grasp their right elbow with their left hand
• they wear fabrics with bright interesting attractive patterns!
• women don't squat and never sit on the ground cross-legged
• they ride boda boda bikes to get a cheap lift
• they eat much bananas (matooke)
• they grow casava, beans, bananas, sweet potatoes
• Stoney and Novida are popular softdrinks
• they don't put screens on windows or doors but give out free mosquito nets
• rural folks get water from borehole wells with hand pumps and yellow jerry cans
• they use bicycles to transport matooke, water, firewood and charcoal
• their bikes are all similar heavy metal bikes
• charcoal is made from acacia and sold in towns, while country folk use firewood
• bugandans kneel to elders
• babies have beads around their waists and seldom any pants or diapers
• there are many babies
• they don't use donkeys, mules or horses for transport or farming and few machines, just human muscle for work
• they live out much of their lives in front of their house
• there are certain fruit reserved for children (jack fruit, tamarind, mango?)
• people speak english
• they sweep the dirt with little small hand-made/held brooms
• children love to see mzungu, say the word and giggle and wave
• cows in towns often look healthier than cows in the countryside
• there are lots of cows
• people are uncynical
• people usually have Christian names: Frank, Grace, Evelyn, Andrew, Gilbert, Isaac, Hilda, Moses, Francis, Lawrence, Elizabeth, Daniel
• women put wraps around their heads to keep dust from the road out of their hair
• women wear lesu wraps around their waists to keep their dresses clean
  
• clay content of soils is 39 to 59% so they turn their land into bricks and homes

Go to Windows 7?

I'm staying in on a Friday night investigating Windows 7. Am I sure this is the best idea? Why am I upgrading?
a. I keep hearing how Vista is so buggy
b. My computer runs slowly and hesitates at wierd times
c. None of my Windows or McAffee updates will install!

Here are some PRO pages that say do it:

1. Beta News. Windows 7: Vista without the Crap by Scott M. Fulton, III - he says he could save 6 weeks of time per year with Windows 7 compared to Vista sp2. "Betanews tests on all the major brands of stable and developmental Web browsers, running on the three most recent versions of Windows, installed on the same machine with the same hardware, show that programs tend to run 17% faster on average in Windows 7 RTM than in Windows Vista SP2. That doesn't make Win7 the fastest Windows ever made -- XP Service Pack 3 is faster still, by another 16% over Win7, at least at running Web browsers."

Maybe I should go find an old set of XP disks? they will stop supporting XP in July 2010. Wierder, they wont support Vista whatever version after April 13, 2010!

2. EWeek. 10 Reasons Why you Shouldn't Wait for Windows 7 Service Pack by Don Reisinger - he explains how the first Windows 7 service pack has leaked to the internet and it's not enough to wait for before installing the first release of Windows 7. That is heartening... Also "Vista was also rife with compatibility and security issues just don’t apply to Windows 7." That's good, I want to hear more about better security!

3. PCWorld. The State of Windows 7 Satisfaction by Harry McCracken (Dec 2, 2009)
"The 550+ Windows 7 early adopters who took our survey -- a sizable majority say they're extremely satisfied with the OS and rate it as a clear improvement on both the beloved Windows XP and the widely-panned Windows Vista. Crippling installation problems -- the bane of every upgrader's existence, and always a legitimate reason to postpone switching OSes -- were rare."

I am going to download the Windows 7 Upgrade advisor to make sure everything will still work.

I figured out a way to get free Windows 7 upgrade by being a UF staff... So will have to wait til Monday when they are open to get my new Gator1 and then bring that with my paystub to the bookstore to get my upgrade CD. But Josan says to do a clean install! Now I should research this?