My dad works closely with an organization called "Good News Jail and Prison Ministry". It is an organization that supplies Christian chaplains to jails and prisons in the U.S. and internationally.

My dad also recently sold his day-to-day business, D.P. Associations and is now deciding how to spend his time. His recent idea is to start a vending machine business to both fund the chaplains through GNJPM as well as to provide job opportunities for the inmates that are coming out of jail. Running a vending machine is not rocket science, but it does make money. Kind of the bottom line for what inmates in transition need.

Anyway, my valuable input to this whole affair is to brand the vending machines as "Snack Prison: bars behind bars" and encourage hungry customers to set their candy and chips free!

If I can provide any help to any other valuable endeavors please feel free to call my agent.

What is the deal with the guidebooks? If orphans and AIDS are such a huge problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, then why is my lonely planet guide book completely devoid of any mention of orphans, AIDS, health care, etc.

In the process of getting ready to go to Africa I realize that I'm having to review some stereotypes that I have had but haven't really been aware of.

• Myth 1: Africa is homogenous. In fact, I am realizing that Africa appears to be far more diverse than America, the continent. Just looking at the variety of races represented in Africa is a starting point to see that.
• Myth 2: If someone is a black African then they understand other black African's cultures. In fact, I am realizing, from working with a black Nigerian colleague that he doesn't know any more about Zambia than I do.
• Myth 3: There is an African "problem" to be solved. In fact, as I begin to grasp the diversity of the continent I am also beginning to realize that where there *are* problems, they can be very different in nature. Even the "orphan problem" is drastically different in Zambia than in Sierra Leone.

I am looking forward to working through more of these issues as the trip unfolds. I am also looking for what Africa has to teach Southern California, particularly in regards to technology.

Feeling a little naive today....

Surprisingly, not too many crazy shots are required for travel to South Africa and Zambia. In fact, all I had to do was make sure that I was up to date on my regular immunizations and get a Typhoid vaccination whose effectiveness wears out after two years anyway. This is an interesting data point because it *may* suggest that in terms of medicine and public health these parts of Africa are only different in terms of the scale of the problems, not the scope of the problems. I'm not going anywhere in a jungle, so maybe that would require extra precautions, Africa or not. Basically the places where I am going are - medically speaking - like the U.S.

Except for malaria. Malaria is caused by a parasite that lives in humans and female mosquitoes. It doesn't do anything to the mosquitoes and the mosquitoes just move the parasites from person to person. Over time people who aren't killed by malaria build up a resistance to it, which goes away after they stop being exposed to the parasite. So I have to take Mefloquine (aka Lariam) once a week for six weeks to kill any little buggers that get in my system. My fear of malaria has greatly dropped after getting more information about it and after talking to my Nigerian grad student who thinks of it more like the flu than as a dangerous threat. One of the great side effects of Lariam is "vivid dreams" and "visual disturbances." So after I eat my scone and drink my coffee, I'm downing my Lariam. Bring on the hallucinations!

The CDC has a great section on malaria here and I'm going to try this do-it-yourself mosquito trap while I'm in Africa. What fun!

Oh, if only it were always summer and the research would flow like bubbles from a Woodbridge hot tub all the time:

The other cool experiment to occur this weekend was that after nearly wetting myself about T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home WiFi Cell phone announcement, I subscribed to the plan, got a new phone and wifi router for home, canceled my landline, and made my first WiFi phone call with T-Mobile's system. I think this is a fundamental shift in phone computing/communication that dwarfs the iPhone.

Using the hand-set I registered with UCI's network guardians so that the phone's MAC address was recognized on campus. Nearly instantly I was making unlimited calls everywhere on campus with much better reception that I had previously.

Several funny things happened. First I realized that I had gotten in the habit of walking toward windows when I was on my cell phone. Now, that's not the right thing to do with this phone. Second T-Mobile apparently has arranged that the phone will make unlimited WiFi calls from all T-Mobile Hotspots. So suddenly all Starbucks are also effectively cell phone towers. Futhermore, anytime I plug my laptop into a land line network I can turn it into a cell phone repeater by turning on Wi-Fi sharing. Which means that if I can get internet access internationally with my laptop, I can make unlimited calls to the U.S. with this phone and avoid the outrageous roaming fees.

In a lot of ways this is like Skype with SkypeIn and SkypeOut, but let's face it, it's a lot more convenient to use a cell phone to make calls and stay connected than a laptop. Futhermore, the cell phone gracefully transitions from cell to wifi and back again.

Okay, now the bad things. When I cancelled my home phone number, my DSL also got cancelled. T-Mobile assured me that this wouldn't happen, but it did. So I lost broadband at home in the process (hence why the experiment was going on on campus). I have a work order in with Speakeasy to set up a "One-Link" DSL line which cuts AT&T out of the picture. It costs $5.00 more than my previous broadband access, but it allows me to have DSL at home without any phone company involved.

Secondly, I haven't rigorously tested the hand-off from cell to wifi and back. Other reports suggest that wifi to cell is seamless and cell to wifi takes a minute or two. But in using the phone I never even noticed when it switched back and forth.

Finally, we haven't tested the Starbucks thing. It's just a matter of time of course, but fair disclosure/ buyer beware.

One of my personal gripes about research here in Irvine, is about how we aren't effectively utilizing two of our strategic Southern California resources: sun and traffic. Well this weekend, the first domino fell. I am happy to report that I successfully charged my PowerBook G4, a bluetooth GPS unit, and a Nokia N84 phone from the sun via a Brunton solar panel. It felt really ubiquitous because suddenly that nagging problem of power was *gone*.

I serendipitously watched a "TED" tech talk by Hans Rosling about the "developing world." The concept is hard to pin down because the reality is that there is a wide spectrum of poverty in the world. Even within a single African nation. Watch the talk here.

Hans presented some interesting axes on which to think about overcoming poverty. In order to create an economic market you need:

• Schooling for the participants
• Health for the participants
• Information
• Credit (to buy a bike in the picture on the left)
• Infrastructure

He also presented a variety of ways to think about the concept of "development." You can be developed in any of these and not necessarily the others:

• Human Rights
• Environment
• Government
• Economic growth
• Education
• Health
• Culture

The first cultural difference that I've run into has been in booking airline tickets. When I booked some plane flights for internal travel in Africa I used a site call kulula.com. They have an option on their website to pay for your plane tickets immediately or in installments over 3, 6, and 9 months.

This seems to suggest a different approach to managing money, because, of course, the credit card itself is supposed to offer the installment plan for anything you buy. Maybe Kulula offers it as a no-interest or low-interest loan? That would make the terms better than a credit card.

Anyway, something different is happening with money. Does this tie into attitudes about micro-finance? Tip of an iceberg or just random service offered by kulula.com?

I went to a Denny's this past weekend and was surprised both by the good service and by the receipt. Denny's now gives you a receipt for your meal which itemizes the order by person even when you are in a group. That would have been very helpful back in high school. It's an answer to the dreaded, "Can we have seperate checks please?"

FOXNews.com - Bus Strike Expected to Complicate Commute for Thousands in SoCal - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The first bus strike in Orange County in more than two decades disrupted the commutes of thousands of riders Monday after 1,100 transportation workers walked off the job.

Companies sought to help employees cope with the strike by setting up car pool hot lines and other resources for people who have no transportation. Transit officials braced for plenty of confusion and frustrated residents.

About 70 percent of Orange County Transportation Authority riders don't have access to a car and half are members of families making $22,000 a year or less, according to the agency's chairwoman, Carolyn Cavecche.

Departing for Africa in about two weeks.

Song from Rich Mullins, "The Other Side of the World":

Well the other side of the world
Is not so far away as I thought that it was
As I thought that it was so far away
But the other side of the world
Is not so far away
And the distance just dissolves into the love
Into the love

And the New Jerusalem won't be as easy to build
As I hoped it would be
As I hoped it would be easy to build
But the New Jerusalem won't be so easy to build
There's many bellies to fill and many hearts to free
Got to set them free

But I see a people who've learned to walk in faith
With mercy in their hearts
And glory on their faces
And I can see the people
And I pray it won't be long
Until Your kingdom comes

Yet another reason why USAA rocks: USAA is a financial services company. I do most of my banking with them. They have no branches as far as I am aware. From my perspective they are a completely online bank.

Typical criticisms of this are that you can't get cash and that you have to deposit checks by mail, which is slow. Well USAA addresses both problems. They will reimburse you up to $10.00 a month in ATM fees charged by other banks. And now the COOLEST of all things. If you want to deposit a check you simply scan it and upload it. It goes immediately into your bank account.

I'm totally excited about this because it is fast and even easier than putting it in a deposit envelope and mailing it. I don't know how they deal with countering fraud, but as far as I'm concerned it's awesome. It took me about 5 minutes to scan and deposit two checks and the money was in my account immediately.

(However, it took me 5 friggin' hours to get the software for the scanner set up!)