THE PEACE BLOGGER

Corporate or Business : What's the difference?

2012-01-04T08:12:00.000-08:00

Business strategy is the way by which a company fulfils its mission and attains itsobjectives. The essence of acompany business strategy lies in creating favourable asymmetries between thecompany (Firm) and the competition.

The use ofthe word Strategy here is explainedas a pattern of resourceallocation that enables companies to maintain or improve theirperformances. A good Business (orCorporate) strategy exploits opportunities, capitalizes on strengths and (or)fixes weaknesses.

A company canoutperform the competition (or rivals) only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve:

· Create aunique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities
· Make strongdecision in competing (choose what NOTto do), focus and invest on theirs strengths

Obviously, a successfulbusiness strategy will require astrong management at business and corporate level. In this case, Strategic Managementis the process bywhich mission and objectives are chosen, strategies decided and implementedthrough policies and tactics.

But what is the difference between a Business and a Corporate, or in amore business way, between a business strategy and a corporate strategy?Are both strategies focusing on the same objective?

Myexperience of working at a corporate level in the UK, France and Africa let methink that a corporate strategy defines the scope of the company (Firm) in terms ofindustries and markets in which it competes. In other words, corporate strategyanswers the fundamental question: WHICH INDUSTRIES SHOULD WE BE IN?

Corporate strategy decisions include investment in diversification,integration, acquisitions, and new ventures, the allocation of resourcesbetween the different businesses of the company (Firm).

Business Strategy, on the other side, is concerned with how the firm competeswithin a particular industry or market. What business or businesses should webe in (corporate strategy) and within each business. The question here would be: HOWSHOULD WE COMPETE?

How do we compete against ourcompetitors for targeted customers and to sustain performance?

In a single-businesscompany, there is no distinction between corporate and business strategy.

The distinction between both correspondsto the organization structure of a typical corporation:

· Corporate strategy is the responsibility of the top managementteam, supported by corporate strategy staff within the corporatemulti-businesses.

· Business strategy is formulated and implemented primarily bythe individual business, typically organized as departments, divisions orbusiness units.

Business Strategy could evolve to a different level ofstrategy within a business. For example, Functional strategies arethe elaboration and implementation of business strategies through individual functionssuch as production, development, sales, marketing, human resources and finance.

As we allknow, Strategy (Business or Corporate)is not a detailed plan or program of instructions. It is a unifying theme that givescoherence and direction to the actions and decisions of an organization. Thepurpose is to guide management decisions toward superior performance (rate ofprofit above the competitive level) through establishing competitive advantage.

Management's approach to strategy must be dynamic, flexible andinnovative.

· Goals aresimple, consistent and long term (confused objectives = failure)

· Profoundunderstanding of the competitive environment

· Objectiveappraisal of resources

· Effectiveimplementation

Organizations constantly monitor their progress against their budgetsand previous years’ performances. A good businessstrategy based on data analysis will give the company a better picture ofwhere they are in terms of strategy and how effective their execution is with respectto their corporate and competitive strategies.

Data aboutthe competition is more difficult to gather. Most of the data is simply notpublicly available. Nevertheless, a careful examination of the competitionyields data. For instance, organizations that offer their products and serviceson the web immediately make their pricing information available to everyone.That is a crucial piece of information when making pricing decisions. Again, agood business strategy has to be dynamic,flexible and innovative.

In summary, abusiness strategy is an essentialcomponent of the overall corporate strategyof a company. Implementing an effective strategy within a business increasesthe decision-making capabilities. But in order to achieve the objectives setforth within the scope of the corporate, business and functional strategy, datamust be gathered from internal and external sources and a comprehensive business strategy must be in place.

How good China could be for Africa?

2011-12-28T06:43:00.000-08:00

These past few years have seen the Africa-Chinaconnection become an important element in Africa's economic growth (especially Sub-Saharan Africa). Aided by China's own rapid development and growing strategic interestsin commodity markets, Africa has not only become an important trade partner forChina, but also a key beneficiary of Chinese capital investment abroad.

Trade flows between Africa and China have grownrapidly and are broadly balanced, essentially involving an exchange of Africanraw materials for Chinese manufactured goods. While a few commodity-richAfrican economies run large trade surpluses with China (notably Angola andZambia) the majority run trade deficits. China is Africa's second largestsource of imports (behind Europe) and third largest export market (behindEurope and the US).

Economic ties between China and Africa are alsocharacterised by China's increased role as a lender and investor to the region.The absence of "political strings" imposed by Western governments,such as governance and environmental conditions, combined with competitiveterms make Chinese loans an attractive and cheap source of credit for Africancountries.

Significantly, Chinese loans outweigh levels ofChinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with the latter remaining farbelow those of traditional Western sources. The accumulated Chinese FDI stockin Sub-Saharan Africa up to 2010 is estimated at $11bn, equivalent to just 1.1% of SSA GDP.

Chinese lending and investment in Africa ishighly diverse. Mining continues to attract most FDI to the region; banks lending targets infrastructure development through its trademark "packageloans". The Chinese Development Bank aims to promote local market and business development in varioussectors, including manufacturing, services and commodities.

China's financial involvement is not alwaysfully transparent and debt management capacity of recipient countries is oftenweak. There is therefore a risk that some African countries (as we already know) could borrow toomuch on non-concessional terms, leading to an unsustainable debt burden.Meanwhile, mining investment usually has a low labour intensity, while Chinatraditionally provides much of the labour and materials for the infrastructureprojects it finances. As a result, improving local employment participationlevels and capturing Chinese industrial knowledge remain long term challengesfor Africa's involvement with China.

Chinese trade and financial links are, unfortunately, not without potential downside and do not offer a quick fix to improved livingstandards for Africa. However, they are providing an important contribution tofilling Africa's substantial infrastructure gap and if the resources are usedeffectively could help set Africa on a faster development trajectory over time.

Patrice de Boeck is director for Business_Network Consulting | A consultancy focused on providing fresh and innovative approach to investment and development in Central Africa, through the provision of services covering Finance, Marketing, Strategy and Sports Sponsorship.

How good is your Manager?

2011-12-08T03:08:00.000-08:00

In today economic’ crisis time around Europe,it is probably the hardest time to swap you current job for a better one in adifferent company, where you will feel more appreciate or more secure. Manylinks available on LinkedIn business URL, analyse the attitude and leadershipqualities of today business leader and companies managers.

The question as always is; how good is yourmanager or how bad is he?

As you probably agree, bosses aren’t usuallyaware that they are bad leaders or managers. The fact is that nobody, in a workenvironment, wants to believe that, sometime, they are the problem. Study inthe UK has showed us that there are few really bad managers, few really good one,and usually most of them fall in the middle. This would mean that there is lotsof room for improvement.

According to Steve Tobak, if you want to raiseyour game as a manager or business leader, you’d better start doing at least afew of these 10 things below, that good Managers do.

1. Pay people what they’re worth, not what youcan get away with. What you lose in expense you gain back in performance.

2. Take the time to share your experiences andinsights. Labels like mentor and coach are overused. Let’s be specific here.Employees learn from those generous enough to share their experiences andinsights. They don’t need a best friend or a shoulder to cry on.

3. Tell it to employees straight, even whenit’s bad news. To me, the single most important thing any boss can do is to manup and tell it to people straight. No BS, especially when it’s bad news orcorrective feedback.

4. Manage up … effectively. Good managers keepmanagement off employee’s backs. Most people don’t get this, but the mostimportant aspect of that is giving management what they need to do their jobs.That’s what keeps management away.

5. Take the heat and share the praise. It takescourage to take the heat and humility to share the praise. That comes naturallyto great bosses; the rest of us have to pick it up as we go.

6. Delegate responsibility, not tasks. Everyboss delegates, but the crappy ones think that means dumping tasks they hate onworkers. Good managers delegate responsibility and hold people accountable.That’s fulfilling and fosters professional growth.

7. Encourage employees to hone their naturalabilities and challenge them to overcome their issues. That is called gettingpeople to perform at their best.

8. Build team spirit. As we learned before,great groups outperform great individuals. And great leaders build great teams.

9. Treat employees the way they deserve to betreated. You always hear people say they deserve respect and to be treated asequals. Well, some may not want to hear this, but a) respect must be earned, and b)most workers are not their boss’s equals.

10. Inspire your people. All the above motivatepeople, but few bosses have the ability to truly inspire their employees.

All this adds up to a business environmentwhere people feel appreciated, recognized, challenged, and appropriatelycompensated.

So what do you think?

Is immigration good for the economy?

2011-11-25T10:02:00.000-08:00

The Office for National Statistics recently warned that the UK's population could hit 70 millions. Rising immigration can help defray the cost of an ageing population, but it has economic costs too. So on balance; is immigration good for the economy?

Would it be a good thing if the UK's capital stock increased? Of course it would. More equipment and software would mean higher output and lower prices.
How then, can an increased supply of labour be so bad? As the Bank of England studies shows, it too increases the supply potential of the economy.

One argument is that the immigrants bid down other workers' wages. But the effects here are quite small. Some research have estimated that a 10 percentage point rise in the proportion of immigrants working in less skilled service industries cuts wages by 5.2 per cent. This means around half a million extra migrants reduce wages by only less than 40p an hour.

Other research shows that this burden falls upon other migrants anyway, and it is offset by a positive effect upon the wages of more skilled workers. Overall, according to some experts, immigration tends to raise average wages.

Then there's the social and cultural impact. Australia and the US have been transformed from barren wastelands to the richest nations on earth by immigrants. But while plenty of countries have been enriched by immigration, none has been ruined by it. There have, however, been countless cases of economies being ruined by the enemies of freedom. And opponents of migration are enemies of freedom; the right to work where one wants, and hire whom one wants.

Some immigration is good for the UK economy. However, what Britain now faces is a mass immigration and that is quite different.

The past 10 years have seen the arrival of an extra three million immigrants, almost doubling the foreign-born population of the UK. Now the latest projections point to immigration adding a further 7 million to the UK population in the next 25 years. That is equivalent to the entire population of greater London.

The economic case for immigration cannot possibly justify the massive impact that this would have on our society. Certainly, immigration brings new skills, ideas and closer links with foreign countries. These things are hard to measure. The only major report on the economic impact of immigration in the UK, published in 2008, concluded that "Although possible in theory, we found no systematic empirical evidence to suggest that net immigration creates significant dynamic effects for the resident population of the UK….. and it is possible that there are also negative dynamic and wider welfare effects". The Committee included two former Chancellors and a former Governor of the Bank of England as well as representatives of all three parties. Their report was unanimous.

As for what can be measured, there is a broad consensus that the fiscal impact is broadly neutral. In terms of GDP, however, the House of Lords Committee was crystal clear. They concluded that "We have found no evidence for the argument, made by the government, business and many others that net immigration - immigration minus emigration - generates significant economic benefits for the existing UK population".

The reason, of course, is that although immigrants add to production they also add to population in almost exactly the same proportion. The result is that, at the end of the process, we are no richer - just more crowded.

THINK : Foundation for a better World

2011-11-17T08:06:00.001-08:00

One of the greatunknowns of today is the way our leaders, our governments and members of the G8will decide to do to build a better world for tomorrow. They cannot afford tobe passive and let technological progress make decisions for them; however theymust anticipate the current trends with a positive strategy in order toguarantee our security and a better living condition for our children.
Today financialcrisis is a perfect example of an elite government that has failed to foreseethe collapse of an archaic and uncontrolled financial system, which resulted, inmost financial market place, in the development of a global trading exchangesvolume, exceeding the financial capital or resources available to them.

Too often weforget that the world around us changes constantly and gradually: countriessuch as Japan, Germany and Italy have seen their population becomingincreasingly older, which could dramatically affect, in the short-term, theireconomy, education systems and infrastructure.

The positivedevelopment of a "Green Economy" more in tune with our environment,which in political terms may affect the civilian sector and financial, has beena positive step toward a better way of using our resources and protecting our planet.

Internet todayhas become the main tool of communication in all areas of activity and the impact of the [world wide web] on our professional and private life is quite impressive today.

Diplomacy is nowa key element for any successful business, as well as to help our governmentsto work together and discuss positively with their citizens and partners.

The success of a competitiveglobalization, and a human one, has to be achieved with a better cooperationbetween nations from both hemisphere and by improving diplomatic relationsbetween peoples.

But what’s aboutAfrica?

One of the strongarguments of the IBM Think Project for a better world in 2020 is to promotecontinued cooperation with Africa by offering every government the rightsolutions to help them to work better together and to solve important problems such asnational security and immigration, the development of a competitive businesssector and implementing a proper health service to be able to fight against deadly disease such as AIDS, Malaria, Ebola...

Asia isundoubtedly the continent of today with the emergence of China and Japan'scompetitiveness in areas such as information technology, multimedia and the carindustry, but Africa has all the tools and talents to be the continent of the TOMORROW.

Is FREEDOM a complex ideal...

2011-11-10T04:33:00.001-08:00

In politics, the idea of Freedom comes up quite often,but the word Freedom has little meaning if we do not have a common definition.

Theoretically, Freedom is not that complex of anideal. But putting theoretical ideals into practice becomes much moredifficult: the black-and-whiteness of ideals becomes muddled with the variousgrey hues of practice's complexity.

Freedom starts with a principle of self-control, alsoknown as self-ownership. In a free society, each and every person has legalcontrol of their own body and mind. As such, the concept of Freedom refers to acertain type of political empowerment. It refers specifically to equalempowerment. In other words, a free society is one with an equal distributionof legal rights and in which each and every person has as much legal rights aspossible.

We enjoy all these Freedoms here in England. No onetells us how many children we can have. We are allowed to own our own homeand/or business, work where we wish, get an education, worship the God of ourchoice in the way that we choose, and in the church of our liking, or not atall, if we so desire. We are free to travel, or to stay at home. No one puts upwalls to keep us contained within any boundaries. We are free to live in thelocation of our choice, but we are also free to move from state to state withno restrictions, if that is our desire.

Basically, a free person has the legal allowance to dowhatever he or she wants insofar as he or she does not offensively harm orcoerce other people against those other people's wills. Remember, thelimitation is a logical requirement. Freedom obviously cannot include the legalright to limit other people's Freedom because that would be illogical.

We are the few fortunate. We can choose the size ofour family, the size of our home is limited only by our capacity andwillingness to earn our living. We are free to bargain with our employer aboutthe amount our skills and expertise are worth and the conditions under which weare expected to work. We receive fair compensation for our labours and we arefree to spend it in the way we choose, and free to invest and save for ourretirement years.

We enjoy so much more Freedom. But this privilege doesnot come cheap.

Freedom in Britain have been bought and paid for withthe blood, sweat, and tears of previous generations and their peers who stillstand tall today in the military, ready and willing to defend our Freedoms fromany and all transgressors all over the world. These are your husbands, sons,brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, daughters, wives, mothers, aunts,friends...

A famous phrase from a former a US career militaryofficer was: "I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight until mydeath for your right to say it."

Who can give us more than that? Shouldn't we give asmuch as we can back to them?

Patrice de Boeck is director for Business_Network Consulting | Aconsultancy focused on providing fresh and innovative approach to investmentand development in Central Africa, through the provision of services coveringFinance, Marketing, Strategy and Sports Sponsorship.

Multiculturalism | Diversity : A challenge for most Businesses

2011-11-03T04:55:00.000-07:00

Professor C.James Trotman argues thatmulticulturalism is valuable because it uses several disciplines to highlightneglected aspects of our social history, particularly the histories of womenand minorities and promotes respect for the dignity of the lives and voices ofthe forgotten. By closing gaps, byraising consciousness about the past, multiculturalism tries to restore a senseof wholeness in a post-modern era that fragments human life andthought.

Basicallyfor most of us, multiculturalism is seen as a fairer system that allows peopleto truly express who they are within a society, that is more tolerant and thatadapts better to social issues. We could argue that culture is not onedefinable thing based on one race or religion, but rather the result ofmultiple factors that change as the world changes.

Countries like England, France and the United Stateshave seen a huge change in their way of life in the past 50 years, mainlyimpacted by multiculturalism.

Buton a business point of view, how could we assess the impactof multiculturalism in today society? How current businessleaders see multiculturalism as a positive tactic whichencourages diversity to better serve a heterogeneous customer base or simplyincrease market share or year to year profit?

Ina business area, Diversity theorizes that, ina global marketplace, a company that employs a diverse workforce (both men andwomen, people of many generations, people from ethnically and racially diversebackgrounds...) is better able to understand the demographics of themarket it serves and is thus better equipped to thrive than acompany which is less open to diversity.

Anadditional corollary suggests that a company that supports the diversity of itsworkforce can also improve employee satisfaction, productivity, and retention.If a workforce is diverse, but the employer takes little or no advantage ofthat breadth of that experience, then it cannot monetize whatever benefitsbackground diversity might offer.

But there are a lot of challenges tomanage a diverse work population. Managing diversity is more than simplyacknowledging differences in people.

A major challenge ismiscommunication within an organization. When native and non-native speakersare exposed to the same messages, they may interpret the informationdifferently.

Cultural bias is another huge challenge. Cultural bias includesboth prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice refers to negativeattitudes toward an organization member based on his/her culture groupidentity, and discriminationrefers to observable adverse behaviour for the same reason.

Finally, assimilationhas had serious negative consequences for individuals in organizations and theorganizations themselves. Those who assimilate are denied the ability toexpress their genuine selves in the workplace; they are forced to represssignificant parts of their lives within a social context that frames a largepart of their daily encounters with other people. People who spend significantamounts of energy coping with an alien environment have less energy left to dotheir jobs.

Assimilation does not just create a situation in which people who aredifferent are likely to fail; it also decreases the productivity oforganizations.

The key to managing a diverse workforce is increasing individualawareness of and sensitivity to differences of race, gender, social class,sexual orientation, physical ability, and age.

There are several ways to go to create a diverse organization thatperforms extremely well: self-monitoring, empathy, and strategicdecision-making |

· Self-monitoring refers to a communicator's awareness of how his or her behaviour affects another person, and his or her willingness to modify this behaviour based on knowledge of its impact

· Empathy enables the receiver to go beyond the literal meaning of a message and consider the communicator's feelings, values, assumptions, and needs

· Strategic decision-making implies that the communication sources and channels used to reach organization members, as well as the substance of the messages conveyed, are mindfully selected.

Patrice de Boeck is director for Business_Network Consulting | A consultancyfocused on providing fresh and innovative approach to investment and developmentin Central Africa, through the provision of services covering Finance,Marketing, Strategy and Sports Sponsorship.

Simply sharing is already Donating

2011-10-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

If you type the word "Charity "on Google, you will be amaze by how many NGOs or others organisations linked to a charity program or project are in UK and mainly England (690 millions results). If you visit various business or small companies around, you will always hear or find someone or a group of people trying to setup or organise some sort of Charity rally to raise funds for any goods cause around, specially Kids, the elderly, cancer research and (as usual) Africa.

I have always felt good and, somewhere, lucky to have come in a country (England) where most ordinary people care so much and feel passionate about where I come from.

I have lived in France, Canada and in the US before but I can definitely said that no other country have been advertising about Charity for Africa or fundraising to help this huge Continent, then England. During my time at IBM Global Finance, one of my colleague took a 12 month leave to cycle from Paris to Capetown (South Africa) for the Millennium Promise Organisation to raise funds and deliver water pumps in some village on their way to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Land.

But are all these Charities organisations, NGOs (most of them funded by the UK government) or other websites were they trustfully ask you to help them, fight poverty in Africa by raising money in your own area or simply by sending your via paypal on a monthly basis, to (as what most of them say) help children to have a better future.

I know it sound really awful to say that and badly sceptical, but let me tell you something, every time I have gone back home or visit my family in 4 different countries, where I come from or have relative (Gabon | Cameroon | Guinea Equatorial | Congo) I haven't seen anything different than since my previous trip, nothing has changed and if something has (Gabon | Guinea Equatorial) it is because the newly oil or gas exploitation field revenue has gave these countries an opportunity to make a change. Charity... I don't think so.

I have heard story about "white people" building school, hospital or shelter everywhere in Africa and that we should feel privilege that some ordinary people in Europe have enough pity to help us get away from poverty.... Well I don't know where this type of "MIRACLE" happen but they haven't happen in my land. The last time I went to Kinshasa (Congo), I had to go through hell to be able to put my younger sister in a plane to be send in an military hospital in Paris to save her life....

A few year back, one of my cousin dies because the small urgency room in our village was too small and our local doctor, did not have the necessary equipment and medicine to save him.... And I can go on and on....

Believe me, at the time, there were no hospital build by "white people" there, in a middle of a civil war, that could have save my sister, until the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital was open in 2007, thanks to the humanitarian work of one of the greatest son of Zaire (RDC) Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo and the only person that provide funds for medicine and new equipment in my village and around the area is me and my family, no "white people".

But let's get back to reality here, if you look at the HM Revenue & Customs website, you will learn (unless you already knew about it) that if you give money to a charity or an NGOs you could claim some sort of tax or other incentives to help you get the money you gave away to (apparently) help "African children get a better future"...

When and where should I start to claim then....

I love Charities and have been involved with them since I was a child and I will continue to volunteer help and donate to them but help only doesn't address the problems of poverty, inequality and environmental sustainability we need to become social entrepreneurs, establishing social businesses with real values at their centre. This will make a different.

While charity reflects the benefactor’s compassion for humankind and is measured in terms of the generosity of donations to the less fortunate, I believe that we need to reflect more than the good intentions of its enthusiasts, who are not merely driven by compassion, but are also compelled by a desire for social change. Oftentimes, charitable organizations survive at the mercy of their donors whose contributions vary with the economic climate.

“In society, I’d like to see more value placed on social impact and success than on good intentions or effective marketing or the severity of the need you’re claiming to serve. I’d like to see a fundamental change in ethics or culture around that. We still have the lingering effect of a culture of charity, which honors people for their sacrifice—how much they give and the purity of their motives. The word charity comes from the word “caritas,” which is Latin for love or compassion. We’re rewarding people for demonstrating their love of humankind, but we’re not often looking to see whether it has the intended impact. So I’d love to see an ethics change, so that we honor people for the impact they've had directly, or indirectly in choosing to support programs and organizations and individuals that have had impact, not just for how much they give or how generous they are.” (J. Gregory Dees)

Have a nice weekend...

Steve Jobs | Here's To The Crazy Ones

2011-10-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks For Everything Steve ....

2011-10-06T00:44:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, it's true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We're born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It's been happening for a long time.

Steve Jobs

iPhone 4S | The little things that matter

2011-10-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

I am justcoming to terms with how masterful and brilliant Apple is with their marketing.

Since lastnight (UK Time) everyone knows that specs upgrade isn’t radical, that thedesign hasn’t change at all (same old iPhone 4), or that the new IOS5 may notbe as special as everyone wants it to be (mostly the disappointed one). But onething that Apple realizes is that Android is like a spider web flooding the smartphonemarket every week with a new device to increase their market share. The hardwareis totally awesome (as usual) but it will be out-dated in a few months.

So Apple goes aheadand takes the exact opposite approach. They give you something that may not bethe pinnacle of cutting edge tech, but it still comes close. It is unique,comes from one source, and it isn’t a clone with different skins running on avarious scale of hardware sets. All of these things may have value for manypeople, but there is absolutely nothing to differentiate itself from the next “Droidphones” that comes down the pipe, except for minors variations.

The people at Cupertinohave opted to take a more practical approach to their product cycles while capitalizingon their unique branding which can’t be found anywhere else (that’s a fact). Callit pulling a rabbit out of the hat, but they give you ultimate magic.

Reading and listening to business and technology analysts today on thosenasty Wall Street programs and others blogs, I was pleasantly surprised to hearor read that most of them (if not all) are quite happy with what the iPhone 4Swill offer.

Surprise!!! Not really, just keep in mind that Apple has just barelycaught up with the huge demand for the iPhone 4 in the past few weeks, in amarket where they’re currently selling it… And the demand, following the iPhone4S release next week, will just grow to another level with Christmas justaround the corner…

But more importantly, from a business point of view, they can now continueto add markets shares (NEERG will disagree on that), increase productionto catch up with demand from existing and new markets, that they will continueto add at a faster pace than if they had gone with a complete new hardwarerefresh (iPhone 5)...

Makessense to me.

Moreimportant, the new features (iCloud | iCards | iTunes Match | Siri | IOS 5 | A5Chip) will have everyone buzzing about it and the competition racing to try tocopy it or develop something similar. Sales will continue well beyond the estimatesof the two or three thousands Writers-Bloggers-Geeks-Idiots who aredisappointed today.

But Bloggers and analysts alike may be reminded that they are as wrongabout the iPhone 4S as they were about the iPad and the iPad 2 and the iPhone3GS and the MacBook Air…..

Remember?

I Am Troy Davis, and so Are You...

2011-09-28T01:33:00.000-07:00

My son and I watched The Green Mile the other night. You may know thestory: An African-American man is falsely accused of murder, and, despite theirconviction that he is innocent; his jailers are required to execute him. Yousee, he was given the death penalty for a crime he didn’t commit.

After the movie ended, my son shook his head and said, “That just isn’tright.”

No. It’s not. But that is just what may have happened this week inAtlanta when Troy Davis was put to death after being convicted of murdering apolice officer in 1989. When my son asks me about it, and he will, how do Itell him injustice doesn’t only happen in the movies, that truth oftenresembles fiction, and sometimes it is?

According to the Innocence Project, the case against Troy Davisconsisted entirely of witness testimony that contained inconsistencies, even atthe time of the trial. Many of the original witnesses have since stated theywere pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statementsagainst Davis. I wonder what his executioners were thinking in the last momentsof Troy Davis life. Perhaps they didn’t doubt his guilt, but I do.

For me, the tragedy and turmoil of his state-sanctioned killing is areflection of the deep flaws in United States capital punishment system.

But, as people would say, violent criminals are still out there, andthey need to be punished. Perhaps, if we could be sure of the criminal's guilt,one could argue there are certain instances in which the death penalty ismerited. But can we ever be fully sure?

Unlike the case against Troy Davis, we don’t rely on the questionabletestimony of coerced witness these days. We have DNA. Sadly, as we look to DNAto match a violent criminal with a violent crime, we must remember that eventhis latest of solutions is riddled with problems.

We have someone we think is guilty and we ignore the evidence that mightreveal another narrative, one not so neatly solved. And, as any lover of TheWire knows, solving cases is critical for police departments and for thecareers of police officials. The crime lab scandal in San Francisco shows usthat just as eye-witness testimony can be flawed, so can DNA testing. In otherwords, we simply can’t be sure.

As I kiss my children in bed at night, I try to ignore the horrors thatswirl outside our front door: kidnapping, rape, murder. I know they exist; theheadlines remind me every day. I choose not to imagine how I might feel ifsomeone, anyone, hurt my beloveds. Perhaps an eye for an eye would be a welcomerelief to something so necessarily unimaginable. I don’t know what is right,but I do know what is wrong.

Killing a man who just might be innocent is wrong.

If there was a fool-proof solution, an iron-clad answer, a truth socrystalline nothing murky could mar its clarity, then and maybe only then, aneye for an eye could be justified. But this issue is as gray as the fog thathangs over Our Fair City these recent mornings. I don’t have an answer for mychildren. Do you?

LisenStromberg

Is speaking French Posh? [PART 2]

2011-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

In 2008, I wrote a post about the perception people in England have about speaking French and what, for some of them, it means in term of standard, status or just "class".

At the time, I was working for IBM UK as an analyst in a busy work place surrender by managers, consultants, software and hardware sales people, who on average were making roughly over £85K a year. One of the think I learned during my time at IGF (IBM Global Finance) was that people who know that they earn way more money than you are, drive an expensive car and own a bigger house than you, look at themselves as superior as you and more educated that you will never be (how could they know that...), and can be really offended (or shocked) when they found out that you have a skill they don't have, specially when the skill I'm talking about (speaking French fluently) is about knowledge and culture...
Believe me I had some funny time, some of the conversation I had were just surreal...

Anyway, 3 years later and I now work for a different company, in a different place. Much smaller, less people around me, a better view from my wide windows (view on the parking lot) and a kitchen fully equipped in the corner.
The big difference, other than the fact that nobody earn a salary close to £85K, is that the perception of people about speaking French or France is still the same.

Nothing make me laugh more than the typical english "dude" trying to tell me "in French" (I mean something they call French...) the name of his favourite cheese or the bottle of red wine he or she has share with his or her partner the night before, then start to explain me how knowledgeable she or he is in French...
Sometime someone will attempt to teach me something about French culture or say to me something like :

" Oh I have been in France before, Oh no, I go in France every weekend to enjoy the food and the forecast and my French is getting better..." ok cool, happy for you but....
" No no wait, you're not the only one to know about France, or French, I do too, I do my shopping at Waitrose..." Ok wait a minute... I don't care where you do you shopping Lol...
"Hey listen I can speak French too, you're not the only one...I know too..." Lol this is not a contest ok, calm down please, we're cool...
"No who do you think you are...speaking French doesn't make you better than me ok.... me too I..." STOP...PLEASE

Then sometime you will have the awkward moment of someone laughing during a conversation I have on the phone with a French client, pretending that "I do understand too" but asking me a few day later to translate something or call for help to deal with French documents....
Then you have the "Google effect", which for some people is like speaking or understanding French or even a good way to learn French and obviously making sure that I know that "now" you too speak the "Chosen Language"

"I can do your job...why are you earning more than me....I know French too..." .....

Pathetic but highly funny... Welcome to my world

Hope you enjoy it.

My Sneakers Collection

2011-08-23T03:13:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I received an email from the Careers in Fashion website, to let me know that my Blog (The Peace Blogger) was part of their Top 80 Sneakers Aficionado websites List, and that some of my excellent post about my sneakers collection earned me a place on this list.

I was quite happy about it and still are, I just forgot, at the time, to share that with all of you.

Anyway, for those of you who love Sneakers, Fashion and Life, just have a look at the list itself and take the time to surf on their website...

Careers in Fashion

Something to READ : Joann's Story [Livestrong.org]

2011-08-12T03:32:00.000-07:00

I am a cancer survivor.
My story is about Attitude.

To me, live strong means not living weakly. In order to thrive I must be my own best ally. I can't do that if I'm living weakly, so I must live strong.

I've worn the yellow wristband because It represents victory and the ability to restore happiness in my life after the effects of a disease that has often covered it with clouds of sadness

There have been many moments along this journey where all I can do to soothe my spirit is to retreat into the comfort of my own arms. At times like this, I lay down on my bed with my arms clutched firmly around a pillow and shed tears I don't want others to see, meanwhile my heart aches for the confidence I once had in life.

I allow myself to experience these moments of weakness, but I don't allow them to consume me. I always wipe away the tears, subdue the weakness, and remind myself that breast cancer has not obliterated the essence of who I am. I derive strength from my own experience as a three-time survivor.

My initial diagnosis in 1998 was surprising. I found the lump myself at age 32. My second diagnosis in 2004 was disappointing. My doctor had told me for two years that the lump I could feel was scar tissue. My third diagnosis in 2005 was inspirational. My plastic surgeon noticed a suspicious lymph node during reconstructive surgery and removed it. He had found another malignancy.

Over the years, I've endured all the requisite treatments and their interesting side effects. I am still learning to accept the scars that trace my history with this disease. I realize I wouldn't be here without them. Like many others, I believe cancer has given me a new life. My priorities have changed. I feel as though my heart beats with more meaning.

Now, I try not to squander away my heart beats on frustration and anger, but instead to spend them on happiness and laughter.

LIVESTRONG.ORG

IS ENGLAND UNDER SIEGE....

2011-08-10T00:38:00.000-07:00

What caused these riots and why did the police lose control? Some commentators think the disorder was understandable and justified; some say the police “had it coming”; others that the violence was only to be expected given the unemployment and poverty in the area.

Some local people told journalists of their resentment towards the police. One student said: “The police never talk to us, they ignore us, they don’t think we’re human in this area.” A youth worker claimed: “The way the police treat black people is like we’re nothing.” And a retired accountant who has lived locally for 30 years reported that some of the police “behave in an arrogant manner that puts people’s backs up”.

Other residents who witnessed people carrying off carpets, trainers and watches noticed that they included individuals of all “colours and creeds”, suggesting an outburst of sheer lawlessness rather than righteous retaliation for past racial slights.
Senior officers were accused of failing to respond to the family and friends of Mark Duggan when they marched to Tottenham police station on Saturday evening. And they were also accused of standing back and allowing rioters to cause havoc in the hours after.
Police had questions to answer about how the chaos could have spread, said Tottenham MP David Lammy.

Mr Lammy raised concerns after Mr Duggan’s death that tensions were rising between residents and the police. As he spoke in the High Road yesterday, some in the crowd shouted: ‘The police want to see the place burn.’

Scott, one of the demonstrators on Saturday, said trouble flared only after four hours of waiting for a senior police officer to discuss Mr Duggan’s death. He added: ‘The reason I believe this happened is because police have paid disregard to the family. Had they dealt with us earlier in the day, we would have removed ourselves.’

He described the violence as an ‘explosion’ of anger over widespread unemployment, frequent stop-and-search checks by police and expulsions from schools.

Metropolitan Police commander Adrian Hanstock insisted there had been ‘no indication’ that trouble would flare as it did.

He said: ‘Saturday’s peaceful demonstration was hijacked by a small number of criminal elements, who used that for their own gain.

‘The looting, the damage, the concern that has been caused to businesses and people who have lost their homes and their livelihoods is absolutely unacceptable.’

GONE TO SOON... [TARO YAMASAKI]

2011-07-15T03:05:00.000-07:00

For years, the staff of People magazine had been trying to publish a piece on AIDS, without success. It was a real travesty that we hadn’t done a story much earlier. But it was finally decided, in the summer of ’87, that we were going to do a 24-hour look at people with AIDS. (People, August 3, 1987.) Photographer-reporter teams were dispatched across the country, and writer Bill Shaw and I were assigned to spend a day with Ryan White. His family had recently been hounded out of Kokomo, Indiana, because Ryan, a hemophiliac, had contracted this new, dread disease. He had been expelled from school. He fought it in court. He won. He was allowed back in. And he would walk down a totally crowded hallway in the school and people would run and hug the opposite wall. He would have horrible things written on his locker. Kids would move their desks away from his.

He finally decided that he did not want to die in Kokomo. He couldn’t bear the idea of being buried there. So he moved to Cicero, a much more tolerant town in the same state. I believe that Elton John helped his family with the down payment for the new house.

We met Ryan, then 15, right after he moved in. It was a very humid, 90-degree day in July. We walked into Ryan’s house and it was stifling. He was 55 pounds or so, this tiny person whose growth had been stunted by the hemophilia and then by the AIDS. And he had a blanket over him. He’d go over to the stove, turn it on and warm his hands.

He was very, very shy and very suspicious of us. He had had many unpleasant dealings with the media. He felt like he had been at the center of a freak show. On the other hand, he felt that it was important for people to start learning what AIDS was really about - - how you got it and how you didn’t.

We were low key. I didn’t even take my cameras out for the first four hours. We weren’t going to do anything that made him uncomfortable. We ending up spending the whole day, and Ryan ended up being on People’s cover.

Soon, we found ourselves invited to document Ryan and his family, off and on. Within months, his life would be totally transformed. His doctor said it was not because of the medicine but possibly because of the love he was given. His neighbors started knocking on his door, saying, ‘’Welcome to Cicero.’’ The superintendent held an all school assembly before Ryan arrived, insisting, ‘’We will not treat Ryan White like the people of Kokomo did.’’ The everyday contact of his peers was now supportive. People readers wrote to him, saying how much they admired what he was doing. When writer Bill Shaw and I went back again, eight months after our first story, Ryan had become much less guarded. He had gone from being the outcast to being someone who was respected had made a tremendous difference in his life.

The impact of that first story was significant. A major magazine was addressing the topic of AIDS head on. The pictures showed really sick people. It was not reassuring. But it came across in an open, sympathetic and honest way. The pictures said that people with AIDS were human beings. And one of the reasons I work for People magazine is because if there is any segment of the country that need to know about these issues - - Middle America, the audience that People hits. Anyone, gay or straight, rich or poor, of color or not, could look at those pictures, feel what Ryan was going through, and make that jump, that this could be my kid, my brother, my sister, my parent.

After our second story, Ryan and his mom, who had been extremely reluctant the summer before, said that they felt happy with their decision to open up and be in People. It had made a tremendous difference in their lives because it helped others see them as they were, rather than as pariahs. And you could see that in the pictures. Ryan playing with his dog. Ryan with his good friends playing pool. Ryan hugging his mom. The two of them praying at bedtime.

We did a story on his mother Jeanne’s trials. We spent a lot of with Ryan. We traveled with him to Omaha, where he got the keys to the city. We were getting to be friends, all of us. Ryan was named one of People’s 50 most beautiful people. But his health, by 1990, was getting progressively worse. And I got a call from Jeanne. ‘Ryan‘s dying. You and Bill are the only journalists who are going to be in the intensive care unit with us. Please come as soon as possible.’’ We rushed to Indiana.

There must have been 75 journalists downstairs in one of the waiting rooms. Ryan was a huge story by then. Ryan was in a coma when I got there. He never regained consciousness. Jeanne said, ‘’Please don’t photograph Ryan’s face, I don’t want to remember him like this.’’ He was very swollen. And that’s why the photograph you see of Jeanne and Elton John, at Ryan’s bedside, does not include Ryan from the neck up. We were there for maybe nine days and Elton John was there the entire time. Elton was really taking care of the family. He was sorting the mail. He’d come in with a sack full of toys he would distribute to other kids in the intensive care unit.

That entire week was pretty remarkable for me. I wasn’t just a photographer, but a friend caught up in a story. When Ryan died, everybody went into his room and held hands around the bed. I was in there with a camera. And Jeanne said, ‘’Taro, you can take the picture or you can join us.’’ And I put my camera down and I joined the circle. I knew that was an important picture. I knew that it was a moment I should ‘get.’ But I also knew that the reason I was in there in the first place was that they were not thinking about me as a photographer and I was not relating to them as a photographer. I knew I was going to wish I had taken that picture on some level but I just felt like I had to join that circle.

The experience really made me think a lot about my humanity, the importance of the pictures I take, the role photographers can play as educators. That’s basically what photojournalists do: They experience something and then they communicate it, in still images, to a larger audience. But I really believe that I’m also educating myself. And I guess there are certain things more important than ‘getting the picture.’ There’s a relationship with the circumstances and the individuals and their interplay around you. And it became very clear to me that there are certain things that I can’t photograph. I don’t have that killer instinct. Yes, I’ve gone through hell to get some pictures. But on the other hand, this is a picture I passed up. And I would do it again.

I was just in Croatia last summer doing a story on this summer camp for kids in war zones that brings Croatians, Serbians and Bosnians children together. Volunteers from all over the world were there. And there was a teacher from Connecticut. She heard I was from People magazine. She met me and she asked, ‘’What is the most important story you’ve ever done? What hit you the hardest on a personal level?’’ I thought a while and answered, ‘’The stories I did on Ryan White.’’

Taro Yamasaki

My Lovely wife role models...

2011-07-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

I'm gone take a risk today and share with you " my Wife 3 Role Models". Seriously...

We had a deep discussion last night about role model or people that inspire you in your own life, yesterday her team at work had a type of building spirit task stuff... and one of the questions to answer (in front of everyone) was : "who is (are) your role model?"

My wife answer was :

What do you think about that? And who is (are) your role model...

Can we stop the HATE...Please... [Rick Reilly | ESPN]

2011-05-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

It tastes like Drano in my mouth, but I've got to say it: The Miami Heat are pulling off one of the greatest I Told You So's in the history of American sports.

I hate how they conspired. Hate how they manipulated. Hate how they went behind the backs of the GMs and the league and their own teammates to pull off something so audacious it threatens to ruin the very fabric of the league.

And yet they're doing the single hardest thing in sports. They're living up to the hype.

Remember how they preened and pranced at that preseason throw-up-on-your-back-teeth debutante party in July as if they were the second coming of the 1991 Chicago Bulls?

Well, so far, aren't they?

Remember how Dwyane Wade said he and LeBron James and Chris Bosh would wind up in the discussion of the "best threesome" to ever play?

Well, won't they?

Remember when Wade said we should feel "sorry" for the other teams because they'd have to guard him and James at the same time?

I'd rather see Donald Trump on the $5 bill than see the Miami Heat win this championship.

Well, don't we?

Look, I'd rather see Donald Trump on the $5 bill than see the Miami Heat win this championship. Three superstars colluding to win a ring would be the worst thing to happen to the NBA since The Gold Club.

But you have to admit: They've been as good as they said they were going to be. Hubris 1, Humility 0.

From the moment James took what seemed like 11 cheese-filled hours to say, "I'm taking my talents to South Beach," the mocking began from Celtic Nation to Laker Land and everywhere in between.

Remember Orlando Magic president Otis Smith saying, "I thought he was more of a competitor"?

Well, James is 10-3 in these playoffs. Is that competitive enough for you?

Remember how the critics chirped that the only way the Heat can win is if there were three balls? That NBA superstars might be able to share groupies, but not limelight?

Well James, Wade and Bosh have led the team in scoring five, five and three times, respectively, in the playoffs so far. Is that sharing enough for you?

Remember Crygate?

Remember the five-game losing streak when everybody outside the 305 area code wrung their hands with glee and kept saying, "See? See? Greed kills!"?

Well, it doesn't.

Remember when writers wailed that Erik Spoelstra, the Heat head coach who looks like he's in his first year of divinity school, was too much of a milquetoast for the Threegos and should be replaced?

Well, Spoelstra weathered it with patience and guts.

You think James was under the gun? Can you imagine the vise Spoelstra's noggin was in? With Pat Riley and his six rings two rows behind him? But he hung in, stuck with his "Trust each other" mantra and now you wonder if they named the wrong guy Coach of the Year.

Remember the James jabbing? Remember "Witless," the beer brewed to mock LeBron and his Nike "Witness" campaign?

Remember when people were saying he failed more in crunch time than soggy corn flakes? When James had to apologize to his teammates for "failing them late in games" and promised, "I won't continue to do that"?

Well, he delivered. Game 5 in the Celtics series: scored the last 10 points. Game 2 versus Chicago: nine of the Heat's last 12. Game 3 versus Chicago: two daggers late.

Remember the Bosh bashing? Remember pundits saying the former Toronto Raptors superstar would simmer and then boil over at suddenly being a third wheel? Two and a Half Men? The Third Heatle? Remember when he said he needed to start getting the rock more often and where and when he liked it?

Well, Wade and James started giving it to him and now George Harrison has two 30-point games in these playoffs alone.

So, yes, it goes down my throat like tumbleweed, but I have to eat it: The Heat were right. They've been as good as advertised.

Actually, they've been better.

You knew Miami was getting three mega-scorers on one team who were going to wear out a lot of scoreboard operators' thumbs. But what's happened instead? They've been winning it with great passing, teamwork and suffocating, selfless, you-cover-my-butt-while-I-cover-yours defense. The Psychic Helpline couldn't have predicted that.

I want to hate the Heat, want it like my next breath, but Wade is nice, James is fun, Bosh is sincere, Spoelstra is cool, Riley is brilliant, and the way they all play is so damn selfless, I can't.

I'm pissed that I can't be pissed.

And it makes me think.

Remember when James said they might win seven titles before their own personal Dream Team's days were through?

Well, that's still stupid.

My New NBA2K11 Sneakers

2011-02-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

Jordan Dwayne Wade Retro Edition (Flash)

Nike Lebron James Christmas 2010 Edition (The King)

Nike Zoom Kobe VI (The Black Mamba)

Sneakers Crazy : My Latest Addition...

2010-09-18T03:56:00.000-07:00

Well, since most of you already know that i'm a Sneakers Addict or a kind of Mad Collector, I thought about letting you know about my latest addition in my private collection.
First I had to find some space to store them considering that my wife banned me to have any more shoes in our room, I'm gonna have to build a type of shoes storing space in our garden house to be able to keep them close to me (I know you must all laugh about it)...

Anyway, a couple of days ago I was lucky to find a vintage pair of Nike Air Trainer "Chlorophyll Edition" in really good condition from the 90's and the price wasn't that bad, then as you would expect I jump on the occasion to buy them and it felt good man, it felt really good....
A few years ago, I use to wear one of them during my early tennis career (which didn't last long) and couldn't stop feeling as good as John McEnroe during that period, I even tried to serve like him, you know what I mean, and it was kind of cool, didn't really improve my game but I enjoyed that time.

My second addition is a memorable model of the Jordan Brand : A pair of the original Air Jordan XIV OG Black vintage model from 1999.

Great shoes, worn by the best player ever to play the game of basketball, how could you not want to own a model like that. Well while I'm writing this post, the XIV are on my feet and I should try them later today on my home playground (Downtown Portsmouth).

Have a nice weekend all...

ACPRC / PEACE for Africa

2010-08-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

We sometimes overlook the fact that poverty is an environment where half of the people on our planet have been living for their entire life, having no clue at all what it would be to live on state benefit, government income, in a public house or on disability pension.

In a previous post (Making a difference for Africa) I have tried to explain that change are really slow in Africa, which explain why no matters how much money G8 government sent in some of the poorest countries in the world, nothing seem to improve and for the population, dreams of a better life are still just dreams.

Since the beginning of this year, I have been working with a prominent African diplomate, based in London, to establish a NGO to promote Peace and prevent conflicts in Africa.

The African Centre of Prevention and Resolution of Conflicts (ACPRC) was created in February with the ambition to create several educative programs and develop different activities to help people overcome the difficulties they face living in some of the worst battleground in Africa.

I do not know if this project will be successful, grow to help people and have a positive impact on some communities in Africa who need our help to keep smiling and keep faith in tomorrow.

Hope is the only thing most people in countries where civil war, ethnic conflicts or warlords campaigns are too often, have left to keep them alive.

Please, visit our Website (still in development) and if you want to help, give your opinion or just make a point, do not hesitate to contact the ACPRC.

Thank you and GOD Bless you...

XBOX 360 or PS3: On which side of The Force are you?

2010-08-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

Well, some of you don’t really know that, but in the “Wargames” between Xbox and PS3, I’m on the Playstation side and always have been a Playstation fan since the launch of the PSOne a few years ago.

The funny thing about that is that some of my friends, who are Xbox 360 addicts, always take a pleasure to discredit Sony for, according to them, the poor quality of the PS3 system and a small catalogue of available games (hard to disagree with that one).

On my way to work this morning, I couldn’t stop smiling while reading an article in the newspaper, that Xbox 360 were trying to hide their lack of 1080p HD resolution by simply using PS3 visuals in their latest Final Fantasy XIII advert.

According to the Product Reviews Website; when Final Fantasy XIII launched earlier this year it was clear that the PS3 version would be superior in terms of graphics. This was obvious as the Xbox 360 version was limited to 560p due to DVD media restrictions, whilst the PS3 version was at 1080p.

This difference in quality has landed Square Enix (the company who produced Final Fantasy) in a small turmoil in the past few days, apparently the advert they released suggested that the Xbox 360 visuals were the same as the PS3′s. However following a viewer complaint and an investigation, it was determined that the Xbox 360 advert features PS3 visuals.

Here is what the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) had to say on the matter “We considered that, because the ad promoted the game on the XBOX 360 platform, it should have featured footage derived from that console. Because it did not and because we considered that the use of PS3 footage in the advert exaggerated the quality of the footage available on the XBOX 360, albeit marginally, we concluded the advert was misleading.”

Well, as you can imagine, I had a smile on my face since this morning and feel pretty happy to be on the good side of " The Force "....

Wade 2010 or Nike Zoom "Kobe" IV: Which one would you get?

2010-08-15T04:39:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I wrote a post about which sneakers I would choose between the Lebron V and the Jordan XXIII (both shoes at the time were costing over $150) and if you remember my choice went to the latest Jordan Brand product, at the time, and without any hesitation.

Some of you know that I'm nuts about sneakers and collect some of them, Air Force 1, Wade 1 (the Converse model), TMac models from his Magics days, and some vintage Air Jordan models.
Jordan Sneakers have always been my favourite and I'm lucky to have some vintage models at home, like the XIII in black, hidden in the cleaning cabinet under the stairs, or the Jordan XIVII, low model and North Carolina Edition, packed in their original box somewhere in the attic (don't laugh, true story).

My lovely wife doesn't really understand my love and passion for sneakers, but my kids love it, and we argue sometimes about the space my passion takes in our own bedroom, you see right now I'm sitting on my bed and I can see several boxes of shoes on the top of my wardrobe and on the floor, but not any shoes here, Nike Air Maxim 1 edition 2009, Adidas TMac player sample edition 2008, Air Jordan XI Space Jam Edition, Nike Air Force 1 Black History Edition, and something like 15 other boxes spread all over the room.

But now I'm in the hunt for some new models to add to my collection and after my last trip to the Nike Town store in London, I'm torn between two 2010 editions: Jordan Wade 2010 Welcome home and the latest Nike Zoom Kobe V.
Tough choice here considering the success these two models have right now on the market, the Wade Welcome Edition is pretty hard to find because of his exclusivity and appeal, and the Zoom V has been produced on so many different editions that it's hard to pick one model over another one (2010 Finals vs 2010 Team USA).

I tried a Zoom V model 3 weeks ago in Footlocker (Southampton) and although I found it sexy and classy, I couldn't see myself playing with them at all, you see I've got fragile ankles since I broke both of them in some freaky accidents over the years and low models are not always my first choice to play basketball with. But this is Kobe Bryant personal design, which make this model pretty special.

The Wade Welcome Home Edition looks just fantastic and when you love shoes as I do, you have to own one of them (and be prepared to spend around £180).
Michael Jordan choice to make Dwayne Wade the face of his brand was a great move and on the marketing side a genius move. Wade has been for the past 7 years on of the most loved and recognised played in the NBA and the success he brought to Converse made him the perfect choice to lead Jordan Brand to another level. The Jordan 2010 model is such a great and unique example of how far the Jordan brand is prepare to go to explore new level in design and technology to produce rare and exclusive shoes. It is amazing to think that no matter how much Nike and Adidas spend on shoes design and development or players shoes deals, Jordan shoes were and are still the one we all want to wear.

Ok let's get back to my dilemma. You see I thought about asking my wife for some help here, but as you know now she isn't really into sneakers collection and my kids will probably make sure that I bought any shoes in the store no matter the price (spoiled kids), I thought about asking some of my workmate, like Bajabber, but trust me sneakers isn't part of his vocabulary at all and Tom (or Thomas) is more an outdoor 'green' dude and probably never heard about Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose or John Wall.

Right now, my choice is to get a 2010 Wade Welcome Home Edition or a Team USA Edition (not release yet). What do you think guys?

Nike Zoom 'Kobe' V or 2010 Wade Welcome Home Edition....

LANCE ARMSTRONG

2010-08-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Few people have seen the private side of Lance Armstrong. It emerges when he puts aside the trademark mask of stone he wears as one of sport's fiercest competitors and the outward passion that fuels his commitment to the Livestrong Foundation, which drives his worldwide cancer campaign.

This gentle side of Armstrong shows how much he enjoys fatherhood and the living miracle that Max represents.

Armstrong has three other children with his former wife, Kristin Richard - Luke, 10, and twins Isabelle and Grace, 8 - but Max, his conception with his current partner, is the first to be natural.

Lance Armstrong may be a seven times Tour de France champion, a former world champion and a multimillionaire who is steering a worldwide fight against cancer that has raised more that $US350 million.

But nothing makes the 38-year-old Texan smile more than the intimate time he spends each morning with his eight-month-old son, Max.

This is the moment that Armstrong - who survived testicular cancer to produce one of the greatest sporting comebacks with his tour wins from 1999 to 2005 - cherishes most before another day in the saddle.

Though doctors were not optimistic about his recovery, Lance Armstrong never gave up. After all, he was trained not to give up so easily since young. His mother, a single parent had always inculcated values of strong determination and persistence to him. There was once when he was found by his mother near the end of a triathlon about to quit. Upon her encouragement, he completed the race by walking. Although he came out last, he persisted till the end.

Using the same determination, Lance challenged his illness by going through the operation to remove the tumours and the long process of chemotherapy. He lost a lot of weight and was unable to even ride his bike around the neighbourhood. Despite that, he was spiritually revived by his illness.

After he completed his chemotherapy sessions and was declared cancer free miraculously, he gradually went back to his first love: biking.

Thank you for years of inspiration and courage

BAJABBER

2010-08-12T11:58:00.000-07:00

Well, if you have some spare time during the day, at work or home, and want to enjoy some good and funny reading, nice photos, useful technical advice or just surf randomly on the net, have a look at my workmate Blog: BAJABBER
It's new, clever and quite unique. I'm sure most of you out there will just love it.

Right now, BAJABBER is in a state of "ShortBread" ride, as he is locking to his next recipe called Millionaire Shortbread, then if you want to try it too, just let me how it taste, because I'm not courageous enough to try it myself.

Now we just have to wait for the other part of our work triplet, Mr. Tom (Thomas should I said) Dring, to develop his own webspace (Blog) to showcase his sailing and cycling skills all over the World Wide Web. Come on Tom....

Well, as you can see, I'm back online after more than a year in hibernation (was await try to change the world, again...) and hopefully, this time, I will take care of my Blog and make sure that thePeaceBlogger will stay connected for a longer period.

Take care and see you all soon...

Bill Clinton save the day [NYTimes.com]

2009-08-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

“Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea,” Ms. Ling said in brief remarks to reporters, blinking back tears. “We feared that at any moment we could be prisoners in a hard labor camp. Then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. “We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton,” she said, recounting the final moments of her ordeal. “We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here home and free.”

The two women stepped off the plane in jeans and sweaters, rushing down the stairs to be reunited with their families, who clustered around them. Ms. Lee, in tears, picked up and embraced her 4-year-old daughter, Hana. Mr. Clinton stepped off the plane a few moments later, embracing Al Gore, the founder of the media company that employs the journalists.

President Obama, who contacted the families of the women on Tuesday evening, said that he, too, was “extraordinarily relieved” at the journalists’ return.

“I want to thank President Bill Clinton — I had a chance to talk to him — for the extraordinary humanitarian effort that resulted in the release of the two journalists,” Mr. Obama said outside the White House on Wednesday morning.

Mr. Clinton’s mission to Pyongyang was the most visible by an American in nearly a decade. It came at a time when the United States’ relationship with North Korea had become especially chilled, after North Korea’s test of its second nuclear device in May and a series of missile launchings.

It ended a harrowing ordeal for the two women, who were stopped on March 17 by soldiers near North Korea’s border with China while researching a report about women and human trafficking.

Mrs. Hillary Clinton was deeply involved in the case, too. She proposed sending various people to Pyongyang — including Mr. Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore — to lobby for the release of the women, before Mr. Clinton emerged as the preferred choice of the North Koreans, people briefed on the talks said.

Thank you for that, Mr Clinton, and hopefully you will carry on helping people all over the world ( as you do with your foundation in Africa and Asia).

A Light Goes Out [The Times]

2009-06-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Long after the life has faded from memory, Michael Jackson’s talent will endure

The death of Michael Jackson brings to an end the tragic third act of a remarkable life. The final, reclusive years were a descent into an increasingly bizarre and dysfunctional world of his own devising. The strange, plastic contortions of his face, the tales of sleeping in an oxygen tank, the personal amusement park populated by chimpanzees and children and the allegations of child abuse — a whole life lived out in the glare of publicity had turned in on itself. He was reported to have a critical lung condition and to need a transplant and, on his rare appearances in public, he cut a pitiable figure.

There will be a great deal of raking over of the details, some of them sordid, of the life. But where life is short, art, of sufficient quality, will last much longer. And the music that Michael Jackson created in two phases of fabulous creativity will be the story long after the peculiarities of his life have been relegated to the footnotes.

The first creative flowering began when he was a child. Born in 1958, into a poor family in Gary, Indiana, Jackson was put on the stage, with his four brothers, at the age of 6. The seeds of problems were probably planted at this time. Many years later Michael Jackson accused his father of abuse and it is clear that he had no semblance of an ordinary childhood. For a grown man to call his ranch Neverland is surely the desperate plea of a boy who did not want to grow old, at least not before he had been allowed to be young.

No human being should ever be a repository for the ambitions of another, a father or anyone else. So nobody should say that the music justifies the treatment. But the music is still there, all the same, and the early Jackson Five records have stood the only test of art that matters — the test of time. In a string of magnificent cuts for Motown (ABC, I Want You Back, The Love You Save, I’ll Be There) Michael Jackson established himself, while still no more than a boy, as a vocalist of the first rank.

There are some great recording artists whose reputation rests, and deservedly, on this golden period for Motown records. The reason Michael Jackson ranks higher than his contemporaries is because of the extraordinary second act to his career. Between 1979, with the release of Off the Wall, and 1987, with Bad, Jackson and his brilliant producer Quincy Jones produced a trilogy of albums that both defined a new genre and marked its high point. In between the two, Jackson released the highest-selling album of all time, Thriller. In the process he upset all the usual musical categories, a black artist creating a new market, bigger than any before or since. Sales were helped enormously by the short films accompanying Billie Jean and Thriller that also made Michael Jackson the first great star of the video age.

The tortured circumstances of Michael Jackson’s life meant that his best work had, almost without question, already been done. You need to hear the music, that insistent beat, and suddenly the talent is obvious. The singer dances lithely through the streets. He slides effortlessly up to a lamppost. He touches it and a light goes on.

"Rest In Peace" for ever...

Michael & Janet (1972)

2009 NBA Champoins [Bill Simmons / ESPN]

2009-06-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

Well it took me nearly a week to finally open my laptop and write about the NBA Finals and the 2009 Champions : The Los Angeles Lakers.
But, if you don't mind, I would like to say something about the man who was at the centre of this year Playoffs ; Kobe Bryant.

Since last year (20 months ago to be exact), Kobe has won the league MVP, an All-Star MVP and the 09 Finals MVP awards; he played in two straight Finals and won a title; he starred on an Olympic gold medal team, took over in the most important game against Spain to deliver the victory. Most amazingly, he played in the maximum 164 regular-season games and 44 playoffs games without getting a summer break because of the Olympics. And he did it despite turning 30 in August 2008.

The fact is that we just witnessed one of the great two-year stretches in the history of professional basketball if the determining factors were durability, consistency, individual success, team success, statistical excellence and degree of difficulty. Kobe's 2007-2009 stretch ranks alongside these post-shot-clock efforts (in no particular order): Bill Russell (1961-63), Jerry West (1964-66), Wilt Chamberlain (1966-68), Bill Russell (1967-69), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970-72), Larry Bird (1985-87), Magic Johnson (1986-88), Michael Jordan (1990-92), Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-95), Michael Jordan (1996-98) and Tim Duncan (2001-03).

Let me tell you something, we will never see another Michael Jordan, just like we will never see another Marlon Brando or John Lennon. It's just not happening. They might compare statistically and stylistically, but Jordan could command a room of 10 people or 20,000 and get the exact same reaction: Every set of eyes trained on him for as long as he was there. His personality, his charisma, his aura, his passion ... indescribable. Like nothing I have ever seen. Jordan was always the coolest guy in the room, and when he would walk to an arena, everybody would freeze, and you would hear screams, and then it would be a sea of lightbulbs. And everyone was saying the same thing, "I get to say I watched Michael Jordan."

Kobe always wanted people to feel that way about him. He shaved his head, made music videos, jumped cars for viral videos, changed his number, stole Jordan's fist pump, created that creepy face where he stuck his bottom two teeth out ... none of it worked. He will never command a room like Jordan did. Sorry. But he does share one crucial trait with Jordan: He's a professional of the highest order. He shows up every single night. It's just ingrained in him. Since they acquired Pau Gasol 17 months ago, the Lakers have not lost three games in a row. Why? Because of Kobe Bryant. He will always try hard. Always. It's the best thing about him. And really, that's what made Kobe's performance special this spring: The degree of difficulty for someone maintaining that intensity for 20 months (without missing a single game or getting a summer break) is absolutely off the charts. It's remarkable.

At this specific point in his career, Kobe Bryant shouldn't have been able to play as consistently well as he did. He shouldn't have been able to survive overtime periods in Game 2 (his 205th straight game in 20 months) and Game 4 (No. 207) and thrived in Game 5. Basketball might be a team sport, but in this specific case, an individual's will stood out and made the accomplishment of the group seem ancillary.

Look, I don't know how much of Kobe's personality is contrived. I don't know if this is the same selfish guy we watched five years ago, only with a freshly polished veneer that hides every demon lurking inside. I don't know if he learned how to play the part of a leader, almost like a trained actor, to throw everyone off his selfish scent. I don't know if he's sitting there tonight thinking, "I won my fourth title!" instead of, "We won the title!" Odds are, we will never figure these things out.

But I do know this: What Kobe Bryant accomplished over the past 20 months ranks up there with anything that ever happened in the National Basketball Association. He walks among the NBA gods now. Like it or not.

GABON : Hope & Pray for my people...

2009-06-09T00:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Omar Bongo Ondimba passed away in a private clinic in Spain after a long battle against cancer. After more than 40 years as head of state of Gabon (my home country), we, people of Gabon, are for the first time orphan and afraid that the stability Omar Bongo Ondimba gave us during his time "au Palais du bord de mer" could vanished in the tense struggle to find a successor.

Today, reports from my own family, my friends and relatives, are that Ali Ben Bongo, Defence Minister, decided last night, to send the army in the streets to secure strategic position in Libreville and sensitive state building. Borders are close, vital communication like Internet or Fax network have been disable, which mean that most of us who live in Europe or America, are in a complete dark about what's going on over there.

Having met Ali Ben Bongo before, I trust his judgement and understand that right now his main priority is to secure his family and relatives and reassure the people that what we all want is to have a peaceful transition and keep maintain our politic and economic stability.

Today, we shouldn't think about payback, revenge or anything else which will bring up negative feeling about 40 years of fortune and wealth for a minority ethnic who had the privilege to be related by blood or by birth place to Omar Bongo Ondimba, no, not at all, today we should think about humility and forgiveness, we should think about standing side by side to each other to help our country to move forward and prepare ourselves for the challenge tomorrow will bring.

As I said, I trust Ali Ben Bongo to make the right choice about our country and his people, I trust him to make the right decision about tomorrow, I trust him to be as fair as anyone when the time will come to choose and install a new leader and a new government, and I trust him without any doubt to let the people make their own decision about where they want to go from now and who they want to see or elect as our next Head of State.

Save Our Planet : Climate Day 05.06.09

2009-06-05T06:20:00.000-07:00

HOME by Yann Arthurs-Bertrand

Worldwide release on June, 05 2009
Climate Day

Easy life totally Free [BBC]

2009-05-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Another proof that England is a hell of a country if you want to live an easy life with mostly everything free (Benefit, Tax...), the following post is from the excellent Nick Robinson's blog hosted by the BBC website and trust me, this is amazing.

Andrew MacKay has resigned as David Cameron's parliamentary aide after admitting that the taxpayer is paying for both his homes. He was able to double-dip into the public purse because he's married to another Conservative MP, Julie Kirkbride. She claimed for one home; he claimed for another.

This means that all eyes are now on how Gordon Brown handles the case of the former minister Elliot Morley. No-one can claim that his allowances were within the rules.

He claimed £800 a month for 20 months for a mortgage he no longer had. The word last night from Labour sources was that he had made a mistake and that he had done the right thing by rectifying it. The tone today is markedly different.

There is now, I should note, a growing gulf between party leaders and their MPs. Tories are complaining to me about what one calls "summary mob justice" in which all are judged guilty so that the good are punished while the real bad guys escape lightly.

Voluntary repayments by the shadow cabinet of legitimate claims for furniture, repair works or gardening were repaid, I was told, as "the price of David Cameron's press release". The tariff for extravagance has been set high. What will be the tariff for flagrant breach of the rules?

God bless England....

Dikembe Mutombo [TrueHoop by Henry Abbott]

2009-04-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

As a fan of Basketball and the NBA, I always looked at Dikembe Mutombo, the older player in the league and one of the few legend of the game still out there today (not anymore after last week knee injury) but as a proud African man, Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo is for me an inspiration in my life on how working hard to help people less fortunate and giving back in my home country to many who don't have the safety me and my family enjoy here in England. I could write all day about Dikembe Mutombo and how he changed the life of so many people in Africa, but I thing the following letter from Chad Ford (a former ESPN journalist), a professor of conflit resolution in Hawaii should tell you how this amazing man from one of the poorest country in the world (Congo) has reach people beyond his own land by being himself, a man with a passion for life and Africa.

Dikembe,

I don't know if you remember me. I was the ESPN.com reporter who traveled with you to the first Africa 100 camp in South Africa. I wrote a story about traveling to Mama Jackey's and the impact you had on the children and me. However, I never told you the full story. Watching you go down last night had a powerful effect on me. I wept and my children asked me why ... this is the story that I told them.

"Of all of the professional athletes I've met, Dikembe Mutombo's had the greatest personal impact on me.

I traveled with him and the NBA to the first Africa 100 camp -- a trip that changed my life and ultimately led to me leaving ESPN full time to pursue teaching and practicing conflict resolution.

Before my time at ESPN, I had studied international conflict resolution and was committed to making a difference in the world. I was sure someday I'd be a mediator, out walking into the deepest, darkest areas of conflict, trying to shine a light on the humanity that still connects us together.

However after graduation from my graduate program in conflict resolution, ESPN bought a website that myself and co-founder Jason Peery created, Sportstalk.com. Suddenly I was immersed in the sports world ... and loving every minute of it. After a couple of years, my focus had totally shifted. Trade rumors and draft rankings consumed every thought and ever hour. I had a dream job, but inside I was lost.

When I found out about the Africa 100 and what Mutombo was going to do, I felt compelled to go. The experience changed my life. Seeing the poverty and despair on the faces of children was heart wrenching. But more so, seeing what people like Mutombo were doing inspired me. I was ashamed that I wasn't doing more with what I had. I wasn't the only one. A number of the NBA coaches and scouts I was with were touched deeply as well. I remember long conversations with Michael Curry and Lance Blanks about the ramifications of what we were seeing.

I spent several sleepless nights in the hotel, writing a long letter to my wife, Joanie. I told her about my desires to help people. How I wanted my life's work to amount to more than just basketball. I wanted to make a difference like Dikembe had. I told her that when I came home, I wanted to begin looking at changing professions. I was willing to give up my dream job if it meant a chance to help the lives of others.

I filed that story, which is my favorite I've ever written. I was overwhelmed by the response to it. People offered to help Mama Jackey. Donations came flowing in. ESPN featured the story on the front page of the site. It was my first inkling that sports truly can make a difference in the lives of others.

Within months I was looking for a job teaching conflict resolution program at a university, preparing to travel to Israel to write about sports and conflict resolution there, and thinking everyday about Mutombo and what I saw him do in Africa. In 2005, I left ESPN on a full-time basis to run the McKay Center for Intercultural Understanding in Hawaii. I also began reporting about and ultimately consulting and working with PeacePlayers International in the Middle East -- an organization that has shown the power of sports to bring enemies together.

I can trace almost all of it back to that day in Soweto. To those that say basketball can't make a difference in people's lives, I wish they could meet Dikembe. Not only has he changed the lives of tens of thousands in Africa, but he made a difference in my life that I'll never forget."

Thank you brother. You've made an impact on my life and my families that I'll forever grateful for. Here's to many more years of Dikembe Mutombo uplifiting the world ...

My Friend Marc Ona Essangui "Green Nobel" Prize Winner [BBC]

2009-04-22T07:25:00.000-07:00

A campaigner who was jailed during his battle to save the rainforest in Gabon has received a top international award.

Marc Ona Essangui was honoured for his fight to stop what he describes as a destructive mining project in the Ivindo National Park.

He is one of seven people from six continental regions to be awarded an equal share of the $900,000 (£600,000) 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize.

It has been described as "the Nobel Prize for grassroots environmentalism".

Mr Ona has campaigned for three years against the Belinga mine project - a deal between the government in Gabon and the Chinese mining and engineering company, CMEC, to extract iron ore.

The project includes the construction of a large hydroelectric dam, which is already underway, to provide power for the mine.

The dam is being built on the Ivindo River, near the Kongou Falls, Gabon's highest waterfall.

Mr Ona, who described the falls as "the most beautiful in central Africa", said that Gabon's government had failed to consult the local population and had not assessed the impact of the development on the environment before it gave permission for construction to begin.

He told BBC News that he hoped his receipt of the Goldman Prize would "draw international attention to just how precious this area is".

Political protest

Mr Ona, who uses a wheelchair, dedicated his early career to improving education and communication infrastructure in Gabon, including working with the United Nations Development Programme. He later turned his attention to environmental issues.

He eventually decided to focus his efforts full time on the work of his own environmental NGO, Brainforest, which aims to protect the rainforest for the benefit local of communities.

"The government established 13 national parks here, and I became interested in all the activities within them," he said.

"In 2006, my colleagues and I noticed that roads were being built within Ivindo."

When Mr Ona investigated, he discovered that there had been no environmental impact studies carried out before the road building started.

On its website, the Gabonese government describes the national parks as having been "classified for the conservation of Gabon's rich biodiversity".

The key goals of the national park scheme, it says, are preservation of "the wealth of the ecosystem… for current and future generations" and stimulating "the development of ecotourism as an economic alternative to the exploitation of natural resources".

Mr Ona said: "All of this construction was carried out illegally and against the code of the national parks."

He also unearthed and leaked a copy of the Belinga mine project agreement between the government and CMEC, revealing that CMEC had been offered a 25-year tax break as part of the deal.

"When we really started to look into the deal, we noticed that it was China, not Gabon, that was the major beneficiary," he said.

Under pressure

He and his colleagues embarked on their campaign, working with other environmental NGOs, holding news conferences and meeting with local communities.

"The government even motivated some protests against the NGOs involved," he recalled.

"They alleged that we were working [on behalf of] Western powers, and we received a lot of pressure to stop the campaign."

This culminated in Mr Ona being arrested and charged with "incitement to rebellion".

He was jailed by the Gabonese judicial police on 31 December 2008; but following an internationally co-ordinated campaign for his release, he was freed on 12 January 2009.

Since June 2006, however, he has been banned from travelling outside the country.

His passport was returned to him only 24 hours before he was due to travel to San Francisco for the Goldman award ceremony.

There has been no construction in Ivindo for almost a year, but Mr Ona says this has more to do with the economic crisis and the price of iron ore than with the Gabon

ese government backing down.

He has no plans to give up his quest.

"Some of the money from this award will go to the functioning of Brainforest, and the rest will be allocated to setting up small- and medium-sized businesses for local communities," he said.

"I want to set up a clinic near Ivindo where the local people can be treated using traditional medicine. Some of the money will serve to establish this health centre for all of those communities."

No fear

The organisers of the Goldman Prize describe the six winners as "a group of fearless grassroots leaders, taking on government and corporate interests and working to improve the environment for people in their communities".

Among the other 2009 recipients are Maria Gunnoe from West Virginia, US, who has faced death threats for her outspoken activism to stop destruction of the Appalachia by the coal industry.

Also rewarded are Russian scientist Olga Speranskaya, who connected NGOs across Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region to identify and safely remove toxic

chemical stockpiles, and Rizwana Hasan, Bangladesh's leading environmental attorney, whose legal advocacy led to tighter regulations on the ship-breaking industry.

Congratulations my dear friend and God bless you...

~ My 10 Favorites Thing ~

2009-04-02T03:49:00.001-07:00

Surfing the net today, I stopped by a really cool and colorful Blog call : Someday I'll get there... (I highly advice the visit) and I couldn't help myself to use some of her idea to talk a little bit about me (finally...) by just telling you about my 10 favorites thing :

1. Favorite Sport : Basketball, I'm a huge NBA fan and just love the game. For me any sunny week-end mean playground game with friends or playing with my boys on their hoop in the garden.

2. Favorite Shoes : Jordan Brand. I'm a sneakers collector and just love buying vintage Jordan or other brand and just stock them in my room or somewhere around. I've got some shoes since 2004 that I never wore (That's sound crazy...).

3. Favorite place to visit : New York, been there several time and just love it, I mean is there a city in the world more exiting and appealing as NYC!

4. Favorite place to live : Libreville (Gabon)

5. Favorite TV program : Right now I'm really in 24 and Lost, I recently watched all the previous Lost season just to keep up with the last one and man.....I like Fringe (on Sky) and Heroes, but most of the time when I'm home I'm watching sports...sports....

6. Favorite car : Well I had to sale my last one to buy a house (BMW 528i) and I still haven't decided on my new one : New Range Rover Sport or Lexus GS Hybrid. Will probably decide on this pretty soon (hopefully). Until that day my partner red Polo will do the job...

7. Favorite Music : Rap, R&B and African Music, I listen a lot of Nas, Lil Wayne, JayZ, Eminem, Chris Brown.... I like some British stuff too, like Take That, Lily Allen or some old Beatles songs.

8. Favorite holiday spot : Miami Beach, Key Biscayne, Mauritius Island, Venice Beach (the basketball ground...), Capetown, Cannes...

9. Favorite sport Team : Manchester United, Miami Heat, Dallas Cowboys, The NY Yankees, Olympique de Marseille, Houston Rockets, UNC, Nzimba Kaya...

10. Favorite Thing to do in my Free Time : My free time is always about spending quality time with my 2 boys and their Mum.

Les Panthères du Gabon make history

2009-03-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

By winning 2-1 against Morocco in Casablanca last Saturday, Gabon took the first place in the 2010 World Cup qualify group A ahead of Togo and Cameroon. This is a huge step forward to try to qualify for the first time for a World Cup and considering that the 2010 World Cup will be hosted in Africa (South Africa) for the first time, the impact of a qualification for a country as small as Gabon would be just amazing, awesome....

I will come back to this later this week on all the expectation people home have and share with you my thought on "Les Panthères du Gabon" chance to make history and be in the first plane for Johannesburg next year.

Well done guys....

Debating on my Iphone last night...

2009-03-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

I had a great day yesterday, first I was pretty happy to have finished the work on my Blog and see that it looks cool and fresh compare to the template I had before, the few feedbacks I have already received are all really positive...Will keep the good work going...

Anyway the highlight of my day was definitely the debate I had on another blog (The Wage of Wins) I visit fairly often to learn about statistics and NBA Basketball. As you all know now, I'm a huge NBA fan and spend some of my free time between watching games live on TV (pretty hard to do in the UK because of poor NBA coverage), on my laptop (Thanks NBA pass), or playing on the week-end with some friends... But anyway last afternoon I sent a comment about Allen Iverson being one of the best players ever to have played the game and I even had a go at the person behind the Blog, Prof, D. Berri (nothing personal obviously) just because I thought that some of his comments, about AI's average productivity (which I agree with), were a little bit disrespectful to a player who gives everything night in, night out....

Well to my surprise, everyone came back to me and tried to kill me just because I had the audacity to say that Allen Iverson was a great player and one we will never forget... Man, suddenly I was in trouble and attacked from every front while walking back home from my office I was trying pretty hard to defend myself and explain my thoughts on AI's career, but trust me typing on my Iphone was something really funny (most people on the pavement were probably wondering what was wrong with me laughing most of the time...) and not always easy but I really enjoyed the fight and the experience...

It was fun and I hope to do it again, but not on my Iphone this time, I will wait until my broadband finally works at home...

Take care guys...

Working on my Blog...

2009-03-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

Since last Monday I've been working to make my blog look a little bit different, I should say more "Pro" or simply more readable. One of the really positive thing about Blogger is the fact that it's really simple to use for someone with no deep knowledge on HTML or other development language, Blogger give you anything you need to start blogging on your own and it's really easy to use. The only bad point is the lack of template from Blogger, if you want to really change your format or visual and have something more funny or complex, you will need to look somewhere else.

I'm actually trying diferent template from Deluxe Templates which offer you more than 120 free high quality template designed specifically to be use with Blogger and because all template have been tested you can feel pretty confident on downloading any of them by giving your blog a new face. By the way, just a quick thanks to Isaac Yassar for his help on template change and to Klodian (from Deluxe Templates) for his clever advice.

Anyway, if my Blog look a little bit strange or is slow to load image and text, don't worry at all, I'm actually testing some template and have to decide which one to use before finish the Peace Blogger make over.

Take care everyone....

Barack Obama and March Madness [ESPN]

2009-03-19T04:01:00.000-07:00

You know what I really like Barack Obama as a man, I think the guy is just awesome and America should be pride and lucky to have a President like him who is so natural and so down to earth. I mean I was watching the latest ESPN NCAA report on my laptop last night and I was just amaze to see the most powerful man on the planet, talking with a journalist in the White House Map Room and filling is own NCAA bracket before the March Madness begin.

I mean, the man is really like you and me, you know, a modern man never too far from keeping up with everything, like the latest college basketball injury updates, the depth issues of Oklahoma, the strong finish by Florida State and the late entry into the NCAA tournament by Arizona.

And amazingly, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were holding meetings nearby, and a state dinner with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen to come (according to ESPN) , The US President slipped down to the Map Room to break down his own bracket and he proved to be as educated and knowledgeable as those who make this for a living.

Barack Obama pick for the 2009 Finals Four : Louisville, Memphis, UNC and PITT

The US President will spend the next few weeks in Europe for the NATO Summit in France then will visit England, Germany and Czech Republic, quite a busy schedule but nevertheless he is already planning on watching most of the game on Air Force one at a pretty late time, around 2 in the morning, or just on checking the scores.

Coming back to his final prediction, the president had Louisville beating old rival Memphis in one semifinal and North Carolina outlasting PITT in the other.

And like many of us, the most powerful person in the world predicts the Tar Heels will be cutting down the nets in Detroit, as the 2009 NCAA Champions.... And then he was off, with his bracket in hand, folded and ready to reference on Thursday as the first-round results come trickling in.

The report on ESPN lasted 20 minutes and it was just unreal, I mean you don't always surf on the net and expecting to see one of the world leaders doing something so usual for many of us who love basketball or sport in general, I mean the guy is just awesome, you know, and.....He is just awesome....

Quote of the Day [Laissez Faire]

2009-03-16T05:07:00.000-07:00

Evolved individuals know that people who are not intuitive can be dangerous to work with, since they are guided solely by the current appearance of things that are in reality, changing. Evolved individuals seek out others who have intuition and vision - a form of intelligence that comes from cultivating the instincts, observing the direction of change, apprehending the evolution of ideas.”

[Lao Tzu]

Our new Home.....

2009-03-12T05:47:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back to post some news on my blog again...And this time I'm in for real (hopefully)....
Anyway I've been really busy in the past few weeks, first I went in Paris to visit one of my old friend from my home country (Gabon) who flew from Libreville to spend some time with me, talking about the past and the prospect of going back home. Jean Kombila, my friend, is one of the most important senior advisor of the new Mayor of Libreville, the former Prime Minister : Jean François Ntoutoume Emane.

Meanwhile I'm working pretty hard, since last November, to start a sport project in my country which should involve investor from Europe and Africa to provide a lot of different stuff like goods, financial advice or sponsorship for the 2012 African Cup organisation. After 6 years in England it is maybe time for me to get ready to go home and share the joy of my land with my family...

Back in England 3 weeks ago, I had to get ready to move house, pack boxes, clean our rented flat, clean our new home, set our billing papers with our new address and let the removal men doing the hardest part of the job. Last Friday we finally moved and since then we just enjoy the area upgrade from a popular and busy downtown to a more calm and "posh" surrounding.
In today economic fear, buying a house can be a risk and can bring more tears than smile, having someone on your side who can help you settle in a new and comfortable house while you can use that opportunity to save money is a unique opportunity and a sign that luck is on your side. But to be honest with you luck has nothing to do with that in my case, Philip Pettitt made this happen.

Thank you Philip....

Viewpoint : A word of caution to Obama [BBC]

2009-02-19T02:20:00.000-08:00

Desmond Tutu, the first black South African archbishop of the Anglican church and veteran campaigner against apartheid, gives a lecture in London this week to mark the 75th anniversary of the British Council.

I make no apology for talking and writing, in the UK, about a foreign leader. But expectations of him are so high and attention worldwide is glued to his every step as he reaches the end of his first month in office. He is the story of the moment.

I am obviously referring to Barack Obama.

Three months ago as I watched the news that could define an era, I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and wonder. It could not be true that Barack Obama, the son of a Kenyan, was to be the next president of the United States.

During the previous administration's term, I'd been asked to suggest one unilateral magnanimous gesture or action that the incoming US president might make to counteract anti-Americanism abroad. I said that while there were clearly pockets of anti-Americanism around the world, this was definitely not a global phenomenon nor was it directed towards the American people.

What I certainly could attest to was substantial resentment and indeed hostile opposition to the policies of a particular US administration.

I contended, as I do now, that the two are quite distinct and separate.

An elucidating example dates back to the years of the anti-apartheid struggle. The Reagan White House was firmly opposed to applying sanctions against the South African apartheid regime, preferring what it described as "constructive engagement". Many of us were incensed by this policy and opposed it with every fibre of our being.

Black role models

I probably dismayed many people when on one occasion I was told of the latest Reagan rejection of our call for US sanctions against Pretoria. I retorted, out of deep exasperation, "The West can go to hell!" I was then Bishop of Johannesburg, and some thought it was decidedly un-episcopal language.

I was very angry toward the Reagan administration, but that did not make me anti-American. And that is the point, anger and resentment toward the policies of a particular administration do not necessarily translate into anti-American sentiment.

When I was nine or so, I picked up a tattered copy of Ebony magazine. I still don't know where it could have come from in my ghetto township with its poverty and squalor. It described how Jackie Robinson, a black man like us, had broken into major league baseball and was playing scintillatingly for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

I did not know baseball from ping-pong. That was totally irrelevant. What mattered was that a black man had made it against huge odds, and I grew inches and was sold on America from then on.

Remember the extraordinary outpouring of sympathy and concern after 9/11? That surely could not have happened, certainly not on such a vast global scale if people hadn't genuinely cared. Everywhere, virtually.

But what happened that all these positive warm feelings toward the United States were disrupted and turned into the negative ones of hostility and anger?

'Bully-boy attitude'

I never imagined in my worst dreams that I would live to see the day when the United States would abrogate the rule of law and habeas corpus as has happened in the case of those described as "enemy combatants" incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay. Or that I would hear an American government and its apologists use exactly the same justification for detention without trial, as had been used by the apartheid government of South Africa - a practice that the United States at the time condemned roundly, as was so utterly right to have done.

So, it was a devastating case of deja vu for some of us, thoroughly disillusioning.

The Bush administration managed to rile people everywhere. Its bully-boy attitude sadly polarised our world.

Against all that, the election of Barack Obama has turned America's image on its head.

On US election night last November, I wanted to jump and dance and shout, as I did after voting for the first time in my native South Africa on 27 April 1994.

My wife cried with incredulity and joy as we watched a broadcast of the celebrations in Chicago, after the election results came through. A newspaper here ran a picture of Obama from an earlier trip to one of our townships, where he was mobbed by youngsters. It was tacitly saying that we are proud he once visited us.

Caution

Because the Bush years have been disastrous for other parts of the world in many ways, Obama's victory dramatises the self-correcting mechanism that epitomises American democracy. Elsewhere, oppressors, tyrants and their lapdogs can say what they like and, for the most part, they stay put.

But ordinary citizens living in undemocratic societies are not fools; they may not always agree with US foreign policy, but they can see and register the difference between the United States (where people can kick an unpopular political party out) and their own countries.

Obama's election has been an epoch-making event that filled the whole world with hope that change is possible.

People everywhere identified Obama as the bearer of a new hope, someone who could electrify crowds with spellbinding oratory, galvanizing many out of their lethargy.

His election also said more eloquently than anything else that we black people are not God's step-children, despite so much evidence to the contrary. That whatever we attempt, we can do it, yes we can.

In the midst of this celebration, however, a word of caution is appropriate. In the first days after 9/11, the United States had the world's sympathy, an unprecedented wave of it. President Bush squandered it.

Obama too could easily squander the goodwill that his election generated if he disappoints.

Bridge building

For many of us, an upright US was a great inspiration in our fight against the iniquity of apartheid. I pray that President Obama will come down hard on African dictators, especially because they cannot credibly charge him with being neo-colonialist.

The US administration needs to reach out to other nations, build bridges, listen.

Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, have spoken of the importance of smart power and the role of cultural diplomacy in their foreign policy toolbox. The sounds and gestures coming from them are most welcome, but they must now carry through on these.

Keeping the relationships alive between different peoples, and the dialogue going in difficult times is essential. They pave the way for better times. In a world of increasing instability and mistrust and in the face of shared global challenges, we need to build understanding and collaboration between ordinary people, to forge the ties which can last a lifetime whatever is happening on the political stage.

We owe our glorious victory over the awfulness of apartheid in South Africa in large part to the support we received from the international community, including the United States and United Kingdom, and we will always be deeply grateful.

The British Council, where I will speak today to mark their 75th anniversary, worked with us during those years providing educational and cultural activities. These included training in the UK for 200 black South Africans and working with local groups on language teaching and reading in black primary schools. The British Council supported Nelson Mandela's work in reforming the post-apartheid diplomatic service and education system.

UK standing

And here I must comment on the UK government's role as the US's biggest ally this past eight years, in particular in the war on terror. Your standing in the world has also suffered as a result of this close co-operation, although perhaps to a slightly lesser degree thanks to other more favourable actions in tackling climate change, interest in Africa's problems and campaigning on debt relief.

The problem today is that you don't have the redeeming Obama factor and although you perhaps don't come from such a low point, you don't have his advantage of international goodwill in restoring the UK's perception overseas.

Going forward, as we strive to create a stable, prosperous world for all, we need to work together with other nations for justice, equity and peace. We need to believe that the values of fairness and compassion are not only yours and mine; they are shared by all humanity.

Most of us do want to see peace.

And here I want to end with what seems so utterly obvious about what we learned from our particular situation in South Africa. Peace does not come from the barrel of a gun but is achieved when cultural differences are respected and the fundamental rights of all are recognised and upheld.

NBA reflects social changes [LA Times]

2009-02-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

Last month, on Martin Luther King Day, just before the Lakers-Cavaliers game, LeBron James stood in front of a swarm of reporters, his light banter turning serious when the subject turned to this week's historic inauguration, and to the wise preacher whose struggle made President Barack Obama a possibility.

"It's not even about playing basketball on this day," James said. Martin Luther King saw "change before change even happened . . . saw the future before the future happened. . . . You talk about leaders in the NBA, but no leader in the NBA or any others sports can be compare to Martin Luther King or what he did for this world."

In 1968, when his life was cut short, such acceptance was still far off. A professional basketball team starting five African Americans would nearly be national news. When Martin Luther King was killed, only the Boston Celtics great Bill Russell, named Boston's player-coach in 1967, had reached that level. In that era, the notion of a black star such as Russell being used in a national advertising campaign would have been laughable.

Yes, Martin Luther King would have been well satisfied by the great progress of blacks in sport. But I'm guessing he would be just as pleased by the strong wave of globalism we're witnessing on our fields, stadium and courts. I say this because globalism in pure form is the idea that everyone on the planet is part of one tribe, helped form the foundation of Martin Luther King's philosophy.

"We are challenged to develop a world perspective," King said in a sermon at Washington's National Cathedral only days before his death. "No individual can live alone, no nation can live alone. . . . We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."

Years before the Internet, Martin Luther King pounded at the point that as the world shrinks, we must pay stronger attention to how we treat our neighbours.

The sports world gives us that chance.

It's no secret, of course, that foreign players now have a big effect on the NBA, but sometimes we forget how profound that impact is. On Monday night, the Cavaliers' starting five included Serbia's Sasha Pavlovic and Brazil's Anderson Varejao. Usually it includes Zydrunas Ilgauskas, from Lithuania, held out by an injury.

The Lakers, meantime, started Serbian Vladimir Radmanovic and Spaniard Pau Gasol. These days in the NBA, roughly 20% of the league's current players are foreign-born and many more are on the way.

Much is made of basketball and the NBA being the near exclusive province of African Americans. Sadly, a guy like Canada's Steve Nash wins an MVP award, heads turn and some cry conspiracy. But the fact is, with each passing year, basketball becomes more a world game, its international players bigger and bigger stars. Wonderful. It may not be long before someone from Europe or South America or China is coaching an NBA team. It might not be long before a player with the brilliance of a LeBron James cruises through his prime years in Paris or Istanbul or Shanghai.

And here we return to Martin Luther King's vision, because it should not be forgotten that while he focused his energies on the plight of African Americans during the 1950s and 1960s, he always thought in deeper, broader terms.

King studied Gandhi, the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and many others from beyond our shores. While American culture tends toward the insular, he clung to the idea that there was an arc of justice that swept far beyond national borders (even out into the universe), and frequently reminded that all citizens of the world are connected in very real ways, which is partly why he opposed the war in Vietnam.

When I asked the thoughtful Lakers center Pau Gasol about King, he admirably focused on the progress made by American blacks since the civil-rights era. Ironically, it appeared that it was lost on one of our great global stars that Martin Luther King dreamed of days when the entire planet would begin coming together in new ways. A guy like Gasol (born in Barcelona, seasoned as a player in Memphis, and blooming into a global star in the shadow of Hollywood) is the very embodiment of this dream.

During the game, I watched Sasha Vujacic, a son of Slovenia, have a layup swatted away by Lebron James, a descendant of African slaves who is now one of the most recognizable figures in the sporting world. Vujacic retrieved the ball, stepped back, and launched a three-point jump shot: "Swish". The crowd rose as one, and let loose a thick current of cheers. I imagined Martin Luther King sitting next to me. I imagined a huge smile on his face.

MICHAEL JORDAN : Just enjoy it....

2009-02-04T02:13:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-05T03:12:00.000-08:00

So it is time to finally wish everyone an HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2009. First a quick apology to have forgotten about my blog in the past few weeks, but Christmas was my kids time and I made sure to be there with them as much as possible (I think everyone will understand).
Well now it's time to list my new year resolutions (have to think about that...) and try to stick to them, like :

Listening my kids
Helping at home
Publishing 1 or 2 post a week
And.....Well will have to think about the rest later....

Anyway, if you have any ideas or advice for me, don't hesitate to mail me, until then Happy New Year 09.

United Nations in Africa : A book to read...

2008-12-04T05:20:00.000-08:00

I had the privilege last week to meet Mr Medard Nze-Ekome, 1st Counsellor at the Embassy of the Republic of Gabon in the United Kingdom to speak about several project to promote and advertise positively our country in relation to business partners and public relations in England and later in Europe.

As a diplomat and an academic writer, Nze-Ekome is well know since the publication of his book last year about the role of the UN in Africa (Le role et la contribution de l'ONU dans la resolution des conflits en Afrique: Cas de l'Afrique Centrale) which try to explain the crucial role played by the UN in the process to maintain peace and safety in Central Africa.

The topic is definitely an interesting one and with several crisis rising in DR Congo, Zimbabwe Sudan or elsewhere, an actual one too. Africa in the past 15 years and still today has been a place where "les casques bleus" will always been welcome to stand for peace, freedom or just to give hopeless people a chance to get a better future.

I did not read the book yet, but plan to do it as soon as possible.

Enjoy...

Celebrating African Football : GABON 2012

2008-11-28T00:57:00.000-08:00

In 2012, the African Cup of nations (CAN) will be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, which will give a huge opportunity to develop the game in countries that have not had the chance of hosting the tournament before.

It has been 8 years now since Gabon took part in the African Cup finals and because of that the 2010 final qualification phase for both, African Cup and World Cup in South Africa, are so important for "les Panthères du Gabon" (the Gabon national team).
In March next year, Gabon will face Cameroon, Morocco and Togo in the group A with a qualification for the 2010 CAN in Angola as a priority.
And with Daniel Cousin impact in the Premier League with Hull FC, the all country already dream of being witness of their national team glory.

But the important message for Gabon, about co-hosting the African Cup in 2012, is today visible in the streets of Libreville, Oyem, Mouila or Franceville with the pride and joy of all Gabonese people who probably for the first time felt part of a World which usually turn his back on them.

I will come back later on this topic and try to explain why this huge football event could have an huge impact (a positive one) on the future of my home country, obviously it is quite important to not forget that Equatorial Guinea, as a co-host, is part of the equation and will play his role to make 2012 an special year for both population.

I can't finish without talking about Omar Bongo Odimba, Gabon' President since 1967, because hate him or love him, he has been and still is the huge force behind everything and anything positive we have seen in the past 40 years, making sure despite the sceptical that our country stay a peaceful land where people can live their life without fear and be proud to raise their children in a safe environment.

My Land is Bleeding...Again

2008-11-21T01:16:00.000-08:00

"We were on our way back from school when we met the rebels. They made us carry some luggage for them and then told us to go with them," says a 16-year-old caught up in the recent unrest in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Clashes between the army and rebels led by Gen. Laurent Nkunda have created a humanitarian crisis in recent weeks, with an estimated 350,000 people forced to flee their homes, a lot of them, men and children have been forced to serve in the rebels army, and the one who dare to refuse are already dead.

Children are being separated and orphaned by this intense conflict. Thousand of people are vulnerable to rape, malnutrition, abduction and disease, left on the side of the road or in the middle of a field waiting for a miracle to save them from a certain death if the world still keep his eyes close.

While DR Congo's last civil war technically ended in 2002, the country's eastern region remains on the cusp of conflict and Congolese across the country continue to die at an astounding pace: 45.000 a month, according to the International Rescue Committee.

In all, more than 5.4 million people have died in Congo since the war began in 1998, according to the most recent survey’s estimate, the latest in a series completed by the International Rescue Committee, an American aid organization. Nearly half of the dead were children younger than 5 years old.

That picture is not encouraging. The mortality rate in Congo is 57 percent higher than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa. Particularly hard hit were young children, who are especially susceptible to diseases like malaria, measles, dysentery and typhoid, which can kill when medicine is not available.

Today, the world realise the huge problem this country face and the UN action since last month is an indication that we need to do something to stop this "silence" genocide. Put it that way, Iraq is the main international headline everyday in UK, France or the United States, but since 2003 the war in Iraq killed around 100.000 people according to IBC (Iraq Body Count), 45.000 people died every in DR Congo since 1998 (IRC / Special Report : Congo).

If you want to know, learn, understand or donate to help support the network of concerned organizations and individuals who care about Africa and want to educate the public about the crisis in DR Congo, just visit the Congo Global Action and the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) websites.

Thank you for your help....

Hope of an easier path for my kids...

2008-11-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

Last year I had to endure the sadness and anger to have my older boy, Jordan, been called a monkey at school by kids who thought that laughing at the colour of his skin was just a funny and acceptable thing to do. Last month, talking to him about Africa and where he was from, I couldn't stop thinking that the world he joined seven years ago didn't change a lot in term of understanding and accepting difference, whatever religion or race you are from. Perhaps someday he will tell his own kids the way much of his life was transformed when he was just a kid.

For now, I considered the redemptive potential of change and believed that hope was not audacious at all.

When Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, I thought that perhaps my son would never feel the sting of childhood labels, would never deal with the awkward uncertainty, and never ask the questions that filled my childhood.

I think I share a very similar experience with Barack Obama from the standpoint that we both grew up mixed in a black and white world. People don't necessary understand that it’s a very different experience, and it’s something my white friends don’t fully understand and something my black friends don’t fully understand. It’s about being sort of in between always.

I'm usually decidedly non-political, but on the US Election night and again last week, I felt proud when I heard Barack Obama referred to "mutts like me". (Bastard)

Child of a mixed-race parents, I always think of the time when I felt "different", but I believe that the US election result could represent the realization of the dream that my children will be judged only by their character and work ethic. It is the dream of every father, of every parent, that their children don’t have to go through all the struggles that we went through, but at the same time, it shaped me to be the person I am today, even though it was a tough time, I’m glad I went through the experience.

You see, you never want to put your kids through oppression or discrimination, you want them to be able to go through struggles, but not like my parents had to go through and hopefully not as bad as I went through. Spending the evening trying to find the best way to explain my child the reason behind white kids calling him monkey at school is something I do not wish to my worst enemy, because the pain and the anger I felt that night is in me for the rest of my life...

I know the feeling of being different, I had to grew up with it, I had black people rejecting me because for them I was a white boy and white people would look at me funny and ignore me. There were some really difficult time for me at a time when a lot of kids just want to fit in, and growing up in Africa, I always found myself to be the only "white boy" in a classroom of 40 kids. I had to learn at an early age that not only it is OK to be different, but it's better to be different.

Barack Obama elected President show that you are put in a place based on what you've done and who you are, not on what you are. You are there by your merit and by your character, not on what you look like.

My father always taught me, it’s about who you are and it doesn’t matter what people say. It doesn’t matter what people think. It’s not about the way people think you should act or talk. It’s about you as a person. Be proud of the person you are.

For Barack Obama to reach the highest political office in the world, knowing what he went through socially, politically, economically growing up, it makes me feel proud. I was just full of pride and full of excitement when I heard him on election night. I think what he represents, the diversity in his own background, the way he grew up, that’s what the world is today. And it’s exciting.

At seven, Jordan doesn't really understand what politic or discrimination is all about but he understood that been called "monkey" that day at school was not funny at all but just really painful...

The candle burns brighter / by IBM

2008-11-13T05:33:00.000-08:00

The ballroom of the Marriott Marquis became quiet when he took the piano bench. In a voice full of life, he began a song, dedicated to his wife, which brought some to tears.

There was only one thing a little different about this moment on a stage in front of nearly 300 attendees. Mike Squillace, a software engineer for the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Centre, is blind.

When IBM was honoured with the Helen Keller Award in Accessibility, last October, Austin-based M. Squillace was able to perform, a testament of his musical talents as well as the software knowledge he’s given to IBM to help people with disabilities.

In a world where nearly 750 million people have a disability, IBM has made accommodating a priority.

IBM has developed a number of products to aid accessibility. They include text-to-speech technology Via Voice, Easy Web Browsing Software for vision difficulty and WebAdapt2Me for physical limitations. Clients are also benefiting from the technological innovations. Macy’s and Japanese store Mitsukoshi have used EasyWeb Browsing software on their Web sites to enhance user-experience for the visually impaired.

IBM also provides videophones, remote-interpreting, ramps, power doors, parking facilities, captioned-videos and sign language interpreters to employees.

The company has even taken it a step further by accommodating those who do not have disabilities but still need accessibility resources. The Centre's recently expanded focus to the low literacy, ageing and cross-cultural populations has allowed others to benefit from the accessible technology solutions as well.

“Many don’t realize accessibility isn’t just for people with disabilities,” said My Luu, program director of the Human Ability and Accessibility Centre, noting many tools are already being re-purposed. “The Centre reaches out to a large range of people all over the world.”

India’s Centre organized the National Summit on Human Abilities and Accessibilities in Delhi in November 2007, which led to the president of India presenting the company with two awards— Innovation in Technology and Barrier Free Workplace. “We take a three-pronged approach that includes working with government, increasing accessibility visibility and working with researchers to drive technology,” said Anil U. Joshi, India program director.

Strides have also been made in China. Using the Center as a guide, several public Web sites improved their accessibility in preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing. The Human Centric Solutions Center in France became successful by proposing Web Accessibility Services to clients. It also helped to sponsor Paris Web, an internet accessibility event.

"I've had 23 managers and as many jobs at IBM. That in itself speaks to the commitment IBM has to its people…and to me" said Jim Sinocchi, director of workforce communications.

Sinocchi, who was hired as a college graduate over 30 years ago, said he was drawn to IBM because of its reputation. But when a surfing accident made him a quadriplegic at 25, he was proud to be part of an accessibility-minded company.

“I have worked in any number of IBM facilities and each location made the necessary changes to make me as productive as possible.”

IBM also supports recruiting programs like Entry Point, Project Able and Project View, programs which specifically target persons with diverse backgrounds and disabilities.

Ron Glover, vice president of diversity and workforce programs, supports the effort. “The programs are designed to give managers a chance to see what people with disabilities can do and a chance to see what IBM offers. It’s a win-win situation.”

For Pamela Siebert, a Kansas software engineer who is deaf, accessibility was a key factor when looking for a place to work.

“I knew IBM was a leader in the accommodation field,” said the former Miss Deaf Kansas. “People would never know I am deaf because of the technology and the tools that have allowed me to feel independent. I was even able to get a videophone in my office," she said. IBM has never said ‘no’ to me.

______________________________________________________

This was an article on the internal IBM website 2 weeks ago, I was really touched after reading this and thought that sometime we forgot that people with a disability are not that different than us, we all have to face similar challenge everyday.

But by giving anyone an opportunity to work in the best environment possible IBM raise higher to the challenge of today world where anyone should be treated with the same respect, intelligence and understanding, not matter what....

President Barack Obama

2008-11-06T02:51:00.000-08:00

In 2004 when Barack Obama spoke during the Democratic National Convention, America saw the future and democrat were exited about this young man passion, love for the people and his will to make a difference. Today, Thursday 06 November 2008, Barack Obama is the new President of the United States of America.

He’s the first of his kind. This moment has nothing to compare itself to.

Last night during Barack Obama’s acceptance speech in Chicago’s Grant Park, the World was captivated. Christmas eyes around the world were prominent in their shocked reticence. Crowds cheered like it was New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl bombastic. One of the most unique moments in our planet's history. Joy and tears all around the world....

Blacks people are emotional and that’s just how it is. Now Whites people understand the origin of our emotion. Last night in America, Blacks voted with a smile because they finally felt a part of the political process and of the future of their country.

My brother called me from Lagos (Nigeria) this morning and the sound of his voice was full of hope and pride, I love you my brotha....

Based on America’s reaction, this was a real moment we all should be proud of.

This does not erase 400 years of slavery and racism.

Blacks deservedly will continue to be apprehensive but this will help.

The tears of joy shed by the American collective are something we all need to hold on to but education, racial profiling, affordable housing, criminal justice, the need for jobs and unconditional equality have to be genuinely approached with souls entrenched in reality’s flame.

Last night during his speech, Barack Obama spoke about civil rights through the experience of a 106-year-old woman. "She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people 'We Shall Overcome'." The settling of history matters for all the African-Americans who turned out for him, but Barack Obama does not want to be seen as a black president.

Watching TV last night and looking out at Grant Park celebration, I wondered whether if this was the beginning of a better tomorrow for America and for the world itself. America has voted for a Black man. Only a few years ago, I would have doubted it happening. Racism will not disappear but America recognised in this election that it is a rainbow nation and increasingly so. Diversity is its future. The younger generation does not fear it.

The world is already saluting Barack Obama. The love affair won't last but, for a while, America will regain its lure. The strength and vibrancy of its democracy will be admired. To throw up a candidate like Barack Obama is testimony to the success of the American system. But will it be a history day? It could be but, in any case, to be able to watch this live on TV on that night was a privilege.

BARACK OBAMA : History Making...

2008-11-05T03:26:00.000-08:00

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

Barack Obama this morning declared "change has come to America" as he emerged from one of the most extraordinary elections in US history to become his country's first black president.

There were tumultuous scenes at a victory party with more than 100,000 people crammed into and around Grant Park in Chicago, when TV networks simultaneously declared him the winner at 11pm Eastern Time, bringing an emphatic end to the Bush years.

Many, including civil rights leader and former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, had tears in their eyes

The American people yesterday demonstrated once again their unique capacity for self-renewal by electing the first black man as head of state, not much more than a generation after the country’s African-Americans were accorded full civil rights.
In electing Barack Obama President by a solid margin, accompanied by a congress with the biggest Democratic majority since the 1970s, Americans have signalled a dramatic change in the direction of the world’s sole superpower.

The country regarded loftily by many Europeans as hopelessly racist and irredeemably right wing has voted to be ruled by a black man, at the head of a party committed to economic redistribution and a foreign policy rooted in peaceful diplomatic engagement.

As Martin Luther King said in 1963 : “I have a dream,” he said, “that one day, down in Alabama, with it vicious racists . . . one day, right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

Yesterday American voters — black and white — symbolically honoured the unpaid debt in a way that Martin Luther King could only have dreamt of.

Paris, Histoire et splendeur a la française....

2008-10-28T02:29:00.001-07:00

I was in Paris 2 weeks ago and for the first time in years I took the time to show the city to my family. For me who spend nearly 10 years of my life living in the most beautiful city on earth, this was an fantastic opportunity to walk through some amazing historical building (Le Louvre, Le Carrousel, le Parc des Tuileries, La Concorde, le Trocadero, le Pont Neuf, l'opéra...) and enjoy being there as a tourist : having a coffee at the Fouquet's terasse, a family diner at the Hôtel de Crillon, visiting L'arche de la Défense, doing some expensive shopping rue Montaigne and on Les champs Elysées.....

Le Crillon

La place de le Concorde

La Defense

Paris sur Seine

Le Louvre

For anyone who love history and beauty, Paris is just a joy to visit and a pleasure to know. Each great city in the world always have something unique which characterised them as special in today society: the statue of liberty In New York, Big Ben in London, the Coliseum in Roma, the red square in Moscow, the opera building in Sydney...

But Paris is just an unique city with an unique place in history...

The Sarah Palin impact....

2008-09-18T03:04:00.001-07:00

Before the US Republican convention 2 weeks ago, I never heard about Gov. Sarah Palin and I'm probably not the only one in this case, but the amazing thing is that today her name is on everybody lips and her impact on the US politic arena has been huge...Really huge...

I mean Vice presidential choices are not supposed to make much a difference in a presidential election (except if the choise would have been Hillary R. Clinton), but Sarah Palin's impact is undeniable and extremely large. Twelve days ago, presidential election futures markets indicated that Senator Barack Obama had a 62% probability of winning the election. Since last sunday, Obama's probability had fallen to 46.5%, with John McCain at 52.1%.

2 weeks ago, Barack Obama was the media superstar and the main searched political term on the web, today, he is second on the list; Sarah Palin is number one. Last July, Sara Palin Wilkipedia page was edited 22 times. Since the convention : 6.500 times.... (Her Wikipedia page was, in fact, the most read article on the site for the entire month of August with nearly 1.2 million readers in just 36 hours following the announcement).

The worst story of the day is about Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a personal friend and prominent backer of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and a member of the committee that helped draft the Democratic Party’s platform, announced on Wednesday that while she intended to keep her party affiliation, she would not be voting for Senator Barack Obama.

For months, Ms. De Rothschild been signalling her displeasure with Mr. Obama. In June, she told The New York Times that she could not “fall in line,” behind the Democratic nominee.

And though she acknowledged that she and Mr. McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin “disagree on some issues,” Ms. De Rothschild declared: “I love Sarah Palin,” adding, “I think she’s pretty cool.”

How can Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama, no longer the shiny new object in American politics, recapture his "mojo", some worried liberals are asking. For Republican nominee John McCain, the feisty, charismatic Alaska governor has fulfilled his fondest wish: to inject a little star power into his own campaign and give his ticket a fighting chance in an otherwise dreadful year for the GOP.

Well time for me to check Sarah Palin profil on Wikipedia now......

FITNESS TEST OVER.....

2008-09-15T02:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry readers, I have been quite busy in the past few weeks working out on my fitness trying to beat the clock and be ready for my Sahara challenge in November this year, but unfortunately after nearly 8 weeks of workout at my local gym, cycling routine and a new nutrition program, I still fell short of the target to be ready on time to pass the medical and health test.
Anyway, it has been a great journey and a lot of fun and it did prepare me to be ready for next year (around March 09) 15 days Sahara challenge, where I will try to raise around £3000 for the cancer research.

Keep reading......

Is speaking French posh?

2008-08-13T05:34:00.000-07:00

I've been in England now for nearly 5 years and had the time to see, hear or just witness some amazing and funny things, trust me on that, but I'm always amazed at how many people in England will tell you that they speak French. Or believe they speak French. Let me explain this please...

For most people in the UK, French means great wines, great fashion brands, tasty food (definitely) and a great place for an expensive week-end or a family house in the south; in one word, here on the other side of the English Channel, French means "POSH"
What I'm trying to say is that generally people believe that knowing how to say hello (Bonjour), thank you (merci) or "comment ca va aujourd'hui" (how are you today), being able to order a glass of wine in a pub in Paris or a piece of French cheese in Waitrose, means that they speak French.

Well let me tell you that I strongly doubt that first. I mean I didn't need to go in school to learn English and get a good job in 3 different English countries (England, USA, Canada). No, what I did was watch CNN or the BBC, listen to Tupac Shakur and read NBA magazines before I could pass my TOEFL in France with success. And yes my English isn't perfect and I still learn everyday but I would challenge anyone to learn French (and I mean French...) just by watching TV5 or Canal +, by listening Serge Gainsbourg or IAM and by reading French fashion magazines.

If you look at it deeper you'll realise that each time the last two French presidents (Chirac & Sarkozy) came here in UK or went in the United States, they both had interviews and local talkshows in English, but did you ever see or hear Georges W. Bush, Tony Blair or Gordon Brown having to listen and answer questions in French when they went to Paris on a shopping trip...... I don't think so

Let have another look at this with a transcript from a conversation I had with a "Posh" colleague here at IBM :

The Peace Blogger: Hi how are you today mate?
The "posh" IBM dude: No bad thanks to ask, but can I ask you something...
The Peace Blogger: Yes obviously, what's wrong
The "posh" IBM dude: Nothing just wanted to know if you're French because you sound French...Are you?
The Peace Blogger: Well I'm from Gabon/Cameroon, which mean that French is my first language, why
The "posh" IBM dude: Just funny because you know, I do speak French too and have a house over there... (I'm Posh dude)
The Peace Blogger: Really!
The "posh" IBM dude: Yes I swear.... Bonjour....Comment..va..bien "today"...
The Peace Blogger: Je vais bien, un peu fatigue mais ca va, et toi comment va la famille
The "posh" IBM dude: Euh...J'aime le...vin...je suis dans la...maison...a moi...
The Peace Blogger: Ouhaa pour l'instant je comprends rien du tout, ou habites tu en France?
The "posh" IBM dude: Euuuuh...tu as vois...le..derrière...hahahaha...j'aime...Paris beaucoup...
The Peace Blogger: Ok, bien essaye mais je continue a rien comprendre de quoi tu parles Lol...
The "posh" IBM dude: Euuuh...je...boire la...bière au...café...et acheter...baguette...hahaha...j'aime....baguette...
The Peace Blogger: Je suis impressionné par ton Français, excellent. Félicitations...
The "posh" IBM dude: Euuh merci...beaucoup mon ami...euuh a...demain....

Well as you can see, if this is what speaking French means for most folks here in UK, I deserve a PhD in English literacy....

No better place to work than IBM...

2008-08-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

For the past 3 years I've been working for IBM UK (in England) and it's great.
I mean I'm not really working for IBM...Because as a contractor I do not benefit from any IBM employee privilege, yes I've got the IBM badge, the IBM laptop, a big desk and the freedom to work home when it's necessary, but that's it. No company car, no company mobile phone (don't care, got an 3G IPhone), no IBM pension scheme, no IBM free voucher for Marks & Spencer (hahahahaha) and specially no IBM salary (hard to take this one...), and when most of my friends think I'm wealthy because I've got an IBM badge, they should know that some of them make more then me as a skilled factory worker....Incredible no....

Anyway this was just an introduction to the topic of this post which is somewhere link to IBM or more specifically to my IBM workplace. Today on my way to the canteen, I went across the most unbelievable and funny department in the building : The IBM Well-being Services

According to the IBM internal website, "IBM has a rich history of respect for the health and well-being of its employees that dates back to the very beginning of the company", and it's probably true, but I can't stop to laugh about it....

I guess now I just have to give them a call everytime I feel sad or tired and should send them a list of all the issue which affect my daily well-being at my office (some of them below):

My chair hurts my back (sometime)
My desk is not big enough (just kidding)
My laptop is to slow
The food in the canteen is always the same and really expensive
The Air con. always works in winter and never in summer (not kidding)
Have to set-up my voicemail everyday (just awful)
Everybody around me smoke and drink (I don't, well...sometime...)
Summer in the UK it's raining time (not kidding)
The company bus is always late
When can I get an IBM salary please? (would help pay my bills...)

As you see life can be tough and pretty tense as an IBM contractor, but since I know that there's a Well-being services in the building and that their responsibility is to make my working day better, I just feel good, really good....

....Hooo nooo, just drop some coffee on my laptop...sorry guys...I need to call the Well-being services to calm me down a little bit.....

Hahahahahahaha

Have a good week-end and enjoy the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Beijing 2008 / 2 days to go...

2008-08-06T04:34:00.001-07:00

Well like most people on hearth this week, I'm patiently waiting for the 2008 Beijing Olympic to start (Friday around 1:00pm) and lived to the expection to be the best Olympic Games ever.

Personally, I can wait to watch the US men basketball team playing their first game against

China

on Sunday (live on BBC) and witness their progress to the promise land: a Gold Medal.

And what about the Athletics and swimming events (where the GB team seem stronger than ever), the tennis tournament (Nadal & Federer all over again...), boxing (Cuba vs. USA vs. GB), football (

Brazil

), diving (can Tom Daley shock the World) and all the rest...

Every 4 years the Olympic Games link athletes from different countries and different religions, bring nations together on the same agenda or ideal and give the entire planet 3 weeks of peace and respect for each other : This is the Olympic spirit.

Then you know what, I will enjoy this 3 weeks, probably spend most of the night watching highlights of daily events or trying to follow it online during the day on my Iphone or Laptop (during my break & lunchtime) and hopefully I will witness something exceptional when Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and Usain Bolt will compete for the 100m Gold Medal, maybe we will all witness sport history that day, maybe....

3G Iphone : My personal review

2008-07-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you who read my blog (well few of you...) I did a post last month about getting a 3G Iphone on July, 11. First I thought that I would wait a week before going to an O2 shop to get a monthly contract for £30, but I decided to try my luck and was awake at 5:00am that day to make sure to be one of the first to get the precious gadget.
Well I wasn't really lucky to be honest, around 50 people were already at O2 by 6:00am but later I went to Carphone Warehouse and finally got my 3G Iphone.

The bad new straight away was that I needed to pay £150 deposit (which I will get back in 6 month) because according to the "salesman" my credit rating was not reliable (probably a trick to raise cash...), but because of that extra expense, I went for a 8GB model (I badly wanted the 16GB in white) on a £30/month contract.

My first impression was really positive, and believe me this is a fantastic piece of technology. Surfing the net in the bus, the tube or when doing shopping is amazing and really addictive, because I moved house a week later and have to wait for BT to set up my broadband back (typical BT) I used the Iphone to surf the net home on 3G and it’s really good and quite fast, I mean I never use 3G before on my phone (too expensive) and can’t really compare, but the speed of the 3G Iphone is quite impressive sometime, and it’s free. But nothing is better than the App. Store where you can find so many useful applications to make your Iphone an amazing computer (Google app.) or game console (Monkey Ball game), I’m always checking for news applications and can wait to have the EBay one available here in UK.

The camera is quite good, I mean who really use his mobile phone to take holidays or family pictures, well not me (got a good camera for that), I took some photos last week and must admit that the quality on the Iphone screen or on my PC one are really good.
And for me who needed most of the time on my way to work to carry my mobile and my Ipod, the 3G Iphone is just awesome.

Some bad points are obviously the battery life which is really awful for a phone of that standard, I mean you have to charge it everyday if you use Internet on 3G a lot; my advice check for Wi-Fi network in shops or office and use your Wireless Internet at home. The 3G Iphone can be slow sometime, I don’t know why but checking your contacts will take more time on an Iphone that on a Nokia N95.

But overall I just love it and use it now to write new post on my blog with the Google App., which let you have access from your Iphone to most Google Products.

Yes £30/month for 75 min of call is quite expensive to be honest but I think that owning a 3G Iphone today is just priceless…..

Take care everyone

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "MADIBA"

2008-07-22T03:15:00.000-07:00

Last week London and the entire world were celebrating the 90th birthday of a living legend, an Icon and a role model : Nelson "Rolihlahla" Mandela.

As Richard Stengel said this month in the Times Magazine, Nelson Mandela has made enough trouble for several lifetimes. He liberated a country from a system of violent prejudice and helped unite white and black, oppressor and oppressed, in a way that had never been done before. Mandela is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint, but he would be the first to admit that he is something far more pedestrian: a politician. He overthrew apartheid and created a non-racial democratic South Africa by knowing precisely when and how to transition between his roles as warrior, martyr, diplomat and statesman. Uncomfortable with abstract philosophical concepts, he would often say that an issue "was not a question of principle; it was a question of tactics." He is a master tactician.

As we enter the main stretch of a historic presidential campaign in America, there is much that he can teach the two candidates. The Madiba's Rules (Madiba, his clan name, is what everyone close to him calls him) are mostly practical. Many of them stem directly from his personal experience. All of them are calibrated to cause the best kind of trouble: the trouble that forces us to ask how we can make the world a better place.

[Following are excerpts from the article]

1. Courage is not the absence of fear — it's inspiring others to move beyond it. Mandela was often afraid during his time underground. "Of course I was afraid!" he would tell me later. It would have been irrational, he suggested, not to be. "I can't pretend that I'm brave and that I can beat the whole world." But as a leader, you cannot let people know. "You must put up a front."

And that's precisely what he learned to do: pretend and, through the act of appearing fearless, inspire others. He knew that he was a model for others, and that gave him the strength to triumph over his own fear.

2. Lead from the front — but don't leave your base behind. Prison gave him the ability to take the long view. It had to; there was no other view possible. He was thinking in terms of not days and weeks but decades. "Things will be better in the long run," he sometimes said. He always played for the long run.

3. Lead from the back — and let others believe they are in front. When he finally did speak at meetings [with his staff], he slowly and methodically summarized everyone's points of view and then unfurled his own thoughts, subtly steering the decision in the direction he wanted without imposing it. The trick of leadership is allowing yourself to be led too. "It is wise," he said, "to persuade people to do things and make them think it was their own idea."

4. Know your enemy — and learn about his favorite sport. As far back as the 1960s, Mandela began studying Afrikaans, the language of the white South Africans who created apartheid. This was strategic in two senses: by speaking his opponents' language, he might understand their strengths and weaknesses and formulate tactics accordingly. But he would also be ingratiating himself with his enemy. He even brushed up on his knowledge of rugby, the Afrikaners' beloved sport, so he would be able to compare notes on teams and players.

5. Keep your friends close — and your rivals even closer. Mandela would often invite into his home men he didn't fully trust. He had them to dinner; he called to consult with them; he flattered them and gave them gifts. Mandela is a man of invincible charm — and he has often used that charm to even greater effect on his rivals than on his allies.

Mandela would always include in his brain trust men he neither liked nor relied on. He would pick up the phone and call them on their birthdays. He would go to family funerals. He saw it as an opportunity."

Mandela believed that embracing his rivals was a way of controlling them: they were more dangerous on their own than within his circle of influence. He cherished loyalty, but he was never obsessed by it. After all, he used to say, "people act in their own interest." It was simply a fact of human nature, not a flaw or a defect. The flip side of being an optimist — and he is one — is trusting people too much. But Mandela recognized that the way to deal with those he didn't trust was to neutralize them with charm.

6. Appearances matter — and remember to smile. We sometimes forget the historical correlation between leadership and physicality. George Washington was the tallest and probably the strongest man in every room he entered. Size and strength have more to do with DNA than with leadership manuals, but Mandela understood how his appearance could advance his cause.

7. Nothing is black or white. Life is never either/or. Decisions are complex, and there are always competing factors. To look for simple explanations is the bias of the human brain, but it doesn't correspond to reality. Nothing is ever as straightforward as it appears.

8. Quitting is leading, too. Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make.
In the history of Africa, there have been only a handful of democratically elected leaders who willingly stood down from office. Mandela was determined to set a precedent for all who followed him — not only in South Africa but across the rest of the continent. He would be the anti-Mugabe, the man who gave birth to his country and refused to hold it hostage.

Ultimately, the key to understanding Nelson Mandela is those 27 years in prison. The man who walked onto Robben Island in 1964 was emotional, headstrong, easily stung. The man who emerged was balanced and disciplined. He is not and never has been introspective.

Asked by Richard Stengel, how the man who emerged from prison differed from the young man who had entered it, he said, "I came out mature."

There is nothing so rare — or so valuable — as a mature man.

Happy birthday, MADIBA

Marathon Man III (Medical test)

2008-07-10T03:41:00.000-07:00

Well my medical test didn't go as well as I thought it would; first as I knew before I'm overweight, and quite a lot considering my height, I'm 5'8 (1,73 cm) and over 15 stone (95 Kg) and my BMI (Body Mass Index) is 37.1 which mean that I'm seriously overweight for my height....

The funny thing about that is that I don't feel obese (If your BMI is between 30 and 39.9 you're obese),Ok I feel heavy sometime, which somewhere help me to get some respect when I play basketball the week-end or when I'm at the gym on the bench press, but with two bad knees and one bad ankle, I'm far from ready to cross the Sahara desert in 4 months.

Anyway, my goal for the next 2 months is to loose at least 10Kg and get back to a more appropriate wheight around 13 stone (83 Kg), more liner and fiter and with a better stamina. I mean the heat doesn't scare me at all, I was born in one of the hotest country in the world, what I will have to be ready for is to walk 8 to 10 hours a day and support the cold weather each night for 2 weeks if not more....

I know, I'm crazy... But if I can do it (this year or next year) and I will, raise money for a worldwide charity, give my time to help people trough this long trip, it will be worthy....