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If Dr. Alfred Mutua was to reincarnate after this lifetime, he'd probably come back as an American since he holds few things dear like he does the American dream, embellished with Australian and United Arab Emirates sensibilities. For the Machakos governor, not only is anything possible, but when that particular anything is made to happen, it should be made to happen with as much pomp and colour. It is a fast world mentality, Mutua posits, where things move fast. And now he feels Kenya, just like Machakos, needs to play catch up by moving chap chap to level up to the West. It is why he built the largest office block occupied by a Kenyan governor, and why he isn't modest about it, like when President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the property, looked around and asked, ''Is there another like this in Kenya?'' And Mutua answered, ''Yes, at State House.'' Mutua may not want to build a new State House, but were he to become President, his mantra is simple. Nothing waits. Everything has to move chap chap, like in America and Dubai.
Part 1: From Makina to the World
Dr. Alfred Mutua's welcome-to-America moment was one of him getting scammed by a New York cab driver. As a Form Five student at Jamhuri High School in Nairobi in 1988, Mutua had remained loyal to his Riruta Satellite Baptist Church, from where a group of American missionaries who used him as a translator identified him as someone they'd want to assist pursue further education. And so once the missionaries were back in the United States, they wrote Mutua a letter informing him they'd found a suitable college for him to study journalism, as well as secured a scholarship for him. All Mutua had to do was clear his A Levels, buy an air ticket and make his way to the United States.
And so upon completion of his A Levels in 1989, Mutua embarked on finding ways to ready himself for America. But being the pauper that he was, it took Mutua a whole year to get his act together, culminating in what he calls a poor man's harambee for the air ticket, which yielded 12,000 bob of the required 25,000 shillings. Luckily for Mutua, a good samaritan named Kavua wa Kathuku who worked for a travel agency in town heard of Mutua's predicament and reached out to his employers, who donated air miles to Mutua, so that combined with whatever Mutua had raised, he could afford the ticket.
''My father took me to Gikomba Market, where I bought mitumba shoes, trousers, an African prints shirt – I was told when you go to the West you must dress like an African, a jacket, underwear and socks,'' Mutua says when we speak at the sprawling Machakos County headquarters, the infamous White House. ''I was taking the mitumba clothes back to where they had come from, America, only that now they were on my body.''
After buying the air ticket and the mitumba clothes, Mutua was left with $200.
''On 11 August 1991, I left Kenya on the last Pan Am flight, a Frankfurt bound Airbus,'' Mutua says. Pan American Airways, the American aviation behemoth, was just about to fold its operations. ''Once at Frankfurt, we then took a Boeing 747 to New York City.
''Mutua is huge on detail – dates and days, aircraft models, the whole shabang.
On that particular Nairobi-Frankfurt flight, Mutua happened upon Dorothy Malinga, a former classmate of his at Jamhuri (back in the day, the school's A Level class was mixed), who was also America bound. During the flight, Mutua had flashbacks of when as a child he was once seated outside the wooden shack they called home in Riruta, with little outdoor structures made of sacks standing in for a toilet and bathroom. With Mutua was his maternal grandfather, who Mutua says he takes a lot after, especially his chap chap ways. An aeroplane was passing overhead, and so Mutua pointed at it and told his grandpa that he'd grow up to board an aircraft someday. His grandad agreed, telling him he'd board one and travel far.
And now here Mutua was, headed to the United States.
Much as he had never flown before, Mutua says he was pretty unfazed during the flight because ''mimi nikilikuwa nimesoma.'' Having learnt early that through flipping pages one could go anywhere in the globe and even do the impossible, like sleep with beauty queens, Mutua says he'd amassed ideas about the world from the books his mother and his late aunty Milka bought him – biographies, fiction, poetry – and he now had to put them into use. He couldn't sleep for the entirety of the eight hour flight to Frankfurt.
''I knew New York,'' Mutua says with a straight face. ''I knew the Brooklyn Bridge, I knew Harlem, I had watched videos of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. I knew Harlem! I had also watched tons of American comedy shows. I even knew places in New Jersey.''
Mutua's second-hand knowledge of America was about to prove useful and detrimental.
''When we arrived in New York, my friend Dorothy was a bit flustered, and so I offered to take her to New Jersey, which is where she was going to start school,'' Mutua says. ''She had about five suitcases. I had one brown one. It was a Sunday, not a busy day. And so I asked someone how to get to Edison in New Jersey. The person told us to take a bus from the John F. Kennedy International Airport and alight at the Grand Central Station, from where to pick a train to New Jersey. Dorothy and I took the Manhattan bound bus.''
On that bus ride, Mutua drove over one of his American landmarks, the Brooklyn Bridge, and so the man from Masii in Mwala Constituency knew he was in familiar territory. But after being dropped off by the bus, Mutua looked around and couldn't see the Grand Central Station, or what his idea of it was from the books and movies he'd read and watched. Mutua decided that they had been dropped off at the wrong location, and so ''because mimi najua mambo,'' Mutua hailed a cab and asked the driver to drop them off at the Grand Central Station. The cab driver did his rounds and soon Mutua and Dorothy were at the train station. Mutua paid $11, leaving him with $189.
But on getting off the cab and pulling down their six suitcases, Mutua looked around, only to spot the corner where the bus had dropped them off, not too far away from where the cab had now brought them. All he had needed to do after alighting from the bus earlier on was to simply turn a corner, then he'd have seen the Grand Central Station. But because he thought he knew how to navigate America, taxi hailing and all, he had just offered the cab driver free dollars for a fake trip.
''We had been conned,'' Mutua says. He had officially arrived in real-world America.
But as if losing the $11 wasn't enough, Mutua took the train to New Jersey with Dorothy, arrived there, realized she couldn't get accommodation at her school that Sunday, and being the gentleman he'd read he needed to be, Mutua offered Dorothy some money to pay for a room at the holiday inn where she'd spend the night. Mutua then took a cab from New Jersey to John F. Kennedy, a ride that cost him $90. With less than $100 to his name, meaning he couldn't afford a hotel room, Mutua passed out at the airport's international lounge. To someone else, this may have been a catastrophic start to their stay in a foreign country. To Mutua, this was life as he knew it.
Growing up in Makina in Kibera, Alfred Mutua's childhood was characterized by the mud house his family shared, an environment Mutua says was infested with rats and night runners – you're mistaken if you thought this was a village phenomenon. But much as things looked gloomy, Mutua's parents, who were low cadre civil servants, maintained some form of good cheer in the home. There was always hope that things would get better one way or another, if not for the parents then at least for Mutua and his sister.
''One of my fondest childhood memories was when my dad brought home fish,'' Mutua says of life in Makina. ''To my family, eating fish was a whole event because my dad would bring a single tilapia which my mum would fry, then the whole family – myself, my sister Anne and my parents – would sit around the table and watch my father, who was a comedian, debone the fish bit by bit before he distributed the fillet to each one of us.''
Mutua says other times the feast would get more meaningful when his dad brought home mbuta, the Nile Perch, which had thicker chunks of flesh. The family had fish say once a fortnight, but mostly Mutua says the family was vegan, not because of choice but out of circumstance. If not fish then Mutua's present day favorite of matumbo sufficed. It was these simple pleasures that made an otherwise deprived life bearable.
It is while living in Makina that Mutua started school at Karanja Nursery School, before proceeding to Toi Primary School. As Mutua attended Toi, the family felt it had had enough of Kibera, opting instead for a wooden shack with an earthen floor in Riruta Satellite. The one thing this move did was it made Mutua a member of the Riruta Satellite Baptist Church, which is where the Americans discovered him. But even before the Americans, it was through a connection from that church that Mutua managed to pull through his O and A Levels, because his parents couldn't afford to educate him.
''I dropped out of Dagoretti High School when I was in form two in 1985,'' Mutua says. ''And so I went and got a mjengo job from the site of one of our church members, a man called Stephen Kirui. I would be given a wheelbarrow to fetch water for the fundis.''
But even as this was happening, Mutua was keeping busy at the church, where he was an outstanding actor and Sunday school teacher. It was through watching Mutua's roles in plays at the Baptist Church that yet another member of the church, Hezron Waithaka, who worked as an auditor, decided to pay Mutua's school fees from that point onwards. Waithaka would send his driver with a cheque for Mutua every opening day until Mutua was done with his O Levels at Dagoretti High School and proceeded to the better performing Jamhuri High School for A Levels, where Mutua's benefactor continued catering for his school fees. It is this school of hard knocks background that prepared Mutua for America.
And so after brushing aside his initial New York misadventures, Mutua settled in at Yellowstone Christian College in Billings, Montana, where he quickly realized it wouldn't be the best fit for his journalistic pursuits. ''Yellowstone College was more inclined towards training theologians, and I felt it didn't cater for the sorts of aspirations I had,'' Mutua says, as he boasts of how he doubled the Black population in the locale. There was only one other Black resident in the town in the middle of nowhere, Mutua says. Mutua bounced.
Mutua's next stop was Spokane in Washington State. Considering a year had flown by at Yellowstone and he hadn't made much academic headway, Mutua went for a bridging course at Spokane Community College, after which he was admitted to Wentworth University for a bachelor's degree in journalism. At this point, Mutua was staying with a missionary family whose matriarch, Marie Jones, had become his adopted grandma.
But considering that Mutua had left behind his full scholarship at Yellowstone College, he was now only able to get a new scholarship catering for part of his tuition fees,meaning he needed to find a way to pay up for the rest of his fees and leave something for his everyday sustenance. It was at this juncture that Mutua was to discover a skill that would carry him for the rest of his life. It was also around this time that Mutua realized much as he was in America, he wasn't in a position to support his parents back home.
''My family got poorer while I was in America,'' Mutua says. But still, Mutua persisted.
Part 2: Muthaura's Shadow
In the year 2002, Dr. Alfred Mutua was in the middle of one of his most adventurous journalistic assignments when he received a life changing email. During the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia, Equatorial Guinea's Eric Moussambani made history by being the slowest swimmer in the 100m freestyle, taking a whopping two hours to cross the finish line. Yet due to false starts by his two competitors, Moussambani won the heat and was christened Eric the Eel. Mutua was dispatched to Equatorial Guinea by an Australian TV station to go and interview The Eel.
After graduating from Wentworth University with a BA in Journalism, Mutua had earned a scholarship to the Easten Washington University, where he obtained an MSC in Communication, topping his class. Mutua then returned to Kenya in 1997 and took up a teaching job at Daystar University, where he was the youngest lecturer at 27. On the side, Mutua doubled as a correspondent for the Nation Media Group, where considering he was paid per article, he wrote features almost every other day of the week, earning more money than some full time scribes. Mutua needed all the money he could make.
''When I came back from America, I found my family had moved from Riruta Satellite to an even worse place in Kangemi, and so I moved them back to a better place in Riruta,'' Mutua says. ''While in America, I had the choice to either study and stick to the limited permitted working hours, or work illegally and get deported, which wasn't an option.''
It was while teaching at Daystar and working at the Nation that Mutua received five PhD offers with funding; Indiana University, Illinois State University, Leeds University, the University of Sheffield and University of Western Sydney. Mutua picked the University of Western Sydney, on the basis that as a 15 year old at Dagoretti High School, one of his teachers, Z.G. Wanja alias Big Fish – Mutua says he was a bulky man, had travelled to Australia and come back with a 30 minute long tale of his exploits for the school. Mutua vowed that he too had to go to Australia. That's how he still makes his decisions, quick.
While studying in America, Mutua had taught himself filmmaking online, since both his undergraduate and graduate degrees didn't cover electronic media. But once in Sydney, Mutua went all out, including attending the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). And from that point onwards, Mutua became a one man army, travelling to do projects either on self assigned missions or for the various TV stations he was working for as a stringer. Mutua set up the lights, operated the cameras and did the interviews.
''I was one of the first people to interview Joseph Kabila when he became president of the Democratic Republic of Congo,'' Mutua says, and goes on to share tales of how it was a common occurrence to be approached by women in Kinshasa, asking, ''Uko na bibi? Hapana Kenya. Uko na bibi hapa?'' And if one said no then they'd say, ''Sasa kuanzia leo mimi ni bibi yako.'' But beyond the possibility of one getting married the moment they land in DR Congo, Mutua has nothing but praise for the city of rhumba.
It was under these circumstances – of moving all over Africa and elsewhere, like that time before New Year's in the year 2000 (the turn of the millennium) when Mutua travelled by road from Nairobi to Harare making a documentary – that Mutua found himself in Equatorial Guinea in search of Eric Moussambani alias Eric the Eel. But after making the journey through Douala, Cameroon, and flying into Bioko island which hosts Malabo, Equatorial Guinea's capital, Mutua couldn't locate The Eel – who would later become his country's swimming coach – because he had apparently travelled to Nigeria.
''One evening I was coming from shooting a soccer game, and when I got back to my hotel room in Malabo, Don Roberto, the hotel security guard didn't receive me with the usual excitement I had come to expect from him,'' Mutua says. ''When I got to my room, I found the door open with two suited men with shades seated on my bed watching the TV. The room looked ransacked. They asked me to pack my bag and accompany them, and didn't entertain any queries. I was sandwiched at the back of a Mercedes Benz which drove on the main highway towards the airport. I knew I was being deported.''
The Mercedes Benz stopped at a highly fortified compound. Mutua was asked to step out of the car and strip naked. He obliged. He was then asked to dress up and pick up his camera. Once inside the compound, Mutua was led to a tennis court at the back of what he says was a resplendent mansion, where he found an old African man and an Asian man exchanging groundstrokes. The Asian man was faring badly. After they were done playing, the old African man came at Mutua cheerfully. That man was Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Equatorial Guinea's President for Life. Obiang's people had caught wind of the African journalist working for the Western press, and wanted their man to receive some coverage. Mutua was relieved. At least he wasn't being deported.
It was after this incident that Mutua checked his email and found an invitation to go and teach Communication in the United Arab Emirates, an offer that was too good to resist. Mutua went back to Australia, wrapped up his PhD, bid goodbye to his employers and took off to Dubai, a vantage point from where the Kenyan government would spot him.
''I visited Kenya in 2003 and passed by the Nation Media Group, where NTV was having hitches using a program called Final Cut Pro,'' Mutua says. Wangethi Mwangi and Cyrille Nabutola were the incharges, and Mutua says he told them that whatever they were struggling with was what he was teaching in Dubai. ''Wangethi Mwangi gave me a consultancy where I came to Kenya every month for 10 days. They'd put me up at The Stanley and pay me really well. I also got a writing slot in the Sunday Nation.''
It was as Mutua was minting petrodollars as an assistant professor of Communication in Dubai and simultaneously munching the Nation's shillings that he received a phone call from Rebecca Nabutola, who was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism.
Nabutola: Are you Alfred Mutua?
Mutua: Yes.
Nabutola: In that case please call this number.
Nabutola gave Mutua the phone number. Mutua called. The recipient was Raphael Tuju, the Minister for Tourism, Information and Communication. Tuju was at an event, and told Mutua to send him his Curriculum Vitae. A few months passed. Mutua didn't hear back from the Minister or the PS. Then one Friday evening as Mutua was driving in Dubai, he received a call from the Office of the President inviting him for an interview slated for the following Monday at 8am. By this time Mutua had gotten wind that President Mwai Kibaki's government was looking to establish the Office of the Government Spokesman.
Mutua's next visit with the Nation Media Group was a week away, but seeing a chance to kill two birds with one stone, Mutua called the Nation and asked them to send him an air ticket, saying he wanted to conduct that month's consultancy earlier than anticipated. The Nation sent their man the ticket. Mutua landed in Nairobi that weekend, only to find that across all the Sunday papers, the man being touted as the incoming Government Spokesman was the New York based Salim Lone, the one time subversive editor of the Sunday Post and later on Viva Magazine, who was a Communications Director at the United Nations. Lone knew the job was as good as his, and had resigned from the UN.
''On Monday morning I went to the Nation Center, prepared my CV and other paperwork – I had written down ideas on what I would do as Government Spokesman,'' Mutua says. ''From there I went to the Office of the President, and was surprised when I saw interviewees arriving as late as 9am. Sitting there, I saw ministers streaming in, and at around 9.30am, an old man came and asked who had arrived first. The secretary said it was me. I was ushered into the interview room, where I found a number of ministers.''
Mutua says he went in, did the interview – he was asked to converse in Kiswahili too – after which he drove to Masii to visit his grandma. As Mutua was driving back to Nairobi that Monday evening, his long-aerialed Sony Ericsson phone rang. It was Raphael Tuju calling. Mutua picked the call. Tuju informed him that he'd been hired as Government Spokesman, and asked him to report to the then Head of Civil Service Amb. Francis Muthaura first thing the following morning. ''Tuju told me that after I had left the room,'' Mutua flexes, ''they wondered whether they needed to interview anyone else.''
That Tuesday morning, Mutua went to see Amb. Francis Muthaura on the seventh floor of Harambee House as instructed. After getting the preliminaries out of the way, Amb. Muthaura told Mutua they'd send him an offer letter, asking when Mutua was ready to start. Mutua informed him that he couldn't start immediately since he had students in Dubai and he needed at least three months to finish the semester with them, something which Mutua says Amb. Muthaura was greatly impressed by. ''He was very happy,'' Mutua says, ''because he saw a man who wouldn't simply walk out of a job because he got another. He told me to go and finish teaching the course. That they'd wait for me.''
Mutua went back to Dubai, leaving Nairobi abuzz with speculation that the job was Salim Lone's. In June 2004, Mutua jetted back into Nairobi ready to embark on his new assignment, and was put up at the Intercontinental by the exchequer. The following morning after Mutua's arrival, he was picked up and taken to State House to meet President Mwai Kibaki. ''Kibaki told me two things,'' Mutua says. ''Pick very good staff to work for you, and always speak the truth.'' From State House, Mutua was chaperoned to Harambee House, where he was unveiled as Kenya's first Government Spokesman.
And so began Mutua's tenure as Amb. Francis Muthaura's conspicuous shadow.
''It took people by surprise when the announcement was made that I was the new Government Spokesman,'' Mutua says, ''and everyone started wondering who was this young boy? Senior editors and renowned journalists had all been bypassed, and so even I asked myself why me? I knew nobody. I had no godfather in government. ''
Mutua was 33 years old.
''I was thrown right into the fire because I came in at the time of Anglo Leasing, and there were some efforts at a cover up by some people, with John Githongo blowing the whistle,'' Mutua says, but adds that he won't spill the beans just yet because his tell-all autobiography is in the works and will be hitting the shelves soon. ''I would speak and people within government would contradict me, because they weren't used to the idea of having an official spokesman. But I kept going, and strictly took my briefs either from President Mwai Kibaki's office or directly from Amb. Francis Muthaura.''
And here, Mutua throws in a caveat, albeit belatedly.
''I never made any personal statements,'' Mutua says. ''Everything I said had been discussed and approved, and so whether someone liked or disliked whatever I said, the fact remains that those were the statements sanctioned by government.''
But as I speak to Mutua it becomes clear that he wasn't just a mouthpiece or conveyor belt for what the big boys and girls in government wanted him to pass on to the public.
For starters, Mutua volunteers that he attended a sizeable number of daily briefings given to President Kibaki, in which instances Kibaki would show up and ask in that Mwai Kibaki-voice, ''Haiya, dunia inasema nini?'' It is an open secret that this was the purview of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), and in a different context Mutua submits that he and Michael Gichangi, the NIS Director General, had a cordial working relationship.
Aside from the highly classified briefings, Mutua shares that he was in the room when government was being formed or reshuffled, like in 2005 after ministers were fired for opposing the draft constitution, or in 2008 when a government of national unity was being put together. Mutua says he was the one taking minutes during such meetings, and that beyond just being a fly on the wall, he'd be given opportunities to share his thoughts. ''I was a Kibaki insider,'' seems to be what Mutua is saying, and none of this could have been possible had it not been for Amb. Francis Muthaura, who Mutua calls his mentor. ''He's one man who held this country together,'' Mutua says, ''and I learnt from him how a government should be run and how not to run a government.''
It was while being Amb. Muthaura's shadow, Mutua says, that he ended up drafting the earliest notes of what became Vision 2030. After a meeting of Permanent Secretaries who were being familiarized with Singapore's practice of setting development targets in the form of visions, Mutua and Muthaura retreated to Harambee House where Muthaura asked Mutua to draft something. Mutua says he drafted what he termed Vision 2020, which he took to Muthaura, who made some changes before they took it to Kibaki, who made more changes before McKinsey & Company were roped in to design the full breadth of the project. ''It is McKinsey who turned it into Vision 2030,'' Mutua says.
Then there was the allocation of national projects, which Mutua speaks about as if it was the splitting of a goat among friends. Mutua says he wanted the proposed technocity to go to Machakos, Mua Hills to be specific, because he owned a farm nearby – he says this in that I-am-joking-but-I'm-not way he speaks sometimes. Mutahi Kagwe, the then Minister for Information and Communication, wanted the technopolis to be situated in present day Tatu City. Eventually, with the support of Muthaura, Mutua carried the day and the technopolis was taken to Machakos, first to Lukenya, but since the locals wouldn't sell off their land, the city was transferred to Konza.
On his part, Mutua says Amb. Muthaura wanted the resort city to go to Isiolo, because it was closer to his rural home in Meru. But what was more dramatic was the night when Mutua had to go in search of a map at 3am in the morning, because they couldn't agree on whether a port should be built in Lamu. Mutua says everyone in the room including President Kibaki wanted the port built at Dongo Kundu in Mombasa, but that it was Stanley Murage, the president's special assistant, who argued for Lamu. Mutua brought the map, Murage made his viability case and everyone in the room was convinced.
This is how a country is run.
But then there's Mutua's fascination with Lucy Kibaki, the First Lady. By all indications, Mutua may not have had a godfather, but his reverence for the former First Lady shows just how much she liked having him at State House. First they started out with the First Lady asking Mutua to design a seating chart for all national celebrations, an assignment Mutua says he carried out with the assistance of the NIS Director General. Then there was the 2005 referendum, where Mutua says the First Lady called him to be in the room as she interrogated those who were leading the YES Campaign, telling them how they were siphoning resources out of the campaign while their opponents were riding to victory. ''They tried to argue with her,'' Mutua says, ''but Mama Lucy told them she had her ears to the ground, telling them she was sure the government would lose 60% to 40%. It came to pass.'' And yet what really stood out for Mutua was how the First Lady ran a tight ship at State House, never allowing the free flow of food and drinks since the President was on a super strict diet. To Mutua, this alone saved Mwai Kibaki's life.
''We'd have lunch with the President,'' Mutua says, ''and he'd have two drumsticks, a banana or an apple and water. That was it. No juice. No soda. No starch. This is what kept Kibaki alive, because were he to crave the steaks he was used to and so on, and were he to have them, then he'd have messed up his diet and possibly developed complications.''
I ask Mutua what his lowest moment was as Government Spokesman.
''I remember someone calling me while I was sitting with Police Commissioner Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali and Amb. Francis Muthaura,'' Mutua says, referencing the 2007/2008 post election violence. Incidentally, Muthaura and Ali would initially be listed as suspects set to appear before the International Criminal Court at The Hague on grounds that they'd played a role in the violence, before they were let off the hook. ''The person was crying on the line, telling me they were under attack somewhere in Naivasha. I told the Police Commissioner, who started making phone calls. But as this was happening, the person kept calling, saying the attackers were drawing closer, that they were killing people nearby. Eventually, the caller was killed. The police were not taking orders.''
All said and done, Mutua says what kept him close to the center of power was his absolute loyalty to Kibaki and consistency on whatever they had agreed upon.
''I am not a watermelon like some people in this country,'' Mutua jibes.
Part 3: The Machakos West Wing
Dr. Alfred Mutua lost his scholarship when he left Yellowstone College – which was his first home when he landed in America – and moved to Wentworth University to study for a BA in Journalism. And so in his pursuit to find an alternate scholarship, Mutua auditioned for and was enlisted as a participant in forensic speech contests, where he practiced and participated in public speaking and debate. Through forensics, Mutua earned a new $14,000 scholarship, which sustained him during his undergraduate studies. But beyond just earning him the scholarship, Mutua credits forensics for paving the way for him to become Government Spokesman. It was predestination, he believes.
''My wife told me that now that you're in government, you can do all those things you've always wanted to do,'' Mutua says. I ask Mutua what those things are. ''I always wondered why we were so poor, why our infrastructure was so bad, why we had water problems,'' Mutua says. ''I kept on asking, these ministers had always come to the US, why can't they fix things and change Kenya? I had a burning desire to fix Kenya the way I had seen it done in the US, Australia and other countries I visited.''
After being Government Spokesman for almost a decade, Mutua sought real power.
''We were having a meeting in Mombasa to discuss the draft constitution in 2010, and to my right was National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) Director General Michael Gichangi, and to my left was Attorney General Amos Wako,'' Mutua says. ''When I read the section on devolution, I asked Gichangi, the governor is going to be the next most powerful person after the president, right? Gichangi said yes. I asked Wako the same question. Wako too said yes. It is in that sitting in Mombasa that I decided I was going to be the governor for Machakos, so that I can have power to do the things I had always wanted to do; bring water, build roads and stadia and bring Dubai to Machakos.''
And so in September 2012, Mutua tendered his resignation. As a show of appreciation, President Mwai Kibaki asked Mutua to go and see him the following morning. ''Kibaki gave me a briefcase and told me that that was his contribution and that of Lucy Kibaki,'' Mutua says. Kibaki became Mutua's first campaign donor. Mutua won't say how much Kibaki gave him, but says it was in the millions. Then as the campaigns drew to a close, Mutua says he called on yet another president, Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete, who also gave him a briefcase which Mutua says he used for the final push, like paying agents.
''I had learnt how to run a political campaign during Kibaki's reelection bid in 2007,'' Mutua says when I ask him how he navigated the electoral politics terrain as a first timer. ''I got a call from Amb. Muthaura one Sunday morning, asking me to go to his office, where I found Raphael Tuju. It was in that meeting that the idea of a Party of National Unity was hatched by Tuju, and we then proceeded to send choppers to pick up party leaders who were out of town. By 4pm, we had all assembled at the KICC where I wrote Kibaki's speech, inserting 'Kazi Iendelee' after every paragraph. We didn't have branding material in any other colour save for blue, and that became the party colour. We thereafter set up the secretariat, and that's where I learnt the ropes.''
Mutua was elected governor at 43.
''I came in with a concept of building a new city,'' Mutua says of his early day masterplan for Machakos. ''I took it to President Uhuru Kenyatta, who really liked it. I then did an investment conference and got commitments of up to 2.1 trillion shillings, which was going to finance the project. Unfortunately my political competitors feared that were the city to become a reality then I'd outshine them, and so they went to court and it took six years before the matter was thrown out. By this time investors had bolted. They are just starting to come back now, at the tail end of my term. Machakos missed out big time.''
At the center of that city was the Machakos White House, the county's seat of power which Mutua says cost 300 million shillings and took an average of six months to build. Surrounded by huge tracts of land, the all white office block is humongous, sitting on an acreage Mutua's doesn't recall off his head but one can visually estimate it to be about ten soccer fields if not more. When my colleague goes all the way to the property's entrance, the optics make him appear not as small as an ant but gives you the effect that you could be looking at a human version of an ant – so tiny that you have a general idea that there's a human there but you have nothing to work with in term of specifics.
Mutua occupies the entire building – it is the governor's office, everyone else has their offices elsewhere, including his ministers – and takes the West Wing as his personal operations base. Here, there's his huge ensuite office, there's the open plan reception area, there's an executive dining room, a kitchen, Mutua's chief of staff's office, and at least three huge lounges and a second dining room for guests. Mutua's media team also sits on this side of the building. The other half of the building seems unoccupied.
''When I became governor I refused to take up the office of the former mayor because a governor is not an elevated mayor,'' Mutua says. ''If you go to America, this is how a governor's office looks. In building this office, I am entrenching devolution in Machakos.''
Mutua gives me a tour of the building, its eight executive toilets, its huge corridors, its executive boardrooms, and every time we meet a staffer they almost freeze as they give way. The one thing that's clear is that aside from all the reasons Mutua gives about the necessity of such a seat of power, it is also power play, a power arrangement, so that when one walks in they instantly start seeing him in a different light. Big man's big office.
But beyond just size, Mutua has fetishes.
''I am very clear about what I want and what I don't want. I don't like something called mathogothanio. I like things done well,'' Mutua says when I tell him I have a sense he's the one who picked the building's curtains, going by how specific he is about everything. ''I don't like hanging wires, because wires hanging is a sign of a third world mentality. I like clean toilets, flowing water, because they bring efficiency. I learnt this from the Japanese. They recovered from being nuclear-bombed and became a world power by doing things properly, even if they are minimalists. I want good things for my people.''
I notice something else. Mutua still keeps the staff he had as Government Spokesman.
''I believe that you don't leave your people behind,'' Mutua says. ''I believe that if you have trained your people you move up with them. My chief of staff, my drivers, my media liaison, my security detail and so on are the same ones I had as Government Spokesman. They understand my systems. I trust them. I know them. They are family.''
When Mutua was growing up in Makina, Kibera, neighbours nicknamed him Jogoo for just how active he was. And when his father took him to report to Dagoretti High School in 1984 aged 13, fellow students wondered why a child had been brought in their midst. Mutua was super tiny. And yet when bullies attempted to make a go at him, Mutua exploded. Then one day while in form five at Jamhuri High School in 1988, a sister to a childhood friend told Mutua, ''Please take care of your friend in future.'' Mutua was confused. The friend's sister told him he'd go places in life and shouldn't forget her brother. And when Mutua was playing basketball at Yellowstone College in America, a teammate told Mutua he had fire burning in his chest, and that Mutua needed to be careful where he channeled that fire lest he burnt himself. And on and on.
Mutua shares these anecdotes in saying it is all foreordained. That this is how he will become president, because people have always seen it in him and told him as much, and when anyone has tried to overlook him for his size or such, he has always proved them wrong. This, tied to his fast and glittering ideology – Dubai, done at super speed.
''If we move at the speed of America or Singapore, we can never catch up with them because they are already way ahead of us,'' Mutua says. ''The problem is that as it is, we are not even moving at the speed at which these countries are moving. We are much slower. And so to catch up with them we need to move at double their speed, so that if they take a day to process a passport, ours has to be done in six hours or less.''
And how has he performed as a governor?
The achievements are too many to list off the cuff, but Mutua takes pride in how he's improved infrastructure, how he's rolled back the threat of hunger, and how he's transformed the health sector. ''Machakos is no longer a recipient of food aid,'' Mutua says, ''but when you look around everyone else is still on the relief food wagon.'' The governor says he copy pasted a Malawian model where farms get ploughed for free and farmers are given free planting seeds, this and the fact the county bought borehole drilling equipment and has dug dozens of boreholes across Machakos. But the apple of Mutua's eye is Machakos Level 5 Hospital, which he says is easily one of the cleanest if not the cleanest public health facility in the country. And now to bring these to Kenya.
''I want to make it easy for people to exist in Kenya,'' Mutua pitches. ''I will remove all this bureaucracy and make it easy for people to do business. Today, there are 34 steps one has to undergo before a payment is made. All these steps breed corruption. I will remove these and other bureaucracies which are bribe collecting stations.''
But why does Mutua think he's the man for the job?
''I went to see President Moi once and he told me why he chose Uhuru Kenyatta for a successor,'' Mutua says. ''Moi told me he chose Uhuru because of African anthropology, and might have said very tribal things about what he thought of certain people and their inability to lead, but I listened to his reasoning. He told me his choice for successor was Mwai Kibaki, but Kibaki refused to join KANU and that was the dealbreaker. Uhuru came in as Moi's second choice, much as he too has it in him. One time I was watching Uhuru give a speech and Amb. Muthaura told me, ''One day this guy will be president.''
Mutua too believes he has the thing, that thing that makes people presidents.
This project is a collaboration between
Debunk Media and the Star Newspaper.


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Cases We Handle
Our firm handles all types of injury cases from motor vehicle accidents, to injuries on the job, to products that didn't work like they were supposed to and caused you injury.
Click below to learn more about these types of cases.
Don't see what you're looking for? Give us a call to see if we handle your type of case. If we don't, we will give you the name of an attorney we trust who can help you.

subset: commoncrawl


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I wonder how many transactions can Celo blockchain process per second in how many nodes there are? Basically, I want to know how does celo blockchain solve blockchain trilemma(scalability, security, decentralization).
The short answer to your question "does celo blockchain solve blockchain trilemma(scalability, security, decentralization)" is no. As far as I know no cryptonetwork has found a solution to this problem tough many are working on it and the team building Celo is following these developments closely.
Celo has 5 second blocks and the number of transactions per block depends on the gas limit, which is currently set at 10,000,000 gas. Assuming the average transaction uses 150,000 gas, which is the current cost to send a Celo Dollar transaction, then that amounts to 10,000,000/150,000 = 66 tx/block, which equals 66/5 = 13 tx/second.
If we compare to m-pesa where a monthly active user (MAU) does on average 12.2 transactions per month (see Safaricom 2019 Annual Report p.102) equal to ~ 150 tx/year (12.2 tx/mth * 12 mths) and if Celo can process on average 410 million transactions/year (13 tx/s * 60 s * 60 min * 24 hrs * 365 days), then Celo could theoretically support ≈ 2.7 million users (410m tx/year / 150 tx/year/user). This ignores more costly transactions like smart contract interactions, so this number is on the higher side.
The C Labs crypto team will be working on tackling scalability post mainnet launch.
Update Jun 2020: Block gas limit is now 20,000,0000 (vs 10m before). So using same assumptions as before this would amount to 2x previous estimate i.e. 2 * 13 tx/s = 26 tx/s.


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the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
"The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself."
— Karl Marx
May 23, 2022
This article is translated from the May 20 issue #2807 of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers' Struggle), the newspaper of the revolutionary workers' group of that name active in France.
The Rajapaska family controls the top of the government of Sri Lanka but was forced to sacrifice older brother Mahinda after being shaken by weeks of protests.
Mahinda resigned his post as Prime Minister on May 9 in the attempt to save his younger brother Gotabaya's presidency. Several other members of the clan already resigned their ministries in recent weeks.
The Rajapaskas owe their rise to their role in the army's repression of the Tamil minority, putting a bloody end to the rebellion of the Tamil Tigers in 2009. Mahinda was president from 2005 to 2015 but had to cede to the opposition after losing an election. But the clan retook power in 2019, taking advantage of emotions aroused by Islamist attacks that caused 258 dead and nearly 500 injured. The family is never stingy with nationalist demagoguery, flattering the Sinhalese and Buddhist majority.
Sri Lanka has been sinking into an unresolved economic crisis ever since. The pandemic amplified the effect of the attacks in depriving the island country of tourists. The country is heavily indebted and has no foreign currency reserves. Accelerating inflation worldwide has made imports unaffordable. Sri Lanka's currency, the rupee, lost 30% of its value in March. Electricity only works intermittently. Patients can't find medicines, or the medicines are too expensive. Even shoes are considered non-essential goods. Imports of shoes were halted. The government saw fit to disguise the financial impossibility of importing chemical fertilizers—the prices of which are soaring on international markets—as a positive environmental move. But agricultural production has dropped. Food shortages are happening. Poor people skip meals.
Demonstrations have happened daily in the capital Colombo for a month and a half. They demand the resignation of the president. Even Buddhist priests, who supported the Rajapaskas' violent nationalism, turned against the ruling family, and took to the streets. Demonstrators tried to reach the presidential palace and the ministries, were pushed back by police, and set fire to the houses of some government ministers.
On May 8 the Rajapaskas mobilized their supporters, who attacked anti-government protesters with sticks—accompanied by tear gas from police. Two deputies fired on demonstrators. Nine people died and 300 were injured. Curfew was declared throughout the island. But the prime minister still had to throw in the towel, after trying in vain to convince the opposition to join his government to stabilize it. As soon as the space opened for them, opposition politicians formed a new government, under the weakened authority of President Gotabaya Rajapaska.
New prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is back for his fourth round. Given the economic collapse, he could only offer sacrifices to the population, announcing, "The next two months will be the most difficult months of our lives." He said the economic crisis "will go from bad to worse before it gets better." On May 16, he had to admit there was only one day's supply of fuel. Four tankers were financed by an emergency line of credit opened by neighbor India. But once they dock, the reprieve will only last a few days. Wickremesinghe and his economic minister begged people to stop lining up at gas stations. When people meet on those lines, spontaneous protests start! The new government helplessly signaled that it would print more banknotes, even while acknowledging that this will worsen inflation.
The administration would like to put an end to the demonstrations and the political instability they cause. But the working class and the poor population can expect nothing from the government in terms of loosening the grip of the global economic crisis in which Sri Lanka struggles.


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Current Master Thesis projects
Within the 'INTEGRATE' project, I am currently looking for students to carry out the following Master Thesis projects:
- Design and setup of a demo platform to show the potential of the integrated communications, sensing and computing paradigm.
- Joint waveform design of multiple antenna systems for communication and sensing at sub-THz frequencies.
- Development of data fusion algorithms for multiple and possibly different remote sensing sources.
Should you be interested on these topics, please get in touch with me: email@example.com.
Current PhD positions
I am currently looking for two PhD students on the following topics:
- Modern multiple antenna communication systems are almost exclusively designed under the assumption of locally plane wavefronts. This is known as the far-field approximation, which is soundly justified at sub-6 GHz frequencies. However, it breaks down when higher carrier frequencies are used. Since the wavelength reduces, the wave curvature over the array is no longer negligible and arrays operate in the so-called radiative near-field region. The PhD candidate must develop innovative transceiver architectures for multiple antenna networks operating at THz frequencies.
- Within the European project TIMES, I am currently looking for a PhD student to develop/investigate: (i) innovative signal processing techniques resorting to hybrid digital and analog domains, also investigating the possibilities offered by signal's manipulation at the electromagnetic level ; (ii) innovative schemes for enhancing sensing and localization with the use of intelligent reflective surfaces at THz frequencies.
Should you be interested on these topics, please get in touch with me: email@example.com.
To have further information on the enrollment in the PhD program of the University of Pisa, please check this website.
Potential Master and PhD students
I am always interested in supervising strong, motivated students at the Master and PhD level. If you are interested, please feel free contact me: firstname.lastname@example.com.
For PhD students, to know how to enrol in the PhD program of the University of Pisa please check this website.
Postdoctoral researchers
I have occasional opening for postdoctoral researchers, which will be announced here. However, you may consider applying for a Marie Curie fellowship (see http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/).
Should you be interested in applying, please let me know. I'll be very happy to assist you.
Visiting Faculty
If you are interested in visiting the Department of Information Engineering for a short-term research stay, we can offer limited financial support. Please check this website, and feel free to get in touch with me.


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Oxford University academic Hugh Watkins has lauded Professor Bongani Mayosi as one of the greatest minds he's ever known.
Watkins was Mayosi's supervisor when he did his PhD at Oxford in 1998.
His PhD studies centered around the goal of discovering the gene that causes heart disease, but that had to change.
"I could see that he had the intellect, he was tenacious and resourceful. He wanted to discover a gene that was causing heart disease in the family he cared for. We looked at it and I had to be honest – it wasn't possible with what we knew those days. We had to set it aside. He came back to it later and he cracked it last year. It was a wonderful email to receive; the pride he had that he and his team here had solved the mystery we couldn't 20 years before," says Watkins.
Meanwhile, the children of the late Professor Mayosi have paid touching tributes to their father at his funeral service at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
51-year-old Mayosi ended his own life last Friday following a two year battle with depression.
A friend of one of his two daughters, Camagu, read out a letter that detailed light-hearted memories from the Mayosi household when they were kids.
"I'll never forget the night Mama and Tata were having a heated debate about the age at which one can officially be called a teenager. Tata was convinced it was 10 and mama knew it was 13. We kids saw this as an opportunity to get out of washing the dishes. We brought out the trusty encyclopedia. Once that had been settled, Tata rolled up his sleeves and washed all the dishes with that infectious smile on his face," read Camagu.
Watch related video below


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Johnny Valas | Évora
João Valido, the rapper Valas, was born and lives in Évora. It was there that he began to explore and discover his talent for music, and it was within the four walls of his room that he wrote and recorded his first verses. The city is also present in his music.
"Inside us live the melodies of our life, of our history, the music keys that make up who we are. Inside us, memories of many places are kept, but to the place where we were born is given greater space. I thus share a part of my verses, a part of me."
There are very impressive places in Évora, such as the Aqueduto da Água de Prata (Água de Prata Aqueduct), the Cromeleque dos Almendres (Almendres Cromlech), the Capela dos Ossos (Chapel of Bones) or the Ruínas Fingidas (Mock Ruins). What can't we miss when we are in the Municipality?
Of the places mentioned I would like to mention the excellent work done by "Ebora Megalithica" at the Almendres Cromlech, where you can learn a lot about archaeology and prehistory, with guided tours and practical classes for schools, workshops for adults, from how to make primitive fire, prehistoric weapons, to stone carving and even manual pottery. It is undoubtedly an experience to consider when visiting our municipality.
Évora is also a municipality with plenty of green spaces and stroll possibilities to do. What is for you the unmissable landscape in this area?
The pedestrian paths that go around the city walls are quite green and vented, I believe that knowing the city in that way passes the peace of mind. In case you want to distance yourself from all the "fuss" and go by car to visit the outskirts, there are many paths to discover around you, but the Alto de S. Bento (S. Bento viewpoint) is the one with the most privileged view over the city.
As Alentejo cuisine is very popular, another aspect that attracts a lot of attention in the region is the local gastronomy. What are the delicacies that, in your opinion, should not be missed?
I really like our migas com carne de alguidar (pork meat with breadcrumbs), our Alentejo style gazpacho and rechina com laranja (pork blood with orange). I recommend any of these if they are well made, i.e. if the migas are not mixed with some exotic flavour, if the gazpacho doesn't come out Spanish style and if the rechina just looks, and doesn't taste, like clay.
You were born in Évora, where you still live. How does your city inspire your work as a musician?
I think that our quality of life, the serenity, the calm of our days, have always directly influenced me. I've never been able to move to city because it's a cradle that binds me tightly, it's comfortable, and familiar.
And what are your fondest memories and experiences of your city?
Growing up here was a dream, lots of football, lots of adventure in nature, lots of fields, animals, motorbikes, shacks, races, whatever was needed to entertain a whole generation of kids who still played outdoor, there were computers and consoles, and many of us already had them, but we appreciated more the other part, living life. I cherish those years.
Laura Deus (@laura.deus) is from Reguengos de Monsaraz and while growing up she was always very close to the city of Évora, geographically and sentimentally. An architect by profession, she mixes her love for photography with her profession, capturing the lines that form each city she passes through. It was Laura who accompanied Johnny Valas on this journey through Évora's countryside.
"Viagens no Meu Interior" ("Travel to my Inner Self") is an initiative of Visitportugal and the communication platform Gerador. We invited Portuguese artists to express themselves about their inner selves, about the Portuguese countryside. We show them perhaps lesser-known regions, on a journey of discovery and sharing of places that they know better than anyone else and that have had a particular meaning in their lives.


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The Tech Antitrust Sideshow vs. Small Business Realities
By SBE Council at 24 February, 2021, 11:06 pm
by Raymond J. Keating-
Given what they do for a living, I'm always struck at how tone deaf some politicians can be.
For example, Members of Congress have long played the game of attacking pharmaceutical companies, labeling them "Big Pharma." Of course, that ignored the fact that small, entrepreneurial firms overwhelmingly populate the industry (for example, 78.7 percent of employer firms in the pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing sector have fewer than 100 employees, according to the latest Census Bureau data).
Then, we were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the pharmaceutical industry responded in near-miraculous fashion in creating vaccines, along with offering various therapeutics. It has been "Entrepreneurial Pharma," if you will, to the rescue.
And now we have members of Congress attacking "Big Tech" – specifically, Facebook, Amazon.com, Apple and Google (or parent company Alphabet) – when individuals, families, entrepreneurs, businesses and employees have been experiencing vast upheaval in their lives, enterprises and careers. Of course, though, the critical services provided by these and other tech firms have become ever more apparent to individuals and businesses during the pandemic.
Safety and Social Distancing via Online Shopping
Consider the recent dramatic jump occurring in online retail sales during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to DigitalCommerce360.com:
• "Consumers spent $861.12 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2020, up an incredible 44.0% year over year, according to Digital Commerce 360 estimates. That's the highest annual U.S. ecommerce growth in at least two decades. It's also nearly triple the 15.1% jump in 2019."
• "Online's share of total retail saleshas steadily been on the rise—with ecommerce penetration hitting 21.3% in 2020, Digital Commerce 360 estimates. That's up from 15.8% in 2019 and 14.3% in 2018. The more than five-percentage point gain in ecommerce penetration is by far the biggest year-over-year jump for U.S. retail sales ever recorded. No other year has even reached a two percentage-point gain in digital penetration."
• "COVID-19-related boosts in online shopping resulted in an additional $174.87 billion in ecommerce revenue in 2020, Digital Commerce 360 estimates."
In turn, keep in mind that retail overwhelmingly is populated by small businesses. For example, according to the latest Census Bureau data, in the retail trade sector, 90.9 percent of employer firms had fewer than 20 employees, and 98.4 percent fewer than 100 employees. And among electronic shopping and mail-order houses, 92.2 percent of employer firms had fewer than 20 employees, and 97.5 percent fewer than 100 employees.
In fact, in good and bad times, leaders in the digital economy have made real differences in daily life. And that most certainly includes offering vital products to entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Online Platforms Power Small Business Growth
Before and especially during the pandemic, market leaders like Amazon.com have been working with entrepreneurs and small businesses in partnerships. That's exactly how market transactions work, by the way. Value is created when individuals and businesses trade, with each side gaining, otherwise, they would not take part in the transactions.
Consider how small businesses use and partner with Amazon.com, which boosts sales and hiring growth.
• First, of course, small businesses are customers on Amazon.com for a wide array of products, such as mailing and office supplies, laptops, furniture, and so much more.
• Second, Amazon.com serves as a major marketplace for small businesses to offer their products to customers across the nation and around the world.
On February 3, 2021, Amazon.com reported that it supports "more than 1.7 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) around the world that are selling their products in our store."
Amazon.com went on to point out: "SMBs now makeup close to 60% of the sales in our store, and they have created more than 2.2 million jobs globally as a result of selling on Amazon. In fact, SMBs from all 50 states that sell with Amazon are more than twice as likely to see 25-50% hiring growth compared to those that do not, according to research by IDC."
More broadly, Amazon.com has noted, "In the U.S., Amazon works with more than 2 million independent sellers, authors, content creators, developers, delivery businesses and IT solution providers."
It also was noted in the pre-pandemic January 2020 IDC report:
• "Small businesses that sell in Amazon's stores are 2.5 times more likely (46% versus 18%) to have seen revenue growth of 25% or more in the past year than those not selling in our stores. Only 3% of those selling in Amazon's stores saw flat or declining sales growth, compared to 20% of those not selling in our stores. As a whole, 94% of SMBs selling in Amazon's stores said they'd seen some growth in the past year, compared to 66% of businesses who are not selling in our stores."
• "81% of Amazon sellers sell via other online channels, and generate, on average, 54% of their revenue from offline channels."
• "U.S.-based sellers represent a majority of third-party businesses and sales in our U.S. store, and we enable these SMBs to reach customers in more than 180 countries around the world, with rapid sales growth in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and beyond. In 2018, companies based in the U.S. sold more than $2 billion in our international stores."
And in September 2020, well into the pandemic, Amazon.com reported the following:
• "Despite the impact COVID-19 has had on small businesses, many American SMBs selling through Amazon have experienced continued growth. Third-party sellers continue to account for more than half of all units sold in Amazon's store, and even during the pandemic, third-party sales continued to grow faster than Amazon's first-party sales. In the twelve-month period ending in May, American SMB sellers sold more than 3.4 billion products, up from 2.7 billion year-over-year, and averaged $160,000 in sales, up from approximately $100,000 a year prior."
• Amazon "announced it is on course to invest $18 billion this year to help independent businesses sell to customers, including investments in logistics, tools, services, programs, and people. Since the beginning of the year, Amazon has launched more than 135 free tools and services to help sellers grow their sales in Amazon's store."
When Small Businesses Succeed, Big Tech Succeeds
Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer at Amazon, was quoted, "Amazon's success is directly tied to the success of independent businesses across the U.S. We are passionate about supporting small businesses, investing and inventing on their behalf to help them be resilient through COVID-19 and beyond."
Amazon.com also has highlighted the following about its cloud computing service: "Amazon Web Services (AWS) is helping hundreds of thousands of SMB startups, customers, and partners launch and scale businesses that enrich their communities and the world."
Along these lines, an SBE Council June 2020 small business survey found benefits for small businesses thanks to cloud services:
• "Saving time and money (89 percent) is the most widely perceived benefit of cloud services among small businesses, followed by improved employee productivity and collaboration (84 percent). Nearly eight in ten agree that cloud services have helped their business better communicate with or manage customers during COVID-19 (79 percent) and have been critical to the survival and operation of their business amid the outbreak (76 percent)."
• "Saving time and money (89 percent) is the most widely perceived benefit of cloud services among small businesses, followed by improved employee productivity and collaboration (84 percent). Nearly eight in ten agree that cloud services have helped their business better communicate with or manage customers during COVID-19 (79 percent) and have been critical to the survival and operation of their business amid the outbreak (76 percent)."
Small Business Pivots/Accelerates to Tech
In February 2021, the Small Business Roundtable and Facebook released the "U.S. State of Small Business: 2020 – A Challenging Year for SMBs," and among the findings were:
• "In addition, more businesses started selling online for the first time. The proportion making no sales through digital channels in the past 30 days fell from 35% before COVID-19 to 13% in the 30 days prior to the December survey, and the proportion making 100% of their sales online rose from 13% to 20%."
• "Entrepreneurial Tech" has been and increasingly is important to the success of millions of entrepreneurs and small businesses. That has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and will continue long after the pandemic, and its consequences, fade into the past.
Raymond J. Keating is chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.


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6 Things To Know About Mind and Body Practices for Sleep Disorders
Do you have trouble falling or staying asleep? Many people do. An estimated 50 to 70 million Americans have some type of sleep disorder. Fortunately, there are treatments that can help, including psychological and behavioral therapies (mind and body practices).
Here are 6 things to know about mind and body practices for sleep problems.
Experts strongly recommend multicomponent cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (abbreviated CBT-I) for adults who have chronic insomnia. Both the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (the professional organization of sleep medicine specialists) and the American College of Physicians (the professional organization of physicians who specialize in internal medicine) strongly recommend CBT-I.
There's evidence that relaxation techniques may be helpful for insomnia, but it isn't as strong as the evidence favoring CBT-I. Relaxation techniques, such as guided imagery and progressive muscle relaxation, are safe and easy to use.
Some studies suggest that yoga can be helpful for sleep. Studies in people with cancer, women with sleep problems, and older adults showed beneficial effects of yoga on sleep. And in a national survey, more than half of adults who practice yoga reported improved sleep.
Tai chi may be helpful for people with sleep problems. Studies from several countries show that practicing tai chi may improve sleep quality.
There's limited evidence that mindfulness meditation may help reduce insomnia and improve sleep quality. Mindfulness practices may be better than education-based treatments for sleep problems, but they don't seem to be more effective than cognitive behavioral therapy or exercise.
If you think you may have a sleep problem, let your health care provider know. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has information that can help you prepare for your office visit.


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There's all the relish you could ever desire in the political casserole bubling away nicely 'just over there'. First of all, you can breath in the delicous odour of sour grapes because the 'Kaiserin' has taken the hump at the Hungarian dwarf changing his mind about her sharing his electoral platform - never trust a smooth-talking Frenchman, dear! Sarkozy suddenly realised, what even a political idiot like me could have told him, that the French people would never take to a German Chancellor interfering in their election. According to Der Spiegel:
Last Wednesday, he made his change in campaign strategy public when he said in a radio interview: "The election campaign is a matter for the French people."
By then, Merkel had already heard he was turning down her help, and she complained to confidants about the Frenchman's erratic behavior. A few days later, she took Sarkozy aside during the EU summit in Brussels at the beginning of March and asked him what was going on. He agreed to hold at least one joint appearance with her.
But sources say that Merkel would now no longer be unhappy if she didn't have to travel to France before the election, because she wants to avoid being associated with Sarkozy's recent right-wing populist statements about foreigners.
Oh dear, isn't it awful when dear friends fall out? You need 'a heart of stone not to fall over laughing'!
But poor little Sarkozy has mounting problems to surmount in his fight for re-election. According to the WSJ, he is facing pressure form the Left, the Right and the Centre! Marine le Pen, leader of the hard Right, is pushing for protectionist policies and abandoning the euro! She has 16% of the poll numbers so far and Sarkozy must hope, because there is no certainty, that most them will come to him in the final run off election. However, observers believe that about one third of the Centre candidate's votes, currently 13%, are likely to switch Left rather than Right in the final showdown.
On the Left there is an even greater threat. François Hollande, a socialist Left-winger already fairly far to the Left is coming under pressure from the 'nutcase wing':
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who leads a hard-left coalition that includes the once-moribund French Communist Party, is gaining traction with calls to reject austerity measures springing from Europe's sovereign debt crisis through "civic uprising."
Mélenchon's hard Left policy proposals has increased his poll numbers :
Mr. Mélenchon's rise in polls—he is now credited with as much as 11% of the vote, compared with half that level two months ago—has forced Mr. Hollande to veer to the left ahead of the April 22 election. In the same poll, Mr. Hollande came in at 27% and Mr. Sarkozy 27.5%.
This pressure from the hard Left has caused Hollande to come out with some very extreme proposals of his own:
In recent weeks, Mr. Hollande has proposed increasing the top income-tax bracket to 75% from 41% for people earning more than €1 million ($1.3 million) a year, and forcing French banks to exit tax havens.
Of course, Sarkozy will hope that with the extremes pushing ever further Right and Left he will be able to march triumphantly through the centre. However, he needs to beware because politics is not formed in a straight line but in a circle where extreme Left and extreme Right join hands:
"The National Front and the Left Front are after the same voters," said Stefan Collignon, a professor at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy. "In the past weeks, Mr. Mélenchon is the one who has been on the rise."
Mr. Mélenchon's growing appeal to French voters was witnessed by the success of an electoral rally in Paris on Sunday. Tens of thousands of people marched through the city and gathered at Bastille square to listen to his speech.
In the meantime, the 'Kaiserin' sulks in her bunker!


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The OPPO Find N2 Flip is much like the Hannah Montana movie, combining the best of both worlds - except here you get flagship-grade imaging in addition to the flip-style foldable form-factor. It features a 50MP primary camera with Hasselblad Natural Colour Solution (HNCS) for true-to-life colours and a distinctive Hasselblad look, powered by the 4nm MariSilicon X NPU, making it AI-enabled for improved dynamic range and reduced noise.
The Find N2 Flip sports a flagship-grade MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor to balance everyday usability with high-end performance. The camera on this phone is like a professional cam, boasting all-pixel omnidirectional intelligent focusing, so nearby subjects look sharp while backgrounds look soft. Plus, you can shoot hi-res 4K videos at up to 60fps in camcorder mode, or ultra-dynamic, ultra-clear low-light 4K videos with Marisilicon X at 30fps.
To further amplify the imaging credentials of the Find N2 Flip, OPPO has worked closely with legendary camera manufacturer, Hasselblad, to integrate the Hasselblad Natural Colour Solution into the camera system. This partnership runs deep with its XPAN mode which features a 65:24 high aspect ratio to capture the camera brand's unique retro style.
The OPPO Find N2 Flip also comes with an 8MP ultra-wide Sony IMX355 rear snapper with an expansive field of view that is perfect for photos and videos. And for selfies, it also packs the 32MPX709 front shooter, which is like having a personal paparazzo in your pocket.
The OPPO Find N2 Flip is engineered to accurately render Indian skin tones and recreate bokeh flair in portrait videos, unlike some models of the past which tend to whiten our complexions against our will.
Let's not forget about the power-packed SoC, which is like having a turbo-charged car engine under the hood. The Find N2 Flip harnesses the power of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ to deliver supercharged CPU performance alongside a suite of enhancements like AI-enhanced Variable Rate Shading and Frame Rate smoothening to boost the gaming experience. The phone comes with 44W Supervooc Flash Charging and comes with a 3.26in Cover Screen to top it all off.
The OPPO Find N2 Flip will be priced at ₹89,999 and available as of today.


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'Hunger Games' to deliver more than $300 million in profit to Lions Gate
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
The blockbuster opening weekend of 'The Hunger Games' — which debuted with an estimated $155 million — will ultimately lead to more than $300 million in profit for independent studio Lionsgate, analysts predicted Sunday.
And with three sequels to come, the franchise as a whole is expected to deliver $1.5 billion or more to the Santa Monica company's bottom line.
That's a significant success for Lionsgate, which has posted net losses in its last four fiscal years and struggled to up its game in film production. While it has scored with a variety of genre and prestige pictures like 'Saw' and 'Precious' and has a growing television division, the studio last year took losing bets on several high-profile flops, including 'Conan the Barbarian' and the Taylor Lautner action-thriller 'Abduction.'
Media analyst Monica Dicenso of JP Morgan predicted that the first 'Hunger Games' film will produce $310 million in profit and the series as a whole will generate $1.5 billion. James Marsh of Piper Jaffray said the numbers could be even higher, with more than $400 million from the first movie and $2-billion-plus for the entire series.
This weekend's release, which cost a little more than $80 million to make (after a tax break) and $45 million more to market, needed to reach about $100 million in domestic box office receipts to break even, according to a person familiar with the picture's economics who was not authorized to speak publicly. The picture reached that milestone on Saturday.
The ultimate success of the franchise will depend largely on how the movie performs on DVD when it's no longer in theaters as well as the sales of licensed products.
Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns noted Sunday that he had just received an email informing him that 'Hunger Games' T-shirts were already selling out in many Hot Topic chain stores.
'The panacea in the movie business is to find franchises,' he said when asked to reflect on the meaning of 'The Hunger Games' to the studio, which he and chief executive Jon Feltheimer have run since 2000.
'The idea that we can create some predictability around the most unpredictable part of our business is fantastic,' he added.
There are several factors in Lions Gate's favor that should help the company generate even higher profits from the sequels than the first film. The movie's international opening, for instance, was solid but not spectacular, particularly outside of the English-speaking world, where author Suzanne Collins' 'Hunger Games' novels are not as well known.
Just as the popular'Twilight' sequels did much better overseas than the original, the same might hold true for Lionsgate's new franchise.
In addition, with the success of the first film, Lionsgate will be in a position to demand more favorable terms from foreign distributors for the sequels. The independent studio does not handle the release of its movies outside of the U.S. and Great Britain.
One challenge the company faces, however, is the pending departure of motion picture group president Joe Drake. While Feltheimer gave the movie the greenlight, it was Drake and his team who oversaw the development, production and marketing.
Drake and several of his key executives are being replaced by the team from 'Twilight' studio Summit Entertainment, which Lionsgate acquired in January.
Lions Gate stock has more than doubled in value since September in part because of anticipation for 'The Hunger Games' (as well as the exit of dissident shareholder Carl Icahn). The shares closed at $14.53 on Friday. But with the movie outperforming even the most optimistic expectations this weekend, they could rise again Monday.
Box Office: 'Hunger Games' beats record with $155 million debut
'Hunger Games' ads coyly don't show the Hunger Games
'Hunger Games' premiere is last hurrah for Lionsgate's Joe Drake
— Ben Fritz


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Community Ecology of Stream Fishes: Concepts, Approaches, and Techniques
Aliens versus the Natives: Interactions between Introduced Pumpkinseed and Indigenous Brown Trout in Small Streams of Southern England
Gordon H. Copp, Saulius Stakėnas, and Julien Cucherousset
doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781934874141.ch17
Abstract.—The pumpkinseed Lepomis gibbosus was introduced to Europe, including England, more than 100 years ago, but relatively little is known of its potential ecological impacts on native species and ecosystems. In England, the pumpkinseed is currently established in ponds of the River Ouse (Sussex) and its flood plain. Escapee pumpkinseeds are found in some small tributaries that contain native species of conservation interest (brown trout Salmo trutta, brook lamprey Lampetra planeri, European eel Anguilla anguilla, European bullhead Cottus gobio). We used using electrofishing surveys and telemetry methods to examine the interactions between pumpkinseeds and native stream fishes (mainly brown trout), including predator–prey relationships, home range size, microhabitat preferences, home range fidelity, and habitat overlap/repartition. To assess impacts of pumpkinseed on stream food webs, a preliminary study quantified trout growth and food-web structure of a stream ecosystem (abundance of primary and secondary producers, fish, and riparian spiders) in reaches with and without pumpkinseed. Where pumpkinseeds were in high density, differences were observed in stream food-web structure, in proportional representation of fish species traits and in riparian spider community composition, but these differences cannot be attributed solely to pumpkinseed presence. From the available evidence, there appears to be little direct or indirect adverse impact of pumpkinseed on native species and the stream ecosystem when in low densities, including as a host of nonnative infectious agents. However, this could change under conditions of climate warming, which are likely to favor pumpkinseed reproduction, potentially to the detriment of native species. In a context in which freshwater ecosystems are impacted by several human and climate-induced factors acting synergistically, our results underline the need to study nonnative species impacts through a series of experimental and long-term studies of stream ecosystems.


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European ladies also are known for their perception and cleverness. Even when they can't say for sure you well, they can instantly come up with a solution for your problems. Because of this, Turkish girls are suitable girlfriends. They shall be loyal and supportive, and will furnish their sweethearts with delicious dishes.
The first Turkish girl to become a doctor was Safiye Ali. She was educated at Robert College or university and proceeded to comprehensive her training in Philippines. She after that returned to Istanbul and exposed her individual practice.


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Commissioned by
and Euronatur - European Nature Heritage Foundation
Project team
Dr. Vassiliki Kati. Coordinator
Maria Petridou, agronomist, PhD student (BCL/UOI)
Theodoropoulos Yiannis, Environmental Scientist/ MSc (PP)
Nikos Mpoukas, biologist, MSc student (BCL/UOI)
Tonia Galani, MSc student (BCL/UOI)
- To provide a georeferenced database of species distribution in the study area, with special focus on the part of the area that is under no protection status.
- To assess different microhabitats of Aoos' catchment in terms of their ecological value for the target species.
- To assess potential pressures and threats for the species.
- To crystalize research findings into concrete conservation objectives
Camera trapping of terrestrial large mammals (brown bear, grey wolf, roe deer and wild boar)
Sampling survey for field signs of the European otter
Line transect survey for Odonata species
Result dissemination
The Vjosa/Aoos river still flows freely from the Pindus mountains in Greece, to the river mouth in Albania largely without artificial obstacles. The river stretches for 270km in total and 70km are flowing within the Greek area. Downstream of the Pigai dam in Greece (10km from the springs of Aoos), the river is near natural, representing all types of river ecosystems, including canyon sections, braided parts and meandering stretches. In Greece the protected area, that partly includes river Aoos, belongs to the Northern Pindos National Park. The existing National Park is already protecting 50kms of Aoos' river stretch, leaving nearly 20km of the river unprotected, towards the GR-AL borders (see Map 1). At the same time one of the major tributaries, Voidomatis (15km
long) is included in the existing National Park, leaving 6km of the tributary unprotected, towards the GR-ΑL borders. Another major tributary, river Sarantaporos (50km long), stretches under no protection zone, from its springs until its confluence with Aoos, right upon the GR-AL borders. Voidomatis and Sarandaporos rivers are the main tributaries of Aoos. Voidomatis meets up with Aoos in the plain of Konitsa, and Sarandaporos joins them right on the Greek-Albanian border. Through this year's biodiversity research, we aim to increase the biodiversity knowledge for the unprotected area of the Aoos river basin, in order to further support the efforts of the campaign for the expansion of the Aoos' protected area towards the GR-AL borders, in a way that will include the unprotected stretches of Aoos and its major tributaries (Voidomatis, Sarantaporos). The present study is focusing on insect species related to water (Odonata), as well as on large mammals, either directly related to the riverine ecosystems (otter) or indirectly (carnivores and ungulates).
Large mammal photos: @M. Petridou. Otter: @ I. Theodoropoulos. Odonata: N.Mpoukas


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Best One Night Stand Websites in 2021 – Find a Hookup Online
Looking to spice up your love life but without the pressure of commitments and expectations?
Are you too busy looking at celeb nudes or too shy to get out there and meet someone in person?
How about trying some adult chat options and adult dating online?
Casual dating sites are used by a large population in America. In 2020 alone, there were 44.2 million virtual daters bringing a revenue of $602m to the online dating industry.
In other words – everyone is doing it! (wink wink)
Whether you're looking to break the ice with someone or just find a quick one-night fling – here are the 14 best casual dating sites right now!
Best Hookup Sites For Online Dating – First Look
- One night stands, swingers etc – Adult Friend Finder
- More women than men – Seeking
- Best for NSA relationships – Ashley Madison
- Fun semi-serious dating – OkCupid
- Hookups & Dates For Gay Men – Grindr
- Many free features – Plenty Of Fish
- Find a one night stand with a few swipes – Tinder
- Kink focused casual dating app – Alt
- Women send the first message – Bumble
- Great for 40+ dating – eHarmony
How We Ranked the Best Hookup Sites and Apps
To help you find a good adult dating site for casual hookups, we did extensive research and looked into more than 20 dating sites using the following as benchmarks:
- Membership – Is it free to join, and do they have premium plans?
- Platform activity – How active is the site, and how easy is it to navigate through it?
- Hookup success – How easy and fast is it to get a hookup?
- Site reputation – What reputation precedes the site – is it full of genuine users or fake profiles, scammers, and bots?
- Female to male ratio – What is the gender proportion?
- User reviews – What do users have to say about the site?
Based on how each site scored against our benchmarks, we were able to come up with the best 10 casual dating sites that you can join.
Our Top 10 Casual Dating Apps & Sites
1. AdultFriendFinder – Best Hookup Site Overall
- A large user base of over 80 million users
- Plenty of ways to contact members
- Livestream and chat functions
- Profiles are well-detailed
- There have been reports of bots and fake profiles
Designed primarily for hookups between singles, couples, and swingers, Adult Friend Finder is one of the best hookup sites of all time.
The majority of users on Adult Friend Finder are men, but the ratio is not so far apart. In other words, your chances of finding a partner here are pretty high, whatever your gender.
You can sign up for free, but you can also opt for their $20 monthly premium membership, where you get access to adult content such as erotic stories, photos, and other fun activities.
The only annoying thing with AdultFriendFinder is the tons of ads that keep popping up, but for a free, quick, and easy hookup, it's worth it.
Or you know… you could just get the paid version!
2. Seeking – Hookup Site With More Women than Men
- Very high female to male ratio
- Free to join for women
- A strict member verification process
- Easy to navigate the site
- Premium membership is a bit high
Seeking is more focused on matching successful singles with younger and attractive partners who want stability in their relationships.
Given the demand for wealthy men, men seem to have the upper hand here, while women have to face stiff competition to get noticed. Luckily, women sign up for free while men have to pay a premium membership fee.
The membership base is impressively large, and as soon as your profile is approved, you can start searching profiles to get hooked up.
You don't pay a dime to chat members unless you want more customized search filter options like the option to search members based on income and net worth.
If you have a "wealthy" profile, you can be certain of finding a hookup who appeals to you real fast.
3. Ashley Madison – Best No-Strings-Attached Hookups
- Many privacy features
- Quick and easy to register
- A large pool of active members
- Has features to keep you discreet
- Quite pricey for male users
- Morally questionable
Ashley Madison is geared towards people looking for discreet hookups with no strings attached.
Unlike most dating apps, women sign up for free while men pay, hence the high female to male ratio that many other sites don't have.
The Ashley Madison user interface is pretty easy to navigate even for a first-timer, and with their large membership pool with a high activity of 15,000 logins a day, there is a high chance of you finding a low-key discreet hookup real quick.
While the service is quite pricey for male users, as soon as you sign up, you can begin searching for profiles and viewing photos of other members.
Oh, and there's a ton of privacy features, including face-blurring and emergency logouts.
4. OkCupid – Best Online Dating Site For A Serious Relationship
- Choose whether looking for hookups, dates, etc.
- Intense signup process (very detailed questions)
- Detailed profiles
- Better match suggestions
- Complaints of members' data leaking
What differentiates OKCupid from other dating apps, including Tinder and Bumble, all owned by the same parent company, is how intense the signup process is.
OkCupid gathers as much information about its members as possible to help make better match suggestions. This saves you hours of perusing through profiles just to find a match.
Unlike the other apps, you get to choose your interest, whether friendship, casual hookup, romantic relationship, or an open casual thing.
Diversify your dating life!
While it's free to browse profiles and even message members, the platform gives you an option to go premium to unlock more customization and access.
5. Grindr – Best Hookup App For Gay Men & LGBTQ+ People
- A purely gay/queer platform
- Free to contact nearby profiles
- Uses geolocation to find guys near you
- You can search for local hookups
- Hard to find a long-term connection
Grindr is so far the best app to find gay hookups. The platform has millions of male, trans, and genderqueer users who are very active all over the world.
The only challenge here? The profiles are thin, that you may not gather so much info about a person. It's also not the best place to find a serious relationship and many guys are flakey.
Still, what makes Grindr such a success is the concept of proximity. The site lets you know who is available for a hook-up near you by using your phone's location to find other LGBTQ people nearby.
Very convenient, right?
Joining is free, and you get access to free messaging, profile search, and you can explore as many profiles as possible. Good stuff!
6. Plenty of Fish – One Of The Best Online Dating Sites With Free Messaging
- Access to Live video streaming
- Free messaging
- Affordable premium plans
- There is no way to link to your socials like Spotify
Founded in 2003, Plenty of Fish (POF) claims that more than a billion messages are sent via the platform every month. For a site that is geared towards mature singles looking for companionship and hopefully love, this activity level is high.
Very high.
Though their interface is not massively user-friendly or packed with features, POF still ensures that their members can get a hookup as soon as they join through the free messaging feature and the search function.
The search function allows you to filter profiles based on proximity, age, ethnicity, body type, or even income.
To enjoy more benefits like seeing who has liked your profile, access to a list of new users, and unlocking profiles of all users, you can upgrade your account. Their plans start from $19.99 monthly, and you can choose to boost your profile from as little as $1.69.
The platform is also available on Android and iOS devices, although the desktop version seems to be the most preferred.
7. Tinder – One of the Best Hookup Apps For Casual Encounters
- Free basic app
- Easy swiping feature
- Modern, easy to use interface
- Tinder has plenty of ways to make one spend more bucks
Tinder, a location-based casual dating system, is one of the most popular hookup sites with a large user base and high activity level. It's popular for the "swipe left swipe right" feature that lets you accept and reject profiles.
Overall this is a free platform, but if you want to access some complimentary features like live video calls, unlimited likes, and unlimited rewinds, you have to pay a monthly premium fee starting from $19.99.
Not too bad, right?
Tinder has really bumped up the safety of its users by enforcing features like real-time photo verification and the ability to share a date's details. This allows their users to focus on getting hooked without worrying so much about safety.
We're always on board with hookup safety!
8. Alt.com – Best For Kink Fans
- Best for BDSM hookups
- Detailed member profiles
- Access to video chats, webcams, messages & blog
- Large
- The site tends to favor premium members
Alt is a site for lovers of all things Fifty Shades Of Grey. Even though they have members of all ages, the most active are between the ages of 25 to 35.
The platform has more than 1 million users with well-detailed profiles, and so it's fast and easy to find a hookup.
It's equally easy to join the site, and you can immediately join the chat rooms or access the live web-cams, video chats, nudes, and explicit forum topics, all at no cost.
If you want to explore your deepest desires with no judgment, Alt is the place to do it.
9. Bumble – Best NSA Dating App For Women
- Equal gender proportion
- Women make the first move
- Profiles are back
- Free to contact members
- May be frustrating for male users
- Limitations on the free app version
Bumble works completely differently from the other dating sites. Only women can initiate contact and not the other way round… men can only show interest by liking profiles. This gives women control over who they speak to.
No more unsolicited pics!
Bumble has an easy-to-use interface, and just like Tinder, you swipe profiles to show interest or dislike. Once you find a profile that you like, you can message them at no cost or use the video chat feature to engage your match before physically meeting them.
This hookup app has a clean reputation so far, with a bulk of its reviews being positive. Their customer service is also commendable as they are fast in responding. In addition, they have a large member base, making it easy to find a match.
10. eHarmony – Best Matching System For Profiles
- Lots of privacy and security features
- Intense profile building
- Video chat
- Quite pricey
eHarmony has a pretty intense onboarding process, and members provide very detailed profiles. Coupled with their excellent filtering tool and an easy-to-use interface, members are set to succeed in finding the perfect match.
Once you find a match, you will, however, have to pay to contact them. The free version doesn't offer much, and you are better off just paying the $59.90 per month for the 6 months plan.
It's one of the cheaper long-term plans for sure!
You can sign up for eharmony either from your iOS and Android devices or from your desktop, making it easier to arrange casual dates on the go if needs be.
The 4 Runner-Ups
Not all the hookup sites and apps had time to make our list, but here are 4 runner-ups that may also be worth a try!
- Zoosk – Fun dating app with games and virtual coins & gifts you can send to people
- AsianDate – Best dating app for Asian people and those who tend to like them
- Sudy – Another great "no strings attached" app for wealthy dating
- CougarLife – One of the best fling sites for cougars and those into them
Casual Dates & Hookups FAQs
Are dating apps and hookup sites safe?
Dating sites are usually safe in terms of your privacy and data – at least all the ones we have reviewed are.
But granted, there are sketchy sites out there with plenty of scammers, hackers, identity thieves, and all sorts of psychos.
With that said, it's important to select a hookup site carefully.
Find out if it vets the members, runs background checks, offers data protection, and what other safety and security measures they have in place. The more stringent the measures, the safer you are on the site.
However, even when joining a secure site, you still have to take precautions to guarantee your safety when meeting someone:
- Don't share your personal info like your financials and home address
- Always meet in a public place for the first physical contact
- Alert a friend or family member when going for a date
- Beware of fake profiles and bots
- Trust your instincts at all times
Most users on dating sites are not out to get you, but you always need to take precautions and treat people with suspicion at first.
Stay safe on these sites!
Must I pay to use a hookup site?
Well, that depends on your gender and the site that you are on.
Some sites like Seeking Arrangement only charge men and give women a free pass while the majority have a free version for all, and you only pay for advanced features like video chats, boosting profiles, among others.
Regardless of whether free or paid, you still stand a chance of getting a hookup in both versions. Although, you may have a much higher success with the paid versions.
Tinder especially.
What personal information do hookup websites require?
Every dating site will ask for specific information from you. Some are rigorous in their vetting and verification, while some are not. However, they won't require any financial info unless you are paying to upgrade your account.
To find out what the site will require, read their full disclosure on the terms and conditions section.
What Are the Best Free Hookup Sites?
Most good sites have a free version and a paid version with more robust features. You might get lucky with the free version or a free website like Reddit, but often you'll need to pay a little to see some success.
C'est la vie.
If you don't mind spending a little for easy NSA hookups, then we'd highly recommend Adult Friend Finder – it's designed purely for hooking up, so there's no pretense about what everyone's there for.
Ashley Madison is also great if you're trying to keep things on the DL.
According to Clevescene hookup sites are best for when looking for a good time rather than a committed relationship. While you can still bump into your soulmate even on Tinder, it's not a common occurrence.
Which of these hookup sites do you like? Let us know below!


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First days at school and new hat
Both girls are now going to school here in Vercors. Prune loves her new school and Maud is doing ok (she even went all day today). That leaves me lots of time to work during the day, wow.
We did the usual first-day-of-school shot, but of course miss prune can't stay still so she's all blurry… ;-)
Most boxes are starting to be sorted out, and while enjoying our new sofa my fingers were starting to itch. A couple nights ago I casted on for Quincy with leftover Merino bulky from Handpaintedyarns.com (original colorway was "cuarenta", which I overdyed with red). I fell in love with this design the first time I saw it, and am enjoying it so far, esp. as I wanted to learn icord edging for a while: just perfect ! :-)
1 Comment »
Claudia (La Casa Nella Prateria):
September 7th, 2009 @ 11:39 pmElles sont adorables!
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