Positive Feedback

Engineers are one of the best people to have around or even sit around. Why? engineers offer solutions, and do not have empty words, despite been simple. Dressed simply in jeans and t-shirts, engineers will solve your problems without lots of bureaucracy , like management.

Well, I discovered this recently when I was sitted in a roomful of communication engineers at the just concluded Africa Interconnection and Peering Forum. In a rare opportunity given to me to voice some opinion, they handed me a microphone, but when I tried speaking, the sound system responded with a high pitch whistle. Several attempts resulted in the same high pitched whistle. The engineers told me to move a few metres and the whistles dissapeared.

Demons! That would be the response of a priest, if he chose not to blame the devil for the same happening in a church, and which it more often than not happens. Well, the priests will be saddened to learn the devil is usually busy elsewhere, probably attending bendover sessions (don't ask me what these are, ask your pal who has earned enough frequent club-bing points) somewhere in the world.

Positive Feedback, is the answer to this natural phenomenon as the engineers will tell you. To those who were busy day dreaming of perfect dates in your physics lesson, positive feedback occurs when the microphone is held close to a speaker. The speaker has an inaudible high pitch which the microphone captures, sends to the amplifier, gets amplified and send back to the speaker higher than it was. This continues and the resultant high pitch occurs as long as the microphone is held at this point. To sort this out, you have to maintain a minimum distance from offending speakers.

For you to know but not necessarily remember, positive feedback is also responsible for clotting of blood, collapse of a bridge and nuclear explosions.

Have a day filled with positive feedback.

Comments

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here . Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one. I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs, I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every hangover you get

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County. What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket? Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch. 12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers. However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi. The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station. They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of free fries. Their brisket has

Kenyan products: The art of punishing your consumer

This post was written in 2011. Facts may have and indeed have changed - but the conclusion has not. Dormans instant coffee tastes better than Sasini instant coffee. Ramtons electronics are manufactured for Kenya's Hypermart Limited, yet maintain a high product quality Peanut butter used to taste so good, but you could not afford it on the pocket money that you got back in school. A few years later, you have your first real job and your first "disposable" income. You buy your first real tub of peanut butter, probably the first in your life. You feel proud that Dominion peanut butter is manufactured in Ruiru, a town that you visited in your campus days to withdraw your pocket money, it was the nearest bank ATM to your campus. This was before Equity bank became a mainstream bank and decided to open an ATM in your campus, and before M-Pesa meant that you

Kenya Power customers suffer from Ksh 0.5 billion faulty prepaid meters

1st Phase Actaris prepaid meters , which work well Kenya Power is a famous company in Kenya, one which draws what my colleagues in media will call "mixed reactions". While those in urban areas such as Nairobi regard Kenya Power as a very unreliable firm, I have heard of villages in rural areas where blackouts go unreported for even 3 days . To the rural people, recent electrification means that at least they get to get electricity for some days, which is better than no electricity. In urban areas, the story is not any different. Around Imara Daima along Mombasa Road, power is mostly reliable, with blackouts been few in a week, and even at times been less than 10 in a month. In other places in the city, blackouts are a daily occurrence, and in some places, the blackouts are more than meals, counting two teas , breakfast, lunch and dinner. Another aspect about Kenya Power is the prepaid meters, which like the firm, are equally loved and hated. Ever since I became prou

Why Nairobi doesn't need Syokimaus

Delhi's Bus Rapid Transit system showing bus lanes against traffic in other lanes (image: http://blog.propertynice.com ) On 13th November, 2012, Kenya opened its first railway station, as we get to celebrate 49 years since Independence. In a move hailed by many far and wide, Kenya also announced that it had finally broken the curse and built a two kilometre track to the newly opened Syokimau. It is said that this is the first time the railway had seen any action in more than 50 years. To some, this was the equivalent of Kenya putting a man on the moon. It would bring lots of pride to millions of Kenya, just as the hundreds of millions of Indians see their chest swell with pride when their country launches a rocket into space, or successfully does a nuclear bomb test. I even saw a few Ugandans, where the presidential motorcade is said to occasionally tag along a Howitzer (Google images), wonder where their country got left off in such remarkable feats. H

Dennis Kioko

Search This Blog