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185 Comments
- T8erT0T, on 10/05/2009, -2/+295It takes a child to raise a village.
- mrMunchies, on 10/05/2009, -0/+180That is a great story about making use of what you have available, way to take advantage of your surroundings
- directedition, on 10/05/2009, -0/+172Heard about this guy on NPR. He built the windmill out of random things around him. He built a radio using a heated nail for soldering, built rubber switches by taking apart a pair of sandals, etc etc. He did it all from reading books from the local underfunded library. He was taken to TED, and while there he was introduced to the internet. I can't imagine that would be like.
- sotose, on 10/05/2009, -3/+136"Now I have the village by the balls.Soon they will regret kicking me out of school.
MUHAHAHAHAHA" - the2989, on 10/05/2009, -2/+115I hereby dub him, Wind Master William Kamkwamba. This story is bad ass, it almost makes me want to build a cheap windmill in my backyard because it's always windy where I live.
- AbadH, on 10/05/2009, -0/+99I nominate him for village genius.
- mattyz0r, on 10/05/2009, -0/+76His talks on TED
http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_how_i_h ...
http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_on_buil ... - thorspower, on 10/05/2009, -12/+86Hopefully Africa will stop with the thought that someone is bewitched when they are doing something that is of not the norm. This kid should be considered lucky they did not go after him with fundamentalist ideas and kill him for being extravagant.
- Jaime2000, on 10/05/2009, -3/+74"HOLY *****, YOU MEAN I CAN GET ALL THE PORN I WANT WHENEVER I WANT?!"
- monkeysama, on 10/05/2009, -5/+68Unlike our civilized country, which only voted 46% to put a witch-believer a heartbeat away from the presidency. Stupid Africa.
- spunalot, on 10/05/2009, -3/+66Wait till he starts raising utility rates , then see how much everyone loves him.
- Frostek, on 10/05/2009, -1/+53The worst thing about reading his story was that everyone else just stood around pointing fingers and making fun of him whilst he was working away to make their lives better.
I hope he gets some apprentices and starts teaching them how to make windmills too. - MacHarborGuy, on 10/05/2009, -2/+47"kick me outta school will they! I'll teach them, yeah, that's what I'll do. I'LL POWER THE WHOLE VILLAGE!"
- Chromatik, on 10/05/2009, -1/+39Dugg for best comment I've seen today...
- jamdogg, on 10/05/2009, -1/+38bury the troll - that is the answer
- anaxa, on 10/05/2009, -1/+37***** THE HOAA!
- bizzywho, on 10/05/2009, -4/+39It's such a shame that such dexterous and resourceful minds don't have the same opportunities as the kids in America do. Instead, we care more about watching the next episode of The Hills.
I really hope someone with enough money and a charitable heart allows him to come to America to attend college. I bet he could become a good engineer. - thesmallone29, on 10/05/2009, -1/+35dugg for quality and interest and something that isnt about lolcats, xkcd or another monotonous article posted on digg.
- k3rfuffl3, on 10/05/2009, -1/+33For me, it's the neighborhood home owner's association.
- the2989, on 10/05/2009, -6/+35To feed the troll or not to feed the troll? That is the question.
- Yazilliclick, on 10/05/2009, -0/+29I think they were just reported on. Apparently his entire village was willing to sit around moaning about the problems while starving and even make fun of one person who was actually putting in effort to improve things.
- the2989, on 10/05/2009, -3/+31That sounds like a horrible idea.
- TomKarpik, on 10/05/2009, -0/+26Or he could become fat and unmotivated, once he realizes the potential for a life of excess and laziness in America.
- L0NER, on 10/05/2009, -1/+27One in every village.
- targetloop, on 10/05/2009, -1/+26What is stopping you?
- MrSparkle666, on 10/06/2009, -0/+25I can really sympathize with this guy in the way people thought he was "crazy," for just trying to apply his technical and scientific curiosity. It's pretty disturbing this still even happens in the US.
I used to go into the radio shack in my small town in Florida to buy a bunch of random electronic components for various projects I was building. People would look at me like I was completely insane... COMPLETELY INSANE!
They would always ask me stupid questions like, "Are you building a bomb?" I would tell them I was building an amplifier or whatever I was working on at the time, and they would always respond, "Can't you just buy that at the store?" And I would have to explain that, "Yes, I could buy X at the store, but I LEARN a whole lot more by building it myself. Don't you enjoy learning new things?" I would get complete shock and silence. Then, I would always counter by asking them why they sell the components if they don't expect people to buy them? They would tell me that they just stock them "because they have to," and "nobody ever buys any of them," Then they would continue to eye me suspiciously until I left the store.
I have literally had nearly this exact conversation multiple times at several different radio shack locations. It always made me feel really uncomfortable walking into radio shack, like I was buying drugs or something. I wouldn't have been surprised if they reported me to some sort of "terrorism hot-line" or whatever. It was so bad that I started lying and telling them my dad was an electronics engineer, and the parts were for him.
Now that I live in Oregon, for some reason I don't have the same problem. Florida is a terrible place. - pault107, on 10/05/2009, -0/+24Hey, this guy did something pretty amazing and you're putting a negative spin on it? | know where you're coming from, it is sad, but these kind of deeds are what are needed to move their society forward.
- the2989, on 10/05/2009, -3/+24I'm not gonna undigg this story just because of that. What matters is that we got the story.
- inactive, on 10/05/2009, -2/+23Watch this until the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTLO2F_ERY&fea ...
http://greencarnews.com - Blablah01, on 10/05/2009, -0/+20I like how he says he has never seen an internet.
- Frostek, on 10/05/2009, -2/+22True, it's a dupe, but no one was getting to see the story if it wasn't reaching front page.
More than likely a barely amusing picture of a cat kept beating him each time... :-( - hereticoftruth, on 10/05/2009, -0/+20Yup. You should try to be more like him. That is the point. His caring about others was his motivation.
- froggger, on 10/05/2009, -0/+20Digg Comment of the Year?
- TomKarpik, on 10/05/2009, -0/+19@Yaz: Yeah, and it's that kind of mentality in their society that pretty much guarantees these African villages hundreds more years of poverty, disease, and conflict. Unfortunate.
With proper education, think about how many more engineers, doctors, etc. there might be in the world. The population there is almost completely untapped for its intelligence potential. :-( - rheaume, on 10/05/2009, -2/+21Feed the troll, with a dick
- jts10, on 10/05/2009, -1/+20http://www.un.org/works/i/CLI_WilliamsWindmill.jpg
http://movingwindmills.org/wp-content/uploads/2009 ... - sinf0rlife, on 10/05/2009, -0/+17"Kamkwamba is part of a generation of Africans who are not waiting for their governments or aid groups to come to their rescue, according to the author."
That's what we need to start seeing more of - Suricou, on 10/05/2009, -1/+18Probably because for every genius engineer boy who makes a working and useable windmill there are a hundred crackpots and failures. They just don't get reported on.
- slippeh, on 10/05/2009, -2/+19Out of every positive reaction to get from this story.. you post this negative *****?
- majormajor42, on 10/05/2009, -0/+16hooray for the local library!
- majormajor42, on 10/05/2009, -0/+15sadly, even though we don't accuse people of being bewitched, from what I remember from my adolescence, if a kid in junior high was doing this, he would sort of be outcast by many of the other kids in school in a purely American way. Jocks vs. Geeks type stuff and so on. So even we have inventive ways from making life miserable for kids that do things not of the norm, some of which result in violence as well. He is lucky alright.
- lioozher, on 10/05/2009, -1/+16"During a recent trip to Palm Springs, California, he saw a real windmill for the first time -- lofty and majestic -- a far cry from the wobbly, wooden structures that spin in his backyard."
If there's anything worse than some of his neighbors being ignorant, it's this sentence by the author of this article. Kamkwanda's f*cking windmills are real, and in my opinion are much more lofty and majestic than ones put up by some corporation in Palm Springs. Kamkwanda reminds me of that movie "Mosquito Coast" only without the hubris. - inactive, on 10/05/2009, -2/+17who watches the hills?
- diemunkiesdie, on 10/05/2009, -2/+15Those never made the front page, and I've never seen anything that has been submitted over 2 days ago make it to the front-page. If the 2 day mark hits and your story does not have enough diggs, it will never see the front-page, even if it starts getting diggs now. The point is that when a story has lost the potential to reach the front page, there is no shame in re-submitting it.
- Strenoth, on 10/05/2009, -1/+14/s
because there are idiots on here, I added the tag for you... - Sexercise, on 10/06/2009, -1/+14I'd like to see anyone on Digg think of building some friggin device that makes power, having NEVER seen or heard about them before.
I'm ***** impressed.
That's all I can say. Also, dugg for links. - mogdor, on 10/06/2009, -0/+12I sense an upcoming Will Smith movie...
- shoyurx, on 10/05/2009, -1/+13-Professor Chaos
- marciot, on 10/06/2009, -0/+12That's nothing. Try buying an Erlenmeyer flask. The DEA will be at your doorstop in a flash.
- damnshoes, on 10/05/2009, -0/+12junkyard wars!
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