East Africa roundup

• A new Obama book. From DPA:

  US President Barack Obama's half-brother, George Obama, is working on a book to be published by Simon & Schuster, the US publishing giant said in a statement Monday. George Obama, 27, is the youngest of the seven children born to Obama's father in Kenya and was recently arrested there for marijuana possession. The two Obamas have different mothers and never met until Obama visited Kenya in 1987.

• From the Daily Mail, the perils of Kenyan beaches:

  An hour later, the head of department arrived. By this time, I'd had to turn the light out in the room as I was in so much pain. I'd had no sleep for three days and was in no state to meet the most devastatingly handsome doctor I had ever seen, but there he was. I was swooning with pain, but I swooned some more.

• Maybe I'm getting jaded, but this strikes me as an example of 'couldn't we think of something better to send?'. From the Wausau Daily Herald in Wisconsin:

  A Wausau West High School teacher this summer wants to make graduation a little more special for students on the other side of the globe. Choral director Phil Buch has asked local graduates to donate their commencement gowns so that students in Ethiopia may wear them. Buch has collected 30 gowns since June 1, with a goal of 75.

Or maybe I'm just concerned that this kind of behavior would cut down on the stock of second-hand gowns in local thrift stores, making it harder for people like me to construct a 'zombie William Rehnquist' Halloween costume.