Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Workers of the World Unite


Yesterday, William informed me about a socialist meeting that was going on in Sunderland, organized by the Socialist Party. As I am interested in politics, I donned my military jacket, oddly reminiscent of famous socialists- Che Guevara, Uncle Fidel, and Stalin.
We went to the pub were it was held at, upstairs to a small room where about 15 men were gathered, drinking beers, awaiting the guest speaker. Some were socialists, some wanted to be socialists, some just hated capitalism.
The guest speaker finally arrived and began to talk at length about the benefits of Socialism and the faults of Capitalism. When he was done, the moderator asked if anyone had any questions, the room felt silent. I raised the copy of 'The Socialist' in my hand, my question was about the concept of eradicating competition, which means for instance there will be no Audi competing with BMW and Mercedes, it'll just be one car, one socialist car. And due to their emphasis on equality, there would logically be only one model, one type of saloon, one type of station wagon, etc. This has to be as if there is a lot of diversity humans would add unseen value and prestige to certain shapes of cars. Socialists see competition as useless, saying that money spent on advertising (in this case of cars) could be better spent on solving the worlds problems. I stated that by stifling competition or rather, by eradicating it, the strive for innovation will be diminished, one will not be pressured to develop a faster, safer and more efficient car if there is no rival to compare with.
The speaker answered that although there is one car manufacturer there would still be a lot of innovation, this can be extended to the idea of being the smartest person in your room, there is no standard to reach, no one raises the stakes or develops revolutionary technology, all these things can be done with capitalism due to the fact that investors take risks, they take decisions that may not be popular, or may not seem logical, but the results are greatly rewarding.
William then asked about Socialism's stance on religion, the speakers reply seemed to suggest that in the 'Socialist Utopia' there'll be no need for religion.
The speaker was a Socialist Apologist, quick to denounce all governments and statements that were done in the name of Socialism. Karl Marx's qoute of religion as the 'opium of the people' was elaborated on, which just made it even worse, as Marx seemed to say 'Religion was a drug that kept the poor happy, but it was also a safe-haven for sanity', the two ideas seemed conflicting to me.
Another issue I was concerned about was 'entertainment' in a socialist world, there would be one film studio churning out movies, no rivalry between studios to produce better films, or hire better actors.
My defence of capitalism is merely by the fact that all men are not created equal (and by that I'm not refering to some are born to serve) What I mean is that no two men are the same, one is handsomer, one is physically stronger, one is more intelligent...the list goes on. Capitalism, in my opinion, grew out of these natural differences, it is from these differences that the concept of comparative advantage arises. By specializing in different areas, all traders are better off in the end. This then means if you think you can produce a good more effectively you have to show others that they will be better off buying the good from you. Socialism seems to me to be an idea by disadvantaged people to make themselves feel better by 'equalizing everyone' It comes out of a jealousy of the material benefits of diligent hard-work. Now, I'm not blindingly defending capitalism, because it does have it's faults, many in fact, noting especially that with money comes power, and that power is not always used for the betterment of humanity.
However it boils down to a lesser of two evils if you will, a movement that tries to force uniformity on humans, or a movement that celebrates the differences and enterprise of individuals. Without a doubt, I choose Capitalism!

Further Reading: George Orwell's: Nineteen Eighty-Four, it takes socialism to an extreme and logical outcome.

P.S. As the speaker spoke, the red banner of the socialist party what was spread behind him folded and fell to the floor, that seemed to me a very bad omen, symbolizing the uselessness of the concept.

Facebook Statuses on Earthquake

Jonathan David Pollock hopes he will not be woken up by any more earthquakes. One is interesting and midley exciting. two is just taking the piss.

Lara Clarke Esq. is watching sky news! 4.7 on the richter scale in lincoln! aaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Iyke Mbam The LORD is my SHEPHERD.....'SOS'.

Jessica Alice Floyd TOLD YOU THAT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!

Angie Telford is loving all this earthquake scandal!! FRIDAZZLE!!!

Rob Davies is wonderin why his bedroom floor is shakin :(.

TallyWacker Eyal is an earthquake survivor!

Omo Naira is sayin dat earthquake wasnt easy oo

EARTHQUAKE IN SUNDERLAND

Apparently there was an Earthquake, or a Tremor of some kind in Sunderland (in fact all over England)...unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I missed it, Panns Bank didn't shake one bit, maybe due to it's construction or the tremor didn't just spread as far as the River.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Beach Therapy

It's not everyday that you feel on top of the world. I felt really down today, not depressed, just not very happy. There was only one remedy- Photography!
I grabbed 'Sophie'(my camera) and a couple of filters, and walked down to the beach. The sight of the beach just lifts up the soul. I spent 2 hours taking pictures, these were some of the results:






Sunday, February 24, 2008

Gotta love wikipedia

I was reading about Raplh Nader's decision to run for the Presidency of the USA, so I decided to wikipedia him, to learn more about this man.
Entered his name on wikipedia, and this was what I found:
(click for a larger picture)


Someone obviously doesn't like Mr. Nader

Friday, February 22, 2008

Rambo or How one man killed an entire army


Sylvester Stallone is back, after an impressive return to the screen with Rocky Balboa, expectations were high for his follow-up role- Don't be afraid- Rambo delivers the Goods. We last saw John Rambo 20 years ago (Yes! 1988- I wasn't even born when Rambo III was released), In 1988 Rambo was fighting in the Afghan desert, In 2008, he's still fighting, this time in the jungles of Burma.
A 61 year old Sylvester Stallone, wrote, produced and directed this new movie, known simply as Rambo.
This movie is not for the faint hearted, if you are easily upset by gore, blod, violence, shooting, bombs, loud noises or cheesy lines like: Live for nothing or Die for something, then this movie is not for you. I mean with a tagline that reads: Heroes Never Die...They Just Reload, you are not expecting Oscar performances, you are expecting Vietnam Vet John Rambo to kill all the bad guys with as little effort as possible, sustaining only minor injuries (usually to the arm or shoulder)
As soon as the movie starts the action starts, we are greeted with actual footage from the humanitarian crisis in Burma, then we see Burmese soldiers gratuitously killing off poor villagers in paddy fields.
The plot is easy to explain, a group of Christian missionaries go to help the Burmese people, they get captured by the Burmese army, Rambo and a bunch of mercenaries (yes Rambo is a bit old so he can't do it all by himself) come and save the day.
As I said before, this movie is gory, we see children being shot at close range, women being raped, heads impaled on sticks, flies buzzing over rotten corpses. Forget about the first three Rambo films, this one is the most realistic, and it brings the crisis in Burma to contemporary audiences in an unconventional manner.
The characters are polarized in this movie, Rambo is presented as a good guy, giving fish to monks, helping people cross the river in his boat, while the Burmese soldiers are total maniacs, amoral, wild, almost demonic. The people that need saving are of course- "Good Christian Missionaries"...who also happen to be annoyingly naive. Enter Rambo, we see him pull out a man's adams apple, blow up half of the Burmese jungle, disembowel the leader, and kill off most of the Burmese army armed with a 50 calibre machine gun! Rambo's dialogue, as usual is minimal, consisting mainly of, "Go Home".."Go Home".."Let's Go".."Go!"...but that's what we like about him, he doesn't talk the talk, but he damn sure shoots the shots!...with a body count numbering in the hundreds (most of them dying in the hands of Rambo) this movie, brings you a 'realistic' portrayal of war..assuming Rambo is indestructible.
The moral of the story is:

"You can run, you can hide, But, Rambo will Kill you!"

Thursday, February 21, 2008

African Lie Detector



I saw this and just started laughing.....it's more effective than it's electronic counterpart

Monday, February 18, 2008

Rest In Peace Ahmed Yakubu



God himself took a day to rest in, and a good man's grave is his Sabbath. ~John Donne

A friend from high school passed away peacefully in his sleep last night, no parent should ever have to bury their child. It was only on Saturday that he messaged me on Facebook, only to receive a call from my brother that he had died last night.
May he rest in perfect peace.

Friday, February 15, 2008

You have got to be kidding me

An elephant in Sydney Zoo named 'Thong Zee' is five months pregnant.
Animal Rights folks aren't pleased, Why? because the elephant is nine-years-old. Animal Rights folks are saying that allowing a nine-year-old elephant to get pregnant is like allowing a 12 year old human to take in. Wow!! Hold on just a minute there, I thought these were animals, I didn't know animals operate a structured society, I doubt the bull that mated 'Thong Zee' was thinking "Oh My, this girl is too young, why are they making me do this?"...and I also don't think Thong Zee was like "I'm too young for this!! Somebody help" I'm not an expert on animal reproduction, but I always thought that when an animal becomes sexually mature then it can take in. The reason why we dont let our 12 year old girls to get pregnant is largely for psychological reasons (and also physiological reasons, as their pelvic bones and reproductive organs haven't been fully developed)
They way this is going we are gonna be charging dogs with rape soon!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Nigeria Dreamin' Part I



Evi Edna Ogholi- Look Before You Cross

I haven't heard this song in over 10 years, oh it brings back fond childhood memories. It reminds me of waking up on Saturdays, smelling omelettes frying in the kitchen, Bournvita or Milo, Belle Hollandaise condensed milk, which used to consumed in unhealthy volumes, much to the discouragement of my dad.
Being a child was fun, things were easy, and simple. No responsibilites, you were supposed to be courteous to your elders, finish up your food, sleep on time, and that was about it. It is when you reach the ages of 10, 11, 12 that responsibility comes in, you become more accountable for the tidyness of your room, you are chastised for not waking up on time, if you have younger ones, their wellbeing is your responsibilty, to the extent that sometimes you are more conscious of the sibling than they are of themselves.
Tidyness was always a major issue in our house, me and my older brother shared a room, and we subscribed to the maxim: "Tidy-up only when absolutely necessary"...My dad, being a Virgo, is obsessively tidy, and his phrase was "Tidyness is next to Godliness", so it was his job to make his little imps spotless, a task he found to be very...tasking. Of course, there were countless times when my brother and I decided, independently, to clean up our room when we woke up in the morning, however, my dad would constantly beat us to the alarm, we would then be shouted out of bed, and spend the morning sweeping and picking up litter, with tears streaming down our cheeks!
Dinner time, or food for that matter, another big deal in our household. You see, I had, and still have an enormous apetite, to the delight of both parents, and the annoyance of my siblings, as I would usually get a bigger share of the food.
Upon seeing the pile of rice in my plate, they would sometimes lodge complaints, knowing full well that they couldn't dispatch that plate if it was given to them.
My dad used to come back from work after we had eaten dinner, so if anyone was still hungry, the best thing to do was hang around him as he ate, and give out signals that you could do with some more food. These signals usually were subtle: long stares at his plate, while making sure he observed you observing his plate. If that didn't work, there was the more desperate method, this was done by rubbing your belly coupled with a misrable look on the face, this would lead to my Dad asking the question: Are you alright?...leading you to reply: No! the key was not to sound too forceful, make sure all the questions were asked by him. After you reply No, he would then ask: "what's wrong?"...then you reply slowly, but firmly: "I'm hungry"...this method won you sympathy points, and some rice and meat.
However, if that method did not work, desperate measures were called for, this would usually involve standing very close to him as he ate, forcing him to ask: "What do you want?"...without hesitation, you replied: "Food!"..or if you wanted to be polite, you could answer: "Are you going to finish that?"...this method was crude, and did not get you sympathy points, and it only got you rice, but no meat.
Speaking of meat, I remember as a child acknowledging the paradox: My dad used to tell us to eat our food, because we needed to grow, have muscles, become tall etc. However, when it came to quantities of meat, he always got more. This was odd, as surely he had peaked in development, and the folks who by his own admission, needed the food, were getting far less that he did. I guess I accepted it as one of the complexities of society.
Sundays, oh yes. Sunny days. Everyone woke up early for church. I remember running to my parents room to get my shoes tied, or my buttons buttoned (it's amazing how helpless a five year old still is) the room smelled of after shave and talcum powder. We were always in a rush on Sundays, no one wanted to get to church late.
Honestly, as child, church could be very very boring, sitting there as a robed man spoke for what seemed like an eternity, as you looked around, your parents and others nodded in agreement, while you had a puzzled look on your face, wondering what was so good about this 'church thing' that people got dressed and came out in droves.
One way of not going to church was to feign illness, an illness that suddenly hit you in the morning! Another way we as kids thought would get us off church was to pretend to have lost our Bibles, we figured that by misplacing the key ingredient of churchgoing we would be exempt from participation...how wrong were we? As my dad kept a stash of extra bibles for such occasions! We were tossed a bible and bundled to church.

Obligatory Birthday Wishes


Yes Yes, my younger sister Laura is turning 18 today, February 11, a historic day, in 1990 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, was freed after 27 years in prison..in 1929, the Vatican City came to be..and 2 years ago US Vice President Dick Cheney shot his friend in the face while hunting quail.
But all these other events are pale in comparison to the coming of age of my dear sister. 18. A great age, the age of adulthood, you can vote in most countries, you can legally get married (although in Afghanistan you could get married 4 years ago), you could join the armed forces..many responsibilities come with reaching 18.

So Laura, I wish you a pleasant fun-filled day, eat and be merry. You are slowly shedding the skin of adolescence; the BIG 20 is on the way!

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Super Sunday or The Benefit of Proximity


Tomorrow is D-Day, well for two reasons. It's the end of our season (we play Durham University) and it is the African Nations Cup Final. Unfortunately a lot has happened between my last post on The Nations Cup and Now...my fall-back nation: Ghana was beaten by our Francophone friends: Cameroon, and our other French Speaking pals: Cote d'Ivoire were humiliated by Egyptians...humiliated!! The Elephants were hunted and dismembered by the ruthless Pharoahs.
My Dad has commented on my seemingly ever changing alliance, something I was proud of, till Ghana went and fumbled against Cameroon.
My allegiance works in steps:
1-Blood
2-Cultural proximity to Nigeria
3-Geographical proximity to Nigeria
4-Colour and style of Jersey

So, me being Nigerian, I started off with the first step: Blood. I have Nigerian blood, so I supported them..Nigeria then faced Ghana, the latter has also supplied me with red blood cells...so I was open to all results. Ghana happened to win, I was still on Step 1.
Ghana then faced Cameroon (I had said that if Cameroon won, I will support Ivory Coast, this seems like a violation of the steps, as Cameroon is both culturally and geographically closer to Nigeria, however the rivalry between the two nations is intense, so I have to go with the next best: Ivory Coast)
In a twist of fate, my Co-Homeland Ghana lost, and my back-up homeland Ivory Coast were as earlier indicated: kicked out in an embarrasing fashion.
The final is now between Cameroon and Egypt. Now you might say I should support Eygpt, being that Nigeria and Cameroon are great rivals, so I should wish harm on the enemy, however, the strength of Steps 2 & 3 are enough to erode the rivalry, also taking into account how bad Egypt fares in terms of Cultural and Geographical proximity.
So there you have it, I will be supporting the Indomitable Lions come Sunday, I hope they bring pain to the Pharoahs, the same way Moses did a couple thousand years back.


P.S. If I was from Bakassi, all this would be much easier

Le Cold

Yes, the forces of the "Common Cold" also frightenly known as: Acute viral nasopharyngitis, or acute coryza have caught up with me. The virus struck me down on Tuesday night...It's amazing how some microscopic bastards can bring so much discomfort to humans..I lay in bed all day, breathing through my mouth, stuffy nosed, weak, with a fever, inability to sleep...all around general bad day.
The next day I decided to tackle the virus by the...helix..or whatever body parts viruses have.
Stage one was to get the necessary medicines:
Common cold capsules and Vicks Inhalers
Stage 2 was to get the necessary alternative medicines:
Lime & Lemon
Stage 3 was to add more vitamins to my high carb diet
Canned fruits- yay. The Government recommends 5 fruits a day...lets just say I fall way off the mark..but don't get me wrong, fruit features prominently in my daily activities...my shower gel smells of pomegranate and raspberry...my chicken marinade has lemon in it...there's peppers and chillies in my pasta sauce (I figure peppers are fruits right?...) but No, I don't subscribe to the five 'discernable' pieces of fruits a day, because frankly, it's boring...
But hey, I had a cold, and these things called fruits have vitamins, and your body cannot create enough vitamins by itself...so I decided to supplement by diet with: VITAMINS!
So yes, for the past 2 days, there's being a whole lotta fruit eating, capsule swallowing and inhaler inhaling...hopefully by weeks start I should be back to full health.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Monday, February 04, 2008

Super Sunday or The Benefit of Duality


We had a game on Sunday, against the University of Hull. Nigeria had a game on Sunday, against Ghana, finally, the Superbowl (akin to FA finals) was taking place that evening. 3 big events in one day.
My alliances were as follows:
As for our game against Hull, we had to win, it's my team, I play on it, and winning makes me feel better.

As for the Nigeria vs Ghana game, WE had to win, and when I say WE, I use it liberally, I have been blessed with having Nigerian and Ghanaian blood flowing through mmy arteries. So my allegiance was with both teams, I will cheer when Ghana scores, and I will also cheer when Nigeria scores, I like to call it 'National Selection'...I actually missed the game, because I was on a three hour trip from Hull to Sunderland, so William (Obubo) had to keep me updated.
I returned to hear that Ghana had been victorious, The Super Eagles had been blinded and felled by the Shining Black Star. I was pleased, I went over to a Nigerian friends house to gloat at the 'Mediocre Eagles' the supposed Number 1 team in Africa. She was horrified to find out I had Ghanaian blood! I couldn't have been much prouder.
Now all Ghana has to do is win the cup....or else, I'll have to start investigating any possible links to Ivory Coast.

The Superbowl was amazing...The New England Patriots vs The New York Giants...I supported the Giants..and occasionally the Patriots, but mostly the Giants, and the Giants won, so I had a good night sleep!

This week would be spent laughing at my Nigerian brethren, and getting in touch with my Ghanaian roots. Akwaaba!!!!

Saturday, February 02, 2008

It's Official

From now on I will not be blogging as a way of putting my mind off uni work, blogging WILL be uni work. See, I'm doing a module about Weblogs, and one of the assessment fields is that we have to write and maintain a blog. Now many people will just be starting blogs, but I've had this for over a year, and I don't intend to stop. When I think about the future I smile, knowing that in about 15 years, my children will be able to go online and read their father's thoughts when he was a teenager, I have no idea what the implications would be, as far as raising my children. The internet has revolutionalized the world, it is not surprising that parent-child relationships are bound to change, when children can google their parents and see them in not-so-flattering situations....I'll wait and see, I'll wait and see