GhanaBlogging.com » August 11, 2009

Like a naughty girl pulling her skirt up in public: C.P.C. - Cool Planetary Collision

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:52:00 -0400

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_W0HasRHUmOU/SoHobNtuu5I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/Jp76T9WN60E/s1600-h/space+impact.jpg"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 249px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_W0HasRHUmOU/SoHobNtuu5I/AAAAAAAAAcQ/Jp76T9WN60E/s400/space+impact.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368827785037921170" //aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"There was an article on the BBC website about 2 planets that collided into each other some couple thousand years ago. Cool stuff. Apparently, the same thing happened to the Earth at some point in its history - /span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"that's/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;" how the Moon was created./span/spandivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Its a great article, good for light, non-stressful reading. Enjoy it /span/spana href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8195467.stm"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"here/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 13px;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 13px;"Love,/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 13px;"Chrys/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms'; font-size: 13px;"xoxo/span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5520998225063967110-2664553557538178349?l=oranabutterfly.blogspot.com'//div

Oluniyi David Ajao: Maker Faire Africa (MFA) 2009

Oluniyi David Ajao — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:37:37 -0400

There is a technology-related event coming-up in Accra Ghana this weekend. Find excerpts below from makerfaireafrica.com Maker Faire Africa (MFA), a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and...

Why so serious? Blogs of a MIghTy African: I'm on TV! MIghTy African Music Video Program - Featuring VIP TuFace's 'My love'

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:37:00 -0400

Most of you loved the first episode of the MIghTy African Music Video Program (MAMVP). Well guess what, thanks to Melanie Reynard, we have a second episode. This time we talked about a Ghana-Nigeria collabo between VIP and TuFace Idibia called 'a href="http://museke.com/node/96"My love/a'. This feature is for a TV program on KMTP TV (a non-profit public TV station in Palo Alto) The MAMVP will feature me talking about various African music videos, the artistes behind them, discussing the song and music, etc. All these videos are by Phamous People. The very first feature was on VIP's a href="http://mightyafrican.blogspot.com/2009/07/mighty-african-music-video-program.html"Manenko/a. You can see the video for this second webisode/episode belowbr /br /http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pP4IStiBZgbr /br /object width="560" height="340"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9pP4IStiBZghl=enfs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramparam name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9pP4IStiBZghl=enfs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"/embed/objectbr /br /The opening music was by Jonathan Ford and the video was edited by Melanie Reynard. I think this video is funnier than the last one though it's shorter. Melanie advises that people's attention spans are too short to do longer videos. So if you are reading this and you want to sponsor an awesome promotion of African music, contact the good folks at KMTP.TV through (info at kmtp dot tv) and let's get some more face time. Because you know Melanie and I 'do the best'. As you can see, I was wearing the same shirt as the one I wore for the Manenko episode. It's only because I love the shirt very much, but also because both episodes were short in one day. I am not trying to get all Nollywood up in here, but it didn't take long to film these. After getting these two in, the upcoming shoots should be easier. I am prepping for my Hollywood debut with my 'camera comfortability'. br /br /I love the 'My love' song a bit more than Manenko because it's a great song and it features one of my fave singers, 2Face Idibia. I talked about the Promzy rap verse where he remixed Ghana's national pledge as a pledge to her lover. "I promise on my honour to be faithful and loyal; To my baby girl, the best in the whole world; I pledge myself to her service; With all my heart, and strength and soul (oh oh); I promise to hold in my high esteem; The love she has for me through all this hustling and jostling; And I promise to defend the good girl my wifey wifey; So help me God". How cute is that? I couldn't recite the pledge when I thought of it. I just tried to use Promzy's verse to recite it, and I still couldn't do it. Shame.br /br /The other interesting part about the video was the Pidgin portion. Hearing Melanie say 'I dey go' was madd cute and hilarious. It became her favorite expression afterwards when we were going home. Pidgin English is awesome. The deal with it is to communicate in 'English' but in fewer words. Most people know Pidgin English as a Nigerian thing, but it has its forms in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cameroun, etc. And we spoke Pidgin in high school not because we couldn't speak proper English but because we used it as a buddy (coded) language. More and more Ghanaian musicians are singing in Pidgin now too.br /br /I also talked about the collaboration between Nigerian and Ghanaian musicians, the emergence of 2Face Idibia, etc. The 'My Love' video was shot in Ghana by Phamous People, who so kindly provided a high quality video for this program. If you have access to your favorite African music video producer and you want to publicize their work, leave a comment or get in touch. The MAMVP serves to promote African music and educate viewers about the songs, videos, music, artistes, culture, etc. After taking on the pronunciation of "Twi" and teaching Pidgin, one may ask, what's next? I don't know either and that's why you should watch out for the next episode and find out. "I dey go"div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4957153574047966177-7128979820058106881?l=mightyafrican.blogspot.com'//div

Sarpong Obed-ready to chew: Majority Pomposity, Self-righteousness and Us

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:48:00 -0400

"The majority never has right on its side....That is one of the lies that a free, thinking man is bound to rebel against. Who makes up the majority in any given country? Is it the wise men or the fools? I think we must agree that the fools are in a [terrible] overwhelming majority, all the wide world over. But, damn it, it can surely never be right that the [stupid] should rule over the world." Henrik Ibsen made that comment back in the 1820's or so and I found myself carrying around these letters in my bag, occasionally bringing it out to have a real look at it.br /br /Most of us living in African seem to be fascinated with the idea that the majority is always right. I've so often wondered as to whether this statement was ever true in its sense; then, a friend argued about how people make so much noise on the social networking site, Facebook. He had quit visiting the site because he thought he was in the class of the few who aren't the fools. Not to say that visitors to those sites are fools, but in the light of the majority, which he isn't or rejects to be part of.br /br /Then it occurred to me that this friend had just echoed another famous phrase that has to do with "following the crowd." It raises the question: Which people follow the crowd? Is it the fools or the wise? Words of another man resonated through my mind as to why there was no need to the join the majority, that the majority already has enough [fools] to do their bidding.br /br /It is daily occurrence to find the majority making the loud noise. They most often rely on their huge number to bulldoze their way through the mud which they have created. That is so typically true of the parliament in Ghana and by extension that of Africa. The Kuffuor administration was notorious for those majority move style of parliament. As a result, the minority had had to walk out of the House on several counts. A similar thing has been attempted by the current parliament already and I'm sick of it.br /Someway somehow the current MPs forming the majority is deceived into thinking that they should be in the lead; thus, the knowledge must reside in them, and perhaps them alone. A sad situation if we don't change those attitudes. To forestall such majority bullying, other parliaments or congresses have devised means of blocking such moves. The fillibusters of the U.S. is well-known. But as always, Africa copies and plays the catch-up to rescue its process from drowning.br /br /We are a people who are unwilling to delegate the little power we have. Therefore, it is common place to find--if you visit an office and you did not meet the boss--no one is around to discharge similar duties of behalf of that director or manager. It has creeped into our system. So without the minister, the director, manager, accountant and many others like that, the customer has to wait. I have experienced this before and it is so inconvenient. This is part of the root of our problems with the majority self-righteousness. br /This is because so often the the majority has been closely linked with wielding the BIG whip and the power.br /We must look at our systems over and over again for experience can never be wrong. And as Ibsen has shown, the wise are the few and the majority [never] has the right on its sidediv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/35292211-5556359896865256815?l=sarpongobed.blogspot.com' alt='' //div

Circumspect: Opinion: Sir Ken Robinson -"Schools Kill Creativity"

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:32:00 -0400

a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://wheelontheweb.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/creativity.jpg?w=300amp;h=225"img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 224px;" src="http://wheelontheweb.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/creativity.jpg?w=300amp;h=225" border="0" alt="" //aMy dad sent me this TED video a couple of weeks back, and I only got a chance to watch it last night. Like all the TED series, I learned something new. Additionally, the presenter, Sir Ken Robinson makes his piece on education very light-hearted, funny, yet to the point. If you don't learn anything at all from this video, you will definitely be awed by this man's ability to bring humor to something as serious as accusing schools of killing creativity. divbr //divdivHe notes that education is important because it is what will essentially take us into the "future we can't grasp." He states, "if you think about it, children starting school this year (2007), will be retiring in the year 2065." His point being, we're educating children for the future, yet we can't even determine what will happen in the world in 5 years. At the bottomline, he contends that "creativity is as important as literacy and we should treat it with the same status." Here's the video./divdivbr /object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iG9CE55wbtYamp;hl=enamp;fs=1amp;"param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iG9CE55wbtYamp;hl=enamp;fs=1amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/objectbr //divdivbr //divdivI couldn't agree more. The notion of 'formal education' has certainly done humankind a lot of good. Unfortunately, it has also done us a lot of damage, as thousands of people worldwide strive to meet the generic expectations of societies in order to survive. With the current economic situation, I have wondered more often than once whether the investment my parents made in my education has really been worth it. True, I have a B.A. degree, but I'm yet to find a job. And even as I undertake my job search, I am often tempted to steer away from applying to those jobs that genuinely intrigue and excite me, and instead apply for jobs that will assure me a steady enough income to pay back my school loans and help my siblings in the pursuit of their own education./divdivbr //divdivI jokingly mentioned to a friend the other day that we ought to start saving up for our children's education, because God-knows how much education will cost by the time our lil'uns come scampering about. For a joke, it sure does hold a lot of weight. A college education in the U.S. today costs anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 a year depending on where you go. Take into consideration the fact that B.A. degrees are gradually becoming the barest minimum for securing jobs - I once saw a job description for working at McDonald's which required the applicant to hold a college degree - and you'll realize that in order to stay ahead of the game, our children will most likely need a Masters or PHD. Who knows? We might even have to create another level of higher education to deal with this situation./divdivbr //divdivWhen I think about the fact that I had greater leeway in expressing myself creatively in academics (not taking extracurriculars into consideration) while at a liberal arts college, I cannot help but ponder Sir Robinson's words, "if you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original...we're now running national educational systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. The result is, we're educating people out of their creative capacitities." As a student in Ghana, I always tried to take a new twist on writing essays, reports etc. No sooner would I be done with my work, and I would hear a remark from a classmate saying "you're too known." The worst of it was when I would receive my marked work and see in bright, red writing "you're not following instructions." /divdivbr //divdivMany of my friends have similar stories, and I think this is what has established and maintained the "chew and pour" situation in Ghanaian schools. I went to primary school in Ghana in class 4, after my family moved to Accra. Since we had been in Norway for a while, I had 'forgotten' all my twi, and boy, did I have a hard time in those Ghanaian language classes. I "chewed" or memorized no less than 3 essays for the B.E.C.E. Twi exam. Ironically, none of the essay questions I anticipated came, and basically all the things I memorized were of no use. The only way I was able to answer the questions on comprehension, was because the excerpt was an adapted version of "Chicken Little" which I had read years before on my own time./divdivbr //divdivAfter passing the SSSCE, I started applications to university. But even as I applied to the University of Ghana, I knew that's not where I wanted to be? Why? Because at that point in my life, I had A LOT of interests, and I didn't like the idea that I had to narrow all those interests into just a few subject areas. I did gain acceptance into Legon, and just as I'd feared, I was being told what to do, even though I had clearly stated what my interest areas were. When I opted for Economics, French and Computer Science, I was offered admission on condition that I pursued Economics, Mathematics and Geography. Not surprising, since I had studied Economics, French, Mathematics and Geography in high school. /divdivbr //divdivI understand that for logistical, financial and other reasons, every prospective Legon student could not have the exact course offerings they wanted. And that's what points to a deeper issue with our educational system. We have streamlined the system to the point where there is practically no leeway in how one is educated. And of course, there's the hierachy in which institution you go to. Many young people find it especially distasteful to go to a technical or vocational school, but I believe that's where creativity and invention are actually supported. In most of the other institutions, the emphasis on theory is at the expense of practice. Then comes the question of whether going to school is even necessary. There are many successful individuals who have made it despite (or rather because of) the fact that they dropped out. Take Bill Gates for instance. /divdivbr //divdivSir Robinson talks about Jillian Lynn, a renowed choreographer who is known for pieces such as 'The Phantom of the Opera' and 'Cats'. Apparently, as a kid, her teachers thought she had a learning disorder (the term used before ADHD was invented), but in reality, her very being just wanted to move and dance. The glamorization of specific careers - being a doctor, teacher etc - does great harm to human development. Why? Because no two people are created alike and different people are good at different things. We need to make some allowance for those differences. I find it really telling that 'ideas' and things done 'just for fun' have turned into huge businesses and opportunities in this era. Facebook for one, and Youtube as another example. /divdivbr //divdivIf we intend to continue on the march to development, we need to overhaul our educational systems. The current nit picking going on within Ghana's educational system where government selects only one thing or another to change, is ridiculous. How do we expect an educational system that was put in place over two decades ago, at a time when Ghana had different needs and resources, to be effective today? And this whole hulabaloo about keeping the high school term at three or four years is just begging the point. Deal with the real issues. Add new areas of study into the curriculum. Focus on developing the logical and critical thinking skills of Ghana's youth. Other institutions like Ashesi and the Kofi Annan Center for ICT have implemented programs that gear towards this, take a look at their models, modify them and implement them at the national level. "We don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we're educated out of it." Sir Robinson definitely hit the nail right on the head. What are we gonna do about it?/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/30396251-3653636839366010000?l=www.circumspecte.com'//divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Circumspect/~4/3RveCCBqESA" height="1" width="1"/

Maya's earth: Boss, I'm leaving oh.

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:38:00 -0400

As my previous post showed, I've been thinking of Ghana a lot. Apart from missing the good stuff, I can't help but think of the practical bits as well. These include possibly looking for a new home in the next few months, finding new househelp and how to settle a baby in Ghana in one of the hottest seasons. br /br /Our previous househelp left without a word to us. After the first two days of absence we thought she may have matters regarding her recently deceased father to deal with and hadn't had time to come to work. After the next few days we began to worry as this sudden absence was very unusual for her. It was only after speaking to one of her acquaintances that we were told she had decided to leave because of medical problems.br /br /Her way of leaving is very typical of staff in Ghana. I am not only speaking of househelp (although the best stories you'll hear are of the many dramatic tales told by home staff on their last day). In the law firm that I previously worked in, the accountant told our boss early Friday that "today will be my last day". A lawyer intern didn't show up on a Friday and the next Monday we were informed she'd headed to London and wouldn't be coming back. Actually, when I think of it, I was one of the only persons during my time there who gave the requested notice before leaving (yes, I've already patted myself on the back for good behaviour).br /br /Why is it so difficult to give notice in Ghana? Could it be the backlash of a family-like setting in our work places? After all we go to the weddings of fellow staff members but are also expected to go to the funerals and memorial services of their relatives. Is it possible that once you've hosted your boss at a family funeral, it is too hard to look him/her in the eye and say "I've found a better paying job."?br /br /Either way something must change as it is so impractical for the employer, so embarassing for the employee who'll have great difficulty facing the employer and other staff members again, but in our case it is also a bit tragic because had she just come to us, we'd have helped her with her medical treatment and we could've stuck to our agreement for her to leave work 1st August to go back to school at our expense.br /br /Now, for the fear of a little embarassment, she'll have to seek treatment without any salary and I can only wonder what will happen to her education and future.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4913928809714336337-5548253837996730434?l=mayasearth.blogspot.com' alt='' //div

Ignorance,The Biggest Disease In Africa, Kills More Africans Than Any Other Disease.: Watch these things, In Ghana, seen as normal, when lives are at stake.

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:35:00 -0400

No one talks about these things, i will.

This KIA truck with registration number AS 7926P is loaded with charcoal, a product, which many poor Ghanaians use as firewood in cooking, as we can all see overload or over weight, surely this truck has passed its maximum weight, the truck itself is struggling to move, but the law enforcement agencies will look on or allow it on the highways to its destination endangering the lives of the citizens of the country, other motorists, vehicles and the very own lives of the drivers and colleagues.

Will love to hear what the animal rights activist will have to say about these goats and sheep's being transported and treated this way, they are finally going to be slaughtered for food but even before that they will travel through this harsh treatment of a two to three hour drive long journey from Kumasi to Accra, both major cities in Ghana, this Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4 ,with registration number GW 9751V definitely belongs to someone educated somewhere in the West or with a respectable background, at least, in Ghana this is a "rich man's car" but the common sense which i have come to find out in Ghana it's not so common lacks here.

What amazes me is that, both cars will pass through several police check points and the police will allow them to move on, imagine if the charcoal should come off the truck or the truck turns over, what happens ?
What about if one of the animals escaped from the roof of this Land Cruiser, hit on the streets dies and burst into pieces.

The extent of ignorance here amazes me, Ghanaians, we should be able to empower our law enforcement agencies especially the police patrols and check points, equipping them with better conditions of services and good salaries so they will be able to fight such menace on our roads, if they are well paid and better taken care off then they will be motivated to stop and arrest such situations and not be tempted by bribes and these petty tips.

Wake up Ghanaians, i urge you to open your eyes, speak and criticize such ugly acts on our roads, which puts all of our lives and the very society in which we live in at risk.

Accra Conscious Forever: Accra-Conscious-Forever Opinion Polls

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:25:00 -0400

Hi All,br /br /Please find sometime and answer this poll for me. I am about restructuring my blog and I want your opinion on some issues. br /br /Thanks...!!!br /br /iframe src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=t4mcb0H2QkpUni3ArgE3O2A" width="500" height="684" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"Loading.../iframediv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-416743088776366188?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div

ANTI-RHYTHM: Poisoned Chocolate

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:05:00 -0400

Imagine that A keeps a bar of poisoned choc in a fridge he uses together with B, C and D. One of them gleefully gobbles the toxic confectionary without leave, and drops dead. Forget the law. Is the bigger moral issue that A intentionally placed the death-dealing choc in the common fridge, or is it the fatal dishonesty of the chocolate-pinching corpse?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7564356874518161776-7267629059403583154?l=antirhythm.blogspot.com'//div

AWDF: Did Obama say anything we did not already know?

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:19:00 -0400

Did Obama say anything we did not already know?