As the Ramadan fast draws to a close, Muslims have remained prayerful in the face of growing Islamophobia across the world, the unjust war in Gaza and the blatant display of western double standards .
Clockwise from top is a single mother with kids, a gay couple, lesbian couple and normal family with dad, mom and kids. From Pew.
Note however that the Americans may as yet add brand new family units such as the single dad with kids, two moms and a dad with or without kids and two dads and a mom with or with no kids. A threesome arrangement so to speak. These last two could be the last permutation to the familial cotree. But believe it or not, the last marital frontier for the Americans still remain polygamy. In fact the US supreme court may be warming for an epic ruling on polygamy that recognises the free choice of women and men to partake in polygamy. That represents the last frontier in the combinations possible in a family unit for humans.
The idea of one man one wife has failed western societies and the frenzy to preserve it with draconian divorce laws have also failed. As a result they brought forth a da as you like arrangement called open-relationship. In this arrangement westerners are given tacit approval to co-habit without marriage and responsibility.
New assignment submission date is two weeks from now. That would be October 7, 2023
Check the 17 UN SDGs to determine which to use in justifying your contemporary issues for your chosen product. Indicate product on the blog so as to avoid duplication.
A three-column poster size paper is the mode for submission. A3 size paper is deemed suitable for the assignment.
Most Nigerians believe the educational system, especial at university level, is going in the wrong direction. The prospect for higher tuition fees is considered the number reason. The cost of education is rising very fast at all levels and patents are not seeing brighter kids at home. Lack of adequate workforce to handle courses is another concern. Most universities have abandoned capacity building in favour of money spinning courses like part time MBA and online courses. Add that to the absence of workforce motivation and you have a recipe for graduating half baked students. This makes an overwhelming majority of parents to believe their children will never make it after they are gone.
Students are ambivalent about education but insist interruptions are inimical to their lives in general. They are against strike for whatever reason or reasons and would rather get whatever the system gives them. Quality education is not in their vocabulary and they butteres this with the dismal performance of the entire political class. ASUU is therefore an anemy in their world view
For lecturers it is a battle for the soul of the nation which the political class is bent to destroy. They starve the sector deliberately as they send their children abroad for quality education. The battle may have been lost already as the system groans under pressure. Brain drain in waves is rising to epic proportions and with no end in sight.
Pew Research has investigated the above topic among Americans. Their finding suggests that Americans still prefer in-person worship. Virtual worship started during covid 19 pandemic when the world was shut down. I was privy to this style of worship when I visited Yakubu, a friend from Yobe state. I visited on a Sunday. The family was huddled in front of their giant flat screen television: Yakubu, his registered nurse wife, his eleven year old son Emmanuel and Bola, the teenage step daughter. A pastor was busy explaining a verse from the Bible as he struts from the podium facing the live audience. Yakubu signaled me to sit at the dining area. I sat and watched as the pastor concluded the service.
Service concluded, Yakubu joined me along with the wife. They were then living in a posh bungalow house in Poole, a sleepy town in Dorset, UK.
That was my first take of virtual worship participation for Christians. They simply tune to the church’s TV channel and sit down and watch.
This type of virtual worship can never happen in Islam. Muslims can not engage in worship like this. The question then is how did Muslims worship during Covid? I mean congregation prayers like on Friday?
Well the simple answer is that people worshipped from their homes. Men , women and children engaged in practical worship from inside their homes. And there was a precedent dating back to close to time of the prophet. A contagious disease made mosques to be shut down and people enjoined to say their prayers in their houses.
Pew Research still found that a big percentage of Christian Americans indicated preference for online and TV virtual worship on Sundays.
I have not been updating this blog for a few months now. Those following are aware of this and I apologise to all of them.
My reasons have to do with cell fatigue and storage. I use Samsung A7 phone. I mostly post using this device which I bought in 2018 in Saudi Arabia. It was the latest phone then with Samsung’s first 3 cameras on a phone. But close to 5 years now this phone is now an old horse. It is tired and the 128 GB storage is exhausted.
According to NYT Google has 160 engineers working their search engine. They call it Project Magi. One of the changes coming on in the next few months is the ability to purchase products directly on Google. This means your search for things like shoes or apparel, Google will show you not just the product but allow you make the transaction directly on the search page.
Project Magi will improve your search in a way that will replace Google as we know it now. Search will be more like a conversation with answers kind of like ChatGPT gives. Wow
These changes will have implications for marketing and marketers.
Suddenly Judy Blume is everywhere. Not that the author who carried so many of us through adolescence is ever far from our minds; she tends to be my personal Jiminy Cricket, a gentle conscience asking the same question of every sentence I type: Is it honest?
I wrote about why this story means so much to so many people — which had me wracking my brain for creative alternatives to the words “beloved,” “iconic” and “trailblazer.” (I ran into the same issue while writing “The Essential Judy Blume.” Can you tell I’m a superfan?)
Certain authors give your superlative muscle a workout, and Judy Blume is one of them.
I’d love to hear your memories of reading “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (or any other Blume books) and your thoughts about the movie. By Elisabeth Egan in The New York Times.
If you had told Malaysians in 1998 that 25 years on, their country’s politics would still be dominated by the bitter feud between then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, most would not have believed it – and if they did they would have been aghast. When Dr Mahathir fired Mr Anwar that year, the news of his fall from grace, his court cases, and pictures of the black eye he sported after being beaten up by no less than the country’s Inspector General of Police, went around the world. It wasn’t just the dramatic nature of events. The two men had outsized reputations, with the Far Eastern Economic Review hailing the outspoken Dr Mahathir as “a new voice for the Third World”, while Mr Anwar made the cover of TIME and was named “Asian of the Year” by Newsweek in 1998. Mr Anwar finally became prime minister in November of last year, while Dr Mahathir had returned for a second stint from 2018-20. But the passage of time has not lessened the feud between them. In fact, there is now the prospect of a court case in which the reputation of one of the two prime ministers could be shredded. These latest hostilities began mid-March when, speaking at his party’s congress, Mr Anwar referred to an individual who had held power for “22 years and 22 months” and whom he accused of “hogging everything for your family and children”. Dr Mahathir then responded that “his speech was clearly referring to me and not anyone else as I was in power for 22 years and 22 months”. “The accusations are terrible and give the impression that I stole and misappropriated monies, am a cheat, and so on,” he said. “It is slanderous unless Anwar can prove that I received billions of ringgit, funnelled it overseas and failed to pay taxes.” Mr Anwar was sent a letter insisting he retract and apologise, but when reminded on Monday that that was his last chance to do so, his team said “see you in court”. Earlier this month, Mr Anwar was bullish when asked about Dr Mahathir’s demands in a dialogue with students. “He wants evidence, I will give, no problem,” he said. To back down now would mean a terrible loss of face for Dr Mahathir, who had already suffered the ignominy of losing his deposit when failing to retain his parliamentary seat in last year’s general election. And he is, in any case, not known for giving up on a fight. But there are many who are already shaking their heads that this conflict is still taking centre stage in national life after a quarter century. “It is fully within Mahathir’s – or anyone’s – right to seek redress for any kind of grievance felt,” Elina Noor, senior fellow for Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, tells me. “But the reality is there is little, if any, appetite among the electorate for this kind of endless petty politics. It distracts from substantive work to improve people’s lives on the ground. It also detracts from Mahathir’s own legacy in Malaysia’s growth and development journey.” If Dr Mahathir is blamed for the continued sniping, it has to be said that this feud has been pretty one-sided. Mr Anwar may well have been trying to oust his mentor in 1998, but he was the one who went to jail for four years (he was released when a court overturned the original verdict in 2004 after Dr Mahathir had left office). And publicly, at least, Mr Anwar has been magnanimous. When I saw him speak at a meeting in 2011, two years before an election he expected to win, Mr Anwar was asked what he would do with Dr Mahathir if he became prime minister. “Let’s move on, no malice,” he said. “Let him and [he mentioned one of Mahathir’s sons] count their money.” The former PM was old, he said, and suggested his wits were not so sharp. That proved a miscalculation after the 2018 general election, which the previously opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition won on a promise that Dr Mahathir would become prime minister, but would hand over to Mr Anwar after he had been pardoned from a second jail sentence and returned to parliament. But just as Dr Mahathir would not stop undermining his two hand-picked successors, Abdullah Badawi and Najib Razak, until they were forced from office, so he had no intention of ever letting Mr Anwar succeed him. The clues had been there during the election campaign. At one event key Pakatan leaders all held up the number 7 to indicate they wanted Dr Mahathir to be the country’s seventh prime minister, and then the number 8 for Mr Anwar to be the eighth. Everyone held up an 8 apart from Dr Mahathir, who pretended to be busy taking photos on his phone instead. Dr Mahathir’s administration fell apart in 2020, and it was only last year that Mr Anwar achieved his aim of leading Malaysia as head of the incoming unity government. After losing office and then his seat, one might have thought that would be the end of it for Dr Mahathir. In January Mr Anwar said he had no interest in “never-ending enmity”. But even at the age of 97, Dr Mahathir could not stop attacking his former deputy, one day calling him a “dictator” (a charge that has no basis), the next saying Mr Anwar’s government had done nothing for the people. If Mr Anwar decided that it was eventually time to return fire, that is not entirely surprising; because while Dr Mahathir’s career may be over, his criticisms can still hurt Mr Anwar among the parts of the electorate where he lacks much support. The older man did not have to respond to Mr Anwar’s accusation. This is a fight he has brought on himself. If he loses, he may regret not letting this quarrel dissipate as easily as the Kuala Lumpur sun burns off the rain after a storm. And, it must be said, the country has well and truly had enough of it.
By Sholto Byrnes an East Asian affairs columnist in The National of Abu Dhabi
“Italy’s data protection watchdog has banned access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, due to alleged privacy violations. The decision came after a data breach on March 20 that exposed users’ conversations and payment information.
ChatGPT, which was launched in November 2022, has become popular for its ability to write in different styles and languages, create poems, and even write computer code.
However, the Italian National Authority for Personal Data Protection criticized the chatbot for not providing an information notice to users whose data is collected by OpenAI. The watchdog also took issue with the “lack of a legal basis” that would justify the collection and mass storage of personal data intended to “train” the algorithms that run the platform.
Although the chatbot is intended for people over the age of 13, the Italian authorities also blasted OpenAI for failing to install any filters to verify user age, which they claim can lead to minors being presented with responses “absolutely not in accordance with their level of development.”
The watchdog is now demanding that OpenAI “communicate within 20 days the measures undertaken” to remedy this situation or face a fine of up to 4% of its annual worldwide turnover. The decision to block the chatbot and temporarily limit the processing of Italian users’ data via OpenAI has taken “immediate effect,” the organization added.”
International Women’s Day is a time to celebrate the achievements and progress of women around the world. It is a day to reflect on the challenges that women face, and to recognize the incredible strength and resilience that they exhibit in the face of adversity. This year, as we celebrate Women’s Day, it is important to focus on the gender and the strides that have been made towards gender equality, as well as the work that still needs to be done.
One of the key themes of this year’s Women’s Day is “Choose to Challenge.” This theme encourages us all to challenge gender stereotypes, bias, and inequality, and to work towards creating a more inclusive and equal world for all. We can choose to challenge these issues in our workplaces, our communities, and our personal lives.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on women, highlighting and exacerbating existing gender inequalities. Women have been disproportionately affected by job losses, increased unpaid care responsibilities, and the rise in domestic violence. In many parts of the world, women’s access to healthcare and education has also been impacted. As we celebrate Women’s Day this year, it is important to acknowledge these challenges and to work towards addressing them.
At the same time, there have been many positive developments for women in recent years. Women have made significant strides in fields such as politics, business, and entertainment. We have seen more women occupying leadership positions, and more women speaking out on issues that matter to them. There has also been a growing recognition of the importance of diversity and inclusion, and more organizations are making a concerted effort to create more equitable and inclusive workplaces.
As we celebrate Women’s Day this year, let us reflect on the progress that has been made, but also on the work that still needs to be done. Let us choose to challenge gender stereotypes, bias, and inequality, and work towards creating a world where all women are able to reach their full potential.
Audience research in Kaduna metropolis is suggesting new dynamics in radio listenership. A quick poll around the town using various age groups indicate a high brand awareness for the new Berkete FM station. Such awareness is strongly associated with listenership in radio parlance. For long the airwaves have been dominated by Radio Kaduna which transmit on AM/MW frequency. Owing to so many factors it appears that the good old radio station has lost its focus and is losing its audience very fast.
Respondents polled were not exactly articulate about their seeming preference to the FM station. Many mumbled about broadcast clarity, latest Kannywood musicals and marathon Qira’ah plays. At Radio Kaduna these three points have been thrown out as the station goes off air for long periods daily. Programming has also been sacrificed for paid slots that are at tangent with the interests of traditional audience.
In a recent interview, renowned linguist and cognitive scientist Noam Chomsky gave his thoughts on the rise of ChatGPT, and its effect on education. What he had to say wasn’t favorable. As more and more educators struggle with how to combat plagiarism and the use of these chatbots in the classroom, Chomsky gives a clear viewpoint. For him, the key all lies in how students are taught, and, currently, our educational system is pushing students toward ChatGPT and other shortcuts.
Australia was originally populated by the British through a process of colonization, which began in 1788 when a fleet of ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in what is now Sydney Harbor. The fleet was carrying around 1,500 people, including British convicts, as well as soldiers, officers, and civilians.
The British government at the time had decided to establish a penal colony in Australia as a way to relieve overcrowding in British prisons, and to establish a presence in the South Pacific to counter French expansion in the region. The first settlement established by the British was named Sydney, after Lord Sydney, the British Home Secretary at the time.
Over the next several decades, the British continued to send convicts and other settlers to Australia, and established several other colonies along the eastern and southern coasts of the continent. The British also asserted sovereignty over the continent, despite the fact that it was already home to many Indigenous peoples who had lived there for tens of thousands of years.
This process of colonization was marked by violence and conflict between the British and Indigenous peoples, including forced displacement, massacres, and the imposition of British law and culture on Indigenous communities. The impact of colonization on Indigenous communities continues to be felt in Australia today, and has been the subject of ongoing efforts at truth-telling, reconciliation, and reparations. The British used several tactics against the Indigenous peoples including forced displacement, massacres, and the imposition of British law and culture on Indigenous communities. The impact of colonization on Indigenous communities continues to be felt in Australia today, and has been the subject of ongoing efforts at truth-telling, reconciliation, and reparations.
The signs are becoming clearer now: physical books as we know them are on the way out. The trend has been going on for decades as ebooks in our devices are taking over. Soft copy of books are cheaper and many are free to download. Besides they don’t need space except that in your device storage. No wonder we go for higher storage as our TBR list increases exponentially. TBR is an acronym representing the intention of a person to read a certain book or list of books. The average TBR sitting in our devices is daily on the increase as authors, publishers and book retailers relish dashing out book giveaways. Reading apps and devices like apple books, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and a host of others are rising to the challenge.
Universities across the world are voicing their concern regarding ChatGPT AI software that is capable of writing essays for students. The software which was released late last year went viral with university students reportedly taking advantage of it for their assignments. Last week IT giants Google and Microsoft both announced their own versions with similar capabilities. This development has confirmed the march of AI into all human activities and endeavors. And may mark the beginning of the end of humanity as AI take over all human affairs.
I read one review of this book and immediately started searching for it. Apparently the author Ruth Ware a British has written a lot of of books that escaped my attention. My search for the book began in earnest last November 2021. No bookshop has it. I got a soft copy on a free book web site.
It is the harmattan season here in the north with temperatures plunging down to less than 10 degrees Celsius. In fact in parts of Katsina state reports have it that below zero temperatures were recorded. In fact snow fell in a village close to Ajiwa Dam in Batagarawa local government last week and water inside irrigation pipes became solid ice. So far no death has been reported as the cold continue to bite. People now venture out fully prepared for the cold.
On a daily basis room temperature in Kongo, Zaria, range from 19 to 21 degrees Celsius. This means the temperature outside could well be from 10 to 15 degrees Celsius. This is pretty cold.
Welcome back and note to check both PKL and departmental library for relevant books regarding your assignment. At the moment KIL may not have the latest materials for our needs.
Leave your email address in the comments section so I send you a soft copy of the course outline.
Just finished reading this book. It’s a crime novel with lots of twists. A kidnap in a small island community leaves the sheriff’s office in quandary as locals link it to a similar abduction decades before. A five year old girl snatched on the exact anniversary date of a previous snatching also set the press descending on the little town seeking answers. It’s a nightmare for the female Deputy in charge of the investigation. You will never predict the ending as you keep turning the pages.
The book is available with most ebook retailers and a free pdf or EPUB version available on zlibrary.org
We shall discuss this book on zoom. Date is first Sunday of February at 17 hours GMT.
A strike action is never a cup of tea. More so when it ends with nothing to show except bruises and an outright TKO. At the end you just lick your wounds and limp back to work seething with anger. But anger against who?? Students?? Certainly not. Parents!!? No. Even though both did not for once show any sympathy to the cause of the strike. It is a deep seated anger against the government. Against Buhari. Against Ngige. Against Adamu Adamu. Also against ASUU and against Falana. In fact for many it is more against ASUU and Falana. Falana especially for his self serving rhetorics on TV. The way he was talking and arguing on television you would think the case was a clincher for ASUU. But then he was doing his job and getting paid handsomely by ASUU. What do you expect a lawyer to say to his client and to the press in order to protect his lucrative source of income??? Pretty much what Falana was saying everywhere. But nothing happened the way he was putting it. ASUU just went to the dog house.
Empty pocket Ramadan has come and gone. Dry Sallah has come and gone. We all survived. In fact our survival instinct will see us through even if the strike continues for one year. We are that dogged. After all we once had a nine months strike before and we all survived.
The rains have started falling as we begin to prepare our farms. Our coping strategies include chicken/fish farming, crop cultivation and cost cutting of unnecessary expenses.
I came across the above book and thought it would be a good read.
It is a laugh out loud satire of a reluctant messiah and a money hungry preacher. Reminds one of our latter day pastors of calumny who build huge auditoriums so as to collect money and buy private jets. The lifestyles of these so called pastes are diametrically opposed to those of their gullible followers.
It was really hot all day. At dusk it began to get windy and fine dust was scattered inside rooms. Thunder ramblings echoed and it started raining. Light shower but it was enough to cool the town. We all heaved a sigh of relief.
WAEC is still a bitch. My son sent me their recent exam time table.See it above. Take a look at the timings on Fridays. No provision to allow for Jumat prayers at all. He complained to me that he will miss Friday prayers. Some people in nigeria are still oblivious to the special needs of Muslims. It’s anti hijab or anti jumat or anti Ramadan everywhere you look. And yet Islam reached naija centuries before white bible thumpers arrive. Actually it predates christianity by nine centuries. It predates the white invaders also. But to be honest it’s not the fault of all Christians. Many of them are rightly appalled by these anti muslim incidents we witness every now and then. We muslims are part of the problem. We do not unite to fight such issues to finish. There will be a huge outcry but soon it dies down leaving a few lone rangers to continue the fight. Look at the case of Radio Kaduna: Usman Jibrin was left to fight Obasanjo alone on the issue. Today the station is virtually dead. Look at that German preacher Reinhart Bonke who was allowed to visit nigeria any time he wanted but they refused Ahmed Deedat entry at Abuja airport during IBB regime. Perhaps he didn’t know but the immigration officer was also said to a muslim.How preposterous! Same Bonke was asked by Citizen magazine whether it was fair to ban Islamic preachers and he said it was not and condemned those who masterminded the ban. Some Reverend fathers were thought to be among those who hatched the ban and sold it to government There are so many examples to cite. What do we do in our country to be recognized as bona fide citizens with full rights to practice our religion??? What???? Unity is one but so is a good litigation to solve the issues conclusively. Why can’t WAEC add Saturdays for example and leave Fridays alone. Afterall Sundays are not used at all. This could be a good solution. Or else let them use Friday mornings up to 12 noon only. This problem must be solved with the interest of muslims at the centre.
KongoQuips 