A Song from Malawi ~ by Gidess Chalamanda

  

A Song from Malawi 

~ by Giddes Chalamanda ~ 

 

Discussing Abiy's "Big Vision" ~ by TPO

 

Discussing Abiy's "Big Vision" 

~ by TPO ~

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G A ===> Selam Hénock!  I, like you, was always proud of growing up in ስድስት  ኪሎ area;  there has been no place in Addis with greater prominence for the past century.  Going down from ሽሮ ሜዳ to መስቀል  አደባባይ  makes my point. The Abiy video you posted will reinforce our neighborhood's first class status.  Cheers.

Hénock ===> Wonderful !!!  ...
Big and ambitious.  However I don't care for some of the "westernization" ideas like golf courses, etc.  When you still have homeless and others wasting away elsewhere, Abiy seems to be catering to the affluent and to foreign tourists.  
- Abiy does not talk in depth about changing the culture and habits of the people, e.g. in the areas of health and hygiene!  Contrast that with the situation in Asmara (in Eritrea) ... how Eritreans are obsessed with keeping their city clean and beautiful!  
- What is the point of building boulevards if you don't have anti-littering laws?  Where are sidewalks on streets?  Where are traffic laws and signs?
- So many pre-fab skyscrapers by/from China but very scant water for public utility !  And electric power is in poor supply and not equitably distributed as far as usage goes.  Imagine how much electricity is deployed leaving the common man with little or no service.  
- Abiy seems to be enamored with shiny and superficial face-lifts, but priorities and a down-to-earth, reality-based value system needs to be the foundation of all development projects.  Above all, focus should be aimed at all the citizens and how their lives could be affected.  
- The municipalities of the many precincts of Addis still have to learn and enforce "zoning principles".  For instance,  Residences and Businesses should not be side by side.  

G A ===> Your concern is well-taken.  I was in Asmara two years ago, impressed by the neatness and orderly lifestyle.  One other thing that vexes me is the Amharic signs on businesses [in Addis] are being replaced in English.  Tourists looking at that may wonder if we were colonized by the British.

Hénock ===> Not to sound too political, but the reactionary Oromos may have something to do with that.  They have simmering resentments despite the fact that they don't have an alternative language script of their own.  So instead they prefer a "ferenji" script.

Billionaires Playing Space Astronauts ! ~ by TPO

 

Billionaires Playing Space Astronauts !

 ~ by TPO ~  

    FB Post --- " I can't imagine having enough money to end hunger in the U.S. and deciding that all  I wanted to do was play space tourist ." 

~ Annie Gabston-Howell (The Talk on Main St.)     

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     F C M ===> It would only be temporary .... Ending hunger is out of human reach.  Humans are not very good at determining what's good for them.
       S R ===> No lie !!
      Hénock Gugsa ===> They certainly won't be able to end anything even their low self-esteem ... or self-hate as you referenced in your earlier post today, titled I think, "S'aimer".
      J S ===> Hénock Gugsa - so true.
      F C M ===> Hénock Gugsa - I understand what you're saying, but feeding everyone is impossible, not to say detrimental, in the dogmatic contexts in which we humans are living .... We are simply too many, and no system, even ecosystems, can support our self-centered madness seen throughout the social spectrum .... Humans are the problem, all of them.
     Hénock Gugsa ===> That sounds a bit defeatist.  Are we surrendering the battle before it is even joined?  I understand our historical record is dismal, but still ...!  If we can arrive at a tough and incontrovertible conclusion that humans are the problem, couldn't we strive toward a constructive solution to the problem ... or is there no solution at all ?!  I am not thinking (or saying) feed everyone, feed only those who cannot feed themselves for reasons beyond their power to overcome, such as natural calamities and wars.  But then we see, on the other side, wealthy countries  already wasting and throwing away surplus crops and food products?  I'm not being a soft non-pragmatist or a non-realist here.  I know and understand the laws of economics.  We are given to asking what is the value of this and what is the cost of that ?  But for the most part, we are short-sighted and lack wisdom.  So a country in Africa undergoes starvation from drought or civil war.  So a practical, two-pronged assistance should be made to that country: 1) immediate palliative assistance of food and health care;  2) infrastructural assistance with meaningful long-term results, i.e water wells, irrigation, forestation, roads and bridges, and electric power.
The "charity trap" should be avoided because it could end up in fatigue and disappointment.  But certain types of investments although high-risk on the surface could be labeled "good-will".  Their returns-on-investment may not be immediate but they are beyond valuation for sure.  

     F C M ===> Hénock Gugsa - To make this simple, we reproduce too much, and grow at a faster rate than ecosystems can heal ....  Humans are too stupid, too much attached to their cultural values and religions to accept evidences.  If one wants to reduce poverty, he'll have to accept the fact that reproduction is no longer a right, but rather a privilege.

Tom Brady at the White House ~ by Tod Perry

 

 

Tom Brady at the White House
~ by Tod Perry ~  

[] [] [] []

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were honored by President Joe Biden in a ceremony on the White House lawn Tuesday. The event celebrated their Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs in February.

In his short speech, quarterback Tom Brady found common ground with president Biden. Brady, 43, was the oldest quarterback to win the Super Bowl, and Biden, 78, is the oldest to ever win the presidency.
"Personally, it's nice for me to be back here," Brady said. "We had a game in Chicago where I forgot what down it was. I lost track of one down in 21 years of playing, and they started calling me 'Sleepy Tom.' Why would they do that to me?"

Biden, who was often referred to as "Sleepy Joe" by Donald Trump during the 2020 election, responded with a smile, saying, "I don't know!"
Brady also noted that the Bucs were such underdogs midway through the season that few people thought they could or did win the title. He jokingly compared that to a large number of Republicans who can't bring themselves to accept Biden's victory.
"It didn't look great there at one point. We were 7-5, struggling a little bit, as the President alluded to. But we found a rhythm, we got on a roll," Brady said. "Not a lot of people think that we could have won. In fact, I think, about 40 percent of the people still don't think we won."
"I understand that," Biden responded.
"Do you understand that, Mr. President?" Brady replied.
"I understand that," Biden jokingly confirmed.
Coach Bruce Arians (68) and Brady's victory made them the oldest coach-quarterback combo to ever win the Super Bowl.
"Well I'll tell you right now, you won't hear any jokes about that from me," Biden said. "As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing wrong with being the oldest guy to make it to the mountaintop. That's how I look at it."
Brady is a seven-time Super Bowl champion but this is the first visit he's made the trip to the White House to celebrate since 2005 when George W. Bush was president. He turned down Barack ibama's invitation in 2015 and Trump's in 2017.

The Patriots chose as a team not to attend the White House event after winning in 2019.

 

A Great Moment for a Nation ~ by Hénock Gugsa

 

A Great Moment for a Great Nation 

~ by Hénock Gugsa ~

{}{}{}{}{}{}  

 

Que faire d'Eux ? ~ Kamel Daoud

 

Que faire d'Eux ? 

~ de Kamel Daoud ~

 «Que faire d'Eux ?» : la grande question du nouveau siècle.
Mais que faire des islamistes ? Les tuer ? Les jeter à la mer ? Les ignorer jusqu'au moment où ils dépassent la démographie de la Chine ? Les rééduquer dans des camps du Sud ou en Suède ? Les surveiller de l'aube et jusqu'à la mort ? Les ficher ? Les convertir ? Les arrêter ou les torturer ? Les assimiler ou leur offrir un coin du désert où ils peuvent vivre leur délire sans gêner le reste de l'humanité ? On ne sait pas. Ils sont là. Dans le monde d'Allah et en Occident. Chacun y va de sa solution et de sa proposition. Les uns pensent qu'on peut les convaincre d'accepter l'Autre et les autres.

D'autres pensent qu'il faut les tuer. Certains disent qu'il faut éradiquer l'islamisme dans les écoles, les TV, les livres et les idées au lieu d'essayer d'éradiquer le produit final, alias l'islamiste. Certains essayent aussi de comprendre comment on devient islamiste. A cause du manque de désir de vivre ? Du manque de désir ? De loisirs ? De perspective ? D'argent ? A cause de l'Arabie Saoudite et ses fonds de propagande ?

La solution n'est pas encore trouvée: si on les tue, ils se multiplient. Si on les élit, ils détruisent les urnes, retirent l'échelle qui leur a permis de grimper, puis instaurent le califat et procèdent au jugement dernier puis pourchassent les démocrates et les pendent aux poteaux comme ont fait les ayatollahs.

Si on tente de les rééduquer, ils font semblant d'accepter, sourient puis attendent le moment de votre sommeil et de votre inattention. Le problème de fond étant que les islamistes ne veulent pas vivre leur croyance sans embêter l'humanité. Leur croyance suppose et impose que l'on change celle des autres. Leur but n'est pas de vivre leur foi mais de l'imposer aux autres, par la force ou l'attente rusée. Les islamistes ne peuvent pas être uniquement des musulmans mais croient qu'il faut que le monde entier le soit et à leur manière. D'où l'impossibilité de la solution.

«Que faire des islamistes ?» n'a pas encore de réponse satisfaisante. Mais la question inverse de «que faire du monde ?» que se posent les islamistes depuis qu'ils existent, en a une: lui mettre le front à terre. Le transformer en tapis de prière. L'obliger à abdiquer ou à mourir. Le combattre, le détruire, le convertir, lui couper la main ou le voiler. Eux, ils savent ce qu'ils doivent faire du monde là où nous ne savons pas ce que l'on doit faire d'eux.

Conclusion ? Le problème n'est pas que le monde ne les accepte pas, le problème est qu'ils sont incapables d'ACCEPTER le monde.

 

California Fire ~ by TIME

  

California Fire ~ by TIME 

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time :
Flames crawl along a utility pole as the Sugar Fire, part of the Beckwourth Complex Fire, tears through central Doyle, Calif., on July 10. The Beckwourth Complex Fire, comprised of two lightning-caused fires that are burning near the border with Nevada, has become California's largest wildfire of the year, the Associated Press reports. The Sugar Fire exploded in recent days as another heat wave brought triple-digit temperatures to the region. On Sunday morning, a Plumas National Forest incident report said the footprint of the Beckwourth Complex Fire had reached 83,926 acres, or about 131 square miles, and was 8% contained. Photograph by Noah Berger (@noah3929)—@apnews

 Lightening-caused fire in California

 

Good Advice - by Olivia Goldhill

 

Good Advice  

- by Olivia Goldhill * -

<< To Tell Someone They’re Wrong, First Tell Them They’re Right. >>

A philosopher’s 350-year-old trick to get people to change their minds is now backed up by psychologists.

 The 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal is perhaps best known for Pascal’s Wager which, in the first formal use of decision theory, argued that believing in God is the most pragmatic decision. But it seems the French thinker also had a knack for psychology. As Brain Pickings points out, Pascal set out the most effective way to get someone to change their mind, centuries before experimental psychologists began to formally study persuasion:

When we wish to correct with advantage, and to show another that he errs, we must notice from what side he views the matter, for on that side it is usually true, and admit that truth to him, but reveal to him the side on which it is false. He is satisfied with that, for he sees that he was not mistaken, and that he only failed to see all sides. Now, no one is offended at not seeing everything; but one does not like to be mistaken, and that perhaps arises from the fact that man naturally cannot see everything, and that naturally he cannot err in the side he looks at, since the perceptions of our senses are always true.
Pascal added:
    People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others.

Put simply, Pascal suggests that before disagreeing with someone, first point out the ways in which they’re right. And to effectively persuade someone to change their mind, lead them to discover a counter-point of their own accord. Arthur Markman, psychology professor at The University of Texas at Austin, says both these points hold true.

“One of the first things you have to do to give someone permission to change their mind is to lower their defenses and prevent them from digging their heels in to the position they already staked out,” he says. “If I immediately start to tell you all the ways in which you’re wrong, there’s no incentive for you to co-operate. But if I start by saying, ‘Ah yeah, you made a couple of really good points here, I think these are important issues,’ now you’re giving the other party a reason to want to co-operate as part of the exchange. And that gives you a chance to give voice your own concerns about their position in a way that allows co-operation.”

Markman also supports Pascal’s second persuasive suggestion. “If I have an idea myself, I feel I can claim ownership over that idea, as opposed to having to take your idea, which means I have to explicitly say, ‘I’m going to defer to you as the authority on this.’ Not everybody wants to do that,” he adds.

In other words, if it wasn’t enough that Pascal is recognized as a mathematician, physicist, and philosopher, it seems he was also an early psychologist. 

 --------------------------------------------------------------- 

* Source :  getpocket.com

 

The "Lying Down" Movement in China ~ by Elsie Chen, The New York Times

 

  Luo Huazhong, who popularized the idea of adopting a more relaxed approach to life, taking a break in Jiande, China.Credit...Qilai Shen for The New York Times

The "Lying Down" Movement in China 

~ by Elsie Chen, The New York Times ~

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Young people in China have set off a nascent counterculture movement that involves lying down and doing as little as possible.

July 3, 2021

阅读简体中文版閱讀繁體中文版

     Five years ago, Luo Huazhong discovered that he enjoyed doing nothing. He quit his job as a factory worker in China, biked 1,300 miles from Sichuan Province to Tibet and decided he could get by on odd jobs and $60 a month from his savings. He called his new lifestyle “lying flat.”

     “I have been chilling,” Mr. Luo, 31, wrote in a blog post in April, describing his way of life. “I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong.”

     He titled his post “Lying Flat Is Justice,” attaching a photo of himself lying on his bed in a dark room with the curtains drawn. Before long, the post was being celebrated by Chinese millennials as an anti-consumerist manifesto. “Lying flat” went viral and has since become a broader statement about Chinese society.

     A generation ago, the route to success in China was to work hard, get married and have children. The country’s authoritarianism was seen as a fair trade-off as millions were lifted out of poverty. But with employees working longer hours and housing prices rising faster than incomes, many young Chinese fear they will be the first generation not to do better than their parents.

     They are now defying the country’s long-held prosperity narrative by refusing to participate in it.

     Mr. Luo’s blog post was removed by censors, who saw it as an affront to Beijing’s economic ambitions. Mentions of “lying flat” — tangping, as it’s known in Mandarin — are heavily restricted on the Chinese internet. An official counternarrative has also emerged, encouraging young people to work hard for the sake of the country’s future.

     “After working for so long, I just felt numb, like a machine,” Mr. Luo said in an interview. “And so I resigned.”

     To lie flat means to forgo marriage, not have children, stay unemployed and eschew material wants such as a house or a car. It is the opposite of what China’s leaders have asked of their people. But that didn’t bother Leon Ding.

     Mr. Ding, 22, has been lying flat for almost three months and thinks of the act as “silent resistance.” He dropped out of a university in his final year in March because he didn’t like the computer science major his parents had chosen for him.

     After leaving school, Mr. Ding used his savings to rent a room in Shenzhen. He tried to find a regular office job but realized that most positions required him to work long hours. “I want a stable job that allows me to have my own time to relax, but where can I find it?” he said.

     Mr. Ding thinks young people should work hard for what they love, but not “996” — 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week — as many employers in China expect. Frustrated with the job search, he decided that “lying flat” was the way to go.

     “To be honest, it feels really comfortable,” he said. “I don’t want to be too hard on myself.”

     To make ends meet, Mr. Ding gets paid to play video games and has minimized his spending by doing things like cutting out his favorite bubble tea. Asked about his long-term plans, he said: “Come back and ask me in six months. I only plan for six months.”

     While plenty of Chinese millennials continue to adhere to the country’s traditional work ethic, “lying flat” reflects both a nascent counterculture movement and a backlash against China’s hypercompetitive work environment.

     Xiang Biao, a professor of social anthropology at Oxford University who focuses on Chinese society, called tangping culture a turning point for China. “Young people feel a kind of pressure that they cannot explain and they feel that promises were broken,” he said. “People realize that material betterment is no longer the single most important source of meaning in life.”

     The ruling Communist Party, wary of any form of social instability, has targeted the “lying flat” idea as a threat to stability in China. Censors have deleted a tangping group with more than 9,000 members on Douban, a popular internet forum. The authorities also barred posts on another tangping forum with more than 200,000 members.

     In May, China’s internet regulator ordered online platforms to “strictly restrict” new posts on tangping, according to a directive obtained by The New York Times. A second directive required e-commerce platforms to stop selling clothes, phone cases and other merchandise branded with “tangping.”

     The state news media has called tangping “shameful,” and a newspaper warned against “lying flat before getting rich.” Yu Minhong, a prominent billionaire, urged young people not to lie down, because “otherwise who can we rely on for the future of our country?”

     Mr. Luo decided to write about tangping after he saw people heatedly discussing China’s latest census results in April and calls for the country to address a looming demographic crisis by having more babies.

     He described his original “lying flat” blog post as “an inner monologue from a man living at the bottom of the society.”

     “Those people who say lying down is shameful are shameless,” he said. “I have the right to choose a slow lifestyle. I didn’t do anything destructive to society. Do we have to work 12 hours a day in a sweatshop, and is that justice?”

     Mr. Luo was born in rural Jiande County, in eastern Zhejiang Province. In 2007, he dropped out of a vocational high school and started working in factories. One job involved working 12-hour shifts at a tire factory. By the end of the day, he had blisters all over his feet, he said.

     In 2014, he found a job as a product inspector in a factory but didn’t like it. He quit after two years and took on the occasional acting gig to make ends meet. (In 2018, he played a corpse in a Chinese movie by, of course, lying flat.)

     Today, he lives with his family and spends his days reading philosophy and news and working out. He said it was an ideal lifestyle, allowing him to live minimally and “think and express freely.” He encourages his followers, who call him “the Master of Lying Down,” to do the same.

     After hearing about Mr. Luo’s tangping post on a Chinese podcast, Zhang Xinmin, 36, was inspired to write a song about it.

     Mr. Zhang, a musician based in Wuhan, had quit his job in advertising five years ago to pursue his music, and the idea of lying flat resonated with him. He called his song “Tangping Is the Right Way.”

     Mr. Zhang uploaded the song to his social media platforms on June 3, and within a day censors had deleted it from three websites. He was furious.

     “Nowadays, only running forward is allowed, but not lying down,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me that they deleted this song.”

     He eventually uploaded the song as a video on YouTube, which is blocked in China. The video shows him lying down on his sofa, casually strumming his guitar as he sings in a breezy voice:

     Lying down is really good
     Lying down is wonderful
     Lying down is the right thing to do
     Lie down so you won’t fall anymore
     Lying down means never falling down.

On Parenthood ~ by TPO

 

On Parenthood (ስለ  ወላጅነት)

 ~ by TPO ~

**** /// **** 

  From a Facebook thread under the heading -- Husbands' and Wives' Jokes

   After 10 years, the wife starts to think their kid looks kinda strange so she decides to do a DNA test.
  She finds out that the kid is actually from completely different parents.
Wife: Honey, I have something very serious to tell you.
Husband: What’s up?
Wife: According to DNA test results, this is not our kid.
Husband: Well you don't remember, do you??
   When we were leaving the hospital, we noticed that our baby had pooped.
   Then you said:
 - Please go change the baby, I’ll wait for you here.
   So I went inside, got a clean one and left the dirty one there.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
KG ===> This is really really serious.  I could not laugh but be sad. But, being it is a joke    ... why not I chuckled a bit.
GB ===> Very funny! Thanks for the laughter!
EM ===> Well....... He is done.
BZ ===> Omg ....this is not funny even if it is joke!

Hénock Gugsa ===> This is hilarious ! What is there to be serious about ? A baby is a baby  ... is it any more special than another ?

KG ===>  If you do not mind raising somebody else's child of course not ....

Hénock Gugsa ===> KG -- In the final analysis, it's how a child is raised that matters. Babies are like clean slates. Some great personalities started out as orphans or babies given up for adoption. And then, of-course, there is no iron-clad guarantee that real (natural or blood) parents will automatically love and bond with a child. እንዴ የባዳ ልጅ ይወደዳል አይደል አንዳንዴ ? የክርስትና ልጅም ከራስ ልጅ እኩል ወይም የበላይ የሚታይበት ጊዜ አለ ።

KG ===> Hénock Gugsa -- yehe k[l]ej yetewisedew ke hospital new eko. Yerasun kej kezen netreg aketote yelela sew lij yezo temelese.. bakebeteh yanten lij lewita betmeta behetsanenetu tej[k]ebekeh setasadig noreh yante lij aydelem betebale [gize] men yisemahal. [sic]  [Apparently no access to the Amharic alphabet font !]

Hénock Gugsa ===> KG -- ታድያ በዛች ሰዓት ልጁን እርግፍ አድርጌ እጥለዋለሁ ማለት ነው እንዴ ？ ምንም ቢሆን ፥ ምንም ቢሆን ያው ልጄ ነው ። እርግጥ ሕግ ወይም መንግስት ወይም ዘመዶች እና ማህበረ ሰቡ (society) ላይስማሙኝ ይችላሉ ። ግን የልጁን መውደድ ከመቅስፈት ሊያጠፉት አይችሉም ፣ የራሴንም ልጅ እንኳን ቢመልሱልኝም እንደ አዲስ ሀ ብዬ ነው ላፈቅረው የምጀምረው ! በነገራችን ላይ ባዳ （stranger) የሚባለው ቃል እና ሃሳብ (concept) ዋጋ የለውም !  It's nonsense ! ለመሆኑ ባዳ አይተን ፥ ወደን ፥ አግብተን ዘመድ እናደርጋለን አይደለም እንዴ ?  በሕግም በሃይማኖትም ከስጋ ዘመድ መውለድ ክልክል (taboo) ነው !  On the other hand, when you think about it, the child we make with a stranger is actually half a stranger too !
=======================
  7/4 -7/5, 2021

Old farmer's Advice ~ from the Midwest

 

Old farmer's Advice ~ from the Midwest

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- Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
- Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
- Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
- A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
- Words that soak into your ears are whispered... not yelled.
- Meanness don't just happen overnight.
- Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.
- Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
- It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
- You cannot unsay a cruel word.
- Every path has a few puddles.
- When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
- The best sermons are lived, not preached.
- Most of the stuff people worry about, ain't never gonna happen anyway.
- Don't judge folks by their relatives.
- Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
- Live a good and honorable life, then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
- Don't interfere with something' that ain't bothering you none.
- Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
- If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
- Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
- The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every morning'.
- Always drink upstream from the herd.
- Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.
- Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
- If you get to thinking' you're a person of some influence, try ordering' somebody else's dog around.
- Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, and enjoy the ride.
- Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just shoot you!