naijababe:

Oga Kilode?!, I hope your head never burst o becos he go don swell so tey . . . . . . . . . . Na di tin wey OAM4J and Katz dey take day and night find, na hin just land fiam for u like dis eh?!.

E-love na gen gen o   

I can't even count on my own egbon/ obinrin/ Ara Eko to defend my honour when I'm not around.  If you don't want to admit that you love Kilode, that's your problem.  Seriously, which sane NLer doesn't have a soft spot for Kilode somewhere in their dark and twisted heart. 

Kilode?!:

I'm sure Katsumoto is safe, black people can smell water 3 days away

We don't know what Katsumoto is.  Did he tell you he is black?  He could be Japanese Afghanistan for all we know.  He could be a CIA agent that was airdropped as a newborn baby into the middle of Lagos to grow up with us, learn our way - culture and language - so the imperialists could once again recolonize our minds 

You sure no dey fear! Katsumoto is still alive o!

Well maybe "they" are not afraid, maybe "they" are just taking Shakespeares advice;

“Speak low, if you speak love.”    

I didn't do anything wrong.

There's different kinds of love.  I never said which kind.  If you really want to get to the nitty-gritty, I never told any other NLer I love him/her.  I mean, I didn't want to go there, but you guys (Kilode, naijababe, evilDayokanu) are poking at me something awful right now.   

dayokanu:



Are you cheating on me?

Seriously? Isnt that the same thing you told me, katsumoto, Debosky, fstranger, blacksta and everyone

Boy, you must be out of your mind!  What are you saying?  I don't love you! 

Blacksta and Debosky?  You mean, Beavis and Butthead! They harass me about my thread. 

Mind your beezwax about Katsumoto. 

FStranger can take care of himself.   

I NEVER TOLD ANYONE ELSE I LOVED THEM.  YOU GUYS ARE AWFUL.  I DON'T WANT TO BE THE FEMALE DAYOKANU. THE POLYANDRY NLer.  I CAN ONLY BE IN LOVE* WITH ONE MAN AT A TIME.    

*Don't even go there!

^ . I go defend your honour die eh so gbo. I just fell over laughing at your post

naijababe:

^ . I go defend your honour die eh so gbo. I just fell over laughing at your post

Thanks, babe.  That's what I love to hear.  My heart sank for a minute thinking I had no one to count on. 

Where's OAM4J?  That's my one true friend, I see. 

You, I'm gonna have to wait and see.  The wound is too fresh.  I feel that your love for me is the kind that disappears when I leave the room. 

See naija women denying ojukoroju.

You even put it as your signature that Isalegangan loves Dayokanu

Now Kilode is the one

Ok o No wahala, Lemme go and face Naija babe jejely.

Naijababe How far Make we collabo jare

isale_gan2:

Thanks, babe.  That's what I love to hear.  My heart sank for a minute thinking I had no one to count on. 

Where's OAM4J?  That's my one true friend, I see. 

You, I'm gonna have to wait and see.  The wound is too fresh.  I feel that your love for me is the kind that disappears when I leave the room. 

Ha pele! Make I bring hotwater lati fi ba e mo wound yen?

DK, where have you been eh? Been looking all over for you. Collabo sha? Na when you go learn? I get Magun for body o

dayokanu:

See naija women denying ojukoroju.

You even put it as your signature that Isalegangan loves Dayokanu

Now Kilode is the one

Ok o No wahala, Lemme go and face Naija babe jejely.

Naijababe How far Make we collabo jare

Arrrrggggghhhhh!  I only did that cos I felt bad about yelling at you.  Stop already!  You're pretending not to understand me.  I pity the woman that does fall in love with you.  

Oga Kilode, I'm not taking back my declaration to you o!  I meant it. Despite the harassment here, I'm gonna tough it out.  They can call me coquettish if they want.  Whatever.  They all know they love you.  But I get teased cos I admitted it?  Gbogbo e ye olorun.  Only God knows how he want to do things.

Seriously, don't encourage them.    My future husband (whoever he turns out to be) may be reading this and deciding I am not to be trusted. 

^ Nothing do you jare. You future husband is a very lucky man, even if na Oga Kilode?! 

naijababe:

Ha pele! Make I bring hotwater lati fi ba e mo wound yen?

DK, where have you been eh? Been looking all over for you. Collabo sha? Na when you go learn? I get Magun for body o

Fi oro magun sile. I am not planning to gun, We go do "Yodieseyin" So dont worry.

Oya collabo time is nigh.

isale_gan2:

Arrrrggggghhhhh! I only did that cos I felt bad about yelling at you. Stop already! You're pretending not to understand me. I pity the woman that does fall in love with you.

Olorun a se idajo a fi eyin pin eran. So you used and dumped me. Later they would say Naija men are bad.

Seriously, don't encourage them. My future husband (whoever he turns out to be) may be reading this and deciding I am not to be trusted.

Of course I am reading it and I have made up my mind that you are not to be trusted.

Enu ti o fi so wipe ADEGUN lo fi so wipe ADEOGUN

Emi n le eku si e, Iwo n le ejo simi Se o daa be?

dayokanu:

Olorun a se idajo a fi eyin pin eran. So you used and dumped me. Later they would say Naija men are bad.

I never said Naija men are bad.  I have no bitterness towards men; Not yet. . . but a few more run-ins with you. . . 

Of course I am reading it and I have made up my mind that you are not to be trusted.

How can you be my "future husband" if you're already decided that I can't be trusted?  So, you mean you'll marry me anyway, and make me suffer by punishing me with cruelty and distrust? 

Enu ti o fi so wipe ADEGUN lo fi so wipe ADEOGUN

Emi n le eku si e, Iwo n le ejo simi Se o daa be?

I don't understand, but I'm sure it's something scary you just said.  Good thing I don't believe in curses. 

Kai, Wahala wa o 


Oga Dk dey take style release Ogede and Ayajo.   

Kilode?!:

Kai, Wahala wa o 


Oga Dk dey take style release Ogede and Ayajo.    

That's his style. 

See me see trouble, Oga Kilode.  I can't tell people I love them anymore?  All right I love all of you all. [size=14pt]Except Dayokanu[/size]. lol.    And maybe I am IN LOVE with one person. lol.

You see how I just post and post and post as I get more defensive, but instead of clearing things up I just dig a bigger hole for myself?  Story of my life.  Let it go, Isale.  breathe in breathe out. 

I am going to get so much grief for this.  Already started.  Another self-imposed hiatus is in the offing.

Japan’s Strict Building Codes Saved Lives
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: March 11, 2011
New York Times

From seawalls that line stretches of Japan’s coastline, to skyscrapers that sway to absorb earthquakes, to building codes that are among the world’s most rigorous, no country may be better prepared to withstand earthquakes than Japan.

Had any other populous country suffered the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that shook Japan on Friday, tens of thousands of people might already be counted among the dead. So far, Japan’s death toll is in the hundreds, although it is certain to rise.

Over the years, Japan has spent billions of dollars developing the most advanced technology against earthquakes and tsunamis. The Japanese, who regularly experience smaller earthquakes and have lived through major ones, know how to react to quakes and tsunamis because of regular drills — unlike Southeast Asians, many of whom died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami because they lingered near the coast.

Communities along Japan’s coastline, especially in areas that have been hit by tsunamis in the past, tend to be the best prepared. Local authorities can usually contact residents directly through warning systems set up in each home; footpaths and other escape routes leading to higher ground tend to be clearly marked.

In the country that gave the world the word tsunami, Japan, especially in the 1980’s and 1990’s, built concrete seawalls in many communities, some as high as 40 feet. In addition, some coastal towns have set up networks of sensors that can sound alarms in every residence and automatically closed floodgates when an earthquake strikes to prevent waves from surging up rivers. Ports are sometimes equipped with raised platforms.

Critics of the seawalls, however, say they are eyesores and bad for the environment. The seawalls, they say, can instill a false sense of security among coastal residents and discourage them from participating in regular evacuation drills. Moreover, by blocking residents’ view of the ocean, the seawalls reduce peoples’ ability to understand the sea by observing wave patterns, critics say.

According to the national broadcaster NHK, waves from Friday’s tsunami spilled over some seawalls in the affected areas. But it was too soon to say whether other seawalls or regular evacuation drills — or a combination of the two — prevented casualty figures from climbing higher.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world/asia/12codes.html?_r=1&hp

Happy Saturday, folks.  Another of my favourite things.   

[flash=480,400]http://www.youtube.com//v/xkfe80J7NRc[/flash]


Riverwide - Written and performed by Sheryl Crow

I spent a year in the mouth of a whale
With a flame and a book of signs
You'll never know how hard I've failed
Trying to make up for lost time

Once I believed in things unseen
I was blinded by the dark
Out of the multitude to me
He came and broke my heart

When the dust in the field has flown
And the youngest of hearts has grown
And you doubt you will ever be free
Don't bail on me

River is wide and oh so deep
And it winds and winds around
I dream we're happy in my sleep
Floating down and down and down

And the tide rushes by where we stand
And the earth underneath turns to sand
And we're waiting for someone to see
Honey, Don't bail on me.

Tell ma, I loved the man
Even though I turned and ran
Lovely and fine I could have been
Laying down in the palm of his hand
Laying down in the palm of his hand
Laying down in the palm of his hand
Staying down in the palm of his hand

In the morning you wait for the sun
And secretly hope it won't come
But time washes everyone clean
Buddy now, don't bail on me
Don't bail on me
Don't bail on me

Studio/original version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZmxVf31KqY

Sheryl referenced Leaves of Grass in her intro, which reminds me I still want to do poems by African authors.  Busy this weekend, but I will do it in the next week.  Some great ones I've run across too.  In the meantime, feel free to post your own.  E se o. 

Na wa o at the most recent posts from Isale Gangan, DK, Naijababe. Kilode, good looking out

isale_gan2
link=topic=590933.msg7891342#msg7891342 date=1299851011]
Woke up to breaking news coverage of 8.9 earthquake plus tsunami in Japan.  Media appear to still be in the process of confirming level of destruction.  60 dead? . . . tsunami heading to Hawaii. . . watch on west coast (USA).

Any news of our Japanese prince, Katsumoto? Uhm. Typical NLer. Probably not even Japanese at all.
[/quote]



[quote author=Kilode?!:

I heard it's now like 300 dead, I'm sure Katsumoto is safe, black people can smell water 3 days away


You sure no dey fear! Katsumoto is still alive o!

I am safe, thanks and my ancestral home in Kyoto is also good. I do however, have a friend who is trapped in Kawagoe, a city not far from that nuclear plant in Fukushima.

No mind Isale gangan; I will deal with her later.

isale_gan2:

Classic!  A snarky Kilode too.  Have I told you lately that I love you?  Seriously, have I?   

Well done; 1 - 0 to Isale gangan

I can't win!  Why you all tripping, yo?! 

Here you go, all you thread regulars and the lovely Nairaland people:

[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com//v/tv36_QAVLsQ[/flash]

Katsumoto:

I am safe, thanks and my ancestral home in Kyoto is also good. I do however, have a friend who is trapped in Kawagoe, a city not far from that nuclear plant in Fukushima.

Are you serious?  I'm sorry about your friend.  Still not sure about your Japanese genealogy; first I've heard of it. 

African Poetry, Part I

Introduction

Funny, I had already taken literature in secondary school for a couple of years and enjoyed it.  We had studied the messages in classics by Shakespeare, that is required reading for everyone, and a few works by respected African authors.  All except Shakespeare were prose - novels that can be readily followed; a format incorporating dialogue and narrative similar to what teenagers were already familiar. 

Then, a new school year, and the challenge of promoting to a higher form: I found we had to tackle poetry in our literature class.  So, I'm thanking God I had previously read Julius Caesar in its original iambic pentameter form.  A horrifying part of the requirement during the term had been memorising Mark Anthony's speech: " Friends Romans Countrymen, lend me your ears, I have come to bury Caeser, Not to Praise him, The evil that men do lives after them. . . "  If I live to be a hundred, I'd still remember some of the opening lines in that speech.  I can still see my eyes get round and the sweat form when we all thought the teacher might call upon us to recite it from memory, afterall it was an assignment and the highlight of the book.  He didn't call upon any of us to recite it from memory, although I and one boy did have to read parts of it to the class.  We usually read the parts the teacher himself didn't feel like reading out loud.  Phew!

So, back to the new form and the "higher" level of literature.  We think our last year's literature teacher had some promotion or did he get too close to the precocious moon-faced girl in the back of the class?  Anywhatever, we were going to get a new teacher to regale us with the literary words of the sages.  Who would it be?  Another skinny and humourless guy from Ghana?  An old round woman from the east that'll bend your ears if you spoke out of turn?  Or, if we were really lucky, an arrogant guy with a fake European accent who will get so moved by the words he'll spit when he talks!  Isale better not sit in the front seat I love so much.  Time to switch with the pushy girl in the center row who had been coveting my spot since last year. 

So, who who who is gonna stimulate and motivate us to full appreciation of Literature in English.  Not a new teacher we could all gossip about and pass ludicrous tales about until we got used to him and the newness wears off.  Not anything resembling what I predicted.

No.  Not a new and fresh victim.  No one but the dimunitive, heavily "ara-oke" accented, boring-as-a-hole-in-the-ground Geography teacher.  I think I took his class for a couple of days, listening to him talk about molten magmas and hurricanes, before switching to something more exciting like needlework!  He was the type that never made his presence known. 

The type that was too shy to even address high-school students outside of the classroom, for Pete's sake.  How he survived standing in front of a class day in a day out I never knew.  Now that I'm older, I can imagine he throws up before class in classic stage fright mode, or maybe he takes a shot of gin to up his confidence before strolling into class.

So, how in hell's bathroom did we get this tiny soft-spoken guy to be our new literature teacher?  The shortage is that bad, we're getting geography freaking teachers to teach Shakespeare now?  How'd I end up in this sorry excuse of a school? 

Well, they say "don't ever judge a book by its cover".  The previous year, when I had to do all that iambic pentameter stuff in Julius Caesar and Macbeth and Taming of the Shrew, I faked the funk - just glad I muddled through.  I, and I'm confident to say, most of my classmates knew not what the hell the rhymes meant.  We understood the plot, the drama, the storyline, the imagery, but we didn't understand the rhymes or the rules that was tediously employed by Shakespeare or what any poet employs. 

But, the underestimated Geography-come-literature teacher? Wow!  He brought it all to life.  So, you mean you have to employ an ABCDEF or AABB or any combination therefore at the end of each line, paying attention to syllables patterns, plus the verses also need uniformity?  Awesome. 

Because of this man, with the heavily accented speech - yes, he pronounced S as Sh, and vice versa, a lot of times; and if you weren't reading the book along with him, you might think he was speaking vernacular.  In spite of that, I learned to really appreciate a literary form that seemed alien to me.   He was not an exciting teacher, didn't employ any dramatic styles, didn't try to be a star or a know-it-all, just someone who truly loved the poetic form and understood and loved the African writers - which was our focus at the time - and the message they were trying to convey.  Most of it too complex for a 13/14-year old minds but boy, what a joy!  Really an amazing person. 

He was not a great communicator himself but through his careful and consistent manner all my mates began to really understand what we were learning, to the point many of us started writing in rhymes.  My diary changed from all whiny long-rambling stream of consciousness to incorporate more and more short sentences that grew to verses of poems. 

The joy of learning all embodied by an underestimated and underappreciated man whose name I don't even remember.  I wonder what happened to him?  You were awesome, Geography man!  Hope to find you and thank you for that one term in school. 

To start off the oft-promised series of African Poetry, I will highlight one of my former teacher's favourite authors:

The Great Senegalese, LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR.

Known for being a great statesman, author, leader and many more.  For one year, in literature class, I knew him more as a great poet. 

He wrote in French.  I hope this English translation I found online does him justice.  

In Memoriam
BY LÉOPOLD SÉDAR SENGHOR

Today is Sunday.
I fear the crowd of my fellows with such faces of stone.
From my glass tower filled with headaches and impatient Ancestors,
I contemplate the roofs and hilltops in the mist.
In the stillness—somber, unclothed chimneys.
Below them my dead are asleep and my dreams turn to ashes.
All my dreams, blood running freely down the streets
And mixing with blood from the butcher shops.
From this observatory like the outskirts of town
I contemplate my dreams lost along the streets,
Crouched at the foot of the hills like the guides of my race
On the rivers of the Gambia and the Saloum
And now on the Seine at the foot of these hills.
Let me remember my dead!
Yesterday was All Saints’ Day, the solemn anniversary of the Sun,
And I had no dead to honor in any cemetery.
O Forefathers! You who have always refused to die,
Who knew how to resist Death from the Sine to the Seine,
And now in the fragile veins of my indomitable blood,
Guard my dreams as you did your thin-legged migrant sons!
O Ancestors! Defend the roofs of Paris in this dominical fog,
The roofs that protect my dead.
Let me leave this tower so dangerously secure
And descend to the streets, joining my brothers
Who have blue eyes and hard hands.

Night in Sine
BY LÉOPOLD SÉDAR SENGHOR

Woman, place your soothing hands upon my brow,
Your hands softer than fur.
Above us balance the palm trees, barely rustling
In the night breeze. Not even a lullaby.
Let the rhythmic silence cradle us.
Listen to its song. Hear the beat of our dark blood,
Hear the deep pulse of Africa in the mist of lost villages.

Now sets the weary moon upon its slack seabed
Now the bursts of laughter quiet down, and even the storyteller
Nods his head like a child on his mother’s back
The dancers’ feet grow heavy, and heavy, too,
Come the alternating voices of singers.

Now the stars appear and the Night dreams
Leaning on that hill of clouds, dressed in its long, milky pagne.
The roofs of the huts shine tenderly. What are they saying
So secretly to the stars? Inside, the fire dies out
In the closeness of sour and sweet smells.

Woman, light the clear-oil lamp. Let the Ancestors
Speak around us as parents do when the children are in bed.
Let us listen to the voices of the Elissa Elders. Exiled like us
They did not want to die, or lose the flow of their semen in the sands.
Let me hear, a gleam of friendly souls visits the smoke-filled hut,
My head upon your bosom as warm as tasty dang streaming from the fire,
Let me breathe the odor of our Dead, let me gather
And speak with their living voices, let me learn to live
Before plunging deeper than the diver
Into the great depths of sleep.

^^ finally the Quiet question; "How come she likes literature and strange poetry so much" has been partially answered.

Good teachers are such a gem. . . another obscure, uncelebrated teacher and lover of the arts saved the fertile mind of a precocious teenager. . . 

But, the underestimated Geography-come-literature teacher? Wow!  He brought it all to life.  So, you mean you have to employ an ABCDEF or AABB or any combination therefore at the end of each line, paying attention to syllables patterns, plus the verses also need uniformity?  Awesome.

Awesome? nerdy much? I was glad I survived my brief encounter with those iambic mumbo jumbos, it's all a blur now though .

Did you meet your Ogbomoso born Poetry teacher in Naija or US? 

Isale, give us Le Femme Noir too.

Naija all the way. 'Twas in secondary school in Lagos. I mistakenly wrote "high school" instead of Grammar or Secondary School.

So, is that what that accent is? Ogbomosho? The "shoe" pronounced as Su" or "Fashanu" pronounced as "Fasanu." Sorry, it is all ara-oke speech to the sheltered Lagosians. lol

^^ You better not diss Ogbomoso people. If DK catch you, even Katsumoto's sword no go save you o

isale_gan2:

Naija all the way. 'Twas in secondary school in Lagos. I mistakenly wrote "high school" instead of Grammar or Secondary School.

Ok, I was hoping "Tisa" was an ara-oke teaching Oyinbo kids the subtle superior art of African poetry. . .

Kilode?!:

^^ You better not diss Ogbomoso people. If DK catch you, even Katsumoto's sword no go save you o

lol.  DK's been looking for my trouble for some time now, and I may just indulge him.  He is one guy who is so dogged in totally ruffling other people's feathers.  I do wish I could meet him - I'd jump up and give him a couple slaps to his big head.

Ok, I was hoping "Tisa" was an ara-oke teaching Oyinbo kids the subtle superior art of African poetry. . .

I don't think he could survive American teenagers o. 

He was actually a multi-learned man.  In addition to geography, and literature, he also could have taught Math and Yoruba as a course.  The first time I actually saw someone doing incantations, other than on those ridiculous TV shows where the babalawo is always some cartoonish character, it was him.  A discussion of one of the African poets (possibly Soyinka) who employed a very Ifa-centric rhythmic pattern in one of his work was being discussed.  In order to get the lesson into our not-fully developed brains, our teacher decided to do actual incantations for us to see what he was talking about. I mean, seriously, they broke the mould when they made that guy.

Isale, give us Le Femme Noir too.

I shall.  How 'bout some of me original works of yesteryears?  lol. The "Emily Dickinson meets Buchi Emecheta meets teen angst"?  Neh, I wouldn't subject you to such.   

Okay, that's an assignment for moi - Poets of the feminine gender, preferably African. Got it!

You know, I wish there would be more submissions and participation.  I'm definitely feeling in a literary mood at the mo.  When I get that out of my system, we'll get back to Politics or whatever we normally discuss here.  

Kilode.  I would love to see excerpts of some of the Yoruba literature we previously discussed, when you can, of course. 

Also, from everyone, I would like us to share recommendations for reading material: literature, history, current affairs, biographies, etc.

Lyrical Poets, improvising.

[flash=480,400]http://www.youtube.com//v/iwiJNWyGICU[/flash]

As usual, there's a lot going on visually, but the emphasis is on the vocals.

[flash=480,400]http://www.youtube.com//v/RU5hyylFGPg[/flash]

@Isale,  Your History/Math/Yoruba/Ijala singing teacher; deaamnn!! I will pay to go back to Secondary school and seat in a class with a teacher like that. That's a real life Polymath right there. Kinda rare these days, everyone wants to specialize and certify! 

While specialization has it's merits, IMO, too much of it robs us of the rich and diverse range of knowledge we can bring to bear on our lives and interactions.

A lot of the most celebrated minds in history were regarded as polymaths; Imhotep, Avicenna, Da vinci, Galileo, Newton, Pascal, Edward Said etc

like they say "Plough wide, dig deep"

Kilode.  I would love to see excerpts of some of the Yoruba literature we previously discussed, when you can, of course. 

Also, from everyone, I would like us to share recommendations for reading material: literature, history, current affairs, biographies, etc.

I will see what I can do, getting tired of typing long stuff on NL these days. . .

@US school kids, I heard they are a handful, too much freedom and liberty huh?

Kilode?!:

I will see what I can do, getting tired of typing long stuff on NL these days. . .

No worries, Oga Kilode.  My posting is sporadic as well.  Sometime a little; sometime a lot.  Anytime you or (anyone else) feel(s) like it, mention one or more books you'd recommend as essential to a personal library.  Not an assignment. 

Okay, so this is dedicated to two of this thread's very worthy contributors.  Not naming names, sorry.    You are free to identify yourself though.  It's all good.

I really like this; hope you do too.

Enjoy.

[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com//v/hxIc6Uej3Dc[/flash]

[flash=640,390]http://www.youtube.com//v/s3OBQoLlzrM[/flash]



[flash=640,390]http://www.youtube.com//v/l038_GBnUlc[/flash]

shakes my head

foreign affairs they will not discuss -

dem dey post orin ira nu

^e dey pain them o. . . e dey pain them

waka pass jor, after dem don enjoy the music finish come dey complain

who tell you sef say music no be foreign affair mata?

Isale, I Want To Talk About Living Abroad -- oya come lets discuss.

blacksta:

Isale,  I Want To Talk About Living Abroad --  oya come lets discuss.

Uhm, I'm scared. 

:::nervous smiley:::

Kilode?!:

I was going to discuss Ifa, then I saw that most people on here are Babalawos and secret aborisas anyway, so it will be a redundant groupthink thing.

I will think of something else. while I leave you with this video as instructed by the irunmoles. teach them, they will learn

[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com//v/hLNWvGwKlWI[/flash]

Oga Kilode,

I finally watched the video.  For some reason I thought it was an instructive one hour video, not a snapshot of the little girl's recitation.  That was great, btw.

I also watched this one, posted by the same user, Omorisa. I wanted to see that fussy baby's face too. lol.:
[flash=480,390]http://www.youtube.com//v/iuM3c5g-CVo&NR=1[/flash]

I then watched this video below.  I noticed something which might sound very controversial to some, and probably not suitable for discussion here or anywhere on Nairaland. lol.  That is, the similarity between the rituals of the head bowing there and salat prayer.  It is something I will need to study further. Years ago an AA muslim friend mentioned what I thought was a fantasy at the time (afterall Americans are known for appropriating other peoples successes and innovation as theirs): that the muslim prayers was copied from a black slave in Arabia.  I didn't take it seriously until I saw this video a moment ago. Very interesting. I'm not convinced, but it is interesting, to say the least.  I think Naijababe will know what I'm talking about.

[flash=480,390]http://www.youtube.com//v/LS_IBMQhx5A[/flash]