₦airaland Forum

Perhaps I should have told some of these stories to my little sister.

However, rather than wasting her time with irrelevant nonsense, I motivated her instead by saying, "Hey, I think if you work and study hard, you'll be able to pass the exam to get into this prestigious high school in your town. From there, you'll be in a great position to get into an Ivy League school." And that is exactly what happened...from that she was motivated enough to graduate near the top of her HS class and get into an Ivy league school.

OK, with the younger one, I'll motivate her with stories by moonlight such as this

In "6000 BC, your ancestor Blahblahblah invented the English language, which he then passed to the Europeans, who then used this to found the Roman Empire. Now, go kick azz in school and make your bro proud!!!"

Na wa for una

I have questions for those who believe that oil represents an overwhelming fraction of Nigeria's GDP.

1. What fraction of Nigeria's GDP does the oil sector represent, in your estimation? 10%? 20%? 90%?
2. How big do you think Nigeria's GDP is? A rough estimate will do.

Once someone answers these questions, we can do some reasoning and see how good these estimates are.

I think for some reason you believe that I personally identify with ancient African inventions.

Unlike you, my self-esteem is not tied up in things that may or may not have happened thousands of years ago done by people I at best have a tenuous connection with.

I take pride in my personal accomplishments. Or live vicariously through the accomplishments of my siblings/relatives.

It honestly cracks me up that the man salivating over fake inventions done thousands of years ago with nothing else to follow from it is questioning the temperament of others.

Look, face your current life. Face today, tomorrow, and this upcoming week. Do great things today, so you won't have to live in a fake past.

J12: The Statistics bureau is trying to play to the gallery with economic facts and data.
If agriculture is the major contributor to our GDP, how come the north (a predominantly agrarian zone) is wallowing in poverty when compared to the south?

1. It isn't the statistics bureau alone who has produced this estimate. Various other sources have similar #s.
2. How is your second statement a contradiction?

VoodooDoll: Only buffoons will think that 160m people live off oil alone, especially when the value from oil is captured by the IOCs, Govt and their lackeys.

correct yarn

Beaf: ^
If you don't know what I mean by growth engine, it would make sense to ask rather than talking blind. No?
Economics and development are not areas that can be driven by gut feeling or emotion.

The onus is on you to define new terminology that you introduce (e.g. '95% of our growth engine'), not on me to ask what you mean.

Oil does not represent "95% of our growth engine", whatever that even means.

GDP growth of the oil sector in Nigeria has been flat or negative over the past few years...

Correct.

Nigeria's economy is like 30-40% oil. And this is in fact (one of) the slowest growing parts of the economy.

So as time progresses, oil will represent an even smaller fraction of the economy.

Loops and conditions are one way to build algorithms. But recursion, dynamic programming, etc are more.

Anyway, the main things behind algorithms, at least the type you'll study in an academic setting:
1) Running time
2) Correctness

So you need some math to do these things.

The internet was invented by DARPA. Who built ARPANET (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET).

Who is this British guy who came up with the "idea?" Look, likely lots of people had the vague idea of computers communicating. But it is one thing to come up with a vague idea, another to come up with concrete technologies. E.g., TCP/IP.

More to the point, if you believe that the idea was invented by a British dude (a European), then clearly you have contradicted your earlier post in which you seemed amused by the idea of the internet being invented by Europeans...

So...in general. If you want to call someone else ignorant, it is somewhat helpful if you get your facts straight first.

1. Let's discuss the internet, first.

a) If you want to be pedantic, I said "Western." Not European. So factually you are wrong in your assertion that I claimed that Europeans invented the internet.
b) America (the inventors of the internet) is a society/culture founded by white Europeans. Most would consider America, Canada, Australia, NZ under the general category of European culture/society. Since the dominant and founding culture in each of those countries is white Europeans. It is fine if you disagree with someone characterizing those countries as "European." But that isn't particularly relevant, because of (a).

2. The point is not that Europeans invented writing or roads. That is actually irrelevant, something you'd probably have picked up on if you'd paid more attention. The point is that

a) they were certainly the ones who brought modern writing and modern roads to Nigeria (or I guess for me to preempt pedantry again, southern Nigeria).
b) it seems fairly unlikely that we'd have these things w/o interacting with them (or some other group).

Blyss: No, you should of kept that at Africans, Ace. I can post up a plethora of inventions in which were established by Black-Americans in both the recent and past, in which are essential to the modern world today. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but in this situation we Black-Americans are in a whole difference league from Africans, and pretty much all other blacks.

Out of curiosity, can you name some examples?

I do agree that African Americans are in a better situation on average than Africans.

But one wonders whether this is their own doing, or simply a function of being a resident of the most powerful country on earth...

There are very two dangerous trends I've noticed among Africans and black people more generally:

1. Reveling in dubious achievements made thousands of years ago. E.g., "the pyramids were built by black people. Yayyyyyyy!" Even pretending temporarily that this actually happened, shouldn't the natural response be, "OK, so who gives a fvck? What have you done for me lately?"

2. Blaming others for certain problems. E.g., it was the white man who colonized us who is to blame for our troubles. Well, didn't he colonize other people too? I'm not saying that he is innocent of course. He certainly is not. But it isn't as if he is God that he determines your destiny somehow.

These attitudes are not conducive to building a better future.

How did they arrest the development of sub-Saharan Africans?

What is your argument for this?

You are Igbo, I am Yoruba. Yet today in 2012 we are conversing in a mutually intelligible language on Nairaland. A Nigerian forum yes, but a communication medium largely built on Western technologies.

Haven't these Western technologies made it easier for us to communicate and develop? And even if you want to ignore recent advances like the internet, etc. What of phones? Planes? Excellent roads? Universities? Writing systems? I did not have these things in 1800. But now I have them.

So I don't think we can say that the European has "arrested" African development necessarily.

At least, you'll need a strong argument for this hypothesis.

So depending on how you define "cut off from the world", then your argument should also hold true for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, no? Yet despite arguably being on the periphery of the world, they've erased the gap between them and the Europeans. And are now contributing to science and technology vigorously.

Moreover, while one can argue that West Africa or sub-Saharan Africa were relatively isolated...I think it is fair to say that the North African countries and places like Ethiopia were not.

Yet these places haven't done anything of note recently, to my knowledge.

1. I don't think my IQ is particularly low. It is well above average. Heck, above average even among really smart people.
2. I don't have an inferiority complex. If anything, I have the opposite problem...I have a tendency to believe that I'm better than everyone else.
3. You've missed the point of my posts, I suppose. If I have time later today, perhaps I will explain it to you.

He is a businessman trying to make money. Posts which will attract lots of traffic mean more adverts shown. Which means more money made.

Let him run his business the way he wants. You run yours the way you want.

Happy 4th to Yankees and Yankee-lovers.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M

What does "from Nigeria" even mean.

Presumably at some point far in the past, the land mass known as Nigeria did not have any human beings. If this is true, then all of us are from somewhere else.

Same is probably true for most countries on the earth...aside from whichever place humans first originated.

So, how are you defining "from"? 1000 years of residency? 5,000? 10,000?

Ultimately though, oyb's post hits the nail on the head.

The world is a "what have you done for me lately" sort of place. If we cannot mention anything we have done in the past 100 years, or 1000 years...

I think less effort/energy should be spent on hunting for dubious accomplishments from several thousand years ago, and more effort focused on doing cool things today.

oyb: greece is also known as the cradle of civilisation nd today theya re an economic basketcase
spain was once a world power

this chest beating over the past sadly comes off as some sort of bid to defend the failures of the present

sort of like a old gateman bragging to his kids about how he was always coming first in primary one

lmao

you never fail to crack me up man

which kyn useless thread be this

anything recent? E.g., within the past 100 years? Or even the past 1000 years?

Why are we only able to mention accomplishments from several thousand years ago

A good math background helps.

But the main thing is a willingness to learn.

[quote author=Mynd_44]I seriously don't get this OP. She wants the get laid we know. So why waste everyone's time? Go see the guy and nack him[/quote]+1

why all the drama

bayooooooo: Boko Haram did not just start yesterday!

abi o

what is the difference between this command and the Boko Haram terrorists?

Or Hitler?

Why is one good, and one evil?

I cannot tell the difference.

Anyway, gnight ya'll...going back somewhere safer (politics, programming, or romance section).

Anyway, that is enough for the night.

This is why I try not to think too deeply about religion.

Better to just go to church mindlessly and not think hard about what you are doing.

1 Samuel 15:3
King James Version (KJV)
3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.


Infants. Newborn babies. All should be destroyed and killed. Why?

kandiikane: I am questioning but just incase, I will just follow one religion so, atleast I have a chance of not burning if God dey.

God of the Old Testament plays favorites too much, also.

Why does he let the Israelites genocide, rape and kill whoever they want?

Why did God favor Joseph over his brothers?

How can you "win" the favor of God if he is biased against you before you are even born?

How can you "win" if he will always favor the Jews over you?