₦airaland Forum

donnie:
Please understand that i am not against any religion... neither am i against anyone. I really do not have the time for that. In fact i have personal friends who belong to other religions and we respect each others opinions.

Thank you for making that clear. I'm quite sure you're a swell guy to meet in person The impersonal aspect of the internet and the lack of nuance makes people express their emotions a little more harshly than they would in a face to face conversation.

donnie:
My concern here is not about non-christains but about those who come under the guise of practicing believing christians only to speak carelessly and contradict God's word. If you are not a christian, simply say so. If you are a theologian, let us know because i know that there are many theologians who though they have been sudying the scriptures for years, do not believe in Jesus.

I think you have a wrong understanding of the breath of opinions among Christians. For example, many Ethiopian Christians have never used the Bible, they were not even aware of it's existence until recently. Are they not Christians?
If so, why can one not be Christian without taking the Bible as the literal word of God?

@ vexxy
Once again, I couldn't have said it any better.

@ all
Please realise that ethnocentrism is a natural tendency in humans, but that we should do anything in our power to fight it. We should all look deep into our hearts and see whether or not we're prejudiced against one or another group. Once we recognise that negative attitude, we can fight it.

Ignoring that we are all capable of letting our ethnocentric feelings slip into prejudice or outright racism isn't helping at all. If you can recognise a negative attitude as negative, you can start fighting it.

Above all, treat people as individuals, not as members of one or another group. Only once you know someone as a person can you look into group associations

I have mixed feelings about this issue.

Belgium has taken as Pontius Pilatus attitude concerning the murder of Patrice Lumumba. They propped up a regime in Katanga under Moise Tschombe, that was basically controlled by Union Minère. While the CIA supported Kasa-Vubu and played him out against Lumumba with their trump card Mobutu in their sleeves, they could undermine Lumumba and eventually capture him. He was sent to Katanga knowing very well that this would mean his assassination

All Belgian puppet players remained protected, as they were not doing any dirty work themselves. The plot to assassinate Lumumba was know up to the highest levels of the Belgian government, including the then prime minister Gaston Eyskens. Even though there was an official apologyby the Belgian government in 2002, this was clearly another case of too little too late

Even now there are countless apologists in Belgium that defend both the wicked Congo Free State of Leopold II and the colonisation by Belgium that followed. At independence Congo only counted one university graduate. The charismatic personality of Lumumba could have pulled of the feat of creating one nation. He was surely succeeding in bringing together the different nationalities in Congo. His biggest obstacle was that he, as an African nationalist, was seen by the US as another communist (which he was not). Belgium was more realistic in this matter, but they propped up the idea to ensure US support in weakening the Congolse state and thus keeping economic control over the ex-colony.

Currently, Belgium no longer has any meaningful economic interests in Congo and that is probably why they feel that now they can support the democratisation process. Once again a case of too little, too late.

Concerning the trials under the so-called Belgian genocide law, it is indeed hypocritical that a country with such a tainted history should be the one persecuting these war criminals, but honestly, I see no real alternative? The US is undermining the international criminal court in the Hague and you cannot expect the OAU to do this, can you? Maybe South Africa should take on this role, but they too are reluctant to attack former friends, such as Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

I really don't know what the best solution would be. Someone like Hissen Habré should certainly not be allowed to escape justice.

Alexia:
Thanks Hunter.

Can anybody guess why this new Boeing was named A380 and not A360 or 370? I mean why the 8!!

It's not a Boeing, but an Airbus. European, not American

No clue why the 380

goodguy:
I really don't know. I only asked the question to hear your opinion about it.

It's just that I don't like to take things at face value. What are the motivations, what are the circumstances, what is the context?

The more incredible an event, the higher the burden of proof becomes. After careful investigation, 99% of all these cases prove to be frauds. The remaining 1% is just pure coincidence.

ijebuman:
Definition of 'cure' (from dictionary.com)

cure (kyr)n.

Restoration of health; recovery from disease.
A method or course of treatment used to restore health.
An agent that restores health; a remedy.

nferyn I disagree, you can cure malaria but there is no vaccine to prevent it or stop it from reoccurring if you're exposed to it again. Malaria "can't be contained to a certain degree" as you either have the parasites in your body or you don't (which is the case when you are treated for it i.e cured) .

You are absolutely right. I'm not a native English speaker, so i didn't fully get the correct meaning of cure. I meant to say the erradication of the parasite. Those treatments can restore the health of the patients, although the health level of some may be permanently decreased.

It's very important that everybody that is not native to tropical Africa or other tropical regions take the necessary precautions. Even those Africans that migrated should get their full supplement of shots when they come back as they've lost a big part of their immunity against malaria.

goodguy:
Nferyn, there was a case of a boy who was born with Islamic writings on his forehead here in Nigeria. What do you have to say to that? (I don't know what has become of him now anyway).

Nothing. There is an off chance that something like that happens (more than 6 billion people on this planet, don't forget), but it is more likely a fraud. Was there independent verification of the fact?

tolutope:
so in a nutshell we aren't created? or is there nothing more to this life and world than what it is now?

That's my opinion and it is supported by mountains of evidence. There is nothing in this world that makes me believe there is something supernatural. All that has been ascribed to the supernatural in the past has been brought back to natural causes. The mind (or spirit) can be located in the brain. We have not yet discovered how all things work exactly, but give it time and we will.

tolutope:
buddhism is like yoga.. an exercise to clear the mind and when u talk of your mind . then u talk of soul when u talk of soul.. u talk of spirit.. what is spirit?.. if God is a spirit then why do we say he doesnt exist? buddha is a god not a human.. what is a god? spirit.. are u gettin my point?.... so if we say there are spirits then its possible that God exist.. or what do u think nferyn, goodguy.. eveyone .....?

I'm not a Buddhist, but I like the Buddhist approach to spirituality and I use their meditation techniques to clear my mind and to feel connected to the world.
Buddhists believe in reincarnation and afterlife (Nirvana), I don't.

tolutope:
look it aint easy discussing spiritual things but we can do it logically...and with common sense.. which aint really common..

The moment you try to put logic or evidence into the whole thing, God is reduced to nearly zero or to the prime force that started the universe, but is no longer involved in it.
The divine rests on faith, i.e. belief without evidence. I cannot bring myself to do that.
A physicist I know once told me that God, for him, can be described as the unifying theory in physics. The one formula that combines all the known forces (weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force, ...). Now, that was waay over my head, but it proves that people find spirituality in different things.

part 7 - a perfect gift

After my wife gave birth to my son Tom, we decided to wait a few years to have our next baby. AS my wife has troubles swallowing pills, she decided to take a hormonal injection as birth control. Unfortunately, this upset here hormonal balance and even though we wanted to have a new baby, it was not coming as easily as expected. It took almost 3 years for her hormone balance to settle to normal levels.

Finally she got pregnant just before she travelled to Nigeria to meet the family. As she hadn't been to Nigeria in several years, she needed to get all the shots against malaria and the like. She could not use Lariam as she wanted to get pregnant, so she settled for Malarone. During the last 2 weeks of her trip she was feeling nausea and when she got back, we confirmed that she was pregnant again.

Happy that it finally succeeded, we were looking forward to our new baby. During the 7th month, she was already feeling very weak and could hardly do any physical labour anymore. The Gynecologist could not find anything wrong with her, so we decided to monitor everything closely and wait for what was to happen.

By that time my grandmother was slowly losing her grip on life and becoming weaker by the day. When we were visting my aunty, we heard that she had lapsed into a coma and that she probably wouldn't make it for very long anymore. The next day, my aunty called me to say the my grandmother had passed away. I was emotionally quite shaken, as I felt I did not spend enough time with her during her last 3 years. At the same time my wife's condition wasn't improving either. The next Wednesday we both went to give my grandmother a last greeting in the morgue. My wife couldn't even enter as she was feeling too sick. We decided to go to the hospital for a check-up.

As our gynecologist wasn't there, the gynecologist of service decided to keep her under observation for the night. The next morning, I overslept and rushed to my car to get to work. While I was just about to enter the highway, I got a call from the hospital. I didn't pick up my mobile in time and put myself on the side of the road. I called the hospital and got the gynecologist on the phone. He told me that they had to operate and perform a cesarean section within the hour or both my wife and the baby would be lost.

It was as if I was struck by lightning. For 5 minutes, I couldn't react, I didn't know what to say or do. I went immediately to the hospital and luckily, I could see my wife just before she was going to enter the operating room. She was already close to losing consciencenes so we just exchanged a few looks. I just hoped she wouldn't see how frightened I was.

While she was being prepared for the cesarean section, I could briefly talk to the gynecologist. They had done some blood test the night before and apparently my wife's liver was breaking down. The toxicity of her blood was already high, but it hadn't passed the placenta barrier yet. She was suffering from a rare hereditary condition that hardly ever manifests itself. The gynecologist called it acute pregnancy induced liver atrophy. In short, she would lose her liver function if the pregnancy was not terminated.immediately.

As the baby was already 7,5 months, there would normally be no problem with an early delivery, especially because she wouldn't have to pass the trauma of a [i]normal [/i]birth. I was extremely fearful of the fact that the baby was premature, especially since I had seen quite a few premature children that were severely hampered in their mental development but the doctor explained that all bodily functions were already fully developed, except for breathing, but that this wouldn't be problematic.

Then I had to wait for a few painfull hours. I quickly got out of finger nails and the skin on my fingers wasn't sufficient to calm my nerves. They came to tell me that the section was successful and that they were taking my daughter to the maternity floor. Quickly they could tell me that everything was OK with my wife and that I could go and see her within the hour. Meanwhile, I called my parents and her sister in Austria who would inform the rest of the family. Her sister would come over to Belgium as soon as possible.

About that time I could go and see my daughter. She was really beautiful, but o so very tiny and fragile. She moved a lot and the nurses said she was really a fighter.

next.... the first weeks of Aicha, My wife slowly recovered....

[quote author=larger_20 link=topic=630.msg105424#msg105424 date=1132239512]The cure for HIV is in the Virus itself. It also lies outside the virus but intensive internal properties are likley to be more effective in dealing with it. So the question now is how do we destroy the living cells in the Virus? That is what the world is currently doing and hopefully cure will emerge. Just like malaria killed millions before its cure was found. So will this be..[/quote]A virus isn't a cell, it's even not a DNA. It's some RNA that uses a host cell to replicate. The fact that it is so small, that it's 'life' cycle is so short, that a smaller percentage of mutations is harmfull to the virus, ... all cause the virus to mutate so quickly that it is extremely hard to find any treatment that targets the the virus itself, rather than the symptoms.
There are no effective cures against virusses
We currently have not found a cure against malaria. It can be contained to a certain degree, but [i]cures [/i]are not available.

Here are some more recent pics as promised

Seun:
If you read the scenario I presented earlier, you'll notice that it doesn't contradict these principles. The "punishments" - apologize to your mom, cat burial, chores to pay back - are delivered almost immediately.

Yes, but you still maintain that you cannot use physical punishment under any circumstances. You can strive for that, but you cannot possibly maintain it in the long run
1. Children differ greatly in how they react to different types of punishment, some will only react to physical punishment (but if you act consistently, you won't need to resport to that very often)
2. Very young children need a stimulus-response approach and that includes physical punishment
3. Any threat of violence (e.g. I will slap you 5 times on your bottom if you don't do as I say) should be carried out if the child fails to react appropriately, even if in hindsight it wasn't the best solution. Consistency is very important

Seun:
[SNIP] I don't think there's any Nigerian who doesn't recognize the phrase "I will beat you o!"
[SNIP]

This is all too familiar.
I regularly say jokingly to my wife that if she would actually do it once for every 10 times she makes the threat, she would still have sore hands.

Seun:
I've done it before with other people's kids staying with us, and it worked, so I'm not naive. Just because your parents used to terrorize you doesn't mean you have to terrorize your children.

What pains me most about the "Nigerian" way of treating a child is that by the time the child is 10 or 11 she will already be beating ("disciplining?" her junior ones too. It is one thing to terrorize a child out of ignorance, it is another thing to turn a child into a little demon and I hate that!
[SNIP]

Everything depends on the context in which a punishment is given. This is the one thing that my wife and me quarrel about. She used to have the habit of punishing the kids by giving them a slap.
Now, even though I think using any physical violence should only be the last resort, it's not the slap that is harmfull, but the context in which the slap was given.

My wife punishes only when she can not longer handle the situation, when the kids are out of control. She doesn't step in early enough to be effective. If the child cannot connect the punishment with the wrongdoing, she will be utterly confused, won't understand why she was being punished and start to think that this behaviour is normal.

As a parent, you always need to act immediately after the offense. You need to be consistent [/b]in your approach.
I usually tell them one to stop when they're doing something wrong. After that one more warning follows. I always say what kind of punishment they'll receive if they don't comply. If they still continue, they'll be punished immediately and I will never ever bulge to their cries.
After the punishment I take them with me to explain what they did wrong and why I punished them. This is a very effective way of handling my kids. They give us way less headaches when I'm around then when they're only around my wife. She knows perfectly well that this is very effective, but she cannot bring herself to act [b]immediately [/b]after the wrongdoing

Now concerning the older children punishing the younger ones, I think this [b]absolutely, totally unacceptable. I will never, ever accept this in my household. If my son ever tries this on his sister, he will be punished far more severely than for any other offense.
Anyway, children should never have any authority over other children.

What exactly will be the effect of the ruling?
Are there fines imposed on the oil companies that still continue flaring gas?
If so, how are these fines collected?

In short, what will be the effect on the ground?

Not one Nigerian here on this forum made me feel unwelcome. This is indeed a community of [i]friendly [/i]Nigerians and [i]friends [/i]of Nigeria.
Let her join the music

goodguy:
Thanks for typing.

My pleasure

tolutope:
nferyn.. i aint a fanatic and im sorry for what the catholic did to u.. likewise to u all who have 1 grievance or the other.. .. just because God or watever u call him gave u more hardknocks than happy life doesnt mean he aint real...

Luckily this didn't happen to me personally. It did cause my parents to turn away from their childhood religion and because of this, I have never been really exposed to the God concept before my teens. Monotheistic religions (be they Judaism, Christianity or Islam) just don't make sense to me at all.

tolutope:
surprisingly even scholars will tell u that the bible is d most accurate and common sensed book they have ever come across... no mattter your ideolgy or outlook in life u can always find that it was stated in the book way before u could claim it was said 1st by whoever.....

If you think that is true, then you really need to update your knowledge of church history and especially the process by which the Bible was edited.

tolutope:
and who has ever followed the book to the letter and have not ended up being famous for one unique xter or the other they possessed?abraham lincoln 4 example.my aim of bringing up this thread is to find out how many people think humans or this life is just a passing phase where u just play your part.. or it was part of a particular plan that has an end.by something or someone out there?

I don't think life is a passing phase. It's the only phase we have. I don't think there is a plan or purpouse to this life, but rather that there is only meaning where the individual wants to find it. There is no master plan.

tolutope:
xplaining spirituality is like talking politics to a hungry man.. if his mind can't grasp the concept of it then u are talking trash..... likewise to you all who feel jazz and blood moni etc are imagination...u can't understand till u come to terms with your self... even talkin to yourself is like talking to another being in u... not just the wonder of the brain..... try and take sometime to chill by the sea side where its all quiet and look around.. mayb it'll dawn on u.. that life aint just that cell..originated..

I don't understand you here. Are you claiming that I'm not spiritual becasue I don not believe in a supreme being? I'm a - very loose - follower of the buddhist philosophy. Buddhists have no concept of God, but you can hardly deny that they are among the most spiritual people in the world.
You should really try to broaden you horizon. Spirituality is not only achieved through pondering about a monotheistic God. If I meditate in nature and feel a oneness with my surroundings, am I not spiritual?

The real pain and tribulations are still to follow. Watch out for the next episode

raregroove:
nferyn, have you listened to trane's collaboration with Don Cherry - The Avant Garde? A mind boggling take on Ornette Coleman's classics...

No I haven't, but you make me curious. I don't really know Jazz all that well. There are some things I like and that I want to listen to over and over again. Apart from that, I'm just an ignoramus on the subject. I'm quite happy you want to educate me though

lioness:
@ nferyn.u amaze me. How come you know so much about church history, when you don't believe in God. Even those of us who believe in God don t know this much.

Well, coming from a country that was on the crossroads of the reformatory and contra-reformatory revolution makes you a little interested.
In the sixteenth century, there were a lot of new Christian movements springing up in the 17 provinces (what is now Belgium and Holland). They were persecuted by the so-called Spanish Fury (the Army sent by Philips 2 of Spain under Duke Alva. The northern part could break away (and is now the Netherlands). The southern part (what is now Belgium) remained under the yoke of the catholic Spaniards.

Before that struggle, what is now Belgium was one of the most advanced regions in Europe with a possible early onset of industrialization. After the Spaniards came, everything was in ruins. The population declined by 35% and in some regions close to the whole population was exterminated. Belgium remained majoritary Catholic until today. Until the late 60, Belgium was considered one of the gems on the crown of the Vatican. The society was strictly catholic, just like you currently still have in Poland and in Ireland until recently

That's where my interest comes from

allonym:
i don't think you understand nferyn

apparently, they believe that speaking in tongues DID NOT exist in the catholic church until very recently

The recent Catholic movement they're talking about is the charismatical renewal movement. They picked up a tradition that the Catholic Church left behind after the reformation

tolutope:
im not here to pick theory of evolution or origin of life and watever theoretical book u may bring up.. all im saying is take a minute to look around you and ask yourself questions and tell mi what your gut tells you.... there is more to this life,,, tru that.. nferyn

Hi tolutope,

The problem is that we have different frames of reference. I grew up in a secular household. Both my parents grew up Catholic, but were disgusted with the treatment they received from the Catholic Church. God or the Bible have never been my frame of reference. If you step outside the boundaries of your belief, you may see that there is more out there than you know.

I'm not telling you to abandon your beliefs, I'm quite sure they're very dear to you, but just try to empathise with people that do not follow your belief system.

Something I've said here before (this is just an analogy to illustrate my line of thought): If the only tool you have is a hammer (The Bible), than all problems will look like nails (the Christian point of view)

If you really want to understand how science handles beauty, mystery and the profound, I advise you to read Unweaving The Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder by Richard Dawkins (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618056734/qid=1132099173/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4141281-7828951?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 )

waool:
Thanks goodguy, u answered for me.

I meant in my previous posting is that, just know the person and make sure you're emotionally compatible. Once u are done, both of them will be competing to satisfy/please the other. But I can't imagine myself touching a girl who has been licked and bleeped before till the other guy was totally satisfied. As if you're using a used non clean property. I also believe in saving yourself to your spouse, clean and new.

Don't forget that at the rate our body replaces our cells, no bodypart will be the same after 9 months maximum. If you're really that worried about cleanliness, just wait a couple of months and you'll have a brand new girl

goodguy:
I never blamed Charles Darwin. Infact, I commend him for even trying to find out how the earth was created.

He actually never intended to find out how the earth was created. He was looking for an explanation for the diversity of life on this planet. He was looking for a mechanism by which this fact could be explained.

Actually, I have no clue why you need to bring Darwin into this discussion. The Theory of Evolution (which is greatly enhanced and expanded after Darwin's death, by the way) is perfectly consistent with a non-literalist reading of the Bible.

lioness:
Yeah neferyn, fill me in

Just a very rough timeline:
Catholic Church: +/- 300 AD
Reformation an birth of Lutheranism: 1520 AD
Pentecostal Churches: Early 1900's

ijebuman:
news story of some guy 'cured' of HIV in the UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4434806.stm

nferyn thanks you make some valid points. The reason why i said we should be wary of accepting the western media version of events is that no one truly knows how this virus started infecting people. the virus must have been lying dormant somewhere before someone went to disturb it.
The whole theory about people eating monkey meat in congo and thats how it started is BS. These people don dey eat this meat for hundred of years and nothing happened to them. For all we know the virus could have come from outer space may be from a meteorite that crashed or something (joking )

You should indeed be wary of the portrayal of Africa by western media. The problem is that the further something is away from the the core constituency of the media, the more spectacular or negative the event needs to be to make it into the media at all. That's why most western media give a very distorted portrayal of Africa.

The story about people eating monkey meat could have a grain of truth in it. It is very unlikely that the transfer happened by simply eating monkey meat, but the war in Congo caused a lot of people to rely more and more on bushmeat and they thus ventured deeper and deeper into the forest. By doing so, they came in contact with previously undisturbed populations of monkeys that could be carrying the virus. The people hunting these monkeys could have been scratched by these monkeys, as some monkeys can be quite strong and violent.

ijebuman:
The western media is portraying this disease as an African disease simply because Africa has the highest number of people infected, period. In the UK as far as there are concerned if you recently arrived from west Africa then you must have the HIV virus unless a test shows otherwise.

And then the UK is probably the most liberal country in Europe Sad ignorant idiots. Did you go through this or do you know of some people that went through this?

ijebuman:
Sex (full and oral) is still the easiest way people can get the virus compared to other ways, i mentioned MouthAction as people sometimes think this is safe, It is not as if the receiving partner has a sore on the mouth the virus can also enter the blood stream through this route.

Sure, but the initial transfer was probably through direct blood contact. Another interesting note is that the strain of HIV that is prevalent in Africa is different from the one that is dominant in America and Europe. It is not unlikely that the in ital infection happened independently

What is natural isn't automatically good or admirable. Agriculture is a very unnatural thing, so is modern medicine.

ijebuman:
people lets not buy into this theory bandied around by the western media, everyone always blames Africa when something bad happens, i'm surprised they've not said the bird flu originated from Africa.
If it originated in the congo basin in Africa, how come the first cases were identified in San francisco in the early 80s. HIV/AIDs was first identified within the Gay community in San Francisco.

The study of the DNA of the different HIV strains and that of those monkey originated viruses shows that HIV is a mutation of one of these viruses. Of course this does not blame Africa for anything in the least (what would Africa have to do with a naturally mutating virus anyway). The exact route the virus took from those monkeys to the Gay community in San Fransisco is another matter entirely and we will probably never know (unless of course real evidence pops up that links the experiments the Atlanta Center for Disease Control was conducting in Congo and HIV - but I wouldn't hold my breath, if they had anything to do with it, they've probably erased their tracks)

ijebuman:
The jury is still out as to where the virus came from, if it came from the congo then some gay guy from california must have 'shagged' a monkey then

Maybe the above mentioned experiments were the link, but we will probably never know. Anyway, sex is not the only method of HIV transmission

ijebuman:
Anyway on a serious note, who cares where it came from? this thing is gradually killing the next generation of Africans because of a lack of awareness and education. we all need to be aware of the dangers and be very careful of who we jump into bed with.

Don't be another AIDs statistic, practice safe sex

peace

Fully agree

@ AngelaZ
Now yours are really captivating eyes. Seun's find is rather weak in comparison

Z4M4eva:
I also think aborting is wrong, it's just not right, da poor baby n all , may God just forgive da people that take innocent lives. .
It's just SO SAD

No offense Z4M4eva, but could you read the discussion in this thread https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-2149.0.html
It is just not so black-or-white as you make it seem. Maybe you'll alter your perception.