₦airaland Forum

@lovelyn690
Nice of you to stand by your principles, but lemme draw your attention to your first post. you wrote

I just finished my NYSC two months ago.While my friends were busy writing bank tests and other jobs' tests,i was busy getting more dedicated to the school where i was carrying out my primary assignment.Hoping and praying to God to be retained immediately after service. Because i would rather have one or more years of a low paying job than have experience one day of idleless.Although i have not had any job seeking experineces,i do know alot of people who are going through that and i don't want to have a feel of it.

So indirectly, what you're saying is you made no effort to secure a job (apart from your school) during your NYSC. I don't think that's wise in any way. You're supposed to be proactive, you're supposed to hit the ground running as soon as you start your NYSC. I know many people (even i am an example!) that started work immediately after NYSC because they'd been chasing jobs since. Where's the job supposed to come from if you don't actively pursue it?
As i said before, you risk becoming complacent in your current place of work, which you yourself have admitted pays a paltry salary.

I mean, sure, i made sure i delivered my best to the school i was assigned to, but it remained evergreen in my mind that i AM an engineer, that's what i was trained to do and it was never an option that i'd let my dream stagnate and die. Even from the school i suggest you start hussling for your next job ASAP. If you need help, contact me.

@Ch!z
I haven't watched Silent Hill (the movie) yet. Thanks a lot for the spoilers, sissy boy!

The piano puzzle aint that hard, u need 2 seat down with a paper and pencil and THINK!! It's when you sit staring at the TV ingame that you just dont get it.
crazy puzzles in the game sha, but i hate scary games anyway. . .

Gamine:
i still don't think they 'aged; because u can't compare the game charcters to the movie, it was just like one or two years after,

short girls with big,
whatever *rolls eyes*
tank goodness im none of that!

*cough*
hrmmph!!
Nothing wrong with short girls with big bazoombas. One Gamine's short is another man's portable. . .

@Gamine
and i'm supposed to be scared?!
Bring it on, Sissy girl!

_{and i was right! you DO use more smilies per post than anyone else. look!}

Gamine!!
I'm sooo very very proud of you!

_{not really sha, but it just seemed like a nice thing 2 say}

@darkie
A christian FPS?

Lovethis:
American specs are better.

i'd have to disagree with that. What's so special about 'American Specs'?

As far as i'm concerned, none of these laptops is up to scratch, At least i figure if they had 3d GPUs you guys would at least mention them. without dedicated 3D hardware, none of these can give you the complete Vista experience, even if they have 'Vista Compatible' stickers on them (for example the intel GMA 950 can run Vista's Aero, but it'd be sloooow!)

however, your laptops aren't bad, will see if i can recommend some of them to people who aren't into (at least casual) gaming and 3D.

@Afam,
Thanks!
Now to reply, you must understand that many oil wells are in relatively remote areas, and the cost of transporting this to AGG plants (and even building AGG plants in itself) is high. Many times the same federal government fails to live up to their financial obligation as partners in the JV. Add to this the settlement, the court cases etc the communities such pipelines will travese will throw up in their faces and you get an idea on how difficult it is.
Projects like the bonny LNG and the upcoming LNG plants (e Brass) should serve to utilize AG, but they're expensive and time-consuming to build, and that's what is going on now.

@Seun, LoverBwoy
gas that cannot be used and stored must be disposed of, and the best possible way is to flare it. If we could achieve complete combustion, we'd have no problem. sadly, complete combustion is unachievable, hence pollutants are generated. But until Nigeria finds a way to use more gas, we'll keep flaring.


I think the ratio of households that use cooking gas in nigeria should be 1 in every 1000, most people have switched to Kerosene, Hot Plate or Abacha Stove!

anyone who says your vote doesn't count is a traitor!

yeah, i'd go with half life over halo (just from what people say o, i haven't played HL2 far and i can't play HL1 cos it's too graphically dated now). However, i love Halo for the epic storyline and run and gun action.

Here's my list of some of the most impressive FPS released over the past 4-5 years

Half Life 2
Quake4
Halo
FEAR (scary little girl makes me not play this game)
Call of Duty 2
Far Cry
Unreal Tournament 2004
Chronicles of Riddick (Great Game!!!!)
Doom 3 (too scary 4 me to play)


Then there are others that are good but not on this list, games like PainKiller, Prey etc. STALKER just came out, good ratings 4 it.


It's a shame many Nigerians don't have PCs powerful enough to run many of the latest games. That's why i'm sure no one has mentioned ELder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. That game is DA BOMB!!!

there are others too many to mention. . .

I wrote this some time ago on Chxta's blog. . .I didn't take time out to proof-read or check for errors, and the target audience was to laymen in general, but it gives you an indication on what i feel about gas flaring. . .

Chxta
nice piece, but i'd like to correct the statement you make about oil companies doing a half hearted effort to stop gas flaring.
see, we've got two kinds of gas coming from down below; Associated Gas (AG) and Non Associated Gas (NAG). in simple terms, AG is the gas that comes out when oil is extracted( from gas dissolved in the oil or from gas caps), NAG comes purely from gas reserves alone (these are layman's definitions o!).
anyway, the gas being flared is 99% AG, cos no one would want to tap and produce a purely gas reservoir just to burn it up. Nigeria has an OPEC quota to meet, and major oil companies have to keep producing oil to meet that quota and make cash for themselves! Our increased production translates into cash for Nigeria, which means 13% derivation gets bigger bla bla bla.
There's no way to prevent the production of some quantity of Gas with oil, except we cease production altogether. and we can't do that, can we? so we have to find a way to handle this gas.
Nigeria's civil infrastructure is so poorly planned, no one saw fit to provide underground Gas mains and pipes, so we can't process and distribute this gas to every household. Many people don't even use cooking gas anymore. The gas power plants can only take so much gas, NLNG gets all the reliable gas supply from purely gas wells, and this has to be because there are contracts signed years ahead for the stable supply of gas to the LNG plant. besides, the plant has a finite capacity and can only take so much. Even if the gas could be piped, many producing locations are so far away that building pipelines to convey the gas would be an immense financial and engineering task. add that to the problem of getting permission to route pipelines through communities without being beaten/extorted. pipeline harvesting and vandalism are also rife.
so we have lots of gas being produced without any means of disposing of them. it would be unthinkable to vent these gases in the atmosphere so we just have to destroy it by trying for complete combustion of the gases through flaring. hence the numerous gas flares.
the federal government has given a 'flares down' target to the oil companies, and they are struggling to comply in time. Power plants are being built to consume some more gas, pipelines are being built to route and gather the produced gas, the capacity of the NLNG plant is being increased, and more and being built to handle more and more. But this isn't enough yet. we need more consumption of the gas in nigeria. meanwhile, millitants attack and community troubles delay the implementation of many of these projects and vandals disrupt pipelines. the vandalisation of the gas pipeline supplying the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) meant that more gas still remains unconsumed and must be flared. service companies are afraid to go to work inthe niger delta for fear of kidnapping.
Through it all, the Nigerian government remains pristine, the nigerian people remain unstained by these failings, preferring instead to point accusing fingers at the major players inthe oil and gas industry. If we vandalised less, threatened less and even heckle the federal government to do more to promote local gas consumption, we'd be better off. at least Shell has taken over the Afam power station and is improving and expanding it to consume more gas and produce more electricity for Nigerian consumers. In the PR war, the federal government constantly blames the oil companies, coming out cleaner than clean. it's a joint venture and the federal government always is tardy to play its part.
Meanwhile, the hunt for new oil continues, and invariably with the oil, some dissolved gas is liberated,increasin g the problem. The federal, state and local government (and even the niger delta) benefits greatly from this windfall. but the gas becomes a problem for the oil Majors.
That's Nigeria for you. Vintage Nigeria!


So there you have it!

I absolutely hate it when peeps say something is wrong just because it isn't in the Bible. . . the other day i read an editorial saying that titles like 'Pastor' and 'Priest' are unGodly because they aren't used in the Bible. . .

yeah, counterstrike is based off the half life engine,

dblock, there are some games that scream 'classic' when you play them. Grand Theft Auto San Andreas unfortunately happens not to be one of them!

How can anyone in their right mind say an RTS (warcraft) is the best PC game ever? Or Desperadoes?

IMHO, the Half Life series rank as probably the best ever!

That said, Warcraft is THE best RTS out there on the PC

I absolutely LOVE halo sha

7am to 4pm

Most importantly, i don't work weekends!! YaY!

The One:
I resume at 7:30 am and close at 4:15 pm.

Now i know where u do work. you guys have better hours!

There is merit in most of the arguments tabled here so far, i'm glad this has so far progressed on an intellectual level befitting the topic.

I don't have much time to type, but i plan to tackle the issue of gas flaring at an opportune time. If anyone has any positions on this subject let's air it.

@Donzman
I've had several run-ins with you in the past because i've been unwilling to tolerate your factless drivel. Where did you hear that Oil companies are currently paying bribes to the Government? It's an offence warranting outright dismissal for any Shell staff to pay bribes out, and there's an efficient reporting system so anonymous reports can easily be sent to the Shell headquarters in The Hague. Chevron, Elf and Mobil have similar systems in place. It's a pity most of us buy into the propaganda war so easily.

@9ja4eva
There's been a lot of environmental degradation in the area as a result of oil and gas exploration and production. But let's seperate fact from fiction here; before any operation carried out there's an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out, witnessed and approved by agents of the DPR, all potential damages to the environment are considered and compensation duly paid out before action. at least this system has been in place since the mid-90s, and it works.
what no one will ever tell you is how youths tie red cloth to trees in Edo State and claim that the area in contention is a shrine (hence the bidding price goes up), how people build shanty huts on areas designated for oil exploitation, and claim huge compensation, how villagers claim that oil is sucked from underground their community, causing their village to subside (doesn't even make sense scientifically, but they demand cash settlements all the same). Most attempts by oil companies to ameliorate the situation is met with chaos and corruption.
Ask yourself why, after 13 years of Shell oil wells in Ogoni land being shut in with no activity, 2 well fires were recorded last year. Ask yourself why the youths refused to give Shell access to the fire spot for weeks, ask yourself why after the fires went out the villagers chased away the Shell remedial team that went to secure the well heads from future acts of sabotage.

The Oil companies have some responsibility, but by far the greatest burden falls on the State and Local Government. 13% derivation comes to billions monthly for the oil producing states.

The next time any Niger Delta indigene complains to me that there are better roads in the north, i'll ask him which of the northern governors has an airline, a private refinery, a private engineering company (like Rockson Engineering) and has wasted his state's money on a failed Gas Turbine project.
Oh. . . I'll also ask 'em which northern Governor has been proven to have stolen over N50billion (alams and Odili, both of which are 'untouchables' in the eyes of even the most vicious millitant groups)

You software developers need to take a good long look at yourselves.

When 80% of you guys churn out yet another cyber cafe timer, yet another generic Hotel management system software and other common and unneeded apps, where will you get the recognition you crave?

Garner skills on par (or at least not too far behind) your foreign counterparts, produce new and innovative software and your profile will grow.


@sbucareer
I disagree that the western world is rich and powerful because of our slavery. How much of our sweat and blood went into inventing the automobile, electricity, telecommunications, gunpowder etc?

I've sought far and wide for any proof that the Black African (excluding egyptians!) had a wheel. I've found none! Until the europeans came, Black Africa could not even discover the Wheel, which scientists term one of the oldest and most important inventions ever! and this same wheel has been in Europe since the 4th millenium BC. I fail to see how we would have developed technologically in centuries without the intervention of the White Man.
Just my opinion, sha

However, there was a CV from this applicant that stood out for him. Under the section on his academic experience, he talked about a project that he did configuring a computer to act as a server. He went into detail about this project, using technical expressions to explain what he was doing. That tied in with one of the company's requirements – that the applicant should be familiar with computer terminology.

Then in describing the project, he talked about one or two problems that he faced during the server configuration. He talked about how he diagnosed what the causes of the problems were, how he researched a solution to these problems, what alternative solutions he came up with and how he chose and implemented the eventual solution. Again, this description showcased two skills that the company was looking for – analytical and problem solving skills. And he repeatedly did this in other areas of his CV.

So the point is that his CV wasn't just some dry fact sheet with a list of dates and events. It was richly filled with stories and incidents

Do this and probably have your CV thrown out for being too long! Why do you think many employers ask for a 2-page CV? Nice article, but i think it falls down a bit on this point. . .

@spoilt
i see what you mean. but we shouldn't just crucify the guy o! here, lemme show u what i mean!

look at the 3 posts above my first comment. One advises the girl to break up with the guy ASAP before the guy breaks up with her. Does that sound like sensible advice? I mean, a guy pushes u to relocate to naija only for hin to break up with you?
I think the guy had to have been feeling the pressure from many females and he needed his girlfriend to be with him so he can better resist temptation.
take me for example, i live in Port Harcourt mainly and i'm moving heaven and earth to get my girl to do her NYSC in PH so i can resist temptation better. There's so much temptation here in PH for young bachelors, especially for someone who can't cook!!

[quote author=big_bumper link=topic=46078.msg994179#msg994179 date=1174932664]@texazzpete

Were you not the one who said any ape could make a personal call sound like a businesss call?
Why did you bother to lose your rags when your girl received a call at 3am in the morning?
How would you react if you find out your girl's "3am guy" reverts to calling your girlfriend during the day then something happens?[/quote]

spoilt:
@texazzpete
why are you contradicting yourself
you admitted it irritates your girlfriend when you talk to other girls!  . it may be nothing now. but one day it will be something.
a guy called her and you took the phone? and let him have it? why? you should have left them to talk now. i thought you were understanding. even if its 3am. "its just a friend". just her friend and theres nothing.!!

this has nothing to do with her getting calls from males or not. It's because i actually DO have to work for a living, and my job requires me to be at the office at 7am. naturally, at 3am everyday i am fast asleep. She isn't working yet, i am! So when a loud ringtone wakes you up at 3am (when you normally sleep by 11pm) you tend to be really cranky. If you doubt, however, please send me your phone numbers so i can flash you at 3am  .
and this wasn't no business call, 'twas a cheap guy who wanted to use Glo free nite calls to disturb my beauty sleep.
In relationships you have to put up with things that irritate u sometimes, d'ya think it's easy agreeing to let her watch 'Gardener's Daughter' between 9-10 everytime she's around? Even when my beloved Man Utd is playing, even if i wanna watch Arsenal lose i cannot if it falls between 9-10pm weekdays. we've had so many arguments on this issue but i lose every one of 'em . it rankles at times, but there's nothing i can do!

My point is, there's no reason for this paranoid fear of ex lovers. besides, there's a logical gap in this, if they've been dating for 9 years, does that mean he broke up from his ex 9 years ago?

Look, the girl has been out of Nigeria since, d guy isn't questioning her faithfulness, why is she doing same? What message will she be passing the the guy by postponing the marriage?

ThiefOfHearts:
Why are you talking like you KNOW that there isnt something there? Just because there isnt anything supposedly happening between you and your girls doesnt mean that it's the same situation here. Is your girlfriend miles away from you? Nothing is wrong with postponing it until they finally talk it out and come to a respectable decision.

and that's the problem with you girls here. YOU are talking like you know something's going wrong. postponing the marriage is sending a strong message, and that's just on a mere suspicion. Why advocate postponing before even talking things out?
and when you say 'you and your girls' you make it seem kind of dirty. Is there anything wrong with a guy talking to a girl? Me, i make friends with everyone i can, from rich to poor, irrespective of age or sex.

what are the women doing? Plenty! it's just that they get distracted what with the wave of romance centred stickies on the nairaland front page!
Besides, many gals are frequent contributors on the sports and technology sections.
also, i believe the 'politics' section is overrated, it's become an avenue for people to argue and rant about issues, for people to show off their 'stratospheric' IQs. IMHO, 70% of the posts in the politics section aren't what i'd call intelligent!

@DaKnight
a bank that claims to be No.1 paid it's entry level staff just 49K a month and you feel that's acceptable? i havbe friends thaty work in UBA, and these guys work monday to saturday, during weekdays they close as late as 7pm, at times 8pm! all that and the most miserly pay package in the banking industry?
Elumelu has only done what he should have done long ago. simple!

FKseun:
Hi guys
I have come to conclude that some of you do not know sh*t about the Niger Delta other than the few stuffs you have read in the dailies. The guys kidnapping expatriates down here are all criminals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An average ND does not take part in such! I hope you guys remembered when every politician in the southwest claimed to be a champion of the Awolowo legacy just to win public sympathy and votes. It's the same pot of tea. These kidnappers are crude oil bunkerers who have come to realise that ransom is better money bunkering crude.

A lot of people are quick to abuse all Niger Deltans. I guess it's the same thing when foreigners see all nigerians as 419ers. It's the cross they have to carry until the system is cleansed.

I do not want to repeat all of what others have said, but suffice it to say that most of these communities are the cause of their own undoing, how do you ask for money before you allow the construction of development facilities/infrastr uctures in your community. a friend was in odi for a year where the monthly budget was about 9million, two secondary schools with NDDC fully funding one of them, the other one had corp-members forming the majority of the teaching workforce, there was one primary school, also heavily supported by a (free labour) corper populace, .The local Governent had a handfull of workers, there were no ongoing projects, a diesel generating plant was supposed to supply light to the community every other day, 400k was the vote for generator fuel/month, , Through out his stay in that town the lights only blinked on festive occasions and during burial ceremonies organised by notable families in the community, , The average was about 3 days of light/ month.

While this may not be the case in most of the other communities it represents a a measure close to true average, .the communities do not realise that they can actually help themselves, .the councillors confluence every month to the town to "share the money", and show appreciation to their loyalist,

The few communities that can boast of constant light are those that have direct supply from an oil company, like Nembe, Brass, I know, I have been to both places. A lot of the local councils operate with ghost workers/loyalist that show up every month to collect their cut, who are we fooling?

The ruins of the partially completed (roofless) corper's lodge that was sponsored by Shell in the town of Okpoama in Brass LGA pays a glowing tribute to the commitment of the local contractors to the development of their community, , The contractor is actually a chief in the same town who throws open house parties every friday, who are we fooling?

MTN came to Odi to install their facilities and were asked to pay an obscene sum before they could start, another condition was that all contracts must be handled by individuals of Odi extract, .of course MTN moved on to the next town of Kaiama, they did launch in kaiama, but the romance was fleeting because the mast was pulled down, who are we fooling?

The biggest crime done by us all is to buy into the misguided suggestion that the oil companies bear the most blame for the Niger Deltans suffering. All the money pumped into the area is unaccounted for, Odili, Ibori and other South-South govs have stolen billions yet no one cares, MEND is demanding for Alams release even after the bastard stole N50 billion of their money. Yet they want us to take them seriously?

@Rhea
why try to insinuate the guy needs her for financial security? She did say the guy has a fantastic job!
i think you're making a mountain out of a molehill. besides, this only proves that you ladies aren't entirely reasonable at times; She's upset that he gets many female callers, yet she shouldn't worry about the kind of message she's passing across to him by postponing the marriage?
Hell, if i was engaged and my fiancee postponed the marriage for reasons due to distrust (distrust which she shouldn't even have) i'd feel SHE wasn't the serious one.
If the guy takes it without question that she's faithful to him overseas, why shouldn't she? What's wrong with the guy talking to other females? What happened to relationships ending in friendship? why can't he talk to his ex? is that so abnormal?

anyway, i'm done talking on this issue. if she's smart, she'll think carefully before making a decision. and i still think many of you on this forum dispense advice to others based on your own personal relationships.

Only God knows how many relationships here have been soured by bands of bitter, cynical women . Afterall, 99% of the time you girls advocate breakups

Nigerians can be foolish o! Every single one of us here knows those players and their weaknesses better than berti Vogts does. I mean, he picked many of our 'best' talent (Kanu, martins, mikel etc) and some of our terrible talent (okoronkwo). i prefer to think that its his advisers that encouraged him to pick these guys. Only a retard would start blaminghim now, we should even be happy because if he's as good as i think he is, okoronkwo will never play for Nigeria again.
also, is it his fault that our so called 'stars' always fail to perform? 6 out of 10 times, kanu, mikel, martins and utaka will play crap for Nigeria, no matter the formation or tactics used. Even osaze that you guys are hailing, you've forgotten that he played absolutely rubbish against Ghana.

stop trying to blame the white coach jo!

someone has a 9 year relationship still going strong, someone still calls his babe every single day, someone made an effort to convince his fiancee to relocate to Nigeria and someone has plans to marry his babe and all you people can do is to advise the girl to ditch him just because of a few calls? I mean, gimme a frigging break!

I have many female friends (hell, even my best friend is a girl!) and i love talking on the phone. at times it irritates my girlfriend, but nothing is happening! It gets to a level, since i know she isn't too keen on the idea, but if i need to answer a call from one of them, i leave the room! Does this mean i'm cheating? NO! My girlfriend has several male friends, i don't sweat it when a guy calls her. the only time i lost it was when some dude called at about 3am (Glo midnight call), i took the phone and let him have it!

The guy knows his babe doesn't like it when he's chatting with other females, when he shows enough sensitivity not to answer the phone in front of the woman you people upbraid the guy for being a cheat. Any ape can talk with anyone and pretend it's a business call, can't they?

@poster
don't let bitter, cynical people here (like the 2 people above me, among others) spoil your fun. ask yourself questions couched in solid logic; If he didn't want you, why move for you to relocate?!
rather, focus on why you hung on for 9 years when you don't even completely trust the guy.

[quote author=dtw_sola link=topic=41492.msg991394#msg991394 date=1174848741]How about performance. Notebook computers have always lagged in that area. Desktop computers have more transistors = more heat = faster performance. It isn't practical for laptops to use the advanced processors, video cards and ram that are used in desktops because 1. battery technology is just not up to task, and 2. there is not enough air flow in a laptop to dissipate the heat generated from additional transistors . In other words, laptops are hindered in their performance by the need for portability. Also I have a 22" monitor with my desktop, and I can go as large as I want. Anything above 15" looks stupid with a laptop.

Of course, you won't value the performance difference unless you are a computer enthusiast i.e. a gamer/power user. Hence most people would prefer a laptop.I do value the difference, and only use the laptop when I don't have access to a more powerful desktop.[/quote]You clearly don't know much about the advances in processing power in laptops. there are many 'desktop replacement' laptops out there, the new Core 2 Duo processors on laptops can outperform all but the most powerful desktop processors. There are lots of gaming laptops out there, some even with dual dx10 GPUs in SLI configuration and these will play even Crysis without any problem.

17 inch laptops are commonplace, and very many of them look really good. go for a 17 inch VAIO and see if i doesn't amaze you with its beauty.

@topic
with a little bit of thinking even you could figure it out yourself. dunno why loads of people want others to think for them.

@lewa
i never said Iran has no right to defend itself. all i'm saying is, the british troops were there to interdict and inspect Iraqi ships, loking for weapons or terrorists. In the course of the mission, they had to leave their ship and board the Iraqi ship to carry out this inspection.
Now, it is doubtful that both an Iraqi ship and a british ship would stray into Iranian waters. Coupled with the fact that the British ship is equipped with enough navigational hardware and software to ensure they remain within iraqi waters, and that they british ship would have long detected the approach of the iranian vessel.
here's a question: the Iranian ship would have been long detected by the british ship (via radar). does it make sense that the british ship entered iranian waters and stayed there even with the imminent advance of an armed iranian ship? Does it?

McKren:
The truth is that Britain is into espionage a lot. so you never can trust them.

every country in this world is into espionage, even Nigeria.