₦airaland Forum

For me, it irritates me when papers are stapled with the staple pin horizontal to the page even when stapled at the top left corner. I think it makes it somewhat harder to read past the first few pages. My secretary almost always staple papers that way, probably because she uses an automatic staple machine or she just doesn’t care, but I usually end up re-stapling the papers at a 45 degree angle respective to the page.

But I do realize that it is such a trivial issue and something she might not have even though of. So I’ve never brought it up and just redo it my way. 

Do you have any pet peeves at work?

This is an interesting article that I hope bible scholars in Nigeria, assuming that we have them, can debunk. These are not my thoughts, just some article that I found interesting.

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My Take: The 3 biggest biblical misconceptions
Editor’s note: John Shelby Spong, a former Episcopal bishop of Newark, New Jersey, is author of "Re-Claiming the Bible for a Non-Religious World."

By John Shelby Spong, Special to CNN

The Bible is both a reservoir of spiritual insight and a cultural icon to which lip service is still paid in the Western world. Yet when the Bible is talked about in public by both believers and critics, it becomes clear that misconceptions abound.

To me, three misconceptions stand out and serve to make the Bible hard to comprehend.

First, people assume the Bible accurately reflects history. That is absolutely not so, and every biblical scholar recognizes it.

The facts are that Abraham, the biblically acknowledged founding father of the Jewish people, whose story forms the earliest content of the Bible, died about 900 years before the first story of Abraham was written in the Old Testament.


Can a defining tribal narrative that is passed on orally for 45 generations ever be regarded as history, at least as history is understood today?

Moses, the religious genius who put his stamp on the religion of the Old Testament more powerfully than any other figure, died about 300 years before the first story of Moses entered the written form we call Holy Scripture.

This means that everything we know about Moses in the Bible had to have passed orally through about 15 generations before achieving written form. Do stories of heroic figures not grow, experience magnifying tendencies and become surrounded by interpretive mythology as the years roll by?

Jesus of Nazareth, according to our best research, lived between the years 4 B.C. and A.D. 30. Yet all of the gospels were written between the years 70 to 100 A.D., or 40 to 70 years after his crucifixion, and they were written in Greek, a language that neither Jesus nor any of his disciples spoke or were able to write.

Are the gospels then capable of being effective guides to history? If we line up the gospels in the time sequence in which they were written - that is, with Mark first, followed by Matthew, then by Luke and ending with John - we can see exactly how the story expanded between the years 70 and 100.

For example, miracles do not get attached to the memory of Jesus story until the eighth decade. The miraculous birth of Jesus is a ninth-decade addition; the story of Jesus ascending into heaven is a 10th-decade narrative.

In the first gospel, Mark, the risen Christ appears physically to no one, but by the time we come to the last gospel, John, Thomas is invited to feel the nail prints in Christ’s hands and feet and the spear wound in his side.

Perhaps the most telling witness against the claim of accurate history for the Bible comes when we read the earliest narrative of the crucifixion found in Mark’s gospel and discover that it is not based on eyewitness testimony at all.

Instead, it’s an interpretive account designed to conform the story of Jesus’ death to the messianic yearnings of the Hebrew Scriptures, including Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53.

The Bible interprets life from its particular perspective; it does not record in a factual way the human journey through history.

The second major misconception comes from the distorting claim that the Bible is in any literal sense “the word of God.” Only someone who has never read the Bible could make such a claim. The Bible portrays God as hating the Egyptians, stopping the sun in the sky to allow more daylight to enable Joshua to kill more Amorites and ordering King Saul to commit genocide against the Amalekites.

Can these acts of immorality ever be called “the word of God”? The book of Psalms promises happiness to the defeated and exiled Jews only when they can dash the heads of Babylonian children against the rocks! Is this “the word of God? What kind of God would that be?

The Bible, when read literally, calls for the execution of children who are willfully disobedient to their parents, for those who worship false gods, for those who commit adultery, for homosexual persons and for any man who has sex with his mother-in-law, just to name a few.

The Bible exhorts slaves to be obedient to their masters and wives to be obedient to their husbands. Over the centuries, texts like these, taken from the Bible and interpreted literally, have been used as powerful and evil weapons to support killing prejudices and to justify the cruelest kind of inhumanity.

The third major misconception is that biblical truth is somehow static and thus unchanging. Instead, the Bible presents us with an evolutionary story, and in those evolving patterns, the permanent value of the Bible is ultimately revealed.

It was a long road for human beings and human values to travel between the tribal deity found in the book of Exodus, who orders the death of the firstborn male in every Egyptian household on the night of the Passover, until we reach an understanding of God who commands us to love our enemies.

The transition moments on this journey can be studied easily. It was the prophet named Hosea, writing in the eighth century B.C., who changed God’s name to love. It was the prophet named Amos who changed God’s name to justice. It was the prophet we call Jonah who taught us that the love of God is not bounded by the limits of our own ability to love.

It was the prophet Micah who understood that beautiful religious rituals and even lavish sacrifices were not the things that worship requires, but rather “to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” It was the prophet we call Malachi, writing in the fifth century B.C., who finally saw God as a universal experience, transcending all national and tribal boundaries.

One has only to look at Christian history to see why these misconceptions are dangerous. They have fed religious persecution and religious wars. They have fueled racism, anti-female biases, anti-Semitism and homophobia.They have fought against science and the explosion of knowledge.

The ultimate meaning of the Bible escapes human limits and calls us to a recognition that every life is holy, every life is loved, and every life is called to be all that that life is capable of being. The Bible is, thus, not about religion at all but about becoming deeply and fully human. It issues the invitation to live fully, to love wastefully and to have the courage to be our most complete selves.

That is why I treasure this book and why I struggle to reclaim its essential message for our increasingly non-religious world.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/29/my-take-the-3-biggest-biblical-misconceptions/?iref=allsearch

Collimated light - light with parallel rays

To those who bleach:

When you bleach your skin, you get rid of the melanin (dark pigments) in your skin. Melanin is what protects your skin from harmful sun rays. Whites don't have melanin in their skin (which is why they're white) and they have to compensate for it by using Sunscreen lotion to protect their skin.

If you're going to bleach your skin, which is your choice, you should be using Sunscreen lotion (SPF-15 or better) when you're going to go into the sun because your skin no longer has the protection it needs against the sun.

Some black people are bleaching their skin to become "white." While most whites go through great lengths to get their skin dark even at the risk of cancer by exposing their bodies to the sun or going to a tanning salon. Whites even make fun of each other when a white person has no tan (too white) and is very "pale."

So why are blacks trying to be white when whites are trying to be black?

IMHO, ugliness and low self esteem! The bleaching cannot help with the ugliness because just as you have ugly black people, you have ugly white people and you’ve just become an ugly multi-colored person!

I guess the bleaching might help with the self esteem issues as you could feel better about yourself.

manny4life:
Wait, are they talking about the type they use in the U.S.? Hasn't Broadband been phased out? I thought we're moving into cable or even fiber optics? IT folks please explain better, this is not my field.

Broadband just means high speed internet. The medium (cable, fiber, air) does not really matter.

There's no doubt that this is the next telecommunication boom; however, I don't know what NCC has to do with it apart from issuing the needed licenses.

Connecting to Glo and MainOne's backbone will be the key. There's WiMax and the telecom's 4G but more distribution type connection will be needed to support the population in the inner cities. Dangote already implemented interstate fiber connections but the intra city connections are still lacking.

Beaf:
[size=14pt]CBN names Akpabio best governor in infrastructure[/size]
On February 8, 2012 · In News

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, has been conferred with the best governor award for infrastructural support to micro and small enterprises activities by President Goodluck Jonathan.

At the award ceremony organized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Abuja yesterday, the president who was represented by his deputy, Vice-President Namadi Sambo, extolled qualities of the awardees in poverty alleviation and said the administration would vigorously pursue its transformation agenda.

Giving reasons for the award on Chief Akpabio, the CBN cited the provision of infrastructural facilities and the disbursement of grants and loans to rural women and farmers as outstanding initiatives by the administration of Chief Akpabio.

According to Mallam Sanusi, “the availability of infrastructure is critical for the socio-economic development of any state. Akwa Ibom State Government made the upgrade of infrastructural facilities a critical objective of the administration.

“Special attention and resources were devoted to massive rural and urban development through provision of road networks, potable water supply, rural electrification, healthcare delivery and other ancillary projects in the form of reconstruction of existing structures.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/02/cbn-names-akpabio-best-governor-in-infrastructure/

Congrats to the governor as it shows that there are some Nigerians "working" but I'm a little confused on who gave the award - CBN or GEJ?

It seems that CBN merely provided the venue and time, and GEJ was the judge? The snippet from the article and/or the article itself is confusing.

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=863862.msg10145946#msg10145946 date=1328653731]So what's your point?
Are you saying the doctor is guilty or innocent? What has your answer gotta do with naivety?[/quote]My point is that I don't know if he's guilty or not but he has damning evidence against him.

shoboy9:
Has the guy been convicted? cos this pix of him is very damning. Especially for his practice. They can't say he's innocent and let him go after a pic like that. And its rather funny that the "lady" resisted sex in an office and no one heard the commotion or came to her rescue. In England, not in the bush. I'll wait to hear more.

His license has already been suspended! The lady didn't physically resist the intercourse. She was already undressed for check up on the bed with no underwear on. Read the link in the post @ 3:48 AM.

I just hope that the doctor engaged in a consensual relationship and the woman is only bitter. His license is probably gone either way but he may be able to avoid a lengthy jail sentence!

[quote author=~Sauron~ link=topic=863862.msg10145791#msg10145791 date=1328651927]Cameras in their offices? That breaches the data protection law of the patients.
Would you open yourself up for a doctor knowing there's a camera somewhere looking at your . . . . .[/quote]I just laugh at how naive some people seem! Someone made a comment about people not hearing the lady scream or how the camera didn't see the bruises!

Let me ask you this: how come some rape victims usually claim that they are not raped, especially in Nigeria even when evidence points to the contrary? I remember the case of the student that was ganged raped in the video from a University in Nigeria that went viral (from Abia, i think?). How come the mother said her daughter wasn't raped? Rape is a crime of shame and some people would rather keep quiet than expose the rapist!

Moreover, the Doctor directed the patient, a patient that has seen the doctor for about 3 years, to go into a room where no one was present. I don’t know about you but when my Doctor tells me to do something, I will do it unless it is patently obvious that there’s something wrong!

There was another allegation of a woman that went to the same doctor for back pain, another long time patient, and the Doctor reached into her bra to supposedly check for cancer? Aren’t you supposed to disrobe in a hospital gown for a doctor to check you? How come he never checked the woman’s twins on prior occasions when she went for a visit? The doctor is then said to give the patient more dosage of a narcotic drug than she normally gets, allegedly to keep her quiet!

Lastly, read the police report and see that there's a lot more to the story!

If the olive branch extended is true, the FG is caught between a rock and a hard place!

On one hand, you don’t want to negotiate with them because they have so much blood on their hands, but on the other hand, the precedent of compromise was set with the militants and moreover, the most dangerous people to fight are those willing to die just to kill a few!

It is almost impossible to stop the psychological warfare caused by suicide bombers. If only you knew the 100s of billions of dollars the US military is spending to defeat IEDs and suicide bombers! Even if the suicide bombers unsuccessful with their bombs, we will forever be looking over our shoulders and will also spend untold amount of money beefing up our security!

The only silver lining is that BH is not targeting innocent civilians; although, that will also probably result in their demise (see Awakening of Iraq).

Firstly, why must everything become a tribal issue? Is it news that Yorubas, Igbos, and Hausas commit ALL KINDS of crimes? If anything, Hausas should be the ones gloating about crimes Yorubas and Igbos commit but then again, most of the bombings seemed to be carried out by Hausas. Almost nobody outside of Nigeria can differentiate between Igbos, Hausas and Yorubas! To them, you’re all Nigerians and Nigeria is synonymous for anything bad!

manny4life:
Yeah, just like I stated before he did not follow standard practice, neither did he apply rules of professional ethics ,  You do not sleep with your patients to avoid conflicts of interest. On one part, he's as guilty but on the issue of violation, I DO NOT AGREE.

With regards to the OP, you guys that think that the Doc is innocent should take about 20 minutes to read the actual charge sheet (see the link above).

If he’s innocent, why did he try several times to influence the woman’s statement? How come other people are coming out with different assault stories of their own? Also, keep in mind that these people and their families have been a patient of the doctor for about 3 years.

There are so many allegations made against the doctor that I think the stories are more plausible than not!

Is it possible that the relationship was consensual? Sure but if true, why are they meeting in an Emergency room in the hospital? Why not a hotel? Why take the risk of getting caught by a nurse or another doctor?

Also, if they had a consensual relationship it will be very easy for the Doc to prove! Phone calls, emails, and credit card receipts can easily be checked. They already looked at the Doc’s phone calls to establish that he reached out several times to the woman’s house and eventually speaking to the woman’s father a couple of times.

Regardless of everything I said above, he’s innocent until proven guilty and he’s going to have his day in court to tell his side of the story! Unfortunately in the US, once you’re arrested, the allegations are made public and as such, it is fair game to post it on forums just like this. This is not the first time that photos of people accused of crimes are posted on the internet. Pictures were posted in the case of the Arik lady, 419ners, Baba Suwe etc before they were convicted in the court of law.

For all we know, there might be other patients here of Doctors in Nigeria that might have also been assaulted!

Do some people have special privileges? I posted the last link as Dayo and I got banned.

Ever wondered what the future of search engines hold? Wolfram Alpha is not semantic based engine like Google and actually calculates answers to your questions.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Started a thread on it in the Education section:
https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-865284.0.html

Have you ever wondered if a search engine could answer your questions directly instead of giving you links to articles? For example, you can type the following lim(x->0) x/sin x in the query box and it will print out the calculated answers. Think of it as Google 2.0. 

http://www.wolframalpha.com/

From Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is categorized into two types, HIV-1 and HIV-2. Worldwide, most HIV infections are HIV-1, whereas HIV-2 largely has been confined to persons in or from West Africa (1,2). HIV-1 and HIV-2 have the same routes of transmission, and both can cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (3); however, HIV-2 infections should be differentiated from HIV-1 infections because they are less likely to cause AIDS and their clinical management differs (4,5). CDC's current surveillance case definition for HIV infection applies to both variants of HIV (6) but lacks criteria for differentiating between HIV-1 and HIV-2. To enumerate and describe HIV-2 cases reported in the United States, a working case definition was developed. During 1988--June 2010, a total of 242 HIV-2 cases were reported to CDC. Of these, 166 met the working definition. These HIV-2 cases were concentrated in the Northeast (66%, including 46% in New York City) and occurred primarily among persons born in West Africa (81%). Ninety-seven of the HIV-2 cases also had a positive HIV-1 immunoblot antibody test result (e.g., Western blot). Immunoblot antibody tests currently used to confirm HIV reactive screening tests do not contain reagents specific to HIV-2 and thus are not reliable for identification of HIV-2 infections (7). Additional testing specific to HIV-2 should be considered if HIV-1 test results are atypical or inconsistent with clinical findings, especially for persons from West Africa. If an HIV case is reported to the health department but subsequently identified as HIV-2, health-care providers should update the case report to reflect the correct type.

During 2009--2010, CDC convened a workgroup to develop the working HIV-2 definition used in this report. To meet this working definition, cases had to satisfy one or more of the following three criteria: 1) HIV-1/HIV-2 type-differentiating antibody immunoassay (e.g., Bio-Rad Multispot HIV1/HIV-2 Rapid Test) positive for HIV-2 but negative for HIV-1, 2) positive HIV-2 nucleic acid test (DNA or RNA), 3) positive HIV-2 immunoblot and negative or indeterminate HIV-1 immunoblot. In addition, one case reported in 1991 was accepted based only on a positive radioimmunoprecipitation assay (a now obsolete test). Neither the nucleic acid tests nor the immunoblots have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for diagnosis of HIV-2 infection, but the Bio-Rad Multispot HIV-1/HIV-2 Rapid Test has been approved for differentiation of HIV-2 from HIV-1.

During 1988--June 2010, health departments of the 50 states and the District of Columbia reported to CDC a total of 242 HIV-2 cases, based on a variety of criteria with no formal HIV-2 infection case definition. From that total, 47 reported cases were excluded because they had insufficient identifying information to discern whether or not they were duplicate reports. An additional 29 cases were excluded because they did not meet any of the three working definition criteria.

The remaining 166 cases met one or more of the criteria of the working definition and were analyzed by diagnostic test results, reason for suspecting HIV-2 infection, region of report, country of birth, race/ethnicity, sex, age, and transmission risk factor. Poisson regression was used to assess trends in the annual number of diagnoses. The year of diagnosis was defined as the year of the first positive HIV test, which in some cases was years before recognition that the HIV type was HIV-2.

Of the 166 HIV-2 cases, 113 (68%) met the first criterion of a result positive for HIV-2 but negative for HIV-1 on a type-differentiating antibody immunoassay, 66 (40%) met the second criterion of a positive HIV-2 nucleic acid test, and 58 (35%) met the third criterion of a positive HIV-2 immunoblot and negative or indeterminate HIV-1 immunoblot. Seventy-one (43%) of the 166 cases met more than one of the three criteria. HIV-1 immunoblot results were available for 163 of the HIV-2 cases; 97 (60%) were positive for HIV-1, 63 (39%) were indeterminate, and three (2%) were negative. Of the 97 HIV-2 cases with positive HIV-1 immunoblot results, the diagnosis of HIV-2 was established by a type-differentiating antibody immunoassay in 46 cases, by an HIV-2 nucleic acid test in 22 cases, and by both in 29 cases (Table 1).

Nucleic acid test evidence of HIV-1 coinfection was present in 19 (11%) of the 166 HIV-2 cases, including two with positive qualitative HIV-1 nucleic acid tests and 17 with detectable HIV-1 viral loads, of which the highest level was 1,000--1,999 copies/mL in six cases, 2,000--4,999 copies/mL in seven cases, and >10,000 copies/mL in four cases. HIV-1 nucleic acid test results were negative in 66 (40%) HIV-2 cases and were missing in 81 (49%) HIV-2 cases.

Data were available for 116 HIV-2 cases regarding why HIV-2 might have been suspected initially. Of these, 65 (56%) patients had an indeterminate HIV-1 immunoblot despite a positive HIV-1 or HIV-1/HIV-2 antibody screening test, 47 (41%) had an undetectable HIV-1 viral load despite a positive HIV-1 immunoblot, and four patients (three born in West Africa and one who had visited West Africa) had a negative HIV-1 immunoblot despite a positive HIV-1 or HIV-1/HIV-2 antibody screening test.

Of the 164 HIV-2 patients for whom birthplace was known, 132 (81%) were born in West Africa. Seven (4%) were born in other parts of Africa, and six (4%) in unspecified parts of Africa. Nine (6%) were born in India, five in the United States, three in Europe, and two in Mexico (Table 2). Of the 166 cases of HIV-2 infection, 77 (46%) were reported from New York City, 33 (20%) from elsewhere in the Northeast, 24 (15%) from the South, 18 (11%) from the Midwest, and 14 (8%) from the West. Among the patients, 89% were non-Hispanic blacks, 58% were men, and the median age at diagnosis of HIV infection was 39 years (range: 21--76 years).

No transmission risk factor was identified in 120 (72%) of the 166 cases, including 78 cases among persons with a history of heterosexual contact but whose sex partners had unknown infection status or were known to be uninfected. The reported risk factors for the remaining 88 cases were heterosexual contact with a sex partner known to be HIV-infected (38 patients, 23%), male-to-male sexual contact (four, 2%), and injection-drug use (four, 2%). Of the 50 women aged 15--44 years at diagnosis, 24 (48%) were pregnant at or after HIV-2 diagnosis. No children born to these 24 women were reported to be HIV-infected, but follow-up information was missing for six of the children born after their mother's diagnosis.

Poisson regression indicated that the annual number of HIV-2 diagnoses in the United States increased significantly from 1987 to 2009; however, the increase might be the result of surveillance artifact. No significant trends in HIV-2 diagnoses were observed during 1990--1999 (mean: 4.3 diagnoses per year; range: 1--, or during 2000--2009 (mean: 12.0 per year; range: 8--19). The annual number increased abruptly from two in 1999 to 12 in 2000, the year that New York began confidential name-based reporting of HIV infection cases in addition to AIDS reporting. Similar results were obtained when the trend analyses included all suspected cases that were excluded from other analyses (Figure).

The 166 HIV-2 cases constituted only 0.01% of the more than 1.4 million U.S. cases of HIV infection diagnosed during 1987--2009 (unadjusted for reporting delay). Of the 5,284 HIV infections reported in the United States among persons born in West Africa, 132 (3%) were HIV-2 infections. Among the HIV-infected persons born in West Africa, the percentage identified as HIV-2 cases varied significantly (p<0.05, chi square test) by reporting region: 5% in New York City, 2% in the rest of the Northeast, 2% in the Midwest, 2% in the West, and 1% in the South.

Reported by
Lucia V. Torian, PhD, Bur of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, New York City Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene. Richard M. Selik, MD, Bernard Branson, MD, S. Michele Owen, PhD, Timothy Granade, MS, R. Luke Shouse, MD, M. Patricia Joyce, MD, Danuta Pieniazek, PhD, Richard Kline, MS, Div of HIV/AIDS Prevention, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC. Corresponding contributor: Richard M. Selik, rselik@cdc.gov, 404-639-4495.

Editorial Note
The results of the analyses described in this report indicate that HIV-2 infections in the United States are rare, concentrated in the Northeast, and limited mainly to persons born in West Africa. Regional differences in the percentage of reported HIV cases caused by HIV-2 might be, in part, a result of the nonuniform geographic distribution of U.S. residents born in West Africa. New York is a major gateway for African immigrants to the United States (.

However, regional differences in the percentage of HIV cases caused by HIV-2 also could be the result of variations in completeness of diagnosis and reporting of HIV-2 by laboratories and state HIV surveillance programs. In particular, the large percentage of HIV-2 cases reported from New York City might have resulted, in part, from an increased focus on ascertainment of HIV-2 cases by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which has conducted active investigations to identify HIV-2 infections (9) and issued an advisory to clinicians regarding diagnostic testing for HIV-2. The percentage of HIV-2 diagnoses based on an HIV-2 DNA test was several times higher among cases reported from New York City (68%), where many cases were diagnosed by the city's public health laboratory, than among cases from the four other regions (range: zero to 26%).

The findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, the surveillance case definition for HIV infection and the working HIV-2 definition used in this analysis are intended primarily for analysis of epidemiologic trends and associations and might be inappropriate for other purposes, such as the clinical management of patients, which might require diagnostic considerations beyond the criteria used for the case definition. CDC currently is reviewing the HIV surveillance case definition to identify areas for revision, including the addition of specific criteria for HIV-2. Second, the 166 HIV-2 infections described in this report are likely an underestimate of HIV-2 cases in the United States. Many of the 76 suspected cases excluded from the analysis because of inadequate data on test results or missing identifiers might be actual HIV-2 cases. Other cases might not have been diagnosed because diagnostic tests specific for HIV-2 (e.g., DNA test or type-differentiating antibody immunoassay) were not widely used, and some cases might not have been recognized because of negative or persistently indeterminate results on assays designed primarily to detect HIV-1 antibodies. Finally, although 11% of HIV-2 cases had nucleic acid evidence of possible coinfection with HIV-1, the full extent of coinfection could not be assessed because HIV-1 nucleic acid test results were missing for 49% of the HIV-2 cases. In addition, 13 of the 17 detectable HIV-1 viral loads were <5,000 copies/mL, raising the possibility that they might be falsely positive.

Additional specific testing for HIV-2 should be considered if test results for HIV-1 are inconsistent with one another, inconclusive, or imply the absence of HIV infection despite clinical evidence suggesting its presence, particularly if the patient was born in or had other associations with areas such as West Africa, where HIV-2 infection is prevalent. Suspected HIV-2 cases should be reported to state or local health departments, which can conduct supplemental diagnostic tests for HIV-2 or arrange for them to be done at the CDC laboratory. In every state, confirmed HIV infection diagnoses are required by law or regulation to be reported to the health department.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6029a3.htm

miky:
@faithinnigeria

Please stop talking about things you have little idea about. Please name one country where you can register your company/business online in two hours ,  I say this because two of my uncle here in the states have engineering businesses in the usa, it took the younger one about a month.( there was investigation, and checking of business premises, and lots of paper work on his actual paper work as Practicing engineer, he needed his PE certifications as well),  there is nothing long with the length in my opinion in Nigeria, just the procedure, and central location in Abuja which is inconvenient ,


Educate yourself, here in America( probably one of the most developed nations) it takes days to several months, depending on investigative purposes, no one registers company online in 2 hours!!!

http://www.sba.gov/content/5-steps-registering-your-business

http://www.ehow.com/about_5231230_long-register-company_.html

Well, you're only partially correct also. Registration of a company is different from actually having a company that can conduct business.

For the actual registration of a company, you can achieve that in about 30 mins if you show up in-person and you pay the $50 or so to expedite the registration. If you don’t want it expedited, it can take up to 8 weeks to get it done. Most people just pay the $50 or so dollars and get it over with.

To get a tax ID (EIN) will take about 2 mins to enter your business information online. Opening a business bank account takes about another 30 minutes for the bank to enter all your information to create your account.

But to actually run the business, the state and county your business resides in might have regulations that govern your type of business. For example, you would need licenses to sell food, beer etc. Certain licenses are very expensive or next to impossible to get because there are only a set number of licenses given per year.

However, if your business is not regulated or does not require a license, you can start conducting business with a fully functional business name and bank account in a couple of hours.

Lastly, different states have different rules but it shouldn’t deviate too much from what is posted above.

1. Be careful what you post on LinkedIn as potential employers can also read it. There are times that I applied for a position and I could see that someone from that company looked at my profile. The site is not anonymous like Nairaland. Remember that “It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”

2. Try to include keywords used in your field when describing your experience. I have gotten a few interviews from recruiters reaching out to me and I didn’t even apply to their company. My guess is that they probably searched for some keywords and my name popped up.

Princek12:
that sounds more like the United States's contribution to the world

I also beg to differ. I think Indians are the most educated immigrant group. Nigerians, perhaps, are the most educated black immigrant group, if not among blacks generally.

African immigrants to the U.S. are among the most educated groups in the United States. Some 48.9 percent of all African immigrants hold a college diploma. This is more than double the rate of native-born white Americans, and nearly four times the rate of native-born African Americans.[13]

In 1997, 19.4 percent of all adult African immigrants in the United States held a graduate degree, compared to 8.1 percent of adult white Americans and 3.8 percent of adult black Americans in the United States, respectively. [14]
Of the African-born population in the United States age 25 and older, 87.9% reported having a high school degree or higher,[15] compared with 78.8% of Asian-born immigrants and 76.8% of European-born immigrants, respectively.[16]

Africans from Nigeria (89.1 percent), Ghana (85.9 percent), Botswana (84.7 percent), and Malawi (83 percent) were the most likely to report having a high school degree or higher. Those born in Cape Verde (44.8 percent) and Mauritania (60.8 percent) were the least likely to report having completed a high school education.[17]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_immigration_to_the_United_States

uberino:
This is a sub division of the Usa visa enquires page directed to students already in the US.

The Saudi's, Indians, Chinese that are here in the states help out their fellow brothers and sisters from the same country that is why they continually grow.
In unity we STAND, Divided we FALL! Do what you can to help!

Please share your experiences on how you survive as a student here in the states:

-From buying groceries
-Paying rent
-Doing assignments/Research and thesis
-Reading plans
-Getting a phone line and cheaper plan
-Getting scholarships
-Graduate/resident assistantships
-Owing a used car (if necessary), Getting a bus pass
-Getting a licence
-Getting a State ID
-Making the right friends.
-Getting a job on campus/off campus
or anything you think might be of help to a newbie in the states.

Please allow others to give their opinions because costs vary in different states.

The easiest route to surviving financially while in school is by getting free money (scholarships and grants). How much money can you get? I have family members that pocket about $20k every semester in addition to whatever they get per hour for tutoring other students at school.

Go to your school’s Financial Aid Office and inquire about scholarships/grants available to students.

CliffsNotes (Competing Arms of Government )

1. Executive
2. Legislature
3. Judiciary
4. Cabals
5. Protesters
    5(a). Nigerian Internet Ninjas (NINJAS)
    5(b). Cyber Activist
6. Terrorists
7. Armed Robbery Federation of Nigeria
8. Money-Laundering Miracle Pastors Guild
9. Kidnappers and Human Organ-Harvesters Union
10. Biafranist?

Isovector movement - still not exactly sure what it means but it seems to mean movement out-of-phase in tandem. Apparently, the word isovector is used in Particle Physics to represent the vector transformation of a particle under isospin (whatever that means!).

Madamot:
I couldnt agree more with Onenewman, Nigerians!!!!!!!!!!!! When will all these tribal insults stop Nairaland used to be seen as a very important research tool and a veritable treasure for authentic research on Nigeria especially in far away lands. People would always go to Nairaland to get a 'feel' of Nigeria, it was a wonderful ambassador. I along with so many other people hardly come to this site anymore. Its now just a tribal bashing site, not particularly taken seriously by anyone. This I predict will be the beginning of the end of Nairaland as it just upsets and hurts too many people. I guess the owner of the site allows such tribal insults in order to attract traffic but believe me, when it gets to the point it has got to now, it is all over, mark my words, respectable and serious minded people have started visiting other rival sites which I wont name. What a shame on Nairaland, what a shame on the people who use the annonymity of the site to say thiings they would ordinarily shy away from, is that how your parents taught you?? So very sad. By the way, I am a Yoruba woman with friends and family all over Nigeria, they mean a lot to me and I refuse to be a part of this, not in my name!!!!!! Shame on Seun for not moderating his site with a sense of profound responsibility to himself, Nigeria and posterity!!

+1

There’s no denying that the Igbos, Hausas, Yorubas, Ijaws etc have different traits and even speak different languages but we have more in common than we have apart. We should be celebrating and cherishing our differences, and not using the differences to sow a seed of discord amongst ourselves.

I remember a song from the IBB regime, I think, that highlights what we all strive for and it goes something like:

We are all MAMSA people (I wonder what the acronym stood for?)
We want the basic things of life
Food, power supply, water and education
Nigeria let us be mobilized
Standup for your rights
Go for hard work, honesty, dedication and praise democracy
(forgot the rest)


The bottom line is that, regardless of your tribe, we all want to live in a prosperous society that gives us ample opportunities to provide for our families but the corrupt politicians and their cronies are not making it possible. Our enemies are those corrupt politicians whether they be Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Ijaw, Alien, and NOT each other.

100% blame on Jackie! That is assault and it was totally uncalled for!

The most she should have done was to dump the soup on the floor but you cannot just assault someone because you're a "big man"! She's lucky that your waiter is slow; the waiter should have also bathed her with pepper soup from head to toe and then kick her behind out!

What the federal government doesn’t understand is that until they solve the very issues that caused the militancy in the first place, pacifying a few generals/militants will only work for a very short while. New militants/generals are being raised and bred, and it’s only a matter of time before they form a different faction from the pacified generals.

I know that there are many unexplained "things" in this world and I do not doubt your story but how do you know what you saw was an angel? How do you know it wasn't a UFO?

You only recognize things that you've seen before and as far as I know, there are no pictures of angels or any other Biblical character.

Also, the mind (brain) is one of the most powerful-mysterious "processors" of information and is capable of altering ones reality. What you saw or think you saw is not always reality.

Black on black on black! Even Darth Vader will bow!!!!!

Rossikk:
Wallie wrote:

It's not what I consider fun that matters with regard to Nigerians. It is what they consider to be fun that matters. You cannot force your idea of fun down others' throats, or imply that because white people in America play certain sports, Nigerians also should play the same sports etc etc, failing which it means they don't ''have fun''.

If I think that going down to a wine bar and chilling with friends or a babe is MY idea of a great time, who are you to tell me I don't know what fun is? Or that I should be out climbing mountains with you, or accompanying you on some funny, hair-raising adventure?

There's a difference. Those scenarios are part of everyday life. Going mountain bike riding is like you're asking for trouble, when you should be having fun. See, my idea of having fun involves risk-free activity. 

The only ''problem with us'' exists in your head.

See, this is you projecting your own experience unto others. Millions of Nigerians, including myself, did not experience such restrictions growing up.

I’m not really trying to force my idea on fun on anybody and I could give a sht; I merely asked what you consider fun. Since I can’t really question every single Nigerian, I figured I might as well direct the question to a Nigerian with an opposing view participating in the discussion. That will make your answer 1/167million of what Nigerians think fun is.

Even people with guts might consider beer-bottle-balancing on their belly fun; different stroke for different folks. There’s absolutely nothing wrong in wine tasting or club hopping if that’s your idea of fun. I did all that and then some while in college, and I had a hell of a time but had to leave the scene for the youngins.

Lastly, I’m not projecting any of my life experiences on anyone because it wouldn’t be fair. My parents are one of the most liberal parents that I know and I “done done it all” as a kid; hence, me being a fearless adult. 

So far, it seems that the only people that gets noticed and pacified are those that cause serious mayhem. It is clear that the government is weak and would rather buy people off than to solve the problems that caused people to revolt in the first place.

There is zero doubt that the ND region is in need of dire infrastructure development and the money being channeled over there by the Federal government evaporates into thin air. However, paying a group of people off will not solve the real problems caused by decades of neglect.

All the militants that are currently being trained will need to apply their skills somewhere. And even if they become employed, they will want a better life for their families. They will need roads, schools, hospitals, clean water etc.

The biggest mistake that the government is making is publicizing how the militants are being pacified. Everyone now knows that “crime pays.”

Why should MASSOB not arm themselves? Why should Boko Haram not keep bombing until the Fed caves in?

Rossikk:
Wallie said

I think what it is is that most Nigerians do not particularly LIKE many of those sports you mentioned. Not that they don't like ''fun''. You do not own the definition of ''fun''. The average Nigerian doesn't think it is ''fun'' to go on mountain bike rides, car racing, sky diving, or bungee jumping. He thinks it's unnecessarily dangerous and demanding. Hundreds of people are KILLED in such pursuits every year in the US, Canada etc. He doesn't think anything with those qualities can be called ''fun'', and he has a right to think that without being told he does not like ''fun things'', or racially insulted like some peabrains here sought to do.

So what do most Nigerians do that you consider "fun"? I do agree that there's an element of risk to what I consider fun because fun for me has to raise your adrenalin level. However, with regard to risks, crossing the street can get you killed; getting Malaria can get you killed; running into boko haram can get you killed; Nigerian trailers with no brakes can get you killed etc

The reason most people still venture outside or live in Nigeria is because you can reduce the risks facing you by taking certain precautions. When it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go! I hope that when my time is up, I go out with a big smile on my face!

The problem with us is that we were taught from a very young age to avoid anything remotely dangerous. You can’t go swimming, you can’t ride your bike in the street, you can’t wrestle, even to play soccer na wahala because you’re told to spend your free time reading.

So, what exactly do you consider fun?