Mommy Started Her Own School

Here's a picture of my mom holding an award she got at the Sudanese Independence Day celebration this past Saturday.

Ahlam (el nombre de mi madre) started a Sudanese Saturday school for the community with her best friend Muna. The school meets Saturdays for three hours and focuses on teaching Arabic and Sudanese culture to the young kids of the community.

I actually help out by taking pictures and also teaching. In the past month, the student population has more than doubled and the school, unlike its 1001 predecessors, has not failed yet. I am personally taking charge to see that it continues to succeed by communicating with the students to find ways of (hehe) "keepin' 'em coming". So far the kids just want to have fun. Some of them understandabley hate going to school 6 days a week so I have been trying to figure out ways of making the school seem less "school-like". Kids love games and candy right?

Any other ideas, feedback, support, comments, questions: anything is welcomed!

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Navigating the Internets

So I guess this means Arcade of the Scribe lies just west of Wikipedia. Nice. This'll be a short post, mostly to point you guys toward one of my favorite webcomics, XKCD... yes, I know it's a bit engineering-geeky, but it's fun anyway. Blog Out.

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Mkeka is African for Mat?!

Hello all. I said I wouldn't post for a while, and I shouldn't because I am crunching numbers on an excel sheet. However, as I was flipping through the newspaper, I saw something I thought was outrageous and I had to stop myself and analyze whether I should really be offended.

My conclusion was Yes!!! But slowly something is being done about the problem.

The Article was about the Kwanzaa celebration, and in it, the author referred to everything as an African tradition, or an African word. This is small sampling of a serious problem in today's world. Africa is referred to as an entire country instead of a continent of fifty three countries, each with unique cultures. Many African cities are modern, even if they are not at the same level as American or European cities. Yet Africa's problems are referred to as just that -problems- and attempts to solve them are handled as such. Now, if you wonder why it matters, it should be noted that the problems of one country can drastically affect the stability of another, a fact that becomes more true as the world becomes more globally connected. If you are wondering how does this tie into battle, well, I will tell you.

One of the fundamental steps for successful engagement and termination of a war, battle, or even a problem is clearly defining and understanding your it. In order, to conquer a people you have to understand their culture and what they value. You are then on the right path to developing a plan of attack, whether that include actual attack, or compromise. The very first step is to understand the people. The same is true of conquering a problem. You must understand who's problem it is and how it affects them and their culture.

However, a group of teachers decided to tackle this problem and has taken action. The Teachers of Utah State University have actually developed lesson plans for teaching students about Africa at the elementary level. These include lessons on the people, the cultures, the countries, and how the US and Africa compare. The lessons are simple, yet informative, and hold a wealth of information that the common person would not know about one of the world's biggest land masses. Although these lesson plans are for elementary students, they are actually a very good starting point for anyone how has caught themselves saying, 'how can I understand or contribute to solving Africa's problems.' Because as one teacher said, "Africa is not just one big safari." And understanding the people is part of conquering the problems.

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Knock Knock

"Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed.

"The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps: ‘My friend is dead! What can I do?’ The operator says: ‘Calm down, I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.’

"There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says: ‘OK, now what?’"

I admit, it's not that funny. BUT, the data doesn't lie; overall, people love this joke. Yesterday I promised that I would deliver something more serious. And, here it is.

Psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman - University of Hertfordshire - conducted the Laughlab Experiment as a scientific hunt for the world's funniest joke. Well, his team found it after reaching out to the global community. Dr Wiseman said the joke was interesting because it had global appeal. He said that jokes sometimes work for different reasons. He said that jokes "sometimes make us feel superior to others, reduce the emotional impact of anxiety-provoking situations or surprise us because of some kind of incongruity. The hunters joke contained all three elements" (full article).

I think it's a stupid joke... but I did find it funny that "Germans - not renowned for their sense of humour - found just about everything funny" (full article).

There are plenty of funnier jokes out there, so how about this idea. Share a joke with fellow readers below as a comment!

Now here is a Monty Python clip that many of you may recognize. Who's up for some 10 minutes of British comedy?

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Benny Lava

change of pace... This blog had 7 serious posts since induction so how about one to make you laugh or shake your head no... a hopefully interesting post this weekend... I promise

Hope you enjoyed this 4th of Jan You Airy

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How to be Legend

Last night Will Smith interviewed with Tavis Smiley. They talked about plenty, with topics ranging from Philly gun violence to Will's latest movie "I Am Legend". During the interview Tavis asked Will what seperated him from other people and Will's response was that he is "not afraid to die on a treadmill". After some explanation, Will emphasized that he will not be "overworked"; he will work his hardest no matter what and he attributes his success to this hustle-and-you'll-make-it philosophy.

This is the American Boot Strap Dream. But what about those that do hustle and work hard, and still remain poor and underprivileged? I personally don't believe that success can solely be attributed to hard work. Why? Well just as there are those that don't succeed even after breaking their backs, there are those who are successful by doing nothing less than knowing the right people. I will exclude those who are born wealthy from this discussion because there is a fine distinction between being successful and being rich. I used to always think that if I work really really hard and did my best I would have no problems in life. And so far that has fortuneately rung true for me. But I also need to know people. This society runs on connections! Who you know is important! Just watch "The Pursuit of Happyness" and you'll see what I mean.

That being said, maybe you shouldn't have to die on the treadmill but instead... do something like a Breast Cancer Walk and talk to fellow walkers. Get to know people while you work.

Network and hustle.

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Among the Thugs

First Post of the New Year!!!!

First something light, but still related to my post:



Now to be more serious:

I thought it only appropriate to start my first serious blog post with with the book that got me interested with violence and war almost a year and a half ago: "Among the Thugs" by Bill Buford. Now, this books is more a study of crowd psychology, but its is a valid starting point for anyone interested in violence for multiple reasons. First, as I stated in one of my comments, violence and honor have gone hand in hand since the dawn of man. Another reason is that you could say violence occurs when two factions, or crowds, dispute something that may be important to them, but not important to the majority of the world's population. This book deals with that conjecture amazingly. Maybe the most important reason is that it's just a really good read, and not too scientific. I digress from my point.

The book is a study of violence that occurs between the fans of opposing soccer teams in Europe over an 8 year period. All the while, the author records the passionate emotions of the men he followed, and the events he witnessed in stunning detail. He meets racists and nationalists along the way who try to use the fervor of the soccer crowds for their own agenda's and fail. He meets Italians, or "I-ties," and other Brits along the way who could turn on him at any moment depending on his "team." What's really interesting is that the author originally intended to observe, but eventually gets pulled into the violence himself, and finally embraces it. In doing so, one sees the amazing progression from the civilized man he thought he was to leader of an unruly mob, bent on the destruction and "capture" of Italy.

His conclusion?

"I was surprised by what I found; moreover, because I came away with a knowledge that I had not possessed before, I was also grateful, and surprised by that as well. I had not expected the violence to be so pleasurable....This is, if you like, the answer to the hundred-dollar question: why do young males riot every Saturday? They do it for the same reason that another generation drank too much, or smoked dope, or took hallucinogenic drugs, or behaved badly or rebelliously. Violence is their antisocial kick, their mind-altering experience, an adrenaline-induced euphoria that might be all the more powerful because it is generated by the body itself, with, I was convinced, many of the same addictive qualities that characterize synthetically produced drugs. "

The question?

Can his findings be generalized to the whole populace, and indeed, the history of man itself? People will say that violence occurs for many reasons, but can this truly be one of them? An anti-social kick?

Before you condemn this whole study as folly, think of life in general. There are often times when people choose sides, and violence will occur. Like the study, this often happens with sports. Passions will be inflamed when one person's side loses, wins, or is badmouthed. Violence can occur for no other reason than you grew up watching a team. Now extrapolate this to a bigger arena. Nationality, religion, the amount of sides we can choose in life are endless and make us the unique people we are. But this also mean that violence is necessarily part of who we are, no matter how we may try to suppress it?

Well, that's just depressing...I think I need some of that Habiro Happy Cola.

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