Posts

Showing posts from June, 2013

Tale of "undiscovered" Africa, savannah, safari and annoying questions.

Let me paraphrase one of the famous quotes by an individual whose name I do not recall, it goes something like this "There is nothing like stupid question". Well, I do believe that a person who asks question he/she does not know an answer to is actually an inquisitive lot. On the other hand, there are questions that do not show curiosity but sheer ignorance or something closer to that.  One term that makes me think more than I actually do is "undiscovered Africa". Africa, apparently is undiscovered, a term that is overused. And Africa in this context may not necessarily refer to a continent but any country within the continent, you see its easier to say Africa than Burkina Faso or its Capital Ougadogou. I honestly cannot say what are the expectations of non-Africans when they plan to come and pay the continent a visit. However, I can say that I have had a share of interesting questions that Google has an answer to directed towards me. See, ge

Third World problems

Being a citizen of a country grouped in the so-called Third World category comes with its stereotypes, benefits and of course challenges like reliable internet connection. Well, for sure there are things that I am sure the so-called developed countries envy, like, tropical fruits and little probability of nuclear threat from enemies my state made. With the world politics dominated by nuclear threats from North Korea, I am much more concerned with internet provision in my country. Surely after being the top on the continent in tech and consumer friendly services like mobile money that some of the so called developed states do not have, reliable, fast and cheap internet connection is like citing a rare breed of bird. The problem is dominance by mobile phone companies that charge in bundles. Why data should be limited by providers is beyond me considering that the whole nation is going digital soon, including our primary schools. For example in Azerbaijan, I paid 15AZN (equivalen