Nonqaba said ...

Where there are human beings, there’s knowledge, where there is the sun, there's life. Otherwise, they will perish if they don’t know how to avoid devious crocodiles when crossing rivers, berries fit for consumption, hunt rabbits, embalm food for the winter, build houses and canoes from trees and ensure women give birth safely. The whole educational system is guilty of equating knowledge with books, questionable knowledge because it is based on views of a group of men and women, with a hidden agenda. At university, we were forced to buy books written by our lecturers, so it was written knowledge for profit. The danger with book knowledge is that it dates easily. Television is a case in point. It overtook books. We became so glued to the small screen, even kids had T.V. sets in their rooms. That is stale news. The internet is the new knowledge. Twitter has the monopoly of ‘breaking news.’ It’s ironic, but the internet might jolt us into reality, into going back into not just knowled

The blue building is the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, a new building. The white tipi is a million years old 'mobile house' indigenous people erected where they were for food, folded it and moved on to the next destination. They have proverbs for that activity, collective proverbs, not one professor.  Proverbs can stop world wars because they are all about common things: the sun, the moon, the stars, men and women, how animals behave, how kids behave, summer, winter and old age.  Proverbs are collective treasures. They don’t belong to anybody. They are used freely to make things clear, and even clearer. Let’s pause and look at this Zulu proverb. Inxeba lendoda alihlekwa . (you must not laugh at a man’s wound). Why not? The speaker is saying, it can happen you.  Misfortune is universal. Plagiarism on the other hand, is written knowledge attributed to one person, usually a man. It can be a sentence, a stanza in a poem, how bees produce honey or how  to find water in a desert.

In some jobs, you sign a non-disclosure contract that what you see is for your eyes only. In fact, eyes see an image and send it to the brain immediately, where auto-delete resides. “Thomas, did you see Miss Starlight on my lap?” “No sir. Nothing. I saw nothing.” “Good chap.” In other jobs, it’s a gentleman’s agreement to see nothing, like cab drivers and after dark, female ogling businesses. Mum’s the word , says the English proverb. Window cleaners see a lot in their line of work, which could be 20 storeys or more. They don’t sign any contracts to keep secrets. It is just understood that it’s none of their business. Have you ever seen a headline where a skyscraper window cleaner, gave evidence in court that proved the wife did not kill her husband, the flamboyant diaper manufacturer, but his personal assistant did? No. And you never will. There are skycrapers all over the world, and they get dirty like your home windows. You seldom clean yours. That’s why you think some rooms are dar

There’s a problem. Some school divisions in Canada are reporting a high number of ‘unaccounted for’ students. Meaning? They don’t go to school anymore. Why stay in college   when your Tik Tok comedy skits land you a permanent gig in LA or New York? Some YouTubers with more than a million subscribers are as young as 18. Ta lk  show hosts also regularly invite bloggers and YouTubers to give expert opinion on this and that. Such exposure can lead to bigger and better things. The internet is the new college. I cannot keep up with new jobs descriptions created by the internet, webmaster, online editor, content manager etc. Sales people in your computer store in Halifax or Manhattan probably got the job because of product knowledge gleaned from the internet. Go on-line.  Check job sites.  How many require some form of internet know-how?  What ticket do young people need then for the future? Is it online savvy or a thesis on how the vicious justice system in England failed the working class b

Parents clap, this girl doesn't understand their world, and that's what most colleges teach.  Her world is online. Queen’s University in Canada is a good example of how the internet is the new campus, the digital college. Queen’s University is not going out of business, but it is removing certain subjects from the blackboard. 1.  Liberal Studies 2.  Hispanic Studies 3.  German Studies 4.  Graduate Diploma in Business The Internet’s advantages and disadvantages and social networking in particular are always fodder for debate. What is seldom digested is its long term imprint on formal education such as attending class and being taught by human beings. The word internet did not exist for the general public before 1990. Back then, teachers from lower grades up to university professors were regarded as the fountain of knowledge, where students took a sip and came out wiser. The internet punctured that equation. It is the new campus.   The new campus is attractive for a myriad of rea

Stolen sushi. Yes, everybody is a chef on the internet. I've never been to Okinawa Japan,  but I can steal from Japanese videos and become an 'expert.' Ketchup on sushi? Sacrilege. Plagiarism. It's a big word the window cleaner doesn't know. College professors do and sometimes accuse each other of stealing ideas. C opyright, patents, plagiarism, what is the difference? Long story. All I know is that, there's no copyright in recipes. Here’s an old post, 9 April 2023 about copyright. When last did you stroll around the food court at the mall? Chinese food is one thing that stands out because it has a glaze to it.  It’s caused by sauces and other ingredients they use. How do I know? YouTube movies, but that doesn’t make me an expert. I’m the dumb one. Because there’s no copyright online, copy cats that use the same ingredients and the Chinese method of cooking, have sprung up like mushrooms. The internet is an open plan, the sky is the limit literally, but there’s

Attending a conference? Do we read information in conference bags? Governments, big companies and special interest groups still feel that there is merit in having conferences in convention centers or hotels, where employees or members can meet and share information, despite its availability online. Conferences reinforce the human aspect where we can finally attach a face to people we have known for quite some time through the phone, email or social media. It is even great if they are speakers at the conference. The downside of all this is how we treat printed information in our conference bags: colorful conference agendas, posters, booklets about featured speakers with nice photos and their career path, bookmarks, business cards, pens, t-shirts and other items. We usually keep the t-shirts because we might be under an obligation to wear them for the duration of the conference, but the printed material? We leave it behind in hotels or airports. I still groan when I think of valuable inf

College football quarterbacks, Shedeur Sanders and Caleb Williams, some of the top NIL beneficiaries. Except for religious societies, men and women are equal before the law and are entitled to the same opportunities. It’s enshrined in most constitutions, but the reality is that we are comparing oranges with lemons. They can never be equal for many reasons, the main one being giving birth to human beings. That’s why they tolerate us because they need kids, preferably sons to perpetuate their name and hobbies. What do they call it in American football? N ame, I mage and L ikeness (NIL). Hobbies is not even the right word. It’s more than that. It’s the reason for their existence. That’s why men want sons to be farmers, fishermen, welders, carpenters, my dad was a cop I’m also a cop, actors, soccer, NFL, NBA and MLB players, just like them. That’s the crux of the matter, of the inequality. Men have a seam less relay from boy’s dream to man’s realization of that dream because it is fully su

Divorce is inevitable when hate overflows. Where did you park? It’s a simple question in countries where people are born and raised in automobiles, starting with kids’ strollers/prams.  Failure to answer it can result in a smile because sometimes we forget where we parked the car. Is it Level B or C, one or two streets down? The smile slowly fades when the answer has cracked bits and pieces, like a windscreen damaged by hailstorm. The bits and pieces are about marriages that reached the end of the road and material possessions had to be divided, with the wife getting the car because she takes the kids to school. It may be cars that came with the job. We were laid off before the pandemic so we surrendered the car keys together with electronic keys for the office building. We can say the car is in the repair shop because of mechanical problems. We don’t have to divulge the whole story that the garage is holding it hostage until we pay for work done. We could try another story. It was a t

Erin Jackson Winter Olympics speed skating champion from Florida, is alone on the ice. We are with other people around the table when we are out to lunch. It's a give and take, talk and listen situation . Who speaks who listens when we are having lunch at a restaurant somewhere? It depends. It’s easy if it’s a man and a woman. Although they have the same intention, the person who listens the most is usually the woman because her intention is long term: dating, a diamond ring and a wedding dress that will break the internet. The man talks a lot, to impress because his intention is immediate. Which is? Take her home after settling the bill. It’s more complicated when a group of friends are out to lunch because of the driver or pilot. It’s amazing how some people can talk forever, and be oblivious to the fact that a conversation is talking and listening. It’s not a university lecture or Donald Trump on stage. The driver at lunch cannot even read signs that someone wants to say somethi

Below is old blog about so-called housing crisis, 10 December, 2023. There is no housing crisis because a roof over your head has always been determined by money in the bank. It is not like Russia and other communist countries where the government subsidizes housing so that there’s no big disparity between rich and poor. Canada is a capitalist country. It works on supply and demand, ability to pay rent or enough money to buy a small home outside the city center. The government does not own houses. It is not Russia. Condos and apartment buildings are owned by the private sector. I can buy four condos and rent all of them. It’s a capitalist system. The government is not to blame for the perceived housing shortage. There is hypocrisy in the imagined housing crisis. Only in Americ a, is a phrase common in many parts of the world. It’s a belief that if you have money, you will be comfortable. It also applies in Canada. It’s the free enterprise system. Rental property This housing crisis is

I blame Hollywood for too many secret service movies. That's why I don't understand how they missed the ground work or online millipede, that resulted in 6 January 2021.  The FBI, CIA, MI5, KGB and other espionage outfits globally, are facing massive lay-offs because the nature of their job has changed.  Intelligence. I suppose it is called intelligence work because before the internet, gathering sensitive information needed intelligent men and women. Not anymore.  It is out in the open, or should I say on your screen?  Forget Wikileaks. We know about that. I’m sure CIA mini directors, Google that before they drink their morning coffee. Bloggers and ordinary folks also post all kinds of information that is supposed to be ‘classified’, classified against the people to protect governments and their secret dealings. How about defections?  We don’t hear about those anymore because somebody defecting from the USSR to the U.S. is not bringing any fresh state secrets. Most of them can

I first ate salmon in a country called Canada. I’ve loved it every since. It’s cheaper than red meat (a source of vitamin B12) and cooking time is 1-2-3. Yes indeed. In fact they don’t cook it in Japan, just fold it nicely in sushi . That’s the sushi I buy when I happen to be at the mall. Because of its zero cooking time, I prepared my favorite over the weekend: breakfast salmon. 1.  Cook onion, tomato and chilies in canola oil for 6 minutes. (No more olive oil for me, price went up). 2.  Add little jerk sauce if you have it. 3.  Place salmon on top. 4.  Switch off heat and leave on stove for two minutes. 5.  Eat with whole wheat or brown toast. 6.  I spread low fat margarine out of habit. You don’t have to. Question What is happening with olive oil? I went to sleep and woke up to find the price riding high. Let me try this canola oil, one of Canada’s big exports. Done. I’ve been using it for a week, and nobody is missing inflated olive oil. I ain’t going back , as they say in the movi

Protests in London, Winnipeg, Montreal, Berlin, Johannesburg and Lagos have two protesters: genuine and accidental. Both are important because they can influence policy. However, they failed to keep Britain in the European Union (EU). In 2016, a referendum was called to see if Britain wanted to remain in the EU or exit. 52% voted for BREXIT. In 2019, protesters took to the streets to demand staying in the EU after all. That didn’t work because as it stands, Britain left the E.U. so, massive protests against BREXIT did not change yes we must, referendum results. Who were genuine protesters, who were accidental? It’s hard to tell. Genuine protesters usually have megaphones and conduct chants. I was going to say they also have placards but changed my mind. Sometimes organizers place placards strategically where anyone can pick them up. I’ll take another risk and say genuine protesters are in T-shirts with messages in large letters. Accidental protesters are passers-by, who were going nowh

Housing is cheaper in smaller provinces. Students have always shared apartments. It's part of the fun. Foreign students cannot demand single-person accommodation. They must share like Canadians. Headlines about a housing crisis in Canada seem to be a weekly occurrence. That’s why we should try and unpack it, look at it in context. First of all, let’s remove students from the equation. Canadian parents pay taxes in their provinces. Some of the money ends up in local colleges and universities. That’s why tuition fees for their kids are less than those paid by foreign students. The housing crisis should not include foreign students because they knew exactly what to expect when they decided to study in Canada. They knew that they will have to find their own housing if they decide to come with the extended family. This is not only in Canada. It’s countries like U.K. Australia, France and U.S. as well. Foreign students pay for rental accommodation in their own countries, unless parents o

Short hair shows the whole lovely face. Starting a new business? We need a business plan first. That is the norm, but can we tweak it a bit, put the cart before the horse? We need an accountant first, not a business plan. I know it’s heresy but the accountant has valuable information that is not in the standard business plan. We will prepare a one-page synopsis of what the business is all about, and ask her to tax, what we have in mind. Let’s give our business a name, Angry Horse . What do you mean, tax it? It’s 2024, and the greedy government is licking its fingers because we are going to do the 2023 taxes. Our accountant will sit down with us with copies of a business tax form. We can view it online using our laptops, but sometimes paper forms are the best. It’s easier to turn pages. Our accountant will explain every point, every box, every question on that form. The government likes to hide things in legal words. She will unpack them for us. She will tell us whether a certain requir

Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang. Big technology companies continue to layoff workers in the new year. It is reported that artificial intelligence is the culprit. I’m still waiting for somebody to tell me how artificial intelligence affects daily life like traffic lights, my banking, renewing a driver’s licence, paying parking tickets etc. What I do know is that you lose your job, you lose your home. Layoffs are layoffs whether you work in technology, construction, health, hospitality, farming, retail, government or energy. The first cause for insomnia when the layoff rumor starts skating around, is your home. How will I pay the mortgage/bond? This piece is concentrating on technology because we thought it was the last bus stop. It’s the culprit for unemployment in traditional industries. That’s why printers, fax machines, scanners, newspapers and magazines went out of business. Banking also. How many tellers are left at your bank? Some community branches shut down completely. The housing mar

@mkbhd, Marques Keith Brownlee, the YouTube tech falcon doesn't have a tie.  Does he?  Tech guys don't do ties. Photo Credit: online pic. Silicon Valley job interviews need more than a degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or Bangalore Institute of Technology in India.  The correct dress code is also part of the equation. No tie.  That is the techie dress code and, no matching jacket and pants known as the suit.  You did your research before the interview so you know that Steve Jobs was famous for both Apple stuff and being tie-free.  Now it is the norm.  Technology-inclined guys just don’t do ties, especially when they launch smart or dumb phones or the ‘thinnest’ computer. What’s up with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and the gray TShirt?  Google’s Sundar Pichai is also tie-less most of the time, so is Apple’s Tim Cook. The tie is an obstacle, a stop sign, a road with a train crossing, a bus that is late or faulty traffic lights.  It restricts the Adam’s Apple f

Below is an old blog 30 December 2023. Technology drives our lives but it has never been an election issue in both Canada and the U.S. It is seldom on the national stage. That is why Americans probably miss ed the news that might affect them. Hong Kong. November 8. Reuters reported that ByteDance is offering to buy back shares from its employees outside the U.S. for $160 per share. What is ByteDance? It’s the Chinese company that owns Tik Tok. Last December, the U.S. banned Tik Tok from cellphones, laptops and other devices used by government workers. Why? Because it believes China was extracting information it could use to put the United States of America in danger. ByteDance CEO  Shou Zi Chew  appeared before Congress and U.S. Senate and denied the allegations. American presidential elections have standard issues like the economy, taxes, immigration and abortion, but not technology. It is unfortunate because it is responsible for many problems. Workers lose jobs when one machine can

The youth create technology products. They fiddle with technology constantly. That is why they improve the products they improved two years ago. They are marketed and governments across the world, are the big ticket buyers because they have Education budgets, Agriculture budgets, Infrastructure budgets and Technology budgets. The problem is communication. The seller and buyer don’t speak the same language. Example. The youth speak tech, U.S. Congress and Senate speak another language, because most members are over 60.  It’s frustrating for both sides. Who : Tik Tok CEO Shou Zi Chu testifies before Congress When : 23 March 2023 Why : America accuses ByteDance, Tik Tok’s parent of spying for China It was a David and Goliath situation. The Tik Tok CEO knew his stuff. Questions from Goliath demonstrated paucity of knowledge when it comes to everything, with a T for technology. Looking for Government Contracts? Creators of technology and buyers should be on the same page and it’s basically

  Below is an old post 11 November 2020 about the pandemic. Christians and finger pointing.  ‘You don’t go to church?’ It sounds like a guilty verdict. Not anymore. COVID-19 is here and there’s no church, so both sinners and saints are home staring at online images they are not supposed to be checking out. Some places of worship like television churches are not affected I guess, because they were on the screen, long before the pandemic broke window panes, leaving us exposed. The accusing finger is what gives religion a bad name. Accusers are free to do hateful, down right evil and even criminal things during the week, but come Sunday, they are pure like falling snow, because they are in church pews and altars. Book Review - Before Redemption Author, Teresa McClain-Watson presents Nikki Lucas, a character that doesn’t go to church thanks to her hypocritical aunt, who refused to take her in when she knocked on her door, young and pregnant. The aunt went to church every Sunday without fai

  Song of Solomon. Toni Morrison’s novel has a scene where locals complain that a stranger arrived and did not greet them, but eyed local women. I hope I’m quoting the correct book.   I can’t double-check because someone nicked  Song of Solomon . Borrowed probably. Friends and family forget to return things, don’t they? Toni Morrison is the only person who can confirm or dispute what I’m saying about that scene, but she has passed on. Greetings are the icebreaker, even the two cents ‘ Hi ’ mainly used by Canadians and Americans. Greetings are more elaborate in traditional societies where people live off the land and whose lives are determined by the sun and the moon, and food is provided by animals, fish and plants.  Greetings are also more intimate among African Americans because they use the whole body, shoulders, arms and hands to connect.  Their style has been handed down from generation to generation because of slavery, when they were truly blood brothers and took care of each oth

There is no doubt about legal equality of the sexes in industrialized countries like Canada and U.S. but the reality is, when it comes to kids, women feel the pain more than men. Zulu  is a language spoken mainly in southern Africa and this is how women put it: ku ya sika  (it cuts). When a child cries, the woman is reminded of labor pains she experienced to bring it to this world. Schools have their phone numbers in case kids get sick. They go shopping for school uniforms. They schedule birthday parties. They drive here and there to drop off and pick up kids for school related events. In other parts of the world, raising kids is not a problem because mothers are primary caregivers aided by aunts, female cousins, neighbors and grandmothers. Grandmothers are super important because they are the granary of knowledge and have command of the original language. They are not only language experts, but teach kids social graces, like respect as well.  Then comes immigration. What certain cultu

Kind is -musa in Zulu. You say the first part like moot and the last one like some. Musa : A boy’s name that means the kind one. Nomusa : A girl’s name that means the kind one. Siphu-musa : A boy or girl’s name meaning, parents asked for kindness.  Being kind is a bad trait, although its what all mothers advocate. People are cruel at work to the extent of firing someone. ‘ We finally got rid of him.’ No reason at all. Somebody just didn’t like him. Being kind is a bad trait. That’s why billionaires are not kind. You are respected if you are a shrewd businessman. Some Christians sing about Christ’s kindness on Sunday, while they do despicable things to their neighbors and church members during the week. The whole state of kindness is called umusa , and it’s a noun. You show kindness to your co-workers or someone on the plane. It’s one thing to remember growing up and what parents taught us. It’s another thing to be kind to somebody then end up in jail or dead. You decide. By: Nonqaba wa

Hi. Who do you work for, legally speaking? We are ruled by the camera, to such an extent that sometimes governments make decisions based on public opinion. And what is public opinion? People marching in the streets. Not really. That is a fraction of public opinion because the majority of voters are at home watching television. We will only know how they feel about issues, come voting day. They are shy. They don’t carry signs and sing in the street. Protest marches are designed for the camera: strategies, costumes, placards, bull horns, everything. I was just not aware how much, until yesterday, when I saw man wearing a vest written: LEGAL OBSERVER. Legal? That means he is expecting trouble, which will result in criminal behavior or something. But, who is he working for, organizers of the protest march, the police or he’s a law student? I don’t think it’s funny though because anything can happen in a small space occupied by a crowd mad at something. What aggravates matters are counter p