Weird Photo: Face Made By Hands

Interesting face

I'd like to try something. Every week for the next 4 weeks, I'll post a really weird photo. I love these weird things.

Rate this photo for weirdness on a scale of 1-10 and tell me what you think about it in your comment.

How Did Globacom Increase Its Internet Subscribers 25-fold In One Month?

Since I read Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis, my fascination for statistics has grown. This fascination, plus my background as a Communications Engineer, led me to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) website to check the Operator Statistics for Glo, MTN, Airtel and Etisalat for January to June 2013.

And I found something.

The table below is from the NCC website. It shows the number of active internet subscriptions for each Mobile Operator from February 2013 to June 2013.

Can you notice anything about it?

If you cannot still see it, I'll explain. From right to left, it shows:

1. Airtel had 8.2 million active internet subscriptions in May 2013 and 9.3 million in June 2013. A respectable increase of 13.8%.
2. Etisalat had 5.18 million active internet subscriptions in May 2013 and 5.17 million in June 2013. Slight decrease of 0.13%. Not terrible.
3. MTN had 24.4 million active internet subscriptions in May 2013 and 24.6 million in June 2013. An increase of 0.78%. Fair.
4. Globacom had 351,263 active internet subscriptions in May 2013 and 9.1 million in June 2013. An increase of nearly 2500%.

Here's how it looks on a graph.

Looking from May 2013 to June 2013 in the graph above, you can see the massive growth of the light-green part of the bar for June.

Alright. How does a Telecom Operator add over 8 million Active Internet Subscribers in just One Month?

Innovative Marketing? Free Internet?

I do not claim to know all that goes on in the Telecoms Industry, but I sure do keep myself informed. Yet, I can't explain it.

So, how do you think it happened?

PS: You can find these graphs on the NCC website here. When you're at the webpage, click on "Internet Subscriber Data (July 2012 - June 2013)". Visit using a JavaScript enabled browser.

What Are You Worth?

A professor was talking to his class about the lessons in life, when he took out a dollar note from his pocket and asked if anybody wants it. The entire class put up their hands eagerly without a moment's hesitation. He folded it once and asked again, and as expected everyone raised their hands once more.

The professor then folded the dollar note into a small square and asked, "does anyone still wants this dollar note?" The entire class was waving their hands in the air by now, clamoring to be the lucky recipient of the money.

He unfolded the note carefully, and crushed it tightly into a small ball. "How about this? Everybody still wants this lump of paper?" The students shouted, "yes! We still want it!"

The professor dropped the note on the floor and stomped on it with all his might, while the class watched on in silence. "How about now? You guys still want it?"

Before the class could react, a student shouted, "yeah I want it! It's still money!" The professor picked up the note and handed to the student. He turned back to the rest of the class to explain the moral of the lesson.

"Many times in life, you'd be crushed and stomped upon by others. Without a strong sense of self worth, you might end up feeling small and worthless like a lump of paper. But no matter what I did to the dollar bill, all of you recognized its worth as a dollar, so it retained its value even as I abused it to the core."

"Never depend on others to determine your value - know your own worth. No matter how much others try to crush you, you will always know what you are capable and worthy of. Just like the dollar bill, the outside appearance will never diminish your true value."

July 16, 2013

SUCCESS - A Poem by Berton Braley: The Wallpaper

Strangely, the most viewed post on this blog so far is this post I made about the poem Invictus. It is a powerfully inspiring poem about confidence and courage. The most interactive post is this other one.

So, I decided to put up a few more poems starting with the poem Success by Berton Braley. The poem is simply awesome. If you're not used to reading inspiring poems, you're going to get a heavy jolt from this one. Put up the wallpaper on your laptop and get motivated every single time you turn it on.

Right click on the picture and select "Save Target As" or "Save Link As".

SUCCESS

If you want a thing bad enough 

To go out and fight for it, 

Work day and night for it, 

Give up your time and your peace and your sleep for it 

If only desire of it 

Makes you quite mad enough 

Never to tire of it, 

Makes you hold all other things tawdry and cheap for it 

If life seems all empty and useless without it 

And all that you scheme and you dream is about it, 

If gladly you'll sweat for it,

Fret for it, 

Plan for it, 

Lose all your terror of opposition for it, 

If you'll simply go after that thing that you want, 

With all your capacity, 

Strength and sagacity, 

Faith, hope and confidence, stern pertinacity, 

If neither cold poverty, famished and gaunt, 

Nor sickness nor pain 

Of body or brain 

Can turn you away from the thing that you want, 

If dogged and grim you besiege and beset it, 

You'll get it!

- Berton Braley

July 11, 2013

Horrible Things a Teacher Did

You see that picture to the left? Left to me, I would GLADLY do that. These kids can be so ANNOYING.

Alright. I'm an NYSC Member, teaching at this school in Lagos. I teach two classes, SS1A and SS1C. In SS1A, there are about 230 students. In SS1C, there are about 170 students. So I teach approximately 400 students. And, each class is packed beyond what the chairs and tables can bear. (Please take a moment of silence for the state education system.)

Anyways, I was in class yesterday, teaching them the only subject I teach them--Maths--and it was the penultimate class for the term.

Before I go further, I would like to emphatically state my wholehearted affection for teaching. I love teaching,

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July 8, 2013

Mummy, "I want to be a Wizkid"

I was in a Keke NAPEP on my way back from my classes on Telecoms and networking last Saturday, when I got into a thrilling conversation with a 4-year old boy who spoke like he was 7.

We talked about a man sitting to my right whom he hit in the face by accident, debating whether or not he should say “sorry”. We discussed cartoons—he liked Power Rangers which was my best cartoon after Bugs Bunny and Spiderman. We talked about his 2-year old brother that had the annoying habit

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July 4, 2013

Is Democracy Actually A Good Thing?

I was reading the book Boomerang by Michael Lewis where he talks about the crazy financial decisions that were made in countries like Iceland, Greece and Ireland, when I read this quote and thought I should share it:

Democracy destroys itself because it abuses its right to freedom and equality. Because it teaches its citizens to consider audacity as a right, lawlessness as a freedom, abrasive speech as equality and anarchy as progress.

- Isocrates (436-338 BC)

Kind of true....right?