Reflecting the Eccentric World of E.K.Bensah II

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2009-01-06T10:01:00.000Z

Many thanks to all those that have patronised this blog, but it's time to move on...to WORDPRESS!

You can read me now on http://ekbensah.wordpress.com, and encourage others to read me, too!:-)

Have a GREAT and prosperous year!

360 Degrees of Blogging Separation

2008-11-20T17:22:00.001Z

The end of the year always gets like this, when you are trying to wrap things up at work, but have to reconcile it with the usual blogging. When you top it up with an imminent general election that seems to have eclipsed even Christmas festivities, you arrive at a point when you realise you are dealing with an incendiary brain tongue-twister that only YOU can sort out.

Let's just say I have the pictures for Accradailyphoto, and the entries for my other blogs--but I JUST haven't made time to write them out as I have been a little more than preoccupied with helping contribute to a cause close to my heart--including my professional work ofcourse.

I should get a picture up by Friday and maybe some small entries here and there.

I should bounce back with a vengeance next week. Indulge me and forgive me, too!

Thank you for your patronage!360

Back on 20th October

2008-10-12T08:36:00.001Z

Feeling burned out. Currently in the green, lush, and touristic region of my country, located in the Central region, where I am here to attend the funeral of a relative.

But it is also a brilliant boon to the jaded. I am getting plenty of food for thought on life and death.

My blogging will be sporadic as I rest to return with vigour on the 20th of October.

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Thus Ends My Suit Experience

2008-10-03T19:01:00.002Z

With the closing of the ACP Conference, I duly go back to wearing shirt and trousers, leaving behind my trusted jacket, which lends me a smarter look.

I don't know about you, but I like my suit, and not just because I saw my Dad in it throughout my formative years, but because I have always felt that it in no way does it substitute your attitude and your mind.

For now, it's goodbye to the suit till we meet next time:-)

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The Strange Case of the Elusive President

2008-10-03T11:31:00.002Z

Fact is: it is not so strange, and the Sudanese president as not as elusive as the title might suggest. Who can blame me, though, when I see someone reading a GHANAWEB article with bold headline "Al-Bashir Skips Town", and I ask for a copy?

As I freeze my behind in this excessively-cool air-conditioned PRESS CENTRE located in a tent adjacent to the press conference on the final day of the ongoing Sixth Session of the Brussels-based ACP Group, clearly, someone is feeling the heat!

It appears the only reason why Bashir was able to make his speech yesterday on Ghanaian soil has everything to do with the fact that the Sudanese president was assured by Ghanaian authorities that he would not be arrested, despite the fact that he was on the soil of an INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT county.

I am suddenly reminded of Charles Taylor who was arrested by Nigerian authorities in 2006, not too far from Cameroun. It coincided with the witnessing by Ghanaians of the country's first solar eclipse in many decades.

Even the stars might have been mad at his blaze of gory in his home country of Liberia!

In that instance, too, Ghanaian authorities refused to arrest the man when he came to Ghana.

Do you smell a pattern of pusillanimity here, or simply a desire to maintain positive diplomatic relations-- something the late former Foreign Secretary of the UK Robin Cook called "constructive engagement"...

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Happy Birthday "Big Bro'" Fenix

2008-10-03T11:00:00.002Z

Didn't I tell you? Fenix, our most caring and loving family pet dog, a beautiful golden retriever, is now older than me! He turns five dog years today, which would make him 35 human years!:-)

No longer will he demand that I puta leash on him before he goes for a walk. No longer will he jump excitedly when he sees his leash! No longer...!!

Oh but he will, 'cos he hates getting out of the gate <i>without</i> the darned thing!

Happy birthday, mate!
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Soporific Days

2008-09-23T17:39:00.002Z

Today was one of those days when despite electronic admonishments from emails urging one to *carpe diem*, it was just downright impossible to do so!

It was also a day when I felt I was in much-need of the leave I've been contemplating. The office is that much quieter with my immediate boss himself on leave and therefore being left unsupervised, but before he left, he put down an outline of outstanding issues, which include a revision of an article I am writing on mining codes revision and regional integration.

The latter is my forte; the former not. I am just not feeling sufficiently motivated to re-write that article, but I got myself a deadline of Friday, as next week, I don the press cap and cover another international conference coming to town.

It really would be in my best interests to finish it off, and just stop moaning! Sleep became me a lot today. I guess I need quite a lot of it to be back in the mood for tomw.

enjoy YOUR evening...
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(BBC) Forum for Thought: The Bearable Lightness of Being Silent

2008-09-22T18:28:00.003Z

The BBC Worldservice has been running a programme on Sunday mornings called "The Forum", where intellectuals from all disciplines gather together to allow themselves to be queried on topics as vast as globalisation, global business, mathematical formulations of an African village, etc. You get the picture: wide array of issues.

Yesterday, an intervention by one Professor Trevor Cox (who works on sound engineering) featured on the one-minute-idea-to-save-the-world segment talked about the need to sometimes just - keep -quiet and switch our phones, mobiles, computers off . It had less to do with energy and more to do with getting back to a time and period when we could think without being interrupted by a text message and whatnot.

His major contention is that for business to work effectively, the quiet is very much needed.

I believe someone by the name of Carlyle said in a moment of epiphanous truth that "silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves."

The irony of this post is that I am writing it -- motivated by the desire to blog -- in a mall, where silence is virtually impossible (Celine Dion is blasting from the eatery, while muzak plays in the halls of the mall), but downright counter-productive to the business of selling all sorts of stuff!

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Many thanks...

2008-09-21T00:16:00.001Z

...to all those who honoured my invites. I hope to revolutionise the blogging experience from hereonin!

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Weekend Woes: On the Fast Lane, I get some Wake-Up Calls

2008-09-12T13:35:00.005Z

The folks always admonished my brother, Sam (who would have been 35 yrs old last Saturday) that you cannot serve two masters. The lack of attachment to blogging offlate brings this to significant sharp relief, as I'm torn between the professional (which rules my roost!) and the private, where I become schizophrenic in the different kinds of blog I maintain.

There are certain periods where there is a considerable lull--and this month and the last was one of them. No matter how "organised" you become, the desire to write just passes by. I guess I can only call it blogger's block.

Still, I'm no quitter, as I intoned in no country for tired bloggers and the desire to fight to write will be second nature.

All that said, at times, the planets decide to do something to you, and I notice that during the August-September periods, I feel this the most. It appears those are the times I am my most contemplative, most solipsistic -- which is pretty ironic, considering how this very blog in particular--and most blogs in general--could be conceived of as extensions of each blogger's ego;-)

So it's coming as no surprise, then, I would get a serious wake-up call this week--and not just because it was the same week that the seventh anniversary of 9-11 would be celebrated.

Relationship-wise, my significant other told me some home truths about the trajectory of our relationship, which gave me both the shudders and creeps. The creeps because I was thinking it myself over the previous weekend, and the shudders, because we were engaged in a rather compromising position when she rather understandably and angrily mentioned it.

I duly took note. There were no arguments that ensued, merely a sitting of us together to work on improving the qualitative nature of what we already have. The following day, she acknowledged that she might have "wilded me", but we both understood that it didn't change how we felt about each other--just that more should be done, and more qualitatively

Secondly, in a way that would remind me of how blogging can open up opportunities, a former blogger and reader of this blog (you know who you are!) contacted me that his friend who works closely with the UN was coming to my country of Ghana, and that he mentioned to the guy that I was interested in UN stuff, so we should talk.

Email exchanges came and went, and a meeting was established. Though it turns out I didn't get exactly what I bargained for, it certainly was a good meet. We will keep in touch.

The wake-up call? to get serious about heading for the UN in a decade's time, and to prepare accordingly (read: consolidating my knowledge on communications; web work and computer language!)

With Georgia Proverbially on my Mind, I Found Serendipity...and Broke the Friday Jinx...

2008-08-21T16:07:00.006Z

Well. Kind of. At least I'm blogging on a Thursday!

Started seriously exercising this week. Monday was cool, Tuesday even better; skipped Wednesday. Huffed and puffed today as I pulled the bloody crow-looking bar down towards my chest and grunted. Felt bloody good! Let's get to tomorrow, where I grunt for longer. Yeah, baby!

My postings has revealed a lot about my state of mind--here, there, and everywhere. I haven't been visiting my other blog "friends" enough, but each tome I do, I always start with Daniel Hoffman-Gill--a British actor who's just a real, top bloke. His eclectic postings reveal a sensitive and level-headed guy who needs to be read. He must be in Poland with his partner-in-crime, Mark, to use comedy to change the world.

Changing the world never came easy--ask the Americans who are so bent on forcing the blame on Russia over the offensive on Georgia. A colleague had a post from the guardian newspaper last night, which I browsed very quickly. The words were sufficient to explain away what the author--Seumas Milne--was trying to say: Georgia is a CIA-backed regime.

Not something many of us would like to hear.

When German premier Angela Merkel praised Saakasvilli(sp) and encouraged it to join Nato, I wondered what that was about if not to cement the Western ties the Georgian leader so desires.

Russia might be no angel, but let's stop the hypocrisy here. Milne talked about "sycophancy", and I think he couldn't be too far off the mark. Here's a quote excerpted from the renowned huffingtonpost.com:

"The outcome of six grim days of bloodshed in the Caucasus has triggered an outpouring of the most nauseating hypocrisy from western politicians and their captive media. As talking heads thundered against Russian imperialism and brutal disproportionality, US vice-president Dick Cheney, faithfully echoed by Gordon Brown and David Miliband, declared that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered". George Bush denounced Russia for having "invaded a sovereign neighbouring state" and threatening "a democratic government". Such an action, he insisted, "is unacceptable in the 21st century".

Rather serendipitously, as I tried to find a discerning image for this post, I came across a bloody useful read: Jungleredwriters that chronicles posts from mystery writers, with lots of useful stuff for
budding writers like, erm, myself.

The irony of my writing is that while I continue to obtain plaudits for my writing in Ghana and all that, I haven't got my life sorted out on the only writing that I think matters--a published crime novel. Conveniently, I've managed to convince my sub-conscious that because I will publish my articles on technology for Sunday World next year, my thriller takes a back seat.

This, despite what one American academic--Rebekah Hurt-- wrote of me, but inexplicably changed her site to an invited-only one:

Bensah’s blogs are as much about the performance of a slightly idealized version of himself and his communities and about the continued speculation about the boundaries of those ideals and the realism of those performances as his blogs are about strictly and consistently keeping track of specific progresses though to the completion of projects. On Feb. 21st, Bensah quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail,” and follows with this post, which self-consciously reflects upon his blogging persona and what he would like to make of it, reflecting his growing consciousness about his site’s potential readership and consumption:

Delusions – indeed – of grandeur are setting in, so stop me before I go too far;-)) point is I chanced upon my article on the deregulation thing on Club Ghana [linked]. It was for personal consumption! But hey, it’s up there. What can u do? It’s, I guess, stupid to assume that anything you post online will not find its way out of your intimate site, and outside the parameters of your “eccentric” or conservative world. It I sjust [sic] not possible that it will stay there untouched without the indefatigable Google finding its way to it by way of its various spidering techniques:-) Anyway, this revelation has come as an epiphany of sorts in the sense that I am fast beginning to realize I best watch what I write…

Bensah pokes fun at himself by gesturing toward these “delusions of grandeur”, his comparison of himself to Emerson and his possible imaginings that recent attention to his blog are warranted by the high quality of his writing, but, at the same time as he goes on to write that “taking cognizance of this should no mean that [he] start[s] affecting, or exaggerating,” one finds that, inevitably, he is emboldened, and perhaps very rightly, by his increasing web popularity. The positive feedback he receives through blogging impacts the very processes of self-improvement that he is blogging about because, having received such praise, he imagines himself capable of doing bigger and better things – such as completing his full-length crime-thriller.

The operative word, ofcourse, is full-length!

The Perfect Introduction?

2008-08-01T14:46:00.005Z

I'm never sure about beginnings, because I'm not quite sure where to start with them. If that sounds ironic, try this for size: I had a perfect storm of ideas last weekend on how to introduce my significant other to the folks. I've been cogitating no-end like my life depended on it, memorizing, preparing the scripts in my head, from the words to the atmosphere necessary to get them to feel at ease and laugh with us when we make the introduction.

I've got some four months still, and by gum, I will use every instance to visualize, vizualize and vizualise the situation like I had lived it in the last life! It's been too long. Last time I posted something similar was in November of...2006, and Sandy and I have been dating how long now? Honestly...

Not to self-flagellate myself or belabour the point, but I have been a monumental wuss. This month, being exactly 48 months since I came back home, and experienced turbulence with my ex and whatnot, is a perfect time to think clearly and get serious on where I want to go with my life.

I started by clearing my desk and work corner of unnecessary newspapers and stories and articles I have forgotten to read. If they were that important, I would have sought them ought and readf them. Maybe, they are not that important after all!

My weight has also been in free-fall. I've lost 5kilos in one month before. I can do it again. I've already prepared a table of how I see my life segmented: blogging; Sunday World column writing; novel; regional integration surveying as well as my professional work.

Back to being a man on fire!

Enjoy yours.

Deconstructing Taurus

2008-07-25T17:20:00.003Z

Offlate, I haven't been myself: I've been sleepy, and dull. Three days ago, just before lunch, I went to our library, got two chairs on either side and stretched my long legs for what I thought would be forty winks. It was a long forty winks! Though I consider such naps to be good for the soul, and great power naps, when it gets to some 65 mins of dozing, it becomes a bit worrying.

The other day, I also found myself lamenting at the somewhat routine in my life: work-chores-more work. Not that I'm a perfectionist or anything, just that I work, because I have to. Though I went crazy over Joomla the other day, this week, well, I was feeling effing uninspired to work with it. I know there are days like this, hell, even days.

For me, it was too long a week. What really took the biscuit has been the soporific nature of my days. The weather's been cool--no complaints--but maybe the sun hasn't been strong enough to lift the spirits?

I managed to get the ring for my girlfriend--she wanted to thank me in a way that was more private than a hug in public!--but I guess that will come later. (No pun intended!!);-)

The inset picture claims Taureans--such as I am am being born on 26 April--are determined and peaceful. Also, we are supposed to be good at: banking, medecine, architecture, farming; building; education; and cooking.

I can tell you something for nothing: I do not excel in any of the above,neither have I contemplated getting into banking; medecine; or any of the above. These things are often hit-and-miss, and though I do believe there are elements that are eerily familiar (such as throat problems; being stubborn; and being determined and calm), I wouldn't stake my life on them these days. Everyone has their formula for success, and mine is certainly not on relying on astrology as a guide to my life. My girlfriend's a Gemini, and anecdotal evidence suggests we are the last couple to work.

I seriously beg to differ.

What do you think? How's your astrology today?

Not to be Melo-Dramatic or Anything, But...

2008-07-18T15:58:00.003Z

Clip de Gloria Estefan Reach (NBC Olympic)

if I could reach higher, it would be great for me!...

Gloria Estefan - Reach Lyrics

Some dreams live on in time forever
those dreams, you want with all
your heart

and i'll do whatever it takes
follow through with the promise i made
put it all on the line
what i hoped for at last would be mine

if i could reach, higher
just for one moment touch the sky
from that one moment
in my life
i'm gonna be stronger
know that i've tried my
very best
i'd put my spirit to the test
if i could reach

some days are meant to be
remembered
those days we rise above
the stars

so i'll go the distance
this time
seeing more the higher i climb
that the more i believe
all the more that this
dream will be mine

if i could reach, higher
just for one moment touch
the sky
from that one moment in
my life
i'm gonna be stronger
know that i've tried my
very best
i'd put my spirit to the test
if i could reach

if i could reach, higher
just for one moment touch
the sky
from that one moment in
my life
i'm gonna be stronger
i'm gonna be so much stronger
yes i am
i put my spirit to the test

if i could reach, higher
if i could, if i could
if i could reach
reach, i'd reach, i'd reach
i'd reach, i'd reach so
much higher

be stronger

Blogging Paradox: Joomla & Stuff on My Mind

2008-07-11T16:30:00.007Z

I've always had problems with beginnings--especially blog entries. Especially after it's been so long. Haven't died and come back, though you could say I have done just that. The absence was great in renewing myself, though I was around--busy in organisational meetings, and plenty of other meetings (and then some). Given my confusion, and it being a Friday, I thought I'd be a bit whimsical and start with a pretty face.

The pretty face is, of course, my girlfriend. She asked me to help teach her blogging the other day. I think we'd be too distracted if we started, so I'll have to re-think of a cunning strategy that will keep our hands off each other and onto the task at hand.

I exaggerate, of course.

Now that she's almost done with her exams in stenography, she's a lot happier than before, and she's doing a great deal of things she shouldn't be doing. She knows it will distract me, albeit in a welcome way. Still, I ought to give her a word about not looking at me so sexily and talking to me so sweetly. It just drives me to distraction.

Still, she's been giving me a lot of heat, too!

The other day, it was a few days of friction.

She was getting sleepless nights, getting all worried about my commitment to her. Commitment not that she does not believe I love her, but that I'm not showing the world how much she means to me.

It was great food-for-thought. It took me a few days to get the point, as I'm slow on those things. Thankfully, a work colleague who told me how great a couple we are and when the wedding bells were going to come said something that would prove to be a sweet irony: women need security and to show the world that you're not just in a relationship [for fun] but that you are serious about "protecting" them from anyone else. Ofcourse I paraphrase, but the essence is clear: I needed to show my significant other that to the world, she's mine;-)

For someone who abhors possessiveness, it was a bit of a shock, but I needed to bite the bullet. It's no marriage proposal, but just a wee something to let her know that that day will come, even if the folks have not yet seen her. It confirms to me also that I'm serious about her, and it strengthens, in turn, my resolve that I have sufficient confidence to "present" her to the folks.

Evidently, she was over-the-moon, and confessed to me that her sleepless nights are over. Still it's code-word for "don't be complacent", in my book.

The Novel
Speaking of which, I've bored everyone to death on this blog about that ever-elusive crime novel that's just almost written, but not quite. Thanks to my work with Sunday World as a columnist on Technology issues, I'm gaining the confidence to believe that I can transform what will be some 45-odd articles of around 1200 words on average into a book that can easily be published next year.

I frankly think it would be criminal not publishing next year. It would be five years since I established RegionsWatch--an initiative to look at global regional integration initiatives worldwide; and exactly a good 20 years since I started writing my journal! That means I have some -- actually, I do have some two boxes worth of journal writing. Great stuff for my future family to read I guess!;-)

Latest?
Well, remember that work colleague I have a crush on? Well, it's over! The crush is no more! I got to spend some time with her during the busier periods last two weeks at our conference. She has a great personality, but I saw some things offlate--including how very human she can be when she gets mad--which I didn't expect of her that have led me to believe that well, I was a major woos to have thought she was the epitome of quasi-perfection! Plus the fact that she seems to snub my girlfriend (as if she's jealous of her or something, donno!), which I don't take kindly to...

JOOMLA!! That's the brilliant content management system I was introduced to some four weeks ago, and for which I have used both official and private hours to build my capacity on to get a new re-design of the organisation's website that is just so inspiring to work around. I tell you I can spend hours manipulating the system, what with its complex layer of SECTIONS, CATEGORIES and MODULES that all make for a wonderful user experience once you get the hang of it!

In so many ways, my work with Joomla is like a reflection of my need, desire, and whatnot to categorise and section my own life in the sense that getting it right is tantamount to getting it right in my own life.

As long as I don't get sectioned myself, I'm a happier man, these days!

Driven to Distraction: From Slow & Sure...to Intense

2008-06-06T13:00:00.005Z

This week has been particularly interesting as far as driving on the road is concerned. After five hours, I was given a new instructor, who started last week. A DVLA-trained instructor, it appeared he was instrumental in saving the driving school from being another victim of the Ghana's mass-closure of DVLA to root out bad and unregulated schools in the country. His stories are not for here, except to say that he's a vivacious and interesting character whom I'd like to see more of to help train me further in my driving.

He wasn't particularly happy with the way I started the car. Though I was able to move with the clutch and accelerator in tow, he lamented my speeding, and the need to curb it.

The Steering wheel is another place he gave me grief for. He felt I held it too tough, as if I was going to war or something, so he's slowly and surely encouraged me to hold it lightly. The lighter I hold it, the more control I can get of the car. It's been my second week with him, and I can see the effects. It enables me concentrate more on the road and anticipate more--something both the folks and Joseph alike have inculcated into me.

On Wednesday, I was able to endure the infamous and legendary road in Accra that is known as the Spintex road, and its traffic with a new instructor who stepped in in place of Joseph. The half-clutch/break combination was not easy at all! The more I do it, the better I shall become. On Tuesday, it had rained rather heavily. As such, it was darker than usual for that time of evening (around 6.15pm). The experience was useful in helping me get used to driving in those conditions, what with the potholes and all, and the badly-lit roads.

Monday saw me hitting the the airport residential area of the capital--not by my own choice. We were to drop off a driving instructor colleague who wanted to meet up with his sister, so we passed through the infamous Tetteh-Quarshie interchange past the Polo Club, past Airport shell and back onto the road from 37 northbound to Tetteh-Quarshie. It would be the first time I ventured that side since I started practicals. The half-clutch was tricky, and the car went off a couple of times. My gear-changing has improved considerably, though Joseph suggested I drive without putting my hand near the gear as it distracts.

No driving today. But better things to come--for sure!!

Two weeks ago, a play on BBC World Service play (that airs on Sunday nights at 22h00 GMT) called The World According to Charlie D introduced me to erotomania, a disorder that the protagonist in my novel will probably suffer from.

Seriously intense feelings for a married colleague that surfaces every now and then have reminded me about the shades of grey that make up the human condition.

I have chosen to transform those feelings positively into building a friendship that is unique and unobtrusive. That's the best I can do.

She's married. There's nothing I can do about it.

I think about her too much. That's something I can do something about lest it jeopardizes my beautiful relationship with my lovely and caring girlfriend...

Have a great weekend!

Driven to Distraction: I Passed!

2008-05-21T10:05:00.002Z

On Monday night, I passed not the comprehensive one (still some way to go), but the theory necessary to move over to the practicals, which I started yesterday evening.

The questions combined multiple choice and ones that needed more elaboration. Here are some of the questions and a few answers:

1. what causes difficulty steering? (under-inflated/over-inflated tires, etc...)
2. when brakes are inefficient due to over-heating, what is it called? (brake fading/brake sponging/brake failure)
3. what is the driving speed limit in town (50km/h)
4. first and second gears are called "bottom gears" (true / false) [it's true!!]
5. what is first aid? initial help given by driver in an accident before arrival of medical personnel
6. what is the procedure for using a fire extinguisher? (P.A.S.S.)
7. what is the road drill? (look left, right, left again and proceed checking for oncoming traffic)
8. what are gears used for? (moving in traffic; stopping; changing gear; slowing down in traffic)
9. what are driving procedures? there are a BLOODY ten procedures, which include: checking whether handbrake is fully on; seat in proper position; gear in neutral position; foot depressed on clutch and accelerator ready to drive off, etc...)

I go into day 2 of driving for one hour today! Looking forward to it! Yesterday, drove for an hour on roads that enabled me speed up to the third and fourth gear; move slowly and stop in traffic.

Fingers crossed for the subsequent five weeks of driving;-)

An Unhappy Anniversary, or the Cautionary Tale of Carrying Wallets in May

2008-05-09T16:06:00.003Z

It was already bad enough celebrating seventeen years yesterday since my brother Samuel Dieudonne passed away. At work, two colleagues apologised for my loss. Wondering how, I realised because of the "special request" I had made on radio. They were very much appreciated acknowledgements.

Little did I know that I was going to experience some mini-drama and grief last night.

It all happened when I went back to a shop I was just leaving to go and get some phone credit. It would prove to be a soul-searching mistake. I've been wondering since this morning whether next time I go into a shop, I should not return a second time. It would seem to me a question for the ages, for this is not the first time I've gone into a shop the second time, and realised it would have been better if I waited next time.

Seeing as we are not in a perfect world, it is only normal that we defy chance and uncanny patterns, dismissing them as just that -- patterns, but this one is too spooky.

Spooky because when I got to the office this morning to write a letter to my bank, I realised that it was almost a year to the day that I first lost my wallet!! I love mysteries, but this takes the biscuit!

The last time I wrote the letter was on 23 May, 2007 to have my card cancelled. Today is, what, 9 May 2008--just some two weeks shy of the anniversary of that lost wallet! So, do I deduce that the next time of loss should be 9 May - 2 weeks, = 25th April 2009, or a day before my next birthday?

Heavens! What a sorry thought to contemplate. I best be careful a day before my birthday next year then?;-)

Still, I know we don't live in a perfect world, but I would have thought that a wallet containing some roughly $30.00, some coins; a hospital ID; my complimentary card--with my MOBILE NUMBER!--and plenty of ID about yours truly would have elicited whoever picked it up to call me and say "dude! I found your wallet". And wait for me to give him/her something.

But no, nothing. Nada. While looking up lost wallets, this is the info I found:

Paul Kinsella performed a remarkable survey that tests a person’s honesty when faced with the prospect of keeping a $0.35 wallet containing $2.10 and a $50 gift certificate or returning it to the owner using the id card contained in the wallet. Paul had the bright idea of recording hilarious conversations from many of the thieves and a few of the honest ones.

Some of the interesting results are:
26% of the people kept the wallets
86% of women and 61% of men were honest
56% of young people were honest, 81% of middle aged people were honest, 88% of old people were honest
79% of white people were honest, 57% of black people were honest
The most honest group were white females (95%), the least honest group were young black people (40%)
from: http://www.arecentstudy.com/index.php/on-lost-wallet-honesty/

Judging by that study, am not surprised I am not getting my wallet back.

Birthday Boy Driven to Distraction

2008-05-05T15:26:00.008Z

After all that cogitation around UN issues and whatnot, it was important for me to pursue the long-postponed need to drive. I'm picking up the bat next week. I will be sure to blog about the experiences in different quarters of my blogs;-)

This place is some minutes away from work, so it should be apt to start straight after work. But first things first: one week of theory, which I am pretending to work on!

Can you tell I'm thinking?;-)

Either way, it was my birthday on 26th April. Just one year over 30. Good stuff. There's a lot of things I need to do regulating over. Now that I have a new laptop, I have endeavoured to set out a much-needed timetable on things to do.

UNCTAD XII Diary: Day 5: Final Outcome--UNCTAD XIII in QATAR!

2008-04-25T12:30:00.000Z

Final session is being given by UNCTAD official

RESEARCH and ANALYSIS--solid mandate. Conference has reinforced official mandate. Innovative work. Short mandate for UNCTAD. Great. Policy options and independent analysis for developing countries. Significant.

Another area is the...role of trade and development board in conducting policy dialogue...has been retained and reinforced. So UNCTAD will continue with that on the inter-governmental level. Will review some of its flagship documents. Ministerial meeting in Addis Ababa, UNCTAD should have a commission on globalisation; this was a problem for some UNCTAD members...theer will be some discussion on globalisation issues; atr least some compromise.

UNCTAD will have two commissions--one on trade and development and will address any topic that UNCTAD has; second one will be on enterprise development and ?? Multi-yr extract groups. Issues identified by Trade and development board will be taken to the Commissions. Secretariat is still very important.

12.03pm Palestin issue being retained. Slightly problematic yesterday. A rather contentious issue that could have affected outcome. Last few hours, agreed on s.o. that satisfied everyone. UNCTAD continues to support Palestine liberation with technical assistance.

any questions?

12.05pm
YAO GRAHAM: Commissions reduced from Three to two. Commission on enterprise...what are practical implications of having globalisation as standing issue. How will it have a cross-cutting effect on how the Commission does its work? Doesn't strike as a mandate to work, but something to discuss?

RESPONSE: Our view is not the number of commissions that matter; more about what they do. Will feed into general assembly. The proposal by Africa group to have one on globalisation is not because we do not, but there will be continuous work on it. Partly political, partly practical. Every year, we will have to prepare a background document on a specific area of globalisation.

EKB: my questions are answered below:

WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT--continued interaction with private sector. Outcome emphasises UNCTAD working with civil society and private sector

COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY--there was a paragraph in the document that referred to that.

Jo Butler speaks @ 12.13pm--Irish government provided minimum transportation and living costs. WIll try and get funding in future to go to Geneva. Commend the document. We are very pleased we have an accord. It is a good accord. Everyone will find something missing. Can be built upon the next four years.

In SAO PAOLO(UNCTAD XI), we can say it is Sao Paolo plus. WE will still have hearings once a year in context of trade and devt board; will also ensure civil society is part and parcel...CS needs to be heard, and member states need to be advised on how to be prioritised. Having a hearing once a year whereby civil society comes to Geneva is certainlhy not enough. Need to know that CSOs are an integral part. Ideas and suggestions forward so that work can be realised.

CHALLENGES IN ACCRA: we can congratulate Ghanaian govt to having sacrificed much to pass it over. Constraints to documentation. Let us not have Ghanaian govt to make one million copies, etc. Lots of statements would be avaliable on the Web. Happy to send statements through the mail. We try to take an attitude to constraint and restraint. If you heard speech on Monday and did not get it, probably because we did not have it.

HOTEL ACCOMMODATION; ensuring that all participants had a suitable room was responsibility of host, but we had to be creative by checking homes, apartments, etc. To that end, team came THREE weeks in advance. Happy to answer any questions. 12.19pm.

INTERACTIVITY--everyone wants to be heard. Panellists to a minimum and interactivity to the highest leevl, but when you have so many coming from afar, they want to be heard! For the future, going beyond read statements. The ACCRA Accord does not stop here. It is a work in progress. How we implement mandates in next four years matter.

Look forward to hearing from you in the future.

YAO GRAHAM: we will put together a report about the forum to put on the website. We have compiled a list of participants. Some registered but did not turn up. UNCTAD also haas its own lists. Have had a summary of some events and that will all go up. We can optimise the amount of information. We have a common interest,. That networking part is where we have a responsibility. Just last word on the costs, some brought by UNCTAD, daily amount not enough for costs. Some future work for the UN and their data. Hotels are expensive in Accra.

Let me say here on behalf of the African participants, there is a pattern. Very little African representation. Certainly more than in Sao Paolo. Next meeting in QATAR , challenge. Prices went through the roof in Doha 2001, let alone in 2012, UNCTAD XII. Nothing more to say. Just again to thank you for your forbearance.

Thankyou all very much; have a safe journey back home.

done @ 12.27pm (uneditted)

Re: Briefing of UNCTAD XII Negotiations--The Killing of UNCTAD?

2008-04-23T18:32:00.001Z

6.04pm--UNCTAD does not have an effective communications strategy (what does that mean?)

missed quite a bit, but interventions should seek to clarify some of that which I missed.

here goes.

6.05pm SESSION ON COMMODITIES, where developed countries wanted to push commodities on the shoulder of national govts. Last night, issue not resolved. Can you help on that? If not, how. Commodities are coming up strongly.

Secondly, can you explain what are the different groupings--and who was part of it.

THIRDLY--Strengthening of UNCTAD. How contentious an issue do you see this point where CSOs are pushing the strengthening of UNCTAD, thank you.

INTERVENTION -@--6.07pm
I would like to know the main reason why US and other countries want to abolish the policy...commissions? of unctad.

INTERVENTION--possibility of UNCTAD in the field. What is your view..why is it impt to have business at UNCTAD? what is motive of proposal?

INTERVENTION--KEPA.fi: does UNCTAD have a mandate on???

RESPONSES
============

6.08pm. On commodities, there are about three or four issues that they are trying to come up with. One on commodities ; One on Palestine. Third one is on unilateral sanctions on Cuba. They are still working on them. By eight o'clock, it would have been finalised. Different groupings--changes over the years. There are about one hundred and seventy-four countries, including China. Latin America, Caribbean, Asia, Africa. Then ofcourse, the EU, with its twenty-seven countries. Former soviet countries, etc. Then there is the loose grouping--Japan, the US, Norway, Australia; New Zealand, Japan. They do not always coordinate. This is the tradition in UNCTAD.

On the commission, this is contentious issue--for about three of five months. Official line is that they believe that the commissions do not add value in terms of policy. Many experts do not come from developing countries. Reps from member states of Geneva. They are the ones that attend and they sit there going through the same issues, etc. Also, to add value, the commissions have to come up with recommendations. At unctad, we work on consensus; the commission ends up coming up with a few conclusions and most of the time, the developing countries block it. This goes to trade and development board. It does not add up to anything...

Recently, Brazil and India have used language from UNCTAD forum to make case at WTO dispute settlement. Big countries cannot object to such language...there is that aspect as well. The time they spend debating with other countries should be addressed elsewhere

UNCTAD in the field--again tradition in core area, which is research and analysis. This is where it has been strong...we are very proud to come up with ideas that challenge...This is what has made UNCTAD different from the past. Some members think this is not helpful. They want UNCTAD more on technical cooperation; more capacity-building. Non-resident agencies; no presence in countries--c.f. imf/wb

EVALUATION--we have a mandate on regional groupings...usually, we work on agreements. We do for example assessments on services at the WTO...sometimes preparing position on working parties, etc...

NEXT ROUND OF QUESTIONS: if no more questions, we thank spokesperson from conference. THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH session is ended @ 6.17pm

--editted@6.26pm Accra time--GMT

UNCTAD XII Diary: Day Three: Gearing towards Endgame

2008-04-23T17:38:00.002Z

I am currently freezing my backside and much more besides off at the conference room--also known as CONFERENCE HALL -- at the NGO/MEDIA Centre situated at the International Conference Centre here in Accra.

This picture serves as a small vignette of what has transpired today. Though I might be exaggerating, lemme just say that it is appropriate and current, because it features from the left to the right Martin Khor (Third World Network-Malaysia) and Yao Graham (Third World Network-Africa) and an Indian diplomat who's ideological stance is far from his seated position (to the right!) On a more serious note, as Marita Hutjes (NOVIB--OXFAM NL) stands up preparing to listen to the debate and participate, I have spent the better part of almost two hours uploading documents here: http://www.unctadxii-csoforum.org/latest.htm.

Ok, so not the best way of checking out the latest uploads, but I have been complementing it with TWO uploads of MP3 files that I captured digitally earlier at a meeting that included someone I know -- John Clarke of DG Trade at the European Commission in Brussels. I understand he is now in Geneva, and is Head of EU delegation to UNCTAD XII. I really only know him because he was the guy in Brussels when my colleague Jennifer Cyr was writing reports about the state of play of dialogue between civil society and EU here: http://icdasecretariat.tripod.com/eu_ngo/doharound/lamyanalysis.htm.

As the web-man gotta have some record!

Anyways, that was that. So I know John Clarke (red tie), though he won't be remembering me very quickly.

In any event, the wireless has been working very dandily today. Currently awaiting an UNCTAD official to come give us the state of play of the negotiations. Sounds exciting stuff. Meanwhile to hear the MP3s, please check: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/unctadxii-info/files/

UNCTAD XII Diary: Day One: Connected to UNCTAD Wireless

2008-04-21T14:48:00.001Z

I have spent the better part of the day uploading documents for the UNCTADXII-CSOFOUM.org website, whilst simultaneously experiencing pangs of hunger. Currently located in the heart of the NGO/Press epicentre of UNCTAD XII, with two/three UNCTAD officials to the left of the room I am in, where computers and printers are located. You could say it is the secretariat, for there's plenty of paper and people wondering why their wireless is working with their laptops, yet their desktop computers are not.

Anyway...

The wireless, as you can see from the picture, is connected--at least on my computer! My desktop friends could do a lot better, which they are now in fact, especially after the UNCTAD ICT people came down to help set it up. I find it fascinating that the UN is the only organisation--bar the private sector I guess--where the ICT doodes were suits and ties!

More pictures to come later!

My Piece on UNCTAD for Ghana's only Sunday Newspaper Sunday World

2008-04-20T17:39:00.000Z

from: http://www.sundayworldonline.com/newsdetails.asp?id=3110&cat_id=1

EVERY four years since 1964 when it was established, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has been holding its highest level meeting, where member States make assessments and reviews of current trade and development issues, discuss policy options and formulate global policy responses. The conference also sets the organization's mandate and work priorities.
UNCTAD is in fact an organ of the UN's General Assembly, and seeks to add value by enabling intergovernmental agencies arrive at a consensus regarding the state of the world economy. The last time an UNCTAD conference was held in Africa was in 1996, when it was hosted by the South African government under UNCTAD IX. This year, it is back in Africa-specifically Ghana, where the 12th session of UNCTAD is to take place.

The theme of UNCTAD XII is "Addressing the Opportunities and Challenges for Development" , and comes at what some might consider an appropriate time when the global economy is beset with a number of significant challenges-as exemplified by the rising prices of food stuff, which has been triggered by the interest by the West in bio-fuels; as well as the impact of the US's sub- prime mortgage crisis that saw poor people in America being given loans they were unable to pay back, triggering a crisis of confidence in the credit markets.

The ramifications of these two events have stretched far and wide to even Europe, where not only has the British-based Northern Rock collapsed, triggering its nationalization by the Brown government, but there have been instances of riots in countries as far apart as Haiti, d'Ivoire and Senegal. Against backdrop, it might seem difficult reconcile the fact that there is a commodity boom.

Put into context, these elements an apparent commodity boom, in foodstuffs and general malaise he global economy point to a globalization that continues to create opportunities and challenges. stands to reason that because of civil society organizations (CSOs) particularly keen to make an impact in the outcome of the conference. One way of doing so is at the Society Forum that will take place from 17-19 April in Accra before conference. CSO Forums not new practice
Parallel civil society forums for many years been an important component of UN conferences. Accra conferencee is no exception. civil society, the primary concern bringing collective energies to from all the participants to finalize the civil society statement that be delivered at the opening plenary of the main conference.

Even before the conference, society has already initiated activities that will seek to influence outcome of UNCTAD XII-as exemplified by the many workshops, seminars and forums that will take place in those three days. The tradition has been for CSOs-which incidentally include the media-to unite around common positions that are enshrined in a Declaration that is formally presented to the UNCTAD conference. Here in Accra, the collective statement will be finalized during the 17-19 period. For this reason, the drafting process was started ahead of time so as to ensure the broadest possibilities to input into it.

As for the main conference, the main theme has been framed in a way as to invite Ministers to identify the changes that need to be made to tackle the challenges around globalization, as well as capitalize on the attendant opportunities.

According to one Ambassador Stepenson's outlines on the UNCTAD website, the first sub-theme invites a discussion on how to continue to enhance policy coherence at all levels, including global, regional, bilateral and national.

The second involves examining the new policy environment and how new realities-such as terrorism and climate change-are affecting strategies for the promotion of development; the third is more proactive in the way it which it invites action on enhancing the enabling environment at all levels. Finally, sub-theme four focuses on how to strengthen UNCTAD by enhancing its development role, impact and institutional effectiveness.

In fact, for Ghanaians, the role of UNCTAD might hold resonance not just because there is a general impression that many Ghanaians are unaware of this forty-four -year old UN agency, and therefore a better appreciation

of it can be obtained here at the CSO Forum, but also because there has been a lot of talk about the WTO and its influence of developing countries, including Ghana, but rarely has there been an understanding of how a countervailing influence it can represent to the neoliberalism enshrined in the WTO, where trade matters above all else.

UNCI'AD's edge over the WTO is in the manner in which it consistently undertakes research, policy analysis and data collection for the debates of government representatives and experts. Furthermore, it offers technical assistance that is specific to the needs of developing countries. In the last Trade and

Development Report on regional integration for example, UNCTAD talked about the need for developing countries to be given policy space to develop their own regional integration, simultaneously castigating the offensive launched by the West against poor countries and the tremendous pressure they are often under to sign FfAs.

Regrettably, the report went little-noticed among many Ghanaians. UNCI'AD XII is an opportunity to make a loud noise and re-dress constructive and proactive debates on the imbalance that has been created by forces greater than that of poor countries.

ENDs

Fwd: UNCTAD XII Hits Accra!

2008-04-20T17:32:00.001Z

I am sitting in a cyber cafe at the NGO side inside the main UNCTAD XII (http://www.unctadxii-csoforum.org) conference that just opened some almost-two hours ago. The President of Brazil Lula da Silva opened the conference in his capacity as President of UNCTAD XI. After that the new presidentg incumbent John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana opened it, with a long speech that was covered by Ghana Broadcasting Radio Live (http://www.gbcghana.com). The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also read a rather long speech. I did some digital recording of the two speeches, and hope to upload it as soon as.

I am rather impressed by the security detail around and the organisation of the whole set-up so far. I hope the media--unlike at the AU summit last June -- will have plenty to write home about!!

There are people -- mostly of the civil society ilk -- lingering around hoping to get access to UNCTAD wireless. The login and password have not been that great for the desktop computers; the laptops, like yours truly connected rather seamlessly.

Fingers crossed for the start of a fast-paced week for all participating! More pictures to come for sure!

The Deeper Drama of Blurring Time, & Why I’ve Got to Sing that Song Sometimes…

2008-03-28T16:06:00.004Z

I belong to a strange breed of people who like to dance like there’s no-one around, and I do do it best at night, when I am taking Fenix for a walk. Offlate, I have been doing it a lot. Dancing, that is. But I have been reminiscing, too.

UNCTAD
Four years ago, I was still in Brussels—a programme intern/webmaster for an NGO—working and preparing for my then-boss to go to UNCTAD XI in Brazil. Meanwhile I was also preparing an UNCTAD programme for the organization; my primary objective was to make UNCTAD more relevant in Brussels within the Ngo community, given the backlash by the EU into promulgating and forcing economic liberalization for all—except it citizens.

At the time, we were very close to obtaining funding from our partners to get the programme through. At the eleventh hour, it fell through, prompting me to vow to use the time from thereon in to fight the case for small NGOs that consistently needed funding to do their work.

Things changed and I moved on from that endeavour.

Four years later, I am just at the tail-end of preparing for UNCTAD XII here in my home country of Ghana. I have been humbly instrumental in the conception and design of a site for civil society attending this most-attended of UN conferences. This, ofcourse, has been thanks to the fact that my organization—on the strength of its history of working on economic policy, and advocating for the marginalized—has been the focal point for NGOs (on account of the Ghana government’s appointment of my organization as major NGO focal point)coming worldwide into the country.

RegionsWatch
Earlier, in February of 2004 (29 February to be exact), I had set up RegionsWatch, which was a project to ensure that regional integration initiatives were covered on a regular basis—and all by me! Somehow, somewhere, I would find the time to scan the internet for issues of regional integration—and report it to those who were on my list-serv. Four years later, I have a blog (http://regionswatch.blogspot.com) linked to the website…(that needs to be seriously re-designed!) that continues to inform those on the list-serv and beyond that regional integration is a great passion of mine that merits discussion by all of us.

The future is bright for RegionsWatch; I am getting almost daily visits from universities, and my irreverent style of writing is apparently appealing to those who come to read my entries. Though this year has not been big on blogging for the blog, yet, I continue to read about regional integration and want to publish a book from the entries some day.

Maria T
She was a colleague at ICDA, where I was in Brussels before I was appointed for the position I am in. A fantastically well-educated and open-minded beautiful young Greek woman, I had the benefit of making her acquaintance when I taught her the ropes of working in the organization; attended conferences in Brussels together; and mused over the NGO world, its challenges and future over drinks at the Greek restaurant opposite our workplace in 115, rue stevin, 1000 Bruxelles—some minutes walk away from DG Trade of the European Commission.

Four years later, she and I are re-acquainted…thanks to Facebook. And it happened that it would be this year--not last—that we would “meet” again, through technology. It is too uncanny to be funny!

Chocolate Hen
The so-called Chocolate Hen I have written about before, and with whom I lost my virginity has finally, through her elder sister (who regrets me and her sister falling out) gotten me her email. She is back in the State of Baltimore she was when I first “met” her in November 2003, when she was going back to Baltimore to finally take her things and come to “settle” in Brussels. This year is four years of getting re-acquainted…

Novel
Four years prior to 2004, in 2000, I had written three chapters of what was supposed to be a novel—and one that my professor of Creative writing at Vesalius College, Dr.Jonathon Miles, considered not quite "usual suspects." In 2004, turning those chapters into a novel was the last thing on my mind. Four years on, I am vowing to produce the manuscript ready to send off to best friends and family to make comments…on the grammar. Not so sure about wanting comments on the story, though!

Identity
Last week, I finally got my passport, securing myself with a “full” identity, when in 2004, I was walking around Brussels and my job at the NGO with a provisional ID document that was neither a diplomatic one, nor a student one, but a clean hybrid of…neither. The diplomatic ID I had had expired two years earlier, and the Belgian records indicated that I had “left the country” years earlier. Yet, I had been in the bloody country studying at university, and doing an internship! I am glad to feel “whole” again, when so many millions…are not…

Spectacles
I have finally gone in for an eye check, which revealed that one of my eyes had deteriorated after four years. I will be getting a new set of spectacles—much to my joy. Last four years, the folks got one for me, making me wonder at the time when ever would I be able to afford such spectacles.

In so many ways, the selective elements I have made here might be this side of whimsical and slightly solipsistic – but not without reason.

One thing I learnt from the X-files – especially one episode in Season Three when Scully was forced to confront her demons and her faith – was the little snippets of wisdom that peppered the show. My favourite was from that Season Three, when a priest told Scully that "sometimes we have to come full circle to find the truth".

I sincerely believe that to be the case. Putting things into perspective takes time and effort, and we rarely do it – except when we are forced to. I have tried to make it a habit of doing it, despite myself.

As one raised to be a Christian, I also believe that sometimes God is talking, but we rarely are listening. I cannot pretend that an entry like this does justice to whether I am listening to the Big Man Up There, but what I do know is that nothing happens without a reason—least of all our lives, and there is great resonance in often going back and coming forward, for therein – in between – lies the truth of where we are going.

When Benjamin Franklin said that we should think of those three things, I think he was certainly right: of whence you came; where you are going; and to whom you must account.

I’ve got to account to the number four!;-)

No surprises why it’s my lucky number…

Happy Leap Year Day!

2008-02-29T14:55:00.001Z

Today is the ONLY extra day one will have in the next FOUR years.

Beyond a (female) partner proposing to you, what are you gonna do today to make that difference in your life?

Only the Brits can come up with quaint things to do on this beautiful day. Here are some of my favourites, taken from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/02/29/fttwentynine129.xml&DCMP=ILC-traffdrv07053100

Enjoy the day!

The Unbearable Lightness of Blogging

2008-02-22T17:30:00.001Z

Oh the tomes! The tomes I have written in my head, and in my heart. Not to forget on paper, as well!;-)

Regrettably, the proverbial refrain of work has hit -- truly, madly, and deeply. And rather intensely.

As such, blogging has been light, and promises to be for the next w eek or so. Please bear with me.

I am still around!

Enjoy the weekend,

Keep safe. Keep cool.

Last Weekend, I Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

2008-02-11T14:43:00.000Z

I spent the better part of weekend cogitating and talking to myself. I was trying to strategise, and understand my life, where it's going--and some of the dynamics inherent within them that I would need to take a rein of.

Not to divulge too much, I found myself rehearsing rhetorical battles that I might have with the folks on matters of independence. As the only child--by dint of circumstances, mostly being the demise of Samuel D Bensah--and fast becoming a "consolidated" adult son, I sometimes sense the empty nest syndrome afflicting them: the folks appreciate me and want me to be independent, but a bit of them don't want to see me go. I am not talking about leaving my house or anything; it's mroe to do with the introduction of a partner.

Perhaps, like my good friend confessed to me last year, I've been rather immature about it all, by not being upfront with them about who my partner of two years is. I have kind of dilly-dallied, letting them suss it out fromthe phone calls I get from her, and the gifts she buys me. I have yet to be categorical.

As a seasoned diplomat, I like to take these things in my stride--but perhaps when it comes to my partner, I ought not; after all she is the one with whom I am going to spend my life with and if I am serious as I claim to be, she is going to be the mother of my children, and inevitably my parent's daughter-in-law and mother of their grand-children.

Wow.

That's a lot of cogitation to handle at a time when I want to reach the peak of my career by publishing a crime thriller, get organised over driving...and then some.

Over the weekend, I had happened to watch the brilliant performance by Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest--a 1975 oscar-winning film. I had seen it several years ago, when I had less to worry about in life. Today, watching it again was both as emotional as it was an esoteric experience.

McMurphy, the protagonist, who ends up in an asylum in order to escape prison ends up using -- what one reviewer called on IMDB.com as -- his "indomitable spirit" to find creative ways of his "loony" colleagues to have a good time, and challenge themselves in the positions they are. McMurphy made this point that got me thinking that those in the loony house were no less crazy than the rest of us outside in "normal" jobs, living "normal lives."

The ending, if you've seen it, is so horrific it's hard to believe this is what was done on people in asylums. It gave one food for thought on how the world sometimes never seems to leave you space to be yourself.

McMurphy's spirit was just so free, so care-free; so laissez-faire, and borne out of a good-natured desire to give those perceived to be crazy a good time. Though he got it out of hand, they loved him for it--and so for this supposed criminal to experience what happened to him in the end was more than symbolic.

It was, to me, not just an indictment of the mental health institutions at that time, but a searing indictment of man's inhumanity to man: the capacity and the power of the few to make whimsical decisions that affect the course of lives of so many.

Thinking about how one character played by Brad Dourif killed himself after being told by the icy matron that his mother would be told that he was caught having had sex with a prostitute, she said coolly that one had to carry on.

That's when the protagonist snapped, and attempted to strangle her--for all the horrific treatment both he and his co-mates had endured--and this quasi-nihilistic approach to a human being.

The film leaves you ambivalent: joyous that one was able to get away, thanks to the inspiration of McMurphy, but saddened by what happened to McMurphy himself.

Sometimes we forget. But, we mustn't allow our spirits to--neither must we allow it to be dampened by the negativity of others.

Though easier said than done, like life being the proverbial battle it is, there is always necessarily the deeper drama that we must connect to to ensure that we live the life that is most fulfilling for us--and not for anyone else.

We've only got one life to live--and if it means being indomitable, then so be it! All the while bearing in mind that sometimes madness, which takes many different forms, is not a weakness -- but a strength.

Blogosphere Paradox-No Country for Tired Men

2008-02-01T01:03:00.000Z

Blogging gets like this. Writer's Block. No ideas. But you gotta persevere, kind of re-invent yourself.

Already one blogger who was a keen reader of my blog has chosen to enjoy their life in Greece--privately. I loved the public aspect of that life; it was so refreshing. So very-unlike-other-bloggers. That it was shared by two interesting people made it all the more worth visiting. Now, both bloggers have jumped overboard from the virtual back into the real one. I will miss them. Soap and Steph--I hope you come across this post one day, and know that you are fondly remembered.

A then-favourite (2005-2006) sex blogger, Joey Madison posted their last post on 21 January, and the previous was in...October 2007!

Like I said, blogging gets like this: the necessity of reconciling the private versus the public can be headache-inducing and not-so-inspiring.

But it can work.

Here's one way--by going full circle as it were, with a few tips:

20 Tips for Good Blogging

1. Starting a blog is easy. There are many free blog services. Blogger.com is very user-friendly and will lead you through a pain-free set-up process. If you want to keep a specific domain (without “blogger” in the URL), you’ll need to set up your own domain and import it into another blog service, such as wordpress.com.

2. Decide what you want your blog to be. Who are your target readers? It’s important to decide from the beginning whether you’re blogging for professional or personal reasons. If you want to blog strictly as a diary or a way to get the creative juices flowing, password protect it. Think hard about who your potential readers are and what sort of image you want to portray. Announce your full vision for your blog in your first post.

3. Post one time a week at the absolute minimum. This is important, because once you develop a regular readership, you don’t want to lose it. Every day is ideal, although there’s a high burnout rate for bloggers who post this frequently. Aiming for three to five posts per week is a good goal.

4. If you write on your blog that you’re going to do something—do it. A lot of this has to do with building a solid level of trust with your readers. If you write that you’re going to post every day, or that you’re going to post something specific, be sure you can and will deliver.

5. You don’t have to be perfect, but still try. Yes, grammar and spelling expectations are somewhat more relaxed with a blog, but don’t get lazy with your posts. Respect your reader: at least run a quick grammar/spelling check before your post.

6. Remember that blogs are forever. I also like to call this tip “friends don’t let friends post drunk.” Like a tattoo, a piercing, or those expensive shoes you bought that kill your feet, a blog post may be around for a long, long time, so use due consideration before posting something inflammatory, overly critical or anything that could get you fired/expelled/sued/grounded.

7. If you know you’re the sort of person who will ignore tip #6, make sure your blog is password-protected, so only your friends will know you posted drunk.

8. Be a good neighbor. One of the very best ways to establish a readership is to reach out to other bloggers, by visiting their blogs and leaving comments. Link to specific posts you find on their blogs and comment in a positive way. Also include blogs you like and recommend on your blogroll.

9. Try to be positive. Don’t use your blog to lash out at your boss/spouse/probation officer/the world in general. You probably won’t develop much of a readership that way as it gets tiresome very quickly, not to mention, it could land you in trouble (see tip #6). There’s a kind of karma to blogging. If what you’re putting out is negative, what you get back is negative.

10. Keep your posts short. No one wants to read a Master’s thesis on your blog. Keep your posts concise. 300 words a post is a good target. You can occasionally go longer if you’ve got really good stuff—run it by an honest friend first to find out if it really is good stuff. The art of blogging is more about clarity and brevity. Note: Yes, I violated my 300- words tip with this very post. My managing editors, Brian and Kara told me it was good stuff.

11. Realize that blogging is an endurance sport. Anyone can start a blog, but very few people can keep a good blog up, week after week, month after month, year after year. Yes, it gets exhausting, but like training for a marathon, it can also be exhilarating. If you know you’re more a sprinter than a marathoner, maybe a blog isn’t the right format for you.

12. Can you land a book deal with your blog? Maybe. It happens, but don’t let that be your primary motivation, because it’s unlikely. You might think of blogging as a sort-of farm league for publishing. But it’s all about establishing a readership. If you have a devoted audience base, you can bet it won’t be difficult to score a publisher.

13. Encourage your readers to comment. Create clear, well thought out opinion pieces. Don’t be afraid to pose provocative questions to capture your reader’s attention. Get them emotionally/mentally involved in your blog. If you want to develop a rapport with your readers (if you don’t, then you shouldn’t be blogging), encourage their comments, and don’t deride them when their point of view is different from yours.

14. Remember that readers want information. It’s certainly not difficult to find information on the Web. But it is difficult to find it from a trusted, reliable source. Try to provide them with information they want, whether it’s from your own work, or linking to the work of others.

15. Develop your own style. What keeps readers coming back is you—your voice, your style, your point of view and your clear, polished writing. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through.

16. Have occasional guests. Yes, if you develop a readership, you’re the primary draw back to your blog. But it’s good and healthy to mix it up every now and then with fresh perspectives from trusted guest bloggers. In fact, it may give you a much-needed mental break away from the relentless demands of keeping up a good blog.

17. Visual aids can be good. But don’t overdo it. Blogging is primarily a written medium. If you’re a writer and trying to develop an audience for your writing, then write. Don’t over-rely on cheesy photos and other digital eye candy.

18. Let your blog evolve. A blog is a lot like a magazine, in that it’s a constant evolution. Be generous and flexible about letting your blog develop over time, as you do.

19. Don’t be overly promotional. Yes, a blog can be a good promotional tool, but if you’re only trying to sell something, it becomes obvious very quickly. If you’re promoting something, be a soft sell. And only do it occasionally, as it will turn readers away.

20. Keep it fun. Don’t take it too seriously. If you’re having a good time with your blog—and if you’re not then ask yourself why you’re doing it—people are going to have fun reading it and will keep coming back for more.

Feel free to comment: add to, agree or disagree with anything I wrote here. It is a blog after all, comments are always welcome. That’s part of the fun.

from:http://www.writersdigest.com/writersperspective/20+Tips+For+Good+Blogging.aspx

Throughout the year, I will come back to some of these brilliant suggestions made by Writer's Digest. One of those that have great resonance for me is about keeping it up--as it were.

If you take your mind out of the gutter for a tad (;-)), I am talking about being a marathon sprinter as far as blogging is concerned: it needs persistence, patience and consistency--to a small extent.

But I must contemporraneously add that I am offering no lectures here--except to say that the number of good bloggers that have exited the blogosphere leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It might seem to augur badly for my blogging capabilities. But it won't.

This blog is not the widely-read blog that I would like it--and sometimes that's a good thing--to have only a coterie of people readinig it, but I would like people to read it at all!.

My best friend came across a post some weeks ago before the year went out--and traced back an entry in which she read that I found her sexy. Let's just say it's a great thing she has a great sense of humour! That's where I 'm ending it.

Suffice-to-say, I'm a writer at heart--and I ain't stopping! So blogging is definitely not just here to stay, but I am going to weather this storm in the country that is just-so-bad for tired bloggers.

Have a good weekend!

Eternal Sunshine of a Not-So-Spotless Drama

2008-01-15T16:17:00.000Z

January is a traditionally sober month for me--not because it's the beginning of the year, and I--like many people are broke--but primarily because it is a month that takes me back to Brussels, Belgium. It was exactly 26 years ago ,on 8 January, that I would find myself in Brussels, with my elder brother and my parents in what would prove to be a privileged life, starting in an apartment and ending in Belgian suburbia--with no stranger to tragedy.

It is precisely because of the tragedies that befell us--my maternal grandmother on a visit in the mid-80s getting a stroke out of the blue; and my brother falling foul to a 14-month coma in 1991--that I am necessarily grateful for how far I have come, and whence I am going.

I like to think I am going places--my parents sacrificed quite a part of their salaries to get my brother and I an excellent education in private international schools in Brussels. The racism we endured as a family was de rigeuer--but nothing, in retrospect, to sneeze at. Suburbia has a funny way of making uniform values, and, possibly, by extension, race--in the sense that you all mow the lawn on one day; wash the car on another; and greet each other with veneers you never though possible. Ultimately, your race is rarely seen.

The opportunity to work in Brussels among beautiful, European women was also a privilege not every African gets to enjoy; in the same vein, being an African and being afforded that opportunity to both enjoy that as well as that of the beautiful, African woman is also another privilege to savour. Privilege, because it is among many of these women that I would chose the one who would become my girlfriend of two years running.

In all seriousness, in my thirty years, I have appreciated the bad times in my life. The time I was at a nadir, and felt I couldn't move, for instance--like in 1995, when I was compelled to stay at home because I had failed to make more than one "A" grade to translation school.

Twelve years later, here is me--a humble blogger with a penchant for eccentricity, but also a newly-recruited ICT columnist, with a sexy and gorgeous significant other who loves me as much as I her. Finally, parents who are able to confirm that there is a method to my madness, to which they endure a tolerance.

Over the past year, I have loved and disliked; gone to a soulful, and lustful place.

At the time of writing, I am battling a recurring intense feeling for a married colleague. More of the same?

Not quite! I've got a manuscript for my novel to complete by my 31st birthday--and I'm certainly a man on fire, redux!;-)

Thankfully, I don't have to erase any memories before charging forth in the new year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry christmas to u all!

2007-12-20T18:53:00.001Z

Just being back
from institutional
retreat in elmina
beach resort,
central region of
ghana, i seriously
doubt that as i
happily surf the
'net on my
motorola z6, i can
provide coherent
blog entries!
While i allow
self-indulgence
2wards christmas
festivities, allow
me 2 wish all u
regular n non-
regular readers a
stupendous
christmas period,
full of peace n
love...

Global ICTs: The Silent Development Revolution

2007-11-27T16:25:00.001Z

(as appeared in last Sunday's edition of Sunday World: http://www.sundayworldonline.com):

Global ICTs—The Silent Development Revolution

By E.K.Bensah II

When the American poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron wrote the poem "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", he perhaps got it right with regard to the development of ICTs in the context of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).

Before 2005, WSIS had assumed an unclear UN process that had little practical connection to development. Now, it is virtually impossible to talk about the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) without talking about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

When world leaders met at the UN in 2000 to draw up the MDGs, one of the goals was to achieve universal primary education. Given that education is, in essence, a passport to one's future and opening up of possibilities for any child, UNESCO has led the way of hosting seminars on Knowledge Societies in the Context of WSIS. For UNESCO, its vision of knowledge societies is based on four principles: freedom of expression; quality education for all; universal access to information and knowledge; and respect for cultural and linguistic diversity. UNESCO is far from the only UN agency involved in the WSIS process, but its role as one of the pre-cursors of the WSIS is moot.

Despite the critical involvement of UN agencies, such as FAO and UNDP at WSIS, it is clear for many observers that the Second Phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) that took place from 16-18 November in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, was disappointing. It certainly was for civil society organizations (CSOs) who, after an alleged stabbing of a French journalist, were denied by the Tunisian authorities to hold a Citizens Summit on WSIS. For others, however, one of the more concrete things, to have emerged from the whole summit was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-sponsored One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), going for one hundred dollars.

The brainchild of the Professor Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, the lime-green laptop is made of rubber, so that when it closes, it will be sealed to protect it from environments, such as harsh environment in northern Kenya. It can be powered by a retractable crank that can be used to generate 10 minutes of power for every one minute of cranking up the machine.

Negroponte's team turned down Apple's offer to use its operating system, opting instead for a slimmer version that uses a 500MHZ processor and open source software under Linux. It is equipped with a 1GB flash RAM instead of a hard drive, a word processor, email application, and programming system.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called it "an impressive technical achievement", adding that "it holds the promise of major advances in economic and social development."

Pressed on why laptops in place of "proper" development, MIT argued that laptops are tools to think with. More specifically, their relatively affordable price of hundred dollars is coupled with how they can be used for work and play, drawing, writing, and mathematics.

In October this year, Uruguay bought 100,000 of the machines for schoolchildren aged six to 12, with a view to procuring a further 300,000 for every school-going child in the country by 2009.

Here in Ghana, Finance and Economic Minister Baah-Wiredu announced in the annual reading of the budget that the laptops in question will be introduced to Ghana from next year.

For many observers of the WSIS process, the laptops have constituted not only something concrete coming out of WSIS, but something that can be used to facilitate development. In the long run, WSIS has highlighted the importance of using ICTS to facilitate development, and so rural areas being able to afford to use such ICT tools is moot in getting closer to the Millenium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2015.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has piloted studies, for example, where the use of ICT tools, such as mobile phones, has helped farmers in Senegal to obtain prices of goods.

Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of ITU and of the WSIS Summit, said that "the WSIS was not an end but a beginning." What the Tunis phase did was remind one about the much-talked-about Digital Divide; how to govern the internet, and how to use ICTS for development. Whilst the Digital divide—as evidenced by the chasm between those who have ready and steady access to computers and, by extension, the Internet – very much exists even within countries (such as the rate of using the internet cafes in Accra as compared to the rate in the Northern region, which is three or four times the cost), the use of ICTs for development, for example, is being facilitated by non-governmental agencies like the Accra-based GINKS, which aim to " provide information and Knowledge sharing that will facilitate capacity building for ICTs Products and services"

Other developments are also taking place. One notable one is that of a story in the Ghanaian Times of 1 April 2006, in which it was reported that Accra Girl's Secondary School has become the "first school in Africa to have an electronic learning (e-learning) center to facilitate the adoption of [ICTS] into its academic programmes." The issue of internet governance, however, is a murkier—and more technical affair that merits as much consideration and study as those issues that pre-dominate international development.

Internet Governance, concrete outcomes

The issue of internet governance has assumed similar dimensions characteristic of the North-South divide in, say, the international trading system. If at the WTO, it is the so-called QUAD (comprising Canada, the US, UK, and Japan) that have a major say surrounding the decisions made on the multilateral trading system, so it is that when it comes to the internet, the US is right at the heart of controlling how domain names, for example, are assigned.

A communiqué produced by the European Commission in late April 2006 has argued that this system of control by the US is slowly changing—and that is also thanks to the Tunis Agenda on the Information Society that came out of the WSIS Summit last November.

In the Agenda, paragraph 63, for the first time, recognises that "Countries should not be involved in decisions regarding another country's country-code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD). Their legitimate interests, as expressed and defined by each country, in diverse ways, regarding decisions affecting their ccTLDs, need to be respected, upheld and addressed via a flexible and improved framework and mechanisms ".

Put simply, this means that unlike before when countries needed the approval of the US Commerce Department before changing, say, ghanasundayworld.com to ghanasundayworld.gh, countries, exercising their sovereign right, can now go ahead and change it—ensuring that the existing non-profit ICANN (Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers) oversees the change through regional registries, such as AfriNic, which helps, as its website maintains, to " provide professional and efficient distribution of Internet number resources to the African Internet community, to support Internet technology usage and development across the continent and strengthen self Internet governance in Africa by encouraging a participative policy development" .

Even the decision to create "ghanasundayworld.gh", before Tunis, would have meant seeking assent from the US! What this old way of doing things would have meant is that if Ghana were considered not strategic enough a country, the US Department of Commerce cold turn down that domain name.

Some of these technical issues were discussed at the first-ever forum on Internet governance, which the Greek government played host to in October 2006. This year, the second Internet Governance Forum was held in Brazil, where the issues of content regulation; the duty of states to protect freedom of expression online, including the protection of children online; a set of global public policy principles—including, inter alia, an Internet Bill of Rights were discussed.

The future of WSIS

At the UN level, monitoring what WSIS will do to the access to information is a key concern. Malaysia's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Jamaludin Jarjis, said last year that "access to information should now be regarded as a utility and basic human right." He adds that conventional development means were no longer adequate in today's economic climate, where knowledge capital was the new currency and the new, raw material."

The UN, at a Geneva meeting, in July 2006, maintained the world body should continue to play a leading role in expanding information and communication technologies to promote development. The World Summit requested that a UN group on the Information Society ought to coordinate the work of the UN system.

It bears reminding that although the WSIS process seems rather nebulous to many in the sense that linking ICTs to development seems rather tenuous, in the long run, what remains clear is that as long as the Internet and ICTS are with us, so, too, will WSIS. It is a process that remains critical to the MDGs, and like most revolutions, its legacy for posterity can only be for the betterment of society.

Emmanuel.K.Bensah is Ag. President of Ghanaian Association of Journalists in ICT (GHAJICT) ( http://ghajict.blogspot.com)

Weekend Woes:At Long Last, It's Over! Still, Too Many Deeper Dramas...

2007-11-23T16:55:00.001Z

No, it's not my much-talked about thriller (yawn), nor...get your mind out of the gutter!, nor...anything else I might have waxed lyrical over, but forgot to commit myself to!

It's about a blasted report on regional integration (in fact, a review of UNCTAD's Trade and Development Report) that I was supposed to have submitted last week. Oh, well. It's been done--finally! The odd thing about it all is that I'm a super-aficionado of regional integration, so this dragging of my feet is too much!

Suffice-to-say, there are quite a number of deeper dramas going on in my life.

The first involves...writing: one report for work pending; plus a recommendation by my former boss, a seasoned and veteran journalist, to write a column on ICT for our local Sunday paper. Deeply humbled, I have to endeavour to get an article every Tuesday for publication out on Sundays!

My commitment for Global Voices has waxed and waned in the latter part of the year. Seriously waned at the tail-end of the year! I'm seriously endeavouring to finish a review of posts on/about Ghana before the year is out.

My novel--the less said about it the better!

Secondly, there's the issue of my weight, which I am using a light-hearted approach, coupled with serious activity and exercises, and avoiding of all-that's-bad-for-the-cholesterol so that I get trim. The doctors claim I grew an inch to 6". I suspect, they should have checked my height again; I am still tall, but a reasonable 5"10.

In any event, these cascading dramas have conspired to remind me about this most instructive of Marianne Williamson's quotes:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?..."--Marianne Williamson

Make the weekend a good one...

Searching for a Deeper Identity...

2007-11-09T16:36:00.000Z

In between pretending to work very hard before the year is out, I've had to battle with some issues of identity.

The first has been preconceptions by the folks on what constitutes a good wife. Beyond all the qualities that one would hope for (care, love, and whatnot) in their view, it's also about marrying someone who is a couple of years younger than me. One year difference is too short--supposedly.

I'm not quite sure what to make of it, except to admit that to be the truth, but insist that if there is love, happiness and joy, that doesn't really matter, surely? Besides, it's not having a wife a few years younger than me that is going to make my marriage a happy one --or is it?

I did some yahoo searches of this on Yahoo Answers, and the answers were consistent: even if people had married women some ten or more years younger than them, most important was the love and respect. Besides as regards the latter, does it not take two to tango? If I respect my wife, will she not automatically respect me? Granted, it doesn't happen that way all the time (hell, we live in an imperfect world!) but that's the cosmic law of karma I guess...

Still, it's given me some food for thought...and then some. I felt, in what some might consider unusual, the need to tell my girlfriend. She understood that my parents had every right to feel that way, and that in the long run, the decision rested on me.

I believe it does--and, frankly, it's no skin off my nose. As regards my private life, even if my wife will be inextricably linked to the folks on account of me, it's important I state from the outset that they forgot about one thing: does the lady make me happy? If she does, I think that settles everything? or?

After all, is it not happiness that reigns supreme over any relationship? Bearing in mind care, respect and all that?

In any event, this is what one internet source put it:

1. If the man is about the same age as, or somewhat older than the girl, there will be no special problem of age suitability.

2. If the girl is slightly older there will be no special problem unless one or the other feels sensitive about it. The only question then will be, "How do they feel about it?"

3. As people grow older, age differences become less important. Other things being equal, there will be less difference between a woman of fifty and a man of seventy, than between a girl of twenty and a man of forty.

4. When one is relatively young and the other as much as twelve years older, the couple should carefully review the following problems:

In these age gap relationships, there may be real differences in their interest in physical activities. If the man is the elder, this may not be too important. A man of thirty-five may play as good a game of golf or even tennis, and swim as well as a girl of twenty.

In fact their age gap may actually make them more evenly matched. A greater age gap relationship problem will be the stage in which their interests happen to be.

I am probably vindicated by this post, however:

One thing to think of is the future. In a large age gap relationship, one person is going to age faster than the other one. It's nature and you can't avoid it. In a 20 year age gap for instance, as good as things are when she is 20 and he is 40, if they stay together, they won't be growing old together as much as HER growing older and HIM growing ELDERLY. These things need to be considered as well.
from:http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/22230/age_gap_relationships.html?page=2

Coming from parents where there is a bit more than 5-yr age gap, I can understand why they might feel the way they do, but, hey, things have changed considerably--and, well, if, God forbid, it blows in my face, I'm man enough to accept it!

Either way, whatever the case may be, I want my woman to be with me as a partner for life--someone who can learn from me, and I from her. I know I find it with Sandra. If it's just one-year between us, the experiences of grief (brought about by the loss of Samuel, my one and only brother) in 1991, raised my sensitive and mature node higher than most people's. To that end, I truly think I'm the man for her!

This is compounded by her sending me text messages along the lines that she'd like to do naughty things to me. I cannot tell you what that can do to any guy!!

On a more serious note, the second reason for the absence has to do with me sorting out getting an ID card. My passport expired in May, and because I knew I wasn't going to travel outside the country, I took things for granted--until I was compelled to give a picture ID for some application a few weeks ago.

I can tell you the shock was more than rude, leaving me more than a bit foolish: I had no voter's ID (which is like a national ID card here) as I landed back in Ghana a few months before election day in 2004, and was therefore unable to get one. Coupled with that was the fact that I don't yet have a driver's license (I will do next year). ALl of this made me feel so "identity-less", which is something I surely should not be feeling in my own country!

Suffice-to-say, things are on the move, and my passport has gone through for renewal. It's just a matter of time.

Now, back to my relationship thingy, I just finished speaking to my best friend Juliet who believes in many ways, I'm in tune with my self, but in other aspects, I'm rather childish! Yeah, man! Primarily on the grounds that I've seemed, among a few other things, reluctant in taking my gf to meet the folks.

Anyways, the point she made was a seriously sound one: that perhaps my maturity has not been noticed by the folks, and so they feel that I couldn't handle a one-year gap!

Good point noted--and taken...

Have yourselves a good weekend!

ICT And The Future Of Journalism Profession ( I )

2007-10-17T15:42:00.001Z

From: http://www.ghana.gov.gh/node/1630/print

ICT And The Future Of Journalism Profession ( I )

By Abissath

Created 2007-10-16 12:06

By Mawutodzi K. Abissath

A renowned Ghanaian Blogger by the name Emmanuel K. BensahII [sic] (a.k.a. Emma), recently made an analogy that: "As behind every married couple there is a partner, so, too, behind every Blog there is a Blogger!" This analogy can be said to be common place. But the most sarcastic and humorous fashion by which Emma went about it is what is pushing me to make a mountain out of an ant hill in this piece. In other words, there can be no Blog without a Blogger. And if you are a journalist who is not yet too familiar with the term Blog or Blogger, do not go and commit suicide at all.

The purpose of this article is to share with you some of the latest terminologies ICT has introduced into our time honoured profession or occupation or vocation or calling or trade; (whichever is applicable). As journalists, we should never pretend that we know everything under the sun. Rather, we must be open-minded and prepared to learn new things every day as we breathe and eat every day. Otherwise, ICT will render us outdated and outmoded, if not antiquated and archaic! This is an unsolicited advice from me to you.

From Wednesday, October 10, to Thursday, October 11, 2007, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Penplusbyte International Institute of ICT Journalism, the Ghana Information and Knowledge Sharing (GINKS) and the Ghana ICT Journalists Association (GHAJICT), organised a two-day WEB 2.0 Workshop for Editors, Senior Journalists, and media Educators. This eye opener capacity building programme was sponsored by the French Embassy in Accra. The theme for the event was: "Improving the Quality of Journalism using Web 2.0." If you are a journalist reading this article, tell me honestly if you know what WEB 2.0 is. As for me I confess that that I have never heard of that until Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at the Ghana International Press Centre at the GJA Headquarters in Accra, where the workshop was held.
Togbe Kwami Ahiabenu II, President of Penplusbyte and Facilitator of the above- stated workshop was the person from whom I heard the term WEB 2.0 for the first time in my life. Before setting the ball rolling that morning, Kwami posed this question to the class: "Who knows what WEB 2.0 is? And the entire room turned into a grave yard. We were all looking into his face like some innocent children collected from some rural community from some unknown planet. But this was a class that was made up of veteran journalists and media educators.

In fact some of the participants were journalists of repute in Ghana. One particular one from one of the leading media houses in Accra was a dignified and noble man in the true sense of the word. Nature has been very kind to him. He possesses such a huge baobab-like stature with a luminous boar-head to march. In fact his physical structure classifies him more a super-heavy-weight boxing champion than a journalist. For those who know me personally, I can easily go into this man four times. And I suspect he might have been practicing journalism before my mother became a teenager. I could not plug up the courage to ask him why he did not become a General in the Ghana Army. He is one of the outstanding newspaper page planners or design and layout specialists in West Africa. He is a veteran in his own his class and I admire him a great deal. Remember this African proverb that: "If your friend is more handsome than you, it is better to praise him rather than to try to malign or envy him." All right?

There was another participant who is a PhD holder and teaches law at one of the private journalism training schools in Accra. Another grey-haired participant and lecturer at one of the latest modern media training institutions in Accra was among us. He told me he left School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon as far back as 1974 and has practiced the profession both at home and abroad for many, many years. A very knowledgeable but humble and an unassuming. I enjoyed his companionship at the workshop. When it came to Blogging, I, too, became a lecturer to most of them anyway. I find it enjoyable to share the little I have with others. Now we are in information age and if you hoard information you will be known as an information silo.

One lady participant, too, who works with the mother of all electronic media houses in Ghana, whispered into my ears that she left the Ghana Institute of Journalism about ten years before I found my way there some 20 yeas ago. So you can imagine how long this veteran female journalist and gender fighter has been operating in our domain. And I salute her for what she stands for. There were also some relatively young but talented and well-read journalists among the participants. The point I am trying to hammer home here is that the calibre of participants who attended this particular workshop in terms of education, experience and professionalism, was beyond compare. And yet, there is something that all of us did not know hitherto. That something is what ICT has succeeded in transforming journalism into.

The question now is: "What is it that ICT has brought into journalism which has turned veterans into kindergarten boys and girls at my first day in school?" I will answer my own question by simply saying: It is TECHNOLOGY. It is presumed that every journalist in Ghana today whether veteran or student knows that ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology. From time immemorial journalists have been communicating information through various channels including traditional means such as word of mouth, talking drums and gongong. Then through print and electronic media namely, newspapers or magazines etc, radio and television. You can add telephone, telex, fax machine and others, if you like.

Then, there came into existence an ICT. With the advent of ICT boom, everything mankind has been doing from birth to death has changed. But journalism seems to be the profession that has been most drastically affected by ICT. The result is what is now known as E-journalism or Online-journalism or Cyber-journalism or Web-journalism. And the basic ICT tools that journalists need to perform this online-journalism business effectively include computers, the Internet and to a certain scope the World Wide Web (www) itself which gave birth to the Internet in the first place by making it possible for computers to talk other computers through connectivity and network.

Hardly did journalists go to bed to have a siesta when ICT tools have not only metamorphosed into something else but have actually revolutionised and multiplied in an thousand fold. Some of the new ICT tools which were introduced to Editors, senior journalists and educators at the just-ended WEB 2.0 worship include the Web 2.0 itself, Podcasting, Blogging and Wikis.

WEB 2.0 we were told came into being in 2004 and is the evolution of the Internet over the years. For instance, when Internet boom emerged in the 90s, even though World Wide Web itself has been in existence since the 60s, some of the tools of WEB 2.0 of today were not there in the 90s. Therefore, the Internet of the 90s can now be referred to as WEB 1.0. In simple terms, some of the tools that distinguish WEB 2.0 from WEB 1.0 include Podcasting, Blogging and Wikis stated above. If we break it down the concept further, other ICT tools that Podcasting and Blogging also could employ to achieve their functions include Mobile Blogging, SMS Blogging, GSM/CDMA (sub mobile internet), Skype, Mobile phone, Satellite phone (Thuraya), MMS (picture transfer/sharing), Bluetooth, Infra-red and so on. Other latest ICT tool which must be mentioned in this regard is Vedioblogging.

To be frank with the reader, these are some of the theoretical aspects of the two-day workshop which we were exposed to. Unfortunately for us, however, when it came to the practical aspects of the course which we need to put the teaching into practical application in our work, internet connectivity failed us the Press Centre. The organizers had to quickly arrange for us to go to one of computer laboratories at the near-by Kofi Annan ICT Centre of Advanced Technology, opposite the State House. There, too, we encountered some challenges as far as the Internet speed was concerned. So I will not pretend to say that I can do all that I am writing about in this feature as far as Podcasting and Vedioblogging are concerned. As for Blogging proper, I had had some knowledge in it already so I can modestly hit my chest that if you call on me day or night I can take you through the rudiments of Blog creating. And you can do it in no time at all.

As stated in the opening paragraph of this write-up, when Emma was taking us through the Blogging lesson, he made the subject matter so interesting with his famous analogy that the learning became fun for us all. Before he started, he asked the class that all those who were married should show by hand. Virtually everybody in the class raised up their hands. Initially, nobody knew what he was driving at some of us even raised up both hands. Then he proclaimed (and I am paraphrasing him here): As behind every married person there is a partner - a wife or a husband, so, too, behind every Blog there is a Blogger!

Suddenly the entire computer lab burst into spontaneous and prolonged laughter. He himself could not help it but to laugh infectiously. Then someone asked him whether he himself was married and he said capital NO. So it turned out that all the students in the class were married expect the lecturer rather. When he was asked why he was not yet married, he responded: "I am studying you people and I want to learn from you first." His answer to the question made the class to laugh even the more. Emma could be in his 30s or so and he is a man of impeccable and fantastic sense of humour.

On a more serious note, we learned that if journalists could master the use of some of these latest tools of ICT, they would help them to enhance their work especially in the newsroom. For example, Journalists can create Blogs for research work, or for photographs, or for features. If you are a reporter and you can create a Blog and post all your newstories or your feature articles on it, apart from publishing such a Blog on the Internet and link it to other websites for the world to read, you can use it as a reference book or diary for your journalistic activities. Editors can use Blogs to monitor and assess the work of their reporters in such a way that at the end of every year, they would know which reporter deserves promotion or even salary increments.

A Blog is a kind of website anybody can develop or create without having to be an ICT "techy". When you are able to create your own Blog and post information or photographs or both text and graphics on it and can update it constantly, then can call yourself a Blogger. There are several platforms for Blogging. But the one we were introduced to at the workshop is BLOGGER.COM.

Source: ISD

Posted: 16/10/07

Who Said Teaching Had to be Easy?: Web 2.0, Here Journalists Come!!

2007-10-10T17:07:00.001Z

Currently at Ghana's Kofi Annan IT Centre of Excellence (http://www.aiti-kace.com.gh/), where my voice is taking a break after having done some tutoring / coaching / teaching on web journalism.

This is a great passion--and coincidentally my main are of work professionally--which I am thankful to be using to impart to journalists and media practitioners that are more senior than myself the art of...blogging.

It is reputed that I have a quintessential skill in blogging.

I say, for every one, there are many unsung heroes who know more than I do--and I am not just being humble.

It's been a while since I did public speaking, but for some strange reason, this felt great! Regrettably, I am unable to meet great minds here tomorrow, as work beckons, but, for sure, I'll be in touch with them all!

More pictures to follow soon!

I Knew There Was Something about 18 September! Long Live Dag Hammarskjold!

2007-09-19T16:37:00.000Z

In a rather serendipitous turn of events, I found myself last week discussing the UN and how I'm preparing for a long journey to acquire some necessary skills to get there.

As luck would have it, yesterday, I found a job description at the Un Office in Vienna[a very well-designed website if you ask me!]which was practically identical to yours truly--except for one thing: the salary! It was a whopping almost six times MORE than what I earn, and it evidently gave me serious food for thought!

Flippancy aside, it's important to note that for all the quasi-hagiographic manner in which I paint the United Nations, I know it's still a seriously flawed institution, but I cannot but wonder how the world would survive without it. One review in Pakistan's main daily paper opines about the global body's value:

The third world wants it to deliver legal solutions. The United States thinks it is a spendthrift obstacle in the way of foreign policy. It is wrong to think of the UN as responsible for making laws and enforcing them. The system is clearly political and is not meant to satisfy legal and moral demands, but moral and legal opinion can be voiced at the UN, which is good for the third world. All things considered, the UN remains an institution of great value to the small and poor states of the world

It could be argued that coming from where I'm coming, I'm bound to arrive at this conclusion. I have always argued that The Hague International Model United Nations in 1994 convinced me about working for the UN.

It would have been frankly criminal if I hadn't pursued that line of endeavour, and not chosen to set up a website dedicated to the UN--or at least my academic papers( in particular, my university papers) on the UN.

Now to the irony: my Un Apologist blog is as dead as a dodo. Less said about it, the better!

Either way, I would like this post to be less about me--and more about one of my key heroes of the 20th century--Dag Hammarskjold. He might have been gay--he never married for all his experienced years, and rarely expressed interest in women--but he continues to earn serious respect for his dedication to the very difficult job at the UN. Here are some of his achievements: (many thanks to WIKIPEDIA)

Hammarskjöld tried to soothe relations between Israel and the Arab states

In 1955, he went to mainland China to negotiate the release of 15 US pilots who had served in the Korean War and been captured by the Chinese

In 1956, he established the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF). In 1957, he intervened in the Suez Crisis

In 1960, the former Belgian colony and now newly-independent Congo asked for UN aid in defusing the escalating civil strife. (See Congo Crisis). Hammarskjöld made four trips to the Congo

It would be on what would prove to be his last trip to the Congo on 18 September, 1961 "to negotiate a cease-fire" that his plane would crash in Ndola, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia).

Even the rather naive-towards-world-affairs generation in which I grew up believed easily that he had been assassinated most likely by the secret services of the CIA. Turn to WIKIPEDIA, and you learn more:

On August 19, 1998, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chairman of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), revealed that recently-uncovered letters had implicated British MI5, American CIA and South African intelligence services in the 1961 crash of Dag Hammarskjöld’s plane. One TRC letter said that a bomb in the aircraft’s wheel-bay was set to detonate when the wheels came down for landing. Tutu said that the veracity of the letters was unclear; the British Foreign Office suggested that they may have been created as Soviet misinformation. [2]

On July 29, 2005, exactly 100 years after Hammarskjöld's birth, the Norwegian Major General, Bjørn Egge, gave an interview to the newspaper Aftenposten on the events surrounding his death. According to Egge, who was the first UN officer to see the body, Hammarskjöld had a hole in his forehead, and this hole was subsequently airbrushed from photos taken of the body. It appeared to Egge that Hammarskjöld had been thrown from the plane, and grass and leaves in his hands might indicate that he survived the crash, and had tried to scramble away from the wreckage. Egge does not claim directly that the wound was a gunshot wound, and his statement does not align with Archbishop Tutu's information. [3] In an interview on March 24, 2007 on the Norwegian TV channel NRK, an anonymous retired mercenary claimed to have shared a room with an unnamed South African mercenary who claimed to have shot Hammarskjöld. The alleged killer was claimed to have died in the late 90s. [4]

Another possible explanation is that Hammarskjöld’s plane struck some treetops as it was preparing for landing. Hammarskjöld was the only person whose body was separate from the wreckage and therefore not burnt due to his aversion to seatbelts. He was thrown from the crash or was able to crawl away from the plane, but his injuries were severe enough that he was already dead by the time the plane was found

If we were to be a bit more technical about the whole thing, there are two articles in the UN charter that allows the UN Secretary-General to have power:

Article 98 of the United Nations charter adds that the Secretary-general “shall perform such other functions as are entrusted to him” by the UN organs. Article 99 states that the Secretary-general “may bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which, in his opinion, may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.”

As head of the organization, the Secretary-General’s raison d’etre is exemplified by the three articles in question. To an extent, is through these articles that he becomes “guardian of the peace” , because it is he – and he alone – who possesses the unique right to directly liaise with the Security Council. He does this by raising their awareness of any “matter”, which he deems to pose a menace for international peace and security. This is what many of the authors I used in writing this paper refer to as a “special right”.

The Secretary-general’s “special right”

This “right” in question is also known as article 99. It confers prerogative to the Secretary-General to exercise his judgement rationally I matters of international politics, or world peace. Implicit, also, in this article is the belief that should the Secretary-General consider any situation which may adversely affect either politics or diplomacy, he should, or at least must be compelled to, invoke the article in order to obtain a response from the Security Council. Gordenker in fact writes “the article was designed precisely as an alternative to a complainant by a member government to the Security Council.” He goes on to argue that however, “article 99 exists primarily for use in a crisis.”
from:http://un_org.tripod.com/congo/

It is important to note that "never again since Hammarskjold has it been invoked."

So, I sometimes wonder--that despite the ostensible success of my fellow countryman Kofi Annan, and the more passive Ban Ki-Moon, which UN SG is going to deliver the goods -- at all costs. I believe in my heart of hearts that Hammarskjold died for going beyond his supposed remit--and the Western security services made sure that the then-popular SG had to go--by fair means or foul.

Reading contemporary UN politics, such as that of the very-critical Inner City Press reporting scandals and whatnot within the UN, you begin to wonder more about the effectiveness of Ki-Moon.

Today, I'd just like to say that Hammarskjold is my hero.

Forty-five years after his untimely demise, may he continue to rest in perfect peace, and may we have better UN administrators who will not feel afraid to push the envelope--just that bit.

Weekend Woes: Smart Women? Smart Men!; UN-Bound

2007-09-14T17:26:00.000Z

Smart Men!
Yesterday I saw my girlfriend off at the same place I saw her off last week. For a second, I was tempted to go to the place where I met that smart woman of last two weeks, and tell her that I just came to say "hi", and that I had just seen my significant other off.

I resisted the thought. It looked stupid, and wrong, because it was like I was trying to re-assure both myself and the lady that I wasn't going to try anything. If there is nothing at all, why the re-assurance?

I reckon that must be the smartest move I've made in a long time!

Un-bound

Yeah, so it's no secret that I want to work for the United Nations. Whether it's in the capacity as Communications officer, or Political officer, I'm still seriously unsure. What I am sure about is that there is a lot I need to do to get myself there! Last time I attended a "real" UN Conference was in Brussels--back in 2001--for the Third UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, which resulted in a statement I wrote here: http://www.un.org/events/ldc3/conference/address/tradecaucus18_e.htm(matches the picture!--I'm the one to the right in the brown suit!)

I started off by editting my profile on Un Jobs. Last time I did that was in 2003, when United Nations Non-Governmental Liason Office had turned me down after having actually interviewed a much-ecstatic yours truly!! That was when I knew I had a chance.

Ofcourse, since then, I've become a de facto blogger and added a few other experiences on me, but I got to tell you I got stumped when, in the personal profile space, I was asked to put down "Achievements". As compared to my internship at the NGO I worked for in Brussels, I could not think of a single achievement I had chalked here!

Talk about ironic...

It was serious food for thought, however, into getting me to think what concrete things I have to do to ensure I can clock down something at least! Can it honestly be that bad--or is it that I'm under-estimating myself. These are details for me to work out, evidently, but the mind does surely boggle...

Either way, here's a sure list of "competencies" the UN would look for. A tall order---if ever I saw one!!:

• Demonstrated expertise in area of assignment;
• proven conceptual and analytical skills that lead to formulation of options and recommendations.
• In-depth understanding of and ability to evaluate international political situations.
• Good knowledge of the United Nations, especially its role in peacekeeping operations.
• Excellent communication (verbal and written) skills,
o including ability to prepare reports and conduct presentations by clearly formulating positions on issues, articulating options concisely, conveying maximum necessary information and defend difficult issues.
• Ability to plan and organize drafting work efficiently,
• also to organize large meetings in cooperation with diverse entities,
o including government officials, diplomats, representatives of NGOs, press corps and inter-governmental organizations, both within and outside the UN system.
• Excellent interpersonal skills,
o ability to listen and work in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
• Judgment and initiative, imagination and resourcefulness;
• proven ability to operate with diplomacy and tact

I keep on asking myself: "how on Earth does one prove an ability to "operate with diplomacy and tact"?

Any takers?

Have a constructive and GREAT weekend, and while you're at it, here's a deeply reflective site (http://www.kashi.com/challenges) you'll find very interesting;-)

Not Calling the Ex Could be Construed as a Sign of Incipient Maturity

2007-09-11T15:54:00.000Z

With a title like that, who needs an entry?

Seriously, I flipped over, the other day, to what I was blogging about last year this time, and it turns out I was writing about calling my ex to wish her a happy birthday, merely because I cannot forget it seeing as it follows my brother's.

Either way, as if by an act of unwitting sagacity, my significant other and I were having a chat--as you do--about people and how funny they can be, when she told me how the other day her ex called her out of the blue to find out how she is.

She said--and I whole-heartedly believe her--she got angry and told him that she didn't have anything to do with him, and why was he calling. She then told him not to call her again.

I respected that.

So I followed suit... in not calling my ex again.

Making Love over a Cup of Desiderata

2007-09-07T12:47:00.000Z

The art of making love is not just about the physicality of the act; it's inevitably also about using words to heal and soothe and encourage, without using to many "ands";-)

So there Sandra and I were the other day talking and contemplating about the Desiderata, a poem that is reputed to have been found in St.Paul's Church, Baltimore in 1692 but is also reputed to have been written by by one Max Ehrmann.

I've been told that it's important to feed the soul every now and then, and in my estimation, the Desiderata is the greatest exponent of soul-food there ever is -- and probably will be.

She had never heard of it, but was humbled by the wisdom exuding from these important words:

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

When we decide to tie the knot, it's going to be a veritable staple of our emotional and relationship diet. The world sometimes moves far too fast, and if we can be slowed down by such sagacity, I'm all for it, whilst remembering these even wiser words:

be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

I came across an old post from two years ago which goes like this:

The violence that is flaring up on our streets and in many corners of the world is the inevitable expression of the hostility in our hearts. Hostility is like an infectious disease. Whenever we indulge in a violent act or even in hostile words, we are passing this disease on to those around us. When we quarrel at home, it is not just a domestic problem, we are contributing to turmoil everywhere.

Maybe, just maybe, this poem can help reconcile justice and peace of mind with the incredible injustice and chaos in the world.

May it work for you as it has done, and continues to work for me...

Responding to a Tag by Peculiar Virtue

2007-09-05T16:38:00.001Z

I was tagged by Peculiar Virtue (http://peculiarvirtue.blogspot.com)

Here are the Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Players start with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to post to their own blog (about their 8 things) along with these rules. (**if you're a non-blogger, you can e-mail them!)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to tag and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them, "you're tagged, now go read my blog."
----

1. I want to work for (the much-maligned and flawed) United Nations one fine day.

2. I want to train as a qualified journalist (someone told me recently given my inquisitorial type of questioning, a little stint at a media house, and I'd be blazing trails;-) )

3. I am a rather hirsute man.

4. I will publish my crime thriller before I turn 32.

5. I am often impetuous, ending many times with egg-on-my face. In that respect, I find great affinity with the US-based NBC comedy show "Frasier", which I am a great fan of.

6. Classical music and Jazz are my therapy for sinking into a soulful place.

7. I am convinced I will have twins.

8. I can see a very good and caring wife in my significant other.

I am tagging : Daniel (http://danielhg.blogspot.com); Soap (http://lessisapossibility.blogspot.com ); Laura Tooth (lauratooth.blogspot.com); Elsa Brobbey (http://elsbro.com/blog/); Enoch Darfah Frimpong ( http://enochdarfahfrimpong.blogspot.com); Akosua Nyako; Patrizia Uccheddu-Murray; Elodie Windels (http://aroundwestafrica.blogspot.com)

Back by 7th September

2007-09-04T16:28:00.001Z

Am currently in campaign-mode at work, working with my colleagues, away from the office; and some time away from my desk...seriously deprived of my habitual radio-fixes!;-)

You Women Can be Too Smart!

2007-08-28T14:58:00.000Z

So there I was having seen my girlfriend off to her class when I decide to go and explore one of the shops in the area. I goi upstairs to this gift shop not too far from work--to meet face-to-face a youngish-looking woman, with short cropped hair, and alluring eyes.

We exchange smiles as we greet.

A cursory look would suggest that she's a bit older than me (you can tell by the neck!). Nonetheless, she's still rather cute, and I couldn't help holding the gaze a bit. I went not for the kill, but for what I came to look for: things to buy my women (my Mum and my girlfriend) for birthdays and christmas.

So, I asked her, and she recommended some things.

She is a very personable young woman, whom many guys would like to talk further to. I don't re-call seeing a ring, but I doubt she had one, even though I wouldn't be surprised that she were hooked.

As I was about to leave, she asked me my name.

"Emmanuel", I said, "let me give you my card". Opening my wallet, I whipped out my bank card sleeve, and took out my complimentary card. She contemporraneously gave me hers. You know, I don't even remember asking her her name, but now, upon checking, I see it. So now, I know her name.

As I left, she added, in the usual well-trained phrase: "hope to see you again..."

Then she quickly added with a smile: "...as a customer!"

Here be Some Revelations: There are Heroes in Our Deeper Drama...

2007-08-10T16:26:00.000Z

Very often, when life gets a tad dull and uneventful and unexciting, it is usually because we are making it so.

We don't need Hollywood to bring us excitement; there's very often a -- what Mariane Williamson of The Quest calls -- a deeper drama going on in our lives--that is to say a compelling impetus driving us in our vision of the type of life we want, and are leading.

So when you get to hear heroic acts and deeds that are not of Tinseltown stock, you begin to question some of the values in your life, and how much validity thay represent juxtaposed against the evils of the world.

I can very much imagine that even if you're a charity-giver, and hear of such heroic deeds as two Nigerian policemen
facing a gang of thirty armed robbers in Nigeria, with one getting killed, and the other with "unearthly fury" shooting the gang all-out, the benevolence associated with giving to an organisation that appears almost faceless just shakes your comfort-zone just that small bit. You might begin to wonder how far you'd go in fighting an injustice.

When all's said and done and dusted, the truth is crystal-clear: there are heroes among us.

They are with us every day.

These are the unsung heroes that get buried in the cacophony of corporate news dissemination...

Two acts of serendipity have fortuitously exposed me to the heroism of mere individuals.

The first was the whimsical purchase of the NBC-hit Heroes about a group of apparently very normal individuals who are destined to save the world with their super-human abilities, which play out through the show.

The second was the story I referred to above about the Nigerian policeman. The impact of which can be captured in a quotation:

30 heavily armed robbers invaded the Oba, Nsukka branch of a first generation bank, fired shots into the air to scare off people and proceeded to break into the bank. This was in broad daylight, 1.00 p.m. to be precise.

The two (2) policemen on duty rose to the occassion in amazing style, responding with what was apparently accurate marksmanship. Minute by minute, the casualty among the robbers rose: One, two, three, four … wounded (or dead?).

The bewildered gang took to dragging their hit colleagues into their getaway buses.

Meanwhile, inside the bank, the two bravehearts were running out of ammo, and knew it was only a matter of time, unless help came.

But where was the reinforcement? The supposed reinforcement later arrived about 30 minutes after the robbers had departed. But this was before the plot had played itself out in full.

One of the two policemen giving the robbers the time of their lives heard a thud - his colleague had taken a shot in the chest and had fallen to the floor. In agony, the dying cop gritted his teeth in a last effort not to scream and give away his colleague’s position. He was dead in a few minutes.

Bleeding from several wounds himself, the surviving cop rose up angry to face the robbers. It was with unearthly fury that he fired and fired away - and this onslaught totally demoralised the robbers, who hastily beat a retreat.

Bank workers who came later met a dead policeman with a chest wound and an unconscious one with his finger hooked on the trigger. His magazine was empty.

A question I posed to a friend during lunch a few days ago was yet-another X-files moment of God speaking to me, but me not listening--or me simply getting excessively philosophical in my young age?;-)

Either way, what greatly touched me about the Nigerian story was the "unearthly fury" with which the second (unconscious) officer used to shoot at the armed robbers. Where did it come from--that courage to face an evil you know can defeat you?

The heroism displayed by the first one who, sadly, died as he took on the armed robbers one...by...one was more than unprecedented; it was stomach-churning and heart-rending.

I would like to see a day when each and every single one of us can walk the walk in this deeper drama of life, where our lives are so intertwined and connected in a way that transcends any six degrees of separation.

I also hope that when that day arrives, we will feel compelled to fight to the very end for what we believe in. I know the maturity of any courageousness I possess is very nascent, but maybe, just maybe, there might be someone out there...?

Three Years On, There are Still Deeper Dramas of Identity & Fidelity

2007-08-02T05:15:00.000Z

Offlate, I have been rather contemplative about life, wondering why I am back-pedalling on some of the commitments I have made to myself. I thought by now, the writing of my novel would have gone far. My deadline--my late brother's birthday of 6th September--looks seriously abortive. I have had to postpone because I know I cannot deliver fo rthat date.

Either way, "failure" has been a sure sign of my lack of commitment.

The most recent was exemplified by yet-another Yahoo messenger experience. Suffice-to-say, if thoughts could be put on trial, I'd be in the dock for an emotional infraction!

Misunderstandings were sorted out, and an exhortation towards being friends are the order of the day. This, despite a deep desire to have gone further with the prurient thought...

It got me thinking a great dealn about the ever-thin fine line between remaining faithful and cheating. Irrespective of your religion, sinning by omission is always as bad as sinning by commission.

When I arrive at that state, I find myself in an X-files moment, where I find that I have become the thing I fear. Or, better still, a Nietzche moment, when he (rightly) said:

...if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you...

...I know for sure I'm heading a dangerous path.

I have rarely ever denied an attraction for the opposite sex. In these days when one appears not to be quite sure how straight one is, I'm glad to say I'm comprehensively straight, but sitting on the fence over fidelity is a path I'd rather not go on, despite the fact that many-a-time, my emotions have found me wanting.

In 2006, my gorgeous yet late friend Nana Amaa showed a care and feeling unprecedented by any other married woman I knew: she wanted me to accompany her on outings; she enjoyed my company; texted me to wish me a good morning and good day; we'd spend some time chatting on Yahoo. Everything was clear she loved her husband, but she seemed to like me a great deal. I liked her a bit more than that, yet she was untouchable.

I don't think I'll ever enjoy a friendship so close yet so horribly short as hers. My Mum had always admonished me that a "married friend cannot be your friend". I knew that, yet I was flattered.

With time, our friendship matured and became no longer a case of an unrequited love, but one of a profound friendship between her and myself.

Regrettably, it never was to continue. This is what I wrote on 31 May 2006:

I realise now without any vestige of melodrama that I sincerely loved this married woman.

I miss her so much I don't even want to erase her lengthy hotmail messenger discussions with me. Her yahoo ones, regrettably, are lost:-(

My mental pabulum is this: can a man have pure love for a married woman that is not carnal?
http://ekbensah.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html

Whether one might believe this or not, this is the real mCCoy

This is me.

Three years to the day, after I started working professionally (as in fully-salaried!) in my home country of Ghana.

And still, veritabaly and truly eccentric.

I take comfort in Lao-Tzu's admonition that:

He Who Knows Others is Clever; He Who Knows Himself is Enlightened

Food for Thought: That Ubiquitous Threat

2007-07-31T14:34:00.000Z

My computer, for the past week, has been a lean, clean and working machine that is as virus-free as a bouncing baby. Yeah!

Now, all that is left for me to ponder is in respect of technology.

Many viruses were found on my digital camera, and even my motorola L7i! As mildly harmful as they were, it underscored, for me, the comprehensive revolution technology has made thanks to the ubiquitous USB port--both of which appear on the respective devices listed above.

Now, I don't know about you, but I can bet you my newly-re-denominated Ghana cedi that the menace of computer viruses represents the greatest threat to our increasingly connected and networked world today. And if you don't believe me, ask the millions of FACEBOOK-ers out there today;-)

Sporadic Posting for a while

2007-07-13T15:36:00.001Z

We may have passed the middle of the year already, and every one might have forgotten how close to Christmas we are all getting. I raise this issue, because it strikes me every day, off-late, that time is running out for the numerous things we want to do.

Blogging offers a grand escape from the realities of life, and I am not about to stop it soon.

Suffice-to-say, whether it's about Venezuela getting goose-bumps from the friction of leaving MERCOSUR for a better alternative; me getting late with the writing of my novel; appreciating beautiful parts of Accra by way of pictures I have taken--but not yet posted--or pontificating about some of the challenges of living and working in my ever-so-beautiful country of Ghana, I shall blog about it.

Just that: next week, as this week has proved to be, I shall be a bit busy.

Internet provision that has remained this side of sporadic, coupled with a battle against viruses--both computer-related and otherwise--has been the bane of my blogging, but I shall definitely recover the week of the 23rd of July.

You can for sure expect more soapboxing from then!

have a good weekend!

Unfaithful Thoughts, or a Case of Technology Nurturing Infidelity?

2007-07-06T15:25:00.000Z

Last week I logged into my computer, with Yahoo Messenger tagging nicely along, thankyou. Within minutes, a friend whom I had not seen for a while was buzzing me. This would not have been news were it not for the fact that the buzzer was one of the female persuasion;-)

I first met her in Guinea-Conakry, West Africa, for a work-related conference in November 2004, and was immediately infatuated. Through the three days I was in the country, infatuation moved to great admiration for her intellect and her striking, good looks.

So we got to chatting on Yahoo Messenger and she asked me whether I was married. “No”, I wrote, ‘but I have a girlfriend”. I then asked her why such a really pretty girl like her was doing still not hooked. She claimed she was waiting for me…to get married! She’s a tough cookie, and I am sure she was saying this tongue-in-cheek, but how, that for that split moment, having seen the latest really gorgeous picture of her, and these thoughts, I wished I could tell I wanted her so badly.

There was just a catch, which was no catch, upon reflection: I had told her spontaneously she was “tres belle!”, or very pretty, and that I have a girlfriend. There was no way I was going to say anything sillier from there on.

I emailed her shortly after to renew acquaintance; I haven’t seen her online for a while, but she has said she’d love to come to Ghana – only if I invite her. I have done so, and hope to see her at the end of the year when she’s less busy.

All this brings into sharp relief, in my view, how technology has acted as a double-edged sword of doing the proverbial Nokia thing of “connecting people”, whilst contemporaneously dividing them. Connecting, because of the opportunities of being able to “talk” in real-time, yet paradoxically dividing because of its more nebulous ability to divide emotional loyalties of those living in the “here” world and shifting it to those in the “there” world—whether in the next town, city, or country. When it affects couples or partners in the “here” world, it becomes all the more testing.

However, it’s certainly here to stay--and to tell you the truth: I'm all for it!!

have a good weekend!

a terrible combination of virus-infected computers at work, coupled with badly-established internal networking in work computers, as well as a slightly busier period has resulted in the 14-day absence here...

Desperately Seeking...a Chocolate Hen

2007-06-20T11:35:00.000Z

Offlate, I have been hankering after memories of a long-gone era. I occasionally re-read my journals from my Brussels days, including the entry when I lost my virginity to a slightly older lady, who later became my ex.

As chance would have it, I decided to look for my ex, and find out how she is, and whether she was back in the States from Belgium after a horrible period in 2004. Rather serendipitously, I came across a post, which I'll copy here, in the hope she might come across it some day.

Fancy that! She mentions me in the entry:

On a lighter note, I need direction with another situation. This one is delicate, it is a matter of the heart! I met this wonderful guy while on vacation here in Oct., Emmanuel is his name and loving me is his thang lol. Intelligent, good looking, in touch with his emotional side and a virgin to top it all off, or should I say WAS a virgin *wink wink*. He is the epitome of my soul mate. It has been a while since meeting someone of his caliber who I have been attracted to. Usually I am only out for sex and a no strings attached thingy

And here was me, then not even having discovered blogging to this extent, yet having had my name safely tucked away somewhere in the blogosphere by a girl who would later become my ex!

Like I said, it's all here, hoping that she might come across it one ofthese days. Somewhere. Michelle, or Chocolate Hen, I'm looking for you! I hope all is well with ya, and you're chilling back in the US--as you oughta! Do contact me! ekbensah [at] gmail DOT com:

Tuesday, January 6th, 2004
6:27 am Brussels
I am sitting in a cyber cafe in Brussels, Belguim, feeling as if my world is crumbling around me. I just quietly celebrated my 28th birthday 4 days ago on the 2nd. Where do I start......

Originally from Kansas City, I have spent the last two years working in Baltimore, MD before coming here to Europe. I quit my job as an office manager to relocate here to help my sister who is going through a divorce with childcare.

My beautiful older sister is now a frustrated woman and it pains me that I cannot grant her complete serenity. Her Belgian husband whom she married about 4 yrs ago in the US relocated their family here to his hometown and it went downhill from there. My two beautiful nephews ages 2 and 3, I fear will have lifelong impressions of their parents' squabbles. All I can offer is love and comfort and can only pray that it is enough for them to have a healthy life. My ill mannered bro in law is using me as an excuse to escalate matters with my sister. Let's get this straight, I didn't come here to get in the middle of their marriage, but as an on-call nanny for my sister. He has taken advantage of my being here by leaving one or both kids in my care so he can go on his 'errands'. Today is a very good example. This morning, instead of asking me to keep an eye on the 2yr old so he could take the oldest to school, he just leaves while I am still in the bed sleeping. I awoke to the sound of my youngest nephew distrubing things in the kitchen. My bro in law was gone for at least an hour. When he returned, I asked him why he left without telling me and he starts in about how he was talking to my oldest nephew's teacher. I told him that was totally irrevelant to the fact that the youngest was left without any adult supervision. He response to that was 'Whatever'. In opinion, that shows total disregard to his own child's safety. So that's how I ended up here today. I could not justify being in such close proximity to someone with that kind of thought process. My heart goes out to my sister most importantly for having to deal with such stupidity. I do not even want to think about what this evening or tomorrow may bring in reference to dealing with him.

Another thing on my mind today, obtaining employment. In order to work here, you must have a work visa. I am trying to obtain one at this moment while still applying for positions I feel I am qualified for. Here's something interesting...unemployment here never ends like in the US, you can claim unemployment for the rest of your life if you chose to do so here. 85% of your former pay is what you are entitled to....with that being said, there are quite a few Belgians living off of unemployment, including my bro in law, so why do you think they make it so hard for non-Belgians to obtain work...do they keep the jobs open just in case one of the unemployed Belgians get bored and wants to work for a little while or something...go figure!

You're very much missed!

What a Naughty Txt on a Boring Friday Can Do...

2007-06-15T16:01:00.000Z

Despite the maelstrom that is about to engulf work from next week onwards, I am still experiencing a rather bad day. There was a weekly meeting, as per usual, and I'm compelled to produce some minutes, which I'm not really in the mood to do.

Yesterday, I was priviledged to be among two great minds in a radio discussion on African Union government. I ended up forgetting my SANYO dictaphone, with all the recordings at the studio, which plummetted my spirits seriously last night into some type of state where I couldn't sleep.

Perhaps in an attempt to quell the quietude, as it were, I found an excuse to send a naughty text message to my girlfriend. It simply said something along the lines of missing her, and wanting rather badly to be in her arms...and then some.

She failed to respond; but when I called, she cheekily said she was waiting for me to tell her in person. So I told her again, and she said something that goes straight into the entries of sex bloggers;-)

I can tell you: I enjoyed it very much!

The moral of the story?

When things are going down, just remember that it's the small things that make your day, and sometimes enlarge it in places where it shouldnt;-))

have a good weekend!

Confused by the Blogging Paradox, or a Cautionary Tale of What I’d like to See on My Tombstone

2007-06-07T17:37:00.000Z

I stole some time (I won’t tell you from where) to work on my novel yesterday. It felt good being in my own world, creating and manipulating how characters would behave.

Is this how God feels when he pre-arranges things for us?;-)

Seriously speaking, whilst it felt good, it also felt a bit strange having this other level of consciousness, as it were, where I could determine how things turn out. In this world, I don’t want too many happy endings, because I don’t think that reflects real life. Sometimes, the bad do get away.

Think Iraq; Rwanda; the Congo.

Sometimes, the long arm of the law is just *too long*, but when it catches up, it catches up with incredible celerity, as in the Charles Taylor case.

The proverbial evil in this world isn’t going away any time soon—and so if a small contribution like my (putative, or so-called) novel can help underscore this point by letting a few bad guys get their just deserts only at the very last minute, then I’ll write it.

The only other thing about writing it is that might I not be merely perpetuating the clichés that ride us roughshod in our real life?

How does one write a crime thriller without reverting too much to the (a)serial killer-gone-wild; (b)individual psychopathic mentality/idiosyncrasy; (c) a protagonist good-guy on the hunt some of the time, whilst keeping in line with one’s own creativity? It is to avoid the platitudes that I chose to broaden the genre by adding a political/international dimension that would involve…wouldn’t you like to know?;-)

Either way, the point is that the theme has been broadened, but I cannot predict whether there will not be these elements there. However, given that I want it to remain an essentially crime thriller, I’m caught between the devil and the deep blue sea of necessarily using some clichés for effect.

All that said, the progress is in the works, and I’m all the happier for it. What I am not particularly happy over is the cogitation that blogging has brought. It’s made me think too much for my own good—and not necessarily for the right reasons.

Sometimes, I’m confronted with banal situations, and there is always this challenge to make it “bloggable”.

In so many ways, blogging has transformed us into both contradictory and paradoxical people. Contradictory because some of us chose to blog about heretofore private issues under both the ambit of free speech, as well as something to blog about, when that very same issue, we probably wouldn’t discuss with someone face-to-face.

Take the issue of sex: when you read me, you assume—because I have told you—that I am heterosexual, with a girlfriend. The assumption as to whether I have sex or not with her is not even thought about, yet I suspect you might think it comes with the territory. The real truth is that it might not even come with the territory, but when I blog about it, your attention is drawn to it, because it’s in black-and-white.

However, in real life, even if people know I have a girlfriend, I will never go so far as to talk to them about such intimate details, without feeling a bit awkward.

When you read this blog, you do it and make judgments—or not—on the entries I write. At the time you read my entry, your attention is drawn only to the post, but not to my whole personality. In that respect, even if you consistently visit the blog and have a fair idea of who I am, by way of my blog entries, it’s difficult to be certain whether it’s all an act.

We have contemporaneously become paradoxical because the self-reflection of our private lives that we are so keen to refrain from divulging fully is refracted through our blogging, such that we blog about our personal lives, but only in a way that doesn’t reveal too much of what we intimately think and feel—unless of course, you’re a sex blogger.

It is against this backdrop that I have been thinking what I’d like to see on my tombstone:

Writer; Blogger; ICT Specialist; Journalist; political scientist; historian.

Point is: how can I achieve all these within the short period I have on this earth, without being distracted by the ever-present blogging paradox?!

Crystal-Clear Policies from an All-Too Predictable US of A

2007-06-05T13:17:00.000Z

There is no need for glazed eyes. This is a black-and-white issue.

The Europeans want their own European defence policy; the Americans want their own one--independent of Nato.

I don't know about you, but I am not so keen, after the Iraq débacle of 2003, on seeing anything else that would further augment the power of the United States.

A missile defence shield. For what?

It was as far back as October 2003, when the crisis in Iraq was at its apogee, when a Brussels-based journalist Shada Islam, writing in Yale Global Online, maintained that the Europeans want to begin to speak with one voice firstly, with a European-appointed Foreign Minister; and secondly, with a mutual defence clause.

As we know, the Europeans largely rejected the constitution in 2005, with the Dutch refusing it in big-style, prompting some serious consternation and tectonic shifts in Europe.

With the Franco-Dutch rejection of that constitution, the proponents of a European Defence Policy, or better still a European Defence Community, is pretty much on the rocks--or is it?

As far as the Europeans are concerned, a policy independent and complementary to NATO is what is best needed. When Nicholas Burns, the US envoy to Nato said in October 2003 that this independence represented "one of the greatest dangers to the transatlantic relationship", you could begin to sense the ideological rejection of the European's independence.

That said, you don't need to be a rocket science to see in 2007, with the US keen on a missile defence shield that would "call for a radar tracking station to be built in the Czech Republic and for 10 interceptor missiles to be placed in Poland", that the Us is not just being hypocritical, but satiating its ever-growing appetite.

I'm thinking whether this proposal to establish itself in the Balkans area has anything to do with needing to be close to the Russians, who are now using what one can only call "energy diplomacy" in that part of the world?

With the US, anything is certainly possible.

It's Not Irreplaceable, But the Memories Are!

2007-05-23T17:49:00.001Z

Right alongside my frustration at having lost my wallet, which I only realised late this afternoon, I have been listening to the very sexy Beyonce Knowles' hit Irreplaceable. I even downloaded the MIDI version today onto my NOKIA 6610 from SAFARI.com's mobile site.

Either way, the wallet is lost, and it is this side of frustrating. But no longer. It took me almost aeons before realising that my bank card was in my wallet! I had to rush to the bank, with a typed-up letter requesting I wanted a cancellation.

Irreplaceable lyrics
Being the very efficient ECOBANK that they are, they called me some thirty minutes ago to confirm they had blocked my card. However, because I did not request a new one, I have to go back tomorrow and fill in a form anew.

Pisses me off no-end.

Small price to pay for my carelessness I suppose.

Either way, I am confident I know what happened to my wallet. No-one stole it actively. However, given that my wallet must have been lying where I walked by since last night up until this morning, where many people have walked past, I can consider it stolen. To boot, the theft is after the fact. Unless by some miracle, it will still be lying there.

What further compounds my mini-grief are the memories associated with that wallet. This is the first time I am losing a wallet, and one with these things:

my hospital cards

some negligible amount of money

a picture of my brother and myself when we were very small

my bank card

an unreedeemed mobile phone voucher

The rest are replaceable, but the memories that are conjured from looking at the picture of my brother and myself are irreplaceable...:-(

In Memoriam: Samuel D. Bensah (blue shorts): 6 Sept 1973 - 8 May 1991

2007-05-08T17:53:00.000Z

Hurry up and come back was the last thing she said to her son
The day his life was taken
She didn't know he wouldn't come back
He died from (...)
And now her little boy is gone

from: http://www.onlylyrics.com/song.php?id=29277

Always in our hearts, dear brother. Sixteen Years. And still Counting.

Rest in perfect peace. May your goodness continue to affect our lives...

What a Difference a Mayday Makes

2007-05-04T16:55:00.001Z

Emboldened by what sissoula wrote about:

Turning 30 just kinda happens, but the other stuff won't, unless you make it happen.

I decided to use MayDay to do some serious reflection...mostly on the thriller I'm writing.

Over and above many scribblings, I realised that I need a strategy to write something about the chapters every day. I know Daniel has implored me to "write and write some more" after getting rid of the first re-write. To boot, I think it's important to note that that discipline of writing something is important for my novel, as much as my own reflective thinking on life around me.

With that thought-out, I decided to further create a character that would bring the whole plot, what with its deliberate twists and whatnot, to a thrilling climax. I realised that one of the murderers needed a criminal father who would be an instigator for the plot that has many sub-plots.

I have to confess that I was somewhat influenced by The Departed movie, which I reviewed rather strangely below.

Then again, we're all influenced by something in any creative venture we assume, so I guess I have little to worry about.

Have yourselves a great weekend!

Turning Thirty

2007-04-27T17:05:00.000Z

It sounds so serious it's not funny. I understand when you turn thirty, people start considering you more seriously as someone who can "lead" with ideas than when you're a few whiskers shy of the year.

Wow.

Thirty.

My accomplishments are nothing home to write about. Were it not for the World Wide Web, I'd probably be -- and am -- another statistic who's just turned thirty, and is even more confused about life.

But apart from all that, I'd have nothing to show for my life.

Or...would I?;-) I've been writing a journal since 1989, when my brother, Sam, was alive and I was only 12.

I haven't stopped since.

All my endeavours since have involved, in some way or another, writing.

I am not a journalist, though I do plan to be one in the next year or so, coupled by the fact that my job description includes journalistic skills.

But I reiterate: I have that chip on the shoulder which makes me feel uncomfortable stating I am one. I want a sheet of paper, or whatever, associating me with journalism. A diploma would be good; a degree, even better.

That's when I will be able to breathe freely.

Before then, it's continuing to blog about my life (reflecting the eccentric world); blogging about Ghana, my country, which I wouldn't trade with any other; blogging about the political scientist in me, by way of my regional integration blog, RegionsWatch; blogging about Accra, by way of pictures, and then some. And finally, reviewing blogs for the Reuters-supported Global Voices Online.

Either way, it all involves writing.

I came across a site, whilst looking for a picture about "being thirty", and it was by an author in the UK, who has written a book about turning thirty.

It's not so much that he's written that book, than about the fact that he's written one at all!!

I've got to get cracking, for a writer, within me, lies.

I just don't know it--and if my thirties will do anything, it will have to extract that talent out like...tonsilitis?

who said turning thirty meant an end to silliness?

Turning Thirty!

2007-04-24T18:19:00.001Z

The countdown is on!!! Two more Days!

Last Night was a Far Departure from Other Nights

2007-04-24T16:34:00.000Z

Last night, she drove me to distraction, taking me into an unknown world of an unwitting love triangle set right in the heart of a gritty and seedy underworld; a place where deception was de rigeur; where murder was expected; where lies and the viscerally criminal work in tandem.

When she began the journey with me, I was reminded of my first lesson many years ago in creative writing class: Begin with the end in mind. When she ended, it was clear that one had to mind one's beginnings.

Either way, so tantalised was I by this strange, albeit occasionally platitudinous world, that after the journey, I didn't know where to start. So I went for a walk with my dog, my mind replete with snapshots of the journey I had embarked on.

I kept thinking about her, and how wonderful she is; how she exuded creativity so real I almost felt I was part of her.

Too bad she was only...a television set.

Even then, her journey was a far departure from the others..

There are films, and there are films.

"The Departed" is a cult film. A classic.

When Matt Damon--hunting a rat with bad will--was plotting, prosecuting his diabolical agenda, I swear I saw vestiges of "The Talented Mr.Ripley" at work.

Condemnations--excessive almost--by his character Sullivan about gays and queers did not only have an uncanny parallel with Mr.Ripley (who is queer), but about the Sullivan character who was this side of a bit bent...to the other side.

More like the other side... of good! Sullivan certainly looked like a bad guy--exuding arrogance and criminal intelligence in an explosive mix--trained from his youth by crime boss Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) to not just be a bad 'un, but be one who would be able to strategically fill him in on information from no less than the elite police unit that Sullivan had, ironically, worked hard to get into.

And what of Costigan? Another bad 'un--or so we thought. He wanted his identity back; he got something else in return.

Mark Wahlberg's wit would have been legendary if only it had been him--and not his character Dignam: a no-nonsense hardened cop with a penchant for the 'f-word'. Loyal. Trustworthy. Like his avuncular boss, Queenan (Martin Sheen), whose end was far from pretty.

The cinematographic characterisation of Costello in the beginning was cute: he was shown with a half-darkened face; a gruff voice; erudite-sounding tongue. Truly a paradox.

He liked to say: "no-one gives it to you; you gotta take it!". And he took alright! But you kept wondering--was he the Devil incarnate, or a glorified criminal? Truth is when you have a gun in your hand, "what's the difference?" The difference, like the devil, is in the film's details.

The accents. The Irish pedigree; the seamless time; the increasingly sadistic and desperate nature of Costello. His slow-and-sure distrust of Sullivan. Costello's strength (Sullivan) in weakness (his impotence?). Nicholson's reminisces of "The Shining".

But I digress.

If I never used superlatives for this film, it's because I do not have to.

Suffice-to-say, Damon excels; Nicholson outdoes himself'; Sheen and Baldwin are there; Wahlberg, too.

But the real prize goes to the real (state) trooper, who was told he would never be a state trooper: Di Caprio as Costigan.

The writers pulled an excellent piece here.

Any writing class teacher will tell you to "begin with then end in mind". They certainly began with the end in mind.

But if there's anything about this classic movie, it's a cautionary tale of minding one's "beginnings"...because you never know where it might take you.

Go get this film now!

Keeping up with the Blogs'es...Strangeness

2007-04-12T14:47:00.001Z

Once you become somewhat of an established blogger, one of the biggest challenges you encounter is that of "keeping up with the blogs'es", of sorts;-) This, like the proverbial "keeping up with the Jones'", involves checking your favourite blogs out, noticinig there are snazzy add-ons--like haloscan, bloglines.com; etc -- you can use to embellish your site. Oftentimes, I am personally too lazy to use add-ons till the very last tail-end of its use, when it's gone out of style!:-)

I'm strange that way.

Perhaps not necessarily strange, but as interesting as a British diplomat, who has just made news in Thailand and worldwide. His crime? Simply posting his picture alongside his picture on Thailand's The Nation, where his blog is situated.

Articles in London's, The Guardian, and elsewhere have fuelled what the Guardian calls

a blizzard of comments

, simply because he posted his picture, which Thais were able to recognise...for having seen the face in no less than the red-light district of the capital.

Thankfully, the somewhat-embattled head of the British embassy's political section in Bangkok who "thought nothing of jotting a few inoffensive musings for a newspaper website as he approaches the end of his posting", won't be too snowed under by comments, seeing as he's almost at the end of his posting anyway. He has admitted to having frequented those places and, as far as we know, unmarried.

It will definitely blow over, I'm sure.

What, for me, it calls into question, though is that ever-perennial need to reconcile the virtual and private with reality and private. The ramifications that blogging has initiated are serious and very protracted. If you're a public official--as Jan Pronk a few months ago before he was temporarily expelled from his UN post in Sudan for his comments--it appears it behooves you to be a bit more careful than the small fry like us who are simple citizens with a great passion in blogging.

Either way, you can't be too careful, or too cautious, so a balance is key!

Reinvigorated by the Blogging Paradox

2007-04-02T12:06:00.000Z

Offlate, I have been in a bit of what a former boss called "the Hamlet question":to blog or not to blog.

Joey Madison, sex blogger, who came back to the blogosphere after some four months of absence writes:

"My job has consumed my life; I need to learn how to make it stop"

My case is not exactly like that, because I make time to stop it. What I do not do, however, is always make the time to write something in this blog. I noticed that the very sexy Laura Tooth, who was basking in criticisms and glorious cerebral sex discussions, does not attract as many comments as she was doing in 2005. This says less about the quality of her blog,and more, in my view, about the vicissitudes of life that compel bloggers, in their "capacity as real people" with challenges to balance their life with that of the virtual.

In my view, sex bloggers get it quite easy in the sense that in writing abouit their sexcapades, which elicits interest that is predicated on both voyeurism and salaciousness of visitors to their blogs, they become more motivated to write and reveal about an area which non-sex bloggers dare not go.

Consequently, non-sex bloggers, in their attempt to avoid the salacious, have to be constantly and regularly alert to issues that will need some cogitation, or thinking, for a blog entry.

Maybe I'm giving myself excuses, and truth be told, I think I am;-)

Bottom line, in the final analysis, is that reconciling the virtual with real life is a challenge for any blogger, and lately, with the explosion of blogs out there, if you want to produce quality blogging, it takes a bit more "quality control" that will help you transcend, or overcome, the Hamlet question around blogging;-)

I'm glad to see Joey Madison back!

Those Shoes are Made for Walking

2007-03-19T15:45:00.000Z

I love to walk.

I have always loved it.

Back in the Belgian suburbs, I walked a total of, well--quite a bit--from 1996, when I started university, till 2004, when I returned home to Ghana.

Rain or shine or snow, I would walk some twenty minutes from our house in Overijse--some fifteen minutes drive from the city of Brussels along the E411 Brussels-Namur motorway--to the train station at La Hulpe. There, I would catch the 8.33/9.33/10.33 train to Etterbeek train station up until 2001, when I would begin to go further to the train station at Schuman--the heart and cacophony of what is now the 27-member European Union.

Those were the days!

Today, I still love to walk. Given thatI live literall ten minutes drive from work--including mild traffic--I rarely get the opportunity to walk to my heart's content.

I find walking liberating, exhilirating, and humbling. It's a great source of inspiration. Now I understand where Aristotle's peripatetism, where he taught students,a nd conducted discussions by walking up and down, comes from.

Walking gives me time to think after a hard -- and sometimes dull -- day's work. As it offers me that opportunity, I find that I have been thinking about a lot lately, wondering about being "the change you want to see", that Mahatma Gandhi--that quintessential pacifist who ironically lost his life to the bullet of an assassin-- advocated.

Thing is: I'm in a fix.

Here's me wanting to get my driver's licence this year, knowing the necessity to look for a car will soon loom. Yet, here is me ALSO wanting to reconcile the ability/necessity to walk against polluting the atmosphere further.

What to do?!!

Here's a Thriller for You--Part III: Man on Fire! It's March, Already!

2007-03-01T17:35:00.000Z

Not that I would wear clothes and sport a pen like that--nor the fact that I even remotely look like this guy(;-)), but the expression on his face is akin to what I'm wearing. Or about to wear tomorrow, as it's a new month, a Friday, and very close to two more holidays (6-7 March) next week when the nation celebrates Ghana's golden Jubilee year!

Posting threatens to be sporadic--but not if I can help it.

I really wanna get that darned book going--and I guess no better time than the present to start looking at it!

Hope you're all well?

Basic Instinct#3 (Manqué): Creating a Picture of Sartorial Eloquence

2007-02-23T15:11:00.000Z

The other day, I dug around for the classic "Desiderata" for a fellow blogger, and realized there were some bits in it that I needed to heed, such as "take kindly the counsel of the years", which I never really understood that well—till last week, which I presumed to mean "appreciate the advice of the older generation."

So it was not going to come as any surprise that I would take kindly the counsel of none other than my parents, especially my Dad, who both offered a homily-cum-coaching of "sartorial eloquence", some two weekends ago.

Now, a quick google search brings up a slew of lyrics from the classic 1980s song by Elton John, which, btw, is a great song. As for the actual definition, it takes some time getting it, and when you do, it’s juicy, especially because the term that is most apt is "sartorial elegance", as in this BBC news report here, entitled "A picture of sartorial elegance": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6264721.stm, which I am quoting:

"A picture of sartorial elegance, his suits are tailored from Savile Row in London."

The interesting answers.com website defines sartorial thus: Of or relating to a tailor, tailoring, or tailored clothing: sartorial elegance

Now, the reason for the homily was my Dad reckoned I need to renew my wardrobe. A basic instinct that has been mine since I started working professionally in 2000 was to wear a suit at best (2000-2004), or at worst a shirt and trousers—but no jeans. Jeans do not see the day of light at the office, and it never will, unless it’s our customary institutional retreat, where we feel more casual than normal.

He made a point about having a few blue, and white shirts—rather than one or two, which I think makes sense. As a son of a father who was in the international civil service milieu (from Ghana’s Foreign Ministry to ECOWAS, then OAU to Brussels) for over thirty years, I knew I was going to get some serious dressing down, without stretching any pun;-)

Dress down, he did do well. He intoned that it might be vanity, but it’s better to make a good impression and be considered vain, than be considered a slob. You can be the most intelligent person in the crowd, but being sartorially eloquent/elegant underscores not just your intellect, but a consideration and some might say respect for yourself?

In short, it behooved me to buy more shirts, of the blue, white and brown hue, with (fewer) t-shirts, and trousers that fit well and loosely;-)

Brown, especially of the beigish colour, is one that suits me fine down to the ground, so I’m going to concentrate on getting more of those, but upon great reflection, I do agree about all those points, as well as getting good shoes, including a brogue, among others.

Any more tips on dressing well? Clearing clutter from my bag, and my room is the next battle!

So You Think You Had a Bad Day?

2007-02-07T11:36:00.000Z

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Thanks to Live Africa, the blog of an expat living in Ghana, for amusing me no-end with this post. Spread the love with this video.

Seeing as Youtube and Video posting is all the rage these days, I think I might just follow fashion;-)

Have a good day!

Tuesday Reflections: Month of Love; It's My Environment, So I'll Cry if I want to!

2007-02-06T15:10:00.000Z

So, it's been a while, and it has not been so much the fact that I have too much work to do (it's been pretty quiet, in fact), as in me sorting myself out;-) It's February, yet again, and we've entered the so-called "Month of love", though quite why we cannot love ourselves every month confuses me...

In any event, in some ten days time, Valentines' day will be over, and those lonely souls would have realise that they're probably not as alone as they think they are. But more on that as the time approaches:-)

For now, I have been keeping a low profile, re-strategising on so many things that needs doing:

coming out with second edition of Bi-Monthly Analysis of Regional Integration (a pet project I cannot let go, and refuse to let go off!!)

managing my Presidency of the Ghanaian Association of Journalists in ICT

preparing for the heavy bits of my professional work as the quiet period slowly ebbs away

finishing off an article I should have finished last December, were it not for my laziness and great capacity to put new meaning to "procrastinate". When I write "finishing", I mean by the end of this week. Some new material I uncovered yesterday has compelled me to bring a new angle to the darned article!

clearing clutter from my room

planning for this year anad next year (already!), with should I consider buying a car next year already, or wait a bit

thinking of making more efficient the time with my significant other

making time for my (close) friends

saving enough to go to driving school

turning thirty

writing, never mind publishing the famed thriller;-))

in short, nothing heroic; just your average concerns, which are probably a fraction of what a number of contemporaries have to ponder!

But I'm also thinking about the environment, in the sense that last Friday, my post was cut short by the breaking news that the UN had come up with: that climate change was a man-made problem. You can read more here: http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=352311&sid=WOR .

My biggest concern was that with the heavy industrialisation that we are inflicting on the environment, we are going to see more major environmental problems. I like to consider them as Nature getting back at us for destroying it. What with parts of the Arctic melting and all that, and a prediction that by 2100, our environment might just have been detsroyed if we--as citizens imploring our policy-makers, and countries, like the US, etc, -- do not act on time:

"The effects of climate change are being felt across the globe, resulting in a decline in human health and loss in ecosystems," he warned in the message, read out by Deputy UNEP chief Shafqat Kakakhel.

Last week, climate scientists concluded in a hard-hitting report that global warming was "unequivocal" and that it was being spurred by a raft of human activity.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, its first for six years, said fossil fuel pollution would raise temperatures this century, worsen floods, droughts and hurricanes, melt polar ice and damage the climate system for a thousand years to come

So, all those thoughts about purchasing a car (second-hand, mind you) just struck me as trivial when I tried to consider how fossil fuels from old cars, like second hand cars(!!) are contributory elements to the depletion of the environment, and yet how it is a necessary evil, these days, to have a car. You might want to survuve on public transport, but the "freedoom" associated with thw car is all-too-tempting. Whadja think?

Finally, a good (female) friend has told me how she misses me quite a bit, despite the fact that she knows I'm with someone, and because I had had feelings for her last year, it is not that it's confusing me, it's making me have some bad thoughts, which can only be resisted, and left to fade into...dyspeptic significance--as it should be!!

Oh yeah: I'm also doing some community advocacy, and I've lost weight! Yay!! Three good kilos. But my exercise needs to be re-doubled to ensure that the weight goes down more.

I'm back to being Angry enough to Change! If only I updated that darn blog!;-))

Thank You!!....Managing Time; Mobile Browsing (WAP); Ghana at 50 years!

2007-01-24T11:35:00.000Z

...to all well-wishers. I particularly appreciated Daniel's suggestion of Milk of Magnesia; it certainly stopped the loose stool!;-)) And to those of you whom I don't know, thanks for lurking, but do please pin your name on the BRAVENET map to the right of the screen.

Oh, I'm trying to get my head round the new BETA blogger; I had resisted...up until last week, when I decided to transform all the blogs into beta-mode. Now the cogitation over what posts to put under what labels is pissing me off without end!! It basically means going through ALL the entries and sussing out what adequate labels they need to fit under!!

Ouch...

Apart from a number of "new" things, and re-formulating of old ones like the Basic Instinct series, I bought this book [Simplify Your Time by Marcia Ramsland] from a Christian bookshop last week; it's a fun read, and it would be even more fun if I made more time to read it consistently!;-)

Is the irony lost over you?;-)

Just to end, my humble country of Ghana will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee on 6 March, 2007. The country has set up a website to countdown the days leading to the big day of 6 March, our independence day, which you can find here:-->http://www.ghana50.gov.gh. Ghana will have a number of foreign dignitaries coming in; Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general arrived in the country last night to much pomp and pageantry.

In short, Ghana, being the FIRST African country to have achieved independence from the British in 1957 (the same year--in fact 19 days later!-- when the European Economic Community was kick-started by way of the Treaty of Rome), is set to blaze the trail in the West African sub-region and the continent this year. A number of things lined up, apart from the 9th Summit of the African Union to be hosted here in Accra, the capital city, in June:

uniform for taxi drivers

re-denomination of the Ghanaian currency, the cedi, into an equivalence to the US dollar

introduction of ID cards into the country

...and much more!

mobile browsing

ONETOUCH

WAP review.com

Under the Weather

2007-01-12T16:50:00.000Z

There I was thinking I was on top of the world for the New Year had started beautifully, when I go and...take some Chinese two days ago. It was one of those special Chinese dishes, with shrimps; slices of beef; and quarter chicken that I have taken many a time without problems.

Now, without wanting to apportion unnecessary blame to what I think might have been Chinese food, I have to add that when I unexpectedly threw up yesterday afternoon, it was a yellowish-orangish colour. Initially, I felt it to be the orange juice I had taken only an hour earlier, but in retrospect, I suspect that given that the Chinese food was that colour, I had found the culprit.

Whatever the case may be--food poisoning or whatnot--I have been seriously inhibited at work, spending almost the whole day yesterday secretly (and not-so-secretly) dosing. Today has been better, but that at least three people at work have asked me whether I'm feeling okay suggests that my face might not look as jolly as it usually does.

Last night I threw up five times. The human body is just incredible. I can see myself in my mind's eye totally powerless to do anything as my stomach just retched...consistently, and I passively complied to its innate order to retch;-)

The smell or sight of milk now makes me want to retch further, but thankfully, a good dose of hot water; cider vinegar and honey ordered for me by my parents last night when I couldn't eat has helped me stem any atavistic tendencies to throw up.

Too much, I'm sure! All simply underscoring the point that I am seriously under the weather:-(

Have a good weekend!

Incidentally, any tips on the best natural remedy for over-retched stomach?;-))
tags
under the weather;feeling sick

Happy New Year! (Only the Brits...)

2007-01-08T16:01:00.000Z

It certainly has been a while, but I think it’s only right to wish you all a Happy New Year for 2007! May all of you readers, lurkers, and regular visitor’s dreams come to pass—as it should be. May ALL your proverbial dreams come true, and may this year herald the start of bigger and better things in your life!

All that being said, with this being my first day in the office officially, it will not surprise you to know that most of t he day will be spent checking emails, etc, and just really settling in after some two weeks from the office.

I thought I’d break open, as it were, the year with some nod-and-wink news from the British who could only come up with something like this: a survey on the male and female artistes we common folk would love to sleep with!. Here are the results:

Which male artist would you most like to sleep with?


Robbie Williams	33%
Justin Timberlake	22%
Morrissey	12%
Shayne Ward	8%
James Blunt	6%
George Michael	6%
Ozzy Osbourne	5%
Pete Doherty	2%
Liam Gallagher	2%
Cliff Richard	2%
Prince	1%

A cakewalk for Robbie. David Bowie and Trent Reznor also received more than a handful of favourable mentions and even Man Utd's annoying show pony Christiano Ronaldo managed to get a vote. From his mum, probably.

Nocrophiliacs weren't well represented, with "Kurt Kobain When Alive!" and "Joey Ramone if he Wasn't Dead" each receiving a single vote.

Which female artist would you most like to sleep with?


Christina Aguilera	18%
Shakira	16%
Pink	15%
Kylie	13%
Girls Aloud (but not Nicola)	9%
Beyonce	9%
Madonna	8%
Britney	7%
Posh	2%
Cher	2%

Congrats to Christina, topping the poll against some seriously stiff (titter) competition.

Also receiving a handful of votes were Kate Bush, Heidi from the Sugababes and Gwen Stefani.

I couldn’t help thinking “like we’re gonna die if we don’t know this news!”

A very happy new year, whilst you check the rest of the site out;-) (http://www.lovehoney.co.uk/ibuzztwo/survey.cfm)

Happy Holidays(1)...There's a Killer on the Loose...

2006-12-17T11:06:00.000Z

...in the UK. The serial killer has killed up to five women now, and latest reports coming from Belgium's Free metro website indicate that the Ipswich police are calling on Interpol. Some colleagues of mine suspect it's a useful way for the UK govt to use this as an excuse to tighten immigration. You might have heard, if you have been following the story, that the killer is suspected to have left the country. Free metro writes:

Les enquêteurs envisagent la possibilité que l'auteur des meurtres soit un voyageur ayant transité par le port de Felixstowe ou un itinérant ayant regagné l'Europe continentale

Put simply, investigators suspect that the perpetrator is a traveller who transited by the port of Felixstowe, or is someone who has travelled back to continental Europe.

This is scary stuff...

Serial killers have been among us for as long as one can remember, but it gives goosebumps to think that at a time when we should be reflecting on the good things in life; milk of human kindness and all that, and just enjoying the season, someone, somewhere could be walking with you, and have a a psyche so tortured and distorted he finids it matter-of-fact to kill five prostitutes within a ten-day period and casually...stop.

[the Observer newspaper has an interesting write-up by Minette Walters, celebrated crime writer]

The title of this blog entry, I hope, will not be my last one; I certainly wouldn't want to end this year with such a horrific ending, but, yeah, I'm in on a Sunday, and checking mail, cos, in some ten minutes, the whole staff is travelling three hours out of the capital to a beautiful, greener part of the country, where for three days, residing ini a beach resort, we plan our work for 2007.

I hope by the time we come back, the Ipswich killer would have been closer to getting caught. When truth becomes stranger than fiction, especially when it's so far away, we might just reflect that the families of those who were killed find serious peace of ming at a time when most will seek to go overboard and get themselves, as the Brits say, totally plastered/wasted.

I would like to wish all those of you--from Sissoula, Daniel; Jen; Laura Tooth; Anchored Nomad (hope you're a mother by now!!)the happiest of times and a concurrent festive season. Spare a thought for the less privileged when you can, and may you continue to make your unique contributions in the unique ways you make them!

Happy holidays...part I;-)

tags:
ipswich;ipswich killings;christmas 2006;blogging;happiness;

Decembers are Terribly Blog-Averse

2006-12-08T17:59:00.000Z

Telll me about it. Last year was the same: http://ekbensah.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_ekbensah_archive.html

Very little posting.

I am hoping you are going to forgive me, because I suspect you might quite understand why there has been little posting, yet a lot of reflection on a lot of things. Suffice-to-say, I might attempt at a summary, albeit horribly not-to-the-point.

Why I befriend beautiful women

I promised to write something about this in the previous entry’s comments section. (Jennelly bean, welcome!)

Well, call me a bit of a sadist, but thing is a penchant I developed from college days was to befriend beautiful women, and short of lusting after them, transform whatever lust I might have into building a constructive relationship. It’s as simple as that. I am no different than when I started college a decade ago. Most of my very good friends are attractive or pretty women. Not that women with a more “vanilla” physiognomy don’t get a look-in, but that’s just the ay it’s been for me. Small wonder, Juliet (http://ekbensah.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-best-friend-juliet-afte_114589863596836184.html ), mentioned earlier, apart from being a very dynamic and assertive personality—and a good friend—is a looker. My late friend, Nana Amma, who passed away in May (http://ekbensah.blogspot.com/2006/05/in-memoriam-oct-1972-1-may-2006.html) was, too. And the list goes on…

I wondered whether there was a utility at all in divulging what some might call a flawed character trait, but, hey, sue me right now…

Truth be told, the motivation is also a way of controlling the platitudinous lust so-often associated with men into positive energy. I find, in the ong run, that women make the best friends as platonic friendships, even when the guy might secretly hope one crosses the bar. Conversely, I suspect women are stronger and consider platonic relationships with guys as quintessentially platonic. Guys need to learn that from them, I feel!

Nato

There I was sitting an thinking about the big things in life (!!) when it struck me that Nato had been in the news lately, and the news on it had not been altogether positive. If you ask me, Nato sucks. I lost interest in that Cold War supreme organization the very day it over-rode the UN Charter to attack Kosovo in 1999, ostensibly to save the Albanians. That the attack was in the same year as the fiftieth anniversary of the organization was so obvious it wasn’t even funny. So obvious, because it was like Nato was legitimating, re-establishing its raison d’etre.

Between reports that then-Nato spokesman Jamie Shea (http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/12.07/09-NATO.html) is advocating the need for a Europe and NATO to work together, and the news in Xinhua that the Finns don’t see any need in joining Nato (http://english.people.com.cn/200612/06/eng20061206_329252.html), I see that the tectonic psychological shifts of policy makers who view a militaristic world predicated on a US and Nato is not going to wash forever.

Nato trying to intervene in Darfur, for me, is absurd: yet another organization trying to stretch the its credulity rubber-tight and coming back with serious egg-on-face.

I should know; I’ve had many egg-on-face situations in my life before;-)

Seriously speaking, I’m not interested in Nato, only in seeing it becomes much like the United Nations on Conference and Trade and Development (UNCTAD: http://www.unctad.org ) has become: a bureaucracy with insignificant power. Nato , as far as I’m concerned, should die a slow death.

If you thought about it, though, that well-secured building not too far from the airport in Evere, where Nato is located, (http://www.nc3a.nato.int/organization/route/brussels.html) if it ever went irrelevant totally, would creat serious human resource challenges, whereby there would be many NATO-employee wannabees, having studied military, security studies, and how to be a bully – couched in pedagogical language so subtle you wouldn’t even feel it—walking around needing to find something to do with their knowledge, and therefore turning into consultants…

Oh the joy. Now, given the degree of credibility consultants of that ilk enjoy, it wouldn’t be long before they themselves totally emasculated the organization.

Does it show I dislike Nato?

The way forward

Next week, I’ll be shuttling between a four-day strategy meeting organized by my organization on key battles to be fought in 2007 on civil society front (World Trade organization, etc) , in the capital, the office where my colleagues and I have to present some action plans and reviews of our programme work for the year; as well as our institutional retreat the week after. Little time to prepare for X-mas! AAAAArgh. Bought some card this afternoon, but the presents are now the headaches. Will be in a hotel almost the whole of next week, save Friday. And on Sunday, we’re off again outside the capital.

As I write, I have some reports to complete, including a 1500-word analysis of some of the key contestations of an aspect of our work to write.

Oh joy.

Till the next time I writeJ

Laters,

Have a good w/end, all!

PS pictures will be coming your way, so do be prepared!

"Don't Worry Honey...", or When is the "Best Time"?

2006-11-22T16:08:00.000Z

You may by now have sensed that I develop crushes like a chameleon in heat. This is why I often have crushes on and off my friends, work colleagues,etc. My latest was in August when I opined how much of a serious crush I had on a work colleague.

I have to say that for the past few days, she has been looking SO personable (read: hot!) in the sense that she exudes that confidence of a woman who is determined, focused, beautiful, and so-so gorgeous. When she smiles at you, the sun cannot hold. Her husband is a very lucky man.

I don't want to remind anyone that I have a significant other, and I'm posting a picture of her here to remind myself of how happy we are together:

But...I want to get more serious, as in inform my parents that she's the one I want to be with. Whilst marriage is not on the cards at the moment, my colleague (mentioned above) in an informal chat with me two weeks ago talked about how there's never the right time to get married, or have kids.

I suspect some of my regular visitors/lurkers might have some key insights to impart on this ever-perennial of questions anda considerations. Suffice-to-say, marriage being "the greatest redemption of one's loneliness", as some Rabbi [Dr.Jonathon Sachs] on BBC Radio Four's Thought for the Day programme on 29 February, 2000 [I remember 'cos it was a leap year] is something some of us yearn for. I am no exception. However, before I get there, I need to let my parents know about my gf.

Surely the first step, no?;-)

tags
marriage;getting hitched;relationships;getting married

Remember Tunis and WSIS? The World Has Moved On...

2006-11-20T13:54:00.000Z

Last year this time, I was preparing to come home to Ghana after almost twelve days in the North African country of Tunis. You can follow my trials and tribulations of those days at this blog here: http://twelvedaysintunis.blogspot.com, where I would attend, on behalf of my organisation, a UN-sponsored event called the World Summit on Information Society.

My Tunis blog, 12 Days in Tunis is less about the time spent being frivolous, and drooling about women there, than being privy to what I would call the prognostication, or foretelling, of a future, where the Internet continues to play a pivotal role in the lives of citizens, enriching and deepening, and facilitating all at the same time.

The so-called Information Society, understandably, may represent yet another nebulous concept coined by the perceived behemoth of the UN. What it is, in effect, in my view, is a global society, where ICT tools, not just computers, but mobile phones; radios and whatnot, serve as critical roles in ouor "development"--irrespective of where you may be. This means, for example, that it is a society where mobile internet is a reality; where there is an always-on internet; where it is not just accessible, but relatively affordable for ALL; where Internet cafes are within the environs of major cities, hang-outs, and even the country-side, where life is that much quieter; and where blogging facilitates an oppenness unparalleled in the facilitation of the work of the fourth estate.

An attempt at a rules-based information society is one of the reasons why the first-ever Internet Governance Forum took place in the country of regular visitor(s) Sissoula and Steph, which happens to be Greece. It took place from 30 October to 2 November inclusive. It might have gone unreported in mainstream media, but it certainly was an impactful event I would have loved to be part of--if only to take the opportunity to meet up, and have a drink with the latter:-))

Maybe next time!

Either way, if I were to be asked whether I would want to belong to a world where it was partially always-connected, or comprehensively connected, I know which one I'd join straight away! Being part of the latter has its proverbial drawbacks, but let's face it, when it gets too much, you can always blog about it!:-)

tags
internet governance forum;igf;greece internet;wsis;blogging;information society;internet governance;

Belgian Police Behaving Badly (You've Gotta Love That Technology)!

2006-11-08T18:11:00.000Z

Remember my post about that notorious paedophile Marc Dutroux, which I blogged about in June? Well, you might also re-call that the Dutroux affair revealed one other thing: that the police could not be trusted to do their job properely.

Today's article in Brussel's free "Metro" newspaper, which you can read here is a bit of a nudge and wink to that sentiment by Belgians about how they feel about their police.

The article entitled "Policiers pris en flagrant délit", or Police officers caught in the act goes to show what technology, by way of mobile phones in the hands of citizens, can do to help or hinder progress.

Simply put, the article maintains that : "Les téléphones portables servent de plus en plus à prendre en photo les infractions des policiers.", or that mobile phones are increasingly being used to snap pictures of offending policemen, which, in turn, are sent to different police stations round the country!

Well, good to know those officers unable to justify their reasons for their "infractions" have been sanctioned.

I suspect that snapping pictures of policemen behaving badly will be replaced very soon by videos of them, lending more credence to any infractions, as compared to a photo that can be altered to anyone's whim. I understand from sources closely studying blogging revolution that VIDEO blogging will also soon become the way.

The future doesn't have to be Orange before being bright, does it?;-))

tags
belgium; belgian police;mobile phones;technology;

Blogging Redux: The Good, the Bad, and the Cautionary

2006-10-31T17:10:00.000Z

jan-pronk
Originally uploaded by ekbensah.

Two recent items in the news have conspired to take me back to the post I wrote about the blogger who was being threatened by a reader to reveal all about his past as a so-called alcoholic and lover-of-sex . I re-call that regular reader Sissoula, of lessisapossibility blog-fame called it a “dangerous business”—and rightly so. She also wondered whether all the naughty stuff that I had written about my ex, in fact: “everything you've posted just a google search away from your colleagues, friends, girlfriends, ex-girlfriends... Aren't you concerned about this?)”.

To this, my visceral response would be “no.” I am not a criminal, and I really have nothing to hide. Free speech is all well and good as long as it doesn’t offend, and as far as I conceive of the information I have divulged, it has not sought to offend, and it is not about to any time soon.

All that being said, Jan Pronk, UN man, being expelled from Sudan for comments he wrote on his blog about the Sudan crisis is a gentle and explicit reminder about divulging all. I cannot help but wonder, though, about this UN diplomat. In diplomacy, you just have to be diplomatic, no? I know some might find it hard to believe this, but last time I looked, that’s what I understood.

Then again, in the interest of mankind, sometimes, it's important to go that extra mile.

The blog from which I caught this interesting article is by a broadcast journalist student in the UK, called Adam Westbrook. Go check his blog out some time; it’s a very eclectic mix of issues he is concerned about in Africa, as well as issues around journalism and media (ethics), and then some. His post about Jan Pronk was incisive and, as ever, in his capacity as a journalist, he just had to go and find an angle, which he very adeptly did.

It was this: “What he’s produced is the most detailed eye witness account of poorly covered negotiations that exists. If it suceeds,[sic] the deal could become a blueprint for other nations, and writings like Jan Pronk’s will be vital to understanding it.”

I couldn’t agree more, for I believe that as history is so vital for the understanding of issues on conflict resolution, this would also be a useful and critical way of obtaining what historians call primary source material, which is first-hand.

Speaking of history, the second article that caught my interest last week was that of an item in the UK-based Daily Telegraph about the necessity to retain accounts of blogger’s days for posterity:

In 2206 people could be reading about your every move today – the proposed fulfilment of One Day in History, a mass "blog" by the British people to give a snapshot of life on Oct 17, 2006.

The History Matters campaign, which is headed by the National Trust and English Heritage, is asking everyone with internet access to write an account of their day. All 2,000 computers in the easyCafé network will be set to www.Historymatters.org.uk as a homepage.

The results will be preserved in electronic and print form by the British Library.The aim is to provide future generations with a huge database of information from all sections of society, to show how we lived and, in particular, what we thought about our heritage.

Don’t you just love the Brits?

God, I miss Radio Four.

tags:
Jan Pronk; blogging; blogging uk; UN Sudan; Sudan; bbc radio 4; free speech; blogging diplomacy;

So We Have a New UN Secretary-General...Is the World Worried?

2006-10-25T14:57:00.000Z

I find it rather cute that it would be a South Korean that will take on the North Koreans at the UN for having launched their bomb, bringing back memories to contemporaries of the fifties and aficionados of diplomatic history the quasi inter-necine conflict between North and South Korea in 1950. This same conflict ironically saw the using of the Uniting for Peace Resolution that threw power, in the event of a deadlocked Security Council, to the much-vilified General Assembly.

I have opined elsewhere that in March 2003, international public opinion was -- appropriately in a manner much akin to the Ides of March -- stabbed in the back, when UK premier Tony Blair pulled off the greatest act of mendacity and sophistry by claiming Iraq could launch weapons in 45 minutes.

He would defy calls for resignation, and obtain by a slim vote of Parliament, carte blanche to join the US in its filibustering adventure, leaving 3 years-plus later, many dead Iraqis in its wake. That Saddam Hussein was captured in a hole was practically the sole vindication of the UK-US filibustering

But I digress.

Numerous challenges face the the new UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who will be visiting one of the permanent members of the Security Council, China, from 27 to 28 October at the invitation of the Chinese government.

An article in the latest UK-based Prospect magazine entitled The Decline of Kofi, is not just acerbic and incisive, but rather odd, coming from a veteran former UN employee of 20years experience. His consistent castigation of Annan prompts personal speculation that he might just have an agenda. Check this:

"Annan brought a new dimension to the function of secretary-general. Rather than doing little but doing it well, in the absence of anything to do in the political arena, he did nothing but did it very well. The little that could have been done as regards management was left undone. "

Even for a Ghanaian like myself, I admit Annan made more than very serious blunders, such as in Rwanda, when he was under-secretary-general, and in a position to have been more proactive, despite American refusal to call Rwanda "genocide". I have a whole BBC Panorama tape, recorded in 1998 from BBC1, to celebrate human rights day (9 December) and highlight the egregious strategy deployed by the UN in Rwanda

Coupled with Rwanda, which I consider his biggest faux pas are some questions surrounding how his 34-yr-old son was able to use Annan's diplomatic status to bring a Mercedes into Ghana - duty-free. I understand he eventually had to pay for it...

"Annan's problems were compounded by the wheeling and dealing of his son Kojo. Kofi had been given diplomatic status in Ghana, which exempted him from duties and income tax, and had contributed a quarter of the cost towards the purchase of a luxury Mercedes for Kojo. An outcry followed when the British press discovered that the car had been imported duty-free in Kofi's name, forcing young Kojo to reimburse some US$6,000 to Ghanaian customs".

In any event, Ban Ki-Moon looks sufficiently pliable...for the Americans. Then again, that he is being invited by the Chinese might provide equally sufficient mental pabulum that he is probably not as acquiescent as he might look;-)

I, for one, shall be watching the new UN incumbency very carefully...

Happy UN-Day! (albeit one day late!)

tags:
UN; United Nations; UN secretary-general; Ban Ki-Moon; North Korea; iraq; tony blair; mendacity;

Goodwill Hunting...

2006-10-19T10:15:00.000Z

It appears I’m on a bit of a goodwill crusade this morning. I hope it’s not going to be the case of EK’s Final Repose?;-)

It’s a colleague’s birthday today, and I offered lunch for her; secondly, I provided an ear for a temp cleaner, who is more qualified than the cleaning and tidying up she has been contracted to do for the month.

As luck would have it, a friend-cum-acquaintance who has just landed a job as manager in the same industry as this temp is in, is keen to speak to her. I gave him her number. Initially, I was so darn attracted to this young lady: she’s cute; dynamic; smart and a bit of a looker. I decided to transform any potential lust into doing something positive—and it sure feels good. She’s not cut out for this cleaning and tidying up, and in talking to her, though she had accepted the situation stoically, she was keen to move on to better things.

Thirdly, I have facilitated an exchange between a colleague of mine, and an emerging friend who was dismayed for not having been invited to a press conference we organised yesterday. I brought some degree of reconciliation, and so each should be talking to each other…

Finally, I followed up on a concern an intern here was having; and he was glad for the concern.

Oh, and I bought a huge loaf of bread for my taxi-man.

I am most definitely no angel—please—but I don’t know why there are period like this when one just feels like doing “good”, and then some.

Ofcourse, it’s all perception, but the philosopher tell us that even doing good is a selfish act, because it makes us feel better.

That’s probably right. What do you think?

Enjoy your day!;-)

Celebrating Fenix (our pet dog)'s Birthday

2006-10-05T15:23:00.000Z

Fenix is Three! Yay!
Originally uploaded by ekbensah.

Yes. Fenix is three human years. He turned that age on 3rd October, which would no longer make him a teenager...at 21dog years!! Whyever one human year is equivalent to 7 dog years I cannot quite understand. Why didn't God decide to give man's best friend nine lives like their proverbial enemies--the cats?

Suffice to say, I had no clue as to how we could let Fenix celebrate his birthday, so I checked out Yahoo Answers. These were some of the suggestions: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjRkmeSC7UR8Z2LJ03l5hkTsy6IX?qid=20061003094713AAvsBUw

I ended up taking as many pictures ofhim as I could, including this particular one, which I liked for the flash refracting on the flowers on the terrace, and throwing lite on our dear Fenix who was enjoying what he enjoys doing most--eating!

His special meal was some vegetable dog food, comprising, erm, veggies, with meat, and some home-made rice, with corned beef all mixed up.

Remind me never to bother about presentation, cos you can expect that he, being the smart dog that he os, ate the dog food, and only a TEENY WEENY bit of rice. At least he got some pictures of him, and he did feel special!

Thought for the Day--ReDux

2006-10-05T09:59:00.000Z

Watch your thoughts; they become your words. Watch your words; they become your actions. Watch your actions; they become your habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character for it will become your destiny."
--Frank Outlaw

All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine

A Cautionary Tale of When Blogging Becomes Perilous

2006-09-25T13:50:00.000Z

So there I was simultaneously working and clearing my computer --don't ask me how, goddamit, I was doing it!;-)) -- when I came across old links that I had stored for viewing later. It came from a site I would classify as this side of "adult". The blog is --or at least was-- called "Creative Spanked Wife", which you can read here.

It re-counts the rather harrowing story of the blogger who came home to this:

Creative spanked wife closed due to blackmail. When I came home from Houston a few weeks ago I found a priority mail in my mail box outside along with the regular stuff that comes in. It came from Cleveland Ohio and right away felt wrong. It had a computer printed label but ordinary, ‘buy at the counter stamps,’ I opened it and discovered not just a recent photo of my home, but a blackmail letter. The letter was typical of the obsessed vitriol that has been the content of handful of truly hateful comments and e-mail.

"You are a blight – a toxic human being being filled with lies, cruelty, and deceit. And on July 21, this will end. Period.

Here is what you are going to do: On July 21 you are going to disappear from the internet. Completely. You will close your blog completely without comment and take it down completely. You will not discuss it with friends on the newsgroups or anyone else. You will not start another blog or visit another newsgroup, or publish a story. It will be as if you never existed.

I cover this area very completely everyday. If I get any indication in any way that you have continued as a presence on the internet, I will mail two packets."

"In those packets will be a complete printed out version of your blog. With explicit details about your alcoholism – how you faked a child’s death" … "collected money for it" …

This was what the blackmailer--stalker, if you ask me!--was threatening:

These blackmail mailings according to the blackmailer will ostensibly go to the CEO where I work, and also to the President and Chairman of the board of the corporation. In addition an ethics complaint will be called in, and I will be reported to IC3 – the internet crimes watchdog site.

This got me thinking about the necessity to connect to debates out there about the blogosphere and privacy: in one's attempt to be "real" and unique, you might just run up to people who have way TOO much time on their hands to scrutinize your life in detail, and seek to disturb your blogging life.

The need for privacy is a given, but considering how cathartic blogging can be, how, then, do you consider experiencing a catharsis, without fearing that someone out there might be noting it down to use against you?

I'd like to think that something like this only happens in the "West", where socities are always connected, but something tells me that, well, the danger cuts across cultures. In so many ways, also, it's interesting I should come across this some five weeks before a UN-sponsored discussion on Internet governance is taking place in Greece--home to one of my regular readers--Sissoula--who, whilst pregnant, has managed to effectuate a very decisive house-move:-) KUDOS!!!

Hey, that's a Greek word innit?:-))

tags: stalking ; blogging;internet governance ;privacy ;greece;kudos ;cautionary tale ;

PS If you have ever wondered what accounts for those long absences, it is a combination of rather heavy work-periods; coupled with time out for qualitative ideas for the blogs I maitain;-) Whilst you wonder, you might want to enjoy some pictures of my capital city here: http://accradailyphoto.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday Samuel D Bensah (6/9/1973-8/5/1991)

2006-09-06T16:08:00.000Z

Mum-Mama-my-brother-Samuel-in-blue-shorts-me
Originally uploaded by ekbensah.

There's my late brother in the blue shorts, being silly in Ostende--the popular Belgian beach destination--way back around 1986, when he was around 12years.

I'm the one in white shorts--and God, I wish I were that slim today!;-) Whilst we are at it, you might want to check out my new site: Angry Enough to Change, which is a site dedicated to helping me document how I change things about myself. Part I is losing weight. It's not easy, but I'm on it.

For sure, Sam would have been proud of me;-)

Wherever you are, Samuel, here's to you--from your little shrimp, Emmanuel. Happy Birthday...

I Called my Ex- This Afternoon...

2006-09-04T16:15:00.000Z

Originally uploaded by ekbensah.

...only to wish her a happy birthday in advance (it's on the 7th September). She sounded quite surprised and apparently happy to hear from me. She asked how my parents were; I asked how her daughter is.

The conversation was very brief. Even though I had vowed not to contact her (ever) again, her birthday falling a day after my brothers...was difficult to ignore, so I told myself I would eff it, as it were, and call her anyway.

I had butterflies, OMG!! Was it that smile she had over the phone? Even if she didn't have a boyfriend, I wouldn't have initiated anything else. That relationship (if that's what it was!!) was too energy-intensive in the sense that I put in too much, and I am not about to entertain any reconciliation.

Being the platitudionous "friends", where I can call here once in a while is fine by me!! I enjoy and relish my relationship with Sandra--and nothing is gonna change that, thankyou!

BTW, I no longer have a crush on my work colleague;-) She is still cute, but like I said, writing about that most assinine of sentiments was not just cathartic, but it helped me erase any vestige of infantile attitudes associated with my feelings for her, which are comprehensively platonic!;-))

We Focus So Much on Success That...

2006-08-30T17:35:00.000Z

...we forget that failure is most-oftentimes good for the soul, and being silly helps you relax!

I came across a post by my one of blogger-friends-cum-established UK actor Daniel Hoffman Gill. His latest entry is a reflective, comtemplative one, with him worrying about what will be left of him when he gets old, as well as some reminiscing of his past.

Well, we all have a past--some good, some bad.

In my view we just have to try and be philosophical about these things; perhaps go the Andre Malraux --that French adventurer and author who fought in the 1936 Spanish Civil War--way, which states that:

A man is the sum of his actions: of what he has done, of what he can do [Nothing more]

Let's just say that in 1995, I was in a really bad way in the sense that I had gotten complacent about my studies, feeling I would, by hook or by crook, enter translation school.

I was wrong. Though I got very high grades for French A-Level, my English LIterature; History; and Computing A/S were nothing to write home about. I had done quite well in my mock exams earlier in the summer, so feeling that I would sail through (forgetting my coursework was not so great), I ended up with some monumental egg on my face.

For one good year, I was home, waiting for an uncertain fate. During that time, I read a bit about the Middle East, cried when Yitzak Rabin was assassinated in November 1995.

Upon reflection, wasn't sure whether I was crying so much for him as for myself. (I was 17!)

I was down, down, down. I had known the value of positive thinking, but I over-assumed its utility, and there were many days spent crying and reflecting, wondering what my future would be.

It was only in August 1996 when, thanks to family friends and some encouragement , and tough love, from parents that I bounced back.

Since then, I've been bouncing back on many things. But, for sure, I have known failure, and I do think failure and disappointment is great for the soul, because when you leave it, the world becomes so better a place.

My story may be peanuts compared to someone like Daniel's, but what I can say is that let's wallow when we need to, and bounce back more than we wallow.

Peace!

That Funny Period in Brussels, in 2004: Psycho Woman?

2006-08-25T16:12:00.000Z

psychowoman
Originally uploaded by ekbensah.

A few months before I arrived home in Ghana from Brussels, I had been conversing with a lady, one Verity, who was living on her own in an appartment in Brussels. I met her on Brussel's English Xpats site There's a classified's page there, Friends and Socialising, which people use to advertise themselves, have ego-boosts and whatnot, and meet new people: http://www.xpats.com/clads/clads_display.php?Action=view&categorie=4&PHPSESSID=eae6484c656f58dfaf465ec88c181b0b.

Upon reflection, it's quite entertaining just reading people's requests for sexual encounters so liberally, and organising encounters that make your mind boggle.

More seriously, when I 'met' Verity, by way of webcam, I was stunned; she is drop-dead gorgeous, and apparently comes from a family with wealth, but there were issues, which caused some discomfiture in her life. Whateve it was, she didn't just want to meet up for a drink. She wanted more than that.

Her formula was: meet up; woo each other; sleep with each other, and bye-bye.

I desisted after a bit, totally uncomfortable. I actually felt I started developing feelings for her, which, oddly, pissed her off. Eventually, in one email, I lost it, and made a judgement call on her attitude. She was ready t o break up the arrangement.

Like a pathetic kid, I pleaded, remonstrated, texted her, etc. It just didn't work.

I left Brussels knowing a little more about myself, and wondering what would make some women feel they had to adopt this type of attitude in life. Had they been hurt before? What? So, if I'm reflecting and coming up with "psycho woman", can anyone really blame me?

have a good weekend--and sissoula!! take it easy!!;-)

Men--So you Wanna Travel?

2006-08-24T14:59:00.000Z

So you Wanna Travel?
Originally uploaded by ekbensah.

Picture this.

You've known for two weeks you'll be travelling outside the capital.

You know that you'll leave during working hours, and you know you have to pack in advance.

If you're a female at my workplace, you'd have gathered your clothes for the number of days--and you'd be all-set at work, ready to go.

However, if you're like the four men among the one lady, you're likely to do the following:

come into work as normal

at lunchtime, wage an intrepid war through the battle of lunch-time traffic to go home and pack

eventually, leave for your destination after work, therefore arriving there far later than expected, leaving the woman hot, fuming, and frustrated.

Just goes to show: organisation and co-ordination has little to do with men's intelligence !

Basic Instinct#2: Putting the Toilet Seat Down

2006-08-23T09:18:00.000Z

It began with an act of stupendous revelation in 1997.

I was in my home country of Ghana for the first time-ever with my parents, listening to the radio, and wondering about the stark differences between this rather-rustic part of the country (outside the capital by two hours) and the Belgian suburbia. I can tell you the differences were then very stark!

There was this programme on the state-ownedGhana Broadcasting Corporation "health section" about keeping the home safe,and that's where it struck me.

Like a voice from up-on-high, it was slowly inculcated into me by the voice on the radio that failing to put the toilet seat down was tantamount to having millions of germs crawling throughout your home.

Ick!

From that time on--and it's been a good 9 years now--I have NEVER failed to put the toilet seat down at home.

I still lack discipline on other things, but this I can do well!;-))

So tumultuous is this phenomena, it appears, that there are many sites dedicated to helping men put it down, so-to-speak;-). Read one here, entitled How to Get the Men in Your Household to Put the Toilet Seat Down ...

Oh, Emotions!

2006-08-22T11:11:00.000Z

infatuation
Originally uploaded by ekbensah.

I have a HUGE crush on my work colleague, which would be okay, if it weren't for the fact that she is:

(a)very happily married with three kids
(b) about eight years older than me

Why I alloiw myself to be consumed by emotions so much sometimes is beyond me.

Yesterday, she popped into the office to pick up something (she's been on leave for three weeks and a bit now) and as soon as she saw me, she smiled, and greeted me, as I appeared to be the only one to email her when she was away. Just wanted to find out how she was doing, and she wrote something like she doubts anyone would be misisng her, which I felt was out of place.

I told her that people do miss her, but people are human, and they have issues. But that's normal.

While she was away, I thought of her off and on.

I have to put it on record that I am not necessarily the easiest colleague to work with, in the sense that when it comes to kitchen issues, some of the women in the house might need to whack this yours-truly head with a frying pan;-)

However, this colleague has ALWAYS stood up for me; and I have always done my level best to look out for her with small things that people may not think of -- like transport to assist in picking her kids up from school when she nor her husband can go, or just finding out how she did at her studies.

I know she appreciates it, cos she often tells me. Thankfully, she's not over-the-top.

When I first came, I had a small bit of a crush on her, but I got over it, especially when I realised she is married--with kids. I re-call that initially, I even wanted to ask her out (she looks so much younger than her age).

She's very professional...and very, very attractive--in all manner and forms: tall, confident, sexy.

Wow...

I'll get over it; but for sure, when I called her at lunch time yesterday to find out when she arrived back in the country from her holidays, she said with a huge smile (and I insist: platonically!) that she had missed me.

I know Ihave a crush--and a very huge one at that--cos when I see her these days, my heart just beats that much faster.

Is is the weather, what? Whatever it is, I would like to call it infatuation--and definitely something I will get over. I just have to be careful I don't call my girlfriend, Sandra, by my colleague's name!!

Investigative reporting...of/from the UN!!

2006-08-16T14:45:00.000Z

Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting Since 1987 From the Inner City to Wall Street to the United Nations

From: http://www.innercitypress.com/

Reflecting the Eccentric World of E.K.Bensah II

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

360 Degrees of Blogging Separation

Back on 20th October

Thus Ends My Suit Experience

The Strange Case of the Elusive President

Happy Birthday "Big Bro'" Fenix

Soporific Days

(BBC) Forum for Thought: The Bearable Lightness of Being Silent

Many thanks...

Weekend Woes: On the Fast Lane, I get some Wake-Up Calls

With Georgia Proverbially on my Mind, I Found Serendipity...and Broke the Friday Jinx...

The Perfect Introduction?

Deconstructing Taurus

Not to be Melo-Dramatic or Anything, But...

Blogging Paradox: Joomla & Stuff on My Mind

Driven to Distraction: From Slow & Sure...to Intense

Driven to Distraction: I Passed!

An Unhappy Anniversary, or the Cautionary Tale of Carrying Wallets in May

Birthday Boy Driven to Distraction

UNCTAD XII Diary: Day 5: Final Outcome--UNCTAD XIII in QATAR!

Re: Briefing of UNCTAD XII Negotiations--The Killing of UNCTAD?

UNCTAD XII Diary: Day Three: Gearing towards Endgame

UNCTAD XII Diary: Day One: Connected to UNCTAD Wireless

My Piece on UNCTAD for Ghana's only Sunday Newspaper Sunday World

Fwd: UNCTAD XII Hits Accra!

The Deeper Drama of Blurring Time, & Why I’ve Got to Sing that Song Sometimes…

Happy Leap Year Day!

The Unbearable Lightness of Blogging

Last Weekend, I Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Blogosphere Paradox-No Country for Tired Men

Eternal Sunshine of a Not-So-Spotless Drama

Merry christmas to u all!

Global ICTs: The Silent Development Revolution

Weekend Woes:At Long Last, It's Over! Still, Too Many Deeper Dramas...

Searching for a Deeper Identity...

ICT And The Future Of Journalism Profession ( I )

Who Said Teaching Had to be Easy?: Web 2.0, Here Journalists Come!!

I Knew There Was Something about 18 September! Long Live Dag Hammarskjold!

Weekend Woes: Smart Women? Smart Men!; UN-Bound

Not Calling the Ex Could be Construed as a Sign of Incipient Maturity

Making Love over a Cup of Desiderata

Responding to a Tag by Peculiar Virtue

Back by 7th September

You Women Can be Too Smart!

Here be Some Revelations: There are Heroes in Our Deeper Drama...

two Nigerian policemen

Three Years On, There are Still Deeper Dramas of Identity & Fidelity

He Who Knows Others is Clever; He Who Knows Himself is Enlightened

Food for Thought: That Ubiquitous Threat

Sporadic Posting for a while

Unfaithful Thoughts, or a Case of Technology Nurturing Infidelity?

Desperately Seeking...a Chocolate Hen

What a Naughty Txt on a Boring Friday Can Do...

Confused by the Blogging Paradox, or a Cautionary Tale of What I’d like to See on My Tombstone

Crystal-Clear Policies from an All-Too Predictable US of A

It's Not Irreplaceable, But the Memories Are!

In Memoriam: Samuel D. Bensah (blue shorts): 6 Sept 1973 - 8 May 1991

Hurry up and come back was the last thing she said to her son The day his life was taken She didn't know he wouldn't come back He died from (...) And now her little boy is gone

What a Difference a Mayday Makes

Turning Thirty

Turning Thirty!

Last Night was a Far Departure from Other Nights

Keeping up with the Blogs'es...Strangeness

Reinvigorated by the Blogging Paradox

Those Shoes are Made for Walking

Here's a Thriller for You--Part III: Man on Fire! It's March, Already!

Basic Instinct#3 (Manqué): Creating a Picture of Sartorial Eloquence

So You Think You Had a Bad Day?

Tuesday Reflections: Month of Love; It's My Environment, So I'll Cry if I want to!

Thank You!!....Managing Time; Mobile Browsing (WAP); Ghana at 50 years!

Under the Weather

Happy New Year! (Only the Brits...)

Happy Holidays(1)...There's a Killer on the Loose...

Decembers are Terribly Blog-Averse

"Don't Worry Honey...", or When is the "Best Time"?

Remember Tunis and WSIS? The World Has Moved On...

Belgian Police Behaving Badly (You've Gotta Love That Technology)!

Blogging Redux: The Good, the Bad, and the Cautionary

So We Have a New UN Secretary-General...Is the World Worried?

Hurry up and come back was the last thing she said to her son
The day his life was taken
She didn't know he wouldn't come back
He died from (...)
And now her little boy is gone