Can technology get any further advanced?

At every point in time, some people have always felt that technology cannot get any better. That is totally untrue of course. In the future, you will be able to make a phone call to your fridge ordering it to send food to your microwave which will in turn cook it and then pass it on to your dinning table just in time for the front door to automatically open to you at the entrance with your favourite feel-good song wafting from your entertainment system and your TV giving you the highlights of today's offering of your favourite shows.

Electricity will be replaced with Witricity (wireless electricity) even as electrical and telecoms infrastructure merge into one and you and your house will become integrated as you now have a mental interface with all your appliances, and cars as well. You see, technology has not advanced enough for us!

All this is with the Caveat: God willing!

"Alien Shark " discovered in La Paz Mexico, Baffles Scientists

This feels like something from a sci-fi novel or movie. The foetus of this previously unknown creature was found in the body of a large bull shark caught by commercial fisherman in the Sea of Cortez beyond La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur. It has a surprisingly "human looking" single eye in the middle of its head just like the cyclops from Greek Mythology.

Many shark experts were skeptical when the news broke and one of them jokingly identified it as "Cycloptomus". Also renowned shark scientist Dr. Felipe Galvan has seen, studied, and produced an initial paper on this mysterious animal. The paper is awaiting publication and I for one would like to know what the doctor thinks about this mysterious animal.

Yoruba People Won't Sell You salt at Night

Here is something else that really gets me annoyed. I am a Yoruba man and know for a fact that an overwhelming majority of Yoruba people will not sell you table salt at night if you call it by its name in the Yoruba language (Iyo). Some will reluctantly sell it to you if you call it (Isebe) which is a name that has been given to salt to get around this unnecessary ban we have placed on ourselves. The reason for this is that they claim that they do not want you to carry away "the sweetness of their life away" at night.

I know this is superstition but the way my people hold-on to it is annoying to say the least. I am sure they would not have a problem selling "iyo" to me at night if I would pay N100,000 for a N50 bag, so why hold on to such obviously ridiculous beliefs.

Can we stop dancing for a minute?

You see any time I come across promotional material for Nigeria, all I see is natural landscapes (God's creation that we had nothing to do with), people from different ethnic groups within the country dancing and probably our footballers celebrating a tournament win, to make matters worse they sometimes contain excerpts from videos from the 70s showing cocoa production in the Southwest and the groundnut pyramids of kano- where are they now? I get disgusted and wonder; are these what we are all about? Can we not be like other countries that flaunt their highly educated and efficient workforce, new, shinny and vibrant cities that are well maintained and industries producing advanced goods showing a robust economy, in addition to natural landscapes and whatever cultural or sporting icons they may have? What exactly is our problem?

The way they make dances so prominent in the TV adverts in particular just makes me sick- it is like we are saying Hey everybody! we are Nigerians and the only thing we are good at is dancing like a group of mindless people.

Some might argue that such things are used to portray Nigeria because we have little-else to present to the world. If that is so, let us wake-up and start doing whatever it takes to stop presenting dances as our major contribution to the world and remaining foolishly happy when people from the western world tell us that we have a "rich culture."

Bomb blast at Nigeria Police Headquarters

Reports from Abuja say there has been a bomb blast at the Nigerian Police Headquarters, Abuja. Eye witnesses say they heard a loud explosion, shaking of nearby buildings and smoke bellowing out of the compound. Initial reports suggest that this might have been a car bomb as Aljazeerah reports that the explosion took place at the police headquarters’ car park.

It is yet to be confirmed what terrorist/militant organization is responsible for this act of terror.

There have been several bomb explosions in northern Nigeria before, during and after Nigeria’s general elections earlier this year. These were mostly claimed by Boko Haram a militant organization which advocates the implementation of strict Sharia (Islamic) law in northern Nigeria whilst denouncing western education and institutions as being forbidden under its interpretation of Islam.

Also the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had claimed responsibility for the bombing that took place in October 1, 2010 during Nigeria’s 50th anniversary celebrations with several people killed or injured.

Some political observers see this escalation of violence in Africa’s most nation has a challenge to the country’s leadership with a large part of the population living in poverty and seeing little impact of billions of dollars in oil revenue that Nigeria generates every year. Increasing numbers of youths in particular are looking to crime, militancy or terrorism as ways of surviving and making their own political statements.

The reaction of President Goodluck Jonathan to this bombing of the nation’s police headquarters will be closely scrutinized by many Nigerians who will be asking: “can our leader really take steps to protect our lives and property under the current political and economic climate in the country?”