mink

Geez ... I can't even tell anymore. People's job descriptions are thicker than ever, and have more difficult words than a high school science textbook. This tells me two things: Either our jobs are becoming more and more complex, or we want to sound complex. If our jobs are becoming more and more complex, we should still find ways to relate it to the bigger world... isn't that what "work" means? That you're contributing something to the world outside of yourself? By finding ways to relate our jobs to the bigger world, we are likely to sound lot simpler, since humans all have basic needs which are common. But if we're just trying to sound complex, well, that doesn't help much. Why give an exaggerated picture to a person who doesn't know?

"Earlier this week, the government attempted to reopen schools but most students and many teachers did not turn up." Source: BBC article - Ivory Coast: Banks reopen after 10-week shutdown

I've been picking up on how the global press frames the culture of hip hop music, especially since Vijana FM launched TZhiphop recently as a sub-project. This morning I saw this article on BBC , and it just made me wonder, is the real hip hop really gone? Not once in this article did I feel the author seriously engaging with what hip hop used to mean: Music.

I've been giving more thought to a dormant project that is intended to create more transparency in academia in Tanzania. Originally, the idea was to do one thing well: Share published and unpublished academic works. But the idea grew: Questions arose about the validity of materials that present parts of formal education instead of entire curriculi, and about what resources teachers (not just students and researchers) could use. So, as of now, an efficient tool to make academia more transparent in Tanzania would need the following: An open archive of published and unpublished academic works; An open forum where these works can be discussed; An open platform to post materials for early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary education; and An open contribution protocol where - after a specific period over which materials will be collected - curriculi could be written through collaborative means. Still thinking about it. Drop us a line at Vijana FM if you have thoughts on this! (

The necessary noise is now knocking on your nerves to numb down the deafening denials and distrust of your dominion. In short, TZhiphop is live :) Facebook updates here , Twitter updates here .

Ever thought about why Facebook doesn't have a "dislike" button? I think it may be an effort to curb "negative" actions on the platform. But, shouldn't compliments always be accompanied with criticism, and vice versa? If people were able to "dislike" something on Facebook, would we just be posting "good" things on Facebook? And is that such a bad idea?