Day: August 1, 2021

Design

~ osasuoviawe ~ Leave a comment

Today, I thought about design and how we inherently design for difficulty in most Nigerian projects.

Train rides from Abuja to Kaduna are largely okay, but the staircases you have to overcome at the train stations are a needless difficulty, especially if you have luggage.

This creates room for “porters” who are supposed to help with your luggage. An ultimate breeding ground for future crime. The porters know the in and out of the train station, and the schedule of frequent users.

In my last trip, I discussed this with one of the train station supervisors. He understood my concern, but he was just as helpless to the design.

I am thankful for spaces in which design is intentional, and not a poor copy.

Stir up

~ osasuoviawe ~ Leave a comment

Occasionally, we had water scarcity in secondary school, and had to walk long distances to fetch from muddy wells.

A flocculant (Alum) always came in handy for clarification, but you do not just drop it in a bucket and expect clarification. You literally stir up the waters to allow centrifugal and centripetal forces to act. In fact, if you did not even have alum, or did not like the feel of water after alum addition, just stirring up the waters in a whirling cycle led to clarification.

As a brewer, I found that same thinking in the last clarification step of brewing. No alum required, but a stirring up of the waters (or in this case, the stirring up of wort) improved clarity.

Just as literally stirring up the waters helps bring clarity, metaphorically doing same helps.

– Osasu Oviawe

Cue 136 – Stop Calling Professors ‘Professor”

~ osasuoviawe ~ Leave a comment

Stop Calling Professors ‘Professor’

“Social media more generally have overturned naming and credentials practices. The good side is the neutering of titles. The bad side is the elevation of popularity in their place. One’s number of social-media followers carries a great deal of weight, and on Twitter a select number of individuals are designated with blue checks to verify their identities. One possible benefit of titles is that they may signify a world where popularity does not matter so much.” – Tyler Cowen