ADEREMI'S NOTEBOOK

— Zimbabwe, a nation of millionaires who can’t afford to buy anything: “I went to pay some local taxes the other day and it took over an hour for them to count out the Z$41 million I owed. It’s crazy.” But some changes are been made, “zero to hero“. #

— Jonathan Clayton on Kenyan roads. Definitely time to fix the your roads when your country leaders start having road accidents frequently. CNN article back in 1999. #

How to read (4)

I know this used to be a problem for me. Trying really hard to read the Socratic dialogues for example. I found I had no interest in it. I couldn’t agree more with Nick Hornby’s “How to read”;

I would never attempt to dissuade anyone from reading a book. But please, if you’re reading a book that’s killing you, put it down and read something else, just as you would reach for the remote if you weren’t enjoying a television programme.

Your failure to enjoy a highly rated novel doesn’t mean you’re dim…

It doesn’t matter. All I know is that you can get very little from a book that is making you weep with the effort of reading it. You won’t remember it, and you’ll learn nothing from it

Not enjoying a book, drop the book and pick up the next one! (via Rebecca’s pocket)

Jay-Z to tour Nigeria and South Africa (29)

Jay-Z in partnership with MTV has been invited by the United Nations to raise water crisis awareness around the world. He will be doing an international tour covering various cities in Europe and Africa to spread the word. The dates and venues for African part of the tour are as follows;

October 04 - Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Diamond Jubilee)
October 06 - Accra, Ghana (Accra Conference Center)
October 07 - Lagos, Nigeria (Ocean View)
October 09 - Luanda, Angola (Cine Karl Max)
October 11 - Cape Town, South Africa (Belleville Velodrome)
October 13 - Durban, South Africa (ABSA Stadium Outer Fields)
October 14 - Johannesburg, South Africa (Coca Cola Dome)

MTV will produce “Diary of Jay-Z: Water for Life” during the tour.

Worth Listening to the press release. I was not impressed with Jay-Z’s response to the press during the Q&A session. He seemed very unprepared and failed to answer most questions. Hard to believe it was his idea.

2007 TED Global Africa (0)

TED will have its first conference in Africa bringing together
individuals who are passionate about “doing something valuable for Africa’s future”. It will be hosted in Arusha, Tanzania. The date has been set for June 4-7, 2007. It will be interesting to attend. From the website;

Africans are starting to take matters into their own hands. Ingenious solutions are being applied to tackle some of the toughest health and infrastructure problems. Businesses are being launched that are capable of transforming the lives of millions.

Echoing African Uptimist’s comment, the work that Emeka Okafor and others are doing to showcase success stories from Africa is very encouraging. Hopefully this conference will take it a step further. (via Kenyan Pundit)

— Trailer: The Last King Of Scotland. Must see! #

— The more I listen to this song “I started a blog nobody read” by Sprites, the more I think it was dedicated to my blog. (2)

The Gnotorious Gnarls Biggie (4)

© Sound Advice
The guys at Sound Advice have produced Gnarls Biggie, an album based on remixes of some rap songs from Christopher Wallace (Notorious BIG) with Gnarls Barkley. My favourite has got to be “Necromancing Thugs”, remix of “Notorious Thugs” featuring Bone thugs and harmony.

According to their Sound Advice blog, the album has been bootlegged on ebay. This will certainly hit the headlines, just like the Black Album back in 2004.

Abba Eban said (0)

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.

Abba Eban

Aston Villa sold to Randy Lerner (0)

I have two GOLDEN RULES when it comes to investments;

1. Never invest in football teams
2. Never invest in Airlines

I broke rule No.2 once…quite sure I didn’t make money on it. As Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, once responded to the question of how to become a millionaire;

Start by being a billionaire and then buy an airline.

I digress. Back to football. By the way, I support Arsenal.

Men, when did Americans begin to love football (called “soccer” in America and Austrialia) so much. First, Malcolm Glazer (owns Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Now Randy Lerner (owns Cleveland Browns American football team).

Today, Aston Villa’s board recommended that shareholders accept Randy Lerner’s bid of £63 million after beating three rival bidders including Michael Neville. A quick scan of the RNS statement shows that Randy Lerner is paying 547p in cash per share. This represents a 47% premium to the share price on the 16 Sept 2005 (not sure why they are using this date as the approach was announced on 1 Sept 2005).

Now look at the share price graph since 1998;

© Selftrade
Ofcourse if you invested in 2003 when everyone else was just recovering from tech bust, you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.

The future looks very bright for Aston Villa. Recently appointed Martin O’Neill as the club’s manager with the Lerner promising to make £20 million available for new players.

Read more:
Yankee Invasion Or Lifelong Fan For Villa Park Boardroom?
Sentimentality gets us nowhere, Michael