Slashdot Mirror
Nigeria Joins the Space Age
nuke-alwin writes "The Age is reporting that Nigeria has joined the space age by sending a satellite into space from Russia. The satellite will be used for environmental monitoring and to keep an eye on oil pipelines."
Cue dozens of posts about how Nigeria should concentrate on fixing its own problems on earth before launching into space
Nice with the satellite, but Nigeria has a long ways to go.
A woman who committed adultery was spared death by stoning.
Yep, they were going to bury her up to her neck and have people throw rocks at her head until she was dead, because she had a baby out of wedlock.
And, get this one: the religous court decided that since children can take up to 5 years to develop in the womb (!!!) it was possible that she conceived the child with her husband, so on that ground they let her live.
So, nice with the satellite, but I just am not impressed. Not even one little bit.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Having been taught finite element analysis by a Nigerian I cannot take the usual patronising attitude to that country. Taking the attitude of the post above you could say there are a lot of Nigerian trained Australian and British engineers out there. Universities are mostly multicultural places - live with the idea or your job may go to India.
All the humor aside, I think fellow slashdotters are being just a bit condescending here. It isn't fair to jab the Nigerians for failing to take care of earthbound problems before tackling space. Look at us - we've been in space for decades but have arguably the lions share of social/economic inequities on earth. What other country hosts both the opulent decadence of Bill Gates and homeless vagrants who spend nights in city parks where you can just as easily get beat up for thrills by street gangs or freeze to death in the winter.
Some have mentioned the harsh Muslim laws which has touched one poor woman's life in a very public way. They seem to have forgotten that we have a pair of ultra right Christian fanatics who initially said Americans suffered 9/11 because abortionists, feminists, homosexuals, the ACLU and others have upset God. And the priest who was convicted of murderings someone for performing abortions - didn't he publicly declare that he believes he will be welcomed in heaven for what he did?
I can not condone the advanced fee fraud Nigeria is famous for, but if you are dumb enough to fall for it, maybe you deserved to learn the lesson the hard way. Perhaps us stock-market-speculating Americans have forgotten that money could be gotten the old fashion way - by earning it with honest work?
Some point out that the endeavor is more British and Russian than Nigerian. But that is missing the point. I mean, what do you expect baby steps to be like anyway? John Glen didn't got to space overnight. He rode the coat tail of German rocket researchers who came to work for uncle sam after WWII, and the Germans had built upon the work of our own Robert Goddard. Can you imagine how few engineers there would be today if in their younger days, there was not the generosity or charity to provide them with that old crystal radio set or that clunky-but-still-functioning computer? It isn't wrong to ask or recieve help. You have to start somewhere right?
Let us not forget that our own space program was priceless in stimulating so many good things. Aside from the obvious utilitarian benifits that the satellite offers by performing it's duties, it also gives the citizens something to look up to. (no pun intended) Maybe there will be a few less scammers as young Nigerians realize there are higher goals worth pursuing. Just to show that I'm not completely without humor, I for one welcome our new space-faring colleagues.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.