Cosiar's Blog

Ghana’s Economy is Among the Worst

cosiar — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:17:37 +0000

Despite its stability and resources Ghana is quite inefficient. I wonder if the government got out of the native businessmen’s way would it be better? I am almost sure it would be. I imagine the good people at The Danquah Institute agree.

The http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/08/zimbabwe-ghana-congo-nicaragua-business-worst-economies.html

Ghana has the world’s largest manmade lake and the 1-gigawatt Aksombo Hydroelectric Plant, built to supply electricity to Africa’s largest aluminum smelter. But the smelter has been idle since 2009, a casualty of low aluminum prices and persistent electricity shortages that have forced the government to divert the power elsewhere.

Ghana is a typical example of the world’s worst-managed economies: It’s a country that shouldn’t be poor, but it is. The West African nation’s gross domestic product per capita fell 9% last year to $621, ranking it 154th out of 184 countries tracked by the International Monetary Fund, below resource-impoverished Haiti. With a $3 billion trade deficit last year and $4.9 billion in external debt, Ghana is struggling to pay its bills even as it sits on some of the world’s biggest reserves of gold and bauxite, as well as considerable amounts of offshore oil, which is being developed by Anadarko Petroleum ( APC – news – people ) and others.

“Ghana’s problems are mostly homegrown,” said Peter Allum, the IMF’s mission chief to Ghana, in February. Forbes ranks Ghana ninth on our list of the world’s worst economies.

52 Books by May 15 2010. Anyone Up for It?

cosiar — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:41:59 +0000

I have fallen severely behind in my reading and in the spirit of self improvement, I decided to try to read 52 books in a year, that’s roughly a book a week. I contemplated creating my own unique list but decided to fall back on a template provided by Susan Wise Bauer. Susan wrote The Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had. It is similar to Mortimer J. Alder’s How to Read and it is an OK book if you are into this sort of stuff. She gives rather long list from each genre spanning the 1600s to the 1900s. Instead of reading every book she assigns for each genre. I decided to break these genres into fives for the fist twenty five books. The genres include Fiction(novels), Autobiography and Memoir, History, Drama(plays) and Poets and their poems. First we will start with fiction and the fist fiction book shall be Don Quixote. Don Quixote will be followed by Pilgrims Paradise, Gulliver’s Travels, Pride and Prejudice, and Oliver Twist.

Hopefully I can get a few suckers people to join me in this journey towards literacy.

Monk

cosiar — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:26:32 +0000

Though not a one name only superstar like Madonna. Thelonious Monk deserves celebrity greater than Madonna, somewhere on par with Jesus might be adequate, though some may scoff that I undershot the pianist’s rank. Brother Monk was a vituouso on the piano . If he isn’t celebrated for incorporating older negro musical styles like the stride piano and Blues into the the hard bop lexicon he is admired for simply being one of the greatest musicians ever. He was also among the most stylish, and as with his music you’d dig whatever Thelonious wore, and he knew you would-simply because he said so. So instead of cataloging his achievements and outfits, I’ll let his music and some photos do the talking.

Spring Clothing

cosiar — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:29:03 +0000

Yesterday Connecticut enjoyed temperatures approaching 60 degrees. The weather being so pleasant, I decided to take a hike. Immediately my mind wondered on to what to wear, then I realized the glaring gap in my wardrobe that is spring wear. Here are few looks I’m interested in plugging that whole up with.

Tweed Jackets.

Vintage Levi 501 with the button fly

A good pair of cordovan brouge boots, such as this pair from Vass.

For an alternative look I might try

A solid rain coat to insulate me from New England’s rainy season.

Very Good Taste’s Omnivore’s Top 100

cosiar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:32:09 +0000

I came across this fun little list while perusing a forum I frequent. I thought it was interesting and decided to share. I’ve eaten quite a few foodstuffs but this list makes me seem like a novice. I really need to try more Indian dishes.

Here is what he wants you to do.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Paul Fussell

cosiar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:54:16 +0000

Paul Fussell is a word class curmudgeon, a professor of English literature, and a great writer. Most famously known for his writings on class and culture. I’ve long found his writings enjoyable since first reading Class: A Guide To the Social Classes in America. Great book it is, though it has unfortunately led to the creation of the “Fussellian upper class phenomenon”, this phenomenon involves one logging onto Internet communities acting out the traits listed by Fussell’s Class in order to appear as an member of American elite. These iElites become arbiters of what is correct dress and harp on the idea that money doesn’t equal class, in hopes their meager lifestyles will be mistaken for Upper Class frugality or Yankee thrift. I’ve seen some succeed at it for a short period but fortunately it generally fails. What is consistent about this phenomenon is that it is always amusing.

While I find the iElite silly I still enjoy Fussell more than ever and would like to share a few of his quotes:

Americans are the only people in the world known to me whose status anxiety prompts them to advertise their college and university affiliations in the rear window of their automobiles.

At the bottom, people tend to believe that class is defined by the amount of money you have. In the middle, people grant that money has something to do with it, but think education and the kind of work you do almost equally important. Nearer the top, people perceive that taste, values, ideas, style, and behavior are indispensable criteria of class, regardless of money or occupation or education.

Another way to spot a BAD books before they appear is suggested by a recent news photograph of a young women writing her book ( a novel one suspects) in a beauty parlor on a laptop word processor, while her hair dresser arranges her ringlets. If this isn’t enough, there’s further warning in what she says: “I’m doing a book about the ten years I spent in Asian studying medication. I do a lot of writing at the salon and fax my publisher in New York from there.” Salon? Practically is prima facie evidence of the BADness of her projected book.

MORE AMERICANS ARE BETTER EDUCATED
One – fifth of Americans over the age of Twenty – five have completed “ four years of college.” Great news, until you try to find someone who’s read anything but a best seller, who has an iota of historical imagination, or who manifest curiosity about anything but money, sports, “ entertainment,” or hobbies. What the AP (Associated press) means is that more Americans than ever have attended business school or sat through classes in “education,” hardly cause for celebration or national self congratulation Yet the self congratulation is inevitable when would be encouraging words like the following , from a national newspaper, raise no eyebrows and occasion no cynical smiles.

Universities in Europe used to have reputations, at least in the United States, as Ivory Towers whose walls would never be sullied by the corporate world. Many Many Europeans prided themselves on that ideal, equating it with intellectual integrity.

“Lets move on to “eating out”“ A women executive secretary, a high school graduate, told Studs Terkel; “ I have dinner with businessmen and enjoy this very much. I like the background music in some of these restaurants. It’s soothing and it also adds a little warmth and doesn’t disturb the conversation. I like the atmosphere and the caliber of people that usually you see and run into. People who have made it.” There it is in a horrible little nutshell. What makes that comment middle class is that it never touches on the food, middle class clients being drawn to restaurants largely by the arts of the decorator and orchestra leader rather than the skill of the chef.

I find nothing more depressing than optimism.

In This Bright Future You Can’t Forget Your Past

cosiar — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:10:10 +0000

While you celebrate this monumental event, please pay service to those who came before the President elect. Remember all the Negroes who were perfectly accomplished, perfectly qualified, and more than capable; who weren’t hired in their area of study, lane of expertise, who did not receive what they worked hard for. Celebrate for them, for they paved the way.

Getting Fly

cosiar — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 08:24:38 +0000

While in Harlem getting fly the next stop on the sophisticated gents journy must be BBraxton this establishment bills itself as ”the ultimate gentleman’s pampering experience featuring expert grooming, barbering and therapeutic treatments” -only the uncivilized could scoff at that. The list of services are quite extensive and they offer a wide selection of treatments; from fresh cuts to muscle therapy and facial scrubs to get rid acne.

GQ writer Glenn O’Brien described BBraxton as ”elegant and luxurious B.Braxton is a full service men’s spa, and they have universal barbering expertise.” a impressive endorsement indeed.

Homepage

List of services

Harlem World

cosiar — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:15:00 +0000

While Hipsters and Hip Hoppers rule, the sartorially classical male has few afroptions. Brothers from the continent like Bernard Oyama are working to change that. With nods to the Harlem’s jazzy past, African flair and Anglo inspired cuts anyone would cut a dashing figure in Bernard Oyama’s attire.

While one can visit by car, I suggest the A-train with your I-Pod buzzing with the sounds of Sir Duke.

B. Oyama Homme
2330 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.
Between 136th and 137th Streets
New York, NY 10027
212-234-5128 phone

Below the male is decked out in Oyama’s clothing, quite well I might add.