Rexy's Blog

2014-12-22T20:20:00.000+01:00

The thought of horror looms around the room, his understanding of every sound was important for fear to be tamed. Such a tranquil state is always believed to be demonic and beasty, most especially when they come in the coldness of the night.

Thoughts as gloomy as the nights besieged his faculties, nothing else seemed relevant to accommodate in his members than the rush to pull away from the imminent grip of dread. Even at that moment, his eyes where no longer fading him, they became as shinny as those of the watch-guards in the barracks. His teeth quacked like they were being sort after to be unearthed. His heart raced like blood was the trophy for winning, which in his case was a mind game.

His panting compounded as early risers in the barracks began their almost noiseless monkey businesses; that was not a good time for principle, he thought. At least every other day was allowed for routines, but not today; not the day he needed freedom from these hideous imaginations. Their neighbour, Mama Musa, who was always noisy every time she wakes up for her early morning chores, was unsualy quiet this dark hour. Or has she also being held hostage by this same evil thought of horror.

"What is going on", he thought?

Why is everyone not helping him get out of these bad thoughts that has entangled his moment of peace.

When it seemed like he was about to muscle up his guts, the dreaded mystery lady kids always called "Miss Koi-Koi" was now playing her own part of the game. Her's was tormenting. Lady koi-koi was popularly known for her lacadisic movements in the corridors of blocks and lines in the barrack. She was imagined to walk stylishly like a fashion-celebrity, with steady feet on high-healed Prada pairs and bloody eyes and lips. It was not like anyone has ever seen her, but her fame was well circulated, more like a 10-time Grammy norminee. Even mothers in the hood feared going out to heed to nature's call, most especially when there was a recent event of this mystery lass visiting some unknown neighbour the other nights.

The night stayed fresher and younger, never grew old; it seemed like a spell was casted over it to relive its time and grow younger like James Button; the kind that turns jiffies to minutes, and hours to days. His realisation of who patted him on his back was still a reality he consciously tried to throw aside. The last time he had such a scare was when he was just a little barrack boy; 5 years and 2 days precisely. His heart quivered at the sound of an escaping mice, helplessly looking for cover after haven bitten off a piece from an uncooked animal tendor. He screamed and jumped at the same time hoping both moves would create a shock zone around him and scare the little creature away, as if the mice even listened. The report would always be that the mice was feared dead after carrying out the same act in the neighbours kitchen, and the locals in Nigeria would say

"so this yeye rat don die finally, Na him dey chop our food finish. Make una kill am. Nonesense."

Such a ridiculous lie to cover up for the grisly old barrack culture of food and wastes. If only rats could eat that much, who would have the guts to live with them.

His brother's pat on his back released him from the scary illusion he was having all night; which of course was still what started his panic all along.

"Look at this boy ooo. So you are still awake. Do you even know what time it is?" His nerves and fluids began resting from the mansory they engaged in.

"Are you crazy, why do you have to touch me like that... You almost gave me a heart attack."

The wild laugh that ensued from his brother was not one that can be expected at such hour of the day, at least not when everyone was trying to catch some sleep.

"Something is definitely wrong with you.. Look at you, at this tiny age of yours, you are talking about a heart attack. Hmm.. You better wake up from your slumber and get ready to pack your sales for the day." His brother's words were with humour and seriousness at the same time, but he wasn't finding it funny.

"Sales? Its barely..." on looking at the old table clock that was kept on top of the monochrome TV rather than on the table- because there was known actually, he screamed in a conscious way to complete his statement "... 4:45am. Oh my god!"

His mother who keeps to her own end of the timing, wakes up as always and directed her merchants to where their merchandises are. Its time to head for the road for the days sales, yes it happens that early and as always.

"Please mama, let me sleep a little, I will be up before you know it..." Immediately he closed his eyes, he woke up in the real world when the time was 15 minutes to evil.; it was all a dream.

Now, he's awake, still staring at the torn mosquito net, gazing into the nights and hoping for the strangeness of all works of nature. He still battled with time because and his mother still knew he kept late. Now, he heard a breezy voice from behind,

"Oh god, not again."

How to Create Conditional Menu For Logged In/Logged Out Users in Wordpress

2014-12-01T17:23:00.000+01:00

Background

I spend most of my time these days in the development of web contents and applications, mostly using Content Management Systems (CMS) and MVC frameworks like the popular Wordpress, Joomla! and Drupal. How I have come to learn and improve so much in these frameworks, still strikes me as amazing. But let us go straight to the point why you have come to read this post.

You probably may have wondered how certain dynamic web features like; profile pages and login restrictions are created. Like in our case, you click the login link and after successful login, the link changes to "Logout" and another link showing "My Account", "My Profile", "My Dashboard" or something of that nature shows up. Interestingly, these tricks are done using certain coding techniques in php, javascript and sometimes CSS. Even though these technologies are needed to do the magic, I am assuring you we are not going into any of those in this article, so be calm!

DYNAMIC MENU LINKS FOR USER LEVELS (LOGIN/LOGOUT and MY PROFILE/REGISTER)

In a simple term, what this means is that you want to create a menu item (either at the top, main, side or footer) on your WordPress site or application that will show certain links for users who are logged in as authorized users or logged out as guest. For instance, if a user is not logged in (i.e. a guest) he/she sees the "Login" or "Register" link at certain locations on the site, and if he/she is logged in, he sees the "Logout" and/or "My Profile" link as the case may be. I guess that was the simplest way I could explain it. For those who still don't understand my simplicity, look at the screenshots below to grasp the concept better.
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Screenshot showing a Top Menu bar with Menu links "Login" and "Register" for Non-Logged in Users.

Screenshot showing a Top Menu bar with Menu links "My Dashboard" and "Logout" for Logged in Users.
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HOW TO CREATE THE DYNAMISM

Based on what we have said so far about conditional menus, I believe the screenshots above are self-explanatory, so I will just go into the business of the day.

Now, how to go about doing this sort of trick is very straight forward. So I will just get down to the business of the moment.

There are two options to go around this trick;

1. The Hard Way- Hard coding the hooks and filters in your wordpress function.php file. (Please ensure to use a Child Theme here if you know what you are doing.) The advantage here is that you customize the functionality of the add-on to do what you desire. But the turn-off here is that its painstaking to start coding a function from the beginning. And this is the part I decided to do without in this article, so i am not writing any hooks for this.

2. The Easy Way: Right here, you simply use pre-coded tiny programs called 'plugins' to extend the functionality of the WordPress framework; in our case, the Conditional User Menu. This is the part of WordPress I cherish so much- the expandability of its core functions using plugins. I can categorically tell you that there are extensions in WordPress for virtually anything you may want to do- just have a name for your assumed function, that's all you need. The downside to this approach is that it can cause compatibility issues with other plugins in the application's directory for plugins, and it may not fully serve your need. But aside from that, what the heck! It still remains the easiest and fastest means to do what you desire to do in WordPress. Just think it, and a plugin or more exist for it.

For our Case, we will be using the "Easy Way Out" approach. We will use a plugin or two to create the coditional user menu. Both plugin functions are about the same useage and setups, but I would rather you make your choice based on application importance to your system.

PLUGIN 1- PRIVILEGED MENU

Just Download this plugin from the wordpress repository and upload via ftp. I believe that should not be a problem because am not covering how to do that here. Or, you can search for the plugin right in your wordpress Admin backend and install directly. This method of plugin installations turns out to be quite nice and results to the easiest methods I would go for.

Go to the left-pane and hover your mouse on the 'Appearance' then click on 'Menu'.
Choose which menu to have the coditional items on (in our case, a nice looking menu at the top which I coloured red.) Please note that you may not have the same menu bar as mine, so you choose where else the conditional links will stay- at your main menu, the footer menu, the side or you simply create a menu yourself. That's the beauty of WordPress.

PLUGIN 2- NAV MENU ROLES

This is another great add-on for our job. It works just like the privileged menu, both has a rather easy markup. You can extend the functionality of this plugin and any other as well to suit your creative needs. Kapish?

I know I said I would go into details on how to use this plugins, but please bear with me now. I have some good cash jobs to do.

I hope this post helps you in your quest, as I was once a searcher like you earnestly looking for every means to solve WordPress problems.

Happy solving problem!

THE BARRACK BOY!

2014-09-19T17:35:00.001+01:00

Sometimes he would wonder if there will ever be a time when the cold hands of destitution employed by the huge pangs of distress would slide away. Moments after moments, interesting fantasies about big bungalows constructed by the Japanese, one of those cars driven by foreigners in the movies and a woman with a face to hope for, would surface and be the factor responsible for the only smile he might have for the entire day.

He would wake up quite early with the mornings, hoping to smell the air that his father would always tell him is the "real breath of life." So much heat and stickiness clanged around the room. Sweat dripping from his chest, even after bathing twice before going to sleep that night. It wouldn't change anything if life does not give everyone a chance to create something, after all, those who had so much affluence may need a lot more diligence and consistency to maintain the change they create. He imagined electricity as an affluent side to life, a burden to bear if it was always continuous. "Such an ambiguous standard it will be to exist with constant electricity", he imagined. He would sit close to the window gazing into through the torn mosquito net, hoping to smell the "real breath of life" and at the same time expecting to see a night flee perching their tiny self on the old dusty hollow net. In the deep gloominess of the young morning, still from the same hole, his eyes peered horribly at the darkness, but sure to say, he saw very nothing coming out from it. He would rub his sleepy eyes with his hand and keep them opened against his resolute neglect of slumber; something his mother has always worried about every moment she beholds his eye bag, "see your eyes, you didn't sleep again today abi. Ah! This boy, you will not kill me o." Even when she complains, and his eyes are conspicuously showing the resultant bags from his sleeplessness, he would still cover for his lack and tease his mother "mama that is how my eyes are. Or have you forgotten that I took after your beautiful eyes?" His mother would chuckle mildly at his silly joke and prepare the merchandise for his venture for that day. Yes, he hawked stuffs for a living!

Now, before all of that, he would rub his eyes again and again until they began to bleed tears- not emotional though. “Let me wash my face, that would help”, he exclaimed. The kitchen was not in the same room they slept in, so he knew that if he wanted to go there, he had to raise his legs a little higher than normal to prevent using his siblings' heads as football when moving; even though football remains his best sport. But he needed no victory or bestowment at that moment, so he moved with great care. He would have to open the noisy door that has been like that for several months. Earlier in the day, the woodsman asked for 3,500 naira man-hour. "Ah, it’s too much oo", his father's lamented. He wasn't worried about the noisy portal so he walked right through it and along a narrow passage ducking when necessary to avoid close lines. Most times he forgets these lines, so his neck bears a soft stigma to that effect. Until he gets to the zinced door that tells him where the kitchen is, he would not stop touching the closed walls that aided is movement along the way. When he finds the kitchen entrance, his hand would reach for the light switch, 'kpam kpam kpam kpam', as the switch goes. "Ah! No light?" The perplexing look on his face was phony, as if to say he wasn't coming from the room where darkness blossomed. Most times he would look at white skinned people on their monochrome television and imagined if coming from a different world where electricity wasn't a big deal is actually real. He only sees white people as white because they come out white on the black and white TV, whether they are coloured or not doesn’t make any difference. He called them oyibos like every other Nigerians would. As a fact, he would argue that the other people who aren’t black in the TV are the coloured people, and not Africans. He was such a controversy to so many people, especially adults. He didn't think that was a problem because he was just being normal.

He was looking for water in the kitchen, so he found the barrel. After he washed his sleepy face with the liquid and tried drinking a little, he still didn't find a reason good enough to explain drinking water at that early hour of the day. He listens to professional rumours that water is so good for the body, especially when one drinks it quite early and eight glasses too. Now, he would argue, "how has water become nutritious, is it food?" Most lessons he got from his Integrated Science Teacher- Mr. Olayinka, he feels, are simply what he (Mr. Olayinka) has been told to tell the pupils. It was not like he (Mr.Olayinka) even knows or believes what he teaches or reads. He would wonder, "If my teacher doesn't believe these stories about water, why does he even teach them anyway?" He then remembers that teachers get paid for talking and writing people's names and addresses in a big blue-covered leaflet note called register. "How pathetic to be a teacher", he would imagine.

Just a sip from the cup, which was the quantity he drinks on such occasions. It wasn't because he thinks water keeps him healthy when taken at that undesirable hour, he just wants to keep calm and enjoy the tranquillity of the juvenile morning. The noticed the floor was cold and sandy, giving way for nocturnal crawlers and sticky insects to come out and do their monkey businesses. His feet were bare, but no one goes into the kitchen barefooted, at least that was their father’s instruction. "Oh, I remember Mama poured some sand in the kitchen yesterday. Ah, no wonder. I can feel the sand on my feet. But why would she even do that?" Yesterday, his mother tried to cover several holes dug by rats and millipedes in the kitchen walls and floor, so she felt sand was the only available and costless adhesive. The rats from the neighbour’s kitchen do come around to steal and befriend the ones in their kitchen; surely the only way to send messages and visit each other is to create channels through those walls. Those holes were really big. 'Sometimes these humans hold meetings to close our doors, let us create an underground tunnel to give us easy passage while they worry about the walls.' Of course, the rats in his place do think like that, especially when stealing and sharing food. His mother knows that even though the covering wasn't effective, it still covered something. So, he tiptoed out of the kitchen, ducked again for the close lines along the passage and entered the room.

His mother seeing him coming back into the room, "did you clean your legs before you entered the house? Shey you know I poured sand on the kitchen floor." His mother was surely awake as a result of the noisy scrunching sound the door made when he went out, and quite aware of whom that was, she didn’t worry to ask. "Yes Mama, I did." His mother, who is already aware of his habitual waking up and staring at the window every morning didn't even bother asking why he was awake and not resting his head like every other person. "Make sure you sleep o. Remember you have to go and sell by 5am." He wonders if there will ever be a time when he will quit hawking and be like every other kid on the block with so much time on their hands; it was not like they do anything with it though, they just play it away. He doesn't play that much, but football has always been his favourite leisure engagement. "Yes Mama, I know." He gave a bright smile in the gloominess, even though his mother has already fallen back to slumber, but it was positive to him, because he needed it to continue his ritual for the day. He tapped his mother at this time, "Mama, I am hungry. Can I take some beans from the remaining one in the pot?" He always does that whenever he is awake; eating and keeping vigil. His mother sometimes wonder if that's one of the reasons he always wakeup that early. "This boy, you are disturbing me oo. You are beginning to form a bad habit. You don't eat when others do, must you wait till this time before you decide to eat. Hmm, I won’t give you again the next time. Did you hear me?" That’s what she said yesterday, that's what she said two days ago, and that’s what would always say. But she can't seem to stop giving him, maybe because he hardly eats like others or because he selects food a lot. His mother would always remind him that they don't have the luxury to meet such selective needs of his at the moment; that he should perhaps select meals when he's able to cater for himself in the future. Who cares, to him, those were sermons from his lovely mother who wouldn’t refuse him any good thing within her reach. Still again, his mother would look for something close to his need and give him, not lending hears to his father, who has always complained about spoiling the children with over-pampering and unnecessary attentions. He (the father) would always say he doesn’t know what to call that.

As usual, he would have to go back to the kitchen for his habitual late night meals, so the process was now a piece of cake. He ate and felt satisfied as typical, and said thank you to his mother who was already snoozing in dreamland. It doesn't matter, he still said it anyway, a custom expected in the house as family courtesy. Whenever he finishes chomping, he would always keep guard for others; looking out for mosquitoes and cockroaches with torch in one hand and a broom in the other. Sometimes he goes as far as slapping his elder brother on the face just to kill a mosquito perched on his (brother's) jaw. Of course, a cry would ensue. They were still young, so who wouldn’t cry at the heat of a slap. “Who slapped me?” He would dodge and pretend to be sleeping until his brother mellows down. While on the floor, he would laugh sheepishly at the reaction of his brother and later continue in his quest. He only does the face-slapping to his brother because, he thinks others wouldn't stand the pain, and Chika was the eldest, so let him have it. They were four in all. "Good for him, he beats me sometimes, so let me slap him small." He would laugh at his gentle revenge, but he was only doing it not to pay an eye for an eye, but to scare the mosquitoes away, as he alleged. Not so good an idea though, he would reflect. Sometimes when his father gets paid his meagre salary from being a civil servant, the entire family would plan the murder of these nocturnal creatures by buying a locally made multi-pest killer. It wasn't as if that was the industry way to eradicate these pests, it was just the local and cost-effective way to follow. “These things were made of petrol, or better still kerosene, how do they kill pests?” he would query. As expected, the product, which only smells of petrol or kerosene would scare these creatures away, only for a while. They sure surfaced again when the coast was clear. That night was a case study.

He was tired but needed to gaze one more time through the net. He was now cold and also needed to sleep, but something tells him to still keep awake, as if to say, something spectacular was about to happen, something that was going to define the shape of dread. Yes, he always listens to himself, so he stayed put. Waiting and still staring, he began to remember stories and tales as told by distant neighbours who live at the other side of the community. Grown children in the neighbourhood would always relate and exaggerate stories of how someone who saw someone who knew someone in the barracks that was a friend to someone whose sister was confronted by a dead person when she came out to urinate. True, everyone there comes out to urinate because the toilet was never in the room, it was in the kitchen. News of how dead people appearing from nowhere and scaring others became a bestseller in the area. He does not always believe those stories, but like most enthusiasts, he would sit and heed, as he likes listening to them for the pleasure of well-crafted scary tales. Surely he was going to hear a different version of the same story elsewhere; maybe the ghost wasn’t actually a male, but a hairy female with white robe. Ghosts sure wear white robes everywhere they go, but that is in the movies though.

His eyes began to fail him as nature called for sleep, but he persisted to defy as usual. He stroked them with his cloth and opened them even wider. Alas! Something then happened. The scare he was waiting for, a gentle pat on his back. With a lurid cry for help “Oh God! Who is that?”

Story Continues...

A short story based on the life event of the writer.

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THE CONSULTANT GOT ROBBED!

2014-08-16T00:40:00.004+01:00

As usual, no sometimes, on a busy Friday morning at the Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout, he is a consultant who always goes to this area for his daily "belle", most times to collect money from his clients or to ask them for more commitments where it seems like they are slagging. Danjuma Drive was he's destination. He talked to Chima, they both smiled anticipating the arrival of their deal. He followed Chima discreetly as he walked behind heading towards the office of the new trainee lady who serves the chief Accountant as his secretary.

In the trainee’s very usually big office, she said to him "abeg oga, sign here for me and write original copy collected by me on the cheque." She was not just saying that like the words have been given to her by her 'oga', the chief accountant, she uttered those words like an enthusiast; as if to say she wants more visitors to come and make same demand so that she can express her training experience. He signed as told by the trainee, signed again for verification, collected his proof of payment and exited her and every business hovering around the office.

Chima was waiting for him to return to his (Chima's) office to repeat again how the emails and quality of the job is of great concern to the MD and how his (Chima’s) reputation is on the line. He nodded in confirmation, and promised to deliver. Good! Money has come.

In a small burst of controlled excitement, he flagged down a 'keke napepe'- Indian made tricycle, and headed for Garrison. On his way up, he removed his first white smartphone from his pocket and called Chika. Chika is his elder brother; they both run the syndicate together. In Pidgin English he spoke to Chika, "Guy how far, the rubis don ready oo, na to start d jab now. I don dey come office, I go halla you when I reach. No wahala na, anyhow." His words were so assuring and firm that in a couple of days, maybe a week, he was sure to have finished the job and delivered before time, waiting for his final recompense.

Despite his muted Gionee, the second smartphone he has bought for the year, not to mention the smartphone gift from his mother’s brother, the beeping sound of the Gionee battery alerted him of an incoming call from his Sweetness, Pinky. He does not fail on any passing day to let her know how she's been loved and cherished like no other. They spoke for a few second, hoping to freshen the dose of their love for that morning. The afternoon also shares in the bonding of him and his Pinky, and the evening never fails to place the icing on their "love cake." Their bond has always being a creative passion and a likeable union. He really loves her. He will always tell her how she's the only "Brazil in his World Cup” and how she's going to wear his corporate shirts and never let him go to work at the most adventurous moment of the day. The network communications in Nigeria are always concerned about corporate political competitions and not quality service comparisons. These have never failed to be a “norm” topic, especially amongst the 'waka waka' class in the country. Because of this poor Nigerian network palaver, he and Pinky could not talk love; they could only say greetings that were not common with lovers. Beautiful love, Bad network!

Back to his way up to Garrison. He looked at his dying phone and slides it back into his pocket. The taxi man continued driving to their destination. He gazed through the cracked window of the Madza cab and appreciated the exotic appearances of living and non-living things alike. The sun shun so well, showy housewives and unmarried menopause women with sun shades in their exotic Ranges and Rovers drove and winked at him as if to say "you should be enjoying in here with us and not in that crappy ‘kabu kabu’; (as Lagosians would normally call a crappy car used for taxi)." The sweet swaying breeze of the afternoon splashed his punk hair, alerting him to wind up a little and re-comb it the 1000th times. On intervals, he would chuckle to the fulfilment of family and love, good radian and undeserved kindness of God, he imagined.

Criminal Disaster! Next to him in the cab was a Port Harcourt "area boy" with crime oozing from his restlessness. Ebola was the talk of the nation, gaining more popularity than the 2-system political party in the country. They say the virus comes even by the slightest contact. He wasn't sure how true that was for a warning, but he sure wasn't going to let his quest for in-depth knowledge become a reason for Ebola mistaken him for 'Patrick Sawyer.' So he avoided body contacts with the next fellow at every prize. Unknowing to him, the fellow he was supposedly avoiding body contacts with in the name of 'Ebola', was on his own planning the crime of the moment, the theft from a Consultant.

Everyone in the taxi headed to the same Garrison, whether short or long cut, as it was popularly called. Traffic was friendly, very unlikely of a warm mid-Friday in Trans-Amadi road. No clue on what is to happen next as everyone anticipated the arrival to Garrison. Suddenly, in the middle of the mild moving traffic, the fellow sitting next to him made an impromptu decision and said "driver I wan drop here". The criminally smelly fellow rushed out of the car like his life depended on his exit from it. He disappeared into the mixed crowd. The thief was gone! Who would tell he was a crime lord in the pick pocket act, not even the Mentalist can decipher his cold crime. It was stealth-mode and quick. Crime is smart, I must say.

Without worries, everything seemed OK, promising and intact. He (the consultant) was going to call Pinky and relay the sweet news, “Am coming home.” Happily, he walked hurriedly to meet with Chika who was also headed to his office. It was a great flaw on his part, he always forgets. He lamented in Pidgin English "Oh my God, where is my phone eh... Where my phone dey? Ah, I don f**up! My phone don loss. Where is my other phone?"… He picked his other smartphone, dialed his number, and the lady on the other side that always speaks without consideration said, “the number you have dialed is switched off.”

The Consultant has been robbed.

A true life event.

Written and Experienced By:
Rex AZ

HOW TO PRACTICALLY ACHIEVE YOUR RESOLUTIONS IN 2014 AND YEARS TO COME

2013-12-31T16:22:00.001+01:00

Hi guys. I know its been like ages since I made my last post. My schedule has been so stiff-necked that I can not even make any preferential not to talk of sentimental adjustments. I sincerely apologize for that. So since its the last day of the year (31st December, 2013) in my country as at the time of writing this, I figured its best I crown my blogging milestone for the year with a piece of suggestions and advices.

Now, some people might wonder why I don't focus on a single subject line of blogging instead of writing 'hazardously' as a critic friend of mine would call it. Well, the truth of the matter is, I am flexible and unstable when it comes to intellectual contents. I just love what interests me and what works. So it doesn't matter what subject line it belongs, I will write about it if I have concrete facts.

Now to the reason for this piece. I got this memo from my professor in my online learning class. He was talking about 'new year resolutions' and all that. So I figured let me make a post and see how it will affect my online community.

THE EXTRACT

So the year 2013 is coming to an end and you’re already thinking about all your New Year’s Resolutions and what you want to achieve in 2014. You want to quit smoking, lose weight and stay fit and trendy, or do that degree programme you have so long had in mind. But after the initial motivational morale of the first 2-3 weeks in January wears off, you start bailing on yourself and the day-to-day struggle with discipline kicks in. In February, you are back to normal, eating a big fat bugger sandwich with an alarming calorie rate on the subway, drinking that fully sugar-made juice or soda fluid, and you “simply don’t have the time” for studying. Hmm!... the real you has just resumed from where you stopped.

If you want your 2014 to be more successful than 2013, read on and share this with your friends!

There are 7 key steps, or you could call it guides, to follow if you really want to record success in your years ahead. They are in this particular other:

Analyze

Having a look back over the past year is the first step to making 2014 a success. Take out a piece of paper and write down what you achieved and what wasn’t so good about 2013. By doing that, you not only get a feeling of achievement, but you will also have a clear blueprint for judging how well 2014 went when the year ends.

Decide

After analyzing the previous year, it’s time to decide what you want to improve in 2014. Be sure not to burden yourself with too many ambitious goals. The common saying that "jack of all trade, master of none" is truly operational in the lives of any who seek to achieve everything at once. Hardly Possible! So, It is more likely that you will achieve your goals if you concentrate on 2-3 goals, rather than wanting to change everything about you at once.

Be specific

Get specific! To say you “want to work out more” or “learn a language” doesn’t cut it. You need to be specific. For example, try saying you will “work out 3 times a week and lose 5 kilos by February 15.” Or I will read a language text 15minutes everyday. See wether you won't make any headways.

Act

Writing down what you want to achieve is only half the battle. Now you actually need to follow through. Start by taking small steps to get you warmed up. Instead of thinking you will never understand how to communicate in German language, start by taking the first unit of the course. That's a milestone on its own.

Keep Track

After an initial motivational high or morale you will notice your drive deplete. To keep you in the game, track your achievements. You can either write it on a piece of paper or use a digital app (i.e. Evernote, Lift or Chains) on your computer or smartphone. Most of us are at least bestowed with one, if not several of these gadgets nowadays. By keeping track of your achievements, you will see that even if it doesn’t feel like it, you are actually making progress!

Do Not Quit

If it happens that you slip and leave out a planned routine, maybe a workout session, don’t quit! It’s not over yet and it is perfectly normal to feel like you need to bail from time to time. The only thing that counts is that you get back at it. So dust yourself off and get back on the horse, because as they say, “Quitters never win and winners never quit”!

Share with Friends

To get some leverage, tell your friends about your plans! Even better, ask them to follow your example and write down their goals for 2014. Then you can support each other in the hard times (and knowing fully well that there will certainly be a few!) and celebrate the successes! Just forward this post.

I am 100% sure that you won’t fail if you follow the guide to achieving your goals in 2014 and even the subsequent years ahead! And if you want educate yourself in 2014, take a look into short term diploma courses online (Alison.com) or a university-like education (follow this links Story Telling- https://iversity.org/c/6?r=b143a, Designs- https://iversity.org/c/2?r=b143a, Monte Carlo Finance Methods- https://iversity.org/c/3?r=b143a, The Fascination of Crystals and Symmetry https://iversity.org/c/4?r=b143a, Public Privacy: Cyber Security and Human Rights- https://iversity.org/c/28?r=b143a, and a host of so many other exciting courses) which is totally free and well recognized and with standard certifications, like I have done. That way, at least you’ll finish off the year a bit smarter, and intellectually better than you were last year. Its not like you can't do anything better than that.

Please tell me what you think by dropping your comments.

Technically, Is a CV Different From a Résumé?

2013-11-02T01:24:00.001+01:00

A simple and straight to the point answer is an emphatic YES! It may sound so strange to some people that I am saying this, but it is actually true. There is more than quite a thin line between Curriculum Vitae (popularly called a CV) and a Resume. Let’s find out how. Read on...

What is a Curriculum Vitae?

According to a well-placed online authority in the area of concept definitions, Wikipedia states, and I quote "A curriculum vitae (CV) provides an overview of a person's experience and other qualifications." According to another online source, "if a job advertisement asks for a CV, that’s a hint that the employer expects a great deal of life experience and accomplishments, including education, original research, presentations you’ve given and papers or books you’ve had published."

But in a much more specific flow of content, a CV is an expansive and holistic breakdown of who you are and what you have achieved ever since you were born until date. It is common in academic or development positions like teaching, lecturing instructing, writing and researching, but may also be suited to other jobs in government agencies and programs.

CV Description

Imagine a Curriculum Vitae as a memoir, often consuming up to ten solid pages conditional on your experiences and achievements. It is typical for academic loci in higher edification such as college and university teaching positions. Research-exhaustive positions may also expect candidates to submit a CV. It’s not just for careers, however; if you are applying for an internship and have a great deal of experience and accomplishments, you might want to outline them in a CV. This is also factual for fellowship and scholarship applications.

What is a Résumé?

Still according to the reliable Wikipedia.com website, "A résumé also spelled 'resumé' or 'resume', is a document used by persons to present their backgrounds and skills. Résumés can be used for a variety of reasons, but most often they are used to secure new employment. A typical résumé contains a summary of relevant job experience and education. A résumé is a marketing tool in which the content should be adapted to suit each individual job application and/or applications aimed at a particular industry. The résumé is comparable to a curriculum vitae (CV) in many countries. However, it is substantially shorter than a CV in English Canada, the U.S. and Australia. For most jobs a résumé is adequate.

Résumé DescriptionWhat this means exactly is that you use resumes to apply to specific jobs based on the required skills and experiences needed for that job only. Some details like publications and certain achievements are not applicable to resumes. And a resume is always shorter than a CV, no ore than a one page document, with clear headings.

Résumé Vs. CV

Unlike a CV, a résumé is typically one to two pages long and is formatted so a prospective employer can read it quickly. It is very common for all non-academic job seekers, presenting both your work experience and education. If you are a recent college graduate, include a good grade point average and details about any internship. You can list your most recent job first; highlight skills required by a particular job; or use a combination of both. You can also include volunteer positions, particularly if you are a new applicant or have had employment gaps.

Below is a table of comparison I have drawn to show the difference between a CV and a resume.

	Resume	Curriculum Vitae
Origin	French “to Summerize”	Latin “Life’s Course”
Pages	1-2 page	Several pages or more
Contents	Tailored to Specific Job Description	A biography of an individual
Industry	Technical and Commercial	Research and Education
Purpose	Job Application	Academic/Research purpose
Goal	Describe accomplishments briefly; leaving out extra details	Describe accomplishments with great detail; focus on how these relate to career plans
Details	Contact info; objective (e.g., obtain a job in…); work history; skills and qualifications	Contact info; education history; work history (as it relates to career development); research accomplishments/skills; awards/ scholarships; volunteer work/community service
Miscellaneous Purpose	Official	Personal

One Thing to take note of is that, both CV and résumé include the person's name, contact information, education, work experience and relevant work-related skills.

You probably may wonder why lots of people do not even get shortlisted for a job test or interview... a reason not farfetched I would say, taking CV to be a resume.

I hope these have been helpful to someone out there, and i want to thank you for dropping by my blog. Please don't forget to leave your comment at the end of the page.

A Simple Way to Compare Two Date Inputs Using JavaScript

2013-10-23T16:03:00.004+01:00

A very sweet girlfriend of mine, who is also into programming and other juicy IT packages, asked me to write a validation function for her company website. Aside from checking textboxes for empty strings and wrong data on the site, the function is also meant to do a comparison of 2 date inputs- date of birth and graduation date.

Ordinarily, if restrictions are not set during the design of web components on online applications, some site users can be so careless and annoying. Some persons might just want to test for the efficiency and validity of your site by entering conflicting data. Now, how would you handle all of those junks in the form of data if not for the help of validations? I presume much work for your database administrator, if you ask m.

So, it is so good a program practice, to create certain functions that will curb these malicious and frivolous data from your users. Pardon me if am being too crude here, its just how tidious site users has made our work as programmers to become.
Anyway, I am going to show you how to write a simple function into your HTML form (its actually a javascript code), that will check for, validate and compare certain data types and inputs from your users. My case study here is the date data type.

THE HTML FUNCTION

The first thing you are going to do is to create a simple HTML form. So, I am going to write a simple code for that, assuming you do not know how to.
Just fire up your favourite text editor, notepad or notepad++... I use the later because its so programmer friendly (code highlighting and specific language library, don't ask.)

So, here is the code you will use to create the HTML form:

<html>
          <head>
                    <title>Date Validation</title>
<h1>Date Validation Using Javascript</h1>
          </head>
<body>
<form action="url" id="dateForm" onsubmit="return CheckEndDate()">
                   Date of Birth: <br>
                       <input type="date" id="Start" /><br>
                       <br>
                   Date of Graduation: <br>
                       <input type="date" id="End" /><br>
                       --------------------------<br>
                   <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
                   <input type="reset" value="Reset" />
               </form>
</body>
</html>

For those familiar with the jargons I wrote above, you will understand that i just created a web form with two inputs and two event objects, a submit and a reset button. And if you noticed, the data type for the inputs are both date types. I did this so the users wont have to start typing wrong date formats. For some browsers like chrome and safari, the UI calender widget will pop out on clicking the boxes.

THE JAVASCRIPT DATE COMPARISON

Now, I am going to show you the next thing to do, which is to write a function for the date validations and comparison.
For corresspondence, just copy and paste the below code inbetween the head tag of your HTML form.

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

                function CheckEndDate()
                {

                    Start=dateForm.Start.value;
                    if (Start=="" || Start==null){
                        alert ("Date of Birth cannot be empty");
                        dateForm.Start.focus();
                        return false;
                    }

                    // checking for wrong date of birth
                    var today= new Date();
                    if (Start == today){
                        alert("Are you supposed to be born today?... Use your head oo.");
                        dateForm.Start.focus();
                        return false;
                    }

                    //checking for empty graduation date text box
                    End=dateForm.End.value;
                    if (End=="" || End==null){
                        alert ("Graduation Year cannot be empty");
                        dateForm.End.focus();
                        return false;
                    }
                    //comparing both dates
                    var db_UTC = new Date(79,5,24); //this method converts the values to date for DOB
                    var gr_UTC = new Date(79,5,24);// this method converts the values to date for grad year
                    // converting dates to millisecond
                    db_UTC = Date.UTC( db_UTC.getFullYear (), db_UTC.getMonth(), db_UTC.getDate(),0,0,0,0);
                    gr_UTC = Date.UTC( gr_UTC.getFullYear (), gr_UTC.getMonth(), gr_UTC.getDate(),0,0,0,0);

                    //first comparison: logical checking
                    if (db_UTC > gr_UTC){
                        alert("Oops!... Date of Graduation cannot be less than date of birth")
                        return false;
                    }
                    //second comparison: equality checking
                    else if (db_UTC == gr_UTC){
                        alert("Hmm... you no you can not graduate the same day you were born na. Haba!");
                        return false;
                    }


                }

</script>

if you have done this properly, you should have this out put:

<html>
<title> Date Validations With JavaScript</title>
    <head>
            <h1 align="center">Date Validations With JavaScript</h1><hr>
            <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

                function CheckEndDate()
                {

                    Start=dateForm.Start.value;
                    if (Start=="" || Start==null){
                        alert ("Date of Birth cannot be empty");
                        dateForm.Start.focus();
                        return false;
                    }

                    // checking for wrong date of birth
                    var today= new Date();
                    if (Start == today){
                        alert("Are you supposed to be born today?... Use your head oo.");
                        dateForm.Start.focus();
                        return false;
                    }

                    //checking for empty graduation date text box
                    End=dateForm.End.value;
                    if (End=="" || End==null){
                        alert ("Graduation Year cannot be empty");
                        dateForm.End.focus();
                        return false;
                    }
                    //comparing both dates
                    var db_UTC = new Date(79,5,24); //this method converts the values to date for DOB
                    var gr_UTC = new Date(79,5,24);// this method converts the values to date for grad year
                    // converting dates to millisecond
                    db_UTC = Date.UTC( db_UTC.getFullYear (), db_UTC.getMonth(), db_UTC.getDate(),0,0,0,0);
                    gr_UTC = Date.UTC( gr_UTC.getFullYear (), gr_UTC.getMonth(), gr_UTC.getDate(),0,0,0,0);

                    //first comparison: logical checking
                    if (db_UTC > gr_UTC){
                        alert("Oops!... Date of Graduation cannot be less than date of birth")
                        return false;
                    }
                    //second comparison: equality checking
                    else if (db_UTC == gr_UTC){
                        alert("Hmm... you no you can not graduate the same day you were born na. Haba!");
                        return false;
                    }


                }

            </script>
    </head>
    <body>

                <form action="url" id="dateForm" onsubmit="return CheckEndDate()">
                    Date of Birth: <br>
                        <input type="date" id="Start" /><br>
                        <br>
                    Date of Graduation: <br>
                        <input type="date" id="End" /><br>
                        --------------------------<br>
                    <input type="submit" value="Submit" />
                    <input type="reset" value="Reset" />
                </form>
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

Samsung! But Why BBM?

2013-09-21T12:13:00.000+01:00

Do you know starting from today September 21st 2013, Android powered Samsung phones will start using Blackberry Messenger, popularly known as BBM? This app which was exclusive made for blackberry users to rock and flex with on their BB phones, has been officially cloned to work in Samsung phones, for Samsung Phones, and by Samsung themselves. This is a disaster to RIM I must say. By the way, in case you want to know what RIM is, it stands for Research In Motion, the manufacturers of all blackberry phones. Maybe other Android powered phones from upcoming and mainstream manufacturers may follow suit and do further damage, that is if it hasn't been done already. Very incredibly competitive. That is a fact!

Just yesterday, the big guy of Samsung representing the African market announced that Samsung mobile devices can now download and use the ever exquisite BBM on their android mobile devices. And not to mention the sugar-coating way he said it, "Samsung mobile users in Africa will now be connected for real". As if they weren't connected earlier. The funny thing is, they can ping not just with Samsung phones alone, but also with Blackberry users as well. For android users, just download and install the app from Google Play- That's it. Oh, what an ego drop for BB users!

For so many users of Blackberry phones, especially my beautiful Nigerian people, the Blackberry Messenger is one major reason why an average person who lives barely on 10 dollars a day, would want to stay online and connected with friends and families. And for these people, if you don't have the BB, as it is often called, you are not happening. Well, I guess all of that is going to change now when people with Android phones begin to PING! Not to talk of the sophistication and dimensional fancies that always come along with almost every android powered Samsung phones. From the publicity this event is getting, I am thinking that blackberry phones may soon be a phone once talked about.

As a user of the famous BB and a geek developer of apps, I feel quite excited and technological alive to witness a turnaround in the history of software technology. And with the introduction of the latest RIM brand, the blackberry Z30- a state-of-the-art mobile device, I wonder how the market is going to fair for this guys. This is really a face-off for the entire blackberry community. So sad!

But that does not mean blackberry phones are still not up for sale oo. Just watch out for your neighbour putting out is latest Q10 for auction, lol!

Thanks for stopping by.

Rex

The List, The Diss- The New Face of Nigeria's Rap Industry

2013-09-12T03:07:00.001+01:00

This is really interesting I must say. You might wonder what am talking about. Just hang on there, I will divulge that to you in a moment.

Well, this is somehow outside what I really put up on this blog, but I couldn't help but express how I have been feeling over the last 3 days or so on the present situation of the glamorous and rap-battle atmosphere that is being created by the top-niche MCs and rap musicians in Nigeria. Trust me, It has being very exciting and most defensibly alive in the rap arena. Who would know that we are blessed with bunch of talented and beat-killing rappers in Nigeria. And from the quick response of this rap lords, I have high hopes that our rap music is going to take a totally different dimension, maybe a 3D formation or something. Let me just go straight to the point!

If you are a Nigerian and you are quite glorified by rap culture, you probably would have heard or read about the latest upheaval concerning a 'certain list' of the most celebrated top 10 rap kings and MCs rocking the Nigerian music industry. This list was published on a website, by the website owner (I guess) and so much dust have been raised from different angles, both from musicians and non alike. Popular rap lyricists you've probably seen on your display screens or heard on your sound devices sure made the list. The likes of Mr. Incredible (M.I), Ice Prince, Mode9, Olamide and of course Vector tha viper made the list of 9ja's 10 most gifted rappers in no particular order of mine. Am not going to tell you everybody on the list, if you want to know just Google it. I didn't put it there.

Now, this is why am writing this piece.

After seeing this very shocking list, some rappers who feel they are a bundle of gifts on their own, became unimpressed and with total dexterity, decided to lash out on the artiste that made the list and to also do what foreign MCs call ' A DISS'. We call it yabing in Nigeria.
But frankly speaking, the diss this list is creating is becoming awesome. Let me tell you why.

Personally, rap music is one of my favourite genre of songs especially when it contains powerful makeups of lyrics that tell any story, sick punch lines, steady rhyme pickers, and beats that strike a balance. In fact I love hip-hop. If you are a fan of Dr. Dre, Notorious BIG, 2pac Shakur, 50cent and Eminem, you will understand that this guys are the epitome of rap music, to me, no list.

Just yesterday, September 11th, I downloaded a song from my friend's naijamp3s.com website. The song was titled 'The List' by a guy named 'Rukus' signed by eldee's Trybes Record. Trust me, I've never heard of this guy before in my life. Who cares, all I wanted to listen to was the song. Hmmm...! I don't even know how to say this but I was 'caught in a tightrope' listening to this talented lyricist. Rukus or whatever he named himself, is a pack of talent. I fell in love with his compositions. Wow! I was outrageously flabbergasted. Just imagine what this list has caused... Something good and beautiful. Rukus is an epitome of my 9ja kind of rapper. He just knows how to balance his lines and set his tempo. And from what I read, he 'freestyled' the track and did it in a day or so after the list was published. I couldn't stop listening to this guy's vibes. He said he was the doppest rapper and better than everyone on the list, well I may be forced to agree with him on that. If you are on a parallel line on this matter, don't just waste anytime. Quickly enter studio and spit something, after all he said he was waiting for a reply from those he dissed. Ha!.. very funny.

Other disses have been spreading too. I heard some from Sauce Kid to Godwon, vice versa. Well, if that's what will bring out the creativeness and originality in our MCs, then let 'THE DISS WAR BEGIN'. Its not like am supporting anybody to punch someone's jaw here oo. Just do it vocally, lyrically and by the sounds of creative beats.

Now, if you ask me, not that it is any of my business, but I will have to say that I am not cool with that list. Its not just ok for me. wink!

So, as a lover of rap music and its agents, let me give you my own 10 most favoured and doppest rappers in Nigeria. I mean, have you guys even heard Phenom rap? He murders and resurrects rap like an ordained rap messiah. Same as Rukus. Anyway, no too much talk again. my list is as follows:

1. Rukus: (Don't hate him, his just so good. He made me love 'diss tapes'.)
2. Olamide: (This guy is fast and playful. his stories breaks and repairs themselves. He's so natural)
3. Phenom: (He showed how captivating rap can be in his duo with olamide in The Game. So sick!)
4. Terry Tha Rapman: (Electrifying and a well composed personality. His raps is just soothing.)
5. Ruggedman: (A Rapper with proven blend of lyrical rhymes with pure beats. Can't take that off him)
6. Mode 9: (Here's our very own twista. This guy holds your down as a rap genius. He spits fire. His mode is pure.)
7. Phyno: (I don't know anyone who can spit fire the way this guy does in his language. Natural MC)
8. M.I: (A rapper with an international style. He brings rap to us the way its done overs.)
9. Vector: (Strong punch lines with much pride and dexterity to explode. Powerful Vector.)
10. Eva: (Very few ladies wanna rap, And she's a sensational rap queen in Nigeria. Kudos)

The list above is based on consistency in the game, lyrical compositions, beat balance, sick rhymes and originality.

Everybody has a right to their own view, its a blog, so if my views hot, there's the comment link bellow. Say it!

POWERPOINT: THE EASIEST WAY TO GO ABOUT IT

2013-08-27T19:17:00.002+01:00

Intro:

My friend actually requested this tutorial, so I felt it could probably serve a good purpose for those whose knowledge of Microsoft PowerPoint is still limited to just its name. So without further excitement, let us get going.

What is Microsoft PowerPoint?

This is simply an application that is used to make slideshows or presentations for pictures and texts. It is one of the applications that are packaged with the Microsoft Office suite. The version of this product is dependent on the release of any new office suite. So, at the time of writing this article, the Microsoft office 2013 version is the most stable and functional suite.

What You Do With Microsoft PowerPoint

As powerful as it may sound, PowerPoint can be used for the following:

· To create superb and eye-catchy presentations with text, graphics, photos, video, animation, and much more.

· You can then deliver your presentation in person, present it over the web, or share the PowerPoint files with people.

· You can also design customized logos using advanced features. (not recommended)

Requirements

Ok, we are making progress!

Now, it is expected that you satisfy some pre-requisites before you begin this precise PowerPoint process. Let us work with the minimum requirements below:

· Computer/Laptop: Anyone will do.

· Operating Systems: Windows Xp/Vista/7 or 8

· Package: Microsoft Office PowerPoint

· Version: 2007/2010 or 2013

· Computer Know-How: Basic

· And please do have enough pictures on your computer so we could work with multimedia files (like; images, audio, videos and animations).

Time to Kill Ali-Baba

At this moment you are going to get busy with Microsoft Office PowerPoint and setup real slides and presentations. This is what I mean by killing alibaba. So we are going to assume you have satisfied the requirements above. If you haven’t, go back now.
Note: These notes are going to be in phases. So don’t expect to learn everything in one go. It’s not done.

Get Started:

The following are the objectives to achieve at the end of this lesson

1. You should be able to create and save a blank PowerPoint presentation

2. You should be able to create slides and add texts

3. Insert objects (such as text, images) in your slides and run it.

CREATING AND SAVING YOUR PRESENTATION

From my instance, I am using Microsoft PowerPoint 2010. So if you have the same version, good for you. But this tutorial applies to the 2007, 2010 and 2013 PowerPoint versions. No sweats.

Let’s begin.

Now open PowerPoint from your system. I don’t think I need to teach you how to do that, do I?

The first page you should see (if you’ve not done any tampering) is the one shown below:

The window above shows the first page you will see when you open PowerPoint. By default, the ‘Blank presentation’ has been highlighted for you to begin with.

Other objects you are seeing on the screen are several templates you could work with on PowerPoint. So at this point, you should ignore these templates and go straight to the right corner of this open window and click on the ‘create’ button.

When you click the ‘create’ button, the next window that should appear(under normal condition) is the one shown below.

This is the main document window of PowerPoint. I call it the workspace. So before we go any further, you should save your presentation, even though it’s still blank. Saving your document at this early stage is useful and necessary for safe caution (applicable to those of you using laptops with dead batteries and desktops without UPS), and for easy ctrl and s saving shortcuts.

So, let’s save our document. Press ctrl and s on your keyboard and choose a name for your document. In our case, am naming it Lesson1. Just look at the screenshot below to help you.

When you click save, the document should change from ‘presentation1’ to ‘Lesson1’ on the title bar (details on the title bar is explained next).

Congratulations, you have successfully created and saved your first PowerPoint presentation. Yes of course, I know it is empty but not to worry; you shall populate it with contents soon.

Let’s Move on.

CREATING SLIDES

By default, when you open PowerPoint, Microsoft has generously set up a slide with sample objects for you to work with. Though this does not do much, but it is a good way to start. The screen shot below explains the various section of the PowerPoint window.

Let’s explain the screenshots above.

Title Bar: this holds the name of the PowerPoint document you are currently working with. The red colour does not apply to the lesson; it’s just a sign that I have not taken time to activate my office product.

Tabbed-tool Bars: The word tabbed in this context, is an indication of having hanging separate contents in one window or frame, as the case may be. So, the tabbed-tool bars are the toolbars you are seeing with separate labels (e.g. Home, Insert, Design, etc.) flowing across beneath the title bar of the window.
Microsoft has decided to use this design framework to reduce package size and easy accessibility of tools and features.

Current Slide: This is the thumbnail view of the slide you are presently working with on the workspace. The number of slides increases as you had or create more of it.

Slide Panel: This is where all the slides in your PowerPoint presentation rest. The slide panel increases in length as your slides multiplies.

Workspace: This is where your work begins and most of where your concentrations will be.

We are progressing. Now, let us do something fun. We are going to do a simple text presentation about animals.

Follow these steps:

1. Click on the first box in the workspace that says ‘Click to add Title’. Type this title “All about Animals”. You can type anything if you like, but just behave yourself and follow my instructions.

2. Click on the second box that says ‘click to add Subtitle’ and type your name.

3. When you are done, press f₅on your keyboard to run your slide in full screen mode. For those of you that may have the HP series, you might want to press fn (the key after ctrl at the bottom left corner on your keyboard) before pressing f_5.

Congratulations again, you have just created your first PowerPoint slide.

Now let us add interesting contents about animals. The next thing you will do is to create more slides, and you will do that in the slide panel.

Next Step: right-click on the slide panel and click on New Slide. This will create another plain document on the slide panel.

Next step: Click on the ‘add title’ as you did earlier and add “Animal Overview”.

Before you move any further, you will see 6 faint looking icons in the middle of the second box. These were placed by Microsoft to help you easily insert tables, charts, smart arts, pictures, clip arts and videos respectively.

Next Step: click to add text, and start adding bullet points about animals. Press enter on every point you have finished typing.

Next Step: Now let us add a visual content to this presentation. Create a new slide and click on the title and add “Images of different Animals.”

Next Step: click on the picture icon in the slide workspace, as circled above and select pictures in your computer directory. In my case, I have selected 3 funny pictures of animals, a human inclusive.

Next step: run the presentation by pressing f5 or fn+f5 (for certain computer keyboards). Now we have more than 1 slide in your presentation. Since we haven’t done some auto-settings yet, we will have to move the contents ourselves. Just press the navigation buttons on your keyboard to move between forward and backward.

If you have followed the instructions correctly, you presentation should be something close to what is shown below:

First Slide:
Showing the Title of my presentation

Second Slide:
Showing the overview of my content on the second page.

Third Slide:
Showing graphic images of my content.

Please note that you quit the full screen presentation at any time any pressing the escape (‘esc’) key on your keyboard.

Summary:

· We have been able to create and save PowerPoint presentations.

· We also figured out the tool bars on the PowerPoint window and workspace

· We created slides and inserted contents into it. And finally,

· We ran our presentation in full screen mode.

In our next lesson, you will learn how to add transitions and animations to your presentation.

Do not forget to tell me what you think about this, and to subscribe to this blog to be kept on the loop as new information comes in.

How to Resolve Forbidden Localhost WAMP Server Problem on Windows 8

2013-08-25T13:09:00.002+01:00

Localhost Forbidden. You do not have permission to access this server.

Introduction:

As a computer enthusiast and a heuristic problem analyst, I try to see and device every feasible way to proffer solutions to any problem that may surface, especially when it has to do with me and my computer problems.

Anyway, without further ado, I am going to stop blabbing and go straight into the reason why you are here reading this blog. This was a personal problem I faced while working on a web application on my demo localhost server. And as I praised myself earlier, I solved it still with my laptop specifications and server settings. So, you might want to follow the exact instructions on this page for a near 100% result.

Problem:

At this point you have installed WAMP on your personal computer and you are trying to access the index.php (i.e. the start or welcome page) of WAMP through a browser on your system using the regular URL we all know http://localhost, and you are faced with the annoying FORBIDDEN message as shown on the screenshot below: Read on...

CLOUD MONEY

2013-08-12T02:48:00.001+01:00

Before now, I was no fan of online venture because I saw it as a complete waste of time and an unrealistic approach to working for money. I have been referred severally and encouraged on spending my time and "bandwidth money" on online businesses. Most times when am online, I would take a quick glance at what this internet business have to offer, but I get put off by either the method or the compensation plan.

Well, this notion of mine did not last for long before I got engrossed in what I call the biggest and coolest money making arena in our world today- Cloud Money. Read on...

The Reporter

2012-11-20T11:11:00.001+01:00

In the context of today's info-rigid world, the reporter is vehemently described as the professional that is in charge of bad news. He is an independent professional that equips himself with all the necessary tools a reporter would need to bring the ugly realities of life to his audience.

The reporter represents the hard truth and he never compromises real and genuine facts. This character gives him an edge on future stories and occurrences. Because of his graceful and unbiased mode of writing, he is quite remembered by his audience when he passes on.

Reporting in journalism is said to have its origin in the 19th century due to the birth of global media organisations that placed reporters on the high level of their preferential scales.
Reporters have a very strong and influential force on the people, such that their works can go as far as bringing down a highly, self-rated and corrupt politician to justice.
He is seen as a watchdog that is always there on time to sniff out bad and implicating "smells" from the political and moral society of his audience.

In the news organisation, reporters are the newsmen and newswomen on our streets gathering facts and figures. They are also the editors in the newsroom that are ever busy and ready to publish the raw truths, irrespective of whatever consequences that lies ahead. In a sense, it can be logical to say that reporters are so allergic to not proclaiming the truth, that they can choke if the fail to pass it on to the audience.

The reporter have been elevated and accorded several prominent positions in the society, positions that are even greater than royalty.
As a way of contrast to the political ruler, a reporter sees public interest as his essence of craftsmanship or professionalism. He checks his own interest to make sure it does not conflict with public interest or the harsh realities of truth. He is seen as someone who spots for mistake in the political arena, and he is so hated for that. Despite the way he is being despised, he never relents in making sure that the conscience of the people is aroused to see not just the fact about public officers, but also the ‘gospel truth' in the government, with his reports.

A reporter can bring stories to the people either by pen and notepad or by captured images. A reporter that does the latter is said to be a photo reporter. A photo reporter leverages the advantages of conveying information through pictures by using his photo capturing device to gather images of people, events and places, which goes a long way to spark up the sensual desires of his audience. He knows that a single photo can speak louder than several logical words put together, and it is timeless and it varnishes distance.

Despite the provocative and illustrative goodness of photo news, a photo reporter may promote meanness and upset his audience with his photo stories if negatively used. That is why I regard photo stories as ‘coloured exhibit'.

Nonetheless, the different approaches to news has really made reporting worth the while. A reporter (either pen, photo or comic) is known and identified as a good news person if he is enthusiastic, intuitive, relentless or aggressive in acquiring news, easy to talk to, curious to know and find out stories, strikes a balance in his process of gathering stories, patient, longsuffering, friendly, reliable and punctual at events. He should also be responsible by not bending the truth about a story, be a good writer and communicator, avoid ‘axe grinding' a person, time-conscious, desirable for facts and also be as accurate as possible while reporting.

He also is expected to be versatile in different areas of study, avoid taboos in writing, verifies rumours before publishing, a good answer seeker and a person that knows what can make a news. Reporters are really seen as very important people because of their inevitable role in the society.
The newsroom is one place in the media house that you find reporters that are yet to take an organised pattern of doing things in the media profession. With the disorganised sets of gadgets and writing materials littered on the table, a stranger will see the newsroom as no different from a place where madmen and madwomen operate.

There are several segments or stands in the newsroom. A table holding all kinds of recording equipment and newspapers stand out as the desk of the news editor. He sits and collects on-the-spot stories from a reporter that operates the central radio. The reporters simply stays in the same room with the editor to allow him call for anyone he may need for certain issues.
A copy reader also has a desk close to the news editor in the newsroom. He simply buries his head in stacks of rewritten scripts, and he signals the attention of a reporter when needed.
No doubt, the chaos in the newsroom makes it uncomfortable for people who are no time wasters.

HOW TO INSERT DATA INTO SQL DATABASE USING VB.NET 2008/2010/2012

2012-10-15T19:13:00.008+01:00

Listen People... let me give you a simple and clear way to do this. With enough research, I have come to understand that there are several ways to insert data into a database table, be it MS Sql, Access, Oracle or the likes.

But right here, am going to show you just how to simply go about this function using VB.net 2008, 2010 or 2012 (which am actually using now). Read on...

Examining Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory in Relations to Vocational Choice and Its Implication to Counselling

2012-10-15T18:52:00.007+01:00

ABSTRACT:

The article has invariably showed the essence as to why the negatively viewed aspect of man can inevitably distort his quest in making right decisions as regards his vocational choice. Sigmund Freud never looked at the nature of man in the positive direction. Instead, he saw that the way man uses the id component, has adversely influenced the right and proper adjustment of his inward being, using the ego to say he is justified for doing wrong and thus, making reality a case of cruelty.

INTRODUCTION

Sigmund Freud, a Viennese physician during the period of 1890 to 1939, propounded the psychoanalytic theory. Freud, who was trained as a physician and early in his career, hoped that psychological disorders could be reduced to related brain impairments. But because of the neuroscience of his days, which was in an under-developed stage, to aid his research, Freud turned instead to psychology to explain disordered behaviour and mental activity.

BELIEFS AND VIEWS OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

The psychoanalytic theory holds the view that man is evil, that the thoughts of man are wicked, man is illogical and irrational, the mentality of man is unhealthy and therefore man is prone to making wrong decisions. Read on...

NYSC BATCH A 2012- CORPER OF THE YEAR.flv

2012-04-19T01:33:00.001+01:00

Welcome to Rexyspy's Experience

2012-04-19T01:05:00.000+01:00

Hey people, Welcome...

For reading this texts, you have browsed to the right place on the blogging world. I will make sure your blogging experience is never an untold one.

Just make sure you visit this blog often.... and I mean, often. All the information you'll ever need in any facet of human endeavour, I will not fail to deliver.

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