Corniche Beirut

I woke up today and took a walk toward downtown Beirut. Today is off in Lebanon. Another Easter to celebrate. The orthodox (Eastern) Easter that comes one week later. Is not amazing to work in a country with so many religions, each with its particular celebration dates? Talking about tolerance, coexistence, and trade-offs, Lebanon has a number of lessons to give to the rest of the world in this respect. Not because I enjoyed these off-days, but simply because every one celebrates every one's else day. In Lebanon, you are lost between those who could be seen as Christians and those who could be seen as Muslims. Every one is equally happy to wish you good health and prosperity on your celebration days. Lebanese disagree on a number of political issues, but when it comes to tolerate each one's beliefs, there are not many countries I can compare Lebanon with.
Today it was not the best weather for a walk on the Corniche, but I could not resist the call of the Mediterranean sea, dressed with a black coat of bad days. If you think about large, voluble, and profound object on the earth, the sea is such an object. It is not the greatest, but it gives you an idea of what is big but flexible; what is beautiful but dangerous; and what is profound but specially polluted by human activities. From my apartment I have a partial view of the Pigeon Rocks, the symbol of Beirut. From my window, on sunny days, I can enjoy the view of the sea dazzling, waves dancing in the air, the sun coloring the space, and the blue merging with waves.
I have been a while in Beirut, Corniche longing the seaside and Charles De Gaulle avenue, is the promenade with most of my footprints. Corniche is a long promenade of 4.8 kilometers, and has never been beautiful since its trajectory has been prolonged toward the sea at the Zaitouna Bay.
I would start my walk from KFC and turn North. The first corner is an amazing spot as it reveals the south part of Beirut. You can see, if lucky, an aircraft about to land. You have a clear view of the Pigeon Rock. I usually spend 2 - 3 minutes here. I will then continue my walk down to the military beach. The promenade gets larger from the Riyadi sport centers on the other side of Chales De Gaulle Avenue.
From the first end of the military compound to the lighthouse, the promenade is not as crowded with people as at the corner nearby the lighthouse. There is a restaurant just about the seaside.
From the lighthouse, the promenade is open to the sea and the mountains. From here you start sensing why there are so many people visiting the promenade Corniche every day. There is a great sense of freedom at the Corniche where all kinds of activities take place. People run, walk, stand by, take selfie, and ride. Every one enjoys a superb view of the blue-sky melting into the sea.
Corniche reveals also a city full of contrast. On one side the sea inviting every one to enjoy and to share, on another side skyscrapers distinguishing the very few. Strange enough these apartments with a breathtaking sea view are rarely occupied. You don't see people sitting on the large balconies. Maybe they lock themselves behind tinted glasses. But I really wonder why pay so much for so little use. There must be a rational explanation.
Corniche is not equally occupied. There are spots where you see people standing, sitting or taking their breaths, but there are spots where every one is in move. Joggers are better off running from the first end of the military compound to AUB. Beyond packs of people move slowly.

Nested "IF" statements under MS Excel

I was trying the other day to use conditional statements in Excel, but was getting an error message. I did not want write a VBA-code for a simple task.
I wanted to calculate the score of Exam 2 for a student who had perfect attendance, a score of 90 or above in homework assignments, and a score of 90 or above in Exam 1. My policy this semester is that such a student can skip exam 2.

How I solved the problem?

First, I wrote one single IF statement for condition 1, which is the score in exam 1 as follows,

=IF(D3>=90,D3,($E$54-25)*$E$55),

where D3 is the cell where the score of exam 1 is for student i, and the expression ($E$54-25)*$E$55 is an expression to calculate the score for an exam with 25 questions. I will note this expression as C.
Let me denote the first IF statement as X1.

Second, I added a second IF statement to X1 conditional on class attendance as follows,

=IF(Attendance!E2="YES",X1,C),

where Attendance! is the name of a sheet. Let me denote the second IF statement as X2.

Third, I added a third IF statement to X2 conditional on the assignment score as follows,

=IF(Assigment!C2>=90,X2,C).

In this way "IF" statements can be nested almost endlessly.
The key in nesting IF is to make sure that the structure of an IF statement is respected,

=IF(condition,command,clearance)

=IF(A>B,A,B), 

which means if A is greater than B, then A, else B.

In my ancestors' footprints

Why nations fail by James Robinson and Daron Acemoglu is a book I enjoyed reading. The book does not save on examples that speak to Africans. It digs into the unknown history of the Democratic Republic of Congo to show the roads we took to fail.
I understood by reading the book that failure is not a random event, it is an outcome of our attitude toward newness, risk, and the unknown. Curiosity engages your spirit, and dissociates yourself from your own world. Moreover, I understood that our failure cannot be separated from our ancestors' system of thoughts.
In Africa, ancestors are regarded with a great esteem. They are in the imaginary of Africans part of their societies. I still have a little understand of the role my ancestors played in the making up of Africa. When I look back in history, it is difficult to understand why we give them so much place in our life when they did not prepare the future we are in. May be I am not humble, but I do not see many signs from the past to invite them. Their failure is not as much in the lack of technological initiative, but in giving themselves into others' ideas.
There are people who believe strongly in the ancestors as physical entities. They feed them. They call on them. In the Nether Congo, where I am from we are not really into ancestors' business. We are much westernized in our beliefs.  Every thing is about representation. Surely, the weakness of our African beliefs is the lack of codification. Every one has his/her own ancestor, own god, and own way to relate to the future.
The way we believe in a large part of Africa runs against the common belief that Africans come from like-minded communities. Nothing is more false than the idea that Africans drink from the same stream of beliefs. We share material things, but not spiritual things. May be we share the same fear, but fear does not proceed from knowledge, it proceeds from ignorance of one's environment.
In places where beliefs were codified in few schools of thoughts, it helped to unite a large group of people. Sharing into the same beliefs give power, confidence, and trust. Africans are individuals united in their souls, but not in their brains.

The 425 indigents of the DRC

What was revealed in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on April 3, 2015 is shocking, and astonishing. 425 persons were buried in one big hole like dogs. Nobody really knows of what they die. Some are speculating that they are the victims of the three famous days of January 19, 20 and 21, 2015. I stick to what was said.
What do we know about the 425 bodies? We know that they did not pay for their hospitalization. We also know that the 425 lived and died indigents. We do not have their names. They are unknown. We could call them the unknown 425 Congolese. Why they buried them all in one big hole? Why the authority decided to bury the 425 altogether?
No place was found for the 425 indigents. Only one big hole, near Kinshasa. I don't know if a priest was invited to say few words for the 425 indigents. Obviously, not. The 425 indigents really got during their life time an unmerciful foe. He pursued them in their dreams of death. He denied the least he would not refuse to his/her worst enemy. What the 425 indigents did to the Congo to earn such a treatment? What or who the 425 indigents displeased so much?
The interior minister said their foe was poverty. They were so poor the government could not give them a proper burial. If poverty was the enemy of the 425 peoples, nothing good is to be expected for the rest of the population. Congolese must start saving for the funeral expenses. Through the 425 bodies, they government is sending a clear message. Pay your bills. If you don't, the government will bury you, yes, but as a community of indigents. Pay your hospitalization expenses, otherwise you will be buried like a dog, if you are lucky.
Someone may think that the interior minister, Boshab, is not of Congolese origin. He is 100% Congolese. The man is a professor of law at the University of Kinshasa. He represents by himself the intellectual caution of the Kabila's regime. So, we are talking about somebody who has a good command of the french language. He came out and called the 425 Congolese indigents. What else they were, if not indigents?
What is amazing in this story is the treatment given to human body. Here, we are not talking about Boko Haram or Al-Shabab, we are talking about the government of the DRC. Yes, the 425 may have been poor. But they were so poor that they did not have a family, or a friend who cares? Those questions I will keep asking myself until the day another story will be told.

I am a Garissa Student

I am saddened by the killing of students at the Garissa University in Kenya. Last months, France and Denmark had their shares. When it happened in France, the news was in the air as if the entire world was shaking. Heads of states from different countries came to France to share the sorrow of the French people. Even Barak Obama was thought to make the trip to France. We saw how the leaders of Europe walked hand in hand. Charlie Hebdo insulted the prophet. The 147 students in Garissa never made such a statement. They never went out insult any religion. Still they were targeted, and dealt in the same way as journalists at Charlie Hebdo. The 147 students were no Jews. Regardless, there were killed as Jews in Paris. What did the 147 students to deserve a death penalty? Did they write essays condemning al-Shabaab?
The images in France and Denmark were amazing. I could not help it. I felt like as I was part of that society. Even though I am not living in France, the emotion came all the way to me. I was almost feeling as being Charlie. Now there are 147 students killed in Kenya. Three days of mourning in Kenya. But what is the response of the world? We cannot compare. It is day and night. Africans felt Charlie, but as for Garissa, they don't feel a thing.
The emotion for the 147 is minimal. You cannot compare with the emotion orchestrated for the 19 in France. I will not ask for the international community to mourn for our 147 young students. They have been many tragedies in different parts of the world claiming more life. But it is important as an African to get a good perspective of values, and emotions the Westerns talk about.
147 young students killed, not because they were black, but because those who killed them thought that they were not thinking like them. They were a danger for their virtual society. The sentence of death was taken to show power, the capacity to harm. Of course, as African themselves, easy targets were chosen. Unarmed people holding in their hands at best a pen and a notebook. The murderers knew that they will be victorious. Terrorists had guns in their hands, our 147 students had books. Books against Guns, where is the so much power of the god they kill for.
147 young persons, the future of Kenya, and the hope of Africa assassinated for no good reasons by ordinary people with an agenda written by others.
Kenya is a melting pot of people from different parts of Africa.
I visited Kenya in 2000, loved Nairobi, and promised myself to go back there. Bad news does come from Kenya, but most of time you hear good things about Kenya. You hear these things from foreigners who had a chance to visit the country. From the airport to downtown you come to appreciate Kenyans. They have really learned how to accommodate a foreign visitor. You can take a taxi from the airport and reach your hotel without much wondering. This is a touristic place. Kenya is a country Africa can be proud of.
I don't know why Kenya is a target of terrorist groups. Is it because the country open itself to different religious cultures? It is difficult to answer the why question. Only those who committed such a massacre know the answer to our questions.
We cannot rationalize the killings of 147 students. These murderers want take Kenya back to the time of obscurantism. The same philosophy as Boko Haram in Nigeria, they do not want the young African to be free in his/her mind. They don't want Kenyans making their ways to a better understanding of their neighbors. For them I guess their neighbor must be a god.
Now it is pointless to try talk reason to theses guys. Their representation of the world is completely at the opposite of the common reason. They want Kenyans to point finger. But I hope Kenyans should continue to speak the language of brotherhood.
I also pray that my brothers and sisters in pain will find peace in Jesus Christ in their own ways and times. May God show mercy on all of us.

End roads

In 2016, there will be a presidential election in the U.S., but also in the democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Very strange that the two countries are changing their president about the same time. In the U.S., there is no question, the president Barack Obama will step down at the eve of 2017. In the DRC, it is still debatable if president Joseph Kabila will accept to do something else for the five coming years and attempt a comeback in 2021. He will only be 50 years old in 2021. But 5 years in the opposition can be hard when JOKA has been president at age 29 years old.
Stepping down as a president is difficult. It will be difficult for even Barack Obama. If it was difficult for presidents whose actions are politically, legally, and administratively guided, what about a too powerful president?
I have read these days people around Joseph Kabila initiating new questions. I am surprised that wrong questions have been asked. It is no longer about how good or poor he is as a president. The question is not who likes him or not. That is not the question. The question is what the constitution says?
Instead of helping the guy to see how he can save himself from trouble, his advisers are not helping him see the next step. The same people were there when the constitution was written. The same president did sign it. Why they did not think clearly then? Poor advisers.
What is more damaging forcing the president to commit political suicide or preparing someone of his party capable to win and to save him from future troubles? Time has been wasted in stating the obvious. He will not be president after 2016 as he is now.

les limites économiques

L’économie que j'enseigne a l’université n'est qu'une science humaine. Elle n'y a aucun principe de divinité qui la pousserait vers les firmaments des cieux. C'est une science qui s'adapte aux humains. Elle est opportuniste. Elle utilise tout ce qu'elle trouve sur son chemin pour apparaitre. Elle a le don d'imitation prodigieuse. Elle vous met du physique quantique pour analyser des données financières. Elle vous donne une proposition sur base des processus stochastiques qui n'ont aucune existence à la hauteur de leurs belles espérances. Elle fait tout pour vous compliquer la tache de comprendre qu'elle vous pousse à posséder. Elle est implacable dans ses entêtements théoriques. Vautrées dans des habits faits pour d'autres plus grands et plus durs, les sciences économiques ne cherchent pas a découvrir une autre planète. Elle est trop bien chez elle sur la terre pour tenter une escapade astronomique vers des milliards d’étoiles apparemment sans propriétaire. Le jour elle ira là-bas, ça sera la fin du monde de la contemplation gratuite. Les propriétaires vous diront où pointer votre télescope. Nos bonnes théories parleront du bien que les taxes font pour ne pas trop regarder le soleil brûlant. Ça sera tellement vrai que nous payerons sans se rendre compte qu'on est entré dans l'ère du vide marchandé. Le marché des astres aura alors poussé la croissance économique aux portes des dividendes. Déjà des industries commencent à poindre le bout de leur nez car il faut aller là-bas pour rejoindre les promesses du lointain charmant. 

Je me trompe souvent. Je ne verrai pas ce jour où les marchés s'empareront des astres lointains. Je serais devenu poussières astrales et vagabondes autours de quelques astres inconnus. Alors pendant que je suis encore là. Laissez-moi douter. 
Je doute for que les sciences économiques deviennent une science universelle, capable d'expliquer les lois de production, de distribution, et d’échange partout et en tout. 

L'homme peut s'hasarder et utiliser sa propre rhétorique pour, par exemple, calquer ses principes économiques sur ceux du règne animal et végétal. Mais il est à parier que beaucoup des principes économiques seront incapables d'expliquer le choix de vie ou de mort chez des êtres dont les motifs spirituels sont totalement inconnus aux humains, piégés par un sens raffiné du haut et du bas, du plus et du moins, du début et de la fin, et du plein et du vide. 

On peut effectivement penser que tous les êtres sont égoïstement marathoniens du gain, du toujours plus, et du dégoût qui vient avec le gout. Comme ils vivent comme nous, nous devons partager un même dénominateur commun. Après tout, ils doivent cheminer sur les mêmes chemins du désir de se multiplier, se photographier, se cloner, et laisser derrière soi, soi-même. 

C'est déprimant de penser que mêmes les êtres si petits que le bout de mes cheveux soient à ce point friand du gain. Derrière, il y a l’idée, que rien ne tient debout sur cette terre. Il n'y a aucun être dans cette jungle naissant avec des vertus du refus, d'abandon, de perte, de disparition volontaire et immédiate. Pire il n'y a aucun qui se nourrisse pour consciemment s’offrir en nourriture. Il y a de victimes, mais victimes d'inconscience. Elles ne luttent pas pour perdre. Je parle des vrais volontaires sans leur volonté égoïste. Celui sur qui l'hasard n'imprime pas sa volonté. Il va échouer dans les mains de son bourreau qui lui même marchera calmement vers sa fin heureuse. Il est évident que j'ai besoin de mes principes économiques pour mettre de l'ordre dans mes pensées.  

Comme attaché a l'instant zéro, j'entrevois des liens indéfectibles entres les choses, les éléments, et les êtres. Seulement, je doute que mes principes économiques puissent régenter cet univers bien contradictoire dans ses rotations et révolutions. Les principes économiques ne peuvent aller jusqu'au plus profond de l'univers et expliquer les luttes bestiales qui s'y déroulent. 

Que les sciences économiques fassent du beau et du mauvais temps sur la terre des hommes, il n'est pas souhaitable que ces sciences aillent dire aux insectes comment ils doivent se comporter pour produire plus, gagner plus, et sauvegarder plus. 

Un Adam Smith chez les insectes fera un tabac. Et viendra de génération d'insectes dites intelligentes qui découvrira comme les John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern les bases de la théorie de jeux. Un peu d'intelligence ici et là ne peut faire que plus du mal. Tout doit être possédé chez les humains. Il y a comme une éternité dans des choses qu'on a accumulé. 

Peut être que le monde d'ailleurs obéit aux mêmes lois universelles que nous, mais certainement les principes économiques ne sont pas assez vertigineux pour expliquer le silence assourdissant du monde animal et végétal fasse au bruit de nos machines à pousser la planète vers son néant.