Soul's Wisdom

I think philosophical questions are sometimes great to start with. As much as they bug us, they always help us rack our brains as we try to understand them. Some of the responses we give to these questions could also become humorous. For instance, a biological science class usually raises a question as to which came first - the egg or chicken ? Here are a few hilarious answers: one student said chicken came prior to egg because ‘C’ came before ‘E’ in the dictionary. Still others argued that why bother - both are delicious. Perhaps the funniest response of all these was “I had an egg for breakfast and chicken for dinner….so I guess egg came first.” Of course, you can’t agree to the logic behind all of the above responses, although you might with their answers. Today’s article craves to answer the question, at least try, - which was introduced first in Ethiopia as a tool- the stick, dula (generic name) or the stone, dΪngay? Just as you couldn’t totally agree with one or the oth...

What would you make of this picture at first glance? Be frank – a bird’s nest, a tool to shoo pigeons away in a farm field, or rather a locally made toy for a tot? If you guessed any of the above, you’re dead wrong. Perhaps, those of us who have seen the indigenous t’əla betoch /local drink houses/ in some parts of Addis Ababa and the regions, might assume it’s rather an outdoor placard that notifies the presence of the t’əla drink somewhere indoors. Again your surmise is wrong, unfortunately. Well, I totally agree with a known journalistic adage that says “every picture tells a story,” although I have seen many which have very little, if at all, that communicate meaning. Similarly, however, we do find quite many snapshots that have the most enduring effect on people that can be included among the pictorial record for they show the impact of a certain period of time and place, like those which reveal the hard times of a nation. The beauty of a good snapshot is that unlike similar ...

Menelik II was one of the beloved emperors Ethiopia has ever had. He unlocked the country’s door for technological advancement and brought about so many reforms of his time (but only at the sacrifice of harsh criticism and harm that was inflicted upon him). Among these fundamental improvements, the introduction of telephone was one that caused him much confrontation among his own conservative people, especially the clergymen. The humorous disputes that went on between this farsighted leader and those against his modern changes, and the incidents that took place as a result, are the center of today’s piece. According to the legendary Ethiopian journalist and prolific writer, P’awlos ňo ňo, who wrote As’e Menelik /Emperor Menelik/, and a popular historian and writer, Tekle Tsadik Mekuria’s, As’e Menelik Ϊna yə Ityop’ia andΪnet (Emperor Menelik and the Ethiopian Unity) the first ever land line telephone, also known as "plain old telephone” was installed in Menelik’s palace in...

Like language, music is a human unversal in which perceptually discrete elements are organized into hierarchially structured sequences according to synthatic principles. According to a new report published online on March 19th in Current Biology, (ScienceDaily, Mar. 20, 2009), “Native African people who have never even listened to the radio before can nonetheless pick up on happy, sad, and fearful emotions in Western music. The result shows that the expression of those three basic emotions in music can be universally recognized, the researchers said.” In other words, what’s being played in this part of the globe could have meaningful interpretations in another quarter. There is a close relationship between language and music. In fact, now, researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center have found evidence that the processing of music and language do indeed depend on some of the same brain systems. Their findings, which are currently available, published in the journal NeuroIm...

It’s been almost a couple of weeks now since many of us started to feel…only feel, the long-awaited rainy season, the kΪrəmt, although we’re in reality sensing the not-so-usual-kind of bΪrd /cold/ and zΪnab /rain/. In the past, kΪrəmt used to be not accommodating if one wants to have touristy time. However, it is now actually lighter and brighter, in all respects, compared to those of the yesteryears. That means, you don’t have to miss your customary walking or running on the streets around your place despite some drizzling… and can always remain fit doing your outdoor exercises. But one thing you notice as you return from this routine is a whiff of the freshly roasted odor of a certain cereal on almost every corner of the metroplis …surely, you never want to pass by it…. and together with your fatigue from the exercise, your stomach “reacts”positively to it…and on a whim, you feel like starving. This makes you guess whether this roasted aroma could be the best “fast” food of the...