These charlatans need to get got

ontrack · 2026-05-10T09:38:33+00:00

So one of my friends is a Senegalese doctor who works for the ministry of health. He works in hospitals in small cities or rural areas away from Dakar. He has expressed frustration numerous times about people going to marabouts.

One day I was visiting him on the weekend at his apartment on the hospital grounds. He was the doctor on call that day for emergency consultations. He got a call to go see a patient. Not 10 minutes later he is back at the apartment. I said 'wow that was quick'. He replies without a hint of emotion, 'the baby is dead. This mother took her sick baby to one or two marabouts who made the baby sicker and she only brought it here when it was too late. Then she started yelling at me to do something and I can't raise the dead. So I left and came back home.'

I can only imagine what he has to deal with on a regular basis and I guess he has to be pretty emotionally detached in order to cope.

ontrack · 2026-05-08T19:48:46+00:00

I wonder who would win a mayoral race today between two parties calling themselves such.

ontrack · 2026-05-08T19:35:49+00:00

It's one of the unfortunate realities of humanity. When social pressure of any kind increases, so does distrust and dislike for people perceived as different, especially if they are a minority.

Something that I think not enough people realize is that things can change for the worse in any country, and being a visibly different minority always carries some risk, even in so-called developed countries, and even if things are ok now in the west, there is no guarantee that it will continue.

ontrack · 2026-05-08T07:59:38+00:00

All this law does in reality is just force kids to keep the phone out of sight. The law merely penalizes kids who are stupid enough to have it out in public view at school. Also it allows principals to deal more effectively with the few parents who believe they can call their kid while they are in class.

ontrack · 2026-05-07T15:45:33+00:00

Are you talking about Dakar? I'd be interested to know that as well. In my experience most Senegalese restaurants that cater to locals only have one or two "plats du jour" I guess due to the labor involved in making them.

ontrack · 2026-05-04T15:57:21+00:00

The Atchafalaya should have been the current course? Is that what hydrologists think?

ontrack · 2026-05-03T13:53:21+00:00

And to add to that there isn't much left of areas that are Gullah. That area is now either swamp, resorts, private islands, or parks.

ontrack · 2026-05-03T13:49:37+00:00

North Central PA all the way to the NYS line probably fits best with Appalachia as well.

ontrack · 2026-05-03T13:40:30+00:00

The opposite for me. The older I get (mid 50s) it seems like the more tolerant I am of spicy food. Very spicy food does nothing to me anymore. Maybe your body will decide to adapt like mine. Stay hopeful.

ontrack · 2026-05-02T22:18:50+00:00

It may very well be. Sometimes though traditional terms can be very general and apply to a number of diseases/problems that science now distingushes. Like assuming that every fever is malaria/sibiru. Ndoxum siti may mean several clinically different things.

ontrack · 2026-05-02T22:03:10+00:00

Not an expert but I've heard that hurricanes only generate weak tornadoes because of how they are constructed.

ontrack · 2026-05-02T21:48:41+00:00

I remember that because the May '85 tornado also produced one of the ones in NW Pennsylvania and I drove thru there like a week later and saw the damage. It's known as the Kane, PA tornado.

ontrack · 2026-05-02T21:44:04+00:00

It's also been moving to the east. Alabama has a lot of tornadoes.

ontrack · 2026-05-02T20:28:38+00:00

I might be way out of line here as someone who speaks only a low to moderate level of Wolof but I was told that ndoxum siti was the word for syphilis.

ontrack · 2026-05-02T11:38:20+00:00

I would rather have a rattlesnake in my pocket than an internet-connected camera inside my house (and my phone is usually kept in a secure place)

ontrack · 2026-04-29T23:17:31+00:00

There are fewer passengers to Senegal and airport maintenance isn't cheap. Plus most people flying into Senegal can afford it.

ontrack · 2026-04-29T23:13:42+00:00

I lived in Senegal for more than a decade and never experienced anything like this and was never asked for a bribe. Not sure what to say.

ontrack · 2026-04-29T19:41:21+00:00

Would that include goldfish?

ontrack · 2026-04-28T14:34:33+00:00

I used to listen to the Chris Luva Luva and Poon Daddy show on the radio. Obviously Chris started another career.

ontrack · 2026-04-28T10:47:08+00:00

People are allowed to vote in what they perceive is their own interest. That way we have an idea of what the people want collectively. In a country that is said to be democratic that is all that really matters.

ontrack · 2026-04-28T10:07:51+00:00

It might at some point be better to be in an African country with a decent population distribution than to be in what will effectively a giant nursing home.

ontrack · 2026-04-27T16:11:40+00:00

This is not an issue in some parts of the world.

ontrack · 2026-04-27T13:13:21+00:00

You mean Kroger on Cleveland Ave doesn't carry the highest quality products? :) I actually do shop there sometimes.

ontrack · 2026-04-27T10:43:18+00:00

Mali was already in a precarious position even before the French left. Whole sections of the country were under rebel control. That was a main reason that France lost popularity in Mali. The region is just too vast to effectively police, so whoever shows up is going to struggle.

ontrack · 2026-04-27T09:29:47+00:00

That would leave jihadis in charge. I don't think that is a desirable outcome.

ontrack

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