I need your help.

If this blog or it's writer has helped you in any way, please do the favour of donating any funds you wish to donate via PayPal or these cryptocurrencies: 

PayPal: PayPal receive

BTC:  3A3xX7SGs9afxewPAeG9Gpi2azXCKBJMoG 

ETH:  0x8932C0E3e649fF6E73FFCb161625bF4d10E05D2c 

USDT:  0x14CAD477e3704bb3429e7769FbC32971CF60f856 

USDC:  0x14CAD477e3704bb3429e7769FbC32971CF60f856 

If you have the option, please choose the above cryptocurrencies to send because the PayPal system in South Africa is still underdeveloped & mainly for online use.  

Your donation is greatly appreciated. 

The error with the doll test.

Some of us have seen this social experiment where kids are told to choose between a black or white doll. And more often than not, the kids choose the white doll. 

What I'd like to emphasize is that these are dolls & while there are many aesthetically unappealing black features, there are aesthetically unappealing white features as well. The human body was designed for function & not aesthetics. What this doll test social experiment shows that we don't notice is kids are impressionable & want to make a choice that will please the adult. The very race of the individual conducting the test pressures the child to make a preconceived choice. 

Also, dolls are manufactured using a universal set of facial features, usually made from European features so naturally a European-looking black doll will look a bit unsettling compared to a doll with features black people would consider aesthetically appealing. If the doll test were reality, in any case, there would be no single white women & an abundance of single black women - which (by watching dating shows) is clearly not the case. 

The curse of choice.

"If you don't want to do something, just don't do it." - Mthoko M. Mpofana

We live in a world of many choices & hence, many paths in life. While having many choices sounds great, it poses a hidden risk. Think of it as a multiple choice question; if there were one correct choice everyone would get the answer right &, unfortunately, if there were only one wrong answer - you'd either have the choice of getting the question wrong or leave it out & get it wrong anyway. At least, you know what you're getting with the one choice you have as opposed to getting caught up in many nuances that could or could not make sense.

In South Africa, we have laborious & frustrating PayPal accessibility. So much so that we have to risk getting our funds out of our own PayPal accounts via scammers & very tiring bank routes for both the bank & customer. Now, if PayPal were not a choice at all & we had to simply get deposits into our bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets - it would be so much easier but unfortunately there are online spaces where there are no routes to gain finances except through PayPal or not get them at all. If there were no PayPal, we'd have not gotten paid & when there is PayPal, we risk being scammed. My choice was simply no longer using PayPal unless I absolutely have to, it is so laborious & requires so much for a simple request of gaining your own money that it becomes almost not worth it. It's like someone calling you out for a pick-up game when you're at your worst, so you practice until you get better & when you you're finally ready - they figure you're too good & try everything to stop you from playing them. It's futile. 

I'd rather have a clear working PayPal or just not use PayPal to get paid in South Africa at all, regardless of the money I am missing out on. Why are we given choices to dead-end avenues? It's just a waste of our time, energy & potential. Freedom of choice is sometimes a curse. 

African spices.

Often when we're taught of the Dutch East India Company, we're taught that they went all over the world looking for cash crops & spices. These spices are said to be from Asia or South America but we never hear of spices that precolonial Africans used for their foods. Below is a list of select spices Africans used that are indigenous to Africa: 

• Grains of Paradise (Aframomum melegueta): Also known as Guinea grains, these peppery, citrusy seeds are indigenous to West Africa. They were a prized historical trade commodity used to flavor everything from wine to traditional stews. 

• Grains of Selim (Xylopia aethiopica): Also referred to as Uda pods or Guinea pepper, this West and Central African spice has a smoky flavor with herbal, nutmeg, and black pepper notes. The whole pods are often used to flavor soups, stews, and teas. 

• Calabash Nutmeg (Monodora myristica): Native to tropical Africa, this spice offers a warm, musky, and faintly vanilla flavor. It is a vital component in traditional pepper soups and local spice blends. 

• Peri-Peri (Capsicum frutescens): Originating in Southern and East Africa (particularly Mozambique), this fiery chili is the defining ingredient in many local marinades, hot sauces, and spice rubs across the continent. 

• Korarima (Aframomum corrorima): Often called Ethiopian cardamom, this plant is native to the Ethiopian highlands. It is essential for traditional Ethiopian spice blends like Berbere and Mitmita, as well as flavoring coffee and bread. 

• Aiden Fruit (Tetrapleura tetraptera): Commonly known as Prekese in Ghana or Urayi in Nigeria, this pod possesses a sweet, chocolatey, and aromatic profile. It is used to perfume soups and carries notable medicinal properties. 

• Frankincense is an aromatic resin harvested from the Boswellia tree, native to parts of Africa. 

African diet in 1500 B. C.

Dear FIFA...

Before reading this blog, first watch this video...

Now, you can continue... 

No one asked me to do this suggestions blog & FIFA has it's own economic model on supporting tournaments which bring the organisation the most money. But it is my blog & I feel that I have a right to blog about any topics I feel like blogging about... So were I an employee of FIFA, these are the suggestions I'd put on the table. 

• No red cards for covering mouth, only for content of words said: It is bizarre to me that you can get a red card for covering your mouth. I think even Vinicius Jr. would rather be sent off for actually insulting someone than covering his mouth. It's virtually a red card for talking or removing something from your face. 

• Standardise the number of teams per league: No one thinks of this when they award the best goalscorers at the end of the season or calculate number of career goals but if you play 34 games against 17 teams in a league, you have more opportunity to score goals, get assists or have clean sheets than someone who plays 28 games against 14 teams, for example. Simply making every league worldwide have a set number of teams would solve the problem.

• Bring back the Confederations Cup & make it bigger: The Confederations Cup was a tournament where each continent's best teams played against each other. It was great in that no team could feel bad for losing because you literally lost against another continent's best team. I'd improve it by qualifying along with continental champions & the World Champions - 1) the previous Confederations Cup Champions & 2) the best ranked team on the FIFA rankings in each continent (should this be the reigning continental champions, the second best ranked team on the FIFA rankings would qualify). This would allow 14 teams to qualify in the FIFA Confederations Cup. A minimum of two & maximum of four national teams per continent. 

• Bring back the smaller Club World Cup: I don't really have a problem with the Club World Cup but I feel that a big Club World Cup makes the game a bit of a free-for-all & really big clubs stand much more to lose than small village teams. I feel that the Club World Cup could be bigger but not massive. So ideally, (assuming that each continent has two continental club tournaments) we could have two teams from each continent qualify. This would give more impetus for clubs to win the smaller continental tournaments.

• Standardise the awards with a formula that calculates performance for all players including the goalkeeper: I'm not a fan of voting awards because of obvious reasons like human bias. So, I feel it would be better to have a predetermined formula to calculate who really was the best player. This formula could include goals, goals blocked, own goals, assists, opposition challenges avoided/dribbled, forward passes, balls won & balls lost. To make it even more fair for all players, the results would be calculated on a per minute basis. Goalscorer awards could also be calculated on a goals per minute basis.

• Red card means 90 minutes suspension e. g. player with a red card in the 30th minute of one game can only be substituted on after the 30th minute of the next game: I borrowed this from Trump, because I sort of understood what he was getting at. See the video here. I think football/soccer is the only game where fouls accumulate across games. Nonetheless, I have no problem with yellow cards being carried to the next game. Furthermore, I believe a player who hospitalises, seriously injures or disables a player needs to be given an unpaid ban for three games. Knowing that you will be banned for three games & not be paid in the process should prevent wreckless challenges for the ball. 

• Adopt the USA penalty shootout with the centre circle run-ups: Penalty shootouts have always just been a lottery where far worse teams could beat better teams. We could cancel the game of chance in favour of a game you could actually train for. I find it unfair that you could train for penalties for hours only to lose because of an unlucky kick or a lucky goalkeeper. In-game penalty kicks could still be taken from the penalty spot. 

• Bonus point for three goals scored: I borrowed this from a YouTube video where a famous footballer suggested this to encourage attacking play & more goals being scored. Any team, including a losing team would get a bonus point for three goals scored & I guess own goals could be excluded from the tally. Six goals in a game would mean two bonus points, nine goals would mean three bonus points & so on.

• Offside being more fair: This is a Wenger suggestion. This is because in the tussle of the game; hands, feet, knees & elbows can protrude ahead of defenders while running. This is unfair on attacking players. Having the offside being both feet being ahead of the last defenders feet at the time ball was being played should make it easier for referees using VAR. 

That's all for my suggestions to improve the game. 

Confederations Cup 2021 & 2025 (The ones that didn't happen.)