Brung: A Short Roast of Humanity

8/14/2019 Brung: A Short Roast of Humanity

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BRUNGA Short Roast of Humanity


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This document is free to use; so long as no changes are made to it, and proper attribution is made where

required.

In order to get feedback, and start a (hopefully) healthy discussion, Ive set up a blog at

http://brungbook.blogspot.com.

There is also a set of related links on http://del.icio.us/bakundwabruno/brung, and I'm working on a

'resources' file that will hold any literary or media references made in this work.

Feel free to flap your wings and let go of your queries or comments, using the address:

[email protected].

But most of all I hope you enjoy your time, now that you're here.

Bruno Bakundwa
http://brungbook.blogspot.com/http://del.icio.us/bakundwabruno/brunghttp://del.icio.us/bakundwabruno/brungmailto:[email protected]://del.icio.us/bakundwabruno/brungmailto:[email protected]://brungbook.blogspot.com/


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Acknowledgments: Cry Me a Book

We begin (or end) with a few mad props, and a little propping of madness.

***

Someone I trust once asked me to feel what I needed to say, and ever-so-gently commit it to

paper.

Trusting her wisdom; I often grab a journal and speak to it from an ache in my soul that, over

time, grew into the scream so searing, whose tale I could no longer keep.

Since stories seem to be the language weve always drawn on to share our wishes; I thought Id

tell some that hopefully speak to who we are, spur us on to try finding out where we came from,

and dare us to explore why were here in the first place.

I should get on to thanking those who brought to life the better parts of the madness. Because

theyre so many, Ill only mention two:

My father; whose light I can only ever hope to shine a fraction of.

And my mother; the thought of whom, daily takes me back to a card whose greeting I once saw

in Swedish Lappland: Mothers are angels in training.

Laughter, I think, is the minds way of gently coming to terms with not being right all the time;

and I believe tears often bring your spirit to do the same. My hope is to bring a little of both to

you, and in so doing lighten your life.


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MIND THE WORDS BETWEEN YOUR GAPS

Oh, by the way, the title apart from just sounding cool- is from the online Urban Dictionary,

and is derived from bring: Used as a direct object that indicates you having something to offer

on the table.

But its mostlyas in: a throng from our past have brought dreams and sweat to the table, that we

may want to fall back in love with; since they give many of us a quality of life which would

astound those who came before us.

I know; it could just as well playfully suggest that I often should wrestle my own bringingofit

to ensure its exit come in safe and neat lines, seeing how often my head wonders up a part of my

anatomy south of it.


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Introduction: PrematureJoculation

Bad Thought! Assume the position! The culprit is actually derived fromjocular.

***

Once in a while, we all say things that we later regret.

The words I remember clearer than any other find us a little over ten years ago. Our family had

recently moved from Burundi (a French-speaking country) to Uganda, where most people spoke

English.

After carefully discussing the matter, my parents lovingly settled on the best way to instill in me

the much-needed discipline, and hopefully knowledge, that would help me in life: Lets send

the boy to a Catholic Boarding School.

A little after we broke off from our first school term, I invited home a kid Id made friends with

in school. Ill call him Donkey here, since the little boy in me still hates his guts (youll soon

know why), but also coz Im telling the damn story.

Donkey gladly accepted my invitation, and we spent a peaceful time together for the most part.

It was a warm and beautiful day most days in Africa are; the blissful ignorance of lifes

responsibilities was on our side; and being that at 14, we both knew everything about the world,

we had loads to talk about.

Indulge me for a moment, because I need to turn your attention to a little, but absolutely

necessary detail: my mother tongue, Kirundi, has a word for goat as languages tend to from

time to time.


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That word, impene has the irritating characteristic of being etymologically close to the

Rwandan equivalent ihene; which in turn, sounds annoyingly similar to the English word

hen.

As you may now probably feel, Donkeys and my debate of the globe would soon turn to hens. I

still cannot possibly imagine why my favored fowl have always come to me well-done, and on

a clean plate.

So imagine me standing there for a second. And remember that at this very moment, my little

brain is suddenly working on overdrive to juggle Kirundi, French, and English the disturbingly

elusive language Im still trying to master.

At some point, as its bound to, my mind finally makes a frightful slip and words come out of my

mouth that will, for me, forever live in infamy:

A hen is a mammal!

My friend and I could not claim the benefit of maturity, at the time. Add to that the fact that we

were both boys, and you can probably get an idea of the fight that followed.

Im glad to say that I havent grown up much since then, but the moral of the story and my

reason for writing this- is that at times, the finest meanings in life are lost in translation.


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Chapter 1: Google, Class of 2008

In his attempt to take you to school, the narrator pretends he didnt cut class at one point.

***

WHY DID THE TOY CROSS THE CLASSROOM?

To a child with a hammer, the saying goes, the world is a nail. Were I that child, life-long

learning would likely be my tool.

I recall, one evening, watching a talk with Bill Gates on the Charlie Rose show. About half way

through it, he went on about the prevalent crossing the desert paradigm to education. After

wondering for a few seconds, whether our friendly neighborhood billionaire, now fancied

himself Moses; I was awe-struck by the simplicity of his explanation of the concept:

Learn Calculus, and someday well tell you why1

For some reason; I often remember school as an odd assortment of generally disagreeable

characters, patiently suggesting to me that, if I was to make something of myself; Id better find

a way to squeeze Maths into my head or else.

They had a point the trouble is, the head in question did not agree.

Instead of thinking of Maths, as the warm and fuzzy language cute engineers speak when, at the

drawing table, they plot to take over the world with all the things they enrich our lives with; out

for blood, my mind told it to turn the other way, face the corner, and wear the idiot hat.

1 http://tinyurl.com/57oyd2
http://tinyurl.com/57oyd2http://tinyurl.com/57oyd2


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Now, is there a method of teaching thats more effective than training us to round up our

misbehaving ideas, and send them to bed without supper? I dont know, but Id like to think so

-coincidentally, a gentleman by the name of Sir Ken Robinson, seems to suggest Im not

completely wrong.2

The very fact that people seem to laugh for no apparent reason, when subtly shown a truth they

were unaware of; may very well prove, that human brains love learning it may be about time to

stop punishing them for it.

And perhaps, today more than ever, the World should focus their energies on mankinds mind-

blowingly prolific habit; of looking into a seemingly-empty hat and dragging fire, steam engines,

penicillin, and personal computers out of it; and maybe along the way, also re-define what

discovery means to us -technically, American Indians discovered the continenta bit earlier

than Columbus did.

THE WORLD-WIDE-WEB OF HOMEWORK

Only a precious few would even claim limited knowledge of the future, but most experts agree

that Education has to be a major factor in moving forward; and in tomorrow's classroom, the web

will join the cherished blackboard, pen and paper, as a vital teaching tool.

I hang on to that near-heretic idea because the Internet has shown an unprecedented power, of

drawing people together for a common objective -web 2.0, wikis, blogs, podcasts, Instant

Messaging,and Voice-over-IP (to mention a drop in the growing sea of inscrutable technology

terms) all grew from that idea.

2http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/66


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Its my opinion that our public knowledge of technology law hasnt grown at a nearly sufficient

rate; compared to that at which the gadgets it governs, are being churned out.

Considering the tech sectors potential repercussions on the other facets of our daily lives, maybe

we shouldnt rush in passing laws, that could potentially have harmful results (in case you

havent noticed, the large number of electronic appliances you use, alone, should make you

interested in this).

My minds eye once nearly popped out of its socket when, one night, it noticed that a likely

danger of allowing media giants to indiscriminately go to town on smaller offenders many of

whom are only targeted because they produce and distribute great, free content (please read that

as in: free speech as well); would be that one day, the Viacoms and Comcasts of the World,

might cover one their now expertly screw-ups, by shaking the often deliciously reprobate legal

instrument that is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) at them. But, naturally, I

didnt let it the fear of treading too far into hallowed tinsel walls, was beat into me, by the

realization that there are myriads of talented and crimson-clear people in their shadows.

Can any of us trust large companies, or governments -in their current state- to make judgments

about a technology, which will come to be essential in the way we see the World; because its

the right thing to do?3

3 In case you didnt pick up on the not-so-subtle hint, google net neutralityor search for its implications on the

now more-than-adequate resource; Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org).
http://www.wikipedia.org/http://www.wikipedia.org/http://www.wikipedia.org/


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Chapter 2: Zen and the Art of False Dichotomies

Claiming to hold a royal flush, he now goes all-in on a hornets nest, and curiously wait for a call.

***

ODE TO OUR UNHOLY TWO-FERS

Youve heard it implied, time and again; Rich or Poor, Safe or Harmful, Sinner or Saved,

Thin or Fat, You are With us or Against us.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler, and

he had a relative clue of where he was going with it.

The trouble with having a black or white view of things, is that it often misses the many shades

of countless, vibrant colors, that exist in the world around us. Even worse, it may in some cases,

be tantamount to blackmail.

Because I have no formal training of any kind in the matter, you should take my words with a

grain of salt; but I think what we call the gut is a blend of our moral conscience, spirit, and

mind and there may be a good reason for our having it.

I wish more people would abstain from handing out the responsibility for their lives, and those of

the people they love; to someone else however respectable that person may seem. Please, be

humble enough to educate as much of it as you can, but by all means use your gut more

frequently.

I know it can be hard, in times of crisis, to snap out of a weary mindset. One impression that may

exacerbate things, is that we live in times more perilous than our past.


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Actually, when one examines some facts more closely, that impression is a load of well, is

wrong.4

As it turns out; the teachers, soldiers, policemen, firemen, and other laudable civil servants, some

love to claim they love; are doing a great job!

Being that I live in Europe, it would a bit hard to miss; that while some on the rainy side of the

channel may only take out of recent wrangles, the picture of an inebriated gang of Frenchies

going: Allez Les Cons!, barely taking the time to swallow their mouthfuls of Freedom Fries;

most dont take any of it seriously.

It may well be that those on the other side of the pond, are all too often given precious few

choices and a number of them rather misleading.

VIVE L'ENTENTE COR-DIABLE

In an installment ofStatus Anxiety (a 2004 series of documentaries) about the US, Alain de

Botton explores the effects of societys expectations on the less fortunate, in part drawing from

the work of William James, the American philosopher and psychologist.

His work (Bottons), although I found it fairly balanced, draws a few unsavory conclusions; that

could be construed to have political and religious bias. It all takes me back to the few times I

watch -with uncertainty- the religious debate about money, or the love of it, being the root of all

evil.

4 http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/163


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For millennia, money in some form or other- has been the primary tool through which we, as a

society, try to gauge the worth of peoples contributions to it; hence the contemporary veiled

threat: you might want go flip burgers, that is often thrown to seemingly less-than-adequate

colleagues.

I'm sure I'm not the only one to have noticed; that we all so esteem thegreenback, not for its

soothing touch; but because it gets us the stuff we want be it food, clothes, houses, the ability to

pay a few more bills at the end of the month, or the gorgeous iPhone we now have flashed at us.

Could it be that what the passionate, but often riskily polysemous words, which constitute the

bibles we hide behind when committing imperfect acts, meant; is that the love ofwhat gets you

the stuff you want(money, power, prestige, or unfortunately for some fear and hate) iswhats at

the root of all evil?

Whew! The wee hours of the morning are knocking at the door, and I happen to be bouncing off

the walls on caffeine right now. But assuming, for a moment, that my judgment is not the

problem here, can you see how church, state and media, are a mix that we may not want to

encourage?

If everyone had always allowed the church, politicians, and other fine gentlemen; to dictate to

them who and what to believe, feel, think, fear, and occasionally love or hate; chances are, wed

still be under the impression that the Earth was flat.


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I remember a time (and it is perhaps a bit naive for me to do so) when those we were most proud

of, stepped back from their demons long enough to think; that the stubborn common sense

should occasionally excuse itself from the media, seeing as it causes some with power to scoff at

a whole spectrum of viable alternatives. And, yes, gives birth to the odd mistruth.

In light of the conditions in less fortunate countries, my heart cries out for all with the means to

do so, to once-and-for-all remember, that it is because of the contribution of a great many women

and men of worth; that some of us now live the oft-seemingly silly ideal of a free nation of the

people, by the people, for the peopleone that, to date, still gives me the occasional wet dream.

Now, Id be terribly remiss if I didnt mention that the pressures of public service may often be

greater than most realize; and that, for this reason alone, we should at times cut our leaders a

whole lot of slack.

But, to me, the other side of that coin is that we seem to have a sore lack of accountability in the

halls of power these days.

What happened to: to whom much is given, much is required?

Why does the possibility sound so remote nowadays that when; after recognizing the work they

did for us in the past, we vote our leaders into power; it may just be our right to ensure they keep

working to our benefit? Please note I did not say: perceived benefit.

A guess Im going to venture, is that the mainstream press are simply no longer fulfilling their

implied obligation.

An instance of dangerous big-media oversight that comes to mind; is the failure to point out that,

while some people told unlikely tales ofno one knowing what was to happen in Iraq; a


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Chapter 4: Attention: Cat-Herding in Progress

Where the little boy in him stands up, and politely asks when well play well with others.

***

Im so much of a geek sometimes that, at some point, I lost the will to feel ashamed of it. That

may be why I occasionally pick up on interesting technology trends and patterns.

Some of them -if a few people in the know found a way to adapt them- would be powerful

enough, to improve our approach to problem-solving in the public and private sectors.

OPEN SOURCE

In 1969, a bunch of mad scientists from the old AT&T research laboratory, Bell Labs; came up

with a sort of computer operating system we now call UNIX.

Its history and what it means to the world, is so complicated; and keeping up with it so hard, that

the toughest computer engineers, on lonely nights, crawl into bed and softly cry themselves to

sleep. So Ill cut to the chase.

While trying to figure out a way to get UNIX (and the many other crazy babies it gave birth to)

to obey them; a number of visionaries (Im running out of space, so Ill only mention two:

Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds) found that in order to play well with other peoples work,

the unruly computer magic they battled with, needed a unique method of doing things.

Thats the gist of my spotty knowledge of the Open Source philosophy of computer engineering

and design. The name is the least interesting part of it, though.


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One reason why I think it functions so gracefully is that all stakeholders have unfettered access

to the source code (the guts of any computer program, if you will) of any project theyre

working on.

That kind ofaccountability seems to mean two things:

First; since new talent is free to work on something for which they have passion (dry corporate-

speak forlove); project leaders most are welcoming of fresh blood- never seem to lack someone

to help them solve challenges.

Second; because the few highly-opinionated programmers (even the IT world is made up of

people, so its not perfect) who throw monkey-wrenches in other peoples work, are subject to

everybody elses scrutiny; they never get around to doing much damage.

By the way, a few voices in my head suggest I mentionLinux (a free and open source offshoot of

UNIX) since there just happens to be a company that makes a killing, off a pimped-up version of

it you may know them as Google.

TEST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT (TDD)

What seems to have started in the 1940s with Toyota trying to find a way to compete with the

(then) big boys, has now morphed into the leanparadigm of doing business.

Nerd that I am; I missed the fact that all sorts of industries were now benefiting from the said

model; and, as usual, dove into books describing the software industrys growing use of it. Most

of those spoke of something called TDD (Test-Driven Development).


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What it boils down to, is this:

(1) Try as hard as you can to: split your Work intosmallpieces (so that handling them is

relatively easy, and bringing a new team in does not throw the project off); make those pieces

verifiable and, when possible, quantifiable as well (hence the test part of the name); discrete

(as in: independent and simple enough, that they could work on their own, and introducing

another factor doesnt break them); and ensure the aforementioned pieces, are adaptable

(because you never know when the work unit could be needed elsewhere in the projects

lifetime).

By the way, the last part (adaptability) also involves documentingthe work as thoroughly as

possible; and releasing the said documentation in a format that:

(a) makes it easy for teams to share and improve their work, and

(b) is -preferably- open andfree (as in freedom, but also free beer); so that no ones

work ever needs to stop when some evil company, at some point, decides to change its

plans (I cant imagine where those nave software engineers get that idea from) and hold

everybody elses work hostage.

(2) When youre fairly satisfied with the way things work the first time, go back to the drawing

board, and give it all another go (iteration); in order to make sure that you always keep

improvingyour work (continuous improvement).


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Chapter 5: The Little Thought that Could

Thankfully, the dude finally retreats to his nutty geek-dom.

***

OF WISHES, AND THE HORSES THEY OFTEN WOULD RATHER HAVE US RIDE

Ask any leading expert you know, the really smart guys who often tend to sound slower than

you- and theyll probably tell you that regarding the Wests relationship with poorer countries;

the knowledge, technology, and talent cats, are already out of the bag.

Now, in my quixotic search for truth, Ive often clumsily performed some of those unwise tap-

dancing acts, on the thinner lines between luster and loony bin usually ending up closer to the

latter.

The one place where I believe weve all struck gold, though, is that; seeing as how to yours truly,

our past whispers that the third world will -at some point- attempt to follow in their footsteps, the

(how do I put this gently) not-so-starving in the room, currently have it in their power to hold

their hand, and help them up to a comparable standard of living.

Whats in it for the developed World? Ill try to keep it simple, hoping you wont hold it against

me.

If the bottom 80% of the Worlds population were to have the Wests quality of life (statistics

from the World Bank and the IMF are less optimistic, my figure was a poor attempt at a Pareto

joke); I cant for the life of me see how today's factories currently have anywhere near the

capacity it would take to fulfill their wants.


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I say this, not solely on account of my obvious bias but also because, drawing from the words of

a divine Majora Carter; if you havent embraced your inner capitalist yet, you need to.6

Im often blind to many a nuance, but I think only two things are missing, in order to get that

dream to bear fruit. One is the willingness to make it happen; the other (in my opinion more

essential) is the development ofsustainable tools and knowledge.

Both can be changed -quite easily, andpeacefully.

6http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/53 for the kids in class who plan to do their homework.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/53http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/53


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Chapter 6: Attack of The Farting Cows

Oh, One More Thing

***

We owe the parents among us a great deal more than most of us think; since their toil has now

opened a window however imperceptible its aperture- which means that many a childs mouths

sob for food, or their hearts cry for a warm and safe place, never needs to be fretted on again.

But if my mind serves me right, a certain Maslow many hold in esteem would have a thing or

two to say about the fact that; today, the youths needs to feel accepted and valued, or to find

their own way of leaving a legacy; seem not be listened to.

If nothing else you've just read gets through to you, please keep in mind that it may very well be

in our grasp today to rectify all of the now life-threatening mistakes weve made in the past.

Those who want to ensure Im not full of it in feeling so a real possibility- may occasionally

want to turn their Internet browser to www.ted.com. For some reason, a number of smart people,

seem to have made it a favorite in their network of truck stops.

In the mean time, remember that the tapestry of our short common history is checkered with

cautionary tales; which should make the zealous of us want to lower their pitch for a while. It

may be hurting all of us.

By the way, Uncle Sam, you are at the top of my bringers list for nurturing our Georges, Alberts

and Phillips, and in so doing more than filling our body to its brim, and my beef with you is this:

Today; you only whisper to the greats in your league of Ivy, rather than truly speak it in them to
http://www.ted.com/http://www.ted.com/


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spread forth tongues which will feed our mind; so one day, those of worth, who walk by the

house of pure soul, may feed ours.

Child of Love, you are made of the very cloth that drapes the Eternal; and God should know -She

did the cutting.

Brung: A Short Roast of Humanity

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