Here is calling on Mthwakazi science and technology debates including: the weather, agriculture, agricultural engineering, mining engineering, ezokwakhiwa, town planning, Product design and innovation, manufacturing, power engineering, electronics engineering, communications engineering, computer science, natural sciences, chemical engineering, medicine and allied disciplines, engineering design, enviromental engineering,new engineering desciplines, Science and Technology education ...and many more.
Discussions should focus on anything from simple queries, like what is charge; to how does a CD-DVD writer write through to what is the next big thing or what patents does mthwakazi hold.

Skuvethe
Limqoka elakho umehluko umkhulu baba.
My take is thus:
Science and technology are culturally driven. By this I mean that new products and innovations are found kuma needs e-society in large using the expirience and knowledge which is available. Once we accept this basic premise we will not be afraid to practise as Mthwakazi engineers and innovators. We will proudly guard whatever technology we identify with, be it ukupheka amahewu abadala, ukubaza ijogwe kumbe ukwakha amabholoho. Further to this pride we will want to update and adapt to new ways of doing things.
Presently we seem to be looking at all this as foreign. A simple example is the one you touch upon eyokulima, ikhuba lokulima has been the same since my old man was a young boy. We seem to be waiting for some mntaka khwini to say try this new cheap material or ikhuba lelo can act as a hara, saving you and your nkabi time and energy. Things that we identify with, bosso for example adapt and update because it a society team and its discussed day in and day out.
The same applies in the new technologies digital and the like. We can join umzabalazo by looking at technology as a societal need and we will find somewhere where we fit. India and China are now doing well they started as cheap manufacturing plants with below par products.

The other important factor in all this is science and technology education which, I hope, should be tackled here in order to help those who are studying or aspiring to study science and technology.

Asivukeni madoda!!
PS
patent yekhuba eliharayo is pending!

Bakwethu

lindaba ibuhlungu eliyiphathayo. ensukwini ezimbalwa bengixoxa lelinye ijaha elivela eLagos
ngokuphekwa kwesitshwala eAfrika. sesibondwe okwenkulungwane zeminyaka same way consuming a lot of time and energy. umntwana kumele apheke evela esikolo and do her MPC homework! abelungu sebelawo ama automated cookers erayisi labo, amanye atshiywa esetiwe nxa izikhathi zitshaya layo iyapheka ufica sekulungile uvela emsebenzini.

mina sengilezitha ezinengi ngendaba yokuthi akuphindelwe esikoleni.

but all in all this topic must be taken seriously. madoda lamanina elisemazweni i-science yasemazweni itshiphe ibolile akufani lasekhaya esasifunda i-theory lapha ukubona mangqamu amaresources agcwele lezikwelede zigcwele amaskolatshiphi yintaphane. abangela background yamasciences kulamanight schools nge3months subhala umhlolisa kambe ungehlulwa yicontent ye3months? ekhaya besibhala imihloliso after 2years.

abelungu balungisa izinto zabo in response to their immediate needs. kukhona lathi okuqondane lathi osekumele sizilungisele khona. ngabe ingculaza esemkhonweni wakithi ibabheke phaqa lekhambi kubeselikhona.

ngamafitshane scientific quest has never been retrogressive bakwethu asenzeni singavilaphi.

KaMjaji!

Wena Ka Solobhoni Baba!
Yindaba omanjineli bakwethu besuthiseka ngokuba ngo maintenance engineer kulo kuba ngama innovators?
Sibabona kuma cellular companies, kubo ptc, kubo Zesa bengabalungisa incingo kuphela. Bazasungula nini ezabo i inventions??

Zinsizwa

Nanto ijaha lakaSibanda lapha lenza izimanga kuzo lezi ezabo sosayensi(science). He has developed a lot of patented and registered pharmaceutical products and he is a highly rated top scientist who is on regular demand in the US and Canada. As the following links from a number of numerous American associations of Scientists demonstrate. He's just been offered a sabatical by the Mexican Gvt to conduct research on its behalf in the US. Our only Sheik, Mthembo and Sinathamahewu will remember this fellow who used to be my very very close friend at high school.

http://www.aapspharmscitech.org/view.asp?art=pt050118&pdf=yes

http://www.aapspharmscitech.org/default/issueView.asp?vol=05&issue=01

http://www.pharmainfo.net/Topic1allstories.html

Sibanda is not the only one, there is another member of this forum who is actually a highly rated top scientist currently attached to a top British university. If my memory serves me right, he has also developed some products of his own or in conjuction with other reseachers. The thing is that our people aRe by nuture humble and modest. This is a characteristic which we inherited from our forefathers: humilty. Who can still recall the only black nuclear physicist in the world: Dr Frank Sihawu Khumalo? Legend has it that he ironically developed a bomb which is currently very much being used in Africa's wars across the continent!!!. This might not be a legend after all because that is what the man tells us everyday here in Johanesburg.

In the 1980s there were reports of a guy somewhere in the Bulawayo townships who made his own aeroplane and the story was widely reported in Parade Magazine if my memory serves me right. Where is this guy or what happened to him? But I remember it was said that he had trained in Russia as an aircraft engineer or something like that.

Amhlophe to Wilbha and that is excellent. Kayibambe angayiyeki.

Mabila
Wena kaFolosi( ungixolele inhlamba)!

Ngibona angani its a cultural mind-set and since independence its been yonaleyo eye-Leadership void yethu! With the correct leadership abamntwana would seamlessly graduate from imota zamawaya to computer hackers without any problem. There is nothing special about most of these things other than exposure and the right leadership. O-maintanance engineer in Europe are all school drop outs, can't read or write properly, but the whole system is set up such that umamazala wam kaFolosi can start a job kusasa being a plumber thanks to the society that pushes the engineers to be innovative to the benefit of its self.
Culturally we are so laid back( operation mura...., comes to mind) that we still believe it is a divine right yamapostori to make amabhavu lenqola till amen. Umfowethu uLembe touches on ukuphekwa kwesitshwala, a criteria which won you uDube mamazala, I add the fact that abantu lokhe besiya gayisa or bethenga ko National Foods impuphu since iNkosi yanyamala. Not till this generation have we ever thought of cutting the middle man and making a food processor egayisa endlini!. I could go on mamazala but I think it all boils down to the leadership and cultural attitudes.
Its not all doom and gloom though as the examples listed above by Lobs reveal. I know a few others doing well with Top Universities and companies around the world, including some very good work in communication engineering and a commendable contribution to the Airbus380. We should be proud of them. The fact, though, is these Mthwakazi scientists will tell you that the number is very small and isolated. I am sure they will agree with me that its difficult to be a pioneer and they wish there were more Mthwakazi people around them but in general we still view science and technology the same way as we ignore amabhavu. Maybe its pride. We can't see through to the business side of ukukhanda amabhavu but we are too proud to be seen selling amabhavu. Whereas we could have sold them another way, without putting on ezimhlophe and shaving off inwele.
I don't want to sound defeatistic but I would encourage Inkundla to forge a culture of questioning, as you rightly do mamazala. The food processor, I am told could hit Tsholotsho in the near future mamazala courtesy of one of our own sons. If I get permission to put the communication work here I shall do so. You realise that some of the knowhow cannot be mentioned until its out there.

Bangabe bekhona sibili abanengi abangagcwala isikepe emanyuvesi lakuma kampani kodwa I think the point is APPLICATION. Most people's contributions and patents are possessed by their employers and Mthwakazi in general has very little to gain directly from their knowledge.

We need to adapt the innovation for the direct use of Mthwakazi. We can begin by forming organisation such as Nurses Association (Mthwakazi), Computer Society (Mthwakazi), Physics, Chemistry, Agriculture the list is endless (All Mthwakazi).

Then we might be able to channel the knowledge for the direct benefit of Mthwakazi.

KaMjaji kuyajabulisa ukuthi a food processor will soon hit the dust roads of Tsholotsho hk hk. Bazasila oDube sesichola intolwane lapho hk hk. I hope the food processor has provision for ntolwane lezihaqa kunye lenkunzane siphume le shampoo yenwele hk hk! Langakhona KaMjaji.

I tend to think that research and development as a philosophy should be enshrined in the constitution to ensure that local innovations are not stifled by excuses of inadequte resources etc.

Siyazi lema Nyuvesi namhlanje, abo mangineli lamanye ama scientist kenelisi ukwandisa lokudingisisa ulwazi ngenxa yokuswelakala kwendleko. Konke elikubekayo lapha ngiyakuzwa bafowabo, but unless and until an enabling environment is available for experimentation, akukho okuzakwenzakala! Kumele ku budget yesizwe kwazakale ukuthi inani elithize lezimali liya ku R&D. Iyaswelakala leyo commitment and provision. Singeke sahlala singabathembe imali ezivela kwamanye amazwe imihla ngemihla. Yikho siwathathelwa lawo ma patents ngoba imali ngeyabanikazi. Okunengi that we need to protect lathi kumele senelise ukungena ngasese.

How do we explain ukuthi to this day akula owaziyo ama basic ingredients e Coca cola thina sithunyel;wa ama concentrates kuphela? Bafihlile ulwazi lwabo ngoba balamandla lezimali zokuvimba.

This is also a good thread. I think what Mabila said about the need to resource our R&D is very important. A culture of creativity in people could be created, sustained and glamarized, if adequate funding is done.

The other thing maybe that we may do is to "re-visit" or "steal" old and discarded ideas/inventions and improve on them or make them better and re-introduce them into the market as if they were new inventions, this kind of incremental development is not very expensive, but of course it does need a clear cut commitment in terms of resources and time.

This other day i was watching a kids program (under construction) by one of our very tall forum member, wathatha izinganekwane zakithi ezindala wazenza amacartoon, now he is in advanced stages of getting patents for his work, this is a marvellous idea, this is creativity at its best.

On top of inventing new products let us also thrive to invent or develop new systems and processes, ways of doing things differently, cheaper and easier. Development of processes and systems can be done on/in everything we do, it does not need a lot of resources. Japanese are known of their unorthodoxy management styles and they are successful.

This is not to say that we have to run away from inventing new products or something like that, we must also at the sametime invent ways or improvise means of generating capital to fund our engineering programs. The spirit of innovation and entreprenuership must be inculcated in everything we do, we must always ask the question "could this be done differently, easier or quickly?".

Mabila dade
Uthi wena:

quote:

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I hope the food processor has provision for ntolwane lezihaqa kunye lenkunzane siphume le shampoo yenwele hk hk! Langakhona KaMjaji.

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This is an excellent example of how the society contributes to product innovation. I am certain that the next version will accommodate intolwane mamazala. In the meantime gela inwele or photha ama-dreads whilst you wait for i-processor yenkunzane.
I wonder ukuthi singalima inkunzane nxa ama-chemists akaMthwakazi engasinceda ngendlela zoku yi preserva ishampoo yakho leyo?
The societies (institutes), mentioned above by Mbodlomani and Sibamba, are a must indeed. They can lobby the society for investment in R&D

For those in the UK
If you are a Linux enthusiast this is a very affordable way to get up to speed and meet people in IT

http://ce.bromley.ac.uk/linux/index.htm

Abazi ngezomkhathi, could this accusation have a grain of accuracy kumbe its a desperate conspiracy theory and propaganda gone too far??

US, UK Caused Zimbabwe Droughts

Duke of Leamington

I think that we have expertise in this particular theory right here in the forum. I do not think by any stretch of logic that Saminuka has a better insight into the mysteries of evil demonic spirits that were cast on our lands than our own celebrated and legendary witch-doctor-turned political scientist, the respected and timeless, antiquated-pipe-smoking jazz-lover Bhudaza, who I personally rank at par if not a milimetre more than the Cuban jazz legends of Buena Vista Social Club.

It would help if your recent spate of postings based on personal politcs were funny. But alas, the jokes are even dryer than the land as it suffers from western induced droughts.

I am beginning to wonder whether this Somnuko theory really does apply in certain cases such as yours Mr Rogue Trader. You are really beyond anyone's redemption!

PS, Sibalukhulu please moderate. Don't allow this rather good thread to be hijacked by rogue traders and they brand of politics of the person.

Potshoza

quote:

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western induced droughts.

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Western induced droughts!!!, oh pulizi Mr Duke get a life. It seems royalty is getting into your head!
You put a confusing goat-like face in the forum and hope to gain royal capital from the ensuing confusion. The emperor must be mad.

Umkhathi is not easy to model. Aba-focust-ayo are actually doing nothing more than ubabamkhulu wam[who knew when the time was right ukuthi zibotshwe kuyelinywa]albeit using clever observation methods like satellites, measuring instruments and sharing data worldwide, which my old khehla couldn't access. The truth is they are still using recorded data to fine tune their focusting models and then trying them on current conditions and so on. Because the climates evolve(d) over millions of years one would understand why we can not fathom what triggers certain climatic events and hence tend to use legendary explanations. It is said that one flicker of a butterfly( or umsuzo kawindi ebhasini ephuma ngoFolosi if you like) can start a huge hurricane.
As for our dry climate one would think that maybe this is a sign(or blessig in disguise) that there is something unique underneath, kukhona okukhona phansi. We could be sitting on top of a huge deposit of something precious!! Question is, do we let someone preside on this deposit or we keep it for ourselves?
The experts can elaborate, I am sure.

The first international prize for rainmaking has gone to scientists in South Africa. They have invented a way of forcing clouds to squeeze out nearly double the amount of rain by spraying them with burnt salt crystals. The method is being used in Mexico, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and India. The 200,000 dollar award is organized by the World Meteorological Organisation.