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Mar 12 , 2022

Walking's Easy When the Vista Easy on Eyes

It was for the first time that I had an all-pedestrian lane walk. It was a cool day, thanks to an unusual cloud cover. It surprised me how a walk started as I was arguing with myself for not being out...

Mar 5 , 2022

Too Much Self-esteem Derails Institutions

Nestor, the character Homer envisaged both in the Iliad and the Odyssey, is used as a synonym for a wise old man. The king was about 70, when he was the oldest and most experienced of the Greek chieft...

Feb 26 , 2022

Easy for Schools to Label. Terrible for Everybody Else

There are always memorable moments from our time in school. One of those, for me, was when we were first introduced to the mind-boggling (pun intended) anatomy of the human brain and its major constit...

Feb 19 , 2022

Good Customer Service, Essence of Excellent Hosts

Alain de Botton blended literary biography and self-help guides to write “How Proust Can Change Your Life” in the late 1990s. It is a remarkable insight into how best to live life, expounding on P...

Feb 12 , 2022

Insurance Coverage, Modern Day Whipping Boy

The practice of princes employing commoners to take up their punishment was not uncommon, although evidence for it is not as strong. Historians debate whether this really happened. The commoners alleg...

Feb 5 , 2022

Addis Bus System Needs Space, 'Siltan'

It was with a bit of pride I used to show my friends the single deck Icarus buses on the roads, a Hungarian model primarily employed by the Anbessa City Bus Service. They were used to serve as governm...

Jan 29 , 2022

Gov't Service Digitisation Not Just About Gadgets but Attitude

It was a while since I had an issue finishing up with a government ministry. This time, I decided to do it online through their website. Sure, there are changes to the portal's look, and essential upd...

Jan 22 , 2022

No Matter the Goal, Cliff Says Rehearse

William Shakespeare has never been a stranger to expressing a certain truth in his lines. “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” he once wrote in his 16th-century...

Jan 15 , 2022

Don't Surrender the Streets to Vehicles, Give Walking A Chance

Close to my neighbourhood, there is a wide street. A decade ago, with my friends, we used to joke that it was an expressway. Taken up largely by the Addis Abeba Light Rail now, the pedestrian walkways...

Jan 7 , 2022

Serve Like the Street Vendors, with Care

It was two weeks ago or last year, in the last days of December 2021. A day with a gusty yet sunny, cool afternoon, I arrived close to five o'clock at my house. Strange these days, I was away from my...

Jan 1 , 2022

The Tyranny of Mathematics: the In-equaliser of Students

Over a cup of coffee with a friend, I had a “mathematical” talk. It all started with her elation after her young daughter's success, a student of medicine now. This was enough to make her elated,...

Dec 25 , 2021

Cognitive Dissonance's Not the Enemy. It's People

It was several days ago. I argued with a long time friend, which seemed to go on for forever. It is about numbers. He was perturbed and frustrated with the near-total absence of applying numbers in th...

Dec 19 , 2021

The Humbly Competent Shall Inherit the Earth

Amy Dardin's case is the symbolic equivalent of the word procrastination. The Virginian Amy tendered to Congress for the reimbursement of a horse that belonged to her and had been used by soldiers dur...

Dec 11 , 2021

Pedestrian Safety's No Storm in Teacup

As usual, a few days ago, I was out for a walk. The sun was dipping beneath the horizon. I strolled over a quite cobblestoned alleyway just for a while and turned right to an asphalt road, complete wi...

Dec 4 , 2021

Economical with Words, Pays in Spades

I sat with a long time friend for a conversation. Curiously, our topic was “conversation.” We reminisced about the things we used to talk about ages ago, most of the time over the few available b...

Nov 27 , 2021

To Think Outside the Box's Overrated

Aground breaking practice in its early days, ”tooth jumping” was once a common toothache remedy. It was the extraction of a tooth by holding a chisel at an angle against it and striking it with a...

Columns

Commentaries | Jul 18,2026

Millions Looking for Work. Companies Cannot Find Many to Hire. A Paradox?

Pressed in Parliament on jobs and household incomes, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) offer...

Editorial | Jul 18 , 2026

EL NINO MEETS A REGION EMPTIED BY WAR

Weldu Yiheysh, a farmer in Shibta District of Enderta Wereda in the Southeast Zone, was st...

Featured | Jul 19 , 2026 . By GEBRU KAHSAY and WORKINEH DIRIBSA

A Sack of Cement, with the Chain No One Can See

In the Jemo area of Addis Abeba, Fikremariam Wondimu no longer trades cement so much as ga...

Agenda | Jul 19 , 2026 . By FITSUM TADESSE

Adverse Opinions Pile Up as Addis Abeba’s Budget Hits a Record

Bureaus, agencies and institutions under the Addis Abeba City Administration are sitting o...

Fortune News | Jul 19 , 2026 . By BEZAWIT HULUAGER