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Smh... rubbish. Take a look at this link

http://saharareporters.com/2014/08/08/ebola-outbreak-has-proven-why-africa-will-likely-continue-be-underdeveloped-chinedu

Smh...lies. Take a look at this

http://saharareporters.com/2014/08/08/ebola-outbreak-has-proven-why-africa-will-likely-continue-be-underdeveloped-chinedu

Not minding what you may think of them, all of those measures smack of precaution, something we so desperately lack in Nigeria and Africa, and something we so desperately need if we are to move forward as a people. Nigeria and Africa cannot harbour the hope of getting to the level of those developed countries we greatly admire if we only pick the negative aspects of their lifestyle and culture, whilst being blind to the most important ones that got them where they are now.

Now that the disease has finally made it to Nigeria, the natural next step should be arresting the spread of the disease. It makes me wonder, “What are the Nigerian doctors, scientists and ‘professors of medicine’ doing by way of working towards the development of a cure?” From the look of things, I presume without admitting that they are doing nothing at all to that effect. Rather, they are waiting for their American, Canadian, British, German, Israeli, Chinese and WHO counterparts to manufacture a cure or vaccine and bring it to them for distribution. It begs the question of how long we, Africans, are going to be spoon-fed by the West, and recently, China? From all indications, it seems that Africa cannot survive without the help of others.

Owing to this submission, it is not surprising that the overwhelming majority of countries receiving foreign aid are from Africa, with our own Nigeria receiving aid from other countries in excess of 1.7 billion US$ dollars in 2011. According to the latest United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index released in July, most African countries scored well below the global average in terms of human development and quality of life. Nigeria was ranked a lowly 152nd out of the 187 sampled countries in a list that was bookended by neighbouring Niger in 187th place. And it is not only the government that has to be held accountable for it.

Africans, by situational disposition rather than genetics, are always too eager to blame others for their misfortune and in a bid for succour, they often propose some really laughable conspiracy theories. One of the silliest to be put forward in recent times has it that the extant outbreak of Ebola in Nigeria might have been an intentional ploy by the West to eliminate Africans, backing the absurd theory up with some brushed over flimsy rationales.

Unsurprisingly, Africa and Africans will continue to be ridiculed and made mockery of internationally until we learn to put our house in order. Nigeria, as Africa's most populous and promising country, with its largest economy, is expected to lead the way. This it has failed to do so many times in the past, becoming evident again in the ease with which the deadly Ebola virus breached the country's borders. It is on record that no country has ever achieved greatness by being blind to the challenges before it and until we learn this we cannot move forward as a people.

http://saharareporters.com/2014/08/08/ebola-outbreak-has-proven-why-africa-will-likely-continue-be-underdeveloped-chinedu

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) has so far claimed over 900 lives, according to many reputable international news agencies, and it's still ravaging large swathes of the West African subregion. This recent outbreak – the deadliest in history – began earlier this year and has so far spread to at least 4 countries in the subregion: Liberia, Guinea-Conakry, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria. There is also an unsubstantiated probability that it might be in other West African countries like Benin Republic and Ghana.

The first casualty on Nigerian soil was reported on the 25th of July, almost a month after I raised the alarm of a possible outbreak of the virus in Nigeria in my article on Sahara Reporters, "What Is Nigeria Doing to Prevent an Outbreak of the Ebola Virus?" As usual, the various levels of the Nigerian government and the masses alike did nothing about it, choosing to ignore the warning and waiting for it to arrive first before finally believing that it's serious. Twenty-five days after the article was published, we let our guard down and an infected Liberian man flew into the country, unfettered by our airport authorities. There was little or no check at the airport despite the obvious risks. Alas, the Liberian ended up infecting many others, most of whom are yet to be found and isolated, posing a grave danger to themselves and the unsuspecting people they are having contact with.

While the scourge was extending its tentacles all over West Africa, most Nigerians were engrossed in the then-ongoing FIFA World Cup taking place in far-away Brazil. Such carefree predisposition is equivalent to a man watching a soap opera in his sitting room while his kitchen is on fire. In Nigeria, and Africa as a whole, we simply do not have any reason to take action until we are choked – the proverbial eleventh hour syndrome. Precaution is seemingly not in our culture.

Advanced countries, including, but not limited to, the United States of America, Britain and South Korea have already started putting measures in place, ranging from the tactful to the bizarrely outrageous, which will forestall a possible outbreak of the dreaded viral disease within their domains. Countries all over the world have gone to great lengths to tightened security in their borders and ports of entry, ensuring that all travellers from West Africa are thoroughly screened for possible indications of the virus before leaving the airport and mixing with people.

Some, however, have chosen to tread the path of extremism to see to it that their citizens are shielded from the disease. American billionaire businessman, Donald Trump, for example, opined that all flights from West Africa to the United States should be halted and the legal rights of all West Africans to return to the States be revoked. South Korea as well took some drastic measures of its own by withdrawing the invitation sent out to some Nigerian students for a conference in the Asian nation in response to the outbreak of Ebola in Nigeria. Comments in the news websites of several foreign news agencies have been less than flattering.

http://saharareporters.com/2014/08/08/ebola-outbreak-has-proven-why-africa-will-likely-continue-be-underdeveloped-chinedu

Boyedex: Nigeria’s retail and wholesale trade industry has the
potential to grow by 7.1% per year, and by 2030
could be the largest contributor to the country’s
GDP, according to recent report by McKinsey Global
Institute. Sales of packaged food and beverages are
expected to grow by 6.8% a year, contributing
around 85% of the growth in consumer goods.
The report, Nigeria’s renewal: Delivering inclusive
growth in Africa’s largest economy, estimates that
demand for consumer goods could more than triple
by 2030. The largest economy in Africa is seeing a
rising consumer class, creating a notable opportunity
for manufacturers and retailers of fast-moving
consumer goods such as food, beverages and
personal and health products. Currently consumption
is estimated at US$388bn a year but is expected to
rise to $1.4tr in 2030, with 35m households earning
over $7,500 a year.
“Based on data from other economies on how
consumption changes with rising incomes, we see
demand in Nigeria poised to accelerate in such
categories as fruit juices,” illustrates the report.
“Capturing emerging consumer demand, however,
will require smart choices about where, when, and
how to enter Nigerian markets. It will also require
specific capabilities that international companies
especially may need to develop.”
One strategy for consumer facing companies in
Nigeria is to adopt a city and regional approach, as
opposed to a nationwide approach where distinct
differences in culture, demographics and wealth
exist. While Lagos, with an estimate of 15m
residents, may be the go-to city for companies
targeting consumers, McKinsey suggests three
regional clusters of cities that together produce
sizable populations to rival Lagos.
“Companies playing in all three of these clusters
could target 20% more households earning above
$7,500 than in Lagos,” notes the research.
A six city cluster around the Niger Delta in the
southeast
Port Harcourt, Warri, Benin City, Aba, Enugu and
Onitsha make up the six city southeast cluster. Its
proximity to oil wells has led the region to be a hub
of activity for oil companies and foreign investment .
According to the report, total GDP in this cluster
alone is $63bn, which is a close rival to Lagos’s
GDP of $68bn, despite having far fewer households.
Both Port Harcourt and Aba have considerably
higher consumption per capita than Lagos. Port
Harcourt, followed by Benin City, Onitsha and Aba
have the largest populations within the cluster.
Companies looking to target the luxury segment
might want to especially consider Port Harcourt, the
capital of Rivers State, which has the highest
consumption per capita in the country ($6,843 in
2013). The city has one of the largest consuming
middle classes in Nigeria with household incomes
between $20,000 and $70,000 a year. It has access
to two of the country’s busier ports and is home to
the Port Harcourt Airport.
Ibadan, Ogbomosho and Ilorin, just north of Lagos
These three cities are within close proximity to
Lagos. Ibadan (the capital of Oyo State) is the
second largest city after Lagos, and has a fast-
growing consumer market. While Lagos has over
four times the number of households as Ibadan,
consumption per capita of Ibadan in 2013 was
$4,562, rivalling Lagos’s $4,710. Ibadan also has a
large emerging consumer class with annual
household incomes of between $7,500 and $20,000,
and one of the larger consuming middle classes in
the country with incomes between $20,000 and
$70,000 a year.
According to a recent African Development Bank
(AfDB) report, Tracking Africa’s Progress in Figures,
Ibadan is one of the top 10 fastest growing cities in
Africa.
Northern corridor cluster of Kano, Zaria and Kaduna
This cluster holds potential for consumer businesses
looking for sizable populations in northern Nigeria.
Kano is the fourth largest city in Nigeria, and
Kaduna the seventh biggest.
This year, South African retailer Shoprite launched
its first outlet in Kano, while Massmart opened a
Game store just before June. Despite the potential
security risk posed by Islamic militants in the region,
Massmart’s Africa director Mark Turner said at the
Reuters Africa Summit in April: “I always want to be
bold enough to say, you can’t be in Nigeria without
being in Kano.”

I don't believe that Port Harcourt, Benin or even Onitsha is more populous than Enugu. Enugu is one of the most thickly populated cities in Nigeria.

WebHostingPal:

A lot of similar posts on here. Unfortunately nobody follow anybody, although hundreds of twitter handles on here

Lies. They just did.

Let's share and exchange our Twitter handles here.
Mine is @CNNGeorge

We could have prevented this ebola virus disease outbreak a long time ago

Take a look at this

http://saharareporters.com/article/what-nigeria-doing-prevent-outbreak-ebola-virus

Take a look at this

http://saharareporters.com/article/what-nigeria-doing-prevent-outbreak-ebola-virus

.

Pope Francis’s secrets to happiness

1. “Live and let live.” Everyone should be guided by this principle, he said, which has a similar expression in Rome with the saying, “Move forward and let others do the same.”

2. “Be giving of yourself to others.” People need to be open and generous toward others, he said, because “if you withdraw into yourself, you run the risk of becoming egocentric. And stagnant water becomes putrid.”

3. “Proceed calmly” in life. The pope, who used to teach high school literature, used an image from an Argentine novel by Ricardo Guiraldes, in which the protagonist — gaucho Don Segundo Sombra — looks back on how he lived his life.

4. A healthy sense of leisure. The Pope said “consumerism has brought us anxiety”, and told parents to set aside time to play with their children and turn of the TV when they sit down to eat.

5. Sundays should be holidays. Workers should have Sundays off because “Sunday is for family,” he said.

6. Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people. “We need to be creative with young people. If they have no opportunities they will get into drugs” and be more vulnerable to suicide, he said.

7. Respect and take care of nature. Environmental degradation “is one of the biggest challenges we have,” he said. “I think a question that we're not asking ourselves is: 'Isn't humanity committing suicide with this indiscriminate and tyrannical use of nature?'”

8. Stop being negative. “Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem. That means, 'I feel so low that instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down,'” the Pope said. “Letting go of negative things quickly is healthy.”

9. Don't proselytise; respect others' beliefs. “We can inspire others through witness so that one grows together in communicating. But the worst thing of all is religious proselytism, which paralyses: 'I am talking with you in order to persuade you,' No. Each person dialogues, starting with his and her own identity. The church grows by attraction, not proselytising,” the Pope said.

10. Work for peace. “We are living in a time of many wars,” he said, and “the call for peace must be shouted. Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive” and dynamic.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pope-francis-issues-top-10-tips-for-happiness--including-dont-try-to-convert-other-people-9639488.html

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Sunday, the 29th of June, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), now preferring to be simply known as the Islamic State, declared a caliphate in an area stretching from Aleppo in northwestern Syria to the eastern parts of Iraq. It becomes the first caliphate since the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, and the Allies.

It was announced in a recorded audio message made available on the internet by the terrorist group via their spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani. The caliphate will be governed by very strict Islamic laws and ruled by ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, now to be known as Caliph Ibrahim and the self-styled “leader of Muslims everywhere.”

A caliphate is most often a Muslim sovereign state ruled by a single ruler, the caliph. The last of such caliphates was the aforementioned Ottoman Empire which was formally disestablished in 1924, years after the end of World War 1.

This latest episode in the chequered history of Iraq and the turbulent Middle East surely didn’t come as a surprise to many political watchers. It steadily built up, capitalizing on the vacuum created by the Syrian Civil War (2011-present), and an ethnically and religiously divided Iraq. The ISIS made rapid and tremendous gains during the heights of the Syrian conflict by flushing out all the various ragtag and disunited militias fighting against the Assad-led government. They merely took over the territories formerly held by these militias (which were no longer in hands of the Syrian government), abolished the laws of the militia and imposed their own strict Sharia dicta. At first, they were masked as a group fighting for the rights of the masses, but it was not long before the same masses started bearing the brunt of their rule.

The ISIS's declaration of independence and the possible dissolution of Iraq is perhaps the climax of the storyline. Years of misplaced priorities, rebuttal of the ethnic and religious diversity of Iraq, religious frictions and suppression of ethnic minorities by highhanded rulers and vested foreign interests were the perfect foundation and bricks for the present state of things. On their part, the ISIS are fighting both the government and the Kurds. The Kurds are also battling the ISIS and the government.

The Kurds, with a population of about 30 million, are among the largest ethno-linguistic groups in the world without a State of their own. Their territory spans the lands of south-eastern Turkey, north-eastern Syria, northern Iraq and western Iran, covering an area of more than 250,000 square kilometres. In each of the countries where they are found, they are never the majority, leading to their alienation, suppression and marginalization in politics and daily life activities.

The Kurds’ yearning for self-rule was not a priority for the European powers that were victorious in World War 1 as they tore up the defeated Ottoman Empire. The founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Atatürk, was not willing to give up key parts of eastern Turkey to the Kurdish State, leading him to sign an agreement – the Treaty of Lausanne – with the Allies which divided the Kurds between Turkey, Armenia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

The Kurds, though scattered, never really lost their sense of ethnic identity. They were never assimilated into these five new countries and they were often at loggerheads with the countries governing their territory. In the 1970s, Saddam Hussein kick-started his “Arabization” movement which eventually led to the displacement and massacre of thousands of Kurds in Iraq. But his efforts achieved little in quietening down the Kurds once and for all. Presently, the Kurds are engaging the Iraqi government and the ISIS in a fierce tussle for the control of their oil-rich lands.

This scenario is not dissimilar to past incidences and the present realities in Nigeria. The Kurds can be likened to various ethnic groups in Nigeria that are large enough to form their own States. The Igbos, Yorubas and the Ijaws are also stateless nations in their own rights and each of them has agitated against the federal government for perceived marginalization at various times in the history of Nigeria. The Biafran War was fought between the Igbos and the federal government of Nigeria about the same period Saddam Hussein was championing his “Arabization” movement in Iraq. When the war was over, they were stripped of all their properties, fragmented across various states and divorced from national politics all in a bid to weaken them and quell their nationalism.

The Ijaw’s nationalist movement has produced its own fair share of uprisings, though not on the scale of the Nigerian civil war – one of the bloodiest wars in the 20th century Africa. The struggle over who controls the oil wealth of the Niger Delta championed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, like the Igbos’ quest for self-determination, may have died down, but it’s not dead yet. Though some people, who out of mischief or sheer ignorance, will argue against this fact.

Historically, the Yorubas, like the Kurds, are not so much interested in what goes on at the centre, preferring regional politics to the intricacies of the federal government instead. Recently, a shift from federalism to regionalism has been advocated in the media by some stakeholders from southwestern Nigerian, with a view to achieving fulltime independence.

Nigeria and Iraq have a lot more in common than we think. Both countries are oil rich, both countries have two major religious groups that are always at loggerheads, both countries harbour irredentist factions and both countries have witnessed and are witnessing serious security challenges. The crisis in Iraq is as much a religious conflict as it is a political upheaval. The Sunni Muslims who are in the majority in Iraq don’t usually get along with the Shiites who, incidentally, are in control of the Iraqi federal government. The ISIS and the Kurds are two Sunni groups fighting themselves and the government of Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite.

In Nigeria, conflicts of a religious nature usually pit the predominantly Christian southern Nigeria against the mostly Muslim north. There has been incidents in the past where several lives were lost following clashes between rampaging Christian and Muslim groups. In some parts of Northern Nigeria, whenever there is a tumult, the first place to be attacked is a church. Among the Christians, Muslims are usually blamed whenever the country is portrayed in bad light by the international press. It is a never ending cycle which does little to suggest that both divides are not intolerant of each other.

The ISIS can be likened to Nigeria’s Boko Haram. The two militias have professed corresponding agendas and have a parallel modus operandi in driving the government out of the territories they have interest in. The Boko Haram insurgency, if left unchecked, can grow in scale and sophistication such that it can hold off the Nigerian military and exercise total de facto sovereignty over certain parts of the north which will be a catalyst in the break-up of the country.

The influence of foreign powers in the Iraq crisis can neither be overruled nor overstated. In addition to the ubiquitous interest of the United States and other world powers in what goes on in Iraq, Saudi Arabia has recently been fingered as a major sponsor of the various dissident groups involved in the Iraqi and Syrian uprisings. Their plot, according to some sections of the Middle Eastern political leadership, is to kill off Iraq as a rival and threat to the kingdom’s petroleum industry by inciting unrest in its oil-rich north. The agenda has so far paid off. Iraq’s oil production output has been heavily hit and there are signs that it may go down further as the country nears total collapse and imminent implosion.

The break-up process is already underway. Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu seemingly endorsed an independent Kurdish State in his statement on Sunday that the Kurds "are a fighting people that has proved its political commitment, political moderation, and deserves political independence.” At some point, hostile host, Turkey, also spoke up in favour of Kurdish self-determination – in Iraq. The reason for this is not far-fetched. Erasing an aggressive Iraq from the world map will be one less problem for Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and a dominantly Shiite Iran that sees Iraq as a clog in its quest for ideological supremacy in a highly religious Middle East.

On the home front, there is no gainsaying that there are foreign powers who will stand to benefit from the break-up of the world’s biggest black country. Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous country and largest economy is a clog in some countries' quest for economic and political supremacy in the continent and beyond, and they will see to it that all of the country’s weaknesses are brought together to actualize its disintegration.

In the Iraq crisis are opportunities for the Nigerian leadership to take stock of the comparability of the two States and their analogous problems and chart a way forward in making certain that it doesn’t go the way of the former Middle Eastern powerhouse.

SOURCE HERE

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Humans are primates and, therefore, social creatures. We generally prefer to mate, hang out in groups, and share experiences. Our brains are highly evolved to decode subtle facial expressions and understand complex speech. You can see evidence of our communal nature everywhere—families, sports teams, classrooms, restaurants. We like to do virtually everything together.
Even lie.

Lies come in all shapes and sizes. Some forms of dishonesty are major, such as marital infidelity or embezzling funds from work. Others, though, are of the “white lie” variety and include complimenting a friend on her dress even though you think it makes her look like an Oscar statuette.

But have you ever stopped to consider why we lie?

We typically think of lying in black-and-white moral terms, but there is more to the story. To be sure, people lie in an effort to maximize their own gain. We might lie about the amount of money we have (if we are trying to bargain for a good deal), how much we enjoyed a movie (if we are trying to win the favor of a date), or the amount of effort we put into a project (if we are trying to impress a boss). In many cases, stretching the truth din these ways doesn’t feel like a bold violation of our moral code precisely because we, ourselves, are the direct beneficiaries.

There are other reasons people lie: We are inclined toward dishonesty when we are tired, or when we are in the company of others. When fatigue sets in, lying can be a way of saving energy or other resources. Ever pretended to reach your allotment of push-ups by fudging the number a bit during a workout? We're also are more likely to lie when others around us do.

Lying, like many social phenomena, is contagious.

Interestingly, as common as lying is, we have also evolved fairly sophisticated mechanisms for “lie detection,” as we fancifully call it. The phrase invokes all sorts of detective television dramas and Las Vegas card shark films based on the idea that anyone can learn how to spot a liar. Common lore holds that dishonest people look away when they lie, or that bluffers at the poker table fiddle with a ring or exhibit some similar “tell” that gives away their true mental state.

In a recent series of studies, though, participants succeeded at detecting lies no better than they would through guessing.

Infants, however, can detect one particular type of lie—emotional dishonesty. Because young children are preverbal and lack the life experience to recognize verbal lies, researchers turn to their understanding of feelings. In a recent study, Eric Walle examined the ability of 16- and 19-month-olds to recognize honest emotion. Like the best researchers in psychology, Walle appears to have had a blast in his process of making parents either hit or miss their own hand with a plastic hammer and then react with either put-on or authentic emotions. In a second study, parents were instructed to show either authentic or exaggerated fear. It turned out that 16-month-old children could not detect emotional artifice while 19-month-olds could. They were able to pick up on whether feelings were appropriate to the context, appropriate in their intensity, and whether they were displayed appropriately.

Somewhere in that second year, we learn to spot fake.

What do toddlers and plastic hammers have to do with you and your marriage, your friendships, or your work? Lots. Rather than trying to play a TV psychic with an uncanny ability to deduce information based on belt buckles, wedding rings, and facial tics, just try being human. You can use yourself as an “emotional barometer” by paying attention to how you feel when someone talks to you. A recent study by Leanne ten Brinke and her colleagues showed that while people could only guess liars at chance (actually, worse than chance—43 percent), their accuracy improved when they went with their gut. Using computer reaction time tests that measure non-conscious attitudes, participants were more likely to pair deceit-related words with liars and honesty-related words with truth tellers. In fact, their accuracy improved significantly.

A gut feeling probably isn’t enough to take someone to court or to openly accuse a co-worker. An instinct about honesty is, however, enough to duck out on a dodgy date or to confront a friend or lover. Your hunches may not always be correct, but they may be correct enough of the time that they become a useful lie detector.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/significant-results/201407/how-spot-lie

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In the space of eight days, three passenger planes have been lost in mid-flight. A cluster of accidents so close together may seem an unlikely coincidence but is it?

The first accident happened on Thursday 17 July, when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 fell from the sky over eastern Ukraine, apparently brought down by a missile. Seven days later a plane crashed in Taiwan (above), and on the eighth day another flight went down en route to Algeria from Burkina Faso. In all, 462 people are thought to have died.

Some people may suddenly be wondering how safe it is to fly.

But Harro Ranter, director of the Aviation Safety Network which catalogues plane crashes, says clusters of accidents are not unusual. Analysing the number and frequency of fatal crashes of aircraft capable of carrying 14 or more passengers since 1990, he finds 45 dates when there have been two or more crashes (excluding collisions).

In 105 cases there have been accidents on consecutive days. In fact, Ranter says it is more common for an accident to happen just one day after another crash than two, three or more days later.

Why might this be?

"It is essentially a coincidence, except for the technicality that adverse weather involving thunderstorms and typhoons is more common in some seasons than others," says Arnold Barnett, a Professor of Statistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

However, Barnett also draws attention to the theory of Poisson distribution, which implies that short intervals between crashes are actually more probable than long ones.


"Suppose that there is an average of one fatal accident per year, meaning that the chance of a crash on any given day is one in 365," says Barnett. "If there is a crash on 1 August, the chance that the next crash occurs one day later on 2 August is 1/365. But the chance the next crash is on 3 August is (364/365) x (1/365), because the next crash occurs on 3 August only if there is no crash on 2 August."

As each day passes, the likelihood of a fatal accident falls. "It seems counterintuitive, but the conclusion follows relentlessly from the laws of probability," Barnett says.

About 500 passengers die in crashes involving scheduled commercial flights each year, and although that number has already been exceeded in 2014 - by about 200 - we should not expect the coming months to have an unusually high number of accidents.

Barnett points out that during April, May and June this year, there were no fatal accidents at all involving scheduled commercial flights. "It is hard to imagine that the skill that led to this marvellous record somehow disappeared in July," he says.

He calculates that in developed countries the chance of dying is about one in 25 million per flight. "A child at a UK airport is more likely to grow up to be prime minister than perish on the forthcoming flight... the child is more likely to win an Olympic gold medal or receive the Nobel prize in physics."

Even in the world's least developed countries the chance of dying on a flight is about one in 750,000.

As for the occurrence of three fatal crashes in eight days, David Spiegelhalter, Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at Cambridge University, has worked out that there is about a six in 10 chance that we should see such a large cluster during a 10-year period, and "the most likely maximum number of crashes of commercial planes with over 18 passengers in any eight-day window over 10 years is exactly three".

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28481060

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PrincessB1: Thanks for sharing this Info...... Thank God I dislike soft drinks

Hollywood is increasingly in the business of making movies with disposable actors — performers who are almost interchangeable and easily replaced. The special effects and bombastic action sequences required for the modern blockbuster cost many millions of dollars. Any money studios can save by casting less-famous actors is money that can go to the bottom line. And if those actors can be easily swapped out in sequels, all the better. A disposable actor doesn’t really have the leverage to demand a big pay hike.

If there’s one actor who has proved himself in-disposable, it’s Robert Downey Jr. The actor has made millions playing Iron Man and for the second year in a row, he tops FORBES’ list of the Top Earning Actors. We estimate that Downey earned $75 million between June 2013 and June 2014, the same amount as he earned last year. This list measures only the men. We will have a separate list of the Top Earning Actresses.

Downey reigns as the highest paid man in Hollywood because at this point, it would be incredibly difficult for Marvel to continue making Iron Man and Avengers films without him. Marvel movies starring Downey have earned almost $4 billion at the global box office and millions more on home video, not to mention the millions the movies have generated in merchandise.

Disney, which owns Marvel, wants to keep that gravy train going for as long as it can and like it or not, that means paying Downey whatever he demands. The actor coyly held out during negotiations for the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron and secured more money than ever upfront for the film. The movie is sure to be a huge hit and he’ll earn even more on the back end.

Downey’s Hollywood clout (he ranks 10th overall on our Celebrity 100 list which measures a mix of money and fame) has given him the power to get smaller, more personal movies made too. He helped his friend Jon Favreau get the film Chef produced and appeared in a memorable cameo in the movie. Chef has earned $25 million so far at the global box office, not bad for a tiny film.

Downey isn’t the only superhero on our list this year. Newcomer Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor, didn’t have the fame numbers to make it on the Celebrity 100 this year but he ranks 5th on our list of Top Earning Actors with $37 million. The Thor sequel, The Dark World, outearned the first Thor movie by $200 million so expect Hemsworth to be able to negotiate for more money in the inevitable Thor 3. When he’s not playing a Norse God, Hemsworth is busy pursuing an Oscar. This year he’ll star in films by prestige directors Michael Mann and Ron Howard who directed Hemsworth in Rush.


To compile our earnings estimates, we talk to agents, producers, lawyers and other in-the-know folks to figure out how much each celebrity earned from entertainment-related work between June 2013 and June 2014. We do not deduct for taxes, agent fees or the costs of being a celebrity.

Dwayne Johnson hasn’t played a superhero yet but you could argue that’s about to change with his newest film, Hercules. The former wrestler plays the hero in a film that picks up after the iconic 12 tasks have been completed. Johnson ranks second on our earnings list with an estimated $52 million mostly thanks to his work in movies like the Fast and Furious franchise. This will be the first time he’s headlined a movie. He has another big action flick, San Andreas, lined up for next summer.

Bradley Cooper also gets a turn to play a superhero this year even if he’ll be heard but not seen. Cooper is voicing Rocket Raccoon in the upcoming Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy. Cooper earned an estimated $46 million last year thanks to his smart mix of blockbusters and prestige films. Cooper earned millions from The Hangover franchise but he also earns big from films like American Hustle. Cooper took a pay cut for the lower-budget film so when it earned $251 million at the global box office he got a nice piece of the profits (plus an Oscar nomination).

Rounding out our top five is Leonardo DiCaprio who ranks 4th with an estimated $39 million in earnings. DiCaprio is the rare actor who can earn $15 million and up for the kind of adult films that studios don’t often make anymore. Like Downey in superhero movies though, DiCaprio is worth the money. Both The Great Gatsby and The Wolf of Wall Street did better than expected at the box office this year earning a combined $743 million at the global box office.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2014/07/21/robert-downey-jr-once-again-tops-forbes-list-of-top-earning-actors/

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Carlos Slim Helú is once again the world’s richest person, thanks in large part to a sharp increase in telecom giant América Móvil’s share price both in U.S. and Mexican markets. Slim bumped Microsoft (NYSE:MSFT) cofounder Bill Gates from his perch as the world’s richest, a post Gates has held since May 2013.

The move happened on Tuesday when the value of Slim’s phone company América Móvil’s (NYSE:AMX), his largest holding, rose 1% or $805.6 million, pushing his net worth to Forbes estimate of $79.6 billion, against Gates’s estimated $79.1 billion net worth.

América Móvil’s stock has been rising since the company announced plans last week to divest some assets to comply with Mexico’s new antitrust telecom regulations. América Móvil’s shares were sharply higher last Wednesday, 24 hours after the news of the breakup. The company’s shares, which have languished the past year as a result of regulatory pressures in Mexico, jumped 10% on the NYSE the day following the breakup announcement.

Between July 1 and July 11, Slim’s wealth jumped from $74.5 billion to $79.6, a gain of $5.1 billion in 12 business days, an indication that investors are applauding Slim’s unexpected decision to reduce his phone market share below 50% as a new antitrust telecom law mandate comes into play. Investors seem to believe the outcome may actually be better for Slim’s business interests.

Currently, Slim’s América Móvil controls 70% of the mobile phone market in Mexico, and 80% of landlines.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto signed the bill into law on Monday in an event attended by Mexico’s top telecom executives, including Carlos Slim Domitt, Slims Helús oldest son and heir apparent.

Slim fell from the top of the Forbes World’s Billionaire list in May 2013 largely due to a sharp drop in América Móvil’s stock, fueled by fears that Mexico’s new antitrust regulations would crumble his telecom empire.

Yet it appears as though the threat has reenergized him. Slim is planning to further expand his presence in Europe and Latin America. In a filing with the Mexican Stock Exchange on Monday, América Móvil said it will acquire an additional 23.47 % stake in Telekom Austria in a buyout offer, lifting the telecom giant’s interest in the company to 50.8%.



Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/doliaestevez/2014/07/15/mexicos-carlos-slim-reclaims-worlds-richest-man-title-from-bill-gates/

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1. SUGAR
For your hair’s sake, please step away from the sweets. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein and we all know how important protein is for your hair. Vitamin E is also essential for healthy hair growth and sugar can lower the level of vitamin E that needs to get to your strands! Don’t fret-- this doesn't mean you have to cut out sugar altogether. It just means that you should reduce your intake. You should consider substituting for natural sources of sugar like fruits or vegetables if you can't kick the habit.


2. SALT
Extra salt is delicious on fries, popcorn or that bland dish that you got while eating out for lunch. But, it should be used in moderation because excess sodium has been shown to cause hair to shed excessively. Sodium should be limited to less than 2300 mg a day and even less if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, or are over the age of 51. If you want to keep your curls full of body, sprinkle with caution.


3. BLEACHED WHITE FLOUR
Some people avoid carbs like a plague but mostly because they’re concerned about their hips, and not necessarily their hair. Starchy foods are broken down into sugar and can cause your hair to thin. If you are having a whirlwind love affair with starchy foods like bread, pastas, cakes, and other floury deliciousness, it's time to consider consumer smaller amount, just for a while.


4. SOFT DRINKS
It can be hard to give up that lunchtime soda because it compliments your meal and provides a kick of caffeine in order to get through the day, but consider what's really going on when you pick up that carbonated soft drink. One soda contains an inordinate amount of processed sugar, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and chemical-filled colors that don't provide any nutrients for your hair-- except completely dry out your hair. Even if you’re sipping on water, soda will still contribute to the dehydration of your strands and turn your cute curls into a brittle mess.


5. ALCOHOL

If you want to keep a full head of hair, it might be in your best interest to reduce your alcohol intake starting...now. Excessive drinking reduces the amount of zinc, folic acid, vitamin B, and vitamin C in your body. What does that mean for your curls? It weakens your hair, makes it difficult to grow, and contributes to hair loss if you’re overindulging with the loose juice. No one is saying you can’t turn up with the girls on the weekends or enjoy a much-deserved post-work cocktail, but constant consumption can definitely take a toll if you aren’t mindful of your intake.

Source: http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/living/five-foods-that-inhibit-growth/#!slide1

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