The United States and the Kalashnikovs

In parts of the Western world especially the United States, The Avtomat Kalashnikova Model or AK-47 machine gun and semi-automatic weapon is associated with their enemies; both Cold War era and present-day. In the cold war era the AK-47 assault rifle, first developed in the USSR by Mikhail Kalashnikova for the Russian army in 1947 was the primary infantry weapon of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Vietcong (VC) in Vietnam War, a war in which America lost 58000 soldiers and a war which America lost. These assault rifles which were used in the war and mostly made in the People's Republic of China, the chief supplier of armaments to NVA and VC forces is been said to be one of the factors that made America lost the Vietnam war.
 

Most armaments analysts judge the AK-47, which normally holds thirty bullets, to be superior to the U.S. M-16, which became the standard weapon of American, Korean, and South Vietnamese troops in the Vietnam War. It was more durable and less adversely affected by the climate and conditions of Vietnam. M-16 which is better in accuracy and long range targets was a high maintenance weapon while AK-47 which is inexpensive and less expensive to manufacture, required little maintenance and was perfect for inexperienced troops. Dust, dirt and grime build-up would fail the M-16 while the AK-47 still functioned exceptionally well. The AK-47 wins hands down when it came to firepower. For example a single shot from an AK-47 would break a cinder block. An M-16 bullet would just create a bullet hole on a similar cinder block. This powerful firepower and the rapid-fire capability (600 rounds/min) of AK-47 alone could have turned the tide of war against the Americans in Vietnam. There are a number of accounts of cases in which American troops preferred to use the AK-47 and in fact did use it when combat conditions permitted. The continuing popularity of this weapon is illustrated by its use in many military hostilities since the Vietnam War.

 

During the 1980s, Russia became the principal arms dealer to countries embargoed by Western nations, including Middle Eastern nations such as Syria, Libya and Iran, who welcomed Soviet Union backing against Israel. After the fall of the Soviet Union, AK-47s were sold both openly and on the black market to any group with cash, including drug cartels and dictatorial states, and more recently they have been seen in the hands of violent Islamic terrorist groups such as the Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria, Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, FARC, Ejército de Liberación Nacional guerrillas in Colombia. Western movies often portray criminals, gang members and terrorists using AK-47s. For these reasons, in the U.S. and Western Europe the AK-47 is stereotypically regarded as the weapon of murder and a weapon of choice of insurgents, gangsters and terrorists. Conversely, throughout the developing world, the AK-47 can be positively attributed with revolutionaries or "freedom fighters" against foreign occupation, imperialism or colonialism. In Mexico, the AK-47 is known as "Cuerno de Chivo" (Ram's Horn) and is one of the weapons of choice of Mexican drug cartels. In the United States its considered counterculture, which is always something that citizens in Mexico kind of like ... It's kind of sticking a finger in the eye of the man, if you will.

Director James Cameron reached the Earth's deepest point

Explorer and filmmaker James Cameron on Sunday, March 25, 2012, journeyed to a place only two men have gone before - to the Earth's deepest point called the Mariana Trench, which is more than a mile deeper than Mount Everest is tall. Director James Cameron reached the Earth's deepest point after travelling nearly 7 miles undersea in a solo submarine, the Deapsea Challenger

The Great Redwoods

The Redwoods (Sequoia and Sequoiadendron) are massive trees. The three Redwood subfamily genera are: The Metasequoia, with the living species Metasequoia glyptostroboides found in China (which are smaller trees); Sequoia and Sequoiadendron of California and Oregon, USA. The redwood species contains the largest and tallest trees in the world. These trees can live to an old age, with some for hundreds to thousands of years. They are the sky scrapers of the plant world. The tallest tree in the world is a Sequoia sempervirens (the Hyperion Tree) which is a coast Redwood in Northern California that was measured at 115.61 metres (379.3 ft). This ranks it as the world's tallest known living tree. Despite its great height, Hyperion is not the largest known coast Redwood; that distinction belongs to the Lost Monarch tree. The largest tree in the world is a Sequoiadendron giganteum (the General Sherman Tree) located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California. By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth.

Why the Portuguese called it Benin City

In the late sixteen century, a time when the word "City" really meant city, a time when the words - village and hamlet were the only word use to describe settlements in black-Africa, a time when blacks where called monkeys, at a time when the English believes and thinks black-Africans lives on trees and a time before the English even dreamt of coming to sub-Sahara Africa, Dutch and Portuguese traders were already using the name Benin city to identify Benin. Benin which was originally called Ile Binu (land of anger) which was changed by Oba Eweka (King Eweka) to Ubini which was sometimes shortened as Bini which the Portuguese corrupted in their own language and wrote down as Benin City. The question is why did they call it a city in such a time? The pictures and writings of then explorers, missionaries and traders may give us some of the answers.

Roese, P. M., and D. M. Bondarenko in their book, A Popular History of Benin. The Rise and Fall of a Mighty Forest Kingdom, wrote:
 

"The kingdom and the capital city were both called Benin. The city of Benin was laid out in a system of huge straight streets. These streets were very wide, very long, and well maintained although they were not paved. You could travel on foot in a straight line for 15 or 20 minutes and not see the end of the street. Other streets opened from the main streets. They were also wide. Houses were built in rows along all of the streets. On the street front side, houses had covered porches to keep people dry as they sat outside. The Dutch and Portuguese traders who came to Benin by sea were not invited into the nobles' or artists homes. So we don't know how their homes were arranged, or what the back looked like. But we do know about the palace. "
 

"Dutch and Portuguese traders were invited into the king's palace - and thus we have written records of what the palace looked like."The king's court is very big, having within it many wide squares with galleries round them where watch is always kept. I went so far within these builds that I passed through four such squared, and wherever I looked I still saw gate after gate which opened into other places."

A seventeenth century Dutch engraving from Olfert Dapper's Nauwkeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaansche Gewesten, published in Amsterdam in 1668 described the palace thus:

"The king's palace or court is a square, and is as large as the town of Haarlem and entirely surrounded by a special wall, like that which encircles the town. It is divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and comprises beautiful and long square galleries, about as large as the Exchange at Amsterdam, but one larger than another, resting on wooden pillars, from top to bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the pictures of their war exploits and battles, and are kept very clean. Most palaces and houses of the king are covered with palm leaves instead of square pieces of wood, and every roof is decorated with a small turret ending in a point, on which birds are standing, birds cast in copper with outspread wings, cleverly made after living models."

Nigerian woman sets new record in drug smuggling

Bola Adebisi, a Nigerian woman last weekend (Saturday) set an unfortunate record at the Dulles International Airport when she tried to smuggle almost five pounds of heroin she swallowed into the United States of America. The handout photo provided by the US Customs and Border Protection shows 2157.4g of ingested heroin pellets. The 52-year-old woman said she ingested 180 thumb-sized pellets filled with $150,000 worth of heroin. The previous record for an ingested drug seizure at Dulles occurred last year, when another Nigerian was discovered with more than four pounds of pellets. Customs officials at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, say she has been charged with drug smuggling in federal court Alexandra in the United States.

The Rumour: Fabrice Muamba is dead! And the Reaction

Fabrice Muamba, the 23 years old Ex-Arsenal and Bolton player collapsed on Saturday night, on the pitch in the F.A. Cup game against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. He was rushed to the hospital. This has raised a lot of dust: prayers, news, concerns, rumours, even racial comments. The biggest of it all is the rumour on social media: facebook, twitter, and Blackberry messenger that Fabrice Muamba is dead! This has resulted to swearing, insults, condemnations, comments and counter comments on the social media.
How did this rumour come about? Today, 18th march at 8.00 pm (UK time) it was on news that Fabrice was clinically dead for two hours. That is, his heart was not beating for a long time possibly 100 to 120 minutes. When the heartbeat stops, a person is said to be suffering clinical death - by definition, but consciousness is not lost until 15-20 seconds later. Up to this point, a person doesn't feel anything about the critical situation. This news was misinterpreted for "Fabrice Muamba is dead" and the rumour started booming on social media most especially twitter
The whole thing was getting interesting on twitter and the reactions were thrilling. It all started with tweets like this:
"@LisaZhengx: R.I.P Fabrice Muanba"
"@jazzley10: R.I.P Fabrice Muamba died 2hours ago aged 23. Pass this on too show respect football fan or not "
"@tha_rodman: heart break....RIP FABRICE MUAMBA"

Instantly retweets and replies started coming in: some of disappointment in the rumour twitters:
"@hsslbnk: The people that made the RIP Fabrice Muamba trend are sick. It's not funny at all. He's not dead, he's still in ITU. #PrayForMuamba"
"@Liam_Roache: The fact 'RIP Fabrice Muamba' is trending has made me feel sick. The lack of respect some people have is just disgusting!"
"@chanellejhayes: Why the hell are people tweeting rip to fabrice muamba when he is still fighting for his life in hospital? Have some f-ing respect ffs!"

Some replies were funny rhetorical questions:
"@damiliicious: Are you guys MAD? He is not dead!"@_do_not_care: you killed him? RT @tha_rodman: heart break....RIP FABRICE MUAMBA"
"@Wolf_II: STFU. Na you kill am? RT @BraeynO: Chai!!! :(. So Fabrice Muamba don kpai! RIP "
"@Paulex2: Ƴ do pple jst post STUPID яandoM comments... He's critically ILL RT @womzylala: R u serz? RT @tha_rodman: heart break....RIP FABRICE MUAMBA"

I got such question too when i joined the bandwagon by posting a R.I.P Fabrice Muamba so as to get the reactions of my followers.
"@NaijaGalWonder: NA YOU KILL AM??? "@sonydoug: Moment of silence for Fabrice.......R.I.P Fabrice Muamba died few hours ago aged 23."

And insults like:
"@maQmillian: @sonydoug can u pls shut ur stinking mouth??? Banana brain!!!"
This one really made me laugh because my avatar on twitter is a picture of my mouth. I was not the only one that got an insult though.

Some other reactions were that of caution, prayer and correction:
"@tosinebaba: Thank you RT @_do_not_care: "Fabrice Muamba's heart condition is stable, but he remains critically ill, HE IS NOT DEAD STOP WIV THE RIP"
"@snekelekozo: @rohan_COYI stop spreading wrong information, Fabrice Muanba is still alive bt critical in hospital!!"
"@AllanStruthers: People complaining about the RIP Fabrice Muamba trend, seemingly totally unaware that they're only contributing to it. #IHateMostPeople"
"@somto_mbah: Fabrice Muamba will pull through in Jesus' name. Amen."

The collapse of Fabrice Muamba issue on twitter resulted to racially offensive Tweet by a 21 years old Swansea Student, Liam Stacey. Liam Stacy had been made to face the law and his tweet may send him to jail. While all were going on reports have it that Fabrice Muamba is critically ill. He is under intensive care and his heart condition is stable. Whatever the drama that has happened on twitter today the good thing is that Fabrice Muamba is still alive and it is my prayer that he comes out alive and strong like Nigerian's Kanu Nwankwo who also was once in his situation.
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Erin Ijesa Waterfall

This waterfall is located in Osun State and is made up of about five steps. The beauty of this place is a sight to behold. The water from the fall is cold and refreshing. The fun of your visit will not be complete if you do not climb to the top of the mountain where the source of the fall is. This is a two-hour mountaineering exercise, risky but exciting. when ever you visit Osun state of Nigeria be sure to visit the wonderful work of nature.

A Poem for Mothers on Mothers Day

My Mother

Who fed me from her gentle breast,
And hush'd me in her arms to rest,
And on my cheek sweet kisses prest?
My Mother.

When sleep forsook my open eye,
Who was it sung sweet hushaby,
And rock'd me that I should not cry?
My Mother.

Who sat and watch'd my infant head,
When sleeping on my cradle bed,
And tears of sweet affection shed?
My Mother.

When pain and sickness made me cry,
Who gaz'd upon my heavy eye,
And wept, for fear that I should not die?
My Mother.

Who drest my doll in clothes so gay,
And taught me pretty how to play,
And minded all I had to say?
My Mother.

Who ran to help me when I fell,
And would some pretty story tell,
Or kiss the place to make it well?
My Mother.

Life in Abuja

Living in Nigeria certainly has its uniqueness. Nigeria's weak institutions and its lack of social amenities and infrastructure will make anyone especially one from a more developed country to think twice and thoroughly before coming to visit or reside in Nigeria but when they do, there is certainly no regret. This is because life in Nigeria is an adventure. Life in Nigeria varies from place to place: every city has its peculiarity and its people their mentality. The two most cosmopolitan cities in Nigeria are the metropolitan city of Abuja and the commercial city of Lagos.

Abuja is a land-locked capital city located at the geographical centre of Nigeria and it is the most beautiful city in Nigeria with good and modern social amenities and infrastructures. Its beauty can be compared to that of many big cities in developed countries but life in Abuja is incomparable. Been the seat of power Abuja is a home to these classes of people: honourables, senators, ministers, ambassadors, expatriates, bureaucrats and all that are into power business. The city was planned and built to accommodate them (excluding low income bureaucrats) and big business owners alone without provision for small business owners, their employees, low income bureaucrats and other very low income earners who work in the city. This is evident in the daily mass movement of workers into the city in the morning and out of the city in the evening. These workers cannot afford the houses in any of the districts (Maitama, Asokoro, Garki, Central, Wuse, Gwarimpa, Apo, Utako) in the city so they have to live in the suburbs like Kubwa (which is the largest), Karo, jikwoyi, Yanya, Gwagwalada, Zuba, Kuje etc Many even come to work from towns in neighbouring states like Keffi and Mararaba in Nasarawa state and Suleja in Niger state. Traffic on roads inside Abuja is light due to the good roads but it is not so on the three roads that connect Abuja and the suburbs which experiences heavy traffic at morning hours and evening hours on working days. Driving inside Abuja can be a problem; drivers in Abuja are among the most reckless in the country. The reason is because of the good roads which they see as race tracks and a lot of kids on the road driving their parent's car without the necessary driving training.

The way of life in Abuja is so much influenced by the power-play that goes on in the city. The major employer of labour in the city is the government and so majority of the people work for the government. The people of Abuja show less entrepreneurship or inventive tendencies when compared with the people of other major Nigerian cites. They believe more on the use of connections and public office to get what they want (the national cake mentality). The youths in Abuja lacks energy and social vibe when compared to those in Lagos, Kaduna and Benin this can be seen in their poor representation in the entertainment industry. Outside the federal capital territory most people believes living in Abuja means affluence and connections, which in most cases is not true. Life in the city is very expensive yet you need to see the way the politicians, the senior bureaucrats and their family squander money - easy come; easy go. For this class of people Abuja is a good place to live but for those that cannot afford the pleasures that this beautiful city offers, their perception may be otherwise. Night life and clubbing in Abuja is fun most especially for those who live in any of the districts which are close to where the big clubs and lounges are situated. Those in the suburbs may find it stressful and uncomfortable to hangout or club in the city because of the distance from their home. The suburbs however can boast of some small and relatively cheap clubs and hangouts where the residents can have fun. Despite all these, Abuja is a place where most people love to visit or may love to live in. Life in Abuja is an experience worth having.

Eminem: the best rapper ever

Eminem's second major label studio album, the Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000 went on to sell 1.76 million copies in its first week, breaking the records set by Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle as the fastest-selling hip hop album and Britney Spears'...Baby One More Time as the fastest-selling solo album in United States history. The album has been ranked as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time by such magazines as Rolling Stone, Time, and XXL. Rolling Stone placed the album at number seven on its list of the best albums of the 2000s. In July 2000, Eminem became the first white person to be featured on the cover of The Source magazine. In 2002, he starred in the hip-hop drama film 8 Mile in which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, becoming the first rap artist ever to win the award. In 2005, Eminem was ranked 79th on the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time. He was also named the Best Rapper Alive by Vibe magazine in 2008. In December 2009, Eminem was named the Artist of the Decade by Billboard magazine. His albums The Eminem Show, The Marshall Mathers LP, and Encore ranked as the 3rd, 7th, and 40th best-selling albums of the 2000–2009 decade respectively by Billboard magazine. In 2010, MTV Portugal ranked Eminem as the seventh biggest icon in pop music history. Black Entertainment Television (BET) also named Eminem the number one rapper of the 21st century. During 2010, Eminem's music generated 94 million streams, more than any other music artist. Also according to Billboard, Eminem has two of his albums among the top five highest selling albums of the 2000s. He is the best-selling artist of the 2000s decade on the US Nielsen SoundScan and has sold more than 86.5 million albums worldwide to date, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. He has totalled over 1 billion views on his music videos on his official Vevo page on YouTube. Eminem was ranked 82nd on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In the UK, Eminem has sold over 12.5 million records. Eminem has also sold more than 33 million track downloads and 40.9 million albums in the United States alone. Eminem has achieved ten No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200; Eminem has had 13 number one singles worldwide. In August 2011 Eminem was named "The King of Hip-hop" by Rolling Stone. The magazine looked at solo rappers who released music between 2009 and the first half of 2011 by analyzing their album sales, rankings on the R&B/hip-hop and rap charts, YouTube views, social media, concert grosses, industry awards and critics' ratings, and the data accumulated named Eminem the king of the time period.

The album's third single, "Stan", is one of Eminem's most critically acclaimed songs, having been ranked by About.com as Eminem's best song and referred to by Pitchfork Media as "a cultural milestone". Q magazine named "Stan" the third-greatest rap song of all time and the song came tenth in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com. Eminem won Grammy Awards for both Relapse and Recovery, giving him a total of 13 Grammys in his career. The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show LP, all won Grammy Awards, making Eminem the first artist to win Best Rap Album for three consecutive LPs.

No doubt, absolutely no doubt this is one of the greatest achievements ever in the hip-hop music industry for a rapper. It is amazing to know that Eminem who is a white man achieved all these in hip-hop knowing well that hip-hop which is of African-American origin has been and is still generally been dominated by blacks at least in the United States. Eminem can be classified as a "status quo changer" putting him in the class of achievers like Tiger Wood (a black man) who in the 2000s dominated the professional golf world which has always been has dominated by the whites and President Barak Obama who changed the status quo by becoming the first black president of the United State of America.

Marshall Bruce Mathers III better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, born on October 17, 1972 in Saint Joseph, Missouri who also is a record producer, songwriter and an actor made it to the top in a world where white rappers like 3rd Bass, Everlast, the Beastie Boys, among others struggled so hard just to make a name. For Eminem who is left handed and was influenced by Masta Ace, Big Daddy Kane, the Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, AZ, Nas, and Ice-T amongst others growing up was a struggle. His father abandoned the family when he was 18 months old, and he was raised solely by his mother. He dropped out of high school at age 17 after repeating the ninth grade twice due to truancy and near-failing grades. He frequently participated in underground shows and freestyle battles. While struggling to break into the hip-hop world Mathers did a lot of menial jobs. He held a minimum-wage job of cooking and dishwashing at the restaurant Gilbert's Lodge at St. Clair Shores for some time. Eminem's personal struggles with raising his newborn daughter Hailie Jade Mathers while on limited funds and abuse of drugs and alcohol culminated in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. At this point in his life Eminem had realized his musical ambitions were the only way to escape his unhappy life. But despite a well-documented struggle succeeding in a predominantly African-American industry, he was able to gain the approval of underground hip hop audiences. Eminem's breakthrough into limelight came when he won Wakeup Show's "Freestyle Performer of the Year" award, helping him acquire a record deal. His tape was played for record producer Dr. Dre, founder of Aftermath Entertainment. And when Eminen met Dre everything changed for good. Hip-hop came out of African-American culture, and chances are that the majority of important rappers will continue to be black (in the U.S., anyway) so for Eminem to have made it this big means he is so good at what he does. His success in hard-core rap is well deserved and should be acknowledged and applauded.

Facebook and Twitter in Nigeria

Are you on twitter or facebook? The answer to this question varies base on age, exposure or the profession of the person been asked. In Nigeria, facebook and twitter is fast becoming a trend especially among the teeming youths but the rate of its awareness and usage is very poor when compared to that of other African countries. According to the analysis carried out by Social Bakers, there are about 4​244​100 facebook users in Nigeria which puts Nigeria at 35th position in the ranking of countries with the highest number of users behind Egypt and South Africa which are smaller country with far smaller populations. With this figure only 2.79% of Nigerians are on facebook and only 9.65% of its online population are on facebook.

When it comes to twitter the patronage is worse. Statistics from Portland Notes shows that Nigeria (1,646,212 tweets) is far behind South Africa (5,030,226 tweets) and Kenya (2,476,800 tweets) as the next most active country during the 4th Quarter of 2011. This poor patronage can be blamed on high computer illiteracy, poor infrastructures and low social media awareness. Despite these fact facebook and twitter was very evident in the fuel subsidy struggle between the Nigerian people and the Nigerian Government. They were used to mobilize demonstrators and speedily spread facts exposing government's shady deals.

Nigerians are more into facebook than twitter and almost all twitter users are facebook users. Majority of people that are into social media do not know how to use twitter though they may have been facebook users for a long time. Facebook users may not like twitter at the onset but when they start using it with time they become so addicted that they stop or reduces their usage of facebook. Many twitter users complain that facebook is boring and annoying. This may be because of facebook's numerous unwanted newsfeeds generated from every single activity that friends or business associates perform, unwanted picture tags e.t.c

Majority of facebook user in Nigeria are within the range of 18 – 35 years of age while twitter has younger users of 18 – 29 years of age. Social media users in Nigeria are mainly university students, followed by small business outfits, people in the entertainment industry and the media. The government or the politicians have little or no presence in the social media world. Twitter is becoming an important source of information in Nigeria. Most users uses twitter to monitor news and job seekers use it to search for employment opportunities. With less than 3% of Nigerians using social media and with a lot of people now owing Smartphones Nigeria is one of the world's largest potential social media communities.

Syria Crisis: the response

"UN political chief says 'well over' 7500 people have died in Syria violence", this is a tweet posted by Associate Press which has about 824488 followers at about the time of that post and I wondered how many of these followers were shocked when they saw the number of those that have died or felt sad about the continuous killing of Syrian demonstrators by the Syrian government. I am sure majority of these followers do not care. The Associate Press twitter community is an example of the big picture (the global community) though as it has always been known that the global community is a far more complex community with a lot of selfish and conflicting interest.

While killing is still going on in Syria, the number of dead people are increasing daily and the news of the increased use of military forces on armless civilians is now been widely known, it is interesting to know that more people, NGOs and countries are showing concern. More people are giving in the form of charity; more NGOs are getting involved in their own corporate capacity and more countries in their own sovereign capacity but sadly even more people, NGOs and more especially countries are been indifferent to this issue.

Sympathy for the Syrians or empathy towards their struggle; love for equity, justice, peace and mankind should be the core reasons to show concern in this crises but as the game of international politics always go national gain always dominates. The majority of people, corporate bodies and countries that are involved got involved to protect and/or to pursue their personal interest. This can give a good reason for one to say the apathy of some in this crisis does not make them all less their brother's keeper than others as it may seem. The position of China, Russia and America who are some of the big players in this crisis and other world issues is a clear indication that the cold war between the west and the east is still on.

The Arab world which for decades has been battling with insurgency, militancy and religious extremism already have their hands full with internal problems and so are not putting much in the crisis. The United Nations which in itself is powerless is only playing diplomacy pending when the big players come to a consensus which I do not think is close by. The systems that man created around himself and the selfish ways of man has always been a barrier in conflict resolutions which this Syria crisis is not different. While the big players are busy playing the game of international politics and the United Nations is busy doing nothing and the others minding their own business, the big question is how many more people will have to die before president Al Assad will be forced to step down and reap what he has sown.