Nokia C3 for Bloggers

The world's leading mobile phone company Nokia has given phones to some Nigerian bloggers, including Orikinla whose first New Year gift is a Nokia C3 for blogging on the go. Thanks to Mr. Osagie Ogunbor, Head of Communications, Nokia West Africa.


The Nokia C3 is a cute smart phone with special apps. Click here to see the full specifications and click here to see the photo gallery.


It an unforgettable historical fact that the billionth Nokia phone, a Nokia 1100 was sold in Nigeria in 2005. I wonder how the owner of that special Nokia phone felt at that particular moment.


There is a special Nokia for blogging on WordPress from Ovi store and you can also post photos on Blogger through Nokia LifeBlog.


Luca Filighedd has shown how to do it on his blog. You can join Forum Nokia to learn more.

Shared History Between African and Native Americans

4 Jan 2011 14:30 Africa/Lagos


Groundbreaking Exhibition Explores Shared History Between African and Native Americans

Red/Black: Related Through History tells stories of the allied and adversarial relationships of African Americans and American Indians

PR Newswire



INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A groundbreaking exhibition exploring the shared history between African and Native Americans will open at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art on Feb. 12, 2011. Red/Black: Related Through History includes an object-based exhibition on the subject, created by the Eiteljorg Museum, and the Smithsonian's traveling panel show, Indivisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas .

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110104/MM21078)

To view the multimedia assets associated with this release, please click: http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/eiteljorg/47873/

Since the first arrival of African slaves in North America, the interactions between people of African and Native American heritage has been a combined story of conflict, cooperation, cultural growth, destruction and survival. Since 2001, the Eiteljorg Museum has pioneered research on this subject and has drawn together important art and artifacts that demonstrate shared traditions found in history, genealogy, food, dress, music and occupation. Some American Indians held black slaves and others helped them escape. Sometimes there was intermarriage and a blending of traditions.

The exhibition will explore the stories of individuals and groups that highlight the allied and adversarial relationship between blacks and American Indians. One such story talks about the life of Lucinda Davis. She was interviewed by historians in the 1930s. Davis had been born a slave around 1848 and was owned by a Creek Indian family. She spent her life in what is now Oklahoma. She spoke the Creek language, and after gaining her emancipation following the Civil War, had difficulty adapting to freedom. There were many who, like Davis, were owned by Native Americans and who struggled with emancipation.

Also found in the exhibit is the story of Charlie Grant. In 1901, Baltimore Orioles manager John J. McGraw tested the color line in professional baseball by trying to pass off Grant, a Negro League second baseman, who had high cheekbones and straight hair, as Charlie Tokohama, a Native American, which was more palatable to baseball fans.

Red/Black also explores issues of race and personal identity and the question: "Who am I and who gets to say so?" The exhibit will illustrate the complexity of racial identity and why judgments about race can so easily be misguided.

Red/Black: Related Through History includes dynamic programming and runs through Aug. 9.

SOURCE Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art

CONTACT: Anthony Scott, +1-317-275-1352, ascott@eiteljorg.com, www.twitter.com/Eiteljorg_PR

Web Site: http://www.eiteljorg.org

Dear Karl Maier, This House Has Not Yet Fallen

It's not easy to state who started it or how many died. But the horror for those affected is clear.
~ Craig S. Keener


Dear Karl Maier,

This house has not yet fallen, but it is shaking.

Our house is full of strange bed fellows of lunatic fringe elements of the black sheep of a dysfunctional family.

One is turbaned and goes round the bend bowing to the crescent moon and star suffering from a very contagious Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease of his mad cows. The other one has gone loco from sniffing too much hydro carbons in his littoral states at the bottom of the river Niger.

Imagine living in the house of nightmares, cast between the devil and the deep blue sea and caught in the snares of the sirens.

Our house is like a home full of Wole Soyinka’s "Madmen and Specialists", swimming in the whirlpool of the vicious circle of the same ethno-religious conflicts that precipitated us into the catastrophic internecine civil war of the late 1960s. The same ethno-religious crises are recurring now with incessant attacks by homegrown terrorists plunging Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja into chaos with carcasses of burnt-out vehicles and razed houses, mosques and churches and the charred remains of corpses littering the streets with acrid smells attacking our nostrils and leaving us ill from the nausea.

Religious fanatics of the lunatic fringe on rampage have murdered hundreds of innocent compatriots in reprisal attacks.

Brothers of that lunatic Farouk Abudul Mutallab the al Qaeda "Underwear Bomber who failed in his satanic attempt to blow up the Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, 2009, have unleashed their terrors on us as they sighted the moon on Christmas Eve of 2010 at about 7.15 pm in Jos and Maiduguri, and struck again on the New Year’s Eve in Abuja.
These terrorist bombings have now confirmed our worst fears as Sunday Dare concluded that the final script of the terrorists is unfolding now.

The Maitatsine uprising in Kano in 1980 whilst I was a high school pupil in Lagos could be called the genesis of what is now known as the Boko Haram uprising.
The first ethno-religious crisis began in Jos on September 7, 2001, but the ethno-religious indigene/settler dichotomy is deep-rooted in the history of Jos as explained in “Sliding towards Armageddon: Revisiting Ethno-Religious Crises in Nigeria” by Gwamna Dogara Je’adayibe, Ph.D. and Amango Kudu A., Ph.D.

You should also read “The Truth About the Religious Violence in Jos, Nigeria” by Craig S. Keener published in Christianity Today and posted on
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/januaryweb-only/13-42.0.html

How and when it started is good to know, but in the present state of emergency as our house is on fire, who started it, what started it or when it started is not the most urgent thing, but to put out the fire by all means possible and at all costs to save our home from being destroyed by these conscienceless elements of the lunatic fringe on rampage. This is the responsibility of our government.

Our President was more concerned about his egocentric presidential election campaign and forgot to put his house in order until his kinsmen bombed the Eagle Square venue of our 50th Independence Anniversary in the Federal Capital city of Abuja. That was the first time such a catastrophe would happen to us since our freedom from the colonial British Empire on October 1, 1960. But he failed to correct the terrible mistakes of his security agencies and intensified his presidential election campaign gimmicks until the turbaned lunatics of the Boko Haram sect set off their deadly bombs in Jos, Maiduguri and Abuja over the holidays.

The devastating terrorist bombings have rocked the foundation of our house and put us all at risk, because it may collapse if we fail to get rid of these lunatics in our house.

We do not have enough specialists to handle these madmen. Our elites are disillusioned and as the madmen are raising dust in the north and blowing embers in the south our children are in fear and trembling in the premonition of another civil war.

“When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?"
~ << Psalm 11:3 >>

The righteous should not give up!
The righteous can do a lot to salvage it, no matter the collateral damage that has been done.

Karl Maier, our house is a house of wonders.
Our children are still full of dreams as they are going on with life with tall ambitions and many of them with their heads in the clouds reaching out for the stars. As the lunatics were exploding deadly bombs of destruction in the north, our ignorant children were exploding firecrackers of celebration in the south.
No Karl, it is not funny. It is the irony of life.

You cannot live in denial of the agonies of the ironies of life in a hostile universe.

Yes, we have our dreams and those who have dreams, also have their nightmares.
This is the burden of humankind.

We all must experience the checkered fortunes of the vicissitudes of life.
You have come across what the Chinese said about our fate on earth.
悲歡離合 .Joys and sorrows, partings and reunions are daily occurrences in the vicious circle of life. Both our joys or sorrows do not last forever, and life goes on.

Our worst enemies are not even these terrorists, but the corrupt looters in the corridors of power and their accomplices, the political contractors and their cronies and hypocritical beneficiaries. These kleptomaniacs are the anathemas of our nation. They have done worse things to us than all the bomb blasts and ethno-religious riots since 1960 to date.

Do you know the casualties of road accidents on the nightmarish roads they have failed to repair after their embezzlement of the revenue allocations of the ministry of works?

Can you count the millions of lives lost since these kleptomaniacs rigged their way into the corridors of power?

Pensioners have collapsed while waiting for the arrears of their unpaid gratuities.
Patients have died from bad health care and when doctors went on strike, because of bad conditions of service.

Have you forgotten the 60 students of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja and others who perished in the ill-fated Sosoliso plane that crashed at the Port Harcourt airport , because.fire service had no water to put out the fire?!

Thousands of students have been driven to crime and prostitution in frustration and desperation caused by collapse of our educational system.

We have lost count of their casualties of corruption.
Corruption is the systemic destruction of our nation by these devils posing and posturing as humans in our midst and they are breeding their kind daily.

We have to take out the lot of them to end the systemic rot plaguing our nation.

No matter how shaken we are by these horrors of terrorism, even if all other things fall apart, we shall remain one nation under the sun and like the Leaning Tower of Pisa that has survived many upheavals over the centuries, we shall remain standing and towering over the enemies of our progress and as long as God helps us to bear the pillars thereof, our nation will never fall.

So, as they sing in Croatia,"Još Hrvatska ni propala", we shall sing in our dialects that our house has not yet fallen and will never fall.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, from the new book “Nigeria: This House has not fallen” to be released this summer. It is a revived version of the The Nigerian Fools Who Think They Can Fool God..

President Obama condemns the terrorist attacks in Egypt and Nigeria

3 Jan 2011 15:11 Africa/Lagos

Statement by the President of the United States of America on the terrorist attacks in Egypt and Nigeria

WASHINGTON, January 3, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Statement by the President of the United States of America on the terrorist attacks in Egypt and Nigeria

I strongly condemn the separate and outrageous terrorist bombing attacks in Egypt and Nigeria. The attack on a church in Alexandria, Egypt caused 21 reported deaths and dozens of injured from both the Christian and Muslim communities. The perpetrators of this attack were clearly targeting Christian worshipers, and have no respect for human life and dignity. They must be brought to justice for this barbaric and heinous act. We are continuing to gather information regarding this terrible event, and are prepared to offer any necessary assistance to the Government of Egypt in responding to it.

The attack near an army barracks in Abuja also reportedly killed more than 20 people and wounded many more. Killing innocent civilians who were simply gathering – like so many people around the world – to celebrate the beginning of a New Year further demonstrates the bankrupt vision of those who carry out these attacks, and we are similarly prepared to offer assistance to the Government of Nigeria as it works to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The United States extends its deepest condolences to the families of those killed and to the wounded in both of these attacks, and we stand with the Nigerian and Egyptian people at this difficult time.

Source: The White House

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• On Uduaghan : The Appellate Court Uses Poor Judgment and a disorienting strategy

On Uduaghan : The Appellate Court Uses Poor Judgment and a disorienting strategy

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan

On Uduaghan : The Appellate Court Uses Poor Judgment and a disorienting strategy

No one knows how the hurriedly imposed January election would turnout in a society that faces grave challenges in election infrastructure. Nor should any one blame the Petitioner for rightly exercising his legal rights to fight a case in court.

The cause of any alarm now or in the coming months, at least till April of this year is the judiciary that showed lack of strategic judgment on this case as it relates the understanding of time management, separation of power, the value of a lower court and the importance of clear-cut, and sound judicial pronouncement on societal matters like the current legal development.

What was clear in this matter was that there was no sign of constitutional or regional crisis that warranted the Court to put a major burden on the Delta people, by issuing an impulsive like order for an election within three months. Ms. Monica Mensah and members of her panel could have remanded the case back to the Election Tribunal which on the October 9th, 2010 had heard the same case.

The Appeal Court in its mode of “too quick” judgment could have asked the Delta State Election Board or a national watch dog to set the stage for the expected gubernatorial April election, at a time when the Delta People would generally be more energized and in the mood to come out and vote in a more somewhat secure atmosphere.

It appears that Court of Appeal was not only acting as if it is the Nation’s Supreme Court, a Court of last say on interpretative matters in the nation. Justice Mensah and her regiment acted as a State election body, a Police force and even in a legislative kind of role.

The Appeal Court should be reminded that the present Constitution of Nigeria is Democratic-Presidential in whole, rather than that which functions as a document of authoritarianism, barbarianism and oligarchy. Here is a puzzling note.

What if Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan captures the hurriedly imposed election coming up in a few hours, would the Appeal court then physically use its hands and legs to show its power?

The Appeal Court would have shown more constrain in its judicial temperament, conduct and behavior by keeping its self-way from any act or image of judicial activism or political impulsiveness, as this is clearly the case when it imposed an election timeline, called for a hasty election for a governorship that not only end in a few months but open to a general election in a few weeks.

While the Appeal court should not be judged for using the same reported evidence to dismiss the case of irregularities previously brought on by an A.C.N gubernatorial candidate, this particular Court needs to the tell scholars and students of judicial or psycho-legal studies why it should not be accused of error in judgment, in the area of separation of power specially?

~ By John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D , DABPS, FACFE, is a Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu

Related Reports:

DELTA GUBER RE-RUN: My achievements speak for me, says Uduaghan

... November was missing on the face of Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan on New Year day when he spoke in an exclusive interview with Vanguard at his Warri residence. ...

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Special News Video on the Holiday Terrorist Bombings in Nigeria and Egypt

86% of Nigerians opposed to excessive remuneration for National Assembly Members

86% of Nigerians opposed to excessive remuneration for National Assembly Members

Abuja, Nigeria. December 8, 2010 – An overwhelming majority of Nigerians are opposed to the huge salaries and allowances, which are currently being "earned" by members of the National Assembly. That is a major finding of the November edition of the groundbreaking monthly Snap Poll conducted by NOI Polls, the nation's leading opinion polling organisation. The poll also revealed that a significant proportion of Nigerians are very much aware of the controversial remuneration, which the media has labelled "jumbo pay."

Specifically, 88% of respondents in the survey say they object to the payment of huge amounts to the National Assembly members. Respondents were asked the question 'Have you heard about the recent controversy regarding the earnings of the National Assembly Members?' 79% answered 'Yes' while 20% said 'No.'

The findings are coming against the background of the high profile disagreement between Central Bank Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the Senate over the actual percentage of the national budget devoted to servicing the National Assembly. The senators had objected to Mr. Sanusi's statement that a quarter of the country's overhead costs is spent on the national legislature, a claim from which the Central Bank Governor has refused to back down.

The findings suggest that beyond the specific issue of what the exact budgetary provision for the National Assembly is, there is widespread dissatisfaction in the country regarding what is generally perceived as excessive remuneration paid to members of the National Assembly.

Survey Methods

Respondents for the snap poll were randomly selected from a database of phone-owning Nigerians aged 15 and above, compiled by NOI Polls. 1,012 people took part in the telephone interviews from the 15th to 17th of November 2010. For a sample of this size, we can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. The margin of error reflects the influence of data weighting. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

See other important NOI Polls:

Nigerians favour Strong Opposition

Confidence in the Judiciary High

Happy New Year 2011

Photo Credit: Trendz Info

Happy New Year 2011!


We give all the glory to God for protecting and saving our beautiful and wonderful life to see the dawn of another year and we trust HIM to continue to see us through in the coming years and decades!





We thank God 24/7!

31 Dec 2010 10:00 Africa/Lagos



The Top Baby Names of 2010 Revealed

LONDON, December 31, 2010/PRNewswire/ -- Katie and Amy have fallen out of the list of the top 20 female christian names, it emerged yesterday (30th January 2010).

The monikers of troubled stars Katie Price and Amy Winehouse have been replaced by prettier and less infamous names, Maisie and Isabella.

The highest climber in the list of the most popular girls' names in the UK today is Bella, due in no small part to the lead character in Twilight, played by actress Kristen Stewart. Lacey, as in EastEnders actress Lacey Turner, is also on the up, soaring from number 57 up to 37. Florence is also becoming increasingly popular, moving up 33 places, as is Maisy.

Olivia is still top after 3 years and Sophie is still second. Lily is now third, up from 8th place, with Emily and Ruby completing the top five.

In the boys list Jack has finally been bumped off top spot by Oliver after 16 years in first place. Jack is now second while Harry, Charlie and Alfie, all non-movers, make up the top five.

Another bad year for F1 ace Lewis Hamilton has seen the popularity of his first name drop from 13th to 19th place, whilst his singer girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger fares even worse, with the name Nicole dropping seven places down the girls list to 84th place.

Ollie emerged as the biggest climber - up 56 places to number 53 - while Zachary, perhaps inspired by High School Musical's Zac Efron or even the son of jungle queen Stacey Soloman, has also become more common.

Bobby - the name of the late Jade Goody's son - is another big climber, up 25 places to number 70. And Kai - Coleen and Wayne Rooney's son has stepped up 10 places to number 56, despite his father's indiscretions.

The list was compiled by parenting club Bounty from names given to 423,000 children born in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland during 2010.

Yesterday, Faye Mingo, spokeswoman for bounty.com (http://www.bounty.com/) said: ''Our records show that parents are continuing to be influenced by popular culture and celebrity trends.

"The remarkable rise in popularity of names such as Ollie and Florence are most probably due to the X Factor star Olly Murs and the singer from Florence and the Machine experiencing their time in the limelight.

"However, parents are looking to a wide range of sources for influence and also seem to be rediscovering more traditional, 'old-fashioned' names like Ava and Stanley which have been more associated with grandparents in the past.

"Biblical names are also proving popular with Noah rising 20 places to 15th place and Jacob up 7, just missing the top ten."

Olivia is enjoying its third year in top spot after deposing Grace in 2008.

Jessica climbed one place to sixth, while Chloe dropped from fifth to seventh. Ava made it into the top ten for the first time while Grace slipped to ninth from sixth.

Amelia completed the top ten. Lucy was a non-mover at 13 while the next four places were all taken up by new names, including Isabella which climbed eight places to 14th.

Megan, Isla and Freya have all become more popular as has Lilly, most probably inspired by the singer Lily Allen.

On the boys list Jack finally surrendered top spot to Oliver but very little of the rest of the top ten changed. William climbed one spot to eighth as did Daniel to ninth while James slipped two to tenth.

Other names we will be hearing more regularly includes Logan, which climbed seven places to 17th and Oscar, which moved up four to 22nd.

Callum and Liam seem to have had their day - they were the biggest fallers in the top 30, seven and nine places respectively.

And new entries into the bounty.com top 100 lists were Esme, Courtney, Jude, Elliot and Stanley.

Faye Mingo added: "A recent study we ran found that one in five parents regret the names they have chosen for their children, so it's more important than ever for parents to choose a name them and their child will love for the rest of their life.

"It's hard to predict what we'll see next year but it's most probable that celebrities and popular culture will again play a part - and with a royal wedding on the horizon we may well see an increase in Williams and Kates born in celebration!"

See the Top 100 boys and girls names of 2010 and check the latest regional popularity (http://www.bounty.com/baby-names/regional-names) ratings at Bounty's baby names (http://www.bounty.com/baby-names) section which features a host of unique and handy functions to help parents decide on baby names. As well as being able to search names using letters of the alphabet (http://www.bounty.com/baby-names/names-beginning-with), number of syllables, origin, and meaning, parents can also search trend graphs which show if names are declining/growing in popularity as well as popular sibling/middle names for their chosen name, amongst a host of other useful tools.


TOP 100 BOYS NAMES 2010

1. Oliver
2. Jack
3. Harry
4. Charlie
5. Alfie
6. Thomas
7. Joshua
8. William
9. Daniel
10. James
11. Jacob
12. George
13. Ethan
14. Lucas
15. Noah
16. Max
17. Logan
18. Joseph
19. Lewis
20. Dylan
21. Samuel
22. Oscar
23. Ryan
24. Archie
25. Riley
26. Jayden
27. Tyler
28. Jake
29. Callum
30. Liam
31. Alexander
32. Connor
33. Luke
34. Adam
35. Benjamin
36. Matthew
37. Leo
38. Finley
39. Jamie
40. Alex
41. Freddie
42. Mason
43. Harrison
44. Henry
45. Ben
46. Harvey
47. Nathan
48. Isaac
49. Cameron
50. Aaron
51. Theo
52. Edward
53. Ollie
54. Finlay
55. Owen
56. Kai
57. Harley
58. Aiden
59. Michael
60. Toby
61. Sam
62. Leon
63. Kyle
64. David
65. Rhys
66. Evan
67. Bailey
68. Reece
69. Zachary
70. Bobby
71. Ashton
72. Kian
73. Sebastian
74. Luca
75. Kayden
76. Louis
77. Zac
78. Taylor
79. Brandon
80. John
81. Hayden
82. Billy
83. Caleb
84. Jude
85. Blake
86. Joe
87. Louie
88. Jay
89. Christopher
90. Joel
91. Bradley
92. Ellis
93. Corey
94. Elliot
95. Zak
96. Robert
97. Stanley
98. Aidan
99. Jenson
100. Patrick

TOP 100 GIRLS NAMES 2010

1. Olivia
2. Sophie
3. Lily
4. Emily
5. Ruby
6. Jessica
7. Chloe
8. Ava
9. Grace
10. Amelia
11. Mia
12. Evie
13. Lucy
14. Isabella
15. Maisie
16. Poppy
17. Daisy
18. Ellie
19. Ella
20. Megan
21. Isla
22. Freya
23. Charlotte
24. Lilly
25. Summer
26. Isabelle
27. Holly
28. Sophia
29. Millie
30. Erin
31. Katie
32. Amy
33. Scarlett
34. Hannah
35. Lexi
36. Imogen
37. Lacey
38. Molly
39. Eva
40. Brooke
41. Lola
42. Phoebe
43. Layla
44. Emma
45. Leah
46. Abigail
47. Sienna
48. Gracie
49. Amber
50. Jasmine
51. Alice
52. Matilda
53. Elizabeth
54. Anna
55. Madison
56. Rosie
57. Paige
58. Lauren
59. Isabel
60. Bethany
61. Caitlin
62. Georgia
63. Faith
64. Lexie
65. Florence
66. Rebecca
67. Niamh
68. Zoe
69. Maya
70. Skye
71. Maddison
72. Tilly
73. Keira
74. Scarlet
75. Tia
76. Amelie
77. Libby
78. Sofia
79. Sarah
80. Aimee
81. Isobel
82. Esme
83. Zara
84. Nicole
85. Julia
86. Martha
87. Maisy
88. Heidi
89. Abbie
90. Mya
91. Darcy
92. Rose
93. Eleanor
94. Kayla
95. Miley
96. Hollie
97. Eve
98. Bella
99. Evelyn
100. Courtney

TOP 100 BOYS NAMES 2009

1. Jack
2. Oliver
3. Charlie
4. Harry
5. Alfie
6. Thomas
7. Joshua
8. William
9. James
10. Daniel
11. George
12. Ethan
13. Lewis
14. Max
15. Lucas
16. Dylan
17. Archie
18. Joseph
19. Jacob
20. Samuel
21. Liam
22. Callum
23. Oscar
24. Jayden
25. Logan
26. Ryan
27. Jake
28. Tyler
29. Riley
30. Luke
31. Harvey
32. Ben
33. Adam
34. Alexander
35. Benjamin
36. Leo
37. Matthew
38. Noah
39. Connor
40. Alex
41. Jamie
42. Harrison
43. Mason
44. Cameron
45. Owen
46. Henry
47. Nathan
48. Finley
49. Aaron
50. Freddie
51. Issac
52. Sam
53. Finlay
54. Theo
55. Harley
56. Aiden
57. Toby
58. Edward
59. Rhys
60. Michael
61. Evan
62. Kyle
63. Leon
64. Reece
65. David
66. Kai
67. Ashton
68. Bailey
69. Kian
70. Louis
71. Taylor
72. Hayden
73. Brandon
74. Joe
75. Jay
76. Luca
77. Kayden
78. Ewan
79. Joel
80. Sebastian
81. Zac
82. Ellis
83. Josh
84. Aidan
85. John
86. Billy
87. Zak
88. Bradley
89. Kieran
90. Blake
91. Christopher
92. Morgan
93. Caleb
94. Louie
95. Andrew
96. Bobby
97. Gabriel
98. Robert
99. Elliot
100.Jude

TOP 100 GIRLS NAMES 2009

1. Olivia
2. Ruby
3. Sophie
4. Chloe
5. Emily
6. Grace
7. Jessica
8. Lily
9. Amelia
10. Evie
11. Mia
12. Lucy
13. Ava
14. Ella
15. Charlotte
16. Amy
17. Daisy
18. Katie
19. Megan
20. Summer
21. Ellie
22. Isabella
23. Holly
24. Millie
25. Poppy
26. Freya
27. Erin
28. Isla
29. Isabelle
30. Hannah
31. Emma
32. Brooke
33. Molly
34. Phoebe
35. Eva
36. Leah
37. Lilly
38. Abigail
39. Sophia
40. Imogen
41. Maisie
42. Scarlett
43. Lexi
44. Jasmine
45. Lola
46. Layla
47. Isabel
48. Lauren
49. Amber
50. Madison
51. Matilda
52. Elizabeth
53. Bethany
54. Sienna
55. Rosie
56. Anna
57. Gracie
58. Paige
59. Alice
60. Caitlin
61. Georgia
62. Maddison
63. Rebecca
64. Lacey
65. Isobel
66. Faith
67. Libby
68. Tia
69. Keira
70. Lexie
71. Niamh
72. Skye
73. Nicole
74. Aimee
75. Sarah
76. Zoe
77. Eleanor
78. Amelie
79. Julia
80. Eve
81. Maya
82. Tilly
83. Zara
84. Martha
85. Sofia
86. Scarlet
87. Darcy
88. Abbie
89. Victoria
90. Heidi
91. Alexandra
92. Taylor
93. Miley
94. Kayla
95. Mya
96. Lydia
97. Florence
98. Evelyn
99. Rose
100. Courtney

Notes to Editors:

- The top 100 boys and girls names lists were compiled using data
collated from the registered births of Bounty Parenting Club members in
2010

- Bounty (http://www.bounty.com) is the UK's favourite parenting club,
providing information, support and products for young families
throughout the four key-life stages: pre-birth, birth, toddlers and
pre-school

- With 2.5 million members and over 50,000 new members joining
every month, Bounty reaches 9 out of 10 new and expectant parents in
the UK through its Bounty bag sampling

- http://www.bounty.com has 750,000 opted-in members and a further
28,000 new members joining each month
- http://www.bounty.com/baby-names features a host of unique and
handy new functions and tools to help you decide on baby names.
Whether your heart is set on a name and you want to find out more about
its origin or meaning, have absolutely no idea how to go about choosing
a name or simply want to find a name rated by others as 'cool' or
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Source: Bounty UK Ltd

For further information please contact Rachel Burrows on +44-(0)1707-294000, or email rburrows@bounty.com

The Tears of Chairman Mao

Photo Credit: Robert L. Peters.

The Tears of Chairman Mao


What is going on in the People's Republic of China (PRC), today will make Chairman Mao turn in his grave, because the Great Wall of the Red Empire is crumbling fast as capitalism undermines communism in the laissez-faire of free market economy and made China the country with the second largest population of billionaires in the world, just behind the US.
So, how can the so called communist leaders explain that to us?


How can a socialist state with a so called communist manifesto boast of billionaires while millions of their compatriots are ravaged by poverty? Who is following whom? Is someone not robbing Zedong to pay Deng? While the rich Deng is smiling all the way to the bank, the cheated, exploited and oppressed poor Zedong is gnashing his teeth and biting his cracked lips sweating in the factory earning only $1 daily.

One of the oldest civilizations in the world that once prided herself as an invincible communist state is fast becoming the largest market of capitalism since she has left her doors wide open to capitalist nations of the West, Middle East, Africa and her Asian neighbours of Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, India and others flocking to buy and sell their goods in the most populous country in the world.

The communist icon Deng Xiaoping is credited for the free market economic reformation and transformation of China since he dumped the Maoism of his former comrade Mao Zedong, the legendary revolutionary Marxist popularly revered as Chairman Mao. But the so called free market economy has left the majority of the peasants in rural China behind.


See what market economy has done to China.

203 million people— live on less than $1 a day.
593 million people— live on less than $2 a day.

There is rampant child abuse as poor children often work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, and sleep by their machines in the factories.

Boys in Green Mountain City get paid about 18 cents a load for carrying 55 pound bags of coal up a mountain. Even in the cities, a school teacher with a salary of $50 a month—good by Chinese standards—might have to save for two years to be able to afford a bicycle. Married couples often live apart, sometimes in opposite corners of the country, working at different places. The only time they get to see each other is during holidays, three weeks a year.
~ Click here for more facts.


The Chinese Dream of Chairman Mao has been turned into a nightmare by those who have hijacked the loot of free market economy dining and wining like Hollywood stars as they regale themselves in their luxurious comfort zones in Beijing and Shanghai while their victims languishing in poverty in the provinces of Gansu and Guizhou are not different from the impoverished masses in Haiti and Sudan.


Many poor Chinese abhor the new millionaires who exploit tax breaks, child labor and financial privileges to get rich quick. "Red-eye disease" describes jealousy brought about being left out but seeing others get rich quick. One orange farmer in Hunan told Time, "Rich entrepreneurs spend the equivalent of my annual income in one night at a karaoke bar."


Millions of poor peasants who toil daily in rural China are grumbling in angst filled with bitterness and sadness, because they are disgusted by the affluence of the rich folks in urban China. They wished they were back in the good old days of Chairman Mao.

"They feel that though life was hard in those years, it was more or less egalitarian, and people had the right to, moreover, to stop the wrongdoing of bureaucrats. But now the gap between rich and poor is growing wider and wider. Millions of workers in state owned factories have lost their jobs or are only partially paid. Retirement pensions are constantly in arrears. The peasants have been suffering under increasing financial burdens, sometimes including extortion at the hands of local officials. Corruption and abuse of power have run wild," said dissident Liu Binyan, expressing the provocative plight of the poor masses in China and thousands of them are committing suicide.


It has been reported that around 287,000 Chinese kill themselves every year.


Is this the dream of Chairman Mao?

The capitalists controlling modern China and the hypocritical pseudo communist leaders have betrayed the people, because they have failed to “Serve the People” as commanded by Mao Zedong in the speech he delivered on September 8, 1944.

The so called economic prosperity of China is only the masquerade of hypocrisy of the rulers in the Communist Party of China (CPC)) and their beneficiaries whose palatial homes and towers of mercantilism are not different from the whited sepulchres of the Pharisees denounced by Jesus Christ.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

~ Matthew 23:27 (King James Version)

Chairman Mao is not resting in peace, but turning in his grave and shedding tears for the millions of poor peasants in rural China who may be starving into the New Year.



~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Call for Entries for 2011 Poster Design Competition

The Art Institutes and Americans for the Arts Issue Call for Entries for 2011 Poster Design Competition

Eighth Annual Competition Asks High School Seniors to Demonstrate Why “Life is Better With Art in It”




PITTSBURGH, PA (DECEMBER 29, 2010) /PRNewswire/ — The Art Institutes and Americans for the Arts today announced they are seeking entries for their eighth annual Poster Design Competition. The Competition challenges entrants to submit a poster that addresses the theme, “Life is better with art in it.” The national winners will earn up to a full-tuition scholarship to one of The Art Institutes schools.

In partnership with Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, The Art Institutes annual Poster Design Competition provides design-minded students an opportunity to study at one of the more than 45 Art Institutes schools.

The competition is open to high school seniors in the U.S., Canada (excluding Quebec) and Puerto Rico. The deadline to submit entries is February 4, 2011. Full entry requirements can be viewed at www.artinstitutes.edu/postercompetition.

According to John Mazzoni, president of The Art Institutes, “The Poster Design Competition provides a venue for high school seniors to channel their design talents into an opportunity to earn a tuition scholarship.” With every year of the competition, Mr. Mazzoni says, “students’ entries become more creative and inspired.”

“The Poster Design Competition brings out and showcases a diverse pool of remarkably talented high school students,” says Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. “The entry pieces are not only vibrant and exciting, but also a great reminder of how much art can touch us in our everyday lives.”

To learn more about The Art Institutes and Americans for the Arts Poster Design Competition, visit www.artinstitutes.edu/postercompetition.

The Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu) is a system of more than 45 education institutions located throughout North America. The Art Institutes system is America’s Leader in Creative Education providing an important source for design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts professionals. Several institutions included in The Art Institutes system are campuses of South University.

Americans for the Arts is the leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. With offices in Washington, D.C. and New York City, it has a record of 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Additional information is available at www.AmericansForTheArts.org.

Media Contacts:
Jacquelyn P. Muller
Vice President – Communications/Public Relations

The Art Institutes
Office: 412.995.7262
jpmuller@aii.edu

Devra Pransky
Sr. Director of Communications
The Art Institutes
Office: 412.995.7685
dpransky@aii.edu