Monday, July 4, 2016

4th July Expenses To Reach $6.8 Billion in 2016 - Statista



This year, an estimated 214 million Americans are going to celebrate Independence Day, according to figures compiled by the National Retail Federation (NRF). The vast majority of them, 65 percent, are going to make a barbecue, cookout or picnic the focus of their Fourth of July celebrations. The amount of money Americans splurge on food every year is evidence of how seriously they take their traditional Independence Day cook out. The NRF report that each American adult will spend approximately $71.34 on food items this year. Overall expenditure on food across the nation is going to reach around $6.8 billion.

42.6 percent of people are also going to attend a fireworks display or community celebration. Independence Day fireworks displays are always spectacular and so are the numbers behind them. According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, just over 285 million pounds of fireworks are used during the holiday with revenue amounting to about $1.09 billion.

SOURCE: https://www.statista.com/chart/5160/some-of-the-numbers-behind-independence-day/

Saturday, July 2, 2016

Lagos is Not Catching Up With Us. Rather, We May Be Catching Up With Lagos


Lagos Wide & Close

Synopsis 

Because filming has long been restricted in Nigeria, few images of Lagos exist. Based on research by The Harvard Project on the City under the direction of Rem Koolhaas, this DVD represents a unique engagement with a hardly documented city, capturing multiple perspectives of a volatile moment in its evolution. In 2002, Bregtje van der Haak, in cooperation with architect Rem Koolhaas and The Harvard Project on the City made Lagos/Koolhaas, a documentary on self-organization and urbanization in Nigeria. As a sequel to the documentary, Bregtje van der Haak together with designer Silke Wawro, developed the DVD: Lagos Wide & Close, an Interactive Journey into an Exploding City. The DVD contains an interactive video documentary (60′), edited from 55 hours of unused material that brings the viewer closer to the explosively growing megalopolis Lagos. With bus driver Olawole Busayo, the viewer moves through the city and has a choice of a distant (‘wide’) or an involved (‘close’) perspective, at any random moment in the documentary.
Details  
Director: Bregtje van der Haak  
Designer: Silke Wawro  
Camera: Alexander Oey  
Sound: Rik Meier

See the complete documentary film on http://lagos.submarinechannel.com.
Thus, for Koolhaas and his team, Lagos is a case study of a city at the forefront of a globalizing modernity: "Lagos is not catching up with us. Rather, we may be catching up with Lagos . . ."
"Highly Recommended! Excellent production values... easy to view and understand. Rem Koolhaas has done it again." —Educational Media Reviews Online

“The juxtaposition of empirical descriptions of the city life with theoretical insights is ideally suited for classroom screenings in urban studies, qualitative research methods, geography, anthropology, global studies, Africa studies and virtually any other branch of the social sciences that is devoted to in-depth qualitative empirical research. It is one of the best documentaries I know that can demonstrate in a compelling and sophisticated yet accessible way how to embark on research projects. Highly recommended!” —Anthropology Review Database (January, 2010)

COMING SOON 

Friday, July 1, 2016

The Legend of Tarzan Teams Up with Nonprofit Stop Ivory to End Poaching


In this new PSA launched by Stop Ivory, in partnership with Warner Bros., Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie, are raising awareness about the harsh truths of ivory poaching, revealing that, without immediate action, the remaining forest ...  

The Legend of Tarzan Teams Up with Nonprofit Stop Ivory to End Poaching
New PSA featuring Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie Elevates the Plight of Endangered Elephants; Introduces the Pristine Landscape of Gabon, Africa 


 NEW YORK, July 1, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Since the Victorian era in which The Legend of Tarzan unfolds, the overall population of elephant species in Africa dropped from 19 million to just 500,000, stresses a new PSA by nonprofit group Stop Ivory featuring the film's stars, Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie. The organization is raising the volume on the plight of endangered African elephants, a magnificent species hunted for their ivory.

Inside Nigeria Today in Pictures


Four children showing the different characters of the four regions of Nigeria.
Credit: Nairaland.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Electricity To Be Next Major Prepaid Market After Mobile Phones and Cards


Electricity To Be Next Major Prepaid Market After Mobile Phones and Cards
Global utilities to invest $11.4 billion in prepaid electricity metering   

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Three Quarters of People Now 'Talk' to Businesses with a Mobile Message



Three Quarters of People Now 'Talk' to Businesses with a Mobile Message 
 
LONDON, June 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
  • 65 per cent of consumers communicate with businesses on chat apps; increasing to 76 per cent globally via SMS
  • 1 in 3 users have interacted with a financial services company via mobile
  • Authentication is a key driver - 30 per cent of consumers worldwide have confirmed passwords via text
  • Facebook (56 per cent), WhatsApp (50 per cent) and SMS (42 per cent) the top three messaging channels for person to person (P2P) messaging
Businesses are embracing mobile as a communications channel, regularly engaging with their customers via text and chat apps.

Arik Air Sponsors Conjoined Twins to Travel from Nigeria to America for Surgery



 The Ayenis at the Muritala Muhammed International Airport before take-off.

 NEW YORK, June 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Arik Air, West and Central Africa's largest airline, has sponsored round-trip tickets from Lagos, Nigeria to New York, USA for conjoined twins. Miracle and Testimony Ayeni arrived yesterday to have immediate access to urgent medical surgery and care. 
In partnership with Linking Hands Foundation, a Nigerian-based non-governmental organization (NGO), Arik Air is offering additional support alongside Le Bonheur Children's Hospital, Tennessee, which is providing secured free medical treatment for the Ayeni twins.

Great African Novelist Elechi Amadi Passes On To Eternal Glory

Elechi Amadi (born 12 May 1934-29th of June 2016.

One of the greatest African novelists of the post colonial era, Elechi Amadi of Nigeria has passed on to eternal glory.
His family reported that he passed away yesterday Wednesday at the Good Heart hospital in Port Harcourt in Rivers State at the age of 82.

Amadi's first published work is "Penitence". It was published by The Horn of the University of Ibadan edited by his fellow student, John Pepper Clark in 1957.
Prof.Clark and the first black Nobel Laureate in literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka are now the last of the literary titans who studied at the great University of Ibadan. The others were the famous novelist Chinua Achebe and legendary poet Christopher Okigbo of blessed memory.

Elechi Amadi became famous with his first novel The Concubine published in 1966.

"'A highly sophisticated, measured treatment of... the fatal loves of a woman in an Eastern Nigerian village. Written in a grave and simple style, it... reveals its author as a fine writer ruminating on a past already turning into legend.'"  
~ The New Statesman.

"'Mr Amadi writes with speed and shapeliness and exhilaration... a lovely and dignified picture of a society not only still ruled by gods, but governed by a great delicacy in human relationships.'"
~ The Guardian.

The novel was followed by The Great Ponds in 1969. His personal account of the Nigerian civil war Sunset in Biafra published in 1973 was an international bestseller. His novel The Slave published in 1978 completed his historical trilogy with The Concubine and The Great Ponds.


His other popular works include the plays, "Isiburu" (1973), "Pepper Soup and the Road to Ibadan" (1977), "Dancer of Johannesburg" (1978), "The Woman of Calabar" (2002}, Collected Plays (2004, Edited by Seiyifa Koroye) and his novel "Estrangement" (1986).

Elechi Amadi was born in 1934 in Aluu near Port Harcourt in Eastern Nigeria. At University College, Ibadan he took a degree in physics and mathematics. After a period of land surveying and teaching he enlisted in the Nigerian Army. He left the army finally to work for the Rivers State Government, where he headed the Ministry of Education.

Asian Millionaires Now Control More Wealth Than Those In North America


The amount of wealth owned by the globe’s millionaires continues to rise every year. Between 2014 and 2015, the wealth controlled by millionaires across the world grew 4 percent to $58.7 trillion, according to finance firm Capgemini. The global HNWI population (high net worth individuals controlling assets of $1 million or more) is also increasing, having expanded 4 percent in 2015 to 15.4 million.

Asian millionaires now control more wealth than those in North America, primarily driven by financial services, technology and healthcare. Capgemini found that Asia’s millionaires were worth $17.39 trillion at the end of 2015, slightly ahead of North America’s $16.61 trillion.

 Japan and China were the engines of global HNWI growth in 2015, with both registering double-digit increases in their millionaire populations. The two countries also drove almost 60 percent of HNWI population growth worldwide last year. Under the most aggressive growth scenario, the amount of wealth controlled by the planet’s millionaires could reach $100 million by 2025, almost three times the 2006 amount.


Source: •Asia's Millionaires Control The Most Wealth | Statista.