INSPIRING STORY: THE BOY WITH THE BACKWARD LEG

INSPIRING STORY: THE BOY WITH THE BACKWARD LEG

A turned around leg, and still cheerful..."

A 10 year old boy, Dugan Smith, diagnosed with cancer had his leg amputated at 11. He went through an unusual surgical procedure that allowed him to keep the remainder of his leg, but reattached backward - that way the cancer is cut out, but the nerve that controls the foot is intact by turning it around backward. According to the report, Dugan's calf now acts as his thigh, his ankle acts as his knee and his foot acts as his shin bone. He also uses a prosthetic ankle and foot.

For Dugan, now 13, despite a slight limp and some lingering troubles with running, he is not giving up, he says "Never give up, because 90 percent of it is in your mind. Read the full story here.

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THE WEB (WWW) TURNS 20

THE WEB (WWW) TURNS 20

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="416" caption="The Web turns 20"][/caption]

On August 6th, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee, a British physicist at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), in Geneva, created the first-ever web page—a summary of his WWW project along with explanations to help visitors build websites of their own and to search the web for information... today, the rest is Web History. It has dramatically changed the way we do things. Read more here. and here for timeline.

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MASS UPRISING IN LONDON

MASS UPRISING IN LONDON:

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="416" caption="A woman leaps from a burning building in Surrey Street, Croydon into the arms of police officers. The town was hit by rioting and a huge fire"][/caption]

Civil unrest /riots in London by citizens who are perhaps discontent with simmering poverty and neglect in the city, according to a report, Martin Fletcher says "caught in a poverty and joblessness cycle, young people in many British urban areas have little hope of a better life." The killing of a 29 year old father, Mark Dugan, heightened the spark for an uprising whose time had come.. you can get the scoop here and more here.

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GOVERNOR FASHOLA SIGNS LAW AGAINST ABANDONMENT OF PREGNANT WOMEN

GOVERNOR FASHOLA SIGNS LAW AGAINST ABANDONMENT OF PREGNANT WOMEN:

A pregnant woman

Governor Fashola signs law against abandonment of pregnant women. Read more here. It is now illegal in Lagos State for any man to impregnate and desert a woman.

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Al Pacino's transformation into Phil Spector: Lessons for Nollywood

You almost wouldn't know the difference between Al Pacino, left,  and Phil Spector (a one time movie producer serving a 19 years to life jail term for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson).

Al Pacino (Left) & Phil Spector (Right), Aug 2011"

Late last year, it was announced that Al Pacino will take on the role of Phil Sector in HBO biopic movie - read more here.

Al Pacino & Spector as seen on ABC, July 7th 2011[/caption]

Although the movie air date is not set yet, Al Pacino is already doing a pretty good Phil Sector.  To this, Courtney Hazzlet, says - "If the quality of the film relies heavily on Pacino's ability to transform into Spector,  it has a good chance of doing well. "

Bringing it Home: Nollywood producers, actors and actresses need to learn from this: to play a role well, you have to be able to bring the role to life in all spheres - character, appearance, behavior, in talking, in reacting, in thinking and so on.  This requires immersing yourself in the role wholly by becoming the character you are playing. Doing that involves a lot more from majority of Nigerian actors, actresses and movie producers than they are currently giving.

Really to act well, you can't just be yourself, you need to become the character.

As usual, we welcome your stories and musings. if you've got something to share, jump in...

XOXO

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Nigeria Ranks 158th in the 2009 Human Development Report

The UNDP released its 2009 edition of the Human Development Report recently with Nigeria ranked 158th out of 182 countries below Uganda and Lesotho and ahead of Togo, Malawi and Niger.

Norway was ranked no. 1 on the list for the 7th time.

The Statistics for Nigeria are below:

1. Ranked 147th in Life Expectancy - 47.7years. Nigeria was just ahead of Congo DR, Guinea Bissau and Afghanistan.


2. Ranked 112th in Adult Literacy Rate - 70%. Ahead of Mali and Madagascar.


3. Ranked 114th in Human Poverty Index - 36.2 ahead of Mauritania and Burundi.


4. Ranked 8th in remittances with average of $US9,221 million representing 6.7% of GDP  (an indication that we have many Nigerians in 'greener pastures'). 42.9%  and 39.5% of the total remittances are from Europe and Northern America respectively.


5. Ranked 141st in GDP Per Capita ($1969)

Nigeria, along with Angola, Uganda, and Lesotho left the 'low' category and are now categorised as 'medium human development' group.

my Point of View: If Nigeria's aspiration is to be among the first 20 economies in 11 years from now, then our ranking here needs a paradigm shift. If our aspiration is based on current statistics, we may as well be dreaming. It would take a whole lot of efforts on the part of our leaders for this feat to be achieved. Efforts must be made immediately to improve basic statistics that affects living conditions today, this will guarantee our move towards achieving our desired state, at least.

About the HDI: The human development index (HDI) is a summary measure of a country’s human development. It measures the average achievements in a country in three basic dimensions:

1. a long and healthy life, as measured by life expectancy at birth;


2. access to knowledge, as measured by the adult literacy rate and the combined gross enrolment ratio in education; and


3. a decent standard of living, as measured by GDP per capita in purchasing power parity (PPP) US dollars.

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IMF-World Economic Outlook proposes steps to move Africa forward

The October 2009 edition of the World Economic Outlook published by the IMF says growth in Nigeria will slow to 2.9% in 2009 and expected to rebound to 5% in 2010. For Africa as a whole Real GDP growth is expected to decline to 13/4% in 2009 (it averaged 6% between 2004 & 2008) before accelerating to 4% in 2010. The reason for the slump in growth is as a result of collapse of global trade and disruptions in global financial markets.

On the outlook for the Sub-Saharan African region, the report says "poverty could increase significantly as real GDP per capita contracts in 2009 - the first decline in a decade - unemployment rises, and the region suffers from a lack of extensive social safety nets."

Going forward, the report proposes that Africa must:

• move ahead with a series of reforms to strengthen the region's resilience to external shocks and growth prospects,


• promote the development and implementation of sound and transparent public policies  - which include improved capacity for public financial management, creation of fiscal room for the enhancement of transport, health and education infrastructures and introduction of well targeted poverty reduction programs,


• business environment should be further reformed to facilitate private sector growth especially those that bothers on start-up costs for new enterprises,


• banking supervisory capacity is to be strengthened and the scope of financial sector regulation and supervision should be expanded, and


• some countries should also make efforts to further integrate their economies with the rest of the world.

The points above are necessary steps for Nigeria in particular if we are to take advantage of the many riches of our land and very crucial for the government if it is to achieve its vision 202020. There is no better time than now to be fiscally prudent, to create an economy with sound infrastructure (especially education, healthcare, power and roads) and safe institutions.  I believe in this country!

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