The Chinese government announced today its plans to relax the controversial one-child policy: Under the new law, couples in which either member is an only child will be permitted to have two children. Introduced in 1979, the one-child policy has successfully reined in population growth but has created a host of other problems, from an aging population to an epidemic of risky sex-selective abortions and female infanticide perpetrated by families holding out for a boy.

The social and psychological consequences for a generation of children growing up without siblings have also been a topic of (mostly fearful) debate. Conventional wisdom holds that only children are spoiled, selfish and anti-social, and Chinese millennials are snidely referred to as “little emperors.” But it’s more complicated than that. When compared to Chinese children or adults who have siblings, Chinese people born under the one-child policy:

Some feared the Confucian ideal of filial piety wouldn’t stand up to a generation of selfish only children, but of college students born in 1979 (the first year of the one-child policy), those without siblings were just as likely as their peers with siblings to say they intended to help their parents in old age—and the only children, anticipating their parents’ loneliness, were more likely to say they planned to live in the same city as their parents (26.5 versus 10.5 percent).

Are more likely to believe in gender equality

On the one hand, the traditional preference for baby boys has played out in tragic ways like female infanticide and sex-selective abortion—but on the other, it’s forced many families to give their daughters the education and attention they would traditionally reserve for sons. In the same study of college students’ attitudes, 63 percent of only children (and 60 percent of those with siblings) said they had no preference for having a boy or a girl.

Source:http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115614/china-one-child-policy-facts-four-surprising-findings

More to come

Watch out, wannabe van Goghs and Picassos -- this teen is about to give you a run for your money.

Nineteen year-old Hikaru Cho of Japan has taken body paint to a whole new level with life-like works of art. Taking acrylic paint to human bodies, the artist's creations look like they are naturally part of the person's skin, from painted-on buttons to shoelaces on feet.

Scroll down below for a sampling of Hikaru's impressive art.

It is refusing to show on nairaland. so here is the original link

I would appreciate it if anybody can post the pictures here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/15/body-paint-art_n_4284307.html

still thinking of ways Nigerians would abuse this offer, it we ever get such

With three months to go until the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia is doing its best to stoke the Olympic spirit among the populace with all kinds of outreach, including a unique "squat-and-ride" promotion.

The city of Moscow is offering free rides on its subway for any passenger who does 30 squats prior to boarding. The idea, of course, is both to get the Olympic spirit bubbling and to get the population exercising. Each ride costs 30 rubles, or about 92 cents. The promotion will last for a month.

“We wanted to show that the Olympic Games is not just an international competition that people watch on TV, but that it is also about getting everyone involved in a sporting lifestyle,” Alexander Zhukov, president of the Russian Olympic Committee, said in Russia's RIA-Novosti, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Reaching out to the populace with a little bit of give-back is a wise move on the part of the government. The Olympics already have an expected price tag of $50 billion, making them the most expensive in history. There are the usual concerns about the disproportionate share of revenues heading to a select few and costs being borne by many, but at least some of the flexible common folk will be able to save a few rubles.

The Olympics begin February 7, 2014.

source:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/squat-30-times-ride-free-russia-promotes-olympic-233841899--oly.html

- See more at: http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=limited-offer-squat-30-times-ride-moscow-subway-free#sthash.mSbZ65oA.dpuf

Yes, you heard right, the same peter that denied Jesus Christ

For the first time, the bones traditionally believed to be the relics of St Peter the Apostle will be on public display for veneration.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation, said the veneration of the relics at the Vatican was a fitting way to conclude the Year of Faith on November 24.

Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the archbishop, whose office organised many of the Year of Faith events, said millions of pilgrims marked the Year of Faith by making a pilgrimage to St Peter’s tomb and renewing their profession of faith there.

“The culminating sign” of the year, he said, “will be the exposition for the first time of the relics traditionally recognized as those of the apostle who gave his life for the Lord here.”

The bones were discovered during excavations of the necropolis under St Peter’s Basilica in the 1940s near a monument erected in the fourth century to honor St Peter.

No pope has ever declared the bones to be authentic. However, after scientific tests were conducted on the bones in the 1950s and 60s, Pope Paul VI said in 1968 that the “relics” of St Peter had been “identified in a way which we can hold to be convincing”.

Source:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/11/11/vatican-to-put-st-peters-relics-on-display-for-first-time/

http://www.koboplanet.com/2013/?q=vatican-display-bones-saint-peter-first-time

Red Square has seen a lot over the centuries, from public executions to giant military parades, but a performance artist broke new ground on Sunday when he nailed his scrotum to cobblestones in a painful act of protest.

Pyotr Pavlensky said the protest was his response to Russia's descent into a "police state" and was timed to coincide with Police Day, which Russia's law enforcement officials celebrated on Sunday.

"The performance can be seen as a metaphor for the apathy, political indifference and fatalism of contemporary Russian society," Pavlensky said in a statement. "As the government turns the country into one big prison, stealing from the people and using the money to grow and enrich the police apparatus and other repressive structures, society is allowing this, and forgetting its numerical advantage, is bringing the triumph of the police state closer by its inaction."

Pavlensky has a history of self-harming art, including sewing his lips together to protest against the jail sentences given to members of Pussy Riot and wrapping himself in barbed wire outside a Russian government building, which he said symbolised "the existence of a person inside a repressive legal system".

The leading Russian theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov wrote on his Facebook page that the performance was a "powerful gesture of absolute despair".

Pavlensky walked on to Red Square on Sunday lunchtime, stripped off and nailed his scrotum to the cobblestones of Russia's most famous public space. He was taken to hospital an hour later and given basic treatment for his injuries but declined to be admitted. He was later taken to a police station.

Pavlensky is due to appear before a district court in Moscow on Monday over the stunt and could be jailed for up to 15 days.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/11/artist-nails-testicles-red-square-pyotr-pavlensky

http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=man-nails-his-testicles-ground-form-protest

KoboPlane

The Marvel Studio’s film, The Avengers, depicts superheroes capable of lifting tanks, destroying cities, and generally disobeying every law of physics known to man. But little does the world know that these superheroes have archetypes that have precedence in Ancient Israel, during the days of King David and the like. Think the Bible is all about love and rainbows and hugs? Think again! Get ready to discover the 6 most jaw-dropping feats of strength in the Bible!

#6. Eleazar just can’t let go of how many Philistines he killed.

And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away: He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil.- 2nd Samuel 23:9-10


Eleazar was considered one of David’s top three guys when something had to be killed, annihilated or pulverized. Along with Adino and Shammah, Eleazar was a ferocious warrior who earned a reputation as a killing-machine. His claim to fame is that during a battle with the Philistines, Eleazar slew so many of the enemy that by the end of the day he couldn’t let go of his sword.


Literally. Like, he had been gripping his weapon so tightly as he rained a death storm of Biblical justice on God’s enemies that his fingers had to be pried from the handle. Apparently, he was rather terrifying in his maelstrom of destruction because the rest of the army left him there. They took one look at Eleazer in all his battle-rage and said, “Um, no,” thereby demonstrating the first labor strike in history. They only returned after the battle, presumably once Eleazar had killed pretty much everyone.

#5. Benaiah kills two lionlike men of Moab, a lion with his bare hands, and an Egyptian.

And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. -2nd Samuel 23:20

Benaniah actually did several seriously manly things including killing two “lionlike men of Moab”, slaying a lion with his bare hands and killing a massive Egyptian man with his own spear. The lionlike men of Moab, we can only assume, were terrifying.

Given the undeniable fact that these guys were 10 feet of pure feral rage, it’s only fitting that we salute Benaniah for his hands down manliness in destroying these ferocious creatures. But hey! Wrestling a lion in a snowy pit is no walk in the park either! Benaniah had some real guts to do the things he did, and considering that he’s placed along side the guy who shishkabobbed 800 guys in a day (see #3), we can infer that his feats of strength were nothing less than super-manly.

#4. David’s Three Mighty Men fight their way through an army for a drink of water.

And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. -2nd Samuel 23:16

Imagine you’re sitting in camp, playing poker with the boys, knocking back a cold one…suddenly, the boss comes outside and happens to mention that he’d REALLY like a fresh drink of water from the good ol’ Bethlehem Well. Hearing that, the three mighty men decided that they needed to get the boss that drink of water!

So, casual as can be, they stroll into the Philistine camp, killing every soldier that stands in the way of their mission. When they got back, David just about fell out of his chair.

“You did WHAT?”

“We got you some water…you know from the well inside the enemy camp, surrounded by a thousand heavily armed men. No big deal.”

Instead of drinking the water, David poured it out as an offering to the Lord as such an act of love and devotion could only be responded to with worship to God. Which actually is incredibly manly in of itself.

#3. Adino the Tachmonite vanquishes 800 men in a single day.

The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.- 2nd Samuel 23:8

Adino was the head honcho of David’s band of three mighty men. Clearly, he fought hard to earn that title because no less than 800 men fell by his hand. One day in battle, he decided to open a massive can of good ol’ fashioned rage and killed 800 Philistines with his spear.

That would probably be the scariest thing you could witness on the battlefield. One man slaughtering your fellow soldiers by the hundreds with a stick. Scary. That isn’t a cumulative number, either. He did all that work all at once. There’s not much that’s scarier except when you learn about how…

#2. Samson kills 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, after being escorted by a prison guard of 3,000 men.

And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. -Judges 15:15

Meet Samson. What the Hulk is to the Avengers, Samson is to the Bible. He’s the subject of some of the craziest stories in the Bible.

So Samson saw a pretty girl among the Philistines…and that’s how every story starts with Samson, unfortunately. Long story short, he embarrasses the Philistines, who then bug his wife to bug him and then he gets mad and leaves, and while he’s gone his father-in-law remarries Samson’s wife to his former best man. Seriously.

Naturally, Samson’s reaction was to irritate the Philistines so he caught 300 foxes, tied their tails in pairs and then lit them on fire and set them into the fields.

In response, the Philistines set fire to Samson’s former new wife and father-in-law. After that, it sounds like there was a boxing match and Samson went and hid somewhere. The Philistines started raiding the Israelites, which prompted them to go to Samson to figure out just what the heck was going on.

Apparently, everyone knew about Samson’s temper problem because they sent 3,000 men to escort Samson. Three thousand men! If each man stretched out his arms and stood next to the other, the line of men would stretch for more than 3 miles! That’s crazy! Anyway, Samson was taken to the Philistines and when he is presented to them, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, literally melting the ropes that bound him. He picked up the jawbone of a donkey and all hell broke loose as Samson proceeded to kill 1,000 of the soldiers. Naturally, this didn’t make him a huge star with the donkey population.

But seriously, he killed 1,000 people with the jawbone of a donkey. Which we are told was “fresh”. So who knows if the donkey was even dead. We wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t. And how long did that take anyway? Even with an average kill time of 1 minute, it would still take him 16 hours to kill 1000 people. Props to him for all that endurance (which came from God, of course). We figured that was the end of Samson’s exploit until we learned that….

#1. Samson wrestles a stone temple and wins, killing 3,000 Philistines.

And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. -Judges 16:29-30

So after his ridiculous encounter in Judges 15 with the killing of 1,000 Philistines, Samson judges Israel for 20 years and when we meet up with him again in Chapter 16, the ol’ Hulk hasn’t really walked with God. We find out that he visits a prostitute, causes lots of property damage and then makes the biggest mistake of his love career by falling for Delilah (another Philistine). Amazingly enough, he doesn’t see how bad of an idea this is.

The Philistines pressure Delilah to figuring out what the secret of Samson’s strength is (the Insanity program he recommended failed to produce results for them). So Delilah starts pestering Samson. And not just pestering, but all out super-nagging. Delilah would whine and ask Samson for the secret to his strength and he would give her some nonsense about bowstrings or using new ropes, then the Philistines would try it and Samson would kill them all. But then Delilah pulled the “You don’t love me” card.

Samson broke down and told her that if she cut his hair, his strength would leave him. (Samson was a Nazirite, who were not supposed to cut their hair as part of their oath to God. By allowing Delilah to cut his hair, Samson was turning his back on God.) So that night, the Philistines came, cut his hair, and when he tried to fight back, his strength was gone because God had left him. His enemies gouged out his eyes, and put him in prison to work the mill as a slave.

Here’s where it gets cool: The Philistines were celebrating Samson’s capture and attributing their success to their god, Dagon. They were so pleased with themselves that they had Samson brought into the auditorium to entertain them. Big mistake.

Samson found himself between the two central pillars that held up the house, and thinking quickly, he challenged the pillars to a wrestling match. Having never lost a wrestling match, the pillars foolishly agreed.

As Samson waged war against the pillars, they began to sway, and before you knew it, the whole roof was coming down. Inside the house were gathered 3,000 Philistines, jeering at Samson in his humiliation. The roof fell…

And as it did, Samson asked God that he might die there as well. The stones fell and crushed every single one of the 3,000 Philistines and Samson finally came to rest.

That’s it, folks! Which one is your favorite feat of strength in the Bible?


Source:
http://imsnowedin./2013/08/21/the-6-most-jawdropping-feats-of-strength-in-the-bible/

- See more at: http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=6-most-jawdropping-feats-strength-bible

And you thought Nokia 3310 was the strongest phone ever

Nokia has a legacy of making durable handsets, from the old 3315 to the new Lumia range. A recent incident reinforces the belief that Nokia makes some of the most durable mobile phones in the market still.

According to a Swede citizen Roger Nilsson, he recently found a Lumia 800 smartphone that was lost three and a half months ago in a lake. Except that the device is not rated for water resistance and is vulnerable to damage like any other standard smartphone in the market today.

Nilsson posted his account on the Facebook page of Nokia Sweden, saying that when he found the Lumia 800 wedged between two rocks in the lake, it was covered with muck, shells and other waste. He cleaned it up, disassembled the whole handset and kept it on a radiator to dry.

Much to his surprise, Nilsson found that the Lumia 800 survived despite being submerged underwater for over three months. He says that the phone and camera work as expected and the battery lasts over two days, as usual.

Most water-resistant smartphones are rated to survive underwater for a maximum of 30 minutes. This is in stark contrast with all other smartphones whose batteries explode spontaneously.

- See more at: http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=nokia-smart-phone-lost-underwater-3-months-still-works#sthash.BlvyZgs1.dpuf

A desperately lonely man who was unable to find a girlfriend decided he had no more use for his penis — and proceeded to cut it off.

Yang Hu, 26, from the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang, had been battling depression over his inability to find love when he made the decision to slice off his manhood this past Sunday night after work.

Friends of Yang said the long hours he had been putting in at a local clothing factory convinced the man he would never find the time to meet a woman.

Hoping to curb his desire for a partner and believing his penis to be useless, Yang made the fateful truncation, only to quickly regret it.

He reportedly grabbed his bicycle and rode to a nearby hospital, but soon realized he had left his missing member at home.

He cycled back to retrieve it, but by the time he returned to the hospital it was too late.

Yang's friends blamed the hospital for literally adding insult to injury by failing to send an ambulance to collect Yang's personal belongings in lieu of telling him to go ride a bike.
- See more at: http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=lonely-man-hacks-own-sex-organ-after-failing-find-love#sthash.XuEATLb3.dpuf

With Saudi Arabian women behind the wheel since Saturday to protest their country's refusal to grant driver's licenses to women, they’re challenging not only long-standing restriction, but also a the larger system of Saudi Arabian gender-based laws, some of the harshest in the world.

According to one measurement, though, there are actually several countries that rank lower on women;s rights than Saudi Arabia. The World Economic Forum, which publishes the preeminent ranking on gender gap issues, ranked Saudi Arabia 10th from the bottom in its 2013 report -- ahead of Mali, Morocco, Iran, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania, Syria, Chad, Pakistan and Yemen. Women’s rights abuses are by no means limited to North Africa, West Africa or the Middle East, though that’s where we tend to hear such stories most frequently.

“A lot of the most severe stuff comes out of legal or de facto guardianship systems,” said Rothna Begum, a researcher who tracks women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa for the advocacy group Human Rights Watch.

But she adds that, especially in Saudi Arabia, “things are modernizing.”

Here are nine other remarkable legal restrictions against women, from Asia to Latin America:

1. India (some parts): Road safety rules don’t apply to women. In some states of India, women are excepted from safety rules that mandate motorcycle passengers wear helmets -- an exemption that kills or injures thousands each year. Women’s rights advocates have argued the exemption springs from a culture-wide devaluation of women’s lives. Supporters of the ban say they’re just trying to preserve women’s carefully styled hair and make-up -- which isn’t exactly a feminist response.

2. Yemen: A woman is considered only half a witness. That’s the policy on legal testimony in Yemen, where a woman is not, to quote a 2005 Freedom House report, “recognized as a full person before the court.” In general, a single woman’s testimony isn’t taken seriously unless it’s backed by a man’s testimony or concerns a place or situation where a man would not be. And women can’t testify at all in cases of adultery, libel, theft or sodomy.

3. Saudi Arabia and Vatican City: Women can’t vote... still. This is amazingly the case in Saudi Arabia, though a royal decree, issued in 2011, will let women vote in Saudi elections in 2015. Vatican City is the only other country that allows men, but not women, to vote.

4. Ecuador: Abortion is illegal, unless you’re an “idiot.” Begum says this is the policy in Ecuador, where abortions have long been outlawed for everyone but “idiots” and the “demented.” Politicians are considering a policy with the more politely worded term “mentally ill,” but that won’t change abortion’s legal status in Ecuador -- or, more importantly, the fact that the law is frequently used to criminalize miscarriages.

5. Saudi Arabia and Morocco: Rape victims can be charged with crimes. Many, many countries fail to protect the victims of rape, but some go a step further -- punishing women for leaving the house without a male companion, for being alone with an unrelated man, or for getting pregnant afterwards. The most infamous case may be Saudi Arabia’s “Qatif girl,” but a recent suicide in Morocco also made headlines -- 16-year-old Amina Filali killed herself after a judge forced her to marry her alleged rapist, in keeping with a policy that invalidates statutory rape charges if the parties marry.

6. Yemen: Women can’t leave the house without their husbands’ permission. Yemen, where this law remains in force, does allow for a few emergency exceptions, Begum says: if the woman must rush out to care for her ailing parents, for instance.

7. Saudi Arabia: Women can't drive. Read more about the ban and how women are challenging it here.

The good news? According to the World Economic Forum’s most recent gender gap report, equality has made “modest” gains in the Middle East. And Begum, of Human Rights Watch, says there’s lots of agitation for more change.

“Women in Saudi Arabia are highly educated and qualified,” she said. “They don’t want to be left in the dark.”

Source: www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/10/27/7-ridiculous-restrictions-on-womens-rights-around-the-world/

- See more at: http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=7-ridiculous-restrictions-women

A 12-year-old Canadian boy has pleaded guilty to hacking government and police websites during the 2012 student uprising in Quebec under affiliation with the Anonymous brand of hacktivists.

According to the Toronto Sun, the fifth grader, who lives in the Montreal suburb of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, appeared in youth court on Thursday, accompanied by his father.

The boy pleaded guilty to three charges related to hacking websites that included those of Montreal police, the Quebec Institute of Public Health, the Chilean government and some non-public sites.

The attacks took some of the sites offline for up to two days, at what police estimated as a cost of $60,000 in damages. A more detailed report will be handed over next month when the boy is sentenced, according to the Toronto Sun.

The student uprising of spring 2012, which lasted into that fall, was sparked by outrage at a proposed tuition hike and spiraled into a have v. have-nots version of Occupy Wall Street, marked by the use of Molotov cocktails on one occasion, police use of rubber bullets and tear gas, and serious injuries to both police and protesters.

Be that as it may, the boy's lawyer told the court that the 12-year-old's actions in hacking the sites weren't politically motivated:

He saw it as a challenge, he was only 12 years old. … There was no political purpose.

The paper reports that the young hacker has been involved with computers since he was 9.

The court was told that the targeted sites suffered three types of attack:

1. Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack: An attack wherein the aggressors bombard a target with requests designed to consume so much of its resources that it becomes unusable.
2. Defacement of pages. See Pastebin for a message posted on the Montreal police's website in French and English.
3. Exploiting security holes in order to access database servers.

Others have reportedly been arrested for the attacks, but it was the boy who opened the door to enable them, the court was told.

The young hacker reportedly managed to get at personal information belonging to the sites' users and administrators.

According to the Toronto Sun, he traded the pirated information to Anonymous in exchange for video games.

He also taught others how to hack, police experts told the court, though he reportedly warned them against going overboard, lest they get caught.

The Toronto Sun says that the court heard testimony from somebody who said that the tween put it this way:

It's easy to hack but do not go there too much, they will track you down.

I guess he went there too much, because they certainly did track him down.

Is he the youngest hacker ever to be caught?

Mafiaboy - the Canadian hacker who DOS'ed Yahoo, eBay and E*TRADE wound up in jail at the tender age of 15.

Canada: they grow more than maple trees up there!

Michael Calce - Mafiaboy's real name - would go on to write in his book - "Mafiaboy: A Portrait of the Hacker as a Young Man" - that the attacks he unleashed in 2000 were "illegal, reckless and, in many ways, simply stupid."

He wrote:

At the time, I didn't realize the consequences of what I was doing.

Calce wound up pleading guilty to 56 counts stemming from hacking and attacking the sites and was sentenced to eight months in "open custody" at a rehabilitation home for youths, with another year spent on probation.

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/10/26/12-year-old-canadian-boy-admits-to-hacking-police-and-government-sites-for-anonymous/

http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=12-year-old-boy-admits-hacking-police-and-government-sites

Your mental image of Jesus is all wrong

1. Jesus Was Not White (or European)

Judging by the western art of the past 2,000 years you might be tempted to believe Jesus would be a white, handsome guy, probable with long hair and an ethereal glow.

The earliest depictions of Jews which date from the 3rd Century, are - as far as can be determined - dark skinned. He was Jewish, so would bear the colour of a Middle-eastern person.

And Jesus probably did have some African links - after all the conventional theory is that he lived as a child in Egypt where, presumably, his appearance did not make him stand out.

2. Jesus Did Not Have 12 Disciples

If you were asked the number of Jesus’ disciple, you would say 12, right? Wrong?

Jesus had three categories of followers. The first was made up of those who came to hear him or to be healed whenever he visits a place and this group is called “crowds”.

The second category consists of those who followed Jesus from town to town. These were called disciples and according to the Gospel of Luke, there were 70 or 72 of them, depending on which version of the text you believe.

The third category of Jesus’ followers was known as the apostles. These 12 men were no mere disciples, for they did not just follow Jesus from one place to another. Rather, they were given permission to go off on their own and preach his message independently and without supervision. They were, in other words, the chief missionaries of the Jesus movement.

3. Jesus was not handsome

According to Prophet Isaiah Jesus was not handsome. Isaiah 53:2 says “He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” We are not saying he was ugly, but we can all agree that he was is no Ramsey Noah.

4. Jesus Had Short Hair

No one know for certain what Jesus looked like, but the popular image that you have is definitely nowhere close to what Jesus looked like, apart from the fact that he was not handsome, he also had short hair.

In truth, long hair was not exactly a common fashion among Jews around the time that Jesus was said to have lived. Corinthians 11:14 says: “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?” This is in accordance with customs which considered short hair to be masculine and long hair to be feminine. So the images of Jesus as a European with long, flowing hair may be misleading.

The misconception surrounding the length of Jesus' hair comes from western artists confusing the term "Nazarene", which denotes the hometown of Jesus, with the term "Nazarite" which was a name given to those to took a religious vow to abstain from such things as wine, and from cutting their hair.

5. Jesus Was Worshiped By Demons

It would take only common sense to assume that angels worship God and Demons worship the Devil. Strangely, Jesus is the one the demons seems to worship. This is made clear in a scene in Mark, in which he is adored by a legion of demons who have possessed a man, and with whom Jesus talks directly.

Sources: Mark 5, Mark 1:27

6. Jesus Wore Nice Clothes

Jesus is often portrayed as a humble person who denied himself the simple pleasures of life. What would you say if you were told Jesus wore nice clothes? Well, he did. When he did, the Roman soldiers cast lots for his robe at his crucifixion. Who cast lots for clothes that have little or no value? We want to believe Jesus removed his robe before all that suffering, because, who wears a blood soaked clothe?

Sources: Matthew 27:35, Luke 23:34

7. Jesus Didn’t Do Charity Work

Jesus said “Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God”, and “Blessed are ye that hunger now: for you shall be filled.” But he was never known for actually doing anything for the poor or needy. At one point, he did provide a free lunch for five thousand of his listeners—but it’s not really the same thing, is it? Even Judas, the infamous traitor, once criticized Jesus for failing to give to the poor.

This decision could be tied to the Christian philosophy that the afterlife is more important than our earthly existence, and that Jesus therefore gave attention to the needs of the soul rather than those of the body.

8. Jesus Did Not Have 12 Disciples

If you were asked the number of Jesus’ disciple, you would say 12, right? Wrong?

Jesus had three categories of followers. The first was made up of those who came to hear him or to be healed whenever he visits a place and this group is called “crowds”.

The second category consists of those who followed Jesus from town to town. These were called disciples and according to the Gospel of Luke, there were 70 or 72 of them, depending on which version of the text you believe.

The third category of Jesus’ followers was known as the apostles. These 12 men were no mere disciples, for they did not just follow Jesus from one place to another. Rather, they were given permission to go off on their own and preach his message independently and without supervision. They were, in other words, the chief missionaries of the Jesus movement.

http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=8-thing-your-pastor-probably-forgot-tell-you-about-jesus

http://giftedgreen.com/2013/?q=content/8-thing-your-pastor-probably-forgot-tell-you-about-jesus

A FEMALE gym junkie has revealed how she now looks like a man after developing a steroid addiction which mutated her body.

Candice Armstrong, who used to be a pretty blonde, has been left with stubble, broad shoulders and a one-inch penis, after using the drug in a desperate attempt to improve her shape.

The former London barmaid said her nightmare began two years ago when she joined a gym to improve her physique.

Ms Armstong, who suffers from body dysmorphia, revealed she would work out for three hours a day and was convinced her upper body was too slender.

But despite people telling her she was developing great biceps, it wasn't enough.

When a fellow gym fanatic suggested using steroids, she went for it, but soon developed an addiction to daily doses of the steroid Trenbolone.

Ms Armstrong told British tabloid The Sunday People she only started using the drug because she hated her body, but now things were a thousand times worse.

In fact the drug altered her body so much that her clitoris grew into a one-inch penis, she developed facial hair, acne and even began walking like a man.

The transition was so extreme she now dresses in men's clothes so she isn't mistaken for a man in drag and now avoids women's toilets.

"Now I look like a man and I hate it. Even my own mother has told me I'm not pretty any more," she said.

"I don't want to become a man, I just want to be normal. I stopped having any sort of sex drive for men. I tried having sex with a girl but that didn't do anything for me either. So it's not like it has turned me lesbian."

Ms Armstrong said she thought the drug would make her training more effective, but has now developed an addiction which has changed her body to such an extent even her GP asked if she was undergoing a sex change.

"I used to get a lot of attention from men. Now very few people find me attractive. But I can't say I miss sex. I have no sex drive and I'm more insecure than ever," she said.

She added she was now trying to beat her addiction, but still works out for at least three hours a day.

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/female-bodybuilder-candice-armstrong-reveals-how-steroid-habit-turned-her-into-a-man/story-fneuzlbd-1226745139266

When is this going to happen in Nigeria, Maybe Never

A village official has been sacked in China over a lavish wedding for his son that cost 1.6m yuan ($260,000;£160,000), state media say.

The wedding lasted three days - luxury cars ferried guests around and well-known entertainers kept them amused.

Ma Linxiang, deputy head of a village on Beijing's outskirts who hosted the wedding, said the bride's family had paid for most of the ceremony.

China's leaders have warned officials not to flaunt wealth amid public anger.

The wedding extravaganza took place during last week's National Day holiday, the Beijing News reported.

Marquees were erected for 210 tables, and some of the celebrations were also held at a convention centre - which had been a 2008 Beijing Olympics venue, the newspaper said.

The local Communist Party discipline inspection commission in Chaoyang district, where Mr Ma's village is located, removed him from his post on Tuesday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The commission found no evidence that Mr Ma had used public funds for the wedding, but it believed that the extravagance of the celebration ran counter to the party's rules and damaged its image, the report said.

With official corruption rampant in China, major family events like weddings have become a front for taking bribes in the form of gifts, correspondents say.

'Not aware of costs'

Mr Ma told state media that his wealthy in-laws footed the majority of the bills for the wedding and that he was unclear of the total costs.

The wedding was estimated by local event planners to have cost 1.6m yuan, according to the Beijing News.

But Mr Ma said that he only paid for the two days of festivities in his village that cost 200,000 yuan, and that he received a fraction of that back in gifts, the newspaper said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to tackle official corruption by going after what he has called powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies".

The sacking of Mr Ma has received widespread support from users of Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

On the most popular, Sina Weibo, many users expressed support for the government to investigate Mr Ma, with some saying "such slugs [corrupt officials] must be removed from office".

Other users have asked how a village deputy chief could manage to have so much money. "There must be something dodgy behind it," one user said.

- See more at: http://koboplanet.com/2013/?q=content/china-official-sacked-over-sons-extravagant-wedding#sthash.UI2yR4m8.dpuf

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24444507

There are far more African billionaires than previously thought, Ventures magazine said yesterday in a report on the continent’s mega-rich, but the number of Africans living in extreme poverty has also shot up.

Previous Africa-rich-lists named as few as 16 billionaires, but Ventures said its exhaustive research had identified at least 55 on a continent where the wealthy often fiercely protect details about their fortunes.

The pan-African business magazine said it was able to uncover dozens of new billionaires by using “on-the-ground knowledge” to overcome hurdles that may have “hampered” other researchers.

Of the 55, 20 are Nigerian, including several oil barons, while South Africa and Egypt boast nine and eight respectively. Ventures’ supported reports by Forbes which listed Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote as Africa’s richest man with a fortune of $20.2 billion (15 billion euros).Dangote, who made his fortune in cement, heads a multi-interest empire, profiting from products including flour and sugar, while eyeing a massive investment in oil refining.

The continent’s richest woman is Nigeria’s Folorunsho Alakija, whose Fama Oil owns an offshore oil block, which she acquired in 1993 “at a relatively inexpensive price”, likely through a helpful connection, the magazine said.Alakija studied fashion in London, then made dresses for Maryam Babaginda, the late wife of Nigerian military dictator Ibrahim Babaginda.The former designer “is believed to have ridden on the crest of this relationship to acquire an oil block,” off the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria, said Ventures. – See more at: The most prominent South African named is Nicky Oppenheimer, worth an estimated $6.5 billion, whose fortune came largely from the diamond mines his family controlled for decades, which were operated by De Beers. Oppenheimer sold his family’s stake in De Beers two years ago.

The figure of 55 is “actually an under-estimate” of Africa’s billionaires, Chi-Chi Okonjo, the founder of Ventures, told AFP.

“People are not comfortable disclosing their wealth,” he said. Corruption is rife on the continent and the rule of law still unevenly applied. African business moguls often face accusations that their fortunes were illegitimately earned, including with extra-legal help from political patrons.The apparently rising number of ultra-rich Africans has come amid broader economic growth on the continent, which has seen an average of five percent GDP expansion since 2010.But economic growth has not kept up with a rising population.

“There are more than twice as many extremely poor people living in sub-Saharan Africa today (414 million) than there were three decades ago (205 million),” the World Bank said in April.It is the only region where “the number of poor people individuals has risen steadily and dramatically,” over the last 30 years, the bank said.

Source: http://thenationonlineng.net/new/nigeria-has-20-billionaires/

While most start-ups feverishly track figures like the total number of users, Ron Gutman, the founder and chief executive of the health information start-up, HealthTap, is more interested in a different data point.

This week, the start-up heard from its 10,000th user who said the site saved her life.

“My local doctor brushed me off and told me it was anxiety without doing any tests at all,” wrote one woman who turned to HealthTap after seeing her doctor. After spending two hours on HealthTap, she was told by a doctor who contributes to the site that her condition sounded like a blocked artery. She soon saw a cardiology specialist who later inserted a coronary stent.

Since its founding in 2012, the site has logged nearly a billion questions and answers, from simple queries about headaches or the flu, to more complicated ones, like whether mechlorethamine is a cancer medication. Questions are then routed to a physician who is both an expert in that particular field of medicine, and who is determined by an algorithm to be likely to respond fast, Mr. Gutman said.

None of that would be possible without the participation of nearly 50,000 doctors who contribute their advice free. (Every page on the site has a disclaimer saying that the site “does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.”)

HealthTap, which is both a Web site and a mobile application, was recognized at its introduction for applying the principles of gaming — features like badges, rewards and reputation scores — to health care. Today, however, that has shifted.

If “gamification” was the hot phrase driving new app design 18 months ago, today start-ups are increasingly looking to the principles of behavioral psychology to encourage behaviors and return visits. HealthTap’s evolution shows how moving to behavioral psychology has helped it increase its number of users and the number of doctors who offer knowledge on the site at no cost.

Instead of the goofy digital awards that were featured in an earlier version of HealthTap, the site’s rewards for doctors have been now recast as decorous professional markers of accomplishment. Instead of the “Doogie Howser Award,” physicians are given more serious designations like “advocates,” “mentors” or “founding experts.”

A special dashboard on the site provides a slate of ego-boosting statistics and prompts with physicians’ reputation scores, user comments and most crucially, areas in which other doctors consider them experts.

This way, the site appeals to the value that doctors place on reputation, expertise and authority. It is also marketed to doctors as a way to find new patients.

“There’s something really powerful in the ability to create positive feedback loops,” said Mr. Gutman, who learned through his many conversations with doctors that they craved something simple after days full of appointments — they simply wanted to be thanked.

So now, after a person receives an answer from a HealthTap doctor, they are prompted by the system to thank the doctor, or the site, or both. The woman with the blocked artery, for example, was even prompted to indicate if the service saved her life — a smart touch that not only helps the site track its success, but offers incredibly powerful reason for a doctors to keep coming back and answer more questions.



Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/how-to-save-10000-lives-with-an-app-flatter-doctors/?_r=1&

Four men believed to have been involved in the deadly shopping centre attack in Nairobi last month have been named.

The Kenyan military said Abu Baara al-Sudani, Omar Nabhan, Khattab al-Kene and Umayr - shown in new CCTV footage - were killed during the standoff.

Kenya said previously 10-15 militants had been involved, but the police chief says the figure may now be four to six.

The al-Shabab group said it carried out the attack on the Westgate mall on 21 September, leaving at least 67 dead.

The al-Qaeda-linked group said the attack was in retaliation for Kenya's military involvement in Somalia.

Too early?

The naming of the men came as CCTV footage was aired showing four attackers calmly walking through a room in the mall holding machine guns.

Kenya Defence Forces spokesman Maj Emmanuel Chirchir told Reuters news agency: "I confirm these were the terrorists; they all died in the raid.

Reuters quoted Maj Chirchir as saying that al-Sudani was an "experienced fighter" from Sudan and was believed to be the leader of the group.

Maj Chirchir said Nabhan was a Kenyan of Arab origin and al-Kene a Somali linked to al-Shabab. Further details about Umayr had not yet been verified, he said.

A Kenyan security analyst told the BBC that at least two of the names would be familiar to the Kenyan intelligence services.

Kenyan police chief David Kimaiyo told Kenya's KTN television station it was now believed that four to six gunmen had carried out the attack, not 10 to 15.

"None of them managed to escape from the building after the attack," he said.

Mr Kimaiyo also said that wanted British woman Samantha Lewthwaite had not been involved.

"We have also established that she was not part of the attackers in the building. There was no woman," he said.

Ms Lewthwaite, 29, is the widow of one of the four suicide bombers who attacked London on 7 July 2005.

Kenya had earlier said five attackers were killed in the security operation and that nine people were in custody.

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Nairobi says the latest CCTV footage is from a limited part of the complex and, with some eyewitnesses reporting a two-pronged attack; it is too early to say definitively how many gunmen were in the building.

In addition to the 67 people killed in the attack, a further 39 are still missing, according to the Kenyan Red Cross.

Al-Shabab is banned as a terrorist group by both the US and the UK and is believed to have between 7,000 and 9,000 fighters.

Its members are fighting to create an Islamic state in Somalia.

About 4,000 Kenyan troops were sent to Somalia in October 2011 to help pro-government forces end two decades of violence, with clan-based warlords and Islamist militants all battling for control of the country.

On Saturday, Islamist fighters in southern Somalia said Western forces had launched a night-time raid on one of their bases.

No-one has admitted the attack. US and French Special Forces have carried out raids in Somalia in recent years.

It is not clear whether the raid was linked to Westgate.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24412315

The female seahorses impregnate their male mates, rather than the other way around.

The reproductive process of a seahorse begins when a male and a female meet up and “dance”. For several days prior to the actual act of mating, the two fish (yes, they are fish) will meet to intertwine their tails and swim together. They also sometimes grip the same strand of sea grass with their tails, and whirl around it in unison. Scientists believe this courtship and dancing synchronizes the movements of the two fish to prepare the male to receive eggs at the same time the female is ready to deposit them.

After several days of this, the male blows water through an egg pouch on his stomach. The water flow expands and opens the pouch to demonstrate to the female that it is empty and ready for her to insert her… ovipositor, an organ used to lay eggs.

At that point, the two swim in a sort of snout-to-snout embrace, spiraling upward through the water trying to line up so that the female can inserts her ovipositor into the male’s pouch. She does this several times, resting between, to avoid becoming exhausted.

As the eggs leave the female body, she slims down. As the male receives the eggs, he plumps up. This process can last up to eight hours. In the end, she deposits anywhere from a few dozen to thousands of eggs into the male’s pouch, depending on the species of seahorse.

When it’s done, the female does not stay to cuddle, but simply swims away and finds a nice place to rest while her ovipositor contracts, which can take a couple hours.

After his lady friend is gone, the male attaches himself to a nearby plant and releases sperm directly into the water around him to fertilize the eggs, which are now embedded in the wall of his pouch. The pouch provides oxygen and prolactin to nurture the eggs.

While the female chose to leave right after the mating, she’s at least nice enough to drop by and check up on her pregnant partner. During the gestation period, anywhere from two to four weeks, the female visits the male on a daily basis, though not for long. The two simply interacting for a few minutes each time, swimming together much like they did during courtship.

As the male prepares to give birth, his pouch gets rounder and rounder. In the minutes immediately preceding birth, his muscles contort, bending him backward and forward repeatedly for about ten minutes until all the babies (known as “fry”) explode out of the pouch. There can be as few as eight and as many as 200 seahorse fry born at a time.

Amazingly, the male’s pouch returns to its normal size and position in only about an hour and he is ready to mate again within a few hours, and sometimes even does!

The male seahorse may give birth, but as with many fish, he does not stick around to nurture the young, but leaves them on their own. In the end, around 5 infant seahorses in every 1,000 survive to adulthood. Many are eaten by predators or die of starvation when ocean currents push them away from food sources.

Even so, by fish standards, 5 out of 1,000 is actually a pretty good rate, thanks to the father’s pouch protecting the little ones for a time, while other fish often lay eggs and immediately abandon them after fertilization.

Read more at http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/09/the-species-of-animal-wh...

29.First televised debate

The leading candidates for Presidents of the United States made the first televised Presidential debate. It was also the first televised debate. It was between Senator John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.

30.OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries)

The countries of Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait form OPEC

OPEC is an international organization whose main mission is to coordinate the policies of oil producing countries. The goal is to secure a steady income to member states and to secure supply of oil to the consumers

31.Cyprus

The Mediterranean island of Cyprus receives its independence from the United Kingdom on August 16 1960.

32.1st Successful Kidney Transplant

The first successful kidney transplant in UK was performed in Edinburgh by Sir Michael Woodruff and his team on 30th October, 1960. This was a milestone in history of transplantation.

The donor and the patient both lived for a further 6 years before dying from an unrelated disease.

33.Elevation of 1st African Cardinal

Africa had its first Cardinal in the year 1960. Laurean Rugambwa was the first Native African Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and he was elevated to Cardinalate in 1960

34.Hugo Weaving

Do you remember Agent Smith in Matrix? He turns 53 this year and he is a Nigerian. Yes! Neo’s arch-rival is Nigerian. How? This makes him Nigerian by birth. His parents moved back to England a year after.

Hugo Weaving has acted in several blockbusters such as V For Vendetta, The Matrix Trilogy and Lord of The Rings Trilogy, Transformers Trilogy, The Hobbit Trilogy and Captain America.

35.No Longer At Ease

No longer at Ease, novel by Chinua Achebe was published in 1960. It is the story of an Igbo man, obi Okonkwo, who leaves his village for a British education and a job in the Nigeria colonial civil service, but who struggles to adapt to a western lifestyle and ends up taking a bribe.

36.Somalia

The State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland protectorate) receives its independence from the United Kingdom. Five days later, it unites as scheduled with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic.

37.Antonio Bandera

The Spanish film actor who appeared in high-profile Hollywood movies like Assassins, Interview with the Vampire, Desperado, The Mask of Zorro, Original Sin and Spy kids also turns 53 this year.

38.Republic of Congo

Middle Congo becomes independent from France, as Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville).

39.Hollywood Walk Of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame comprises of more than 2500 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 18 blocks in California. It is a popular tourist destination with a reported 10 million visitors in 2003.

40.Justice League

The Justice League first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #28, originally featureing Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter.

It later received its own comic book title in October 1960.

41.Burkina Faso

August 5, 1960 – Upper Volta, now known as Burkina Faso, becomes independent from France

42.Shapeville Massacre

On March 21, 1960, South African police officers opened fire on a crowd of black protesters who had surrounded a police station in Sharpeville, killing 69 people.

The Sharpeville protests began over South Africa’s pass laws, which required black South Africans to carry passbooks with them any time they traveled out of their designated home areas.

43.First Animals To Survive In A Trip Orbit

In 1960,The Soviet Union launche the satellite Sputnik 5, with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants. This satellite returns to earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.

44.Niger

Niger becomes independent from France on August 3 1960

45.For your eyes only

No, not the movie. For Your Eyes Only is a collection of short stories by British author Ian Fleming, featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond. It was first published b on 11 April 1960. A movie of the same title would be later released in 1981.

The collection contains five short stories: "From a View to a Kill", "For Your Eyes Only", "Quantum of Solace", "Risico" and "The Hildebrand Rarity"

46.UN Shoe banging incident

Nikita Khrushchev's shoe-banging incident allegedly occurred at some point in 1960 at UN General Assembly held at the United Nations.

In an attempt to silence a Filipino delegate who was railing against Soviet imperialism, he issued the above epithet, removed his shoe, and began banging it on the table.

47.Central African Republic

August 13 – Ubangi-Shari becomes independent from France, as the "Central African Republic". It later becomes the "Central African Empire" for some years.

48.Longest speech at United Nations general assembly

Cuban President Fidel Castro’s debut speech at the U.N. clocked in at four and a half hours, the longest ever in the General Assembly.

49.Togo

Togo gained independence from France on April 27 1960.

50.Nigeria’s Membership at the UN

Nigeria becomes the 99th member of the United Nations in 1960

51.Spartacus

No, not the Spartacus you know. This Spartacus is a 1960 epic historical drama film about a rebellious slave of the title. The film became the biggest moneymaker in the Universal Studios history until it was surpassed by another move ten years later. The film won four Oscars.

52.Chad

August 11, 1960– Chad becomes independent from France

53. Segregation is Declared Illegal in the United States

On December 5, the Supreme Court declared that segregation in public transportation is illegal in the United States. Technically, this means that if Nnamdi Azikwe had gone to the United States on Independence day, he would be segregated from a "white man" in public transport. On second thought, why would the President of Nigeria travel by public transport

- See more at: http://giftedgreen.com/2013/?q=content/53-things-turning-53-year-part-ii#sthash.wk1CdpSz.dpuf

The year 1960 is sometimes called the ‘Year of Africa’ because of the major events that occurred on the continent – particularly the independence of seventeen nations and most importantly Nigeria.

Nigeria is not the only country turning 53 this year, neither is she the only thing turning 53 this year. Here are some other people, events, and things that are turning 53 in 2013

1.Nigeria

On first October 1960, Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom, and Nnamdi Azikwe becomes its first native-born Governor General.

2.First Black African Olympic Gold Medal


In the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Ethiopian runner Abebe Bikila won the marathon and became the first Black African to receive an Olympic Gold Medal while running barefoot.

3.Nuhu Ribadu

Yes, the former anti-corruption official, Presidential candidate of Action Congress of Nigeria (2011). He is a recipient of the World Bank’s 2008 Jit Gill Memorial Award for Outstanding Public Service. The Pioneer Executive chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and one of Nigeria’s best public servants will be 53 this year.

4.Jean Claude Van Damme

The star of Bloodspot, Kick boxer, Universal Soldier, Hard Target, Street Fighter, and most recently The Expendables 2 was born in 1960. Van Damme once said he learned to speak English by watching the cartoon "The Flintstones". Speaking about the Flintstones ….

5.The Flintstones

The Flintstones debuted in 1960 and it was the most financially successful network animated franchise for three decades until The Simpsons debuted. This year, TV Guide ranked The Flintstones the second Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time

6.Sit-in against segregation

On February 1st 1960, four African American students staged the first sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar non violent protest throughout the United States , and six months later the original 4 protesters are served lunch in the same counter.

7.Cameroon

Cameroon gained independence from French on 1st January 1960. What a wonderful way to start the New Year.

8.1960 Agadir earthquake

A huge earthquake hit the “new town” area of Agadir, killing around 20,000 (about a third of the city’s population) were killed with at least 35,000 people left homeless, making it the most destructive and deadliest earthquake in Moroccan history.

9.Guerrillero Heroico

The portrait of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Heroic Guerilla (English: “Heroic Guerrilla Fighter”), is the most reproduced image in the history of photography. Taken in 1960, at the highpoint of the Cuban revolution, it can be seen on posters and T-shirts and souvenirs all over the world.

The Maryland Institute College of Art called the picture a symbol of the 20th century and the world’s most famous photo.

10.Madagascar

The Malagasy Republic, now Madagascar, gained independence from France 53 years ago.

11.The First Weather Satellite

The United States launches the first weather satellite TIROS-1. TIROS, for Television Infrared Observation Satellite sent the first TV images from space. It functioned for just 78 days, but it sent back thousands of pictures of cloud patterns forming and moving across the face of the planet.

12.Gabon

Gabon gained independence from France on 17 August, 1960

13.Brasillia

The city of Brasilia had not always been the capital of Brazil, the capital of Brazil was relocated from Rio de Janiero to Brasilia in 1960. Brasilia is the largest city in the world that did not exist at the beginning of the 20th century. When viewed from above, the main portion of the city resembles an aircraft or a butterfly.

14.Benin Republic

Dahomey, now known as Benin, gained independece from France on 1st August

15.The First Approved Oral Contraceptive Pill

The world’s first commercially produced birth-control pill Enovoid-10. Birth control pills are synthetic hormones that mimic the way real estrogen and progestin works in a woman’s body. The pill prevents ovulation – no new eggs are released by a woman on the pill since her body is tricked into believing she is already pregnant.

16.Mali

Mali, the sole remaining member of the “Mali Federation” following the withdrawal of Senegal one month earlier, declares its full independence as the Republic of Mali in 1960.

17.The Most Powerful Earthquake Ever Recorded

The Great Chilean Earthquake, also called the Valdivia Earthquake was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded, resulting in the death of almost 6,000 people and resulting in an estimated monetary loss of about $400 - 800million ($2.9 – 5.8 trillion, adjusted for inflation)

18.UEFA Euro Championship

UEFA Euro Championship is held every four years since 1960 in the even numbered years between world cup tournaments. This is like the European version of African Cup of Nations

19.The Laser

Lasers have many important applications. They are used in common consumer devices as DVD players, laser printers, barcode scanners, bloodless surgery, various skin treatments.

20.Congo

The Belgian Congo receives its independence from Belgium as the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). A civil war followed closely on the heels of this.

21.Implantable Heart Pace Maker

The actual pacemaker was invented in 1950 but it was an external device. The first successful implant of pacemaker took place in 1960. The 77-year-old patient lived for 18 months after the device was implanted.

22.First Submerged Circumnavigation of Earth

Operation Sandblast was the code name for the first submerged circumnavigation of the world. Completion of the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth occurred in 1960. The New York Times described Triton's submerged circumnavigation of the Earth as "a triumph of human prowess and engineering skill, a feat which the United States Navy can rank as one of its bright victories in man's ultimate conquest of the seas."

23.Mauritania

Mauritania became independent of France on November 28, 1960

24.World’s First Elected Female Head Of State

Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka was elected Prime minister of Sri Lanka in 1960. Bandaranaike became the world’s first woman head of government, after her husband was assassinate in 1959. She took over her husband’s position of leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and led them to win the country’s government election in 1960.

25.The Beatles

The Beatles also formed in the year 1960, with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison on guitars, Stuart Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums (who was replaced by Ringo Starr two years later).

26.Cote d’ Ivoire

The Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) became independent from France in 1960.

27.Magnetic Stripe card

Magnetic stripe technology is everywhere. We use cards with magnetic stripes on them every day without even thinking about it. The most visible use is your bank (credit, debit, and ATM) cards, but these are not the only places.

28.Senegal

On August 20 Senegal breaks away from Mali Federation, declaring its independence

- See more at: http://giftedgreen.com/2013/?q=content/53-things-turning-53-year-part-i#sthash.5prqFgfm.dpuf

Not trying to be funny, but what is with the beards?