How Newyork city looks like at Night from space

This new global view and animation of Earth's city lights is a composite assembled from data acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite in December 2015. The data was acquired over nine days ago.. It took 312 orbits to get a clear shot of every parcel of Earth's land surface and islands. This new data was then mapped over existing Blue Marble imagery of Earth to provide a realistic view of the planet,and the images of light at light at the USA shows how NewYork City looks like.

How Nigeria looks like in space at night

Notice how the Night lights corresponds to economic activity in Nigeria especially Lagos.

Donald Trump's Supporters will baffle you!!!

Donald Trump is now the presumptive frontrunner for the GOP nomination, attracting nearly half of Republican support, in the latest national poll. The peculiar allure of the Trump Brand has been documented, mocked, admired, and mourned. But what about his consumer base. Who’s buying this stuff?
 The first story about the typical Trump buyer was simple: These were poorly informed voters, swept up by a modern circus act orchestrated by a mass-media-age P. T. Barnum with arguably worse hair. But Trump’s appeal has proven to be more than a passing fad.
 Trump has several caucus and primary wins under his belt, analysts have a better sense of who’s actually turning out to vote for him. Here are four features of  people voting for Trump

Those that Didn’t Go to College
The single best predictor of Trump support in the GOP primary is the absence of a college degree. In an analysis of Trump's blowout win in New Hampshire, Evan Soltas determined that the factor explaining most of the variance in Trump's support in New Hampshire was education.
“For every 1 percentage point more college graduates over the age of 25, Donald Trump's share of votes falls by 0.65 percentage points,” he said.
 Diplomas are what Ron Brownstein call the “new Republican fault line.” In 2012, Mitt Romney struggled for months to consolidate support because, even as he had clear support among college-educated Republicans, he fared worse among non-college voters.

Those that think They dont Have a Political Voice
If there were one question to identify a Trump supporter if you knew nothing else about him, what might it be? “Are you a middle-aged white man who hasn’t graduated from college?” might be a good one. But according to a survey from RAND corporation, there is one that’s even better: Do you feel voiceless?
RAND tested several queries to clearly divide Trump’s support from his rivals. For example, they found that Trump crushes Ted Cruz among voters who both strongly believe that “immigrants threaten American customs and values" and among voters who "strongly favor" raising taxes on the richest American households. But voters who agreed with the statement “people like me don't have any say about what the government does” were 86.5 percent more likely to prefer Trump. This feeling of powerlessness and voicelessness was a much better predictor of Trump support than age, race, college attainment, income, attitudes towards Muslims, illegal immigrants, or Hispanic identity.
 Trump has clearly played on fears of non-white outsiders, by likening Mexican immigrants to rapists, promising to deport illegal immigrants and to build a wall between the U.S. and its neighbors, pledging to keep Muslims out of the country during the Syrian diaspora, and playing coy with his relationship with the KKK. But he has also told a simple three-part narrative to attract the despondent demographic: America is losing; Donald Trump is a winner; and if Trump becomes president, America will become a winner, too.Is this not deception? This Great Man Theory of political change, however, strikes others as potentially dangerous...
 
They Want to Wage an Interior War Against Outsiders
Matthew MacWilliams, a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, studies political authoritarianism.
The classic definition of authoritarianism implies a tradeoff—more security for less liberty—but MacWilliams says it’s also about identifying threatening outsiders and granting individuals special powers to pursue aggressive policies to destroy them. The best predictor of Trump support isn't income, education, or age, he says. In South Carolina, it was “ authoritarianism … [and] a personal fear of terrorism” that best predicted Trump’s support across the state.
Trump’s foreign policy, like his policy for anything, is a muddle. He’s cautious toward the Israel-Palestine conflict, yet he told Fox News he would kill the families of ISIS members to stop their advance, something awfully close to a public pledge to commit war-crimes.

They Live in Parts of the Country With Racial Resentment

Find a map of the United States and draw a thick red mark just east of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. That's Trump Country.

Although Trump appears to run equally well among moderates and conservatives in polls, Soltas found that, in New Hampshire, he dominated in more moderate counties. “For every 1 percentage point more liberal the precinct, Donald Trump's share of votes rises by 0.48 percentage points,” Soltas found.

According to the New York Times’ Nate Cohn, who used data from Civis Analytics, Trump’s support is strongest from the Gulf Coast, through the Appalachian Mountains, to New York, among marginally attached Republicans (possibly former Democrats). It is a familiar map for some demographers, since it’s similar to a heat map of Google searches for racial slurs and jokes. “That Mr. Trump’s support is strong in similar areas does not prove that most or even many of his supporters are motivated by racial animus,” Cohn writes. “But it is consistent with the possibility that at least some are.”

Written by Derek Thompson

When Success Leads to Failure

I’ve known the mother sitting in front of me at this parent-teacher conference for years, and we have been through a lot together. I have taught three of her children, and I like to think we’ve even become friends during our time together. She’s a conscientious mother who obviously loves her children with all of her heart. I’ve always been honest with her about their strengths and weaknesses, and I think she trusts me to tell her the truth. But when she hits me with the concern that’s been bothering her for a while, all I can do is nod, and stall for time.

“Marianna’s grades are fine; I’m not worried about that, but she just doesn’t seem to love learning anymore.”

She’s absolutely right. I’d noticed the same thing about her daughter over the previous two or three years I’d been her middle school English, Latin, and writing teacher, and I have an answer, right there on the tip of my tongue, for what has gone wrong. Yet I’m torn between my responsibility to help Marianna and the knowledge that what I have to say is a truth I’m not sure this mother is ready to hear.

The truth—for this parent and so many others—is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement, and it’s our fault. Marianna’s parents, her teachers, society at large—we are all implicated in this crime against learning. From her first day of school, we pointed her toward that altar and trained her to measure her progress by means of points, scores, and awards. We taught Marianna that her potential is tied to her intellect, and that her intellect is more important than her character. We taught her to come home proudly bearing As, championship trophies, and college acceptances, and we inadvertently taught her that we don’t really care how she obtains them. We taught her to protect her academic and extracurricular perfection at all costs and that it’s better to quit when things get challenging rather than risk marring that perfect record. Above all else, we taught her to fear failure. That fear is what has destroyed her love of learning.

I look at this mother with concern on her face, her eager pencil poised to write down my words of wisdom. I struggle to find a gentle way to explain that the daily nagging about points and grades both perpetuates Marianna’s dependence on her mother’s tendency to problem-solve and intervene on her behalf, and teaches her that external rewards are far more important than the effort Marianna invests in her education. Marianna is so concerned with pleasing her parents that the love she used to feel for learning has been crowded out by her craving for their validation.

This mother’s hovering comes from a place of love—that’s clear. She wants the world for her children, and yet the very things she’s doing to encourage the sort of achievement she feels will help them secure happiness and honors may be undermining their future success.

Marianna is very smart and high-achieving, and her mother reminds her of that on a daily basis. However, Marianna does not get praised for the diligence and effort she puts into sticking with a hard math problem or a convoluted scientific inquiry. If that answer at the end of the page is wrong, or if she arrives at a dead end in her research, she has failed—no matter what she has learned from her struggle. And contrary to what she may believe, in these more difficult situations she is learning. She learns to be creative in her problem-solving. She learns diligence. She learns self-control and perseverance. But because she is scared to death of failing, she has started to take fewer intellectual risks. She has trouble writing rough drafts and she doesn’t like to hypothesize or think out loud in class. She knows that if she tries something challenging or new, and fails, that failure will be hard evidence that she’s not as smart as everyone keeps telling her she is. Better to be safe. Is that what we want? Kids who get straight As but hate learning? Kids who achieve academically, but are too afraid to take leaps into the unknown?

Marianna’s mother was extremely successful in school and in business, and she knows the value of that hard work in her own life. Her mother allowed her to fail and play and learn for the sake of learning, but now that she’s parenting her own child, she’s lost sight of the value of struggle. She is too worried about Marianna’s future achievements to allow her daughter to work through the obstacles in her path. She wants to give Marianna everything and yet she forgets that her best childhood experiences likely arose from the thrill of facing challenge, from the moments she lost herself in the trying and, when she failed, trying again to accomplish something all on her own, simply for the adventure and pleasure inherent in learning something new.

I know this mom because she’s just like me. And telling her the truth is hard both because I’m afraid she’ll get defensive and angry, and because it means I have to cop to all the same mistakes in my own parenting. Maybe it’s time to share some truths with her as I figure out where I went astray, and together we can help our kids rediscover their intellectual bravery, their enthusiasm for learning, and the resilience they need in order to grow into independent, competent adults. With a little luck, they will look back on their childhood and thank us; not just for our unwavering love, but for our willingness to put their long-term developmental and emotional needs before their short-term happiness. For our willingness to let their lives be just a little bit harder today so they will know how to face hardship tomorrow.

I take a deep breath, cross my fingers, and tell her the truth.

Written by Jessica Lehey

Jordan thwarts ISIS suicide bombing plot inside country

Jordan's security services said on Wednesday they had thwarted a plot by Islamic State militants to blow up civilian and military targets, in one of the US ally's largest sweeps in years against hardline sleeper cells.

The security services located the militants, who were carrying suicide belts, in a hideout in the northern city of Irbid near the Syrian border, they said in a statement carried by the state news agency Petra.

Seven militants were killed in clashes that began on Tuesday night and lasted till dawn and one police officer was also killed, the statement said. The security services seized automatic weapons, munitions and explosives from the group.

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New Zealand gets first ‘Pastafarian’ pastor

New Zealand has officially recognized its first marriage celebrant from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a pirate-costumed “Pastafarian” who said that everyone were welcome to join the offbeat religion.

Wellington management consultant Karen Martyn is an ordained “ministeroni” in the church, whose adherents wear colanders on their heads and believe the universe was created by a flying noodle.

It was recognized in New Zealand as a bona fide organization in December, resulting in Martyn recently becoming its first marriage celebrant.

Martyn rejected the suggestion it was a spoof church, saying it offered members the same benefits as other religions.

“We’re a community for each other,” “We share values and we want to be part of something, it’s human nature.”

However, she conceded that humor was an important part of the church, which preaches that there is a good beer volcano in heaven but the beer in hell is stale.

The “Flying Spaghetti Monster” movement developed in the United States about 10 years ago.

The church supreme leader is described on their website as “a heap of spaghetti appendages with two meatballs and a pair of eyes attached to the noodley body through a pair of stalks.”

In recognizing the church last December, New Zealand’s Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages Jeff Montgomery said it promoted a consistent set of beliefs and should be allowed to have its own marriage celebrants.

Buhari Felicitates With Pastor Adeboye At 74

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has congratulated the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, as he turns 74 years today.
In a statement released by the spokesperson for President Buhari on Tuesday, the President believes that the revered Christian leader, who paid him a courtesy call at the Presidential Villa on February 16, 2016 and whom he had interacted with many times before, epitomises the virtues of honesty, peace, patience, contentment, humility and diligence, which are the trademarks of a good believer.
As a Christian leader, the President commended the relentless efforts, sacrifices and the grace of God upon the life of the General Overseer, who has over the years, propagated the gospel around the world, organised large gathering of Christian worshipers and consistently counselled leaders and their citizens on living right before God.
Besides preaching the gospel, President Buhari saluted the social and humanitarian interventions of the RCCG leader in providing health and educational services to complement the efforts of governments.
The President prayed that the Almighty God would grant Pastor Adeboye long life and more strength to carry on the good work.