This is a view from the dogleg on the par 5 13th hole at Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia.

HOW TO DETECT INTERNET SCAMS

Imagine checking your e-mail to find out if your friends, colleagues, business associates or any other person or organization that communicates with you, has gotten in touch. Your eyes ritualistically scan the name/subject in each box, and hey! a message in one of the subject lines gets your attention. Curiosity gets the better part of you and naturally you click on the subject matter and the contents are revealed. Well what do you know ? someone is presenting a whooping sum of money to you, in exchange for a “seemingly harmless favour”. It’s an unbelievable offer, probably a once in a life time opportunity and you decide to play ball, and end up parting with some money. Congrats! you’ve just been duped of your hard earned money by some cyber criminals in sheep clothing.

A person who falls as a victim in the net of these day light robbers is referred to as a “Mugu” or “Maga”, which simply means

The Blossoming of the Nigerian Music Industry

Music has always been a part of our lives. After the Nation gained Independence on October 1st 1960, our Founding Fathers were busy charting courses that would lead to the advancement of the Nation in all sectors. Apart from movies which had been  popular even from the Colonial era, music also brought succour to Nigerians. Popular artistes back in the days include but not limited to Late Bobby Benson, Osita Osadebe, Ebenezer Obey, Victor Olayia, I.k. Dairo, Sunny Okosun, Nico Mbanga, king Sunny Ade, Oliver de Coque, Victor Uwaifo, Onyeka Owenu, Christy Essien Igbokwe, Stella Monye, Chris Okotie. The genre of music differed from one artiste to the other.

Local hit songs recorded back in the days include but not limited to :

Nico Mbanga (Sweet Mother), Osita Osadebe (Osondi Owendi), Oliver de Coque (Boni boni identity), Mandy Brown (Taxi driver), Onyeka Owenu

Just 50 days before the start of the tournament…still beautiful!!

WHY PEOPLE BEG: A CASE OF SURVIVAL OR COMPLACENCY

There’s no money to pay the bills stemming from job loss, salary cut /delay in payment, business crunch / crash. What do you do in such situations? It’s either of these alternatives :

1. Sit down and cry till your eyes threaten to pop out of their sockets

2. Think about the burden and ask God, why me lord?

3. Brood over the problem and indulge in smoking and drinking to get your mind off the problems

4. Think about committing suicide (sadly some tow that line)

5. Think about borrowing money from your friends/relatives

6. Think about begging money from your friends/relatives just to survive

7. Take stock of what went wrong, learn from it and look for ways to move on with your life

Most times people engage in options 1-6, and 7 never crosses their minds ,except when they’ve received wise

THE BARRAGE OF FLAWED PLOTS & RE-CYCLED THEMES IN NOLLYWOOD MOVIES

However, the common denominator of flawed scripts, parodies, water shed plots, embarrassing verbal blunder, choppy editing, high predictability rate, abysmal soundtracks, bland, prosaic, monotonous, technologically deficient , formulaic movies have all added to the declining rate at which Home videos are watched. There has been a clamour for movie makers to introduce new dimensions and other positive sides that reflect our society’s norms and values into our stories, and not the promotion of a deluge of negative stories being portrayed about Nigerians to the International communities.

I believe however, that the so called negative stories being projected in our movies, (if we must be truthful to ourselves), represents holistically what obtains in our society. Hollywood itself has produced movies dealing with negative issues in America such as lust for power, greed, corruption (among political office holders, top management of Blue Chip

Tourism in Lagos state: A Thrilling experience

The Sun waits patiently in the Time exchange zone to commence the morning shift, a duty he had assiduously discharged from time immemorial. He looks at the Time judge, clothed with the garment of precision and wealth of experience. An unbiased umpire, (in the competitive regulation reign between the Sun and his colleague the ‘Darkness’) saddled with the responsibility of raising the green flag to approve of the Sun’s ascension.

“Not yet”, his gentle eyes convey the message, unwilling to face the risk of a query from the Creator for his ill- timed decision. The Sun warms up one last time, to get on to Life’s field of play, enthusiasm getting the better part of him. He senses his time has come, and moves closer to the touch line, eyes on the umpire waiting for the signal to lift off. After a couple of seemingly stretchy seconds, he recognizes the ritualistic smile dangling at the corners of the umpire’s mouth, who calculatively raises the green flag

Caddie Day @ Augusta National Hole # 12

The Piracy virus : Any Miracle Cure ?

Remember the famous high spirited Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and the impetuous Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy; (The Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End,) which were released in 2003, 2006, 2007 respectively. The first prequel (in my opinion) was the best of the trilogy, and grossed a whooping 6Million world wide. Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) can’t be excluded from these exciting adventures, full of intrigue, mystery, suspense, the element of surprise, pint of comedy, action, treachery, combat, romance, visual and special effects, beautifully wrapped into a wholesome package as they traversed the high seas in search of fortune, liberty, from “the curse” and the Royal British Navy in hot pursuit.

These three thespians perfectly portraying the characters they were hired to play in the flicks, possess one thing in common flowing deadly through their blood veins which i term the

Maryville Announces .6 Million Gift of Land, Property

St. Louis – Maryville University has announced the generous gift of land and property from Dick and Cheryl McKinley of Augusta, Mo. The McKinleys’ donation includes 92 acres of rolling hills, along with two residences and a small cabin. Located off Highway 94 to the east of Augusta, the property is just below Montelle Winery on a steep hill known as Klondike. Valued over .6 million, the gift will greatly enhance the University’s academic programs, said Maryville President Mark Lombardi.

“We are very excited about the many learning opportunities this gift will provide for Maryville University students,” Lombardi said. “Our faculty members are already making plans to use the land across a number of disciplines, including biological, botanical and geological research, as well as astronomy studies.”

Offering an abundance of natural beauty, the property features a lake, a pond, sandstone ledges, both cultivated and wooded acreage and natural springs. It was

THE NIGERIAN MOVIE INDUSTRY (NOLLYWOOD) – THE ORIGIN (HISTORY)

The Nigerian movie industry (Home video Industry) a.k.a Nollywood has been generally accepted to have started, after the success of Ken Nebue’s “Living in bondage”. From then on, its expansion and attendant problems are known (by interested parties). On the other hand , events preceding 1992, are not well known even though a few have tried to trace the history of Nollywood. Here is an abridged version ( yet richly enlightening) from one of the articles i wrote concerning this subject matter.

Film exhibition began to thrive during the Colonial era, with Glover Memorial Hall playing host to a range of memorable films viewed by “potential Nigerians”, in August 1903. However, the non-availability of proper records reflecting the title of the debut film exhibited has created a lapse in the precedent stock. Notwithstanding the lacuna, the way had been paved for the exhibition of more foreign films at the Hall and other designated

Hear That Knocking, That’s SEO With Business At Your Door

“What have you Googled lately?” Ask anyone that question 10 years ago, and you would have gotten a strange look. But now, Googling is a part of life. When we need something, increasingly, we search for it on the Internet.

From a branding perspective, Google has much in common with the Kleenex’s, Xerox’s and Rollerblades of the world. It’s a brand name that has become the name for a category—a far cry from the time, not that long ago, when only the urban hipsters with Tony the Tiger shirts knew what Google was.

The Yellow Pages may not be gone, but their star is fading quickly as more and more people turn to Google (or other search engines) when they need to find a product or service. Why? Better, more complete and up-to-date information. No contest. When someone looks up a company in the phonebook, they get their address, phone number and maybe some flashy ad graphics; depending on how much money they spent on the ad. On a Google search, they get a

Golf Gifts and Decor Make Perfect Holiday Gifts

November 23, the day after Thanksgiving, also know as “Black Friday”, starts the holiday shopping countdown for 2007. Only 32 shopping days left until Christmas. What is going to make the perfect gift this year?

Golf becomes more popular every year, more and more people play all the time, watch it on television, and talk about it, making golf gifts and décor a great theme for holiday gift shopping. With a large selection of golf gifts available for the holidays it will be easy to find that perfect present. Here are some great gift giving ideas.

Golf Pictures – Pictures of famous golf courses such as Pebble Beach, Augusta National, TPC Sawgrass, or St. Andrews will let you enjoy rich landscapes of the most gorgeous golf courses in the world from any room in your home or office. Anyone with an eye for art will enjoy such stunning pictures. For the collector of golf memorabilia choose authentic autographed PGA and LPGA Player pictures of