Runner carries injured foe half mile to help in middle of race

Josh Ripley didn't have to stop. Running in a recent cross country meet for Andover (Minn.) High, the junior varsity runner was making his way through the trail at the Applejack Invite when he heard a loud scream during the first mile of a two-mile race. Most of the other kids running didn't pay much attention to Lakeville South runner Mark Paulauskas, who was writhing in pain at the time, as they passed by.

The only person who decided to pay attention was Ripley. As an Anoka-Hennepin school district release reported, Ripley immediately noticed Paulauskas holding his bloody ankle. Then, instead of running back and calling for help, he did the only thing he could think of: He carried the injured runner a half mile back to coaches and family members.
"I didn't think about my race, I knew I needed to stop and help him," Ripley said in the school district release. "It was something I would expect my other teammates to do. I'm nothing special; I was just in the right place at the right time."
It was a good thing Ripley had the foresight to carry Paulauskas so he could be rushed to the emergency room. When Paulauskas arrived at the hospital, doctors realized he had been accidentally spiked by another runner's shoe during the race. The injury required 20 stitches and a walking boot to keep the wounded area from opening up.
Andover cross country coach Scott Clark couldn't believe what he heard when word got to him that Ripley was carrying another runner back to the starting line.
"Then Josh comes jogging into view carrying a runner," Clark said. "I noticed the blood on the runner's ankle as Josh handed him off to one of the coaches from Lakeville. Josh was tired and you could tell his focus was off as he started back on the course."
Amazingly, the story gets even better from there.

After dropping Paulauskas off with his coaches, Ripley proceeded to go back and finish the race -- even after carrying a kid for a half mile on the running trail. Admittedly he was a bit winded, but still completed the course as scheduled.

It's safe to say the average athlete would have taken a breather and called off the rest of the race after such a harrowing and intense experience. Luckily, Ripley is clearly not the average athlete. Fittingly, he'll be honored at a school board meeting next week. Talk about an incredible example of sportsmanship.

The Future of Facebook: Out with profile pages, in with the Timeline.

Has Facebook gone too far in reinventing the way we share?

Facebook users have noticed some changes rolling out to the social site in recent days, but odds are they aren't prepared for today's biggest social shakeup. At today's F8 Developers Conference, Mark Zuckerberg took the stage (after look-alike Andy Samberg left it) to announce a wide swath of changes that will seek to keep the six year-old social network thriving — and growing.
Foremost among the announcements is the news that the humble profile page is getting a much-needed makeover — one that could steamroll Google+ and Twitter alike: the Timeline. Mashable has called the new feature the "biggest risk since launching the social network in 2004." The Next Web calls the death of the profile page a "bit of a shock" and notes that the "massive makeover might just be a bit too much," especially for less tech-savvy users.
Sweeping changes
Facebook's new direction has a bit of a dual personality. At the dawning of the News Feed, Facebook loosed our status updates into the wild. While we once visited each other's profile pages to trade messages and check in on friends (or acquaintances of interest, for better or worse), the News Feed has since eclipsed our personal pages when it comes to connecting on the world's biggest social network. With today's announcement of the Timeline and the Ticker, Facebook will seek to weave together these two modes into a richer, more immersive social experience than ever.

The new Ticker will keep you up to date

Two kinds of sharing
The Ticker will handle the Twitter-like real-time updates, which Zuckerberg referred to as our "lightweight" social activity. Recognizing that these micro-updates (the contents of your sandwich or your Words With Friends score, for example) often clog up our profile pages, Facebook is opting to siphon them off into a kind of miniature Twitter which live in a righthand sidebar. The distinction may just seem like housecleaning, but putting these tweet-esque updates on the periphery could mean a return to Facebook's roots — but a far more refined one. Historically, Facebook has faced criticism for its opaque and often convoluted privacy policies. It may have taken the looming threat of Google+ on its turf to light a fire under the social giant, but Facebook is handing users the reins in a big way. In a series of updates that began popping up last month, the company is moving toward a model of selective sharing: rather than mass broadcasts, you can choose who you share with — because your great aunt doesn't necessarily need to know what happened after the fifth drink at Happy Hour, does she?
Choose the story you tell
Now, not only can we share selectively with greater ease than ever, but we can choose what story we want to tell. Facebook's new Timeline feature looks to invigorate the lackluster, cluttered profile pages we've been slogging through for the past few years, replacing them with a dynamic, customizable portrait of our living histories — as told through Facebook of course. While remembering just howmuch information Facebook has stored over the years will prove unsettling to some, by curating our own past experiences (or their digital footprints, at least), we can better represent ourselves on the social network. In the Timeline, you can choose to star an event, which will give it more real estate on your profile page — or you can hide it entirely with the click of a button.

Facebook's new Timeline feature will change the look of your social presence

At today's event, Zuckerberg emphasized a return to the profile page: "We wanted to design a place that feels like your home. You invest a lot of time in it and you curate it." In reinventing the timeline, Facebook will considerably cut down on the site's signal-to-noise ratio, transforming each profile page into what is essentially a blog. In Zuckerberg's words, the Timeline will give you "a nice visceral feel for who this person really is" rather than a messy read-out of their latest Facebook activity.

Apps will be more prominent than ever

Apps help tell the story
The other side of the coin is that external apps will have more power than ever. To create a "frictionless experience," Facebook apps will broadcast to Timelines and Tickers separately — and automatically. Like a new song you hear streaming on Spotify? That "Like" will be zapped directly to the Ticker, but in theory your Timeline wouldfeature a summary of your top artists that month. Once you authorize an app, it will fade into the background, collating your personal data like what films you watch on Netflix or Hulu and how many miles you just ran with the Nike+ app. Of course, you could disallow these services entirely — but Facebook wants its 800 million users to hand over the keys to third-party apps more willingly than ever. (After all, who wants an empty Timeline?) From news to movies and music, more apps plugged into the social site means less need to venture elsewhere. You could conceivably keep your browser pointed at your Facebook homepage for an entire day, hopping off only to follow the trail of an interesting link — in fact, many of us already do.
How to find the new features
The Facebook community doesn't take kindly to changes — even minor ones, and this isn't minor by any means. Dedicated Facebookers are already in an uproar about the changes that heralded today's news: annoyed status updates have readily denounced Smart Lists, the Subscribe button, the Ticker, and even the new privacy settings. All of these tweaks are available now to most users, and when they appear, you should notice a pop-up prompt that will walk you through the changes. Can't find the Ticker? It should appear on the right side of any Facebook page, above the chat box.
While many of the new features are now live, the biggest change — the Timeline— will roll out gradually. To be first in line, you can opt in now by clicking "Sign Me Up" at the bottom of Facebook's official Timeline preview page. The first Timelines will be published on September 29, and we can expect to see them pop up for most users thereafter.
CULLED FROM: YAHOO NEWS

ABIA GANG RAPE! Abia State Governors Wife Speaks

ABIA GANG RAPE! Abia State Governors Wife Speaks

The Office of Her Excellency, Mrs Mercy Odochi Orji is absolutely not
oblivious of the current scandalous news making the rounds; alleging a
rape case of a young woman and a student of Abia State University by FIVE
male students.

The Office of Her Excellency, wishes to make it categorically clear that
available report from the leadership of the University said that there was
no such inglorious act and ugly incident in the institution.
His Excellency, Chief T. A. Orji, the Executive Governor of Abia State has
investigated and refuted the allegation. However, we appeal that the
victim should help by giving a lead to enable government bring
perpetrators to book.

Her Excellency has been at the forefront of championing the course of
womanhood and promoting the Girl Child Education, Kicking against Child
trafficking and Abuse, Teenage Pregnancy and Child Labour, and would
therefore stop at nothing to bring the perpetrators to face the long arm
of the law if allegation if found to be true even if happened outside the
institution.

The report as a matter of necessity, justice and fair play should be
substantiated with facts in the interest of our society.

Mrs Mercy Odochi Orji
Wife of the Governor,
Abia State.
mercyodochi@abiastate.gov.ng

BRITAIN OFFERS TO HELP NIGERIA

Against the backdrop of increased terrorist attacks in the country and fears that the Boko Haram sect may have targeted the bombing of foreign embassies operating in Nigeria, the British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Andrew Lloyd, yesterday declared that Britain was willing to provide intelligence and technological support in the nation’s fight against terrorism.

Mr Lloyd who disclosed this when he paid a visit to the Minister of Defence, Bello Haliru Mohammed in his office said the very close bilateral relations between Nigeria and Britain had made it imperative that issues of terrorism which are condemnable acts are tackled headlong together in the interest of the people of both nations.

He said that though Britain has always provided support in the areas of training for Nigeria’s military personnel, it has made it imperative for new pages of cooperation to be opened in providing modern technological devices and the advanced intelligence needed to tackle terrorism cankerworm.

The High Commissioner also disclosed that the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), which is presently operating below capacity would be given British support and experience through the exchange of expertise and other required support to succeed in its quest to develop, manufacture and assemble arms and ammunition for the nation.

Defence Minister, Dr. Bello Mohammed in his response, requested Britain’s support in Nigeria’s bid to become a permanent member of the UN security council explaining that by virtue of Nigeria’s contribution to peace keeping efforts worldwide, the country deserves to be at the security council.

Commending Britain for its support to the armed forces particularly as it regards training and capacity building of personnel, the minister reminded the High Commissioner that terrorism being a global phenomenon, required all hands to be on deck to fight it hence he called for greater cooperation between the two countries in this regard.

Dr. Bello further requested Britain to improve its trade ties with Nigeria and show example to other countries still dragging their feet toward investing and benefitting from the immense socio-economic and mineral opportunities that abound within the country.

Niger Delta militants volunteer to join forces with army

Meanwhile following uncovered intelligence reports that the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, had concluded plans to bomb some states in the Niger-Delta, South-East and South-West geo-political zones, militants in the Niger Delta, have volunteered to team up with the security agencies, especially the armed forces to repel the rebellious group.

Spokesman of the militants under the aegis of Niger Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, “Captain” Mark Anthony, in an online statement, Tuesday, said the Israeli forces contracted by the government cannot provide adequate security and volunteered special security services for President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his immediate family because of the precarious security situation in the country.

The militant group specifically warned Boko Haram members to steer clear of Niger Delta in their own interest, saying, “If they ignore this warning, the counter reaction will be disastrous”.

Part of the statement reads thus: “We, on behalf of the good people of Niger Delta and Nigerians do hereby offer to partner with the federal security force, especially the army to give voluntary security services to President Goodluck Jonathan and his immediate family over the precarious security situation created by the Islamic sect, Boko Haram with suicide bombing at strategic locations in Abuja and other cities in the nation, thereby creating total insecurity”.

“This call for partnership becomes expedient, especially with the porous security network and backstabbing at high security quarters , which gave the feeling that the life of the President and his immediate family members is at risk.

“We show concern for the fact that the Nigerian security apparatus have been overtly cowed down by the activities of the Boko Haram. For us, President Goodluck Jonathan is a product of our intensified Niger Delta arms struggle and we will not claim not to know that the Boko Harram mission is to destabilize President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration or assassinate him, if they could have their way. God will not allow it to happen as emergence of President Goodluck Jonathan was through divine providence”, he added..

The militant group stated that, “The Boko Haram agitation is not anti-western education, but anti Niger Delta/Christianity and we will not continue to fold our hands and allow these devils in human faces to terrorize and kill innocent citizens at will”.

“We are aware that the government had offered the security of the life of President Goodluck Jonathan to Israeli police, but that is not enough as NDLF tested soldiers are still very visible to give the President the needed support/security as one of our own from any external force, if the enabling environment is given to us.

“We do not want anything to happen to the life of our President. This is because President Goodluck Jonathan is an exchange of lives of countless youths who died during the heat of Niger Delta agitation.

For us, suicide bombing or throwing hand grenade at public places is ‘ woman fight’, that is why while we were in the creek, we always alert soldiers of our intending targets and our locations. And we did not throw any bomb at public places because such operations are devilish and satanic and are not part of Niger Delta struggle.”

CULLED FROM VANGUARD NIGERIA.

Be the Change

Are we religiously inclined as we claim?
The fact that we see you going to church everyday or you pray five times a day in the mosque(s) doesn't make you GODLY. Your attitude matters a lot. How do you relate with your friend(s), family, neighbour(s), colleague(s). Kind words go a long way in dousing tension. Be the change. Interlace your worship with good deeds and see if the society wouldn't be better off.
Religious leaders should please educate their followers to emulate the teachings enshrined in the holy books, this would help to reduce social and religious strife...
Sincerely speaking, you can be that change if you work on yourself and impart on others...
I want a better Nigeria and am sure you do too....