1. Amazing fact is that Sun is 99.86 % mass in the solar system. 2. All other planets with moons, comets , asteroids etc just make up just 0.14 % most of which is in Jupiter. 3. Amazingly in spite of Sun being average sized star , 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the sun. 4. If you consider sun’s surface , about 109 planet Earths would fit on the surface. 5. Sun as a star is classified as G2 dwarf. 6. The largest known star UY Scuti is 5 billion times the size of the Sun and it takes 2.2 hours to cross its diameter at the speed of light. 7. Sun’s composition is about 75 percent hydrogen, 23 percent helium, and 2 percent heavier elements. 8. The sun has a diameter that is more than 100 times that of Earth. 9. The sun is the closest star to Earth and is 149.60 million kilometers (92.96 million miles) away. 10. The sun is orbited by nine major planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto which is no longer an official planet. 11. All planets orbit t...

1. The acronym “NASA” stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA was established in 1958 by President Eisenhower one year after the Soviets launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite. It has been a pioneer and leader in the field of space missions in the world. 2. Around 19,000 employees work at NASA headquarters in Washington and in it’s 10 command centers around the United States. Additional 40,000 contractors work for the space agency. 3. The most well-known bases are the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida where space shuttles are prepared and launched, and the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas where shuttle mission control and International Space Station operators are located. 4. Area code for Kennedy Space Center in Florida and its surrounding areas is 321, given for its pronunciation resembling the countdown before liftoff. 5. NASA designs its robotic missions to comets, Mars and other planets in the solar system at the Jet Pr...

The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has doubled benefits for its contributors and added a new cover to cater for the treatment of chronic diseases. According to the new scheme, the fund will pay Sh10,000 for kidney patients dialysis, Sh10,000 for normal delivery and Sh30,000 for cesarean operation. The new inpatient cover for contributors seeking medical attention in government health facilities will be at Sh1,200 and Sh4,000 at private hospitals from the previous Sh600 and Sh2,100 respectively. The insurer will also pay up to Sh3,500 for patients who will be admitted in faith-based hospitals. “The Fund will also pay Sh10,000 per session of kidney dialysis from Sh2,000 while patients undergoing a kidney transplant will get a Sh500,000 cover from the current Sh200,000,” said NHIF Chairman Mohamud Ali. “The new maternity rates for persons undergoing a normal delivery will be Sh10,000 while a cesarean section delivery will be increased to Sh30,000 from the current rates of Sh6,000...

One of the things I love about Carl Jung is the fact that he was a deep philosophical thinker who examined all aspects of the self when writing about the human experience. As you will see in the quotes below, Jung was clear on the notion that we are spiritual beings, and that having a spiritual relationship with oneself truly helps us to understand the deeper aspects of who we are. To some, this idea translates to religion — to finding solace in the existence of something greater than yourself — but I believe this to be a fickle form of spirituality, and one that does not truly help a person get to the core of who they are (or, alternatively, who they are not). According to www.cgjungpage.org: “Carl Jung was one of the creators of modern depth psychology, which seeks to facilitate a conversation with the unconscious energies which move through each of us. He contributed many ideas which continue to inform contemporary life: complex, archetype, persona, shadow, anima and animus, persona...

I recently read The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe. The term “snakehead” is used for a person who manages human smuggling operations for people from China (note that “human smuggling” should not be confused with human trafficking). The book is a fascinating, and in some ways disturbing, story of the huge network used to smuggle Chinese people illegally into the United States. I discovered the book when reading up an obituary of Cheng Chui Ping (better known as Sister Ping) , one of the most reputed snakeheads. There is a lot of interesting material in the book, and although its relevance to the basic moral case for migration is fairly limited, it sheds light on many aspects of the realities of the ground. The book’s focus is the complex human smuggling operation of people from China and neighboring areas (but mostly from the northern part of Fujian province in China) to the United States, with most of them ending up in...

About a week ago, the Governor of the County of Mombasa Hon Ali Hassan Joho stood up against the bullying tactics being employed by the National Executive particularly to bully governors from the Opposition. This well intended challenge to the presidency which has the backing of the Constitution, was certainly not received well by the National Executive. Revenge was sure to follow and it has. Yesterday, the government shut down two container freight stations belonging to Governor Hassan Joho’s family. KPA Managing Director Mr Gichiri Ndua gave no reasons for closing the facility. It was done through executive fiat. This development would not be so worrying if it were not for its echoes of a return of an old order Kenyans are only too familiar with. This is not about the governor and his businesses. It is about the return of strong arm politics, intimidation and blackmail to fight the Opposition, individuals and communities into surrender. It is a return of the old order of starving ind...

The government on Thursday shut down two container freight stations belonging to Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho’s family. The closure follows a letter from the Kenya Ports Authority to the stations’ management notifying them that they would not be allowed to receive cargo from the harbour. “It has been decided that nomination of containers to your CFS be suspended with immediate effect,” KPA Managing Director Gichiri Ndua said in the letter dated January 21, without giving any reason for the action. Asked to confirm his family’s interests in the firms, Governor Joho said. “It’s true lakini hatuna wasi wasi (we’re not panicking.) God is with us. Clearly they’ve started fighting us. We expected this but they can even close our homes. Strangely it’s only our stations they closed.. God is with us.” Importers protested the closure saying the action was illegal since they were not given notice to clear their cargo. Association of Importers of Kenya Chairman Peter Mambembe said the closure of A...

I do not pretend to be older than my grandpa, bt the truth is despite my age am old enough to confess that life is indeed a mystery. I have seen a landlord becoming a tenant b4 his death, the owner of a benz riding a bicycle. I knw a student who become a headmaster of his former school with most of those who taught him still teaching, i have seen once a rejected boy being the bread winner for the whole community. Once sought-after lady begging a young guy half her age to date her, a victor becoming a victim, a driver's conductor buying a car for his master. A borrower recruiting the credit manager. In life, no one knws tomorrow n u can never trust life coz its mysterious. Never ever forget u may not knw the full story, don't be quick to judge coz a coin has two sides. Treat everyone in ua life fairly like ua own n love as much as u live.

By Strive Masiyiwa The new year opened with turmoil in the Chinese stock markets as prices fell dramatically, leading to a global selloff. In just one week, global stock markets lost over $2 trillion US dollars! Other news in the global markets saw the price of a barrel of crude oil fall below $35 per barrel, down from a high of $62 per barrel less than 12 months ago. That’s down 50% in 12 months and 71% in 24 months! Since the beginning of last year, 2015, the price of copper has fallen by 30%; iron ore is down by 42%; platinum has also been a disaster, losing more than half its value from less than three years ago. Agricultural commodities have not fared much better on global markets. Last week the South African rand hit an all-time low of 16:1 against the United States dollar and it’s still falling! Your small business in Harare, Lagos or Nairobi may not have anything to do with China, or with any commodity like oil, iron ore, or platinum, so you might be asking yourself, “What’s th...

Public speaking is a terrifying prospect for many people. Speaking in front of an audience even came out higher than death in one survey with 41% naming it as the thing they were most afraid of. While the survey's results suggest public speaking was at that particular moment more on their minds than the more distant prospect of death, it shows how nervous it makes people. Jeannette Nelson, head of voice at the National Theatre and author of "The Voice Exercise Book", says the non actors she works with are even afraid of rehearsing, with a lot of them frightened, "really frightened", to work with her. "Your voice is incredibly personal. It carries your history as much as anything and once you start homing in on that people can be very defensive, quite self-conscious," she says. Regardless of how reluctant people are, public speaking is increasingly required in many jobs; whether it's presenting the results of a particular project, having to speak up...

Warp: |wôrp| [ verb ] to cause to become abnormal or strange; have a distorting effect on I love my parents. I really do. But when it comes to their thoughts on money and my life trajectory… They warped me. Badly. Sorry for being blunt, but they did. I don’t hold any resentment. They weren’t trying to psychologically cripple their little four-year old when they made me pick between the doctor bag or the police hat. However, the very fact that I was prodded to make such a decision at a young age instantly shrunk my worldview. It left a huge impression. Inevitably, all parents make permanent impressions on their kids. Not all of those impressions will be good. Here are just a few of the lies we're all led to believe: “You have to choose a path for your career and stick to it. People who bounce around too much have no stability and always end up poor/unhappy. First choose… then worry about being fulfilled once you’re already there.” “You need to go to school to get prepared for [inser...

Every entrepreneur starts out with big dreams and excitement. As an entrepreneur, you control your own destiny, and with the right ideas, the right skillset and unflinching dedication, you can build wealth or establish an enterprise to serve as your legacy. This is the bright side of entrepreneurship, but unfortunately, there’s also a darker side. The rigors of entrepreneurship demand sacrifices, and if you don’t make those sacrifices you’ll never be able to succeed. Business is, at its core, a give-and-take process. The more you invest, and the more you’re willing to part with, the more you’ll reap in rewards in kind. These are the five sacrifices that every entrepreneur needs to make: 1. Stability You’re starting a new venture, and there’s no guarantee you’re going to succeed. The foundation of your company, even if your idea and plans are solid, is rocky at best, and there’s no telling which direction your business is headed until you’re several months, or often much longer, into ru...

My wife, everyone has gone home. The music is quiet, the celebration is over. Our wedding was beautiful but it is now in the past. We have finished the wedding/marriage, it is now time to build our marriage. All that is left now is the two of us… What we will become tomorrow, starts from tonight. Our life is no longer the same. There was a day you put on one red dress… You looked so beautiful in it. That Day I wanted to just touch you! We were in the Cinema and I was so tempted. I wanted to just take you inside the toilet and kiss you but I couldn’t. Guess what? Now I have you forever, I can do that everyday. Before I take off your cloth and make love to you… let me tell you few things. I have nothing to hide from you from this day. My phone, you can use it like your own. You can access my facebook, my twitter and my Instagram From today, I have become a child. For the past five years of my life, I have been a man. I wake myself up in the morning, sometimes I go to bed hungry, I do thi...

I distinctly remember the moment we got the first great view from the air. I had this surreal moment where all I could think was… “Wow, is this my life?” I had this mid-flight flashback to living in a tiny no-name town in the midwest, and growing up in poverty, after being born with severe medical problems to my 15-year-old mother. Many people don’t realize this, but at birth I was given a 5% chance of living. In elementary school, when my friends spent recess playing tag and burning off excess energy, I spent mine in physical therapy learning how to walk properly. Being born with Cerebral Palsey, boundaries, walls, and thinking small was something I had to break through every single day of my life, starting from day one. I was never even expected to be able to live on my own if I survived… and here I was checking off another crazy impossible adventure in my #YearOfFear challenge for this past year. In this moment I realized, not only had I proved science (and all my doctors) wrong, bu...

Roni Oron, from Ramat Hasharon, Israel, is the recent winner of the “Satellite is Born” competition hosted by the Israel Space Agency. The competition is open for all young people ages 12-15 that have a passion for designing model satellites that can positively impact science and humanity. Oron’s winning idea is called Bio Sat which aims “to solve a problem for astronauts trying to prove that life on Mars is possible” through the use of photosynthesis, according to the Isreali youth magazine “Ma’ariv L’Noar”. Oron explained that the Bio Sat is “built like a large bubble on one side of which there is a mirror and the other is transparent, enabling the penetration of sunlight. In the middle there is a capsule, which will be made of a membrane through which air can pass but water cannot. Inside of it there will be water and algae, and outside there will be carbon dioxide. Through a process of photosynthesis, the satellite will produce oxygen. There will be additional mirrors inside the sa...

Things can change if you want them to, at any age. Life changes every single moment, and so can you. 1. Focus a little less on the future, and a little more on the present. Yes, it’s healthy to plan for the future, but not at the full expense of today. The truth is no matter how smart you are or how hard you try, you can’t accurately figure out the future. Even people who have a systematic plan (steps to be a doctor, steps to be a successful entrepreneur, etc.) don’t actually know what will happen down the road. And if they have any certainty at all, they’re a bit naive. Life rarely goes as planned. For every person that succeeds in doing exactly what they set out to do in the exact time frame they set out to do it in, there are dozens of others who start strong and get derailed. And if this happens to you, it isn’t a bad thing. New obstacles and opportunities may come along to shift your perspective, to strengthen your resolve, or to change your direction for the better. The destinati...

Event On Friday 15th January 2015, 0430hrs EAT; jihadists from the Al-Qaeda branch in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen terrorist movement (HSM) conducted a gun attack after detonating 3 SVBIED-bombs and an estimated 6 Suicide Body Borne-IED (SBBIED) at a Kenya Army (KDF) AMISOM Contingent forward operations base (FOB) manned by 1- 9th Kenya Rifles Company (180 soldiers) in El-Adde, Gedo region of Somalia. In the 6hr-long attack hundreds Jihadists were killed and hundreds others injured. The SVBIED’s decimated the army camp; detonated pieces of ordnance, destroyed APC’s, military transport trucks, and killed approximately 63 soldiers and maimed dozens other. The 6 suicide body borne improvised explosive devices (SBBIED) targeted command and base defense positions. Armed fighters ( close protection units) coordinated the suicide fighters besides, conducted gun attacks against maimed soldiers. Unidentified by the enemy, 3-Kenya Army machine gunners manning outposts 0.3km south of...