The Real Difference Between PDP and APC

Following the news that several governors of Nigerian states defected from the ruling PDP to the main opposition APC party.
The governors, which include: Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Rabiu Kwankwanso of Kano State, Murtala Nyako) of Adamawa State,  Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State and Babangida Aliyu Of Niger State, hinged their decision to join APC on their bid to rescue the country.The merger has 17 governors (11 APC and 6 New PDP).

However, the function of the opposition is to give a different choices of ideologies to the electorate, but in the Nigerian system and most especially with this recent merger it seems this function has been destroyed. The Nigerian system which "it seems" allows  for effortless meandering of politician between political parties is not good for good democracy. 

It seems in the Nigerian system, those in the opposition are perhaps the ones that were not allowed to enjoy a "fair share" of the "National Cake" hence join forces against those enjoying their share castigating them as "evil" whilst they were once a part of the "enjoyment". 

I wish to state i have no sympathy either for the ruling party as they have "in my opinion" not performed up to expectations and have failed the nation judging from the promises to the nation before they were voted into power, however that is the topic for discussion.

I believe democracy in its most "dire" forms especially in Africa is a process that enables voters choose between to evils, that is if they are given a fair freedom of choice. In Nigeria, it seems there are basically two evils and no lesser one and no greater one. As they say, birds of a feather flock together, one can only wonder with its so called "difference in ideology" the Opposition party can happily accept the very bad eggs they condemn and promise to the electorate that they will be different from.

I don't see any difference between the party's, all i see is the same individuals bearing different political flags.

by- Awolope Kolawole
about the author: Awolope is a student in his final year at home on ASUU strike. 

Mr & Mrs Smith Producer: I was a Spy

A Hollywood producer behind films like "Mr & Mrs Smith “Fight Club,” “Pretty Woman,” “12 Years a Slave” and the upcoming “Noah” has just revealed another interesting line on his resume: Israeli intelligence operative.

Arnon Milchan

In an interview with Israeli TV show “Uvda,” broadcast Monday, Arnon Milchan confirmed he once worked for the now-defunct spy unit Bureau of Scientific Relations, assisting in the development of Israel’s secret nuclear weapons project. His 2011 unauthorized biography, “ Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan,” details his former life, but this is his first public acknowledgment.

“Do you know what it’s like to be a 20-something-year-old kid [and] his country lets him be James Bond? Wow! The action! That was exciting,” Milchan said on-air.

ASUU STRIKE: We didn’t give fresh conditions to end strike – ASUU denies

ASUU President – Nasir Fage

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has denied making any fresh demands from the Federal Government before calling off its five-month strike, explaining that it is only seeking a written guarantee from President Goodluck Jonathan on their renegotiated agreement of November 4.

ASUU National Treasurer, Dr. Ademola Aremu, made this clarification while speaking with newsmen yesterday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

“We are not making fresh demands, in fact the NEC of the union would have suspended the strike, but the concerns of our congresses were that many of the things agreed to with Mr. President during the November 4th meeting with him were not included in the letter signed by a Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, Mark John Nwobiala,” Aremu said.

He assured that the strike could end within 24 hours once the observed omissions were corrected and reflected in the new resolution.

ASUU described the statement credited to Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, that the union was making new outrageous demands as “untrue and absolute lie.”

Aremu said ASUU has requested President Jonathan to facilitate the endorsement of resolutions reached with him and signed by high ranking government official preferably the Attorney-General of the Federation but not a permanent secretary. He said a representative of the body including the President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Abdulwahid Omar, would stand as witnesses.

Aremu also disclosed that ASUU wants the N200 billion agreed upon as 2013 revitalisation fund for public universities to be warehoused with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and disbursed to the benefiting universities.

He accused Wike of being economical with the truth by not telling Nigerians that apart from the N30 billion earned allowances released for university staff, the government was yet to release the N100 billion claimed to have been released.

News Express reports that the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Federal Universities had on Tuesday declared that there was no more basis for the ASUU strike and consequently ordered the immediate re-opening of all shut universities across the country since July 1.

The strike has started to weaken of late, with the Ebonyi State University (EBSU) yesterday joining a growing list of universities that had announced their resumption in defiance of ASUU’s directives.

At the Niger State-owned Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), some academic staff have already resumed teaching while the Adamawa State University and Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko in Ondo State have also reportedly pulled out of the strike, with Enugu State University (ESUT) at the verge of following suit.

At the same time, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Lagos State University (LASU) are reportedly set to conduct degree and matriculation examinations outside their campuses, even as UNILAG, LASU and the University of Jos (UNIJOS) have all scheduled to conduct the post-UTME examinations. The Abia State University (ABSU) had earlier conducted its post-UTME examinations.

REPORT CULLED FROM NEWS EXPRESS

SHOCKING: Nursing Mother Stabbed Her Husband To Death In Lagos

33-year-old Biola Gbadamosi, has bee arrested by the police for allegedly murdering her husband, Jamiu, in Ikorodu , Lagos state.

According to the police, the suspect, who is a nursing mother, stabbed her husband with a knife during an argument over rice.

It was gathered that the suspect and her husband, a Vehicle Inspection Officer have a history of domestic violence.

Biola, who claimed to be an Ordinary National Diploma degree holder from Ibadan Polytechnic was in tears while speaking stated she had no intention of killing her husband, saying she only stabbed him once on the thigh.

She said, “Jamiu and I dated for four years, but when I got pregnant this year, we did introduction and I started living with him in Idi Iroko, Ikorodu. However, when I was three months pregnant, he started beating me.

“Most times, he takes alcoholic drink and he comes back home drunk and starts beating me for flimsy reasons. He even had a kidney ailment.

“One day, he came home drunk, accused me of infidelity and started beating me. He said he had been told that I was going to poison his food, but I continued to endure. I, however, reported the beatings to his mother and siblings.”

The suspect said after being delivered of a baby in August, she usually went to her family’s house in Somolu from where she would take her baby for post-natal.

She said on September 7, 2013, she returned home with her baby only to have a fight with her husband hours later.

She said, “While I was about leaving my parents’ home, my husband called to say that he was broke and I should make money available for the weekend. When I got home, I started cooking fried rice but my husband, who was drunk, said he did not like it. I jokingly called him a bush man and an argument ensued.

“While we were arguing, a neighbour, who sells drinks, came into our flat to collect money that we owed her. I was grating carrots with a knife when my husband slapped me and said I must leave his house that night.

“I used the knife I was holding to strike him on the thigh and he started bleeding profusely. The neigbours and I took him to a hospital. At the hospital, I was told that my husband’s injury was not deep, so neighbours said I should take my baby home.”

The suspect told PUNCH Metro that the next morning; the landlord informed her that her husband died at midnight.

“The matter was reported at the Owutu Police Division and I was arrested,” she said.

She pleaded with the police to show her mercy, saying, “My little baby, Oluwaseyifunmi, is with my husband’s family and I fear that my child will never get to know me if I am sent to prison. My breasts are still filled with milk and no baby to suckle them.”

When our correspondent visited the scene of the incident, the landlord, Theophilus Kalejaiye, said the couple had a history of violence.

Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent on the telephone, said the matter had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba for further investigation.

CULLED FROM PUNCH

Nigeria Drop In FIFA Rankings

Despite booking their place at the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Super Eagles of Nigeria dropped three places on the FIFA/COCA World Rankings released early today.

Surprisingly, the reigning African champions dropped three spots from last month’s 33rd ranking despite forcing Italy to a 2-2 draw in an international friendly played at the Craven Cottage, home-ground of Fulham Football Club of England.

The Eagles are today ranked 36th in the world and fourth in Africa behind Côte d’Ivoire Ghana and Algeria, who are placed first, second and third respectively. These teams will be flying the continent’s flag at next year’s World Cup in Brazil having secured tickets in the recently concluded World Cup Playoffs.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles during a training session: Drops in FIFA ranking.

However, the Ethiopian national team that lost to the Stephen Keshi-led Nigerian Eagles on both legs of the World Cup qualifying playoffs moved two places up the ladder from 95 to 93.

Egypt’s national team climbed 13 places to 38th in FIFA’s world rankings for November.  The Pharaohs beat Ghana 2-1 at home this month in the World Cup playoffs but lost on aggregate after their first-leg 6-1 away defeat in Kumasi. American manager Bob Bradley has been sacked after failing to see the Pharoahs to qualify for the World Cup. Former assistant coach Shawky Gharib has been hired in his place.

Ghana’s defeat to Egypt in the World Cup playoff return leg has affected the Black Stars in this month’s FIFA World ranking by slipping down one place. The Black Stars dropped to 24th position.

South Africa could not gain from their 1-0 friendly win over Spain last week after FIFA ruled the match out of its ranking profile following the world champions’ use of a seventh substitution in the game. Bafana remain in 61st spot.

Spain, Germany and Argentina hold the first, second and third spots in the world respectively as FIFA Confederations Cup champions Brazil moved to the tenth position in the world.

The next ranking will be released on 19 December.

PM NEWS

Footballers arrested over English match-fixing

Police investigating match-fixing in English football have made six arrests in a probe centered on a suspected international betting syndicate, authorities said today.

The arrests follow an undercover investigation by Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, which reported that at least three of the men held this week are footballers.

The Telegraph published a covertly recorded video in which it alleges a fixer said lower league matches in England could be fixed for 50,000 pounds ($81,380). Premier League matches are not reported to be the target of the fixers.

"Six men have been arrested across the country as part of an NCA investigation into alleged football match fixing," Britain's National Crime Agency said in a statement. "The focus of the operation is a suspected international illegal betting syndicate."

The recently-launched NCA said during the "active investigation" it is working with the Gambling Commission and the English Football Association.

At meetings in Manchester this month, the Telegraph said one of the alleged fixers - a Singaporean man - correctly predicted how many goals would be scored during a match the next day, and offered to manipulate two British matches this month.

The man told the paper's investigator in a video that he would say to a footballer: "You tell me how many goals you can give."

"Either 3-2, 4-1 or zero," he added in broken English. "I say I don't need five. For me four is enough ... if more than that up to you. But my deal is four ... I don't want less than four."

The alleged fixer is heard claiming he has a betting website, stressing: "We can bet (on) those goals."

He also claims he can pay a player about 5,000 pounds ($8,140) to ensure he is booked in the first ten minutes of a match, an indication that the game is being fixed.

The Telegraph said it was approached by an "undercover investigator with links to FIFA, who had been gathering evidence against suspected Asian match fixers offering to operate in Britain."

The integrity of football has moved up the agenda since Europol, the European Union police liaison agency, said it reviewed 680 suspicious recent cases of match-fixing, including some World Cup games.

The fight against match-fixing appeared to have been boosted by the arrest in September of 14 people in Singapore, including Dan Tan, who has been accused of coordinating a global crime syndicate that made millions of dollars betting on rigged Italian matches and other games across the world.

AP

Update: Govt gives ASUU one week ultimatum to resume work or face sack

The federal government has given the striking members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) one week ultimatum to resume work or face sack.

Supervising minister of education, Nyesom Wike, who addressed the press today in the federal ministry of education, Abuja, directed all Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities to open the universities for academic activities and provide enabling environment for staff that resume for work.

Click to read more

REVEALED! 16 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True

By: Michael Snyder,
The Truth.

Are you a conspiracy theorist?  If not, perhaps you should be.  Yes, there have certainly been a lot of “conspiracy theories” over the years that have turned out not to be accurate.  However, the truth is that a large number of very prominent conspiracy theories have turned out to actually be true.  So the next time that you run into some “tin foil hat wearing lunatics”, you might want to actually listen to what they have to say.  They may actually know some things that you do not.  In fact, one recent study found that “conspiracy theorists” are actually more sane than the general population.  So the next time you are tempted to dismiss someone as a “conspiracy theorist”, just remember that the one that is crazy might actually be you.  The following are 16 popular conspiracy theories that turned out to be true…

1. “They Put Cancer Viruses Into Our Vaccines”

When I first heard about this I did not believe it.  And of course not all vaccines contain cancer viruses.  But tens of millions of Americans did receive vaccines with cancer viruses in them, and now we have learned that even the CDC has admitted that this is true…

The CDC has quickly removed a page from their website, which is now cached here, admitting that more than 98 million Americans received one or more doses of polio vaccine within an 8-year span when a proportion of the vaccine was contaminated with a cancer causing polyomavirus called SV40. It has been estimated that 10-30 million Americans could have received an SV40 contaminated dose of the vaccine.

SV40 is an abbreviation for Simian vacuolating virus 40 or Simian virus 40, a polyomavirus that is found in both monkeys and humans. Like other polyomaviruses, SV40 is a DNA virus that has been found to cause tumors and cancer.

2. “ATM Machines Will Someday Use Facial Recognition Technology”

According to the Daily Mail, a new generation of ATM machines is being developed that will use cutting edge facial recognition technology…

Cumbersome and slow cash machines with clunky buttons and tiny hard-to-see screens could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a range of next-generation ATMs.

Ohio-based security firm Diebold has created a touchscreen cash machine that works like a tablet computer, uses facial recognition and QR codes to identify and authenticate users, and has built-in safety cameras.

3. “The U.S. Government And Monsanto Are Teaming Up Against Opponents Of Genetically-Modified Food”

The establishment does not like those that are trying to stand in the way of genetically-modified food.  The following is from a recent Activist Post article…

A shocking new investigative report from the largest daily newspaper in Germany alleges that Monsanto, the US Military and the US government have colluded to track and disrupt both anti-GMO activists and independent scientists who study the adverse effects of genetically modified food.

As revealed yesterday by Sustainable Pulse, on July 13th the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung detailed information on how the US Government “advances the interests of their corporations,” focusing on Monsanto as a prime example.

The report titled, “The Sinister Monsanto Group: ‘Agent Orange’ to Genetically Modified Corn,” described a ‘new fangled cyber war’ being waged against both eco-activists and independent scientists by supporters and former employees of Monsanto, who are described as “operationally powerful assistants” and who have taken up sometimes high-ranking posts in the US administration, regulatory authorities, and some of whom have connections deep within the military industrial establishment, including the CIA.

4. “Someday Scientists Will Be Using Millions Of Genetically-Modified Animals In Scientific Experiments”

Did you know that literally millions of genetically-modified animals are being experimented on in labs all over the globe?…

The number of genetically modified (GM) animals used in scientific research in Britain has exceeded the number of ordinary laboratory animals for the first time, according to official statistics that show a 9 per cent overall increase in the use of experimental animals last year.

Some 4,033,310 animals were used in scientific experiments started in 2012, an increase of 322,689, or 9 per cent over the previous year. There were 1.91 million scientific “procedures” used with GM animals in 2012 compared to 1.68.m procedures on normal animals.

5. “Scientists All Over The World Are Creating Extremely Bizarre Human-Animal Hybrids”

Should scientists be creating beings that are part human and part animal?  Well, it is happening all over the planet.  Just check out some of the things that a recent Slate article says is happening in labs around the world…

Not long ago, Chinese scientists embedded genes for human milk proteins into a mouse’s genome and have since created herds of humanized-milk-producing goats. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Michigan have a method for putting a human anal sphincter into a mouse as a means of finding better treatments for fecal incontinence, and doctors are building animals with humanized immune systems to serve as subjects for new HIV vaccines.

Pretty disgusting eh?

And here are some other ways that scientists are combining humans and animals…

-Rabbit Eggs with Human Cells

-Pigs with Human Blood

-Sheep with Human Livers

-Cow Eggs with Human Cells

-Cat-Human Hybrid Proteins

For much more on this, please see my previous article entitled “Human-Animal Hybrids: Sick And Twisted Chimeras Are Being Created In Labs All Over The Planet“.

6. “Obama Is Making Government Employees Spy On One Another”

Yes, this is actually happening.  In a previous article, I described how Obama is forcing government workers to spy on the “lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors” of their fellow employees…

Federal employees and contractors are asked to pay particular attention to the lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors – like financial troubles, odd working hours or unexplained travel – of co-workers as a way to predict whether they might do “harm to the United States.” Managers of special insider threat offices will have “regular, timely, and, if possible, electronic, access” to employees’ personnel, payroll, disciplinary and “personal contact” files, as well as records of their use of classified and unclassified computer networks, polygraph results, travel reports and financial disclosure forms.

7. “Pro Wrestling Is Fake”

We have all kind of known this for a long time, right?  Well, now someone is actually leaking the results of pro wrestling matches on the Internet before they happen…

A fan has provoked a furor in the world of professional wrestling after leaking the outcomes of 38 WWE matches ahead of the pay-per-view bouts.

The mystery fan, who identifies himself online as Dolphins1925, claims he has obtained the information from a source at Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and is revealing the results to highlight the organisation’s failure to keep its storylines confidential.

Dolphins1925 started posting the results on Reddit’s pro-wrestling forum after another fan launched a “prediction series”, asking users for their picks ahead of the matches. He has since maintained a perfect record, even leaking the results of contests involving wrestling superstars such as John Cena and The Undertaker.

8. “Someday Texas Is Going To Run Out Of Water”

Texas will always have plenty of water, right?

Wrong.

According to CNBC, the water crisis in some areas of Texas is rapidly reaching a breaking point…

Three straight years of blistering drought have strained Texas’ water resources. Some cities like Midland are already steeply raising their water prices. But it’s not just residents of the Lone Star State feeling parched. Texas-based companies are scrambling to reduce their water usage and enact long-term water management plans as a critical business concern.

“As the drought continues, industry’s eyes are opening,” said Jordan Furnans, senior engineer at INTERA, a Texas-based geosciences and engineering firm. Those eyes are opening to discover that more dry years are coming, he said.

There’s a desperate need for water to fuel industrial, chemical and energy operations in some parts of Texas. “If plants shut down, they’re losing millions of dollars per day,” Furnans said.

9. “The IRS Is Specifically Targeting Conservatives”

Only a small percentage of Americans would have believed this particular “conspiracy theory” last year.  But now it is all over the news.  In fact, we have just learned that applications for tax-exempt status from Tea Party groups were ordered to be sent to the only Obama political appointee at the IRS…

IRS employees were ordered by their superiors–including Lois Lerner who pleaded the 5th Amendment against self-incrimination rather than testify in Congress–to send certain Tea Party tax-exemption applications to the office of the IRS’s Chief Counsel, which was headed by William Wilkins, who at that time was the only Obama political appointee at the IRS, according to a letter released today by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“As a part of this ongoing investigation, the Committees have learned that the IRS Chief Counsel’s office in Washington, D.C. has been closely involved in some of the applications,” reads a letter released today by the House committees on Oversight and Government and Ways and Means.  “Its involvement and demands for information about political activity during the 2010 election cycle appear to have caused systematic delays in the processing of Tea Party applications.”

10. “Fluoride Is Harmful For Your Teeth”

This is a conspiracy theory that was denied for a very long time.  But now even CNN is admitting the truth…

The Department of Health and Human Services and Environmental Protection Agency are proposing the change because of an increase in fluorosis — a condition that causes spotting and streaking on children’s teeth.

11. “Using A Cell Phone Can Cause Cancer”

Can you get cancer from using a cell phone?  Well, an increasing number of studies indicate that this is actually true…

At the highest exposure levels — using a mobile phone half an hour a day over a 10-year period — the study found a 40 percent increased risk of glioma brain tumors.

12. “Prescription Drugs Kill Large Numbers Of Americans”

Every single year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are killed by prescription drugs.  The following is a brief excerpt from a Vanity Fair article entitled “Deadly Medicine“…

Prescription drugs kill some 200,000 Americans every year. Will that number go up, now that most clinical trials are conducted overseas—on sick Russians, homeless Poles, and slum-dwelling Chinese—in places where regulation is virtually nonexistent, the F.D.A. doesn’t reach, and “mistakes” can end up in pauper’s graves?

13. “The Elite Want To Dramatically Reduce The Global Population”

Yes, many among the global elite really do want to substantially reduce the population of the planet.  The following quotes are from one of my previous articles…

-David Rockefeller: “The negative impact of population growth on all of our planetary ecosystems is becoming appallingly evident.”

-CNN Founder Ted Turner: “A total world population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline from present levels, would be ideal.”

-Paul Ehrlich, a former science adviser to president George W. Bush and the author of “The Population Bomb”: “To our minds, the fundamental cure, reducing the scale of the human enterprise (including the size of the population) to keep its aggregate consumption within the carrying capacity of Earth is obvious but too much neglected or denied”

-Barack Obama’s primary science adviser, John P. Holdren: “The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births.”

-HBO personality Bill Maher: “I’m pro-choice, I’m for assisted suicide, I’m for regular suicide, I’m for whatever gets the freeway moving – that’s what I’m for. It’s too crowded, the planet is too crowded and we need to promote death.”

14. “Innocent People Are Murdered, Skinned And Dismembered During Satanic Rituals”

Satanists really do exist, and sometimes they do really, really awful things.  The following is one recent example…

Moises Meraz-Espinoza walked into the Huntington Park Police Department two years ago to report a crime: He had killed his mother.

Officers went to the Maywood apartment that the then-18-year-old factory worker shared with his mother, Amelia Espinoza, 42, and found a gruesome scene. A trail of blood led to the bathroom, where plastic covered the walls and floor. There, they found an electrical circular saw with pieces of bone, blood and flesh stuck to the blade. Nearby, in a freezer, police found skin and muscles stored in plastic bags. The woman’s skull, with all her teeth plucked out, her eyes removed and two upside-down crosses carved into the bone, was stashed in a backpack.

Prosecutors say that Meraz-Espinoza strangled his mother and then skinned, filleted and dismembered her body as part of a satanic ritual.

15. “The NSA Is Spying On Our Phone Calls, Internet Searches And Financial Transactions”

Thanks to Edward Snowden, we have learned much more about how the NSA spies on all of us.  And just this week it has come out that the NSA has no problem snooping on you if you are a friend of a friend of a friend of someone that might be a potential terrorist…

Chris Inglis, the agency’s deputy director, was one of several government representatives—including from the FBI and the office of the Director of National Intelligence—testifying before the House Judiciary Committee this morning. Most of the testimony largely echoed previous testimony by the agencies on the topic of the government’s surveillance, including a retread of the same offered examples for how the Patriot Act and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act had stopped terror events.

But Inglis’ statement was new. Analysts look “two or three hops” from terror suspects when evaluating terror activity, Inglis revealed. Previously, the limit of how surveillance was extended had been described as two hops. This meant that if the NSA were following a phone metadata or web trail from a terror suspect, it could also look at the calls from the people that suspect has spoken with—one hop. And then, the calls that second person had also spoken with—two hops. Terror suspect to person two to person three. Two hops. And now: A third hop.

16. “The Federal Reserve Is A Perpetual Debt Machine That Is Designed To Create Inflation”

The Federal Reserve is a private banking cartel that was created by the bankers and that serves the interest of the bankers.  It was designed to perpetually increase the U.S. national debt and to perpetually create inflation.  Unfortunately, it has done a great job on both counts.  Since the Federal Reserve was created back in 1913, the U.S. national debt has gotten more than 5000 times larger, and the value of the U.S. dollar has fallen by more than 96 percent.

Are there any other “conspiracy theories” that you would add to this list?  Please feel free to join the discussion by posting a comment below…

About the author: Michael T. Snyder is a former Washington D.C. attorney who now publishes The Truth.  His new novel entitled “The Beginning Of The End” is now available on Amazon.com.

Read more http://www.trueactivist.com/16-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true/

Xbox One vs PS4 - Full Comparison

This is for the endless arguments about which is better PS4 (Sony) or the Xbox One (microsoft), please enjoy.

click the link to watch the video >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsMJUR1vtSc

Comet Ison set for close encounter with the sun

Comet Ison seen from a Nasa telescope on 19 November. Photograph: Aaron Kingery/Nasa/EPA

Comet could become visible from Earth in next week or two if it survives passing 730,000 miles from sun's surface on Thursday.
A comet that left the outer edge of the solar system more than 5.5 million years ago will pass close by the sun on Thursday, and could become visible from Earth in the next week or two if it survives.

Comet Ison is due to pass 730,000 miles from the surface of the sun at 6.37pm GMT on Thursday.

At that distance, the comet will reach temperatures approaching 2,760C (5,000F), hot enough to vaporise not just ices in the comet's body but dust and rock as well.

Professor Tim O'Brien, associate director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, told the BBC: "It's like throwing a snowball into fire. It's going to be tough for it to survive. But luckily it's a big object and it moves fast, so it won't spend too much time close to the sun. There is a lot of uncertainty."

Donald Yeomans, of Nasa's near-Earth object programme, said in an interview posted on space agency's website: "There are three possibilities when this comet rounds the sun.

"It could be tough enough to survive the passage of the sun and be a fairly bright, naked-eye object," he said. Alternatively, the sun's gravity could rip Ison apart, creating several big chunks, or the comet could break up into a cloud of dust.

Carey Lisse, senior research scientist at Johns Hopkins applied physics laboratory, said: "This comet is giving us quite a ride. It's going to be hard to predict exactly what's going on. As a betting man, I think it's not going to survive solar passage."

Scientists estimate that Ison needs to be about 200 metres in diameter to survive its close encounter with the sun. The most recent measurements indicate the comet is more than twice that size, and perhaps as big as 1,200 metres across. When it zips around the sun it will be moving at about 217 miles per second.

The comet was discovered last year by two amateur astronomers using Russia's International Scientific Optical Network, or Ison. It was extraordinarily bright at the time, considering its great distance beyond Jupiter's orbit, raising the prospect of a truly cosmic spectacle as it approached the sun.

Heat from the sun causes ice in a comet's body to vaporise, creating distinctive bright tails and fuzzy-looking glowing bodies. The closer thatcomets come to the sun, the brighter they shine, depending on how much ice they contain.

Comets are believed to be frozen remains left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. The family of comets that Ison is from resides in the Oort cloud, located about 10,000 times farther away from the sun than Earth, halfway to the next star.

Occasionally a comet is gravitationally nudged out of the cloud by a passing star and into a flight path that millions of years later brings it into the inner solar system. Computer models show Ison is a first-time visitor.

"You need comets in order to build the planets and this comet has been in deep freeze in the Oort cloud for the last 4.5 billion years," Lisse said. "Comet Ison is a relic. It's a dinosaur bone of solar system formation."

Oort cloud comets have passed by Earth before, and sun-grazing comets are common. Comet Ison, however, is unique. "We have never seen a comet like this, a comet that is both dynamically new from the Oort cloud and in a sun-grazing orbit," said Karl Battams, an astrophysicist with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.

"It has been behaving strangely," Battams said, noting recent flares and changes in brightness that could be signs the comet is fragmenting. Regardless of what happens, "it's already been a huge victory for science," he said.