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Here are ten quotes from the legend, Fela Kuti:

1. About music, he said: “Music is the weapon. Music is the weapon of the future.”

2. To the military and law enforcement methods, he sang: “Zombie, oh, zombie, Zombie no go go unless you tell am to go, Zombie no go stop unless you tell am to stop. No brake, no jam, no sense.”

3. On his frustration of the oppression of Nigerians, he said: “My people are scared of the air around them, they always have an excuse not to fight for freedom.”

4. On Nigerians’ suffering at the expense of corrupt politicians and polotical leaders, he sang: “My people dey shuffering and smiling, everyday na the same thing. Suffer, suffer for world, enjoy for heaven.”

5. On religion and spirituality, he said: “To be spiritual is not by praying and going to church. Spiritualism is the understanding of the universe so that it can be a better place to live in.”

6. On the play titled ‘A fool at 40’, Fela once said: “They say a fool at 40’s a fool forever. I won’t say that to my brother. Change if you’re a fool at 20/30. Don’t wait until u’re 40.”

7. To black women who bleached their skin, he sang: “Yellow fever, you dey bleach o, you dey bleach, ugly thing. Who say you fine? Na lie.”

8. In “Water no get enemy”, Fela sang: “Water e no get enemy. If you fight am unless you wan die. I dey talk of black power.”

9. On fear, Fela said: “I refuse to live my life in fear…The secret to life is to have no fear.”

10. Lastly, on death, Fela said: “I hold death in my pouch, I cannot die.”

Know any other quotes by this remarkable man that you cannot forget? Do share in the comments section below.

Fela lives on!

As the first day of school approaches, many are looking to circle the dates of Tax Free Weekend on the calendar.

In Texas, the Sales Tax Holiday will take place Friday, August 11, Saturday, August 12 and Sunday, August 13. This is later than other states, which hold their weekend one week earlier.

According to the Texas comptroller website, qualifying items priced less than $100 are exempt from taxes. This includes items purchased online, by telephone or mail.

Our own Napier Lopez spotted an odd change in Google’s search service onAndroid today: search results don’t include URLs like they used to. Instead, they only display the page’s title, a thumbnail of a featured image from the site, and a blurb.

It isn’t clear if Google is merely running a test or gradually rolling out a change. But it’s hard to see how this helps anyone, besides making the interface a bit cleaner. The company also seems to be testing another way of displaying URLs and AMP badges.

I’m not a fan of the new experiment. For users, it becomes more difficult to figure out which site they’re be directed to when they tap on a result. That’s annoying if you roughly know where you want to go, and only need help finding the right page.

There’s a chance that webmasters will lose out on traffic from those people who are looking for their sites specifically.

The move might be driven by a belief that SEO and Google’s indexing are now good enough to accurately point people to the best search results without displaying URLs, but it seems like a premature step at this point, especially if Google can’t figure out a better way to tell you what site you’re heading to.

We’ve contacted Google to learn more and will update this post if there’s a response

Social media has become the new American pastime. Members of Generation Z spend 8 hours on screens every day, with a large chunk of that time on social media, interacting with friends, family and influencers.

Because they spend such a massive amount of time spent online, many young people fall under the influence of “social conditioning” and make decisions and judgments based on what they see other people doing. Viral challenges, such as the Running Man Challenge and Ice Bucket Challenge, are perfect examples of people allowing social media to affect their real-world activities.

Unfortunately, too many social media influencers focus on displaying signs of success. This often involves posting pictures of expensive dinners, luxury goods and other materialistic displays that set society on a track for caring about things and money.

This has led some of the largest influencers to come together on social media for a bigger purpose. Celebrities such as Jake and Logan Paul, Steven Spence, Brent Rivera, Scooter and Yael Braun, Bryant Wood, Victoria Justice and her sister Madison Reed and Twan Kuyper have all committed to The Santa Claus Affect. This mass movement hopes to be a major source of innovation for social media, and will likely be a prime opportunity for the Facebook Original Content program.

Ultimately, these influencers know they have the ability to shape the interests and habits of their followers, so they have decided to work on using this influence to foster social good. Jason Neubauer, a serial entrepreneur and one of the leading influencer marketers, pulled together these huge influencers in order to create an unstoppable social movement.

The Santa Claus Affect works with the world’s largest influencers to do random acts of kindness, teach people how to use social media to better their future and ultimately make society more focused on helping others than looking out for themselves.

While this movement has largely taken place on social media thus far, the power of these influencers has attracted the attention of producer James Burnett and Emmy Award–winning creative director Allen J. West.

Together with Neubauer, they are producing a television show for The Santa Claus Affectthat will offer an in-depth look at the work of the influencers to help people. The show will include actionable takeaways, allowing viewers to learn more about how to use social media to grow or launch a business, or simply build an audience.

The Santa Claus Affect is thus leveraging both traditional media and social media to connect with people and channel the message that everyone can succeed together if we operate out of kindness rather than self-interest on a daily basis.

Another major development in this movement will be the 2018 launch of a book about The Santa Claus Affect. Neubauer is working with Heidi Krupp, literary agent for over 90 New York Times bestsellers, to put together a book on leveraging social media for social impact.

The book will include a wide range of actionable insights, sections from some of the major influencers involved and a wealth of information for those who want to learn more about how to become successful, using specific proven strategies from some of the world’s top influencers.

Furthermore, Affect Change, the general community for The Santa Claus Affect, utilizes a mobile app with blockchain technology to help facilitate awareness, education and sponsorship of causes. A special status genesis token allows users to donate directly to any cause or influencer project they are interested in and know that 100% of the proceeds are benefiting the cause.

This technology offers a new future for nonprofits and social good, since the emerging blockchain world can help increase transparency and remove the go-betweens that have typically connected people with social impact projects. The application is set for release before the end of 2017.

Finally, via a partnership with the viral clothing company RageOn, community merchandise sales will help fund $1,000 grants for anyone who applies. Applications can be submitted via social media.

All people need to do is make a post on social media telling their story and why they need help with #SantaClausAffect or #AffectChange and they will be eligible for consideration for one of the grants. Furthermore, a portion of all revenue will be donated to Deedly, a nonprofit founded by Andrew Resnick and Serinda Swan. Neubauer sits on Deedly’s board.

The Santa Claus Affect is an intensive movement supported by some of the most influential members of society and aiming to cause real change in the world. Tackling every form of media and connecting with individuals via a number of different platforms, technologies and business models, this movement is poised for record-breaking social penetration and virality.

Social media and modern technology are changing the way people interact in the world and offer a plethora of new opportunities for all those who seek to make their lives better.

For the first time in its 380-year history, Harvard University's incoming class will not be majority white.

The Ivy League institution, which has made concerted efforts to diversify its applicant pool in recent years, confirmed admission statistics showing that 50.9 percent of its class of 2021 is nostudents..

"To become leaders in our diverse society, students must have the ability to work with people from different backgrounds, life experiences, and perspectives," Harvard spokeswoman Rachael Dane said in a statement to The Boston Globe. "Harvard remains committed to enrolling diverse classes of students."

"Harvard's admissions process considers each applicant as a whole person, and we review many factors, consistent with the legal standards established by the U.S. Supreme Court."

Among the students from minority groups admitted to Harvard this fall, 22.2 percent are Asian, 14.6 percent are African American, 11.6 percent are Latino and the remaining 2.5 percent is comprised of Native American and Pacific Islander students.

The gap in learning between the richest and poorest pupils will take 50 years to close at current rates of progress, according to a major new report.

As it stands, the poorest pupils in England are lagging more than two years behind their wealthier peers by the time they come to sit their GCSEs, the study states.

The research, published by think tank the Education Policy Institute, shows that the most persistently disadvantaged pupils – those that have been in receipt of free school meals for 80 per cent of their school life – are lagging even further behind. .

The attainment gap between the least and most well-off pupils has increased by 0.3 months since 2007. On average, the poorest pupils fall behind at a rate of two months for every year they are in school.

While the researchers did find evidence of progress in closing the educational gap between the haves and have-nots, it was closing “slowly and inconsistently”, the paper said.

This is despite considerable investment and targeted intervention programmes by successive Governments.

Jo Hutchinson, Director for Social Mobility and Vulnerable Learners at the EPI, said: “Our research finds that the most persistently disadvantaged pupils in England have fallen even further behind their peers, with their attainment gap at the end of secondary having grown since 2007.”

The report warned that while there was evidence of progress, there were still huge variations in the size of the educational gap in different parts of the country. The biggest divide was in the Isle of Wight where the poorest children leave schools two and a half years behind their peers.

Other areas showing little progress include Derby, Cumbria, and Knowsley where the attainment gap stood at 27 months.

At the opposite end of the scale, more successful areas were the likes of Southwark, Wandsworth and Tower Hamlets where the gap is just 7 months.

Classroom leaders described the findings as a “sombre warning” to the Government.

“Schools work hard to enhance the life chances of all children but they cannot compensate for poverty and inequality alone. Avis Gilmore, the NUT’s Assistant General Secretary, said. “Government is responsible for ensuring families have jobs, homes and enough to eat – these are the prerequisites for children’s learning.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary designate of the National Association of Head Teachers said the UK still faced an “emergency” when it came to equality of opportunity for young people.

“Despite the improving standards in schools and two decades of sustained effort, we’ve struggled to shift the needle on the equality of opportunity dial,” he added.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.

It was a crazy thought — paying off and cutting up every single one of my credit cards. It was an even crazier thought that one day we may not owe anyone a single dime.

I kept thinking to myself, "It'll never happen" and "I'm a stay-at-home mom with another baby on the way and my husband is a contractor, we can't make this work." But little by little, we did.

We killed off over $55,000 of debt in just two years all while living on one income and growing our family of five. It was anything but easy, but it was the best decision we ever made — to become debt-free.

Our family members looked at us like we had lost our minds when we told them we no longer had a credit card for "emergencies"and when we got rid of our fully loaded Mac Daddy Tahoe for a well-loved, paid-for Sequoia with leather interior being the only bells and whistles it has.

My friends thought I was insane when I started walking dogs for extra money to pay off our debt even faster. "Uh, you're hugely pregnant and you're walking dogs in this heat?! Y'all must really need the money."

And the truth is, we did need the money. We needed every penny because we had a crazy plan of paying off all our debt. And this year, we are going to finish that plan and pay off our house.

By now, our friends and family don't think we're crazy anymore because they've seen firsthand the blessing that becoming free from the hold of debt has been to our family. My husband was able to quit a job that he no longer loved in favor of starting his own business again and being home more with our three children. We've been able to give like never before without fear that we won't have enough money left to pay the bills. We've been able to send our two oldest children to a private preschool, and we've been able to go on several vacations. All without using credit cards and all while paying off debt.

It hasn't been easy, but then again, nothing worthwhile ever is. If you want to join my family in the crazy and pay off debt, here's how you get started:

In order to completely become debt-free, you have to make a commitment to stop using debt — of any kind. That means no more credit cards, no more taking out loans of any kind, and no more borrowing money from a relative.

It'll be scary at first, like real scary. You'll feel a little panic like you won't know what to do if this or that happens, which is why you must do step two . . .

Trust me when I tell you this — once you make the declaration to become debt-free, all of a sudden all these worries and panic will hit you. You'll start worrying how you'll pay to fix the car when it breaks down or how you'll pay your insurance deductible if an emergency happens. This is why you must absolutely start building up an emergency fund.

Start with your starting point — talk to your spouse about how much you want to save first. It could be as little as $500 and as high as $5,000. The point with the starting point is to pick a number that works well for your family but is not overwhelming.

A great emergency fund will end up having six months of your living expenses saved in it. Which for most folks, if you tallied up how much money it takes you to live every month, then multiply that number by six, it's probably at least $20,000 if not more.

The truth is that if you tried to make $20,000 your starting point instead of, say, $1,000, you'd end up overwhelmed and feeling defeated when you struggled to save up that amount. Don't do that to yourself. Pick a starting point that you can realistically save in the next month to three months.

Then once you've reached your starting point, pick another point and work your way up to your six-month emergency fund goal.

There are a lot of arguments in the personal finance community of which debt payoff method is better — the debt avalanche method or the debt snowball method. For me personally, I love the debt snowball method (and it's the one we used) because it helps you build up momentum and keeps you from feeling frustrated by little visible progress.

But obviously, you should pick the method that best works for you and your family. In case you're not familiar with these methods, here's how they work:

Once you've decided on the method you're going to use, you'll then pick which debt you're going to start paying off. In order to pay off this debt, you're going to have to throw every extra penny that you have at it.

This is the hard part of killing off the debt monster. You have to stay committed and focused to paying off your debt. Even when there are setbacks (and there will be setbacks!), you must keep going. The debts aren't going to pay off themselves.

Always remember to give yourself grace when you hit a stumbling block, but don't be afraid to get back up and back to work. Write down what your life will look like once you're debt-free, and keep that as inspiration for those tough days to help keep you motivated.

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have hired a Democratic pollster, increasing speculation that the Facebook CEO is considering entering the political arena, according to a Politico report published on Wednesday.

The pollster, Joel Benenson, is a former top adviser for Barack Obama and was chief strategist for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

According to the report, Benenson will conduct research for the couple's Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropy effort launched in 2015.

However, the hire comes amid other Zuckerberg moves perceived as testing the waters for a possible run for office. Zuckerberg embarked on a road tripthrough several US states this year, making stops at a Wisconsin farm, the Ford factory in Michigan, North Carolina's Fort Bragg, and the Civil War cemetery in Vicksburg, Mississippi, among other locations.

Last month, A Public Policy Pollingsurvey found that 40% of respondents would support Zuckerberg in a theoretical presidential election against Donald Trump.

For his part, Zuckerberg denied his whirlwind tour of the US indicated a desire to enter politics.

"Some of you have asked if this challenge means I'm running for public office. I'm not," he wrote on Facebook.

The CEO and co-founder of educational website, pass.ng, Samson Abioye, has died. The 25 year old fast-rising tech guru, reportedly slumped and died last Friday July 28th.

Abioye graduated from the department of Computer Engineering at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in 2014 and then co-founded the educational website that caters for the needs of candidates sitting for JAMB, WAEC and other exams. 
May his soul rest in peace, Amen.