The most dangerous rituals in Africa

Rituals are part and parcel of the African culture. They are symbolic of different aspects in life. Some may signify achieving a new social status; others signify moving into a new age group, while some welcome a new visitor or a newborn to the community. Well, here is a list of the most dangerous.
Warning: Some of the images on this post may be distressing.

1. Sooth Saying-Puff Adder In mouth

In the Zulu community in South Africa, a traditional healer locally known as a “Sangoma” relies on his trusty puff-adder to make predictions as well as heal. He may at some point place it in his mouth or near the person seeking healing. In case his faithful serpent has a change of heart, no one would wish to imagine what would happen.

2. Maasai Moran

The Maasai is one of the communities in Kenya, in order to be respected and acknowledged as a man, you first have to attain the title “Moran.” To do so, a young man is expected to go out in the jungle and hunt down a lion. This feat can only be accomplished by using a spear and not the fancy gun.

3. Traditional healing/Wichcraft

Traditional healers and medicine men hold a special place in many African cultures. People will opt to seek medicinal and divine intervention from them rather than from a clinic, dispensary, church, or hospital. When visiting one, a person may be asked to come back with eggs of a snake, or crocodile. Some will even ask for the fangs, claws or teeth of a dangerous creature.

4. African Bull Fighting

Bullfighting is more famous in countries like Spain and Mexico more than it is in Africa. Unknown to many people, African communities have always followed this practice. Unlike their western counterparts, there is no security provided nor paramedics around. Many people have died or been maimed during the ceremony. The ritual is popular among the Luhya tribe in Kenya.

5. Wife Inheritance
Many African communities still practice wife inheritance. The brother to a dead person is allowed to inherit his sister-in-law. This is done as a way of ensuring the clans remain tightly bonded. Unfortunately, this has contributed to the spread of HIV/AID, as well as disregard to human rights.

6.Lip plate Insertion

This is a practice common with Ethiopian Suri tribe. The process of lip plate insertion begins after puberty has been reached. It involves two of the girl’s bottom teeth being removed during an intense ritual, then a small hole being cut into her bottom lip. After the hole has been inserted, a clay disk is put into it, which stretches the lip. The plate is increased in size annually The significance of the lip plate is great. The larger it is, the more cows the girl’s father can demand from another man in exchange for her hand in marriage. The standard price is 40 cows for a small plate and 60 cows for a larger one.

7. Ritual Killing
Ritual killings have always been performed in African cultures. This may be under the direction of a king or soothsayer. To date some communities still follow this practice. They will target a specific tribe or a unique person. For instance, in Tanzania, Albinos locally known as “zeruzeru” are captured and killed as a way of seeking material wealth.

8. Forced Marriages

This practice is common in many parts of Africa. Often parents will keep the details of the marriage hidden for fear that their daughter will run away if she finds out about the deal they have made. As part of the ritual, which lasts a day and night, the village men will also select a bull from the herd of cows which the women will punch into submission before it is executed with a spear-thrust to the heart. Many of the girls will be as young as 14, and though forbidden by the law strict adherence to tradition is considered more important than complying with the law.

9. Blood Beverage

The Maasai community in Kenya and Tanzania is amongst the most hospitable communities. They always look forward to receiving any visitor. Apart from offering you roasted meat, you may be required to drink fresh blood oozing from a live animal or mixed with some milk. An arrow is shot at close range to puncture the jugular vein of the cow and the blood is drawn into a skin gourd. The Maasai drink cows blood that they believe makes the body stronger and warmer and is good for children and the elderly to build up their strength. This is a form of clinical vampirism, one would argue, but shouldn’t they be wary of zoonotic diseases they could contract if the animal was sick or perhaps iron poisoning?

10. Ritual Sex Practices
The Baganda form one of the largest ethnic communities in Uganda. Among their many rituals, there is one that is classified as quite risky especially in the modern world. Occasionally, the community will hold dances and rituals to mark entry into adulthood. Young men are allowed to engage in penetrative sex with different girls. This has been a leading cause of the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region.

11. Male Circumcision

Like many regions in the world, Africans also practice male circumcision. This ceremony is normally done to signify a boy becoming a mature adult. Usually, the young boys will be circumcised with a knife without application of any anesthetic & are often beaten if one dares to cry during the ordeal to ‘toughen them up. Furthermore, the newly circumcised spends time out in the forest to test his courage.

12. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

Women also get circumcised in some cultures in Africa. Unlike the male procedure where it is the foreskin that is chopped off, FGM is a bit inhumane .It may entail clipping the clitoris and much more. Cases of girls bleeding to death or permanent damage have always been witnessed. This is why the practice has been banned in most parts of Africa.

13. Beating the suitor
Beating the suitor The Fulani tribe live in many countries in West Africa and follow a tradition called Sharo. Sharo happens when two young men want to marry the same woman. To compete for her hand, they beat one another up. The men must suppress signs of pain and the one who takes the beating without showing signs of pain can take the wife.

14. Kidnapping your bride
In the Sudanese Latuka tribe, when a man wants to marry a woman, he kidnaps her. Elderly members of his family go and ask the girl’s father for her hand in marriage, and if dad agrees, he beats the suitor as a sign of his acceptance of the union. If the father disagrees, however, the man might forcefully marry the woman anyway.

15. Bull jumping
In order to prove their manhood in the Ethiopian Hamer tribe, young boys must run, jump and land on the back of a bull before then attempting to run across the backs of several bulls. They do this multiple times, and usually in the nude.

16. Wife Swapping
Wife swapping among Namibia’s nomadic tribes has been practised for generations. The practice is more of a gentlemen’s agreement where friends can have sex with each others’ wives with no strings attached. The wives have little say in the matter, according to those who denounce the custom as both abusive and risky in a country with one of the world’s highest HIV/Aids rates. Those practicing it contend that their age-old custom strengthens friendships and prevents promiscuity. Swinging with an African tribal touch huh?

Known as okujepisa omukazendu – which loosely means “offering a wife to a guest” – the practice is little known outside these reclusive communities, whose population is estimated at 86 000.
Mainly found in the north-western Kunene region near the Angolan border, the communities are largely isolated from the rest of the country. They have resisted the trappings of modern life, keep livestock, live off the land and practice ancestral worship.

17. Living with wild animals
The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania have strict policies against killing wild animals. They keep cattle and livestock, but leave wild animals untouched. In fact, each clan is associated with a specific wild species, which they often keep close to them and treat as a clan member.

The following two may not be dangerous, but they are quite bizarre

12. Dancing With The Dead

Believe it or not, the Malagasy of Madagascar take out the dead from the graves and jive with them. The belief behind this ritual called Famadihana is that the spirit of the deceased joins the ancestors after the body has decomposed. The celebration is often held once every seven years and is a time of joyous family reunions.

13. Fantasy Coffins

Residents of Teshi (Ghana), a Accran suburb bury their dead in fantasy coffins. The casket often represents the profession of the deceased. Giant replicas of coke bottles, fruits, cars or gadgets are displayed in coffin showrooms.

Blog your way to the bank

Do you want to make money blogging? If you do – you’re in the right place to find out just how to do that. More and more bloggers are finding that blogging is a profitable medium. The online diaries known as Weblogs or ‘blogs’ seemed like a lot of inconsequential chatter when they surfaced a few years ago. But … what once seemed like a passing fancy has morphed into a cutting-edge phenomenon that may provide the platform for the Internet’s next wave of innovation and moneymaking opportunities.

The Internet is one of the most fertile grounds on which companies are increasingly relying on to build their businesses as they seek to sell their products or services. A blogger can be able to leverage on this because of the fact that his/her visitors base is potentially in the order of millions of prospective buyers who are not restricted by physical location. Bloggers though usually underestimate how hard it is to make money from blogging because there are so many blogs out there … They assume that just by putting the blog up, it will be enough. Kind of like the ‘if you build it they will come’ mentality. That’s not likely to happen to most people, though.

To give you some idea of the potential available – top blogging network, Weblogs, Inc. is believed to earn about $30 million a month revenue from 13 million unique visitors. And it is not just about making money monthly it is also about building a BUSINESS that can be sold, such as 22 year old Johns Wu did when he sold his blog for $15 Million. Click here to see more top grossing blogs.

First – let’s get our expectations right. Not everyone who tries to make money blogging becomes rich. In fact those who do well from blogging are in the minority. I’m sorry if this disappoints you – but I’m not here to hype this up or make any promises. It is possible to make money blogging – but it takes time and a lot of hard work – and it doesn’t happen for everyone!

Market your blog first. These techniques for making money are not useful for a blog that doesn’t yet have an audience. Below is the map on how bloggers make money. Click on the image to enlarge.

I should warn you this post might be too long, but I wanted to make it as thorough as possible.

1. Advertising Banners/ Displaying Ads

Bloggers don’t cover the whole space on their blogs with articles, there is some space left so why not allow some people use it and give them some money in return? So to make money bloggers sell advertising space on their blogs and this is by far the most popular advertising method so far. Website owners love this because they know they are guaranteed the money, other techniques such as affiliate marketing can go up and down a lot depending on what you promote. Examples of ad networks are Google Adsense, Blogads, BlogHer, Beacon Ads, Federated Media, Sovrn, (formerly Lijit), Media.net, Rivit, Sway, eZanga, Pulse 360, Glam Media, IndieClick, Fusion Ads, BuySellAds, Deck Network, Carbon Ads, Influads, Yoggrt, Burst Moms, Twelve Fold, CafeMom, Twelve Fold, CafeMom, HerAgency, Lifetime Moms, Martha’s Circle, Mom’s Media, MTV, Radium One, Technorati Media, Image Space Media, Meredith, Daily Buzz, Customer Force, Six Apart. Check out more ways here

   More Ad networks in details

• Adsense– Google is the internet giant in the world and they have a program known as Adsense where millionaires have been made using this program. It pays the best of all Ad services, Nothing, and no one comes closer to Adsense and is one of the best example of how bloggers make money especially when it comes to making money with your blog through adverts.
• Superlinks – You blog needs  to have a minimum traffic of 100,000 per month for you to be accepted in their program and ones you are accepted then you will be the richest of bloggers since their minimum payout is $100
• Adversal– Considered as the best Adsense alternative among bloggers, if your Adsense application has not been granted or you have been banned then Adversal is the best option for you. Adversal is almost similar to Superlinks, however, you need to have a monthly page-views of 50,000 to apply and be accepted, however they are flexible if your results are on the increase they will accept you.
• net– This one is brought to you by Bing and Yahoo and offers high paying ads, it will be a problem if you have not so good traffic from the USA or UK. Their ads are similar to Adsense, but you have to request for an invite to get approved.
• Chitika– This is one of the best alternatives to Adsense, it is not difficult to join and they always try to serve ads relevant to your Niche, I suggest you try them out.
• Infolinks – This program allows you to earn from the links in your text, known as text ads infolinks will work if you have no space for ads then this one is for you. I knew of infolinks way back but never tried it before, however on one of my niche blogs, infolinks does well and will recommend it as an example of how bloggers make money online.
• VigLink– Now this one is my favorite, their concept is different from the rest, it finds products in your texts and turns them into affiliate links and you earn money when someone buys from your product, imagine you write something about apple, it will automatically do the selling for you without messing your design with ads.. Join Vigilink
• SkimLinks – Works on the same principle as Viglink above and will turn your outbound links into affiliate links where you will make money when someone performs an action based on your link.
• Buysellads– I know of these guys who allow you to actually sell ad spaces on your site. They will gather information about your blog and determine if you are eligible, then will open the gates to thousands of advertisers to place their ads on your blog. The best thing about Buysellads is that they pay you well upfront and they also manage everything in the back-end leaving you with only blogging and making money.

2. AFFILIATE MARKETING

Affiliate marketing involves promoting someone else’s product or service and earning a commission when one of your readers clicks through your unique affiliate link and makes a purchase.

Some good examples of the best affiliate Marketing programs include:

1. Shareasale – This is one of the biggest affiliate networks with a range of products you can find and promote on your blog
2. ClickBank – Note: They only allow Affiliates from specific countries
3. Commission Junction
4. Rapbank – The best part of this is that they pay you instantly via Paypal though you need to have a PayPal account registered as a business.
5. Amazon Associates Amazon’s affiliate program is another program you can make a few dollars from.

Alternatively there are certain products that have their own affiliate programs managed by themselves; Examples in this category of how bloggers make money include but not limited to: LinkWorth, Bluehost, Shopify, Elegant Themes, Themeforest, Aweber, Amazon’s Affiliate program, FlexOffers, Commission Junction, Shareasale, E-Junkie, LinkShare

You can sign up all of them and find products related to you Blogging Niche and sell them, so how do you sell or promote these products?

• You can find most of the products have links and banners you may choose to place the banners on your blog as ad spaces or links on your sidebar etc.
• Write product reviews and have your affiliate links in them
• Just write you normal posts and mention the products in your post giving your readers with links to them
• Recommend them on social media or in forums where you can link people who are in search of these products

NOTE: The million dollar question is: How do bloggers make money with hosted blogs such as blogger.com or wordpress.com? The answer is yes you can but as explained, you will not use Adverts on wordpress.com since their policies do not allow that, leaving you with affiliate marketing options.

3. Newsletter/Podcast Sponsorships

If you have an email newsletter or podcast, you can accept advertising just as you would on your blog. You can reach out to potential advertisers, tell them how they would benefit from advertising with you and pitch your idea.

4. Sponsored Posts

Writing a sponsored post means you work with a company and write a post about their product or service. Be upfront and disclose your relationship to your readers. Keep sponsored posts to a minimum so you don’t turn off readers.

5. Underwritten Posts or Series

Underwritten posts differ from sponsored posts in that the post topic is about whatever you want it to be (as opposed to the company’s product/service), but an advertiser pays to get a “Brought to you by” type note in the post. Anticipate the posts you think will get a lot of response and pitch companies with an underwritten spot.

6. ProBlogger Job Boards

The ProBlogger Job Board is where bloggers looking for jobs and companies looking for bloggers to hire meet.The job boards continue to grow each month in the number of advertisements that are being bought. This enabled one to invest most of the money that they’d earned a while back into getting a new back end for the boards and to redesign them.

7. Continuity Programs

A continuity program is a site where you earn a recurring income from people who subscribe to a service you offer. Examples of this includes two sites – ProBlogger.com and Third Tribe Marketing. Both programs are membership sites and generate monthly income from the thousands of members that they have as a part of them.

8. Audio/Video

You can sell music or video that others can use as intros or outros. Audio Jungle or iStockPhoto (they sell audio too).

9. Apps, Plugins or Themes

If you have a knack for code-writing and can write your own themes or plugins, you can sell them at a place like Creative Market. Also, many plugin authors offer their plugins for free but ask for donations.

10. Domains

Do you have a domain collecting problem? Did you know you could sell them for profit?

11. Ecourses/Webinars/Online Workshops

You could do all sorts of things with this from small to large. Of course, you wouldn’t have to go big the first time around. Test the waters by holding a small, local event first. Grow bigger as you learn the ropes and figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Just pick something you’re good at that other people want to know and teach it! Do it once or twice to refine your presentation and then start charging a small fee to those who want to take your class. Check out how LeadPages uses webinars to sell their product in this free 10-part video series.

12. Ebooks

Many, many bloggers have written ebooks. If you want to write your own ebook, check out this link How to Write an Ebook. One benefit of having an ebook is the ability to participate in ebook bundles which can generate quite a bit of income. Again, it’s about relationships and pooling your resources.

13. Premium Content & Membership Communities

Insider spaces, one-on-one interaction, VIP rooms. Premium content is just what it sounds like – content that others must pay to access. This isn’t a new concept, but I do think it will become more and more common.

There is free information all over the internet, so in order for this to work, you would have to offer something truly unique — some sort of “insider information,” special access to individuals whose expertise is highly sought after, products or services that go above and beyond the norm, such or special treatment such as one-on-one interaction and coaching.

An example of a premium content site is Food Blogger Pro. Which the owner started after being asked by food bloggers how he and his wife built their hugely popular food blog, Pinch of Yum.

14. Photos

Are you a photographer? Illustrator? Why not sell your photos on a site like iStockphoto? SomeGirl has an excellent series about how to become an iStockphoto seller. A significant portion of her family’s income comes from selling photos.

15. Selling Blogs & Websites

Many bloggers have sold their blogs or websites for 4-, 5-, 6- and even 7-figure sums. There is also something called flipping websites where you obtain a small blog or website, grow it and then sell it for profit later.

If you want to flip a site, check out Flippa. And if you want to read about those who have sold their blog, you can read this

Physical products

16. Books

For many bloggers, their blogs have helped them sell books, both self and traditionally published. I’ve heard over and over again that traditional publishers will not typically consider your manuscript if you don’t have a blog first.

And if you’re a self-published author or hybrid author (that is, you have both self-published and traditionally-published books), a blog is a great way to sell books.

17. Conferences, Classes or Special Events

I consider hosting an event like a conference a “physical” product since it involves an exchange of something tangible (in this case, money for a ticket to an experience). You can also do bigger events like day-long seminars or workshops or even multi-day conferences.

Do not underestimate the work that would go into pulling off one of these events successfully. It’s a huge undertaking, but if you have a background in event planning or are extremely motivated, organized and are good at networking and making connections with companies (sponsors) etc., this might be for you.

In your niche or area of interest, it’s likely there are large, established conferences already. So, try narrowing down your conference topic in order to target a more specific group. If you’re going to put on a large-scale event, be very clear and very specific in your goals and make sure there’s a strong desire for the information you can provide. And then do it with excellence.

The way you would make money, of course, is to charge a fee to attend and/or partner with sponsors to cover your costs (and your salary).

18. Handmade Products

Are you crafty? Consider selling on Etsy. You can set up your own shop for free and it’s simple to get started. It’s not so simple to stand out from the crowd, so that’s likely to be your biggest challenge. Here are some tips on how to market your shop.

19. Manufactured Products

Sell manufactured products. Use your site/blog/newsletter to promote it. If you create the product yourself, that’s great, but if you don’t know how to create your own product, you can sell someone else’s in your own shop.

If you have an idea for a product you’d like to sell but aren’t sure where to start, this couple tells you how they started selling wedding linens online. Their Online Store Tutorials are particularly helpful.

20. Direct Ad Sales

You can also sell ad space directly to advertisers. In certain niche markets direct ad sales can work out very well,

21. Create an online store if appropriate.

If you are an arts and crafts blogger, create a shop through etsy or another service for selling your artwork. If you are a writer or illustrator, search for a website that will sell T-shirts with your slogans or drawings on them. Many blog topics are not easily tied to products. You don’t need to sell anything to make money, but if it fits your blog, do it.

22. Allow readers to purchase your own products or donate to your cause through your blog.

If you have an online store for selling arts and crafts, or you create T-shirt designs available through a clothing website, provide links to those sites. Including a PayPal button for quick, safe purchases or donations is a common way to monetize creative blogs, or blogs that provide free advice or assistance to those who can’t afford it. See How to Add PayPal to Blog for specific instructions.

                              Compensation methods

There are various ways you get paid when Ads are placed on your blog

 a) Pay Per Click-PPC or Cost Per Click-CPC

By far the easiest way to earn money online from a website or blog is from Google Adsense and being paid per click. If you have a personal blog/site that attracts moderate to high traffic, and you want to generate some revenue from it then PPC is a very good option for you.

There are many companies, including the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft PubCenter , AdBrite, Clicksor, WidgetBucks, AdToll , ExitJunction, ClickThruTraffic. etc. that offer PPC ad-serving applications for webmasters and publishers. After registering with the company, all you have to do is put some Javascript code or HTML in your pages and activate the advertisement. The company tracks how many times the ads have been viewed and clicked and makes your payment at the end of the month.

b) CPM (cost per mille)

Cost per mille, often abbreviated to CPM, means that advertisers pay for every thousand displays of their message to potential customers. In the online context, ad displays are usually called “impressions.” Advertisers can use technologies such as web bugs to verify if an impression is actually delivered. CPM advertising is susceptible to “impression fraud,” and advertisers who want visitors to their sites may not find per-impression payments a good proxy for the results they desire.

c) CPE (cost per engagement)

Cost per engagement aims to track not just that an ad unit loaded on the page (i.e., an impression was served), but also that the viewer actually saw and/or interacted with the ad.

d) CPV (cost per view)

Cost per view video advertising. Both Google and TubeMogul endorsed this standardized CPV metric to the IAB’s (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Digital Video Committee, and it’s garnering a notable amount of industry support.

e) Fixed cost

Fixed cost compensation means advertisers pay a fixed cost for delivery of ads online, usually over a specified time period, irrespective of the ad’s visibility or users’ response to it. One examples is CPD (cost per day) where advertisers pay a fixed cost for publishing an ad for a day irrespective of impressions served or clicks.

f) CPA (Cost Per Action or Cost Per Acquisition)

Also known as PPP (Pay Per Performance) advertising means the advertiser pays for the number of users who perform a desired activity, such as completing a purchase or filling out a registration form. Performance-based compensation can also incorporate revenue sharing, where publishers earn a percentage of the advertiser’s profits made as a result of the ad.

g) CPM ad- cost per thousand impression

In this system, you are paid based on the number of times your ad is displayed on a web page, regardless of whether anyone clicks on the ad. CPM ads are really good for blogs that have high page views but low click through rates. This is the scenario for most tech blogs as the tech savvy folks don’t usually click on ads.

Some of the popular and bigger CPM ad networks that I know of are: Casale Media, Burst Media, Value Click, Tribal Fusion, Right Media.

HANDY TIPS

Now that you know how bloggers make money, it is now your turn to know how to make money with your blog. You need to understand how to leverage the results. After all, it is easy to put an AdSense ads on your blog, but that does not miraculously make money for you; you need to know how to make the best out of it. To do this, I have listed below tips you should follow to ensure steady stream of income for you and your business. Check them out!
Have a professional platform for your blog
First of all, you need to have a blog on a professional platform, to manage it efficiently, ensuring maximum results. Some prefer Blogger, but none surpasses WordPress. Get a custom domain and maybe get hosting if you are still using the free hosted accounts i.e. blogger.com and wordpress.com
Produce Quality Content
Without content, a blog is useless. There is a common phrase on the internet that “Content is King” So write articles that really add value to the reader’s life. The higher the whim, the better the results!
Targeted Audience
Imagine you have a blog about football. It pays to have 1000 hits a day of hockey fans? No! The least important is the amount of visits; the quality of the audience is key.
The more targeted for your niche, the easier it will be to achieve the ideal audience for you. For example, instead of creating a blog on alcoholic drinks, consider choosing wine, beer or whiskey as niche as your conversion will be much higher from the sale of each product, for example.
Build a list of emails
“The money is in the list”. This is a very famous and very true sentence. Having a contact list of people who can buy your services or your product is the best way to make money. Lists work magic with affiliate marketing.
Have good relationship with the public
Finally, work out on relationships with people who are already your customers/readers. Have a Facebook page for your blog, a Twitter account and so on actually every blog should have its own Facebook page and twitter account.
The money will come as a result of the increase of the people trust in you! Raise your name and the blog, to earn even more money with your business, achieve financial independence and work from home or anywhere you want.
Start small
Keep your day job and build your blog on the side, particularly if you have a family to support. Once you gain traction and can confidently replace your income, launch out on your own.
Find a hole and fill it
You’ll significantly increase your chances of success if you meet a need for others instead of blogging as an outlet for yourself.
Change with the times
Blogging for money today is quite different than it was even 2 years ago. You must stay ahead of the curve. It means you’ll constantly need to be experimenting and branching out. Read a lot.
Experiment and take risks
I don’t think there is a business on earth that has as little risk or overhead as blogging (if you bootstrap it). For that reason, be bold. You’ve got very, very little to lose and so much to potentially gain.
And when you’re first starting out, risk more. You won’t have as many followers so you can work out the kinks early without the whole world watching.
Be observant
There is something to be said about putting your head down and getting to work. However, if you don’t occasionally glance up to see how you might need to adjust and grow, you’ll get left behind.
Diversify
It’s importance to keep finding new income streams, but the other piece of that is to keep them diverse. The internet changes constantly. That way, if one stream dries up (happens all the time in online business), you’ve still got the others.
Don’t just make an income, make a living
Consider passion, productivity and profit. Find the intersection of all three.
• If you are passionate about something and you can produce stuff but you aren’t making money, you have a hobby.
• If you produce stuff and you make money but you lack passion, you have a job.
• If you are passionate and are making money but you feel like it’s taking over your life to the detriment of your other responsibilities, you have an obsession.
Hobbies, jobs and even obsessions might not be totally bad, but try to adjust so you are passionate, productive and profitable. To me, that’s making a living.
Establish a blogging routine
Carve out regular time each day to focus on a few simple tasks (mostly creating great content). Learn to tune out the noise and do your thing.
Be yourself
There’s nothing new under the sun, that’s true. Everything online is just a repackaging of what already was there. However, there is no one that can repackage something in the way you can. Tap into your uniqueness.
Be memorable
Before you start a blog in a huge niche with a lot of blogs, be sure you have a concrete plan for standing out. A large niche is a good sign because it means there are a lot of readers in that niche, but for those starting out, it’ll be very difficult to compete with the blogs that have already established themselves. How will you make others take a second look?
Don’t forget about taxes
I realize I can’t speak for everyone in the world, but the income you make blogging should be reported on your taxes. My advice here is to keep good records from the beginning.
Work hard
If you want to make money blogging, especially a full-time income, you’ll never work harder in your life. But you’ll probably never have so much fun either. Go for it!

If you you have more ways and you’d love to share, please feel free to leave them on the comments section below.

Africa’s Modern Technological Marvels

Despite suffering through the horrific system of slavery & colonization, Africans made countless contributions to science and technology. This lineage and culture of achievement, though, emerged at least 40,000 years ago in Africa. Unfortunately, few of us are aware of these accomplishments, as the history of Africa, beyond ancient Egypt, is seldom publicized. Sadly, the vast majority of discussions on the origins of science include only the Greeks, Romans and other whites. But in fact most of their discoveries came thousands of years after African developments. While the remarkable black civilization in Egypt remains alluring, there was sophistication and impressive inventions throughout ancient sub-Saharan Africa as well. Modern math concepts (Eqypt), the calendar (Eqypt), advances in metallurgy and tool making (Tanzania), Architecture and engineering (Eqypt), Medicine (Eqypt) & Navigation are some of the technologies which have been traced back to Africa.

Africa has already shaken off the tag of the dark continent, it’s now regarded as the next and the last frontier for growth in the world. While some remain skeptical of the reality of this narrative, Africa is gaining momentum every year. With 7 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world and increasing direct foreign investments the future for Africa has never been brighter. Africa should no longer be seen as a charity case requiring endless handouts from superior Western economies.

Below is just highlight some of Africa’s lessor known modern scientific discoveries and contributions, of which there are MANY more… Kindly note while some may not be new inventions, it’s the first time they’ve been made in Africa and hence worth celebrating. They inventors clearly deserve credit for raising Africa’s profile on the map.

UGANDA
Hybrid Car-Kiira
A group of 25 Ugandan students from Makerere University’s College of Engineering, Art and Design have built Uganda’s first electric car, the Kiira EV. Initially designed in 2009, the fabricated car was taken for a public test drive last week. Most of the parts of the two-seater, including the core body and combustion system, were designed and built locally. Uganda also recently launched an improved version, dubbed KIIRA EV SMACK.

CAMEROON
Cardiopad
Arthur Zang, a 24 year-old Cameroonian engineer invented the Cardiopad, a touch screen medical tablet that enables heart examinations such as the electrocardiogram (ECG) to be performed at remote, rural locations while the results of the test are transferred wirelessly to specialists who can interpret them. The device spares African patients living in remote areas the trouble of having to travel to urban centers to seek medical examinations.

NIGERIA
Satellite
Nigeria successfully launched five Earth observation satellites to date which could be used to monitor weather in a region seasonally ravaged by disasters. NigComSat-1 was Africa’s first communication satellite. It was launched on 13 May 2007, aboard a Chinese Long March 3B carrier rocket, from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in China. It was switched off the following year for analysis and to avoid a possible collision with other satellites. It later failed in orbit after running out of power due to an anomaly in its solar array. Nigeria later successfully launched The NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X spacecraft were lofted into orbit aboard a Russian Dnepr rocket from a launch pad in the town of Yasny, southern Russia.

Nigeria collaborated with UK engineers on the project, and the satellites are being monitored from control stations in Guildford, UK, and Abuja in Nigeria.
Tablet
Saheed Adepoju is the Co-founder of Encipher Limited, a Nigerian-based technology company that introduced the first android-powered tablet into Nigeria. The INYE-1, which was unveiled in April 2010 is a 7-inch resistive screen tablet. It runs android 2.1 and allows users to connect to the internet using its inbuilt WIFI card and to use an external 3G modem from GSM networks. It offers about 3 hours of battery life and allows HDMI output to HDMI capable devices. INYE-2, which was unveiled in May 2011, is an 8-inch capacitive screen tablet. It runs Android 2.2 and allows users to connect to the internet using its inbuilt Wi-Fi card as well as its inbuilt SIM. It offers about 8 hours of battery life and allow users to connect to other USB devices.
Non-Electric Refigerator
Although he holds no patent on this invention, Mohammed Bah Abbah is credited with taking on the challenge of making accessible the “pot-in-pot refrigerator” or “zeer”, a refrigerating device that does not use electricity, to people in rural areas. He is a recipient of the Rolex Award for Enterprise, an award that provided $75,000 which Mohammed used to produce and distribute his invention in 11 northern states in Nigeria. Mohammed developed his pot-in-pot refrigerator by combining the knowledge he had gained from his grandmother’s craft of traditional pottery with simple laws of physics. He followed up on the idea by placing food in a small pot, which is then placed in a larger pot. The space between the two is filled with moist sand and a wet cloth cover is used to cover the whole set up. As the water in the moist sand evaporates through the larger pot, it carries heat away from the inner core of the whole set up.
Counter Collision Gadget
Automation has started to rule the world nowadays.Even though road safety measures and equipment are evolving for many decades it’s still not enough to protect many human lives from road accidents. Such was the inspiration that led The Nigerian inventor to invent a CCG. Brino Gilbert, won a trophy for being the best invention from Africa in the continental category at the May 2003 edition of the Invention and New Product Exposition (INPEX) in the United States for this invention.
Car-IVM

Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited founded by Nigerian industrialist, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, unveiled its new cars – IVM Umu, IVM Umu and IVM Uzo- manufactured at the company’s Nnewi plant in Anambra State, South east Nigeria. 70 percent of the parts used in building the cars were locally sourced, heralding the emergence of a local car manufacturing industry that will, in the nearest future, serve the region. Already, the company has disclosed it plans to take its brand to neighbours in West Africa, with the Republic of Benin and Ghana on its radar. The company had earlier impressed with its trucks and buses.

SOUTH AFRICA
The Cybertracker
The Cybertracker is a hand-held device that allows rangers to track animals in the field, by using the built-in GPS system and graphical interface. Because of the graphical interface, it is also possible for illiterate people to easily use this device. The Cybertracker, a modern South African invention, was the brainchild of Louis Liebenberg and Lindsay Stevenson.
The CAT Scanner
Dr Allan Macleod Cormack from Cape Town, South Africa, and Godfrey Hounsfield from the UK won a Nobel Physics Price in 1979 for his invention. The Computed Axial Tomography (CAT) scanner makes it possible to take three-dimensional X-rays of a human body in order to detect diseased tissue.

KENYA
DRONE

Kenyans have tried to pen their names in the history books of aviation by building their own kind of airplane. But many have not been successful in their endeavors. But the story is different for Moses Gichanga an IT specialist who literally innovated a pilotless plane. Moses Gichanga drone flies for up to two hours at a time. This drone has been proven to effectively deter poaching, and preserve Africa’s wildlife population. In fact, the United States uses Gichanga’s drone to monitor its borders. He now needs funding to launch his business operations, targeted at monitoring Africa’s wildlife reserves.
Car-Mobius

After the failure of Nyayo Pioneers cars, Kenya has now successfully launched car named Mobius, which is the cheapest retailing new vehicle in East Africa. Mobius Two omits many non-essential features while maintaining essential functionality. It has already been driven over 2,500 Kilometres around Kenya on varied terrain and proved its rugged capability. Mobius Motors hopes to succeed where many others have failed: designing, building and selling a product in Africa, which has long provided the raw materials to feed the world’s factories but struggled to create a manufacturing base at home.
CHARGING SHOES
Charging shoes is one invention that was developed by our very own Antony Mutua. This technology is applied to charge phones using power generated by pedestrians. The invention consists of a thin crystal chip that is fitted to the sole of the shoe.(It costs $46 to fit the chip to a shoe) As a person walks, electricity is generated through the pressure that is exerted on the sole during walking by the persons weight. The chip carries the current through an extension cable that extends to the phone in the pocket. One does not have to keep walking to charge the phone as the shoe can continue to charge it by releasing the stored energy after the shoe remains static. This way one can afford to walk without the wiring system and still be able to generate energy to be transferred to your mobile phone at a later time.
M-Pesa

M-Pesa (“M” for mobile, pesa is Swahili for money) is one of the most celebrated success stories in information and communication technologies. M-PESA is the world’s most successful money transfer service. It enables millions of people who have access to a mobile phone, but do not have or have only limited access to a bank account, to send and receive money, top-up airtime and make bill payments.. The idea of mobile banking was born in Kenya and although Africans did not invent mobile phones, but they invented a new way of using mobile phones, which is for money transfer. M-Pesa has a staggering 19 million registered customers of the 40 million population, with a quarter of the country’s economy flowing through the mobile-money service. M-Pesa is now being rolled out globally and already has a presence in countries such as Tanzania, South Africa, Fiji, India, Romania, Egypt, DRC, Mozambique, and Lesotho.
For more on Kenyan inventions follow this link

ZIMBABWE
Water Powered Engine
Engineer Jeremia Sundire,a Bachelor of Science degree in Agro-engineering from the University of Zimbabwe, invented a hydro engine powered by water & GOTn recognised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo) and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (Aripo). The invented the water-powered engine can generate electricity for domestic use using between 40 and 60 litres of water.

Mobile Phone
A Zimbabwean has also developed a mobile phone handsets brand called G-Telecoms (GTel) though its manufactured in China. Ironically, it has no presence in Zimbabwe. In Africa its present in Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique and Kenya.
GHANA
Engineless car
The brains behind this is Apostle Dr. Kwadwo Safo, owner of the Kantanka Group of Companies. He is naturally gifted. A genius. An inventor and a philanthropist. He has no formal or sophisticated technical background. He imagines, dreams and creates at will. He lives in his own world. The non-engine vehicle does not rely on a combustion engine to move, but an electric motor powered by rechargeable batteries. The batteries can be recharged with solar energy or electricity. As you drive the car on the road, it converts the energy from the sun into mechanical energy which powers the car.
Air Powered-Power Generating Equipment
While the world is skewed towards otherwise dangerous alternatives such as nuclear energy to generate power, Africa leads in eco-friendly alternatives, using water, urine, and air. A Ghanaian, Mr Freddie Green, has invented a power-generating equipment that produces electricity using compressed air. The inventor, a former Aircraft Engineer with the Ghana Air Force, has made other notable inventions and was nominated for the Black Inventors Award in 1988 and the Toshiba Year of Invention Award in 1989. He explained that his device could generate energy at a cheaper cost to meet domestic energy requirements such as energy source for cooking and lighting and powering air conditioners and computers. His system as he said is also capable of powering cars, boats and light aircraft, thereby eliminating the use of burning fuel. “With the conventional electric cars, batteries must be recharged at approximately 25 to 30 miles while this system does not need any battery recharging,” he explained. Apostle Dr. Kwadwo Safo is also currently building what might, be if successful, the first African chopper.

Mauritius
Mobile Phone-Mi-Fone
Alpesh Patel, a Ugandan-born entrepreneur, served as director of sales in Africa for Motorola before quitting the American telecommunications giant to launch Mi-Fone, the first African mobile phone brand. Mi-Fone was launched in April 2008, and the company produces mobile phones for the mass market, ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ African consumer. The company manufactures affordable, innovative handsets.

The Mauritius-headquartered tech company has footprints in 17 countries in Africa today and sold over 1.5 million handsets across Africa. Patel recently announced plans to build a $30 million manufacturing facility in Nigeria. It’s also interesting to note that this might have been a Ugandan device were it not for Idd Amin regime which ordered Asians out of the country.

Adolf Hitler’s Human Experiments

Ever since the beginning of time, evil has existed. History is full with tales of wicked people who’ve committed unspeakable crimes, even children. Hitler is the most-widely known mass murderer and dictator to ever live. If you aren’t aware of the crimes against humanity he committed, then the crimes I’m about to tell you will shock you. Hitler is probably the most evil person history has ever seen. Hitler said he’d kill his own father is asked to do so.

Adolf Hitler was the Austrian-born politician and the leader of the Nazi Party. Hitler was at the center of Nazi Germany war policy, including creating and over seeing the Holocaust. In total, Hitler was directly responsible for the death of up to 11 million people but, due to his actions, he cause the death of over 50 million people during WWII.

Hitler was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to his death in 1945 (he committed suicide by gunshot and cyanide poisoning). Before he gained power, he wanted to be an artist, but he failed. Then he decided that he wanted to be a member of the German army, he became solder in World War I. When the German army surrendered, Hitler escaped and returned to Germany. He believed that Germany lost because they had surrendered, and it made him bitter. He then turned his attention to the Jews. He believed that the Jews were the cause Germany’s problems and he also believed that the Jews did not count as human beings. His plans were to eliminate every Jew in Europe and to gain world control.

Before the war, the Nazis considered mass deportation of German (and subsequently the European) Jewry from Europe. Palestine was the only location to which any Nazi relocation plan succeeded in producing significant results, via an agreement begun in 1933 between the Zionist Federation of Germany and the Nazi government, the Haavara Agreement. This agreement resulted in the transfer of about 60,000 German Jews and $100 million from Germany to Palestine, up until the outbreak of World War II, who later curved out the modern Israel. Note many fleeing Jewish refugees were refused entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, and their ships forced to return to Europe

                                                           The Human Experiments

Experiments on twins
Experiments on twin children in concentration camps were created to show the similarities and differences in the genetics of twins, as well as to see if the human body can be unnaturally manipulated. The central leader of the experiments was Josef Mengele, who from 1943 to 1944 performed experiments on nearly 1,500 sets of imprisoned twins at Auschwitz. About 200 people survived these studies. The twins were arranged by age and sex and kept in barracks between experiments, which ranged from injection of different dyes into the eyes of twins to see whether it would change their color to sewing twins together in attempts to create conjoined twins.

Bone, muscle, and nerve transplantation experiments
From about September 1942 to about December 1943 experiments were conducted at the Ravensbrück concentration camp, for the benefit of the German Armed Forces, to study bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration, and bone transplantation from one person to another. Sections of bones, muscles, and nerves were removed from the subjects without use of anesthesia. As a result of these operations, many victims suffered intense agony, mutilation, and permanent disability.

Head injury experiments
In mid-1942 in Baranowicze, occupied Poland, experiments were conducted in a small building behind the private home occupied by a known Nazi SD Security Service officer, in which “a young boy of eleven or twelve was strapped to a chair so he could not move. Above him was a mechanized hammer that every few seconds came down upon his head.” The boy was driven insane from the torture.

Freezing experiments
The freezing/hypothermia experiments were conducted for the Nazi high command to simulate the conditions the armies suffered on the Eastern Front, as the German forces were ill-prepared for the cold weather they encountered. Many experiments were conducted on captured Russian troops; the Nazis wondered whether their genetics gave them superior resistance to cold.

In 1941, the Luftwaffe conducted experiments with the intent of discovering means to prevent and treat hypothermia. There were 360 to 400 experiments and 280 to 300 victims indicating some victims suffered more than one experiment. Another study placed prisoners naked in the open air for several hours with temperatures as low as −6 °C (21 °F). Besides studying the physical effects of cold exposure, the experimenters also assessed different methods of rewarming survivors. One assistant later testified that some victims were thrown into boiling water for rewarming.

Malaria experiments
From about February 1942 to about April 1945, experiments were conducted at the Dachau concentration camp in order to investigate immunization for treatment of malaria. Healthy inmates were infected by mosquitoes or by injections of extracts of the mucous glands of female mosquitoes. After contracting the disease, the subjects were treated with various drugs to test their relative efficiency. Over 1,000 people were used in these experiments and more than half died as a result.

Immunization experiments
At the German concentration camps of Sachsenhausen, Dachau, Natzweiler, Buchenwald, and Neuengamme, scientists tested immunization compounds and serums for the prevention and treatment of contagious diseases, including malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, yellow fever, and infectious hepatitis.

Mustard gas experiments
At various times between September 1939 and April 1945, many experiments were conducted in some camps to investigate the most effective treatment of wounds caused by mustard gas. Test subjects were deliberately exposed to mustard gas and other vesicants (e.g. Lewisite) which inflicted severe chemical burns. The victims’ wounds were then tested to find the most effective treatment for the mustard gas burns.

At the extermination camps with gas chambers all the prisoners arrived by train. Sometimes entire trainloads were sent straight to the gas chambers, but usually the camp doctor on duty subjected individuals to selections, where a small percentage were deemed fit to work in the slave labor camps; the majority were taken directly from the platforms to a reception area where all their clothes and other possessions were seized by the Nazis to help fund the war. They were then herded naked into the gas chambers. Usually they were told these were showers or delousing chambers, and there were signs outside saying “baths” and “sauna.” They were sometimes given a small piece of soap and a towel so as to avoid panic, and were told to remember where they had put their belongings for the same reason. When they asked for water because they were thirsty after the long journey in the cattle trains, they were told to hurry up, because coffee was waiting for them in the camp, and it was getting cold.

Jewish mass grave

Sulfonamide experiments
From about July 1942 to about September 1943, experiments to investigate the effectiveness of sulfonamide, a synthetic antimicrobial agent, were conducted at Ravensbrück. Wounds inflicted on the subjects were infected with bacteria such as Streptococcus, Clostridium perfringens (the causative agent in gas gangrene) and Clostridium tetani, the causative agent in tetanus. Circulation of blood was interrupted by tying off blood vessels at both ends of the wound to create a condition similar to that of a battlefield wound. Infection was aggravated by forcing wood shavings and ground glass into the wounds. The infection was treated with sulfonamide and other drugs to determine their effectiveness.

Sea water experiments
From about July 1944 to about September 1944, experiments were conducted at the Dachau concentration camp to study various methods of making sea water drinkable. At one point, a group of roughly 90 Roma were deprived of food and given nothing but sea water to drink, leaving them gravely injured. They were so dehydrated that others observed them licking freshly mopped floors in an attempt to get drinkable water.

Sterilization experiments
The Law for the Prevention of Genetically Defective Progeny was passed on 14 July 1933, which legalized the involuntary sterilization of persons with diseases claimed to be hereditary: weak-mindedness, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse, insanity, blindness, deafness, and physical deformities. The purpose of these experiments was to develop a method of sterilization which would be suitable for sterilizing millions of people with a minimum of time and effort. These experiments were conducted by means of X-ray, surgery and various drugs. Specific amounts of exposure to radiation destroyed a person’s ability to produce ova or sperm. The radiation was administered through deception. Prisoners were brought into a room and asked to complete forms, which took two to three minutes. In this time, the radiation treatment was administered and, unknown to the prisoners, they were rendered completely sterile. Many suffered severe radiation burns.

Experiments with poison
Somewhere between December 1943 and October 1944, experiments were conducted at Buchenwald to investigate the effect of various poisons. The poisons were secretly administered to experimental subjects in their food. The victims died as a result of the poison or were killed immediately in order to permit autopsies. In September 1944, experimental subjects were shot with poisonous bullets, suffered torture and often died.

Incendiary bomb experiments
From around November 1943 to around January 1944, experiments were conducted at Buchenwald to test the effect of various pharmaceutical preparations on phosphorus burns. These burns were inflicted on prisoners using phosphorus material extracted from incendiary bombs.

High altitude experiments
In early 1942, prisoners at Dachau concentration camp were used in experiments to aid German pilots who had to eject at high altitudes. A low-pressure chamber containing these prisoners was used to simulate conditions at altitudes of up to 20,000 m (66,000 ft). It was rumored that they performed vivisections on the brains of victims who survived the initial experiment. Of the 200 subjects, 80 died outright, and the others were executed