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Birthdays are fun, you get presents, cake and a birthday message from that one guy from high school that you never actually spoke to in person but for some reason added you. But do you know what's not fun? When people feel the need to sing happy birthday to you even when you plead with them not to. The happy birthday song is the most frequently sung song in the world and yet I've never met anyone who enjoys having it sung to them.The main reason why it's so awkward is that you don't really know how to react to people singing it to you, so most people just sit there with their shoulders tensed and a stiff smile waiting for the torture to end. But it doesn't need to be like this, here are a few things you can do to ease your embarrassment. 1. Creepily stare at everyoneThis may not ease the awkwardness, but it may put some people off enough for them to stop singing. 2. Sing alongIt's your birthday, you can sing to yourself if you want to. This is a great way of relieving the shame you feel while transferring it to everyone else. 3. Pretend to be Simon CowellPretend that you're concentrated very hard while they're singing, and then when they're done tell them how out of tune they were. If you're mean enough they'll never sing happy birthday to you again. 4. Ignore them and start eating the cakeEat away the pain as you continue to use food as an escape instead of confronting your problems. 5. Leave the countryAs soon as they open their mouths just get up and head for the nearest airport. Pick a destination, change your identity and never look back.

#humour #funny #birthday

A few weeks ago, I got a bunch of old clock parts. I've always loved the steampunky look of art made from clock parts so I decided to make some for myself. Here are my first attempts: A steampunk chameleon- I couldn't decide what to make first, but then one of the parts I have reminded me of a chameleon's head, so I just ran with that idea. Hopefully, it looks enough like a chameleon for people to at least know what it's meant to be. Clock under construction- For this one I wanted it to look like a clock was being built by tiny men. It's difficult to see in a photo, but here's another photo of it with the glass removed:

I've finally done it. After 3 months I've completed the 20 sphere challenge. If you don't know by now, at the end of last year I decided to write a post in every sphere of interest offered by Niume. It has been incredibly challenging (the word "challenge" is in the name, after all,) but I'm glad I did it. I learnt a lot about topics that I previously knew nothing about.I was surprised at what I'm capable of writing about when I put some effort into it. I'm my own worst critic, so I wasn't entirely satisfied with a lot of the posts I made, but I'm happy to say that most of my posts were well received by those who read them.My most viewed post that I made during this challenge was "Powerful quotes from C.S. Lewis" in the literature sphere. My most hyped post was "Chameleons in the garden" in the photography section. Unfortunately, views and hype don't really mean much, those with a lot of influence in a sphere are capable of giving a lot of hype (So you can have several hundred hype on a post but only 3 or 4 people actually liked it). Niume's view counting system has also changed. For a view to count, the reader has to spend several minutes on the page. I suppose this encourages writers to make longer posts, so maybe if I drag this post out as long as possible you'll stay long enough for it to register as a view. If I just keep writing like I'm writing now, you might stay long enough for me to get that precious fraction of a cent for your view, I need the money, so please keep reading this... I'm just kidding, I don't care about the views and I certainly don't care about the money.But now I've gone off topic, back to the 20 Sphere Challenge. Although I enjoyed doing it, I'm glad it's over. I've had a lot of ideas for posts, but I've refrained from writing about them because they didn't fit into any of the spheres I hadn't done yet. I also left a lot of the spheres I'm less interested in until the end, which made writing less of a hobby and more of a chore, as I was determined to finish the challenge.Thank you to everyone who read, commented on, hyped and shared my posts during this challenge, it means a lot to me. I will now resume writing about whatever pops into my head.

#niume #challenge #complete

Music without lyrics is still music, but lyrics without music is poetry. There are many songs without any words that are still capable of tapping into our emotions. When it comes to what defines a song as a song, music is definitely more important than lyrics.But when I ask which is more important, what I mean is: Would you rather listen to a song with simple music but really deep lyrics or a song with a really catchy tune but very simple lyrics?For me, lyrics are very important, I can't listen to a song without listening to the lyrics. I can't stand songs with cheesy lyrics and cheap rhymes, no matter how catchy the music is. That being said, because I pay so much attention to lyrics, I find it difficult to listen to music with a lot of words while trying to do something else at the same time. So when I'm listening to music for the sake of listening to music, I prefer deep lyrics, with lots of verses and minimal repetition, but when I'm busy doing something else (like working or driving) with music in the background, I prefer more instrumental music with less singing that's just there to lift my mood and make me feel happy.Of course, the best songs are those with beautiful music and lyrics together, it's difficult to find such songs, but they're out there just waiting to be discovered, that's why it's important to go out and search for music that speaks to you, rather than just listening to what's on the radio.

Before I reveal the most valuable company of all time, maybe you'd like to guess what it is?Is it Apple? Nope!Google? Wrong!Coca-Cola? Nuh-uh!The most valuable company to ever exist was worth significantly more than all 3 of these companies combined. The most valuable company in history is The Dutch East India Company (Also known as the VOC). During its prime (In the 17th and 18th Century), the VOC was worth over $7 Trillion in today's money. To put that in perspective; Apple is currently worth around 500 Billion, the VOC was worth 14 times more than Apple. The VOC made its money by dominating trade between Asia and Europe during the 17th and 18th century. Asian spices, silk and other goods were in high demand in Europe, the VOC capitalised on this demand by buying the goods cheaply in Asia and selling them for a huge profit in Europe.The VOC's value began to decline towards the end of the 18th century for several reasons. Primarily because the political and economic environment changed in Asia and they could no longer buy goods as cheaply.Sources:https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/when-adjusted-for-inflation-its-highest-market-capitalization-would-be-worth-over-7-trillion-today-15654/http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/12/investing/apple-google-alphabet-most-valuable/

#history #valuable #record

Have you ever noticed that the temperature of urban areas tends to be a few degrees higher than less built up areas? This is called an urban heat island, and it's caused by a number of factors.The building materials in urban areas tend to have a lower heat capacity than soil and plants. Materials such as concrete heat up more quickly than soil, which warms the air around it. The dark surface of urban areas also have lower reflectivity, so they absorb more sunlight and get hotter. Urban heat islands are most noticeable during the night, as man-made surfaces take longer to cool down.The temperature is increased even further by buildings that act as windbreakers, without the wind to distribute the warm air, the area stays hotter for longer. Because of the higher temperatures, people tend to use air conditioning more often, but this furthers the problem because air conditioners generate heat.Urban heat islands are becoming a serious concern, with cases of heat stroke and heat exhaustion on the rise, but there are ways to reduce the effects of Urban heat islands. These include using lighter, more reflective surfaces for building (eg. white roofs) and by planting more vegetation in urban areas (eg. planting more trees and using "green roofs," which can be used to grow plants.)Sources:https://www.epa.gov/heat-islands http://www.urbanheatislands.com/http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-08/what-urban-heat-island-looks

#climate #city #urban #temperature

Nothing beats seeing wild animals in their natural habitat. A herd of impala thundering through the grasslands, a leopard carrying its kill into the tree tops, a baby giraffe taking its first steps, a family of elephants drinking at the waterhole - all of this and much more can be seen at Kruger National Park. Kruger National Park is one of the largest nature reserves in Africa. The park covers an area of almost 20 000 square kilometres (Roughly the same size as Israel). The public can access a lot of the park through the roads that run through it, but much of the park is inaccessible, and therefore undisturbed by human activity. Kruger National Park is one of South Africa's greatest tourist attractions, with over 1.5 million people visiting the park every year.The animals found at Kruger includes all of the big 5, cheetahs, wild dogs, hyenas, zebras, hippos, giraffes, Nile crocodiles. warthogs and 19 different species of buck/antelopes. Its majestic landscapes and diverse fauna and flora make Kruger National park a must visit for all nature lovers. Sources:http://traveller24.news24.com/News/Day-visitor-numbers-to-Kruger-on-the-rise-20150527http://www.thekruger.com/stories/censusanimalcount.htmPictures from: Our family trip to Kruger Park a few years ago.

#wildlife #nature #kruger national park

At the end of last year, I challenged myself to post at least once in every Niume sphere of interest. You can read more about it in my original post here: https://niume.com/post/19491.Since my last update, I've posted in another 5 spheres: Fashion, Photography, Food, Art and Technology.Fashion was the sphere I've been dreading the most. I usually just wear shorts and a t-shirt. for me. formal attire is wearing a shirt with buttons, so I don't feel qualified to give people fashion advice. I am a bit of a geek, so I wrote an article about clothing items that geeks would appreciate. The post was well received and I'm glad to have Fashion of the way.I have a lot of Dwarf Chameleons living in my garden, so for Photography I took some pictures of a cute little baby one. The little guy was so photogenic that even with my lack of photographic prowess, the pictures turned out pretty well.Food was another topic I found difficult to write about. I thought about the foods that I enjoyed eating, and ostrich meat immediately came to mind because it's delicious, healthy and exotic to non-Africans.For Art, I wrote about some of the artwork stolen by Nazis during the Third Reich. Stealing artwork was by no means the evilest thing done the Nazis, but many of them were never recovered, a tragic loss for the art world.I recently got a new graphics card, so for Technology I simply did a graphics card review.I have now written in 16 of the 20 spheres. With only 4 to go, I'm confident I can finish this challenge soon.

I've been using the same graphics card for the last 5 years: An MSI R6770. It wasn't pretty, and it didn't make games look pretty. It has served me well, but it was finally getting too old to run the games and programs I wanted it to, so it was time to upgrade. I didn't have a very big budget, so when I found the GTX960 OC on sale at half price I jumped at the opportunity.The 960 has gone above and beyond my expectations, it is a great feeling being able to go back to the games that I had previously played on minimum settings and maxing out everything while still getting a solid 60 frames per second. I can even record my gameplay at 60 fps, which would have previously started a small fire inside my PC's case. Because it's the overclock edition, it has 2 fans and a water cooling system, so hopefully overheating will no longer be an issue.For anyone who wants to play all the latest games but has a tight budget, I'd definitely recommend the GTX960 OC. There are plenty of GPUs that are better than the 960, but in terms of value for money, it's worth considering if you're in need of an upgrade.

Hitler considered himself to be an art connoisseur. He especially appreciated classical landscapes and portraits but despised modern art such as cubism and futurism. During the Third Reich, Hitler had a plan to build a massive museum of European art. In order to fill this gallery, paintings were stolen from Jewish families as well as from countries annexed by Nazi Germany. After the Second world war ended, many of the paintings were recovered and returned to their rightful owners, but hundreds have never been recovered. Including the following: Portrait of a young man (Raphael 1513)This classical renaissance painting was stolen from a Polish family's private collection and was displayed in Hitler's Fuhrer Museum in 1939. It disappeared after the war, there are many rumours about where it could be, but none can be verified. Portrait of Trude Steiner (Klimt 1900)A portrait of Jenny Steiner's daughter. Jenny Steiner was a Viennese art collector. The portrait was seized by the Nazis after the Steiner family fled Austria in 1938. The painting was sold privately in 1941 and has not been seen since. An Angel with Titus' Features (Rembrandt, date unknown)Was taken from a Chateau in the French countryside in 1943. The Nazis took it to Paris to be set aside for the Fuhrer museum, but after the war, it was never found. The Boulevard Montmartre, Twilight (Pissarro, 1897)Was taken from a private collection and then sold through a Swiss art dealer in 1941. It has shown up several times since the end of the war, but its current whereabouts are unknown.Some of these pieces may have been destroyed and lost forever, but there's always hope that they will one day be found and enjoyed by the art world once again.Source: https://www.warhistoryonline.com

#art #paintings #nazi germany #history

You'd think that since Ostriches are birds, they would have white meat, similar to that of a chicken. You'd think wrong, they actually have dark red meat that looks and tastes similar to beef.Ostrich meat is sometimes referred to as a 'super food,' because it has less fat and cholesterol than not only beef but also most white meats (like chicken and turkey), making it ideal for dieters who want to eat food that actually tastes good. It's also high in iron, perfect for those with an active lifestyle. Ostrich comes in similar cuts to beef, including roasts, steaks and fillets. This makes it easy to substitute into traditionally beef dishes. Ostrich meat not only benefits your body but also the environment. Ostriches require less land to graze on than cattle, and they also produce less CO2 emissions (ie: they fart less than cows)It can be difficult to find (Unless, like me, you live in Africa), but it can be purchased online in almost any country. Finding ostrich meat may become easier in the future, as more people learn about the health benefits of this super food. Sourceshttp://www.fitfoodhealth.com/ostrich-is-one-of-the-healthiest-meats-ever/http://www.livelean.co.za/ostrich-meat-and-its-health-benefits

#food #beef #ostrich #healthy

Natal Dwarf Chameleons live in only a small section of the Midlands area of the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal. This makes them fairly rare, but I'm privileged enough to have dozens of them living in my garden. Here are a few pictures of a baby chameleon I found in one of our Rose bushes. Isn't it cute? This little guy looks to be only a few weeks old. When it's fully grown it'll be about 7.5 cm (3 Inches) Natal Dwarf Chameleons are ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs hatch inside the mother's body and they give birth to live young. And here you can see how tiny it really is. And no, I do not have girly hands, that's my sister's hand. They don't really mind being picked up, as long as you don't hurt them. If they do get stressed out they become very dark, almost black in colour.

#wildlife #cute #chameleon #southafrica

Who says geeks can't look good? Here are a few items to show off your inner geek to the world. Assassin's Creed hoodie- Inspired by the video game series. Although not an exact match to any of the hoodies you'll find in the Assassin's creed games, it's fashionable design will make you the envy of assassins and templars alike. Lords of the rings necklace- Modelled after Arwen's evenstar necklace in the movies. Yes, I know it wasn't in the books, but it's still a beautiful piece of jewellery. Ash Ketchum hat- Be the very best Pokemon trainer that there ever was while protecting your face from the harsh midday sun. Batman Watch- The watch you deserve, but not the watch you need right now. Or is it the watch you need, but don't deserve right now? This timepiece was created to celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary. R2-D2 ring- The price is strong with this one, this Star Wars inspired ring is handmade with white gold and precious stones. Ster Trek Polo shirts- Each shirt has the Delta logo embroidered on the left breast. Red shirts not recommended. All the items mentioned can be found in the links below. Please note that I am not affiliated with anyone selling these items, I just thought they were cool. https://geekhoodies.com/collections/frontpage/products/assassins-creed-enhanced-2017-editionhttps://www.lotrjewelry.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1https://www.amazon.com/Pokemon-Ketchum-Unisex-adult-Trucker-One-size/dp/B00G76C91Ehttps://www.superherowatches.com/collections/dc-comics/products/75-years-of-batman-mens-watch-comic-book-history-inspired-logo-bat7002https://www.custommade.com/r2-impressions-in-14-karat-white-gold/by/paulmichaeldesign/http://shop.startrek.com/star-trek-uniform-polo-shirts/detail.php?p=453571&v=startrek_shop-by-category_costumes

In case you didn't already know. I've challenged myself to post at least once in all 20 of Niume's spheres of interest. You can read more about it in my original post here: https://niume.com/post/19491.Since my last update, I've posted articles in four more spheres, namely Architecture, Movies, Literature and News.Architecture was always going to be a challenge for me, I'm no architectural expert but even I can appreciate the beauty and design of the Moses Mabhida stadium, so I decided to write about it.For the Movies sphere, I wrote about one of my favourite movies of all time: The Party. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has a deep appreciation for visual comedy.For Literature, I wrote about one of my favourite writers: CS Lewis. I wrote briefly about Lewis' life and achievements, but the main purpose of my post was to share some of my favourite quotes from him.For News, I wrote a comedic/satirical piece on how Russian hackers are being blamed for increasingly more absurd actions against the west. Political posts are always going to be controversial but I tried to keep it light-hearted.I've now passed the halfway mark, having written in 11 of the 20 spheres. It's been fun so far, I've learnt a lot and I've challenged myself as a writer. There is still many trials to come but I'm looking forward to it.

#challenge #niume #blog #20spherechallenge

Those no-good, dirty Commies are at it again. They hacked the US election to make Donald Trump win, and now according to Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, they hacked Britain's referendum to leave the EU too.Bradshaw was addressing the House of Commons when he stated that Russian hackers 'probably' influenced the outcome of Brexit, although he admitted that he had no evidence to back up this claim. Bradshaw also blamed Russia for the flood of Syrian refugees coming into Europe. That sounds about right, those naughty Reds must have hacked Angela Merkel's brain when she allowed over 1 million refugees to come into Germany. No one in their right mind would let all those people into their country without checking that they are actual refugees from Syria and ensuring there aren't any terrorists amongst them.Those crafty Russians are so good at hacking that they don't even leave any evidence of their misdeeds. The FBI couldn't produce any evidence, the CIA couldn't produce any evidence and Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, even said that the source of the DNC leak was not from Russia or from any government for that matter. But we're on to you Putin, we know that you hacked Assange's brain too. Hillary says it was the Russians, she never lies and you're a bigot if you say otherwise. Sources:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4029342/Russian-hackers-probably-fixed-EU-referendum-vote-Brexit-says-Remoaner-MP-Ben-Bradshaw.htmlhttps://www.cnet.com/news/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-calls-russia-hacking-report-embarrassing/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-06/germany-says-about-1-1-million-asylum-seekers-arrived-in-2015

C.S. Lewis is best known today for the Chronicles of Narnia series of books, but apart from being an author he was also a renown poet, theologist and lecturer who held academic positions at both Oxford and Cambridge University. He was close friends with J.R.R. Tolkien (Author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy), both of them were faculty members at the Department of English at Oxford University. In fact, it was partly because of the influence of Tolkien that Lewis became a Christian (He had previously been agnostic). Lewis' faith greatly influenced his work, and I, as a Christian, have found his words to be inspiring. Here are a few of my favourite C.S. Lewis quotes:"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither." -Mere Christianity (1952)"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." -The Problem of Pain (1940)"When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you'd been the only man in the world. " -Mere Christianity (1952)"Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.” -Stories: And Other Essays on Literature (1966)"When you are arguing against God you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all." -Mere Christianity (1952)"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you." -Essays on Forgiveness (1960)"The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God." -Mere Christianity (1952)

#cslewis #faith #christianity #quotes

When film lovers think of the legendary director/producer/screenwriter Blake Edwards, they tend to think of Breakfast at Tiffany's. The opening scene with Audrey Hepburn standing outside of Tiffany & Co in her black dress and tiara is one of the most iconic scenes in film history.Blake Edwards is also well known for directing, producing and writing the Pink Panther series of movies. The series revolves around the bungling french detective inspector Clouseau, played by the legendary comedic actor Peter Sellers. But another classic Edwards comedy that is often overlooked is The Party. The Party also stars Peter Sellers (It was the only non-Pink Panther collaboration that Edwards and Sellers ever did together), but this time instead of playing a french detective, Sellers played an Indian actor. Now, I know what you're thinking: "That's racist! You can't have an English actor playing an Indian man!" But the film doesn't rely on stereotypes to get laughs, most of the humour is visual. In fact, the film was well received in India during its time of release. The late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was a huge fan of The Party, and would often quote the line "In India, we don't think who we are, we know who we are!", which is said by Peter Sellers' character when he's angrily asked: "Who do you think you are?"The plot for The Party is fairly simple; basically, Sellers' character (Hrundi V. Bakshi) is playing a small role in a Hollywood epic, but after a number of mishaps he is fired from the set. However, Bakshi's name is accidently written on the studio head's guest list for his wife's upcoming house party. Bakshi receives an invitation and comes to the party, the rest of the movie is just basically a series of comedic scenes that take place during the party. The Party was a highly experimental film, Edwards gave Sellers and all the other actors a lot of freedom to improvise many of the scenes, making it one of the truly unique comedies to come out of Hollywood. This freedom allowed Sellers to show his full range of improvisational comedy skills, making for a hilariously brilliant film that still has a cult following to this day.

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