"I am one of the countless millions who drew inspiration from Nelson Mandelas life," Mr Obama said.
"He did it all with grace, good humour and ability to acknowledge his own imperfections only makes his achievements more remarkable.
"As long as I live I will do what I can to learn from him."
South African president Jacob Zuma announced this morning that Mandela died on Thursday night local time.
He says their nation has lost its greatest son and flags across the nation will be lowered to half mast.

Mandela has been receiving around the clock intensive care from military and other doctors since September, when he was discharged from a stay of almost three months in hospital for a lung infection.
In a televised address, Zuma said: "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.
"What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves."
"He is now resting," Zuma said.
Flags across the nation will be lowered to half mast, he said.
Mandela had been receiving around the clock intensive care from military and other doctors since September, when he was discharged from a nearly three month hospital stay for a lung infection.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has this morning described Mandela as one of the great figures of Africa and of the last century.
"Nelson Mandela was one of the great figures of Africa, arguably one of the great figures of the last century," Mr Abbott told Fairfax radio.
He was the father of modern South Africa, he said.
"A truly great man.
"And while I never met him I did read that book A Long Walk To Freedom and I guess the impression we get of Nelson Mandela is someone who suffered but was not embittered but ennobled through that suffering."
Mandela was elected South Africas first black president after spending nearly three decades in prison.
Mandela, once a boxer, had a long history of lung problems after contracting tuberculosis while in jail on Robben Island.
His extraordinary life story, quirky sense of humour and lack of bitterness towards his former oppressors ensured global appeal for the charismatic leader.
Once considered a terrorist by the United States and Britain for his support of violence against the apartheid regime, at the time of his death he was an almost unimpeachable moral icon.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent 27 years behind bars before being freed in 1990 to lead the African National Congress (ANC) in negotiations with the white minority rulers which culminated in the first multi-racial elections in 1994.
A victorious Mandela served a single term as president before taking up a new role as a roving elder statesman and leading AIDS campaigner before finally retiring from public life in 2004.
"When he emerged from prison people discovered that he was all the things they had hoped for and more," fellow Nobel Peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said.
"He is by far the most admired and revered statesperson in the world and one of the greatest human beings to walk this earth."
He was a global cause celebre during the long apartheid years, and popular pressure led world leaders to tighten sanctions imposed on South Africas racist white minority regime.
In 1988 at a concert in Wembley stadium in London, tens of thousands sang "Free Nelson Mandela" as millions more watched on their television sets across the world

instagram.com/p/hhqepGobKK/#myurbanfarm





instagram.com/p/hhxDUoqhbv/#hanabk





instagram.com/p/hg0Sd6I2sU/#yellowoaktree





instagram.com/p/hhmL8fH7Z6/#rtwpittsburgh





instagram.com/p/hjs5rYObiT/#juleahkaliski





instagram.com/p/hhepeIjFfW/#melmakesup





instagram.com/p/hiDtWFy0Np/#kt_nestor





instagram.com/p/hjcPtkKthG/#kittycatemeow





instagram.com/p/hjp5e9SW1f/#raquelsaraswati

Celebrating Hannukah on Instagram

To see more photos and videos from Hannukah celebrations around the world, browse the #Hannukah, #Chanukah, #dreidel and #menorah hashtags.

Over the past eight days, Jews across the world have come together with family and friends to celebrate Hannukah, the festival of lights.

Hannukah, also spelled Chanukah, begins on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev, causing the timing of the holiday to vary each year between late November and late December. The festival commemorates the Maccabee rebellion of 167 BCE, when a Jewish group regained control of their Temple in Jerusalem after it had been occupied by Syrian-Greek soldiers. They set out to burn ritual oil in the Temple’s menorah for eight days to purify the holy space, but found there was only enough oil left to burn for one day. As the story goes, however, the oil miraculously burned for the full eight days.

Now, Jews celebrating Hannukah come together at sunset to light candles in their own menorahs—one a night for eight nights in memory of the ancient miracle. Other Hannukah traditions involve spinning the dreidel—a traditional children’s game—and eating fried potato pancakes called latkes.

by via Instagram Blog

instagram.com/p/hbYp8gSZmf/#jessaworks





instagram.com/p/hT-WYExudK/#sinned2545





instagram.com/p/hWcd9gjDW5/#johnhornaday





instagram.com/p/hY--mtq4Jb/#aloracaraglio





instagram.com/p/hEaTbOhEOo/#bittysmith





instagram.com/p/hZwpbSuUT4/#lunevintage





instagram.com/p/hUeulNRwFk/#amyellenblair





instagram.com/p/hY1HrlKz4v/#elf_girl





instagram.com/p/hZB89jgeqw/#thetypologist

Hunting for the Perfect Christmas Tree

Want to see photos and videos of amazing Christmas trees from around the world? Be sure to visit the Parque Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Trafalgar Square, Vilnius, Hansaplatz and 30 Rockefeller Plaza location pages.

It’s officially December, which means Christmas trees will start popping up in living rooms around the world. The tradition of bringing a Christmas tree into the home can be traced back to 15h-century Germany, and the custom spread throughout the globe in the second half of the 1800s. Today, around 35 million Christmas trees are grown in America each year and 50 to 60 million are produced in Europe.

Historically, Christmas trees were almost exclusively harvested from wild forests. Now almost all trees are grown on commercial tree farms where they are cut after about 10 years of growth. Many Instagrammers around the world visited both farms and forests to find the perfect tree and shared their search on Instagram.

by via Instagram Blog