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Sunday, 01 March 2020 05:15

War of words as Nigerian English gets Oxford recognition

Nigerian English words have recently been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), but there is still a debate in the country about what constitutes proper English, as the BBC's Nduka Orjinmo writes from Lagos. "Come to an all-night prayer vigil to welcome the ember months," read a text from my mother. It was an August ritual she had reminded me about severally. "I have something to do next tomorrow," I texted back from the barbing salon. "You sef," came her instant reply, half-irritated, half-rebuking. What I considered to be a conversation in perfect English between my mother and me…

Sunday, 01 March 2020 05:10

Those who abandon faith are more likely to fall or feel ill, report finds

It found atheists were significantly less likely to think they are in good health than people of faith. Non-believers were twice as likely to be smokers than those who practice a religion, which may contribute to their overall worse condition. Roughly one in five atheists smokes compared to one in 10 Christians and Muslims, according to the report from the Office for National Statistics. And non-believers are more likely to drink alcohol than followers of certain religions, such as Islam which outright bans it, or Sikhism and Hinduism which discourage it. It wasn't just physical health that religious people scored…

Sunday, 01 March 2020 05:08

Laughter is the sign of a strong team — and a trustworthy leader

Bruce Daisley was previously Twitter's most senior employee outside of the United States in his role of vice president across Europe, Middle East, and Africa; he joined the company in 2012 having previously run YouTube UK at Google. The following is an excerpt from his new book, "Eat Sleep Work Repeat: 30 Hacks for Bringing Joy to Your Job." Research shows that laughter can build trust, build bonds, and, as creative guards come down, lead to better ideas. Find something that works for your team, like a social gathering, and stick with it. I once had a boss who had…

Sunday, 01 March 2020 05:07

What is burnout? The symptoms that are your body's cry for help

If you don’t recognize the warning signs of burnout, it and its effects will continue. When the stress of life becomes too much, it can lead to burnout, which is detrimental to your health. What is burnout? Although not a clinical diagnosis, burnout is a phrase describing long-term exhaustion, coupled with a lack of desire, interest, or motivation. If you are burned out and exhausted, you feel tired and cynical. You are usually less effective at your job or task at hand. Burnout is common among professionals. Moreover, it can be a dangerous way to ply your trade. No one…

Saturday, 29 February 2020 05:20

Want to become more persuasive? Try these 3 strategies to win people over

It's not easy to win people over. Whether you're pitching to a skeptical investor, negotiating with a tough client, or sharing feedback with your team, the act of persuading others can drain time, emotion and resources -- and doesn't always produce a favorable result. People often resist information that doesn't conform to their tastes or views, making it difficult for competing messages and ideas to break through. But according to Wharton professor Jonah Berger, we're going about persuasion the wrong way. In his new book, The Catalyst, Berger argues that our default 'push' approach to persuasion, or doubling down on…

Friday, 28 February 2020 05:01

Resilience is a skill that’s just as important as tech know-how

Azeem Azhar and Ceri-Ann Droog Imagine if Thomas Edison, who grew up poor and without much formal education, hadn’t persevered through the hardships in his life. Almost entirely deaf from an early age, Edison created the carbon transmitter, which made it easier to hear sounds on the telephone. That invention led to a string of others, including his most widely recognized: the phonograph and the lightbulb. What kept Edison going? Biographers describe his inclination to solve problems and tinker, as well as his persistence, but there was something else, too. Persevering in the face of adversity requires resilience. “I have…

Thursday, 27 February 2020 06:01

How Makoko, Nigeria's floating slum went digital

Most evenings, Abigail Hounkpe can be found paddling her wooden canoe on the murky waters in Makoko, a waterfront community on the Lagos lagoon in Nigeria's southwest. She stops in front of a church perched precariously on top of stilts. Holding the wooden paddle in one hand, she stretches the other to take a photo of the church. She then enters the coordinates into her phone. "I have lived here for all of my life and I still find places I have never seen," Hounkpe said. Her trips around the floating community dubbed the 'Venice of Africa' are part of…

Wednesday, 26 February 2020 05:29

What happens when the internet vanishes?

From his high-rise desk overlooking the sprawling city of Addis Ababa, Markos Lemma has a pretty good view. As the founder of technology innovation hub IceAddis, his co-working space is usually abuzz with wide-eyed entrepreneurs fuelled on strong coffee and big dreams. But when the internet shuts down, everything is stopped in its tracks. Data shared with the BBC by digital rights group Access Now, shows that last year services were deliberately shut down more than 200 times in 33 separate countries. This includes, on one occasion, in the UK. In April 2019 the British Transport Police shut down the…

Wednesday, 26 February 2020 05:26

There’s a ‘brainset’ that makes us fail to reach our goal. It works this way

All of us start out after a goal with energy and motivation, so why do we so often fail to hit the target? A new study at the intersection of neuroscience and behavioral science offers a simple but useful insight about the failure to reach goals. It centers on the disconnect between our decision-making focus before we start pursuing a goal and our focus after we begin. The study started with this hypothesis: When we set out to achieve a goal, our focus is on the reward. We envision getting the reward, and how we’ll feel when we do, and…

Sunday, 23 February 2020 04:50

How to calm your own anger in 60 seconds or less, according to a psychologist

Your angry feelings are tied up with your thoughts, a simple experiment proves. Do you ever get really angry? And when it happens, especially at work, are the consequences good or bad? I'm not talking about the competitive zeal you might get when a competitor beats you out for a lucrative sale and you feel determined to beat them out next time around. I'm talking about the rage that can take over when someone treats you unfairly, or insults you, or even cuts you off in traffic. That kind of anger can leave you feeling helpless, useless, self-pitying, and unable…

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Saturday, 22 February 2020 05:23

Yes, there is such a thing as too much self-control

Willpower helps you get ahead, but science shows too much leads to regret and self-alienation. Maybe you've heard of the famous "marshmallow test" experiment. In this classic study, Stanford researchers brought young children into a room and offered them a tough choice. Eat one delicious marshmallow now or wait 15 minutes and eat two marshmallows. Those kids who were able to control themselves and double their marshmallow haul, the scientists found, went on to earn higher grades and be more successful in life. The obvious conclusion is that self-control is an excellent thing to have. But while both science and…

Saturday, 22 February 2020 05:15

The 5 different types of grief that don't involve death

Grief doesn't just hit us when we experience a death. There are actually five kinds of grief that don't involve death at all. They are estrangement, financial or worldly losses, illness or injury, relinquishment, and institutional losses. Bereavement specialist Terri Daniel explained what they all mean and how they can impact us mentally. Changes in sleep or diet, a feeling of powerlessness, and even physical symptoms can all be signs you are suffering with grief. Cold, stormy weather during winter can easily negatively impact anyone's mood. So much so, the dark and grey months can actually make us feel like…

Friday, 21 February 2020 06:07

What happens to your body when you take too many vitamins

You don't have to be a germaphobe or hypochondriac to worry about getting sick these days. The news is full of stories about national or global outbreaks that sound downright frightening. To protect ourselves and to get some peace of mind in the process, we may be tempted to reach for extra vitamins and supplements as a way of shoring up our immune systems — but medical experts say that may not be the right thing to do. Food and health sites like Cooking Light are raising a warning flag on taking supplements, as it says these are not supposed…

Tuesday, 18 February 2020 05:55

Why vitamins are (almost always) a waste of money

A decent diet will provide all the nutrients you need—save for a few very specific exceptions. Vitamins are in the middle of a glow-up. A crop of new startups have made the fusty GNC staples, dare we say it, cool: Care/of sends out monthly shipments of beautiful multicolored capsules based on a personal quiz. Ritual packs theirs into sleek clear pills that look like little lava lamps. Vitafive ships theirs out as sleekly packaged gummies. Beyond the new packaging, vitamins have the same appeal they always have: these micronutrients are vital to life (hence the name). Without them, you can…

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