Frances Okoro: Save Us From the ‘Come To My House’ Syndrome

<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/dreamstime_xl_54590010.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: dotted thin; text-decoration: none;"><img class="alignleft wp-image-605455" height="300" src="http://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/dreamstime_xl_54590010-600x400.jpg" src-large="http://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/dreamstime_xl_54590010-600x400.jpg" src-medium="http://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/dreamstime_xl_54590010-300x300.jpg" src-thumbnail="http://www.bellanaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/dreamstime_xl_54590010-150x150.jpg" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 2.4rem 2.4rem 0px; max-width: 100%; text-align: left;" width="450" /></a>It was intended to be a simple PM on my BBM but the number of furious replies I got indicated that I had to expand my reach. The said PM was – “<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Naija men with come to my house, come to my house.” Is there seriously no young man who can advise his fellow men on dating etiquettes? Help us plssssss”</em></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I sincerely felt that I was alone in this predicament till I started getting pings from people who were even more angry about it than I was. And then I realized that this is a general epidemic.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, I had different responses from people and I will attempt to put those responses into consideration and not be too streamlined with my views.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Most of the males who responded to my PM agreed with the fact that their brothers are not representing the male folks as well as they should in this area but one of the men made a case for our culture being the reason for this predicament.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />According to him, Nigerians do not see the home as a private place and can invite just about anyone into their home. He also talked about the mentality that has been deeply ingrained in us – some men just don’t think that going on dates is necessary, or rather, <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">“we can meet up at my house, there’s no need to go through all that white culture ish”</em> (paraphrased)</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As much as I understand where he was coming from and I agree with him that the Nigerian mentality has a lot to bear with this situation. I also think that there are two reasons why the “come to my house issue” is so rampant today.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(1) Some men just don’t think that it’s necessary to go through all that stress in wooing a lady anymore.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />A friend of mine actually said that chivalry is dead in response to my PM but I am a positive person, so I refuse to believe that there is no single man on this earth who knows how to take a woman on a date and win her heart slowly – no, there must surely be such men left on earth. (yes, I am rooting for the male folks)</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some Nigerian men just believe that all that “taking a woman to a lovely restaurant and stuff” is for “<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">oyibo people</em>“.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I mean, you will be surprised at the number of educated men who would invite you to their house at first meeting.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The man who inspired my PM is a lecturer. Another man who contributed to my cry for help studied law as a first degree. He is involved in media and publicity for a while, and is a called pastor… so you can go figure out the thing about education being a way to raise up people with a modern outlook on things.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(2) 80 % of the men who invite ladies to come to their house at first meeting have no good intentions at heart.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Now, I have to be very careful with how I say this, because I understand like my male friend stated above: that for some men, inviting a lady to their house at first meeting just doesn’t mean anything to them. They weren’t raised with the mentality that the home is a private place. So even if they just met a lady they are interested in, they can hang out at their house as a first date – with no ulterior motive involved on their part.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So yes, I agree that those kind of men exist.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We don’t need to go deep down into stories do we? Or maybe we do.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Listen carefully and you will hear stories from the lady who has true stories to tell on how she had to fend off SERIOUS sexual advances just because she believed a man who said he had no ulterior motive for inviting her to his house.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some of our female friends won’t open up to us but some ladies have been raped because of the “come to my house syndrome”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />They cower in shame and guilt, berating their selves that they should have known better than to go to his house. And the society doesn’t make it easy on them too.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Most people would say things like – “<em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Why did you go to his house? That’s a sign that you wanted the sexual act to happen”</em><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So the victims keep quiet and bottle up the hurt and shame inside.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What about the guy that tells you to just come into his house while he dresses up so you both can go out and then, under the guise of that excuse starts drawing close for a kiss?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So the “come to my house syndrome” is a serious one.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Aside from the serious underlying issues of ladies who have had sad stories of sexual assault and rape to tell, it also begs for a total overhauling of the way some Nigerian men view wooing a lady – an overhauling of faulty dating mentalities.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If the woman was to be a street lady, we might pardon you, but no, you see a decent lady with her worth shining through and you just don’t want to put in an effort into treating her like the jewel that she is.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />What would it take for you to take the natural order of the way things should be in cultivating a relationship with her?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Would a time out at a restaurant be too much to ask?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It doesn’t even have to be a classy restaurant – just a neutral place where you both can talk that’s not your house.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I plead again, don’t we have young mighty men of valor who can advise their fellow men on dating etiquettes?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Men who can organize classes and teach their fellow men these things – if it comes to that.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Or maybe I should be pleading with our churches too. Almost every church organizes programmes for ladies on how to be virtuous women, how to behave themselves while on a date, etc. Can’t such programmes be held for men too? Women aren’t the only ones who need to be groomed, men need to be groomed too.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So gentlemen, I sincerely still believe that there are a lot of you who are getting it right in the area of what I just talked about.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Please teach your fellow men about these things, we will be absolutely grateful to you all.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 2.6rem; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Signed,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The community of ladies who are tired of the “come to my house syndrome”</span></div>

Frances Okoro: Save Us From the ‘Come To My House’ Syndrome

It was intended to be a simple PM on my BBM but the number of furious replies I got indicated that I had to expand my reach. The said PM wa...

Continue Reading »

Valid Reasons Why NOBODY Should Vote For Buhari – FFK

<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Valid Reasons Why NOBODY Should Vote For Buhari – Fani-Kayode" height="425" src="http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Femi-Fani-Kayode-795x529.jpg" width="640" /></span><br /> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Former minister of Aviation, Femi-Fani Kayode has described the emergence of Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd.) as the presidential flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as laughable.</span></span><br /> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He took to Facebook to share his thoughts on the outcome of the APC primaries publicly kicking against the choice of Buhari.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">His message reads:</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 60px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Major General Mohammadu Buhari has emerged as the APC flagbearer and President Goodluck Jonathan has emerged for the PDP. Now the battle for the soul and future of our nation begins. The forces of light shall surely prevail over the forces of darkness and God’s counsel alone shall stand over Nigeria. I stand with Jonathan. Let’s get it on.</span></div> <blockquote style="background: url(http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/themes/stylebook/framework/images/blockquote_gray.gif) 0px 20px no-repeat rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none !important; clear: both; font-style: italic; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 50px;"> <div style="line-height: 1.25; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; padding-left: 30px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">”Jihadi groups killed more than 5,000 people last month, with Iraq topping the league table of deaths, followed by Nigeria, Afghanistan a<span class="text_exposed_show">nd Syria.<br />In 664 incidents recorded in November by the BBC World Service and researched jointly with King’s College London, the overall death toll was 5,042, or an average of 168 deaths per day and nearly twice the number of people who were killed in the 11 September 2001 attacks on America.<br />After Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Syria, Yemen was fifth in the deadly league table, tying with Somalia, with 37 incidents each”- DORO ADEBENTLEY 11 December, Facebook.</span></span></div> </blockquote> <div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; padding-left: 30px;"> <div style="margin-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 30px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All this and some people still say they want Buhari as President? A man who said, only last year, that ”an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north”? A man who said, in 2001, that he wants to ”spread sharia throughout the federation”? A man who said, in 2001, that muslims should only vote for muslims”? A man who said, in 2001, that ”why should christians be concerned when muslims cut off their limbs under sharia”?. A man who said, in 2001, that ”after all the limbs that are being cut off are muslim ones and not christian so why should the christians bother about it”?</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 30px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is the man that some Nigerians are clamouring for to be their President? May God open their eyes and protect them from themselves. May He grant them wisdom and discernment.</span></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 15px; padding-left: 30px;"> <br /></div> </div>

Valid Reasons Why NOBODY Should Vote For Buhari – FFK

Former minister of Aviation, Femi-Fani Kayode has described the emergence of Major General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd.) as the presidential flag...

Continue Reading »

Opinion: Looking Beyond President Jonathan And General Buhari

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Opinion: Looking Beyond President Jonathan And General Buhari" height="425" src="http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/goodluck-and-buhari-1-795x528.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></span></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">President Goodluck Jonathan (right) and former military Head of State, General Muhammed Buhari lighting the flame at Nigeria's Centenary Celebration (State House Photo)</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">by Timileyin Ogundare</span></span><br /> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As the February 14 presidential election draws nearer, the media’s attention has been centred on the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressive Congress alone.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The media have been awash with several paid and unpaid for propagandas, fights, accusations, exposure, investigations and more. Just between these two candidates.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It appears no one is paying real attention to the remaining candidates except a few friends and family members who may want to see their loved one ascend to the highest office in the land.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Among these candidates are Tunde Anifowoshe-Kelani of the Action Alliance, Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya of the Kowa Party and Martin Onovo of the National Conscience Party.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The NCP seems to strike me as it was formed by the late Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) as a party for the oppressed working people, and in times like this it should have been the cut head for the Nigerians who feel oppressed.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, nothing seems that way as the party had done little to show the working masses its commitment to their daily struggles.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fawehinmi must have turned in his grave when the presidential candidate of his party, the NCP paid a visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo to solicit his support. ‘Gani’, as I remember, was a strong critic of Obasanjo who refused to have anything to do with him. He also instilled that ideal in his party.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Sonaiya, the only female candidate, has done very little to campaign among the rank and file of the people, especially women. As a female candidate, she is likely to have sympathy support and votes but she has not worked on this.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I read an interview in SUNDAY PUNCH, where she claimed she would win; I then concluded she might just be trying to be popular as she is unknown to most Nigerians</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other contestants are also doing a little above nothing to show the Nigeria people their agenda or manifestoes.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These other parties might end up not getting any meaningful vote, probably because they have refused to change their game and convince Nigerians and take us away from the two-party brouhaha and maybe give us an alternative before the election finally comes in.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.</span></strong></div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span> <br />

Opinion: Looking Beyond President Jonathan And General Buhari

President Goodluck Jonathan (right) and former military Head of State, General Muhammed Buhari lighting the flame at Nigeria's Centena...

Continue Reading »

20 Things Only Short People Understand

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="20 Things Only Short People Understand" height="426" src="http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/guiness-world-records-day-9-795x530.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Droid Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">The shortest man ever, Chandra Bahadur Dangi meets the worlds tallest man, Sultan Kosen for the very first time on November 13, 2014 in London, England. Chandra from Nepal measuring 54.6 cm (21.5 inches) posed for photographers with Sultan from Turkey who is 251 cm (8 ft 3 inches). Today is the 10th annual Guinness World Records Day during which thousands of people are expected to come together to celebrate the international day of record-breaking! (Photo Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <strong style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></strong> <strong style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The vertically challenged have it harder than people think. </span></strong><br /> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s not just that we can’t reach stuff from the top of the cupboard, we have a whole heap of other crap to deal with because we’re short.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And for the record, only we can refer to ourselves as short, if you do it it’s offensive and we might kick you.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here are other short problems that plague our existence.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>1. </strong><strong>Being able to pull tights up right over your boobs.</strong></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yeah, really.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Being told by men that being short is good because it makes you more fun to have sex with.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Punch in the face.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. Having people say ‘Wow you’re actually really small’.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yeah, well I can see up your nose and you’ve got a bat in the cave.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4. Not being able to reach the bar on the Tube to stop yourself from faceplanting into someone’s chest. </span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or faceplating into a child’s face.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5. Being the perfect height to be face-to-armpit with someone who is tall enough to reach it.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can only hope you get someone that smells nice. It’s still not ideal but it softens the blow.</span></div> <figure class="alignnone img-container" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="AD_154699456.jpg" class="img-align-none wp-image-4988513" data-rewritten="true" data-rsz="shrink" height="1219" src="https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/ad_154699456.jpg?w=768&h=1219&crop=1#038;h=1274" style="border: none; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="768" /></span><figcaption><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Oh why couldn’t you have worn deodorant? (Picture:)</span></figcaption></figure><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">6. Struggling to get involved in upstanding conversations at busy social gatherings. </span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You look like you’re watching a tennis match going on 5ft above you. Sometimes someone’s talk spit lands in your eye.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">7. Getting everyone’s nose breath in your face when you’re in a lift.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Which is particularly upsetting.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8. Finding trousers to fit you lengthways and around the waist is too much to ask.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We should really only have to pay for the material we need.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">9. Not being able to pull off high-waisted trousers as well as everyone else because it makes you look even shorter.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don’t think they’re supposed to come right up to your bra.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">10. Not being able to safely operate an umbrella.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You keep getting it caught on people’s clothes as you walk past them.</span></div> <figure class="alignnone img-container" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="AD_154699602.jpg" class="img-align-none wp-image-4988516 size-full" data-rewritten="true" data-rsz="no" height="1000" src="https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/ad_154699602.jpg" style="border: none; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="667" /></span><figcaption><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Gemma wasn’t a fan of her new office (Picture: Getty)</span></figcaption></figure><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>11. </strong><strong>Getting called cute.</strong></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Puppies are cute. Babies are cute. WE are adults. Adults are not cute.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">12. Getting asked for ID when you’re 25.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And almost shoving your driving licence down the cashier’s throat.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">13. Looking like a Year 7 student when you try to pull off a trouser suit.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And crying because you just want to look smart for once.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">14. Having to hope and pray that nobody sits in front of you at concerts, theatres or cinema screens.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And when they do you have to lean to one side for the entire duration and watch everything through the gap.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">15. Having to do a push up when you’re trying to order a drink in a crowded pub.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because the barman can’t hear you from way down there.</span></div> <figure class="alignnone img-container" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 15px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="AD_154699584.jpg" class="img-align-none wp-image-4988515 size-full" data-rewritten="true" data-rsz="no" height="1000" src="https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/ad_154699584.jpg" style="border: none; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle;" width="667" /></span><figcaption><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Excuse me, barman! (Picture: Getty)</span></figcaption></figure><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <br /></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">16. Doing laundry and tripping over the bed linen, towels and any other large item.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So you have to lift it right up in front of your face and hope you don’t tumble over.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">17. Having your scarf dangle around your knees.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And if you sit down you almost strangle yourself when you try to get back up.<strong> </strong></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">18. Hearing short jokes every time you go to an amusement park or funfair about being too small to go on the rides.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You’ve mastered your unimpressed face.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">19. Not being able to get on a bike unless you’re super flexible.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And having to take a deep breath before you try and get your leg up.<strong> </strong></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">20. Being told by tall women that they wished they were short, and you secretly hate on all their inches because you know they’re super happy with their lovely long legs and general lengthiness.</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eugh.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><br /></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-small; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Source:<a href="http://metro.co.uk/2014/12/15/20-things-you-only-know-if-youre-short-4987944/" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">METRO UK</a></span></div>

20 Things Only Short People Understand

The shortest man ever, Chandra Bahadur Dangi meets the worlds tallest man, Sultan Kosen for the very first time on November 13, 2014 in Lo...

Continue Reading »

25 Terrible Side Effects Of Not Getting Enough Sleep In Your 20’s

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="25 Terrible Side Effects Of Not Getting Enough Sleep In Your 20’s" height="426" src="http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Sleep-The-Trent2-e1391198148889-795x530.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Droid Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">Photo Credit: iStock</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div class="float-with-ad" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Your 20s are full of new jobs and dates and trips and parties and mistakes that you can fix (or forget about) in your 30s. And there’s basically no time for sleep.</span></div> <div class="float-with-ad" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Unfortunately, late nights don’t just make morning suck. When you keep not getting enough sleep, it can affect your body in the long run. (The American Academy of Sleep Medicine [AASM] recommends between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night for adults.</span></div> <div class="ad-gpt-vertical float-with-ad" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> </div> <div class="float-with-ad" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Experts are just beginning to understand how sleep affects just about everything you do. But they do suggest you look out for these scary side effects of skimping on sleep in your 20s:</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>1. Increased risk of disease:</strong> In a recent <a href="http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=29127" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">study</a> involving more than 54,000 adults, researchers found that people who sleep less than six hours per night (or more than nine) were significantly more likely to have heart disease or diabetes, have suffered a stroke, or be obese, even after researchers adjusted the results for other known risk factors.</span></div> <div class="embedded-recirc--container norewrite" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> <div class="embedded-recirc--image-container"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>2. Heightened blood pressure:</strong> Sleep loss stresses out your body and mind in a way that causes your blood pressure to spike. Over time, this could damage your heart, arteries, kidneys, and even bring about stroke, loss of vision, and a host of other <a href="http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/WhyBloodPressureMatters/Why-Blood-Pressure-Matters_UCM_002051_Article.jsp" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">health problems</a> you seriously don’t want.</span></div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>3. Weakened immune system</strong> <strong>and reduced effectiveness of certain vaccinations:</strong> Vaccines are designed to trick your body into creating antibodies that provide immunity to a particular disease or infection. But exhaustion compromises the immune system, so your body doesn’t produce adequate antibodies, according to a<a href="http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2012/08/12458/sleep-affects-potency-vaccines" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">study</a> in which researchers administered hepatitis B vaccinations and measured patients’ antibodies before and after treatment. People who slept fewer than six hours a night were the least likely to respond to the vaccine and were 11.5 percent more likely to emerge unprotected.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>4. Stress: </strong>When you don’t get enough sleep, your body naturally releases the stress hormone cortisol, says Dr. Shalini Paruthi, director of the Pediatric Sleep and Research Center at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and an AASM fellow. And it doesn’t matter whether you were up late to work on spreadsheets or to work on catching up on <em>The</em> <em>Mindy Project</em>.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>5. Greater risk of death:</strong> People who sleep less than five hours per night are 15 percent more likely to die from literally any cause, according to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19961/" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">data</a> from three massive studies. So yes, going to bed too late could eventually kill you.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>6. Impaired creativity: </strong>Neuroimaging <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21694961" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">studies</a> suggest that the brain spontaneously reorganizes information when you rest, which could explain why it’s so much harder to focus and come up with ideas when you haven’t slept.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>7. Moodiness: </strong>There’s something about exhaustion that turns you into Negative Nancy: In a two-year <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15700720" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">study</a> in which 78 medical residents tracked their sleep and intermittently recorded their emotional responses to various stimuli, researchers found that fatigue intensified participants’ negative emotions. Sleep deprivation actually affects your mood even more than it does your motor and cognitive performance, according to a massive review of 19 original research <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8776790%20" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">studies</a> published in <em>Sleep</em>. Meaning? You’re more susceptible to angry tangents when you’re sleepy.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>8. Lower GPA:</strong> <a href="http://a1.phobos.apple.com/us/r30/CobaltPublic/v4/4a/b9/97/4ab997e8-12b0-22d0-1120-e54ea79c3d0e/215-4929907074434892796-The_Relationship_Between_Sleep_Lenght_and_Grade_Point_Average.pdf" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Research</a> suggests that college students who sleep the least earn lower grades than those who sleep nine or more hours per night. Your brain needs to cycle through certain deep sleep stages to store memories and solidify the things you learn. When you fall asleep, your heart rate and metabolic rate drop so your body can focus on those things, says Dr. Paruthi. No sleep, no storage.</span></div> <div class="embedded-recirc--container norewrite" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> <div class="embedded-recirc--image-container"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>9. Poor decisions:</strong> Many parts of the brain are involved in decision-making. When you don’t give your brain enough rest, it functions at half-mast, and you’ll end up making less than savory choices, Dr. Paruthi says.</span></div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>10. Twitchy eyes:</strong> Dr. Paruthi says fatigue can cause an awkward-looking eye spaz called nystagmus, which makes your eyeballs move even involuntarily, even though your head is still.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>11. Fertility issues: </strong>While there’s no conclusive proof that sleep deprivation directly causes infertility, experts know that lack of sleep can stress you out and suspect it can also can interfere with your body’s circadian rhythm. Together, this can ultimately suppress your reproductive hormones and impair your ability to sustain a pregnancy, according to an <a href="http://www.smrv-journal.com/article/S1087-0792(14)00104-X/abstract" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">article</a> published in <em>Sleep Medicine</em>.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>12. Sex drought:</strong> Sleep or sex? Sex or sleep? When you’re really, really tired, you don’t always get to chooZzZz.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>13. Weight gain:</strong> Countless <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118111740.htm" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">studies</a> have found that people who sleep less are more likely to be overweight. That’s probably because sleep deprivation messes with the hormones that regulate your appetite (ghrelin) and tell your brain you’re full (leptin), which can lead to chronic overeating, according to a review of experimental and observational <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.22219/abstract" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">studies</a> of sleep published in <em>The American Journal of Human Biology</em>.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>14. Fat Gene activation: </strong>Sleep loss basically turns your body against you:<a href="http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=28504" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Research</a> done on twins suggests that skimping on sleep (i.e., sleeping less than seven hours per night for the purposes of this study) fires up whatever fat-storing genes you have to increase your risk of gaining fat and holding on to it for good.</span></div> <div class="embedded-recirc--container norewrite" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> <div class="embedded-recirc--image-container"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>15. Emotional eating:</strong> In a recent <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24965512" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">study</a> of 114 college students, participants were more likely to increase their food intake in response to strong feelings when they were particularly tired.</span></div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>16. Depression: </strong>Sleep and depression are interrelated: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2769898/" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Research</a> suggests people who suffer from insomnia are more likely to suffer from major depression than people who sleep regularly.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>17. Increased risk of car accidents: </strong>“Sleep-deprived patients in simulators have just as many accidents as someone who is drunk,” Dr. Paruthi says.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>18. Slower reaction time: </strong>When your brain isn’t well rested, it doesn’t take in information, process it, and respond to it as quickly as usual. “You lose speed before accuracy,” Dr. Paruthi explains. “You’ll get your work done, but it will take longer.”</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>19. Tired partner:</strong> Even if you’re the lone wolf who stays up late to online shop or binge-watch <em>The Affair</em>, you’re not the only one who suffers sleep debt and associated side effects. If you sleep with a partner, you’ll likely wake him up when you jump into bed a few hours later, which compromises his sleep quantity and quality. Regular rude awakenings could cause him to experience any number of the side effects listed here.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>20.  <a href="http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tremor/detail_tremor.htm" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Tremors</a>:</strong> Shaking can mess with your ability to carry out precise movements and detail-oriented tasks, like needle threading and tweezing your eyebrows. Which you really don’t want to mess up.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>21. Premature aging: </strong>When you don’t get enough sleep, your body releases the stress hormone cortisol. If your body releases too much cortisol, it starts to break down collagen, a protein that promotes smooth skin and elasticity. Sleep deprivation also may decrease the production of the growth hormones in your body that strengthen the skin and fend off wrinkles, says Dr. David Bank, dermatologist and director of The Center for Dermatology, Cosmetic, and Laser Surgery in Mount Kisco, NY, and author of <em>Beautiful Skin – Every Woman’s Guide to Looking Her Best at Any Age</em>. Skimp on sleep and you’ll lose the restorative effects that make your skin look young and healthy.</span></div> <div class="embedded-recirc--container norewrite" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"> <div class="embedded-recirc--image-container"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>22. Dry skin:</strong> Sleep helps hydrate your skin so it doesn’t get all dry and flaky. In other words, adequate sleep is like a natural moisturizer.</span></div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>23. Big-time breakouts: </strong>When you don’t get enough sleep, your stress levels soar and your body responds by producing more of the hormone glucocorticoid. This disrupts your skin structure, which makes you more vulnerable to acne. Lack of sleep also triggers inflammation, which can makes small blemishes blow up.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>24. Dull skin:</strong> Sleep improves blood flow to the skin, Dr. Bank says. Don’t get enough sleep, and your skin will look blotchy or pale.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>25. Skin sensitivity:</strong> Your body’s immune system builds its strength while you sleep, Dr. Bank explains. Sleep deprivation can make your skin more sensitive and even worsen existing skin conditions like rosacea or eczema.</span></div> <h3 style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Do You Get Enough Sleep?</span></strong></h3> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you get into bed and fall asleep within 20 minutes, don’t remember waking up throughout the night, and wake up feeling refreshed each morning, you should be good to go, Dr. Paruthi says. If not? The best way to find out how much sleep you need is to go to sleep when you feel tired and wake up without an alarm for a few days at time — like when you’re on vacation. Then set a bedtime and stick to it for all of the reasons above.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">(via <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/advice/a34370/terrible-side-effects-of-skimping-on-sleep-in-your-20s/?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1440_123917325" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Cosmopolitan</a>)</span></div>

25 Terrible Side Effects Of Not Getting Enough Sleep In Your 20’s

Photo Credit: iStock Your 20s are full of new jobs and dates and trips and parties and mistakes that you can fix (or forget about) in y...

Continue Reading »

Fiery Anti-Crime Lawyer Nancy Grace Ranked ‘Most Annoying TV Host’ For 2014

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Fiery Anti-Crime Lawyer Nancy Grace Ranked ‘Most Annoying TV Host’ For 2014" height="319" src="http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/o-NANCY-GRACE-facebook-795x397.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Droid Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">TV Host Nancy Grace (Photo Credit: Fred Lee/ABC via Getty Images)</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://www.ranker.com/" style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Ranker.com</a><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;">  has on Wednesday, December 17, 2014 released the most annoying media personality in America</span></span><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ranker.com is a website that has been in existence solely to rank hot topics ranging from everyday concerns to things most people might never have thought of.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This year the platform has conducted its poll and Cable network HLN’s Nancy Grace, has emerged the winner from among 113 TV personalities which were nominated by more than 140,000 voters in the poll via <a href="http://www.bizpacreview.com/2014/12/17/%20http:/www.ranker.com/list/most-annoying-tv-hosts/tvs-frank" style="outline: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Ranker.com’s polling</a>.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Grace, according to Bizpacreveiw, emerged the winner following the appearance of a character that clearly  portrayed her TV personality in the hit movie “Gone Girl” made her vote higher than  the runner up, MSNBC’s Al Sharpton and former CNN Host, Piers Morgan in third place.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Other personalities on the poll includes: Donald Trump, “Dr.” Phil McGraw, Oprah, Geraldo, Rosie O’Donnell, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly.</span></div>

Fiery Anti-Crime Lawyer Nancy Grace Ranked ‘Most Annoying TV Host’ For 2014

TV Host Nancy Grace (Photo Credit: Fred Lee/ABC via Getty Images) Ranker.com   has on Wednesday, December 17, 2014 released the most ann...

Continue Reading »

Stop Using Women And Children For Terrorist Acts – CISA Cries Out

<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Stop Using Women And Children For Terrorist Acts – CISA Cries Out" height="425" src="http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/64-Reasons-To-Send-Out-A-Company-Press-Release-795x528.jpg" width="640" /></span><br /> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A civil society advocacy group engaged in creating and spreading security awareness among Nigerians, Citizens Initiative for Security Awareness (CISA) have cried out against terrorists using innocent women and children for the perpetration of terrorism activities.</span></span><br /> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Speaking at an interactive media forum organised by I-Nigerian Initative in Abuja, National Coordinator of CISA, Comrade Chidi Omeje noted with grave concern, the horrendous act of using vulnerable women and children by the Boko Haram terrorist group to commit terrorist acts.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Concerned about young female suicide bombers detonating improvised explosive devices in killing scores of innocent citizens, CISA considered the new trend as barbaric.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“We consider this new trend by the terror group as unconscionable, callous, barbaric act that represents the worst kind of crime against humanity,” he declared.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">According to Omeje, investigations on the recent bomb explosions in different parts of the north shockingly revealed that they were exploded by young women and girls who were strapped with explosive devices, some unconsciously,  obviously by the terrorist group.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Also, over the weekend, security operatives paraded a 13 year old girl strapped with explosive device who was on a deadly mission to bomb away her life and that of unsuspecting members of the public.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“We have no doubt in our minds that these hapless women and children who are made to embark on such deadly missions do so out of compulsion ,through brain washing, drug inducement, ignorance or intimidation by those who conscripted them for that purpose. The perpetrators of this heinous crime now find it easy to use the vulnerable women and children to commit such terrible crime by exploiting their vulnerability and gullibility.”</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He therefore, implored parents and guardians to know that times are indeed strange and dangerous, and as such, must closely monitor their children and wards by knowing the company they keep and the places they visit.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Parents must ensure that their children do not receive parcels or objects from people they do not know. They should know that it is dangerous to allow their loved ones run errands for strange persons or persons they hardly know. More importantly, every citizen should cultivate the virtue of reporting suspicious movement of persons or objects to the nearest security agency. This is the only way we can assist the security forces to stamp out terrorism in our beautiful land,” the CISA coordinator stated.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While reiterating his group’s belief that Nigeria and indeed Nigerians will soon surmount the current insecurity prevalent in parts of the country, Omeje advised “we must all remain steadfast and supportive of our government and security forces in the fight against these agents of darkness. We are sure that the good must ultimately triumph over evil.”</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Coordinator of I-Nigerian Initiative, Ada Stalla Apiafi also urged Nigerians to be extra vigilant in this seasonal and critical period by remaining security alerts and conscious at all time.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Apiafi said: “We are in a seasonal and critical period of Xmas and new year festivities at a period of crucial electioneering campaigns. Every Nigerian must be vigilant and support the relevant authorities against activities of criminal elements towards a prosperous and peaceful new year.”</span></div>

Stop Using Women And Children For Terrorist Acts – CISA Cries Out

A civil society advocacy group engaged in creating and spreading security awareness among Nigerians, Citizens Initiative for Security Aware...

Continue Reading »

Opinion: Why Young Nigerians Should Join Political Parties

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Opinion: Why Young Nigerians Should Join Political Parties" height="425" src="http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Young-Nigerians-795x529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Droid Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">Young Nigerian Professionals during interactive session with President Kagame- Lagos, 10 November 2012 (Photo Credit: Flickr/Paul Kagame)<br /><br /><br /></span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">by Faith Nwosu</span></span><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Everyday we are being told that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow and that If the youths do not take conscious effort and steps in the right directions, this may never happen. We will keep getting the old people, those who once ruled returning to rule.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Why should it be that only certain names and faces are seen constantly in Nigeria politics? Where are the youth to lead the future? Today is yesterday’s future. Why are the youths quiet and nonchalant about governance? Are the youths waiting for leadership to be handed over to them by someone? Are they waiting for these old people to die then they inherit the governance.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The change we require does not happen by miracle. There can be a miracle in the process but change comes from a significant alteration of norms and behaviours. What this tells me is that if a change is required in politics and those who govern, there has to be a significant alteration – synonyms: change, adjustment, adaptation, modification, variation, conversion, revision, amendment; remodelling, reshaping, rebuilding, reorganization, rearrangement, reshuffling, revamping, remaking; transformation, evolution, change; in the norms that governs which ultimately can lead to a change in behaviour of people within a nation.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have seen many people in Nigeria fight for so many cause which are great, many raise their voices on different subjects and we see change happen.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This blog is a call for a change in Politics, a remoulding an evolution of our political system. I am calling on the youths and learned citizens of Nigeria and those in diaspora to get involved in political parties and influence the norms and behaviours in the parties.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I look at western worlds like The UK and America. It is however more pronounced in America than in the UK nearly all households belong to a political party.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By being in a party you get to understand the norms and behaviours of that party and with the skills and experience of many people in the party they are able to make the parties what it ought to be. You become part of every aspect of the party. You join in decision making when vote is required, when nomination is required, when finance is required, when volunteers are required etc. things happens because of the people in the party.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Each party has its own mentality because of their norms which has been accepted by members of the party. In the UK we know if the Conservatives are in power, we know the direction the economy will go same with the Labour Party.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For Nigeria what do we get? Can we continue to let this be the case? Nigeria is a country with the best brains in the world? See how the country was able to deal with the Ebola crisis, this tells us that there is nothing we decide to do that we cannot do.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nigerians should get involved in Parties, by so doing, they will get to know what happens in the parties and be able to influence a change. Be involved in the party not just in words but indeed. Get involved in decision making so decisions are not left to godfatherisim.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Different groups should start talking about this subject; it should be on air, on TV on various talk-shows and conferences.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The political parties are not doing anything to get people to join them because they do not want people to so they can continue doing the same thing they have been doing for years and yet producing no results. If we must get a different result we must make a decision to do things differently. The key word here is ‘Do’ a lot of people talk in Nigeria. You can hear them on radio, TV, Talk-shows, conferences etc but yet no action. Join a party!</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Arise o compatriot, the time for change is now, and the time to alter the norms and behaviours in our political system is now. You are that change that is needed. Get involved. Just being in a political party and being a voice is better. It is a great way to start the journey of changing things.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.</span></strong></div>

Opinion: Why Young Nigerians Should Join Political Parties

Young Nigerian Professionals during interactive session with President Kagame- Lagos, 10 November 2012 (Photo Credit: Flickr/Paul Kagame) ...

Continue Reading »

11 Questions That General Buhari Must Answer - FFK

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="11 Questions That General Buhari Must Answer, By Femi Fani-Kayode" height="516" src="http://thetrentonlinecom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/buhari-The-Trent-2-795x641.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Droid Sans', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 16px; text-align: start;">General Muhammed Buhari (Rtd) at a campaign event in the 2011 election cycle</span></td></tr> </tbody></table> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">by Femi Fani-Kayode</span></span><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Major General Muhammadu Buhari has emerged as the APC flagbearer for the 2015 presidential election and President Goodluck Jonathan for the PDP. Now the battle for the soul and future of our nation begins. The forces of light shall surely prevail over the forces of darkness and God’s counsel alone shall stand over Nigeria. I stand with Jonathan and I say “lets dance’’, “lets get it on’’ and “may the best man win’’.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet whilst doing so we ought to consider the words of Miss Dora Ade Bentley. On December 11 on her Facebook wall, she wrote the following: “Jihadi groups killed more than 5,000 people last month, with Iraq topping the league table of deaths, followed by Nigeria, Afghanistan and Syria. In 664 incidents recorded in November by the BBC World Service and researched jointly with King’s College London, the overall death toll was 5,042, or an average of 168 deaths per day and nearly twice the number of people who were killed in the 11 September 2001 attacks on America. After Iraq, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Syria, Yemen was fifth in the deadly league table, tying with Somalia, with 37 incidents each.’’</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All these and some people still say they don’t know who they want as President? An individual once said, only last year, that ‘’an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North’’; in 2001, that he wanted to ‘’spread Sharia throughout the federation’’; that “Muslims should only vote for Muslims’’; that ‘’why should Christians be concerned when Muslims cut off their limbs under Sharia”; and that ‘’after all the limbs that are being cut off are Muslim ones and not Christians; so why should the Christians other about it?’’</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Since some are partial to Buhari, let us subject him to a little scrutiny right here and now. Let us put a few questions to him. Let us judge him by what he says and does.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On July 22, 2014, he told The Nation Newspaper: “Our country has gone through several rough patches, but never before have I seen a Nigerian President declare war on his own country as we are seeing now. Never before have I seen a Nigerian President deploy federal institutions in the service of partisanship as we are witnessing now. Never before have I seen a Nigerian President utilize the common wealth to subvert the system and punish the opposition, all in the name of politics. Our nation has suffered serious consequences in the past for egregious acts that are not even close to what we are seeing now. It is time to pull the brakes’’.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One may have been prepared to accept the general’s words as being those of a genuinely concerned and committed patriot who simply wanted our President and his government to do a better job and who was worried about the unfolding situation in our country if he had not consistently exposed his true colors and his obvious soft spot for Boko Haram.<br />Permit me to share just one example of the expression of that soft spot in this contribution. On June 3, 2013, Thisday Newspaper’s lead story carried the following headline: ‘’The military offensive against Boko Haram is anti-North – General Muhammadu Buhari’.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The story ran as follows: ‘’Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has criticised the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States and the subsequent military offensive against the Boko Haram Islamic sect. Buhari, who featured on the “Guest of the Week,” a Hausa programme of the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio, yesterday, said the Federal Government’s action was a gross injustice against the North. According to him, unlike the special treatment the Federal Government gave to the Niger Delta militants, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished. He said he was not in support of the declaration of state of emergency in the three north-eastern states because President Goodluck Jonathan had failed from the outset in addressing the security situation in the country’’.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The implications of these comments, coming from a former Head of State, are obvious and self-evident.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet that same General Buhari who said these unacceptable things one year ago is now busy pontificating about his concerns for our nation. Many would argue that, that is pretty rich coming from him given his past comments about a ruthless group of terrorists who, more than any other, merit the award for the greatest ‘’troublers of our nation’’. Given this, I regard Buhari’s comments to The Nation Newspaper on July 22, 2014 as nothing but self-serving.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of particular interest to me were the following words: ‘’Never before have I seen a Nigerian President declare war on his own country as we are seeing now’’. Really? Correct me if I am wrong but I thought that the war that President Goodluck Jonathan has declared was against terrorism and Boko Haram and not against the Nigerian people.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Questions begging for answers</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does General Buhari find it difficult to make a distinction between the jihadists and the Nigerian people?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does he see them as being one and the same?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does he actually equate members of Jama’at ahl as-sunnah li-d-da’wa wa-l-jihad with the Nigerian people?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does he regard the military offensive against Boko Haram as being an offensive against OUR people?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does he honestly believe that anytime that a Boko Haram terrorist is killed by our armed forces and security agencies or that his house is blown up, it is an attack on the Nigerian people or an assault on the North?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Are those people that Boko Haram slaughtering, terrorising, abducting, pillaging, robbing and raping on a daily basis all over our country not the real Nigerians?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does he honestly believe that Boko Haram is representative of the thinking of our people or even the majority of the people in the Muslim North?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Is he still insisting on having another Muslim as his running mate in order to establish his strange dream of a Muslim/Muslim President and Vice President for our country or has he shelved that idea due to public resentment and outrage?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does he have any empathy with the Christian community in northern Nigeria for the immense suffering, degradation, humiliation, contempt, shame, indignity, persecution and mass murder that they have been subjected to in the North for the last 53 years and particularly in the last few years?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does he still believe that ‘’Christians should not worry when Muslims chop off their own arms and hands in the name of Sharia because it is none of their business’’ as he said in 2001?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Does he still believe that Boko Haram members should be forgiven, granted amnesty, pampered, sent abroad to learn and given monthly allowances like the Niger Delta militants like he suggested in 2013?</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If the truth must be told, the only thing that is worse than Boko Haram are those in the Nigerian political class that secretly support and covertly assist them.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em>Femi-Fani Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006. </em><em>He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He is a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) having returned to the party following a brief stint in the All Progressive Congress (APC).</em></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px;"> <strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.</span></strong></div>

11 Questions That General Buhari Must Answer - FFK

General Muhammed Buhari (Rtd) at a campaign event in the 2011 election cycle by Femi Fani-Kayode Major General Muhammadu Buhari has e...

Continue Reading »

Secular & Bible Definitions of #SoulTies

<div align="center" class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Y4W_7uM7LUkCjzFoeMMUZAVFP_sfXAAqjlTZPPFqeo4eJcWNLgLdzsAlN_beyD6w1y3zD1dm4reuP0eLCsqMvHL_4YXCW_q2fJc-6NoK3U5Lg81LzwHFMF5ZtbFYDQpQVBNQKXYGg2Iz/s1600/url.jpg" class="decoded" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Y4W_7uM7LUkCjzFoeMMUZAVFP_sfXAAqjlTZPPFqeo4eJcWNLgLdzsAlN_beyD6w1y3zD1dm4reuP0eLCsqMvHL_4YXCW_q2fJc-6NoK3U5Lg81LzwHFMF5ZtbFYDQpQVBNQKXYGg2Iz/s1600/url.jpg" /></span></div> <div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This week, we investigate the secular definition of #SoulTies and see that it agrees completely with our bible definition.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">Quick Lunch and Learn Session #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">I decided to do some more research into #SoulTies today by obtaining secular non-biblical based definition of #SoulTies. See what I got</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">(a) A spiritual/emotional connection you have to someone after being intimate with them, usually engaging in sexual intercourse #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">(b) To the point that when you want to be rid of them from your mind and your life, even when you are far away from them #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo6; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">and out of their presence you still feel as if they are a part of you and a part of you is with them #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo7; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">(c) Causing you to feel unwhole, as if you</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">’</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">ve given up some of yourself intangible that cannot be easily possessed again #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l7 level1 lfo8; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">So the secular world and the Bible are agreed on the following points about #SoulTies:</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l8 level1 lfo9; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">(a) #SoulTies are both soulish with spiritual ramifications as well</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l9 level1 lfo10; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">(b) Sex is not only just the coming together of two chunks of flesh but also the coming together of souls and spirit; #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l10 level1 lfo11; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">(c) that when you</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">’</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">re soul-tied with a person, a chunk of you is with the other person and a chunk of the other person is with you #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l11 level1 lfo12; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">(d) In a breakup with sex partners, you feel a part of you has left you that you can</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">’</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">t easily get back. You</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">’</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">re scattered #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l12 level1 lfo13; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">So sexual #SoulTies affect your social and mental productivity when your sexual relationship goes to bust</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Body" style="line-height: 120%; margin-left: 14.2pt; mso-list: l13 level1 lfo14; tab-stops: list 14.2pt; text-indent: -14.2pt;"> <!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 120%;">•<span style="line-height: normal;">    </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 120%;">We</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">’</span><span style="line-height: 120%;">ve come to the end of Lunch & Learn.My chips have run cold but nothing like being with you guys.We are building a family out here. #SoulTies</span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div> <div class="Default"> <br /></div> <div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt;"> <br /></div> <div class="Default"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Announcement</b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div> <div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have a new recording titled “Failed proposals”. You can listen to it here. —>  <span class="Hyperlink1"><a href="http://breakingsoulties.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/how-to-avoid-failed-proposals/">http://breakingsoulties.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/how-to-avoid-failed-proposals/</a></span>  On this clip, I offer general tips to men on how to avoid making marriage proposals that women will reject. Very powerful. Every man should download this gist.<o:p></o:p></span></div> <div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt;"> <br /></div> <div class="Default" style="margin-bottom: 20.0pt;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>My contact details are</b><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">BB pin: 7C5BBD57 </span><br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="NL">Twitter: @SoulTiesTweets</span> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/soultiestweets"><span class="Hyperlink0"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Soul Ties Tweets</span></span></a> </span><br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="NL">Twitter: @solaadio</span> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/solaadio"><span class="Hyperlink0"><span lang="NL" style="text-decoration: none;">Sola Adio</span></span></a> </span><br /> <div class="MsoNormal"> <br /></div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="IT">Google+: Olusola Adio</span> <a href="https://plus.google.com/+OlusolaAdio"><span class="Hyperlink0"><span lang="FR" style="text-decoration: none;">+OlusolaAdio</span></span></a></span>

Secular & Bible Definitions of #SoulTies

This week, we investigate the secular definition of #SoulTies and see that it agrees completely with our bible definition. •     Quick ...

Continue Reading »

Whyte Habeeb: ‘NANS’ of Decay

<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="‘NANS’ of Decay by Whyte Habeeb Ibidabo" src="http://omojuwa.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/NANS-660x330.gif" /></span><br /> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Painful as the task before me is to describe the dark side of our affairs; it sometimes becomes a matter of indispensable necessity. Anyone who stops learning is old. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. Keeping our mind young is by making it vibrant especially towards issues that concern our existence as a whole. Though, I get worried about issues that concern my immediate constituency – which is the Youth Constituency. I owe an obligation in doing things for the betterment of that constituency. Like I do know that some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that’s twice as big as it needs to be. This time, my worry is about NANS. I am off the view that the NANS of today has lost its ethical values and culture.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What seems to be a platform to speak for the entire humanity of Nigerian students is now an epitome of political endorsements, award creators, violence and complete misplacement of real gut and virtues. Permit me to say that without ethical culture, there is no salvation for humanity. Some generosity is extraordinary; so also some talents are undeniable. We need an opportunity to explain our situation. This is my own opportunity again though when I did some years back about NANS in a publication titled,<strong style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><em style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">Student Union Officers Interference in Societal Politics: Whether wrong or right</em></strong> (published by the Nation on the 8<sup style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">th</sup> of September, 2011 at page 34 – 36). I got several threats from lot of NANS quarters. Be that as it maybe, nothing in the entire world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity which is the basis of today’s NANS. Chioma Nwobi corroborated my assertion when the fellow wrote in Punch Newspaper on the 10<sup style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">th</sup> September, 2014 at page 25 that, <em style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">‘honestly, my anger is more with the Nigerian Media which continues to highlight organizations such as NANS in the papers as if they mean anything and as if any value to any serious group of people. NANS has been a useless organization…</em>’’. Though, some still argue that NANS is still an element of patriotism and students brotherhood. Interestingly, they never deny the fact that as at today, it is nothing but a dead platform for student struggles in Nigeria.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a body or organization that disregards the eternal rules of order and right. Today’s NANS in its entirety has defiled the real concept of student unionism. In the past, NANS leaders were envied and respected. But the story has assumed a disturbing dimension as the so-called youths behind this body, have turn to corporate office-beggars that flex muscle on money from politicians rather than advocating for the entitlements of the crop of Nigerians they represent. They beg for cheap favours and go around making factions all in the bid of making money. The bitter truth about these factions is that they all stand for the same thing – which is money making. This is a ‘betrayal’ to the essence of factions in a group. Factions are meant to correct the wrong of other persons or group. One would now see the main reason why the NANS of today, can never get it right. NANS constitutes national embarrassment and monstrosity. It contributes in no small measure to our nation’s battered and scruffy image. Indeed, it’s only few men that have enough virtue to withstand the highest bidder.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Right now, the body do not have enough ethics or enviable morality. No single iota of respect for the NANS constitution or respect for past heroes of NANS. No sincere decorum and focus at all.  The body is the perfect synonym to misplacement of priority. A body like NANS should be seen advocating for the proper existence of Nigeria students. Make a tour of Institutions in Nigeria, your sight would be left with crumbling infrastructure and inadequate equipment which makes a case for the signs of decay campuses. NANS should be the proper platform to advocate for better policies on education in Nigeria. At a time, certificates from Nigerian institutions were courted like beautiful brides. Today the story is that of a nation whose universities are unable to make the best 5,000 in the world or even the best 50 on the African continent where incidentally, it claims to be the giant of Africa. What are the policies put in place by NANS to ensure the government perform her responsibility in making education in Nigeria enviable? All the leaders think of is how to mandate all students to vote for Mr. President again. All the visible act they perform is to celebrate and promote failure by given awards like Grand commander of Nigerian Students award, Defender of Democracy award, Governor of the year award, Nelson Mandela icon award etc.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It becomes so surprising when as at this hour, one would be wondering what active role did NANS played when Nigerians were clamouring for the missing girls to be brought back alive. Aren’t the missing girls Nigeria students or weren’t they kidnapped in their schools?  Even till  now, the executive of NANS have not in any way talked about the immigration scam that saw the deaths and injuries effected on the both the graduates and undergraduates of this great country. Are we saying NANS do not have business in that aspect or what? Recently, the new CBN management made a levy of N65 on ATM charges which in all way will affect the students’ alot. Most students have been complaining about it but there is no one to relate their grievances to those in authority. The only body that can do that is NANS and the question is where are the elected NANS executive? Aso rock I guess, they are planning for the bringing back of Mr. President in 2015. No pecuniary consideration is more urgent to NANS, than the regular misplacement of priority and love of money like their role models.  Survival is not about certain death, it’s about keeping your head down. You are not to be so blind with patriotism that you cannot face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it. Abimbola Adelakun of the Punch Newspaper puts it right when she opined on page 59 of 4<sup style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">th</sup>September, 2014 that, <em style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">‘NANS obviously is a band of opportunists looking for what to eat and for whom no perfidy, no level of ignominy, would be too low to wallow so long as it guarantees supply of ‘stomach infrastructure. Their desperation to be included in the routine sharing of the national cake perhaps explains why you never see these professional students ever associated with anything academic’’. </em>To even worsen the situation the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, spoke to the Punch on the 14<sup style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">th</sup> September, 2014 at page 8 that, <em style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">many of these characters are found in Abuja. They don’t go anywhere; they just sit there. They see governance as political activities and endorsements to collect monies from politicians and as a day-to-day routine business. We were part of the so called NANS, in the past. But today, many people will agree that it is neither here or there… </em>All is not well as regard the view of an average reasonable Nigerian towards NANS. It shows the body is decaying so fast. I pray the present crops of leaders in NANS do not make it crumble completely.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At a point in time, news had it that Nigerian students were equally represented in the just National Confab and I doubt if any reasonable impact was made by the NANS officials that represented the student. The major thing we hear about the Confab is all about Constitution amendment, State creation etc. No major thing was heard on education advancement and the future that behoves the Nigeria students.  Have you come to think of it? When the Super Eagles loses a match in a tournament, the National Assembly is always quick to set up an ad-hoc committee to critically examine such failures in a bid to avoiding further disappointment. Why can’t members of NANS flex their muscle ‘of money’ to lobby the members of the National Assembly to set up a committee to check the rising unemployment, education advancement, university restructuring and untold hardship that seems to be pulling the nation apart? What is the hope of a Nigerian student with a body like the NANS of today? We would continue to ask these questions until our tears travel long and sink somewhere beneath the sea-shores. To stand well in the estimation of one’s country is a happiness that no rational creature can be insensible of. I leave you with a mind full of hope. If it is to be, it is up to us.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">(WHYTE HABEEB IBIDAPO </strong>is a United Nations Award winner, Africa International Arbitration Award winner and Coca cola/ The Nation Campuslife Award Winner.</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Email: <a href="mailto:whyte287@gmail.com" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out;">whyte287@gmail.com</a></span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <strong style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">@whytehabeeb</span></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; line-height: 19.5px; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 1em 0px;"> <strong style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Views expressed are solely the author’s</span></strong></div>

Whyte Habeeb: ‘NANS’ of Decay

Painful as the task before me is to describe the dark side of our affairs; it sometimes becomes a matter of indispensable necessity. Anyon...

Continue Reading »