Being lonely does not just have an immediate effect, in the long run, it shortens your lifespan—and as such, we have to build more healthy relationships.
According to a new research, loneliness shortens lifespan as much as being obese.
“Whether a person feels alone is as much of a predictor of whether they will die prematurely as their weight, researchers found. And they predict a loneliness ‘epidemic’ in the future as more people live alone – and warn people need to start taking social relationships more seriously.
They explained loneliness and social isolation can take different forms. For example, someone may be surrounded by people but still feel alone.Other people might isolate themselves because they prefer to be alone. The effect on lifespan, however, is the same for those two scenarios, researchers found,” MailOnline reports.
The lead author of the study-Julianne Holt-Lunstad, of Brigham Young University, Utah, said; ‘the effect is comparable to obesity, something that public health takes very seriously’ and that ‘we need to start taking our social relationships more seriously.’
Kanu Nwankwo is a retired Nigerian footballer who played as a striker. He was diagnosed with a serious heart defect, and underwent surgery in November 1996 to replace an aortic valve. Kanu’s experience led to him founding the ‘Kanu Heart Foundation’, an organization that helps predominantly young African children who suffer heart defects. His work was also expanded to … Read more
Actress Juliet Ibrahim has featured in an ‘Anuel Modebe’s new Towel Series—and she is looking good.
The delectable multi talented,Ghanaian actor, singer, songwriter, performer and philanthropist recently teamed up with celebrity Nigerian photographer, ‘anuel Modebe as a muse for his ongoing “Towel Series” shot in Lagos, Nigeria.
The shoot was put together by the photographer to show strong, beautiful and sometimes influential women (Sometimes men) in their barest most comfortable state with nothing but a towel and a robe on.
Ghanaians are worried that the Ebola Vaccine trial is positioned to take place in the Volta Region in Ghana—and as usual, we are exposing our ignorance.
So we don’t want Ebola Vaccine trials in Ghana…huh?
Great, but the next time you have a malaria or some sickness and you go to the drug store to buy a drug, try to also find out where the pill/drug you are buying had its trial done.
We use several drugs which were tested in other countries—we are beneficiaries and yet we don’t want a drug/vaccine tested in our country?
All the vaccines we have in this world today including those against Polio, Tetanus and others were tried on human beings somewhere in some country—and in some community.
Today, we proudly use these vaccines as Ghanaians, yet we can’t open our mind enough to have trials in our country?
Clearly a lot of Ghanaians have no idea of what this whole vaccine trial is about. But that is beside the point, what has really saddened me is how well educated folks who could simply research on it to be informed have refused to do so and yet are busily making public comments on it.
Today, i have tuned in to two big radio stations and on both stations, I was simply EMBARRASSED by radio panel members seriously shouting with passion but sadly too, with a LOT OF IGNORANCE on this whole Ebola vaccine trial.
So I have decided to answer three questions most people ask ignorantly – i don’t mean for you to be offended, just be informed.
1.What is this whole vaccine thing? Are they really introducing Ebola into Ghanaians?
A vaccine is a weakened form of a virus that is introduced into an individual so that the body develops immunity (let’s call this “body soldiers/ ability to fight”) against such disease. Yes, the vaccine contains the virus content. However this is weakened and the amount is too small to cause the disease – this is ensured by passing the vaccine through several tests and using animal subject over and over again.
2. Ghana has no Ebola, why not Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea who have had the virus?
People who have already been exposed to the virus (naturally as in the case of people in these countries) may already be producing such antibodies in their systems and so the researcher cannot tell if those antibodies is due to the natural exposure to the disease or by the vaccine they are testing. That is why it wouldn’t be prudent to try vaccines in places already exposed to the disease in this case, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
3. Why Ghana, Volta region, Hohoe?
This is the most unreasonable among the questions. FDA has stated over and over again that the Principal Researcher (the person who is doing this research) is in the University of Allied Sciences in Hohoe.
Additionally, the University have the needed facilities and equipment for such trials which makes it a suitable site for such trials, as was done for Polio, Onchocerciasis, etc.
Half the world probably hates him but Mayweather continues racking up the millions with not a care in the world.
Mayweather fought in the ‘fight of the century’ against Manny Pacquiao and picked up the win and the bigger pay check despite almost everyone protesting the decision. His $100m check from that night helped him to a total of $300m and made him the highest earning athlete of the past 12 months.
Mayweather tops the list for the 3rd time in four years, and his $300m comfortably breaks the previous record of $115m set by Tiger Woods in 2008.
Forbes compiled the list of the highest earning athletes, and Mayweather’s opponent Pacquiao finished 2nd with $160m. The magazine’s calculations constituted earnings figures including all salaries, prize money and bonuses paid out between June 1, 2014, and June 1, 2015.
The top 10 breakdown by sport involved two boxers, two footballers, a tennis star, three basketball players and two golfers.
Afia Schwarzenegger comes off as the black man who says he has been liberated from slavery—and yet has not heard of mental emancipation. Such a person forever remains a slave and though Afia Schwarzenegger thinks she is no more a slave to Deloris Frimpong-Manso (Delay), any smart person can spot the chains still around her neck. … Read more
Screen legend well known for roles in Count Dracula, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars has died in hospital, age 93 after suffering respiratory problems. He is survived by his wife Birgit Kroencke Lee and daughter Christina Erika Lee. Lee died on Sunday per the below death certificate… httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxdCIf91mcQ
An appeal by Lionel Messi for his culpability in a tax evasion trial to be thrown out has been rejected by a Spanish court, paving the way for his prosecution. Messi is accused of defrauding Spanish tax authorities of over $5m in taxes owed between 2007 and 2009. Messi and his father, Jorge, are both … Read more
The dumbest fraudsters I’ve come across in life are those internet ones who send random emails out—trying to get you to open some file, send you some huge money they claim to have, those saying you’ve won a lottery and lastly, those who claim to be from a certain bank.
Sometimes, I spare a minute to ask myself this; do these people ever get to scam anyone out there with these old widespread lame tricks? But, it must be working for them somehow—else, why have they not decided to alter the same old obvious scam they’ve been peddling for many years?
To me, they are deeply stupid and lazy—you must also be deeply greedy or stupid to fall for their tricks.
If you have an email address, I am sure you’ve received several emails from some people who claim to be surviving spouses, children or relatives of a rich African billionaire who left behind huge sums of cash—and they intend to transfer this cash to you or intend to make you the beneficiary.
This line of scam has been going on since emails became available and yet, they continue to push it. I even got an email like this yesterday from a certain Hussein from Libya. I don’t even believe that email came from Libya…
And then we have those who work for a big unheard-of lottery organisations, carrying the good news of your huge winnings. A few years ago, I decided to play a little dumb to one of these emails to see how far it will get for an experience purpose—and it was really interesting.
Out of the blue, I got an email from a certain Elizabeth who said she was in charge of accounts at a lottery firm in Ohio, USA and that my email address had somehow been selected randomly as a winner of their annual lottery. She added that, I had won 800,000 dollars so she was writing to congratulate me and ask for my details so they can swiftly send out my cheque.
Of course I knew this was one of those stupid attempts at scam; because no one will give out such a huge sum of money to anyone for free—more also, for a lottery that you did not even enter into. But I decided to play along and quickly wrote back…
In my reply, I mentioned that I was really excited to have heard the news—and in fact the timing was so right because I needed a bit of money to add to a large loan I had taken to purchase a Yacht as I was moving to Liechtenstein. Take note of the country I picked, I doubt a Yacht will be of any good use there—but they were too stupid to even spot my sarcasm.
Rick Ross was arrested in Georgia on Monday in his Bentley for misdemeanour possession of marijuana. The Maybach Music Group boss was cruising in Fayette County when he was stopped by Police for an alleged tinted windows violation. Whilst talking to him, police smelled marijuana coming from his car, and thus had grounds for a … Read more
Plus size model-Tess Holliday who recently made a comment in an interview that “black men love me,” has been forced to apologise after widespread backlash.
The US model, who recently appeared in a Guardian weekend magazine spread, told crew members during the shoot: “I do admit that black men love me. I always forget that, and then I come to a black neighbourhood and I remember.”
Now, for those of us who live abroad, we always see our black brothers going in for these plus size white women—for the immigrants, I will say to be able to secure their ‘papers’. But the non immigrants do it too, though not widespread.
I am not sure if our black men have a thing for big or plus woman but there certainly seem to be a lot out there connecting with white women with such a body type.
In The Hollywood Reporter’s roundtable, six Emmy contenders — including Lizzy Caplan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Lange and Ruth Wilson — speak candidly about the current climate in a conversation about nudity and typecasting: “I had never seen a 49-year-old, dark-skinned woman who is not a size 2 be a sexualized role in TV or film,” says Davis.
The actresses also opened up about sexism, race and ageing within the most competitive film industry in the world.
Excerpts from the conversation + videos below…
Taraji and Viola, you both took on meaty roles in dramas in a year when “diversity” was the buzzword of the broadcast season. Fox’s Empire and ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder both showed that audiences were craving diverse talent onscreen. Taraji, your Empire character, Cookie, specifically …
HENSON I hate that bitch. She’s stolen my identity! (Laughter.) My friends don’t want to talk to me unless it’s about Cookie.
She quickly has become iconic. Did anything worry you about taking the role?
HENSON Cookie scared the hell out of me. Just before I got the role, I’d said, “F— it all, I’m going back to theater.” I felt lazy and like I needed to sharpen the tools. So I did theater at The Pasadena Playhouse. Then my manager said,“You have to read this script.” I’m like, “Hip-hop? Oh my God, what are they trying to do? Fox is going to pick this up? This isn’t HBO?” And then I got nervous and started pacing the floor. “Oh my God, Cookie is bigger than life. You will love her or hate her.” Empire has forced people to have conversa – tions that they were afraid to have. And that is what art is supposed to do. I just didn’t know it was going to shake things up this much! (Laughs.)
You’ve been known to improvise a lot of Cookie’s one-liners. Is she based on someone in your life?
HENSON A lot of people think those came from a woman I know, but actually Cookie is based on my dad. You either loved him or you hated him because he was always speaking truth. The one line I said in the show about someone’s hair smell – ing like “goat ass” was his. Once I didn’t wash my hair for two weeks because it kept the curl better when it was dirty. We were on a public bus, and he grabbed my head and asked, “Why does your head smell like goat ass?” in front of everybody. I learned the lesson. I washed my hair. Thanks, Dad. See, everything happens in life for a reason.
Viola, you’ve been vocal in the past about feeling marginalized as a nonwhite actor in film, saying many of the roles you’d been offered were “downtrodden, mammy-ish” women. What most appealed to you and scared you about playing the lead in a Shonda Rhimes drama?
DAVIS There was absolutely no precedent for it. I had never seen a 49-year-old, dark-skinned woman who is not a size 2 be a sexualized role in TV or film. I’m a sexual woman, but nothing in my career has ever identified me as a sexualized woman. I was the prototype of the “mommified” role.
Then all of a sudden, this part came, and fear would be an understatement. When I saw myself for the first time in the pilot episode, I was mortified. I saw the fake eyelashes and, “Are you kidding me? Who is going to believe this?” And then I thought: “OK, this is your moment to not typecast yourself, to play a woman who is sexualized and do your investigative work to find out who this woman is and put a real woman on TV who’s smack-dab in the midst of this pop fiction.GYLLENHAAL Isn’t it so much hotter to see a woman on TV who looks like an actual woman, someone whose arms aren’t perfect?
LANGE (To Davis) Except your arms are perfect!
GYLLENHAAL I was talking about mine! (Laughter.)
DAVIS The thing I had to get used to with TV was the likability factor. People have to like you, people have to think you’re pretty. I was going to have to face a fact that people were going to look at me and say: “I have no idea why they cast her in a role like this. She just doesn’t fit. It should have been someone like Halle Berry. It’s her voice, and she doesn’t walk like a supermodel in those heels.” And people do say that, they do. But what I say to that is the women in my life who are sexualized are anywhere from a size zero to a size 24. They don’t walk like supermodels in heels. They take their wig and makeup off at night. So this role was my way of saying, “Welcome to womanhood!” It’s also healed me and shown a lot of little dark-skinned girls with curly hair a physical manifestation of themselves.
Is there a specific point in your career when you felt you were the bravest?
GYLLENHAAL I had a rape scene in The Honorable Woman where it was clearly written that she’d be saying, “No, no, please, no,” right away. But I wanted her to be complicit and wanting it; the darkest, most painful sex, right up until the point it turned into rape. I wanted her to want something she knew she shouldn’t want. I can sometimes tell when actors fought an ordinary approach to a scene, and I’m so glad they did because it tells a better story.
Lizzy, you have to do a lot of nudity on Masters of Sex. How difficult are those scenes for you? Do you ever push back on doing them?
CAPLAN I was more afraid of doing nudity on [HBO’s] True Blood. It got easier after that, but I’m not ever 100 percent comfortable. There was a scene last season where I take my robe off, I’m naked and then transition into locked-eye [with Michael Sheen’s character], full-on masturbation from beginning to end. We have a female showrunner who considers herself a prude, so the sex scenes always move the story forward. But I remember being in my trailer before that scene and thinking for the first time since the show started: “I really don’t want to go out there and do this.” HENSON It’s very vulnerable
GYLLENHAAL I think sex in film is so interesting. It’s uncomfortable to take your clothes off in front of people you don’t know, but it can be an opportunity for really interesting acting. I’m 37, and I’ve had two babies, and I’m really interested in nudity now. More so than when you were younger?
