Just Saying

In Pampanga province of Philippines, men allow themselves to be crucified on good Friday. Either for penance or as a way to give thanks.Pics below. They are graphic pictures. What do you make of this tradition?

So, the long weekend is upon us. 4 whole days of free time... Gosh lounging galore. Lets try to keep it spicy. Here are a list of events happening in Lagos over this weekend. March 29th 2013 - Easter for Fiesta , a family retreat that starts Friday the 29th of March. Whispering Palms,Badagry -Good Friday Feast @ voodoo Lounge. -Peers Academy free ICT/Telecoms training for the less privileged. -Job Fair,organised by Harvest place and jobberman March 30th 2013 -Cook out Party organised by 3 Cousins BBQ and NS1463 Clothing Co in Lekki -Launch of Bazaar restaurant, Idowu Martins,V.I Lagos. Open to the public - Hang with Banky W, as he celebrates his birthday at Club Euphoria.To attend, send an e-mail to sally@360nobs.com  March 31st 2013 -TEDx event-paradigm shift. University of Lagos, Afe Babalola Auditorium.3pm - AY Live, a comedy show on the 31st of March. -Resurge, Grand ballroom, Oriental Hotel. FREE -Zulu Sofola's The Wizard of Law, Unity Centre Ikeja. St

 Okay so he didnt actually do that but what's the difference?  A 32 yr old Justin Crawford advertised on Craigslist. He masqueraded himself as a woman whose ultimate sexual fantasy was to be raped with force. He then exchanged e mails with some men and gave his wife's address. I honestly dont know if they were divorced or seperated. Two men show up a day apart. She defended herself with a gun. The 1st man ran away after a shot was fired in a scuffle but the 2nd man wasnt that lucky. He was held at gun point till the police arrived. The second assailant told the police, he was just responding to a craigslist advert. E mails were discovered in the husband's accounts and text messages on his phone. The husband confessed. Crawford is a staff sergeant in the Idaho National Guard, who served in Iraq in 2004 and is reportedly still on full-time duty. Wonders shall never cease oh....... But imagine being that woman now.

This study published in the Britisha Medical Journal shows an association between eating fast food and allergies. Specifically asthma, eczema and hay fever. It covered children aged 6-7 years old in31 countries and 13-14 yr olds in 51 countries. Amazingly there was a 30% increased risk of allergies in children that had fast food 3 or more times a week. The association is noted with severe forms of the diseases mentioned above. Affluence and gender did not change the outcome.Researchers also noted a protective effect against severe asthma for those who ate fruit at least three times a week. This does not mean fast food is a direct cause of asthma. It just establishes an association.  'It is possible that some unmeasured effect of socioeconomic status or environment which correlates with fast foods may in fact be responsible." This association just encourages parents to establish a balanced diet and reduce the number of times their child eats take out. #awordisenoughfo

How can you people claim that Akpabio rigged? He just said he 'cancelled the opponent's name' nah. I dont appreciate all this name calling and requesting a probe be started. At least not before my own prado jeep arrives, as a good citizen of Akwa Ibom. lol

First, I would like to congratulate Anne Idibia and Tuface. God bless your nuptials. May you see many years together in peace and love renewed daily. Second, I am just the messenger. Someone brought  this up and I thought it would be interesting to ask the public. So, lets get to it. Tuface and his long time sweet heart will be married in a few short hours. Annie was given a brand new jeep and expenses paid for her family members to attend the exclusive event in Dubai. And Akpabio said this was because she was a good daughter of Akwa Ibom and a good example for women. Is this true? She is getting married to a man with 6 kids outside of wedlock with 4 different women. If tuface were some Sule on the street, would this marriage even make sense to most people? I am sure even her parents would be cursing him, rather than letting their daughter marry him. The  next question , would the public be in love with this whole wedding if the woman was the one with 4 children, even if she

I have always wondered what drives the aggression girls have towards other girls. I mean, I have lived a very colorful life. Anyone who knows me, understands what I mean. I have been accused of everything under the sun. One of my friends actually accused me of 'stealing her friends'. Please note that i didnt say boyfriend oh. By way, she meant her guy friends. I have never had many girl friends. Always wondered what was wrong with me. Actually had a talk with a friend with many gal pals and she gave me some helpful tips; - Try to be none threatening. Don't come across as sexy or flirty. Girls deemed as sexy or pretty are seen as threats and girls become aggressive. - Try to be funny. Always helps to keep other women at ease. Tried these methods. Didn't work. Anyway, long story short. Its been an uphill battle for me. But this isn't meant to be a pity party. Just to say, I have always wondered what it is that informs this aggression. This girl on girl cruel

It is said( I don't know who said it), but it is said that there is no greater way to honor a man than through his art. So, rather than belabor you with the story of his life, which you can read in any daily or online at wikipedia. I choose to honor this great man by his words.  Below are some thought provoking quotes by a great author and a great mind. ....... Chinua Achebe. When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.   The only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience. Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be. A functioning, robust democracy requires a healthy educated, participatory followership, and an educated, morally grounded leadership. Democracy is not something you put away for ten years, and then in the 11th year you wake up and start practicing again. We have to begin to learn to rul

There are many stories of parents that have turned to shame based punishment as a method of discipline. An example is making a child wear a t-shirt to school with his/her offense written on it, as a mother in fort Morgan did. Other examples, a mother made her son hold a sign with an apology to the teacher that he had  disrespected. He displayed this sign in front of his school. Since the onset of these public displays of 'name it or shame it'( i know. just came up with that), there has been response from the public. some believe this is the worst type of parenting.  I am not here to argue for or against. I just think its interesting the way punishments have evolved. As a child, punishment was being twacked. I wonder how I would have responded if i was shamed. What do you all think? Would you shame your child? pictures courtesy shine yahoo

Its time to put on the happy faces..... International Day of Happiness is here. March 20th. I know, I know.... who comes up with these things? Well turns out it was the United Nations General Asssembly some time last year. They believe happiness is a human right..... I wish it was that easy.  Happiness is defined as a feeling or a show of contentment OR having a sense of confidence in or satisfaction with (a person, arrangement, or situation). I would like to briefly discuss barriers to happines ; 1. Lack of contentment; Being content isn't easy. It takes gratitude. Believing that you are good or will be good. Not constantly wondering when/where your big break will come or that which you seem to desire will eventually happen. Or to put it the way my partner does- knowing that no matter your situation, there is someone worse off than you. This can also be tied in with lack of accomplishment . 2. Lack of connection; with other people, with

Just came across a study that shows that married people or people with stable partners sleep better than unmarried people. Yes, I was surprised. This was done at the University of Arizona,  United states. sampling about 360 couples. African Americans, Caucasians and Chinese-Americans were involved. Interesting though in the first few months or years of marriage, the sleep isn't as good. wonder why? maybe its having to adjust to someone else in your bed. Another study showed that couples who slept better had better relationships and felt more positive about their spouse.This was intererstingly proved by a study which asked the couples  to sleep apart and rate their interactions the following the day. " The quality of wives’ sleep was a more important predictor of happy interactions than a hard day at work or any other form of stress." "Men tend to sleep better next to their partners than when they go to bed alone, but that may be because they get to enjoy

 You might think I am trying to pull a fast one on y'all but it's for real. Infact , the brand started in Canada but is now expanding to America. ITs......... drum roll please..... Sexcereal. Yes, this cereal is rumored or advertised to improve your sex life.... interesting. huge claims or are they? Its the world first gender based cereal.  meaning there is cereal for men and cereal for women. For men, ingredients include; bee pollen, wheat germ , black sesame, camu camu, maca , pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, goji berries and things.these ingredients are  to increase  testosterone. for females, ingredients include oat bran, flax seeds, almonds, chia seed, ginger, sunflower seeds and it aims to support hormonal balance in women. Each packet costs 9.95 dollars per packet. Feel free to check the testomonials out at it's website our sexcereal If anyone wants to try it, contact me. I'll hook you up. lol

"That looking carefully at the surrounding events in perspective, Mrs. Annie Idibia, nee Macaulay is a daughter of Akwa Ibom State and the gift of a Prado SUV from her governor is only a gesture of love and goodwill. Her resolve to stand by her husband on his journey right from his days of youthful beginnings to stardom even in the face of challenges was commendable and a true attribute of the Akwa Ibom women. “It is however unbecoming that mischief makers and enemies of progress have decided to inflame the social media with incongruous reports that the State Government is sponsoring an entourage of party supporters to the wedding in Dubai, when in fact the Government is only sponsoring the travel expenses of twenty of her family members at an estimated cost of roughly Three Million Naira (N3,000,000.00) only.” Just 3m?!! Only! And  people are dragging your name in public? Shio, nonsense. They should go away jare.  Me sef proud daughter of Akwa Ibom. I chan

I am sure we have all seen the short clip of the Lagos State  Commandant of Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC) on Channels TV. So, I won't bug you with that. What I think would be beneficial if you can spare about 20 minutes to watch the full interview.  Part 1       Part 2 The first issue is the claim that channels TV presenters were not fair to the guy. hmmmmmmm.How do I start? Watching the whole interview, gives better perspective . Truth is, the presenters were fed up.The man through out the interview didn't answer 1 question directly. He had to be guided through out the process. Question after question had to be broken down and he would regularly say- My Oga(s) at the top. Not that I support them but I felt their pain. Not forgetting that one of the issues he was called  upon to clarify was this issue of various false websites. So it only made sense to ask- what the official NSCDC website is. But as seasoned professionals, they should have tri

Courtersy liberty mutual

There are 2 mothers' day. One for the North Americas' and one celebrated in Europe. The European mother's day is celebrated earlier in the year, the 4th Sunday of lent. In America, it's celebrated on the 2nd Sunday of May. it is celebrated in only 43 countries. Mothering Sunday, or Mother's Day(UK), is traditionally a day to visit your mother church. It is now an occasion to bring gifts to your own mother. The red carnation is the symbol of mothers day. the red ones are for living mothers and the white ones for  mothers that are deceased. The world’s most prolific mother was a Russian lady, Mrs. Vassilyev, who had 69 children in 27 pregnancies. She had no single births, but multiple sets of twins, triplets and quadruplets. And it seems 67 of those kids survived past infancy. M is for mother in most of the world’s languages.  Whatever you do on Mother's day, be sure to reach out to your mother. Buy her a gift, red carnations or take her out f

So, it's the 21st century and we are in the age of constant communication. From blackberry instant messanger, whatsapp, facebook chat and so on. And romance and its rules have changed and become more new age, or has it?  Harlequin romance carried out a survey in 2012 on romance. What did the survey show? Well, women still like chivalry and like their men to pick up the tab(at least on the 1st date). lets discuss the interesting ones, shall we?   59% of women believe men should still ask them out.... REALLY! And mind you this survey involved mostly women in 'civilized' countries. So, can you imagine the statistics if this was asked in a place like erm.... Nigeria. 54% of women would like their men to hold the door open for them. I just have to say this, 'wa pe n be'! lol. 51% of women believe the guy should pay for the first date. But in Naija, 100% believe men should pay on ALL of their dates.... 75% reported their dating lives as 'boring'. Wond

  Celebrated annually on the 8th of March. It's a day to appreciate the women in your life- mother , wife, sisters, boss even. You can give them small gifts or flowers just to say thank you. The theme for this year is Stop the Violence. The statistics on Violence against women is appaling. from rape to domestic violence. There are many reasons for this but i WOnt bore you with them. I would just like to say that i dont think women will achieve much until men stand beside us in this battle. these arent just women. These are our mothers', sisters', cousins', friends'. these are people we respect and love. would anyone appreciate their mother being treated unfairly? Its time to stop standing on the sidelines. Its time men joined this and stop blaming the victim. NOTHING justifies violence against another human being. And unless i was taught wrong, women are human beings. Thats my 2 cents on the matter. For people in Lagos, there are a number of events happening

There is a general myth that contraception refers to abortions or that an abortion is the main form of contraception. This, of course is not true. Contraception/family planning is prevention. These are methods to ensure that pregnancy does not happen. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy and till date is illegal except in certain circumstances. E.g. if the mother’s health is at risk. Anyone convicted of performing an abortion can be jailed for 14 years. Despite the law, abortions are routine in Nigeria. It’s hard to get accurate data because abortions are under reported . Estimates put it at about 610,000 abortions(25 per 1,000) yearly. About 40% of these are performed in clinics by physicians. The other 60% is by midwives, nurses, pharmacists and technicians. This  leads to complications and these contribute to the high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria. The national mortality rate is 545 per 100,000 births but this is just an average. In the rural north-east, the f

One small step for man, one giant leap for womankind. At least, I hope so.The HOuse of representatives announced  that on Tuesday 5th of March, a bill was passed that reccommends life improsonment for anyone convicted of rape and a term of at least 20 years for someone convicted of gang rape. The bill also approved that any person convicted of performing female circumcision and general mutilation or engaging someone to carry it out shall spend four years in jail or a fine not more than 200,000. Aiding female circumcision attracts N100, 000 or two years in jail or both. Kudos to Abike Dabiri for sponsoring the bill. God bless her efforts to support women.

     You can read the full article on CNN- Crystal Kelley, a surrogate's dilemma . The summary though is that an ultrasound revealed cardiac&brain abnormalities, cleft lip and palate, no spleen and no liver. At this point the biological parents asked for the baby to be aborted. The biological parents already had 3 children, 2 with special needs. Kelley(the surrogate) refused. A monetary incentive -10,000dollars was made. Kelley remained unmoved. She just couldn't. She moved to another state to protect hers' and the baby's rights and found adoptive parents for the baby. Now, post birth and adoption the biological parents are in touch with the adoptive parents. So, the question; would you abort for 10,000 dollars?

International Women's Day is celebrated  8th of March annually. It was originally called International Working Women's Day. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. In some countries, this day is celebrated as a public holiday e. g  Burkina faso, China, Uganda, Belarus, Afghanistan, Angola .                                                                 On this day, men  give the women in their lives – mothers, wives, girlfriends, daughters, colleagues, etc. – flowers and small gifts. In some countries (such as Bulgaria and Romania) it is also observed as an equivalent of Mother's Day, where children also give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.  This year's theme is ; A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women . As this day approaches, I think, w