Obama chases Clinton

Not what you’re thinking, folks. Obama is not chasing Hillary Clinton, he’s chasing Bill’s high job approval record during Bill Clinton’s second term. Just recently, the American people gave Obama a 54% job approval rating, the second highest in the second term of a modern-day American president. Guess who has the highest rating at this time of his second term?

No, not Ronald Reagan, he and Obama are tied at 54 percent. Heck no, not George W. Bush, his unpopular war in Iraq dumped his approval rating deep in the toilet at this time of his second term. It’s Bill Clinton? Yes! Hillary’s husband, despite all the Monica Lewinsky’s scandal, had a 57 percent approval rating, the highest in recent memory. Despite Obama’s soaring popularity, Donald Trump says he is the worst American president in history. Trump probably doesn’t realize that most Americans don’t really care about anything he says about Obama. First, he lied that he could prove that Obama was not born in America, hence was ineligible to be American president. Now, he says Obama is the founder of ISIS. (Say what?) That’s what Vice President Joe Biden would call a bunch of malarkey!  These are some of the things that make even Republicans worry about Trump’s mental health. Now that Obama and Bill Clinton are campaigning for Hillary, any surprise she is leading Trump in every national poll since the Democrat convention? Now they are five If you thought Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were the only presidential candidates in the U.S. elections, think again. They are now five. Gary Johnson (Libertarian Party), Jill Stein (Green Party) and just this week former CIA operative Evan McMullin declared to run as an Independent candidate. Besides Hillary and Trump, the other three have one major hurdle: Any candidate below 15 percent in the national poll cannot participate in any of the debates scheduled for presidential candidates. And without that national exposure, their campaign is as good as dead.   Police Targeting African Americans Remember the disturbing images of protests and riots in Fergusson in the state of Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland? While not condoning riots and violence, it is now proven that those black people and others who joined them in the protests against police discriminatory brutality were not crazy after all. Just this week, the Department of Justice confirmed what black people and civil rights activists have been saying all along. After a year-long investigation, the Department of Justice concluded among other things that Baltimore police officers made repeated stops in poor black neighborhoods and used dubious reasons to unlawfully arrest blacks. Imagine this: Although 63 percent of Baltimore residents are African American, they account for 84 percent of those routinely stopped by police. Also, between 2010 and 2015, African Americans make up a whopping 95 percent of the 410 residents stopped at least 10 times by the police. Wait, there’s more: During that five-year span, Baltimore police officers stopped 34 African American residents 20 times and seven African Americans were stopped 30 times or more. Meanwhile, nobody from another race was stopped more than 12 times. As if those were not bad enough, officers publicly (and unconstitutionally) strip-searched African Americans, including those who were not under arrest. Officers routinely and unreasonably used excessive force against residents, some of which resulted in deaths, including the death of Freddie Gray, which ignited the protests and riots in Baltimore. Wow! With this kind of “indictment” of American police, what do you say of the Nigerian police? The $400 cup of coffee Just imagine an exchange rate at N380 to $1, then multiply by 400. That amounts to about N152,000. If you were driving in the state of New Jersey, that’s what you would have to cough out if a bill before the New Jersey House passes. Well, one legislator is sponsoring a bill against additional distraction while driving, specifically those who try to open their beverage or mix cream in their coffee. If the bill is approved, that violation could cost first-time offenders between $200 to $400 and between $400 to $600 for second time offenders. A third offence could result in the suspension of the offender’s driver’s license.    Remember, the state already has laws against texting while driving and other distractions, such as reading newspapers or opening maps. But the fines for those violations pale compared to what the state legislator is proposing. Trump Not Running to Win Call me crazy if you want, but I am convinced that Donald Trump does not really want to win the U.S. Presidential Election. Not that he wouldn’t like to win, but frankly, I think he is scared at the prospect of winning and is doing everything to help Hillary win. He repeatedly stirs up controversy that takes the focus off his campaign message and then he and his surrogates spend the next couple of days defending or clarifying his remarks.    Imagine the Trumpster already is preparing his supporters for a potential defeat by saying the November 8 election will be rigged even before the first presidential debate is held. After losing about five days fending off the firestorm that sparked off his remarks against the wife of the American soldier who died in combat, he gave his big address on his economic plan. The very next day he caused another controversy with his remarks that seemed to suggest that he was calling for gun owners to find a way to stop Hillary Clinton. As that was still brewing, he called Hillary the devil and Obama the founder of ISIS, with Hillary as the co-founder. On Thursday, Trump told CNBC network that he will not change his style or tactics and if for some reason he doesn’t win the election he will go ahead and have a nice vacation. So why is Trump running if he does not want to win?    My take is that if Trump is hoping to lose gallantly to Hillary Clinton and then move on to expand his business empire. I foresee Trump TV network, something that can give him the kind of international influence he so desires, crowned with the kind of unlimited, criticism-free control the White House cannot provide. What do you think?

Real reasons women remember things more than men

In their 24-month-old marriage, Kingsley and his wife, Victoria, have had a number of conflicts than they envisaged, and most of the time, it could have been avoided. Even though the issues involved do not qualify as something that could tear them apart, it became a major cause of concern to the wife.

According to Victoria, a 32-year-old business woman, her husband’s forgetfulness is one issue she had yet to come to terms with. “It’s so bad that sometimes he forgets my birthday, sometimes it could be to pick our clothes from the drycleaner, and from time to time, he scatters many things in the house because he is always looking for his things,” she added.

Kingsley’s case might sound extreme, but he is certainly not alone, especially among fellow men.

While Kingsley and Victoria would continue to deal with theirs, Mr. and Mrs. Anifowose, who have been married for 15 years, say they have devised a means to manage theirs, as the man said his wife had taken the place of his reminder since she’s the one who reminds him of everything.

He said, “What I do is to tell her anything I don’t want to forget, and I tell her when to remind me. Guess what, she doesn’t fail me, and sometimes I ask myself if I’m suffering from amnesia or she is just gifted. And she doesn’t use any organiser. It amazes me, really.”

These two accounts somewhat give a fresh perspective to the fact that there is a wide range of differences between men and women, beyond their anatomy. Meanwhile, findings by some researchers have shown that women have better retentive memory than men.

In a study by Prof. Qi Wang, an expert in human development at Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology, New York, United States, it was found that gender has a role to play in how people remember things.

In the course of the study, which involved 60 college undergraduates, she sent three text messages to them in one week, and instructed them to write down what had happened to them during the previous 30 minutes. Thus, once they received the text, they should quickly type their experience within the last 30 minutes and forward to her for documentation.

At the end of the week, she asked all of them to describe in detail those events they wrote about in the text messages. She titled the study ‘Gender and Emotion in Everyday Event Memory.’

According to the result of the exercise, which was posted on the institution’s website, the researcher found that the women in the study wrote more detailed piece on their past 30 minutes experience in the text message they sent. And beyond that, they were able to recall more details about what they sent via the text message than men after one week.

Wang ascribed the difference to the fact that women pay more attention to happenings and are able to recall such when  needed.

Wang said, “It appears that, compared with men, women may attend to and encode more information during ongoing events, experience similar rates of forgetting, and then show greater ability to access retained event information at recall.

“Our findings also suggest that the content of memories is reconstructed over time in a gendered fashion. The findings help us understand gender differences in memory and inform the theoretical debate about where in the memory formation process these differences emerge.

“These findings are provocative in showing that women and men see their worlds differently, likely due to different cognitive styles, and that gendered ideologies come into play in memory reconstruction.”

In another study by Dr. Liana Palermo, a researcher at Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom, it was equally discovered that women are better at remembering things than men, which he ascribed to the fact that women develop the ability when they juggle responsibilities at home with their career and that it may be due to hormones or brain structure. He said men helping in the home could boost their memory.

He involved 100 men and women, aged between 15 and 40 in a task that puts them through a series of memory tests. And at the end of the study, it was concluded that even though both men and women find it hard to remember things as they age, women are still better at remembering things.

He also points to the fact that previous research has shown that in men, the brain’s memory hub shrinks when they are between 20 and 40 years old, unlike in women.

In the study published on Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology and reviewed on Daily Mail, he said, “An alternative hypothesis is that the sex differences we found could be due to the care-taking role often assumed by women and the fact that in addition to work responsibilities, women also have more responsibilities at home.

“This means that the skill needed to balance running a home and bringing up children with holding down a job improves prospective memory.

“A real life example of this would be, in a family, you would expect the woman to be the one to remember to buy some milk after work. Or she will remember to give a book back to a friend when she sees him next. She will be better at all of these kinds of tasks than a man.

“As a consequence of this social role, in daily life women might perform tasks involving prospective memory more than men, enhancing their performance in remembering to remember. If this is the case, one way for men to improve their memory would be to help more around the home.

Meanwhile, an expert in gender and memory at Hamilton College, New Zealand, Azriel Grysman, said women having better memory could be traced to when they were young, when parents often demand details of their experiences.

According to Grysman, demanding more details from girls than boys at that early age is indirectly training them to take note of details and remember them when asked.

“Kids whose mothers asked them to elaborate more when they were young had better recall as adults, and gender norms orient girls more toward elaboration than boys, which may lead to better memories,” she said.

Explaining further in a piece on New York Magazine, she said, “A memory is a pattern of mental activity, and the more entry points we have to what that pattern might be, the more chances we have to retrieve it. Since girls are more likely to be trained to elaborate and include their feelings in their memory-making, they are more likely to remember better.

“It’s quite possible, over time, that those tendencies will help women establish more connections of different pieces of an event in their brains, which will lead to better memory long-term.”

Giving a perspective to the studies, A neurologist, Dr. Adilkaibe Ezeala, said if there is any difference in the ability of men and women to remember things when compared, it would be psychological and not because a part of the brain is responsible for it. He explained that the part of the brain responsible for memory; the temporal lobe, and to some extent the frontal lobe, are present in both men and women.

Meanwhile, a psychologist, Dr. Adepeju Omoteso, said there are many aspects to remembering things, and that if it is about the cognitive aspect, which has to do with what they are learning in school, men and women tend to be on the same level, but when it comes to social things, because women are more emotional, they don’t forget things easily, most especially the wrong done to them.

She said, “Men may forget things more than women because they don’t have time to think of many other things that women think about. Even when they are involved in the same kind of work, the women would likely remember things more than men.

“Women also remember things because they are good record keepers, while men don’t bother about several things. I don’t think it has anything to do with the brain, even though there are many faculties in the brain. There is a faculty in the brain where feelings and associated issues are kept, and because women are more sentimental, they tend to remember all those things. Whatever touches on their emotions, they will remember.

Omoteso explained further that when it comes to episodic memory, women are better at remembering events. Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events (times, places, associated emotions, and other contextual who, what, when, where and why) that can be explicitly stated. It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place.

“When it comes to the social aspect, women will always remember those things more than men,” she added.

Troops kill suspected cattle rustler in Katsina

Troops of 35 Battalion, 1 Brigade Nigerian Army on Friday killed a suspected cattle rustler on Tsambe-Fafare road, Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State.

A statement by Col.Sani Usman, Acting Director, Army Public Relations on Saturday said the troops were in a joint patrol with Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Katsina State, under operation “SHARAN DAJI”

He said the operation followed information received from well patriotic citizens that three gunmen were sighted on motorcycles in the area.

Usman said that the team swung into action and pursued the suspected armed bandits towards Dumburu forest in Zamfara.

He said the team killed one of the suspected cattle rustlers and armed bandits, while the other two escaped with gun shot wounds.

Items recovered included an AK-47 rifle with registration number 1985PS6288, additional AK-47 rifle magazine and 3 rounds of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition.

In a related development, a combined team arrested a suspected notorious cattle rustler and armed bandit, Abubakar Mohammed and his boys, Ana’s Gora and Bello Sani.

He said items recovered from them included 49 cattle and 25 sheep.

Usman said that the special raids were carried out along Faskari-Sheme-Mairuwa road, Katsina State.

He said the suspects have been handed over to the police for prosecution and animals recovered handed over to the secretary, Faskari Local Government Area Council for handing over to their owners.

I was paid N500 for my first movie role –Chinedu Ikedieze aka Aki

From humble beginnings in the eastern part of Nigeria, Chinedu Ikedieze popularly known as Aki, hit the limelight after he starred in Aki na Ukwa in 2001.

Ever since, the pint-sized actor has continued to grow from strength to strength, winning awards both within and outside Nigeria for his exploits on the silver screen. The climax was when he was awarded an MFR by the Goodluck Jonathan administration a couple of years ago.

Sharing his grass to grace story in a chat with Entertainer, Aki reveals that despite his small size, he knew he was headed for the top of his career in Nollywood, and even when he was paid a meager N500 for his first ever role, he was not discouraged.

In his words: “As a little boy and like every other kid around me, I had dreams. We all had it at the back of our minds that when we grew up we wanted to be this or that. What I am saying in essence is that when I was much younger, I had the dream that someday I would make it. To God be the glory, I just knew that there was something peculiar about me; my life has been exceptional, I must confess.”

For Aki, the journey started in 1998 after he got admission to study at Institute of Management & Technology (IMT) in Enugu. Luckily for him, he had been a member of the Debating & Dramatic Society and had acted in a couple of movies, so when he got into IMT, he wasn’t much of a green horn; and his likable nature made him blend easily into the fabric of Nollywood.

“I used to admire the late Gary Coleman,” he recalls. “I thought he was a small boy like me. I used to watch Different Strokes and I was keeping my hair like him. Each time I looked at him, I felt I was seeing myself; there was this resemblance. He inspired me a great deal and I took a cue from him. I was like, ‘if Gary Coleman could do this then I could do it’. And then I found out that he was a man and I was like ‘wow!’ In deed, Gary Coleman was my mentor.”

Enter Aki & Pawpaw

Together with his friend, Osita Iheme aka Pawpaw, they have carved a place for themselves in Nollywood, winning various diadems including AMAA Lifetime Achievement award and being honoured with Member of the Federal Republic (MFR).

But how did the duo hook up? Hear Aki: “I started acting in 1998 and he (Pawpaw) came into the industry three years later. I was in school then and we had this opportunity to shoot in Enugu. He had just started acting then. We met in the hotel lobby where we were lodged. We talked and I discovered he was a very shy fellow.

“Before then, Amayo Uzor had been telling me that ‘Chinedu, just hang on, there is a boy I have seen that looks just like you, and guess what, he is in the industry and I am working on a script for the both of you.’ After our meeting, they called and gave us scripts; that was the first time I did pure comedy. The movie was Aki na Ukwa.”

Debunking rumours that they have parted ways, Aki continued: “We are still friends and together run an NGO and a company, Aki & Pawpaw Child Care Foundation, and Aki & Pawpaw Entertainment. We have shows five times every year. However, people should know that we also have our individual dreams.”

How much was Aki paid for his first movie? “Very interesting, you won’t believe it, I was paid N500,” he says, as we share a hearty laugh. “I did not do that movie for the money. I used the N500 to buy a ring boiler. I was not discouraged. The movie was Evil Men Part 1.”

What is the secret to his success? Aki responds thus: “The secret to my success is ‘God first’ and I try to be myself. I try to research and learn that which I don’t know, and that has really helped me.”

Finance and Lifestyle Magazine Hits News Stand

A premium quarterly finance and lifestyle magazine known as Market Digest that provides maximum exposure for selected brands is now available in Nigeria news stand.

The Publisher, Market Digest Nigeria Limited Mr. Esele Walter Odion during the unveiling in Lagos recently said the magazine is a premium quarterly finance and lifestyle magazine that provides maximum exposure for selected brands.

“In terms of quality we are undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best local print publication. The magazine production is driven by advertisements not by sales. We have relationships with courier companies”.

“So immediately after publication we distribute 70 per cent to the desks of high net worth individuals and senior management of all multinational and local companies as well as the places where this high net worth individuals go to like, Airport V.I.P. lounges, selected hotels chains, golf, polo and boat clubs, ” he said.

He explained the marketing /distribution strategy will be far more valuable for advertising companies that cater to its target market than any other print or online marketing platform.
Odion also pointed out the focus of the publication is simply to create a better platform to connect products and service providers to the right customer and consumer to the content.

“The focus of the publication is to provide relevant information on products and services as well as news and happening to our market segment on a quality platform, “he said.
He noted the magazine is positioned to serve its markets’ passion and people interested in wealth investment and business tools..

He posited the magazine is targeting the matured citizens of 40 or older high net worth individuals who can afford luxury goods and services, hence, creating value for our advertisers.

“We get advertisements from financial institutions, Real Estate companies, luxury living and related companies, Automobile companies, fashion houses, and travel companies, “he said.
Odion further maintained the initial challenge faced was production quality because they wanted a print quality similar to foreign magazines.

“A printing press will show you a sample and at the end they end up producing something else. We had no choice but to source for a press outside Nigeria to get our desired quality, “Odion said.

On where he sees the magazine in the next 10 years, he stated: “In the next 10 years I see market digest Nigeria magazine, being a major player in its niche. We have and will continue to build relationships with the best companies in Nigeria”.
“For us, successful marketing is a relationship driven business driven by creating connections”.