Blessing Akpan
Bio
I am a photographer of thoughts, let me capture your soul.
Stories (24/0)
Unmasking Virtue Signaling and Implementing Actionable Virtue
As I understand it, it is a good thing to care about important things and other people. One of the things that seem to be happening right now, especially in certain quadrants of America, where people consume a lot of media and social media, is that there is an abundance of things to care about, to feel worried about, and often enraged by. But what if I find it hard to care a lot about things that don't affect me or my loved ones personally even though they are issues that I know are important, like the environment, social issues, economic and political issues.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in Psyche
Using Sanitary Pads for Urinary Incontinence
Menstruation is becoming less and less a taboo topic and is considered normal for women to buy pads. If you live with incontinence, you’re not alone. According to research by National Centre for Biotechnology Information, in women, moderate and severe bother have a prevalence ranging from about 3% to 17%. Severe incontinence has a low prevalence in young women but rapidly increases at ages 70 through 80. In men, the prevalence of incontinence is much lower than in women, about 3% to 11% overall, with urge incontinence accounting for 40% to 80% of all male patients. The good news is, most cases of urinary incontinence are treatable, or at the very least manageable. The first step is getting informed.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in Viva
Babies in Incubators Were Once a Sideshow
It’s a story that may be unfamiliar to a lot of people. Unless of course, you’re a fan of sideshows. I’d like to introduce you to a new type of sideshow exhibit that might surprise you. it turned out for a time at the beginning of the 20th century, babies became stars of sideshows for a very weird reason.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in FYI
The Confederate Counterfeiter
We’re talking about the king of Confederate counterfeit, Samuel Curtis Upham. He was a first-time counterfeiter of money of the Confederate side of the American Civil War. He was making fake Confederate money and was scamming the racists. The majority of the Confederate South didn’t own slaves but went out to war and were dying to own slaves of the low possibility that one day they’ll get super-rich and be able to own other people.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in FYI
The Downside to Being Goal-Oriented
Lately, I have been thinking about the dark side of grit and in particular how being goal-directed in the extreme can be a bad thing. If you are spending a large proportion of your 168 hours per week pursuing goals, you may be spending fewer hours savoring the present moment being mindful. So these strivers who are rushing around getting stuff done, are maybe less happy. Maybe they’re just missing out, right? I mean, let me ask you this, in a given day, what percentage of time that you’re awake do you think you are having goal-directed thoughts versus the percentage of time where you have no goal in mind? You’re maybe eating a really good piece of brisket.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in Psyche
The True Meaning of Life
The need for meaning, the yearning for meaning, the search for meaning is universal. It's just instinctive that all of us at some point in some way, in some wording, ask this question, what's the meaning of life and what's the meaning of my life? I thought about it a lot. And I wrestled with it. Now, let me take a guess you very much have.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in Psyche
The US and the UK Almost Went to War Over a Pig
You may be aware of the time that the UK went to war with what would become known as the United States in what we call the Revolutionary War. But did you know the US and the UK almost went to war again, due to a series of ridiculous events that began in 1859, on an island called San Juan Island? San Juan Island has nothing to do with Puerto Rico at all. It is a chunk of land located between the US and Vancouver Island. At the time, this place was home to settlers from the US and to British employees of the Hudson Bay Company.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in FYI
Pepsi Briefly Became the Sixth Largest Navy in the World
For some time, Pepsi became the sixth-largest Navy in the world. It turns out that it was some very clever bartering, some very clever kind of quid pro quo between the Russian government and the Pepsi Corporation.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in FYI
People Used to Straight Up Drink Gold
This is something that may be a little bit difficult for many of us in the modern-day to understand. Back in the day, people were trying to do everything they could to ensure that they lived as long as possible and that they were healthy while they were alive. You can see it today in things like anti-aging creams of dubious efficacy. And today’s story is about something even more dubious. People thought that they could improve their physical health by doing something incredibly strange.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in FYI
How to Know if You’re a Maximizer or a Satisficer
“It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” — Tony Robbins I am a maximizer. That means when it comes to my work, I’m always trying to do better as compared to my previous self. That’s what maximizers try to do in general, they try to optimize outcomes to get the most positive results. That’s the intuitive answer, at least the way I hope economists would define it, which is settling for the best and nothing less.
By Blessing Akpan3 years ago in Psyche