Argentine footballing icon, Diego Maradona, has died at aged 60, but certain social media users went through a case of mistaken identity as they were seen mourning for pop star, Madonna instead.
RIP to Madonna, that amazing player đ His godâs hand made me feel like a virgin pic.twitter.com/F0qBiVcBPS
Madonna started trending on Twitter last night and this caused confusion among some netizens who were questioning the story at first. Although, some were quick to post their tributes for the Like A Prayer singer, who is very much alive.
Maradona, the former World Cup winner with Argentina died of a heart attack, having undergone brain surgery earlier this month. Twitter was quickly lit up with tributes and RIP messages for the singer instead, Twitter users then corrected their own mistakes by pointing out the facts of Maradona from Madonna.Â
Not gonna lie, for the first 30 seconds of my morning I was frantic about Madonna.
To put this frenzy to an end, Madonna is alive, well and of course, singing; Diego Maradona on the other hand, has sadly passed away and is fortunately remembered many in the footballing community, thereâs a difference.
"One day, I hope, we will play football together in heaven."
Soccer icon Pele has paid a moving tribute to his "great friend" Diego Maradona after the Argentine died at the age of 60 after suffering a cardiac arrest. https://t.co/FjvTY3Xr3t
You were always a genius. Today is a very sad day and a great loss. But you my friend are eternal. Ciao Diego. Rest In Peace pic.twitter.com/jeNxXzM6s9
Scotland has recently made history by being the first country in the world to provide free and universal access to period products, a move that has shifted the public discussion around menstruation.
After four years of campaigning, The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act passed unanimously on Tuesday and will officially place a legal note on all local authorities to make period products available for all who need them, amplifying on the work done by councils like North Ayrshire which has been doing so since 2018.
Monica Lennon
Spearheaded by Scottish Labourâs health spokeswoman, Monica Lennon, she told the Guardian in an interview that this was âa proud day for Scotlandâ.
âThis will make a massive difference to the lives of women and girls and everyone who menstruates.â Lennon said.
âThere has already been great progress at a community level and through local authorities in giving everyone the chance of period dignity.
âThere has been a massive change in the way that periods are discussed in public life.
âA few years ago there had never been an open discussion of menstruation in the Holyrood chamber and now it is mainstream.
âMSPs have enjoyed being a part of that, and it has encompassed the menopause, endometriosis, as well as the types of products we use and their sustainability.â
The scheme would cost an estimated ÂŁ8.7m a year and the legislation will require schools, colleges and universities to provides the products for free which was announced by first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, in 2017.
In the meantime, a number of individual business such as restaurants, pubs and even football clubs â started providing free products independently which has made common for women in Scotland to walk into a womenâs toilet and find free period products by the sinks, or with an honesty box.
âItâs an important message in the middle of a global pandemic that we can still put the rights of women and girls high up the political agenda.â said Lennon.
What may seem like a comfortable task at first is turning out to be trickier then thought as the effects of Covid-19 is slowly beginning to unearth itself, especially in terms of our work.
Experts say that the extra anxiety that we are feeling due to the pandemic has harmed our working memory, this only adds on to the mental health triggers that we are facing.
Weâve all been there, walking to your workplace on a mission to complete any tasks for the day, but then quite literally stop midway and completely forgetting about why youâre there in the first place.
Study by the University of Notre Dame studied on the subject and found out that the brain is only built to hold so much information at once, a change in location works like a trigger to forgo data in order to make space for more.
1) Soft focus
businessman working in office with film colors tone, soft-focus in the background. over light
âThink of it as the mental platform for our cognitive operations, for what weâre thinking now,â says Matti Laine, a professor of psychology at Ă bo Akademi University in Finland. âWorking memory is closely related to attention. Youâre focusing on some task, some goal, some directive or behaviour you want to get accomplished.â
In order words, it is the ability to reason in real time situations, and itâs also essential to what makes the brain the most powerful tool in the human body. However, research has shown that a rapid change in environment, worry and anxiety can all have an impact on that.
2) Rapidly changing circumstances
Studies before the pandemic saw a trend of negative relationship between anxiety and working memory; âWe saw a trend of a negative relationship between anxiety and working memory. The higher the anxiety, the lower the working memory performance.â, says Laine.
âWeâre talking about anxiety and stress thatâs not acute,
âItâs related to a deeply uncertain future. You donât know â does it continue this summer, this autumn? Nobody knows. Itâs leading us to a more chronic anxiety situation.â
Even if you are not aware about whatâs at stake, youâre processing it all the time which adds to the cognitive load your brain is having beyond its capacity.
Well, the good news is that you can improve your deteriorating memory.
3) Brain workouts
There are lots on âbrain gamesâ out there, but experts agree that it doesnât actually do anything then to make you better at that game or as one research put it âCognitive training games donât make me better at remembering my shopping list, thatâs like trying to train people to play tennis by having them runâ.
There is one specific type of training exercise though that seems to show some promise. The N-back task, similar to a classic concentration game requires players to find pairs of matching cards, but, instead of pairs, there is only one object that moves around the grid-style board. Players have to remember the objectâs position through a certain number of turns â 1-back, 2-back, and so on.
Its impact on working memory remains up in the air but a few rounds would definitely help with the tension . After all, itâs the anxiety that is the root of the problem.
4) Reboot
Therapists sometimes use the term âthings arenât as bad as they think they areâ, but it may be controversial to say the least especially during this time.
So, one other way is to rebooting your memory by cutting down on news consumption and considering a much needed break from social media; the most important thing of all, convince yourself that it is completely okay to be struggling and thereâs nothing wrong with not being to be 100% for work when weâre still in the midst of a pandemic.
Seated on the floor in the room are a few students, notably women, who are reciting the alphabet; but these arenât ordinary students, they are refugee women in Malaysia and they are learning to read and write in both Malay and English for the first time.
Conducted weekly at a rather gloomy room outside Kuala Lumpur, classes are led by the Women for Refugees group. The group was formed in September by two law students who wanted to empower them to be more than the portrayable wife by helping with their literacy and also with their integration into the local community.
âI donât know even know my ABCs, but now I am learning,â Zaleha Abdul, 54, a Muslim Rohingya refugee, said in an interview with the Associated Press, as she struggled to remember the alphabet during a class last month. She said she wants to be more independent when going shopping or anywhere else.
Many refugee women, Zaleha among them, have picked up the local language but are still only confined to surroundings that they are familiar with as they donât know how to read or write.
Arissa Jemaima Ikram Ismail, was a volunteer with a relief agency at first in Selayang and aimed to help to uplift women in this community.
She and fellow law student Davina Devarajaan then met with the women who to their surprise, wanted to learn English and Malay. Arissa also said that education if often viewed as a low priority for refugee women.
Women for Refugees was then formed and they proceeded to recruit teachers via Instagram. Having about 20 volunteers now, the group is offering two-hour literacy classes in both English and Malay in a two-story block that has up to 50 families.
âIt was very essential for us to not pitch the refugee women as a charity, where they are constantly requiring external aid,â Arissa said. âWe want to equip them with the necessary skills so that they can sustain themselves ⌠and contribute back to the community.â
Although open to all migrant women, majority of the students are from Myanmar and Indonesia. Davina hopes to expand to other neighbourhoods in the future and also to include technical skills that could lead to more opportunities for an income.
She also added that teaching still goes on with pre-recorded lessons due to the countryâs coronavirus crisis; they were being viewed on three shared laptops while live classes were still being conducted once a week for older migrant children.
As the pandemic subsides, she would also âlove to integrate more volunteers ⌠to actually come and teach them and have this very community-based integration betweenâ the women and the locals, whom many view migrants as a burden on the countryâs resources and healthcare system.
Arisssaâs group may not be the first that is offering literacy course, but it is the only few that does this while focusing on women. Almost 178,000 refugees and asylum seekers are registered with the United Nations High Commission of Refugees, and many of them are left out educationally.
Shahidah Salamatulah, 38, was among three women at that time learning how to communicate in English when needing to seek treatment at a medical clinic.
Shahidah, a Muslim from Myanmar and a mother of two, was preparing for a new life abroad. She was called for interviews three times last year by the UNHCR on possible resettlements, but the coronavirus pandemic has put all that to an unscheduled and timely halt.
âEnglish is important for us ⌠when we go overseas we will need English,â she told the Associated Press.
As Covid-19 continues to take a toll on the country, it has unfortunately taken the life of a father who had to say his last goodbye to his family through a hand-written letter.
The 325th person to have died due to the virus, 58-year-old Ahmad Bin Ahmad Taib reportedly died from Covid-19 on the 19th of November 2020 alone and separate from his loved ones at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital (HRPB) in Ipoh, Perak.
Before succumbing to the disease, Ahmad scribbled his final words on a piece of paper that was dedicated to his wife and children; he had asked for forgiveness and also to request for the family to take good care of themselves.
âPlease pray, continue praying slat hajat (special prayers). Forgive me, take care of yourselvesâ the note showed.
The image of a healthcare worker holding the note was shared by his daughter, 32-year-old Syafiqa Humairak on Facebook.
âThis is the final note from Abah before he was put to sleep last Monday. I cried everytimeâ Syafiqa wrote in the Facebook post.
Shfiqa also told reporters that the family was not allowed to keep the note as it may be contaminated with the virus. She added that her father who had been treated for Covid-19 when in quarantine, was unable to talk and wrote the note before being sedated.
Although, the family managed one last video call before he was finally put to sleep.
Syafiqa has since urged the public to not take the virus lightly and to abide the Covid-19 guidelines.
âI was the only one who could attend the funeral. It is sad because I couldnât kiss him for the last time. I could only watch him from afar.â she said.
âCovid-19 is no joke and no one is immune. It only took a week for the virus to kill my father.
âI hope people will take this virus seriously and observe all the safety measures set by the Health Ministry.â
Ahmad has since been laid to rest at the Jalan Bendahara Muslim Cemetery in Ipoh, Perak
1000 new daily cases, 2 deaths today, four figure cases for four days in a row, these are the examples of the many headlines we come across during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Itâs as if the whole world is talking about the coronavirus and the internet only adds on to all those that you hear about our current situation. On top of that, weâre pretty sure your Mom has been texting you non-stop about what she got from WhatsApp groups about the virus.
If you panicked each time the daily new cases are released, chances are youâre not alone as the entire nation is doing the same as you.
Itâs only human of us to go through these emotions as our knowledge of coronavirus unfold and have these signs of panic:
Difficulty sleeping
Trouble concentrating
Anger, anxiety, worry and panic.
Being overly sensitive about your health and body.
Feelings of helplessness.
Fear of people who are coughing or appear sick.
Social withdrawal.
Thankfully, much like every other major global catastrophe, there are ways to calm down and manage your much anxious mind.
1) Understand the facts
Itâs important to stay up to date to the latest news, but the latest news can just be harmful if it isnât true. Be careful and be cautious when reading news from the internet, from messaging platforms and especially from comments and articles that are being shared around social media.
2) Give yourself a break
Even if you need to stay informed, that doesnât mean to scroll the news 24/7 as itâs important to focus on what you as a person can control on instead. Take a break from refreshing the news and move on to other parts of social media instead such as memes or even cat videos on YouTube, literally anything that can keep your mind off things for a bit.
3) Self-awareness
Know what has potential harm and what doesnât as not everything you do or everyone you come in contact to is a possible exposure to Covid-19. You can do what you can with preventing getting infected, but not everyone who coughs has the virus do they? Focus on what you can do instead and be self-aware.
4) Try to keep things normal
It can be tricky especially with majority of us having to work from home and quite literally social distance until the eventual end of this, but some sort of daily schedule as if things were normal is essential to make you and people around you feel safe. Follow your usual schedule to sleep, meals and other activities that can boost your mood. You can even take a walk around your neighborhood as good air outside the house is always a good idea.
Close up of a Border Collie being held and looking direct into the camera. A loving expression on the dogs face.
Theyâre goofy, theyâre playful, theyâre wholesome, dogs can be ridiculously adorable or downright disgusting at times but one thing for sure is that they never fail to bring joy to any with a simple nose âboopâ.
Although usually placed higher than cats in the pet ranking list by many, having a dog is like having a kid around the house, youâd never know what theyâll do next; whether it be knocking over the vase, running head on into a sliding window or actually eating your homework, these âdoggosâ offer an experience of having a kid without actually needing to have a kid.
Here are 5 things every dog owner can relate to.
1) Dog hair is part of the house now
After years of watching that little pup growing into a full-sized adult, youâve learned to accept the fact that dog hair is everywhere now. From the floors of your bedroom to every item of clothing in your closet, it is now part of your home.
2) No bathroom privacy
Dogs love you so much that they canât spend a minute away from you, even if youâre taking that time off for a little loo time. Seeing their owners walk in a room and not appear again for the next 15 minutes is just too much to bear; that doesnât mean they donât have their own solution for it though as theyâll just have to scoot on in, make a bed out of toilet paper and look deep into your eyes while you handle your business.
3) Dog food is more gourmet food than yours
Youâre fine with eating instant ramen or quite literally anything that is on sale at the grocery store because youâre used to the âcollege studentâ lifestyle. When it comes to your dog though, itâs as complicated as a Starbucks special menu order; only organic, non-GMO, gluten and dairy free whole foods that are produced by a farmer/artist named Abdul from the depths of rural Kelantan for that good boy.
4) Picking up poop doesnât feel like picking up poop anymore
You donât pick up your own poop or even someone elseâs poop, but for your dog, you wonât hesitate for even a second to pick that bad boy from off the floor. Why do we do that? Maybe weâre just proud of the fact that they know how to do their business outside of the house now or weâre just giving our pals a hand, quite literally.
5) Your phone is full of their pictures
We get it, theyâre cute. That isnât enough though as youâve got to let the whole world know about your pupper and its cuteness. Other than that, your Instagram and Snapchat stories are usually filled with their faces either close up near the âsnooterâ or from a full-on photoshoot of it hopping around the grass.
In a world divided by dog owners and cat owners, some of us simply appreciate these animals by who they really are.
Although cats are usually coming in as second best, theyâre still fun to look at on the internet as the YouTube recommendations show; to share your space with them however, can be tricky and could even develop what some would call a cat-fear.
Luckily the experience of owning a cat is still what one could consider as an experience, so here are the five top things every cat owner can relate to.
1) We think of our cats before buying any furniture or clothes
Clawing. Yes, itâs an unlockable perk that comes with every cat. Some of us cat owners have specific shirts we would rather wear and not wear around our cat while our furniture canât escape from the ever-disturbing clawing. Safe to say though, cat owners obviously live with the fact that their clothing and furniture are suffering, but theyâre completely fine with it.
2) Worried about leaving your pets alone at home? Not so for cat owners
When you go on vacation and are away from home for a few days, chances are that your cat is on vacation too, but at home. Unless if your cat has certain dietary restrictions or medical necessities, itâs all gravy for you to just leave a bunch or food and water out while having litter that will last.
3) They were built for photoshoots, but donât often stay still
Cats know whatâs up when you storm out of the room to look for your camera; and just like that, that opportunity for a photoshoot would usually be gone. Although, your eyes wonât forget the extravagant sight that once was.
4) Cat toys only work until they donât
It can have feathers or even one of those dingily bells that makes every other dog go heads over heels, but it is likely that cats are more interested in toys that donât move at all. Toys do have the charm to make a cat hop around, but the charm of it doesnât last as anything plastic and still would instead keep your cat entertained for hours and hours.
5) Another one and another one
We donât really know when to stop do we. Introducing new cats to one another may be a pain at first as they are quite territorial, but when they bond, it is as if they were a match made in heaven. Known stereotypically as the âcat ladyâ, itâs pretty similar to having tattoos as cat owners donât often see any issue to owning just one more.
As Covid-19 continues to rampage throughout the globe, 365 days have passed since the first reported case of it in China.
The virus has since changed the very rules of reality to what we see today, and all have already succumbed to this way of life for months as weâve seen 55 million cases so far and 1.3 million deaths due to the virus.
November
Patient zero is believed to have been infected with the virus on November 17th, exactly a year ago today in Wuhan; the identity of the person is yet to be revealed by Chinese authorities, but it is believed to be a 55-year-old man from the Hubei province.
December
Although its first case was recorded in November, Chinese authorities originally reported its first case and reported the World Health Authorities (WHO) in December, citing the source of it being a live animal wet market, the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market.
January
Chinese scientist began confirming a new strain of the virus but city health officals in Wuhan said there wasnât human to human transmission and that the disease was no worse than SARS.
The first recorded death came on January 11th with a 61-year-old and South Korea became the first country to record the first case outside China on January 24th.
100 cases are confirmed globally while the virus reaches the U.K and the U.S.
February: Malaysiaâs first case of COVID-19 – A 41-year old man that had recently returned from Singapore when he started to develop a fever and a cough, was quarantined at Sungai Buloh Hospital, Selangor.
March, April, May: Malaysia goes into a movement control order (MCO), CMCO and EMCO.
June: An all-time low of one new case leads to a recovery movement control order (RMCO).
July, August: A stagnantly reassuring and quiet time.
October: Post-Sabah elections bringing a surge of new cases.
November: Back to square one with CMCO and EMCO with daily new cases reaching the thousands.
Present-day Wuhan
As a city moving on from the Covid-19 scare, Wuhan has transformed from silent streets to packed pools.
In a recent music festival, thousands can be seen packed shoulder to shoulder in a pool without any facemasks cheering along to the music, not what one would imagine seeing in the year 2020.
The city had went into lockdown on January 23rd where 11 million people were cut off from the rest of China for a period of months. The lockdown started to ease in March where one resident from each household was allowed to leave their residential compound for a maximum of two hours.
The lockdown officially lifted on April 8th, during a time where the virus was running rampant around other parts of the world.
Night markets, shopping malls and life was truly going back to normal and the crowds that disappeared for months was returning again.
Wuhan Happy Valley – the theme park that owns the Maya Water park currently sees around 15,000 visitors on the weekend; all these which is visible on social media is largely a surprise towards many who arenât from the area as the world is still struggling with coping with the virus.
As the virus continues to rage elsewhere, it may be a long time before other countries feel confident in reopening borders and allowing life to resume back to normal again.
At 95 years old and out of a second term as Prime Minister when he was 94 two years ago, Mahathir remains an icon for this country.
Once the worldâs oldest leader of a nation, one couldnât help but to what is the secret behind the former Prime Minisiter and how is it that he has managed to balance his health and politics at such an endearing age.
One of it, is to read the news every day in order to keep the mind active; in his column âHere’s my recipe for staying healthyâ published in the New Sunday Times, regular reading helps with talking or making speeches as memory of certain words or phrases would then spring to mind.
He also says to eat healthy and not to overeat unnecessarily because âthe body really does not need a lot of food except when one is young and growing. For them the food is needed to ensure good bodily growth. Still, the amount must not be more than what is needed.â
To avoid blood pressure diseases, Mahathir also advises to eat less not to be obese as organs may then fail and shorten oneâs lif espan.
Personal hygiene is also one of the ways and Mahathir advises to brush oneâs teeth every day after meals.
âOne characteristic of the human body is that all the parts need to be used all the time in order for them to be healthy and to function well. If they are not used or neglected, they will wither and lose their ability to functionâ he said and went on to describe the most used muscles in the human body need to be developed well.
One other advice was to stand up and sit up straight as itâs associated with hunching of the back.
âThis progressive bending can be mitigated or avoided by consciously sitting or standing upright. It also prevents loss of height. Horse riding helps as it is important to sit in the saddle consciously upright to avoid backache.â
âAt all times stand upright like a military officer. Also, when walking it is important to keep a straight back. These deliberate straightening of the spinal column strengthens the bones and prevents them from collapsing.â he wrote, finishing with training himself to be disciplined as well, though he tends to get emotional about loyalty to country.
