AFRICAN PLUME

By Akin Ojumu Say what you will about the people that set out to build the Tower of Babel, those folks had one thing the people of the world has never had. They lived in a world united in language and tongue. Having one language and a common speech, they realized very quickly that the sky is the limit for anything their heart desired. They knew that nothing they set their mind to do was unattainable. All they had to do was think it and it became a reality. But like all men often who have the Adamic nature in their DNA, instead of using their common tongue for a good cause, they set out to build a city and a tower that reached to the sky; they wanted to be gods. As a result, confusion was brought upon them. The people began to babble in a cacophony of different foreign languages and were scattered across the face of the earth each to their own little corner of the world. Ethnologue, published by the Summer Institute of Languages, SIL, is considered the most authoritat

Travis Bradberry, Ph.D. What makes someone a leader anyway? Such a simple question, and yet it continues to vex some of the best thinkers in business. We’ve written several books on leadership, and yet it’s a rare thing to actually pause to define leadership. Let’s start with what leadership is not... Leadership has nothing to do with seniority or one’s position in the hierarchy of a company Too many talk about a company’s leadership referring to the senior most executives in the organization. They are just that, senior executives. Leadership doesn’t automatically happen when you reach a certain pay grade. Hopefully you find it there, but there are no guarantees. Leadership has nothing to do with titles Similar to the point above, just because you have a C-level title, doesn’t automatically make you a “leader.” We often stress the fact that you don’t need a title to lead. You can be a leader in your workplace, your neighborhood, or your fami

Mosquitoes really do prefer some people to others, says Dr. Jonathan Day, a medical entomologist and mosquito expert at the University of Florida. “Some people produce more of certain chemicals in their skin,” he explains. “And a few of those chemicals, like lactic acid, attract mosquitoes.” There’s also evidence that one blood type (O) attracts mosquitoes more than others (A or B). Unfortunately, your genes dictate your blood type and the chemical makeup of your birthday suit. Genetics also determine several other factors that could make you an object of blood-sucking affection for your local mosquito population, Day says. Maybe the most important: Your metabolic rate, or the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) your body releases as it burns energy. Mosquitoes use CO2 as their primary means of identifying bite targets, Day says. Why? “All vertebrates produce carbon dioxide, so what better way could there be for a mosquito to cue in on a host?” And while it’s tru