Facebook just reminded me of how much ‘Buy Naija to Save the Naira’ trended in 2016.

Back then this hashtag was ran by the presidency (or is it the vice president’s office?) and endorsed by the Senate. When we mentioned that it was a lazy attempt at improving the economy, we were called names, not the least, unpatriotic.

Someone like Ben Bruce rubbed his purchase of Innoson vehicles on our faces as evidence of how much the #BuyNaijaToSaveTheNaira campaign was working.

It’s five years now, what has become of the message of the town criers of this hashtag?

All these only shows how much we believe in the Nigerian exceptionalism and thus disregards the lessons of the past. …

Yesterday, I finished Mike Cernovich’s Gorilla Mindset: How to Control Your Thoughts and Emotions, Improve Your Health and Fitness, Make More Money and Live Life on Your Terms. The book was published in 2016.

In the course of a week, I finish the print version twice, finished the audiobook once, and listened to chapters 7 and 9 a few times.

The book is a small 177-page self-improvement book which seeks to highlight how to improve your life. …

Tesla made Elon Musk the richest man in the world for a few days (Bezos has taken back his place). While doing this, it has also made some people lose billions of dollars.

They have lost money shorting Tesla.

Tesla is an American electric vehicle company whose products include electric cars, battery energy storage, solar panels and solar roof tiles, etc.

What does it mean to short a stock? How are people losing money shorting Tesla?

I will take the questions one by one.

When you short a stock, you are saying that a stock is not worth what people are presently paying for it, and so you are taking the opposite position of buying so you can profit. …

This afternoon I finished “Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions”. The book is written by Brian Christian and Tom Griffins. Brian is a computer science and philosophy graduate whose best-selling work has already been translated into eleven languages, while Tom is a professor of psychology and cognitive science at Princeton University. The book was published in 2016.

Algorithms to Live By is an informative exploration of how computer algorithms can be applied to our everyday lives to enable us solve problems.

To the uninitiated mind, algorithm can bring up the image of something undiscernible that only the computer nerd knows about, but in actual fact, an algorithm is simply a series of steps that help solve a problem. …

One of the best ways to increase engagement on social media these days is through these ‘men vs women’ discussions — the so-called gender wars.

There is debate on if social media influenced the offline world (the pronounced cancel culture), or vice versa. Whatever it is, discussions on gendered language has gained momentum in the last few years in the West.

Gendered language is commonly understood as language that has a bias towards a particular sex or social gender.

English is referred to as a gendered language.

A prime example advocates point to is the way the titles “Mr.,” “Miss,” and “Mrs.” …

Because of where we’re coming from as Nigerians, which is not unique in and of itself, we tend to mistake backwardness for culture.

Many people are returning from villages around this period and I see them lauding stuff like swimming in streams, fetching water from rivers, bathing in make-shift bathrooms, hunting for squirrels, cooking with firewood, etc.

This is all fine if it’s just for banters, but romanticizing village life to spite modernity is nothing short of shortsightedness.

The other day I stumbled upon an old Korean movie and a depiction of their village life as at then, before their progress. …

When I was in secondary school, I was by far the most dark-skinned person in my school (at least as I remember it). Before I ventured out into the world of the workplace which made me encounter the Senegalese, Congolese and the Sudanese, the only person who I knew was darker than me is my cousin, Yinka.

My skin color is so striking that I was often described to others by the color of my skin.

“The boy who got first position in JSS 1M is that dark boy.”

It was the norm for teachers, classmates, and even parents of my classmates to call me “Baba Dudu”, whose import is lost in translation but is directly translated as “Black Father”. …

The Thiel Fellowship — a fellowship for those who intentionally drop out of school.

This is a fellowship created by billionaire Peter Thiel of the PayPal fame.

The fellowship is intended for students under the age of 23 and offers them a total of $100,000 over two years, as well as guidance and other resources.

The fellowship selects 20–25 fellows annually requiring them to drop out of school and pursue other work, which could involve scientific research, creating a startup, or working on a social movement.

Larry Summers, former Chief Economist of the World Bank and president of Harvard University called it “the most misdirected piece of philanthropy” ever. …