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Olympians are worth more than medals in some countries As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics draw to a close, it was certainly a very different affair this year round given that the world is still in the midst of a pandemic which necessitated strict COVID protocols be adhered to by all personnel including athletes, coaches, support crew and stadium staff and volunteers. It also meant that for the first time, there was no live audience or spectatorship at any of the events, except from those sitting behind their television screens. That didn’t stop the medals from flowing though, with the United States taking home 113 medals including 39 gold medals, 41 silver and 33 bronze. China followed in second place in terms of the [...]

The long and short of career goals With COVID-19 still dominating such large aspects of our lives, it almost seems futile to focus on the long term in almost any context as the future and what it might look like is subject to so much potential change. From a career perspective this may seem especially true, given that the pandemic has compromised the full functionality of many industries and in turn, many jobs. In South Africa, the youth unemployment levels are at an all-time high - so in all honestly the focus right now may just be getting a job, or holding onto the one that you already have, not necessarily what you envision you career to look like either short term or [...]

The revenge bedtime procrastination Revenge bedtime procrastination may sound a little dramatic, but it’s a phrase that’s being thrown around more and more often despite the fact that so many of us are exhausted and really value our sleep pandemic or not, but despite all these factors, when we’re in bed – do we really try our best to get to sleep, or do we use that time for other things? According to the Sleep Foundation “’Revenge bedtime procrastination’ describes the decision to sacrifice sleep for leisure time that is driven by a daily schedule lacking in free time.”  Sleep is a crucial part of our survival, without it, or with minimal amounts – we significantly impact our brain’s ability to function. In [...]

Cutting the Cookies Google recently announced that it was planning to “kill off” third-party cookies within the Chrome browser, however, the multinational tech company has had to push these plans out. If you, like most of us, are more familiar with the edible kind of cookie versus the computer kind, then this may not seem like anything significant. Computer cookies, otherwise known as HTTP cookies, web cookies, browser cookies or Internet cookies form an integral part of the internet as we know it, but also has implications in terms of our privacy online. There are different kinds of cookies that for the most part aren’t all that different to one another, but can be used in slightly different ways. “Magic cookies”, while sounding [...]

A slice of history: the Hawaiian Pizza To put pineapple on a pizza or not to put pineapple on a pizza – that is the culinary question? Pineapple is undeniably one of the most polarising pizza toppings across the world, with many pizza purists insisting that pineapple has no right being on a pizza, while others love the cheesy sweet and savoury combination. Whichever side of the spectrum you fall, the history of the Hawaiian pizza (as it is most commonly known as) goes back fifty-plus years, and starts with a man by the name of Sam Panopoulos. Panopoulos emigrated from Greece to Canada in 1954; however on his journey over he had his first exposure to the food that was ultimately going [...]

Learning the Greek alphabet one COVID variant at a time Every day it seems that there is a new COVID-19 variant that has come to the fore and is making waves both in global news but in the relevant health systems too. With the Delta variant undeniably becoming the most notorious to date with its increased transmissibility and it’s prevalence worldwide not only in terms of number of countries it’s now spread to, but also the rapidly increasing number of Delta-infected people in those countries. Given its increased transmissibility, there have been correlations between the number of people infected and subsequently the number of people who have been hospitalised. This is also the variant that has been seen driving South Africa’s third wave, [...]