Now, who doesn’t know Akon? A world-wide famous rapper who has sung so many popular songs that we still remember. Smack that and loneliness were my personal favourite. Not only mine, but they are also loved by everyone who belongs to the generation of the 90s.

Akon is trying to help the people living in rural areas of Africa

via: Pexels

Recently, he has signed an agreement with the Senegal government to build a city in his own name in Africa which will be a cryptocurrency-based economy and will be named Akon City. Besides rapping and singing songs, the rapper has other plans too. Nowadays he is trying to help and improve the lives of the people living in the rural areas of Africa. Besides this, he is also very busy in building a city dubbed as his very own ‘Wakanda’.

As per the sources, the rapper has announced plans for creating the futuristic “Crypto city” in 2018 and has had now finalized the deal for ‘Akon City’ with renewable energy and his own cryptocurrency.

The rapper announced this news on his official Twitter account

The rapper has announced this news on Twitter and said the new city would exclusively trade in his own digital cash currency called, “Akion”.

Just finalized the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future pic.twitter.com/dsoYpmjnpf

— AKON (@Akon) January 13, 2020

The city is based in Senegal and will be built on a 2,000-acre land gifted to the singer by the President of Senegal, Macky Sall. The construction will begin in March and it will take about a decade to complete the project.

Also read: Check Out Paris’ Marvellous Invention of The Futuristic ‘GYM Boat’

The plan will take about 10 years to complete

via: Pexels

To continue this further, Akon said, “It’s a 10-year building block so we’re doing it in stages. We started construction in March and stage two is going to be 2025,”.

Well, that’s amazing that the city will run completely on renewable energy with a focus on solar energy. It will be an “Akon City” running with all renewable sources of energy and it will also be having an airport too.

The city is currently a five-minute drive from the West African state’s new international airport. Now, you must be thinking why do Akon is struggling so much to bring this change? This is because he was born in Senegal and he wishes to make a positive impact in Africa. We wish him all the very best and good luck for future endeavors.

Nowadays, people have become used to doing a lot of work. As a result, they often become irritated or stressed due to overburdening of work on their shoulders. But for the sake of money, we have to do that by hook or crook. But you what there’s good news for you all that will help to keep stress at your work at bay. Do you want to know that? A recent study conducted in relation to the stress levels of employees in a workplace suggests that keeping small plants near the work desk can reduce some of your stress up to an extent.

Who conducted the study?

The research study was conducted by the University of Hyogo in Awaji that explains how placing small plants helps in removing the stress of office workers.

What does the study talk about?

The researchers of the study were Yuko Yokota, Marni Barnes, Masahiro Toyoda, and Midori Kaneko. They have studied the practical use of indoor plants and how do they boost the mental health of the employees at work.

We all very well know that plants bring mental peace and the study has also proved the same thing. To conduct the study, the researchers have done this study in the real office settings to know the impact of indoor plants on the employees and then calculated the stress reduction on employees.

The findings of the study are published in the article named, “Potential of a Small Indoor Plant on the Desk for Reducing Office Workers’ Stress“. It is published in the open-access journal HortTechnology, by the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Toyoda adds with respect to the study, “At present, not so many people fully understand and utilize the benefit of stress recovery brought by plants in the workplace. To ameliorate such situations, we decided it essential to verify and provide scientific evidence for the stress restorative effect by nearby plants in a real office setting.”

The experiment was done with 63 workers

The experiment was done with 63 workers in Japan to evaluate the psychological and physiological changes before and after placing the small plants on the worker’s desks.

The goal of the study

The main purpose to conduct the study was to verify the stress-reducing effects of looking at a plant intentionally in the office when you feel tired during office hours. Both the active and passive movements were taken into consideration while conducting the study. The researchers have considered that looking at plants intentionally doesn’t involve any physical movement, active interaction with plants that office workers could do quickly and easily at their desks. Participants were free to choose the plant of their choice and keep it near their work desk.

What were the results?

The results turned out to be positive. The calming effects which were calculated during the study have shown that anxiety level in the employees has decreased significantly from pre to post-intervention.

The researchers have suggested that placing small plants within the close to your work desk has helped in contributing to reducing the psychological stress among the office workers.

Would you place your favourite plant at your work stress now?

All above images source: Pexels

After such a long Christmas and New Year Break, workers around the globe have dragged themselves back to the office. And now, there is another good reason to celebrate again. The news which has become the talk of the town among workers nowadays. Do you know what’s that? I am talking about the recent proposal that has been reportedly made by the newly elected youngest Prime Minister of Finland, Sana Marin.

So, what is the proposal?

Sanna Marin has proposed the idea of a four-day-week and six-hour working day work schedule for the citizens of her country. Isn’t that amazing way to promote a healthy working life?

What’s the motive behind this proposal?

The main motive behind bringing this proposal is to promote a healthy work living among the employees of her country. So, this proposal would allow the members of her country to spend more time with their loved ones and family, said Sana Marin. She also added that with this type of comfortable work schedule, people could also invest their time in other aspects of their life as well.

Have a look at what Sana Marin has said

“I believe people deserve to spend more time with their families, loved ones, hobbies and other aspects of life, such as culture. This could be the next step for us in working life,” Sanna Marin said, The Daily Mail reports.

Do you know Sana Marin is the world’s youngest Prime Minister?

Sana Marin is just 34, would you believe that? She is the newly elected and world’s youngest Prime Minister. During her tenure as the Minister of Transport for Finland, Marin had recommended shorter work-weeks for the citizens of her country.

Currently, Finland is following a five-day-week and eight-hour working day work schedule.

Meanwhile, Twitter is happy after knowing this idea

Sobering facts: Finland introduced Sunday opening for shops&retail. Finns are chosen over qualified employees with immigrant/EU background in healthcare&tech – Finnish racism exists! However, you don’t feel guilty for holidays&leave, it’s encouraged&part of Finnish work culture.

— LiyaYu 喻俐雅 (@LiyaYuBerlin) January 8, 2020

thanks for the update…. keeping close watch on this as it unfolds. please update when it reaches

— spencer winans🤭 (@29310s) January 7, 2020

Well, Sana’s proposal of a four-day-week has been supported by Li Andersson, Minister of Education.

She said, “It is important to allow Finnish citizens to work less. It is not a question of governing with a feminine style but offering help and keeping promises to voters.”

Do you know a similar type of idea was tested in Sweden in the year 2015? The proposal was a six-hour working day which gave a positive result and thus leading to better productivity by happy employees.

While others have varying opinions after knowing about this idea

Has the previously envisioned idea of shorter working days for better productivity and welfare of the people changed between last summer and now? Or Should we read that no work has happened since last summer in checking the feasibility and converting that idea to reality?

— Jipson Kolenchery (@JKolenchery) January 8, 2020

Go on. Pop it on the agenda. Millions the world over will thank you for it in years to come. In the wise words of Carl Sandburg: “Time is the coin of your life. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you”

— Bruce Windwood (@BruceWindwood) January 8, 2020

The proposal hasn’t been finalized yet

After the news went viral, the Finnish Government has released the statement saying the issue is not yet on the Government’s agenda.

In the Finnish Government´s program there is no mention about 4-day week. Issue is not on the Finnish Government’s agenda. PM @marinsanna envisioned idea briefly in a panel discussion last August while she was the Minister of Transport, and there hasn’t been any recent activity.

— Finnish Government (@FinGovernment) January 7, 2020

Featured image: REUTERS/Yves Herman