Where do people want to live?

Source: Economist

MANY people would like to up sticks and move somewhere better. But according to new Gallup polling data gathered over the last three years, 16% of adults—or some 700m people—in over 130 countries say they would like to start a new life abroad. The most popular destinations specified are wealthy Western countries, though Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also attractive. If everyone got their wish, America’s population would swell by 165m while Canada, Britain and France would each gain 45m new migrants. Those in African countries are keenest to leave, whereas Asian respondents were happiest where they were.

Many would want to live in Malaysia too  (5m-24.9m)!!!

 

Tips for having a good bath

It’s very relaxing to have a bath, especially at the end of a tiring day. I had quite a relaxing bath this weekend, and would like to share some tips here, taken from here:

• Set Some Time – Make sure you set up some time to take a relaxing bath – at least an hour. Relaxing baths are best taken before bed or an event, and not before something that’s going to make you hectic and unrelaxed again.
• Prepare The Area – Baths aren’t soothing when the bathroom is cold and messy. Make sure it’s warm and clean.
• Turn Off Your Phone – The is not the time to answer your phone, so turn off the wringer (plus, you don’t want to drop your BlackBerry in the water, do you?). This is you time, not everyone-else time.
• Remove Distractions – Wait until your children are at the babysitter’s or asleep. Don’t take a bath when you know people are going to be calling you or ringing your doorbell. Quiet pets and significant others.
• Buy Pampering Products – A relaxing bath is not complete without relaxing bath products. Try a comfy terrycloth robe, lotion, bubble bath liquid and bath pillow.
• Light Some Candles – Set the mood by turning off harsh overhead lights and lighting some candles. Scented candles, like lavender or chamomile, can help further relax you.
• Put On Soothing Music – Now’s not the time to break out hair metal. Try classical music, mood music, new age or quiet instrumentals.
• Perk Up Your Bath Water - Try adding essential oils or scented bubble bath liquid to your hot, but not too hot, water.
• Have A Glass Of Your Favorite Drink – Whether it’s hot chocolate or wine, bring in a glass or mug of your favorite relaxing drink.
• Breathe Deeply And Slowly

Have fun!!!

New article on Techpiece: Energy Storage

Yet another new article on Techpiece on energy storage:

The problem with storing energy in different forms is the conversion losses that occur and these are simply known as the efficiency of the devices. So, what makes a particularly storage technology appealing? As always, many factors play their role and some are values more than others. A few characteristics that are vital include rating, size, weight and costs. Ultimately, it needs to be able to meet the particular demand need. For normal electronics devices, batteries are used to give out stable output of a known amount of electricity. However, for electricity storage used to serve electrical loads in a district or country, high discharge of energy is needed at times and at other times, a stable discharge of low levels of electricity might be needed. Therefore, it is vital to choose a storage that has the capabilities to do so.

It does take time to write these articles, therefore the turnaround is pretty slow. If you have any comments to make, feel free to do so at techpiece!

Cycling

After my try at cycling on Tuesday, I realised mountain bikes are not made for casual rides (duh!) as it tired me too much. So, I decided to get a road bike, a ladies road bike. And it came with a basket! A ladies bike, hopefully will allow cycling in skirt. I bought it from a French girl who was leaving London and cycled back from King’s Cross for 45 minutes(including reading the map in between). Well, the bike surely is built for my height and makes cycling a pleasure. I need to change one or two of the tires as they are a bit worn out. There are a few things in that cycling can add value:

1. It’s a good mode of transport to uni on a good day, saving me money on transport. However, if there are more bad days than good in a given month, I might not save on the pay as you go scheme as it is more expensive than a monthly travel pass.

2. Timing wise, I might save 10-15 minutes a trip if I manage to cycle without looking at the map. Savings of 40 minutes a day gives me the extra time to do other things such as stay longer in bed!

3. It is a good exercise. A minimum of 40 minutes of cycling does count as exercising, more so at the beginning when I first start it, before th body gets used to it.

4. Trying different routes in London would give me the opportunities to explore London in a way that I wouldn’t if I were to walk down those roads. This flexibility does create a little bit of adventure.

5. I also can go on cycling trips down the country side with friends, which is a healthy, cheap and good experience.

6. Regarding going places, it’s easy to park anbywhere in the city, given the railings provided. However, it does take time to do so(parking, locking, unlocking).

One downside of my experience is I chose the wrong time of thew year to start. As the weather is getting colder, cycling becomes a challenge and laziness might hinder my progress. We just have to wait and see! Hopefully Boris Johnson(London’s mayor) will make London more cycle friendly than it is now.

Cycling in London

After buying a bike months ago, had it punctured, repaired and stored away for 3 weeks in my new flat, I decided to take it for a spin today! More like a transport to uni. And today was actually kinda hot, with temperatures soaring to 27 degrees when it is actually meant to cool down. Anyhow, cycling was a challenge for me, given that it was a mountain bike and not a road bike.

Cycling in London has been encouraged by the mayor with many cycling path provision as well as free cycling maps. However, there seem to be many accidents as well. The important thing is following the dedicated path and taking precautions as necessary. It is afterall a good medium of travel, providing exercise whilst saving money and time in certain instances!

Snog – frozen yogurt

Snog is a new brand of frozen yogurt in the UK market. Many new stores are opening in major areas such as South Kensington and Westfield shopping centre. With 3 base flavours (natural, green tea and chocolate) they have 3 sizes and a range of toppings such as fruits and nuts that go with the yogurt. Just tried one today and I thought it was good – tasted like ice-cream with a tinge of sour-ness as a reminder that it’s yogurt and not ice-cream! It’s on the pricey side, but it does claim to have good health benefits.

Snog is a good new concept but its survivability depends on the market and whether there are new competitors to emerge. One thing for sure is that it does get a lot of customer due to its uniqueness and modern approach of deco, packaging, marketing and the product itself! I am not very sure of returning consumers as it is on a pricey side for a cup of yogurt – cheapest cup of yogurt, without toppings cost GBP 2.85.

Shisha – Is it worse than cigarettes?

Shishasuch as has many names hubbly bubbly or hookah. The trend of smoking shisha has been spreading across the world as many Arabs travel around the globe. In UK, many shops along edgeware road still operate shisha, despite the smoking ban in London(effective in 2007). The response and the type of crowd that visit the ’shisha joints’ are becoming more varied and young. This hobby/activity is seen as hip  and happening.

Many are under the impression thatsmoking shisha is not really smoking. However, BBC recently came up with an article about shisha and they did state that the health effects are 4 times worst than smoking a normal cigarette. Whilst that is true, the overall effect is very difficult to measure as different people smoke differently (which affects the intake of harmful toxins). So, the next time you feel like having a relaxing time with your mates and decide to take shisha, please think twice!

Thorpe Park

Last Friday, I went to Thorpe park for the second time this summer, and the third time in total. It was quite fun going with my cousin on all the rides and we managed to go on ALL the main rides including Saw. Although the waiting time for Stealth and Saw was about 1.5 hours, the rides were worth it. So my ranking of the major thrilling rides as follows:

1. Saw

2. Stealth

3. Nemesis Inferno

4.Samurai

5. Collosus

6. Vortex

7. Detonator

8. X-No Way Out

9. Rush

10. Slammer

11. Tidal Wave

Some of these rides are truely not for the faint hearted. To be honest, Thorpe Park is one of the best theme parks in the UK. So, my next theme park trip will be a big question mark…

Moving houses

I have been very quiet in this space for a while as I was moving to a new place. Well, I had one month to settle all the issues, many things on my own as my other flatmates were not in the countries. I have learnt a few things in the process and here are some of the tips:

1. Make sure that you register interest with many agents to get a range of options.

2. View a few places before accepting any place or putting in an offer. In the beginning, get a feel of the prices and match it up with the place and your expectations. Then, adjust your criteria accordingly. After seeing a few places, only see places that you have a chance of taking (i.e. do not agree to see council flats if you know for sure that you would not take it).

3. When making an offer to an agent/landlord, offer lower than the asking price. Agents tend to mark up the prices when quoting.

4. Make sure you call to disconnect utilities at least one month before so that they have a heads up(it might be in the contract). This avoids you having to pay extra during the overlapping periods.

5. If possible, try and get the utility at the new place set up as soon as possible.

6. When viewing the property, ask whether they provide things that you do not have such as kitchen utensils and tv. In case you need them, you can take it with you. Otherwise, you can leave your old equipment at the old house(if you do not need it). Clear all unwanted at the old place before moving to lighten the weight.

7. Postal address change should be done before moving to the new place to ensure all mails are redirected. Royal mail has a scheme where you can register with them to redirect your mails.

8. Make sure you sort out with the landlord regarding the cleaning/condition of the house to get most of the deposit back.

9. When doing inventory of the new home, do take pictures of things that are not perfect for records. If the place is not clean, make sure it is mentioned in the inventory. With an agent, this is much easier as they become the intermediate party. With landlord, make sure, both parties are present for the inventory check.

10. Ensure you know where and when to dispose rubbish from the flat/house to avoid streets fulls of rubbish. For larger loads, contact the council to collect.

11. Contact the council to register for council tax. At the same time, enquire about their recycling policy. Papers, glasses and plastic that can be recycled should be sent for recycling.

10. When all things are set up, ensure that every information is filed and stored somewhere at home so that all housemates can access it. A proper filing system helps make things easier.

11. A cleaning rota will be helpful. An alternative is getting a cleaner at a frequency decided by all.

That’s all folks! If you do have comments, please share them.

New article on Techpiece: Evolution of PV Panels

The latest article on Techpiece is ‘Evolution of PV panels. An excerpt is copied below from the introductory paragraph:

Photovoltaic (PV) panels have been discussed a lot in the media, industries and academics alike. As fossil fuels run out, it is vital to seek alternative means of generating electricity. Current focus of most countries is in wind and solar energy. However, the feasibility of these technologies is dependent on the natural resources available (wind and sun intensity) and this differs from one location to another, let alone between countries. Since solar is abundant in many locations around the world, it would be beneficial to be able to extract as much from it as we can. PV panels are used to extract solar power to generate electricity. PV panels have been improving over the years and this article aims to present the evolution of these panels in terms of efficiency and costs. This will be followed by the discussion on how Malaysia can benefit from this technology.

It would be good to have a discussion and exchange of knowledge on this topic in Techpiece, such as in my previous article in this blog, ‘Wind Turbines in Malaysia‘ that attracted attention from many interested parties. ‘