Posted on April 30th, 2009 — in Travel, Safaris, And More
Notwithstanding the fact that the Property Index service is actually a young concern, (they were established in March 2007), they were very swift to prove their expertise. On closer scrutiny, they are a unbelievably uncomplicated concern specialised in advising everyone who is designing to rent, buy, sell etc. realty across the world. What they assure you of is to aid you spot dead-on what’s desired swiftly not to mention unproblematically.
Real estate is everwhere these days, unquestionably the high-class area being real estate available in Portugal. It’s simply to write up the ripping property available in Portugal, the motivation for hunting for properties here is a combination of the houses and apartments on the market and the splendid opportunity of living with this enthusiastic populace.
It’s one of the truly popular countries these days, and in view of the gorgeous landscape and the climate surrounding you, how could you say no…. Real estate in Portugal is steeped in history, this region is home to lots of sophisticated civilizations.
About 25 or 30 years ago you’d find only very few of Britons keen on property in Portugal. Ask anyone who has chosen to move to Portugal and they will corroborate it. Quite a few people would look upon it as a fashion and others look upon it as a that’s quite an infatuation. The people looking to move here extend from young working couples looking for a perspective to retirees meaning to enjoy themselves and slow down.
Bear in mind, though, that you may well encounter a few hindrances when purchasing property overseas: you’ll have to cope with 100s of procedures to take into consideration be it when planning, calling in or buying. If you only miss only a single step that is sure to well engender broad hindrances not to forget, even more importantly, loss in financial terms.
Obviously and expectably with this trendy destination, property can be high-cost in this destination which is, of course, simply a result of the peaking market demand. Nevertheless the real estate buyer presently is particular in such an area so rich in phenomenal geography and vivacious scenery. It’s doubtlessly got the whole ball of wax a patron might itch for and then some.
PropertyIndex.com make it easy to find property in Portugal, whether you are looking for a villa or an apartment, they can help you find the right property.
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Posted on April 30th, 2009 — in Uncategorized
Before you place any bet on your favorite offshore sportsbook, you must have a strategy, one that you treat like an investment. There are two questions you must ask yourself before you gamble.
1) How much you want to win?
2) How much you’re willing to lose?
There is no guaranteed way of winning, but if you can be smart about your investment, you can certainly reduce risk and maximize return. Set a reasonable target to reach using the amount you’re willing to risk, and don’t get greedy after you win or lose.
The biggest problems with gamblers are that they don’t quit when they’re up and will continue playing when they’re down. This is the biggest mistake most gamblers make. And to be a real winner, you must not fall into this same trap. So before you gamble, keep in mind how much you want to win, and how much you can afford to lose. And stick with these numbers, once you reach it, cash in.
So what is a reasonable target? This really depends on how much you want to win and how much you’re online sports betting each game. If you start off with $200 and want to win $2000 by playing $5 a game, then I would say this is not a reasonable target. You must also understand the chances of winning for each game in order for you to set a reasonable target.
I know this may sound a little vague at the moment, but I will go in depth about different strategies for most of the popular games in my later issues. But for now you must learn to minimize risk and maximize return. The rule of thumb to follow is to have return on investment ratio of 2:1. So if you’re willing to lose $100, then set a target to quit when you’re up $200. Bet at an amount so that it takes you a maximum of 20 wins to reach the target. And when you’re down, always leave at least half of what you now have to gamble. This way, it takes a lot of games for you to actually go down to $0. Never go crazy and just bet everything at once, you’ll find that if you do that often enough, you’ll always end up losing. Why? Well, if you’re down to $50 now, and you bet it all, you may win and will probably keep online sports betting, but if you lose, then it is game over. The trick to never lose is to always leave some money for back up.
About the Author
Online SEO Copywriter, specialist in offshore betting and online sportsbooks like:
Las Vegas Sportsbook
Hollywood Sportsbook
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Posted on April 30th, 2009 — in Consumism, Techies Corner, Web Of Telecommunication
According to analysts, Frost and Sullivan, the next generation technologies of mobile broadband like 3G LTE and WiMAX will catapult the number of mobile broadband subscribers ahead of fixed line broadband.
The report, aptly named “European Mobile Broadband Melee between 3G LTE and Mobile WiMAX”, estimates that the number of 3G LTE users by the year 2013 will reach a whopping 22.4 million. It also mentions that compared to a year ago, users are downloading anywhere from 6 to 14 times more data, which comes to about 5GB every month for an average user. Confirming the belief of many industry insiders, the report says that the data usage numbers are also set to increase significantly over the next few years.
Frost and Sullivan does not take sides of either of the two rival technology camps, LTE and WiMAX, but says that it foresees the mobile broadband future as having an open access to different networks, which will allow users to connect to any service, independent of their device configuration and the company with which they are subscribed.
Programme manager at Frost and Sullivan, Luke Thomas, said at the release of the report that mobile operators should adopt more innovatively structured pricing models than those being used currently. He also said that the pricing models should be such that they differentiate from competitors and are transparent and easy to understand for the customers. So for instance, those with the free laptop options, although appealing might not necessarily be for everyone and could certainly cost more in the long term.
Mr. Thomas also said that providers need to improve the quality of their service by implementing best practices such as optimising data flow and ensuring a well-formulated prioritised access.
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Posted on April 29th, 2009 — in Doing Business, Legal Stuff
The construction industry, which employs over two million workers, is the UK’s biggest and most dangerous. The HSE has now recognised that educating construction designers about health and safety issues will go a long way towards an improvement in the safety of buildings and lessen the risks faced by construction workers.
A designer safety awareness day is being held on May 21st with a one-day seminar at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. The HSE, in collaboration with professional associations, has requested designers to attend the same in order to learn how to make construction sites and final buildings safer for those working in them, at the concept stage itself, instead of having to make alterations after the contractors have started work.
At the seminar, designers will be taught about the usual health and safety problems faced by construction crews, as also about the various standards that they are required to meet while designing buildings. The HSE believes that addressing health and safety problems at the root - i.e., at the design stage - will benefit the construction industry immensely and make it a much safer area for workers.
A spokesperson for the HSE, Cheryl Eeles, stressed on the importance of designers in reducing workplace accidents. She also explained how good design practices that take into account health and safety requirements increase productivity, good work ethics, and workplace satisfaction, in addition to making the workplace a safer and better place for the employees.
The HSE’s initiative, Working Well Together, an inter-industry collaborative effort targeted at health and safety is nearing the ten-year mark in May this year, and the seminar will serve as an ideal event to boost the initiative.
Health and safety training is a good way to improve a company’s health and safety culture, with courses such as fire risk assessment training from the experts at Workplace Law Training.
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Posted on April 27th, 2009 — in Gaming Hall
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories was hailed as the “killer PSP game”. The popular GTA series had to make its way onto the PSP sooner or later, and it’s PSP debut is great.
The game takes place, as the title suggests, in Liberty City, which is the city that Grand Theft Auto III (the series’ first 3D game) is also situated in. Rockstar Leeds simply converted the city onto the UMD, and changed a few things to make it look more modern, as LCS is set after III. Having said that, the only real changes are shops, which have different names and styles, which is quite disappointing. A new city to explore would have been much better.
You play as Toni Cipriani, a no nonsense guy who’s willing to do anything and remove anybody in his way. Unlike GTA III, he can talk, which makes the cutscenes better. The basic story mode consists of missions that do tend to get repetitive. You’ll go to a guy on your map, he’ll give you a mission that usually involves killing someone, and you get paid once you’re done. Once you’ve completed enough missions, you’ll move on to the second island of Liberty City. There are three islands in total, and you unlock them over time. It’s a good incentive to complete the missions, but for people who have played GTA III, there’s nothing really new.
Though the game focuses on missions, the free roam ability is truly magnificent. You may find yourself playing it over and over again, and rarely getting tired of it. There is no free roam mode, in fact there are no modes, the game simply loads when you turn it on. Whether or not you choose to engage in a mission is up to you. If you choose not to, you can roam freely around the city, causing havoc, or just exploring. You can also collect a number of weapons, ranging from pistols and UZI’s to rocket launchers, flamethrowers and sniper rifles. You’ll also have melee weapons such as knives and baseball bats. Or, if you want to do some damage from a distance, use a grenade or Molotov cocktail.The amount of weapons in the game is similar to the PS2 versions, which means there’s loads.
The cops are still present, so if you blow off too many heads, you’ll get some heat on you. The cops are divided into levels with the usual system. You have 1 star at the beginning, and if you keep blowing things up, eventually it will increase to 6 stars, and you’ll have the army after you.
The vehicles in the game are again similar to previous versions. Veterans will remember the Patriot, Cheetah, Infernus, Banshee and so on, although some have redesigns which look more modern. You can also have motorbikes, which have never been seen around Liberty City before Motorbikes are generally faster and have better handling than the cars, and make it easier to perform unique jumps, and such. There are no bicycles in the game, which was a nice addition to San Andreas. As you progress through the game you will also have the chance to ride boats. It’s not as fun as it sounds, and it never really has been in any of the GTA games. Boat handling is sluggish and it’s not fun to drive them. You can no longer fly. Anything. Not a thing. The Dodo was a plane on GTA III that was located in the airport, which you could fly, or at least try to. This time there is no Dodo, no helicopters, no planes whatsoever. It really feels like a missing factor, although in one of the missions it is possible to steal a helicopter, so the physics and controls are still technically in the game. Why there are no planes to fly is confusing. The police still have choppers following you, so watch out.
A new mode of transportation is the ferry. It’s basically a slow boat ride and you don’t get to drive the boat. You even have to pay for the service. It is a quick way of getting from island to island though, and you do get to keep your car.
The general controls of vehicles is good. Sports cars have great speeds and handling, and slow cars have reduced turning capacity. The controls on foot have been changed dramatically. You use the small analog style stick to control Toni, and vehicles. The directional buttons are used for changing weapons and starting various side missions. Of course the PSP has less buttons than the PS2 controller, so condensing everything was not an easy task. Sometimes the controls do feel very fiddly and it can be frustrating when you need to target things quickly.
Adding on to the “Toni Can’t” list, is the ability to swim. Implemented in San Andreas, this feature is absent. It’s only really missed when you fall off a cliff into the water, as you could swim to the side and get out. Instead, Toni simply drowns. All of the abilities to increase stats are no longer present, but it’s not particularly missed.
Toni can change clothes, and there are some nice options. He is unable to change specific body parts, instead you choose from full suits. Though changing clothes is a small part of the game, you probably would never notice this option if it wasn’t required for some missions.
If you don’t want to do any main missions, you can engage in some of the side missions. Famous in all PS2 GTA games, these usually involve Taxi missions, in which you act as a taxi driver and deliver passengers before time elapses. Ambulance missions, where you take sick people to hospital. Firetruck missions, which involves putting out fires like burning cars. A new side mission is the dump truck mission. You simply need to collect all the green trash cans within the time limit. All these missions are basically the same repetitive actions. The rewards are worth the effort though.
There are also hidden packages throughout the game in various locations. Nothing new to the series, but collecting all 100 adds weapons to your hide out. Unique jumps are large jumps where the camera changes and it goes in slow motion. When you successfully complete a unique jump, you’ll get money for your effort. While these things are by no means new additions, they are nice to have, and it expands the game.
We all know that the PSP has wireless capabilities, and Liberty City Stories takes advantage of that. The wireless multiplayer action is staggeringly good. You must have friends with PSP’s and copies of the game, but if you do, you’re in luck. The game allows for total free play with your friends. There are many different game modes which adhere to the capture the flag premise. Most of the games work in this way. Liberty City Survivor allows players to play against each other. This is the mode you’ll be playing none stop. Even after you have finished the game, it is unlikely that you will get bored of the multiplayer action.
Liberty City Stories has the same radio themed soundtrack. When you enter a vehicle you can choose from a number of radio stations, all of which have different styles of music. The soundtrack has some known tracks from the era, but nothing too impressive. In comparison with the Vice City and San Andreas soundtracks, this is sub-standard.
The graphics throughout the game are fairly cartoony. The series was never meant to be a simulator, but some smoother graphics would have been nice. Sometimes it can seem that Toni has several legs when you are running. Also, at times the frame rate has trouble keeping up, but only when there is lots on the screen at once. For the most part, the frame rate holds up well. The loading times are acceptable. There is a loading period at the start and then as you cross between islands, a loading screen will appear, but only for a few seconds.
Overall, it’s a great addition to the Grand Theft Auto series, and the PSP line up. You can’t help but feel it’s just a watered down version of a PS2 GTA, or simply an expansion pack, that doesn’t expand on much. Nevertheless, the action in single player, and in particular, multiplayer, is well worth the purchase.
http://www.articlecore.com was created to provide articles on a number of different subjects ranging from PSP game reviews to Science.
The site is owned and run by Carl S. Richardson and Joe Denison, who are also known for a number of other websites including http://www.rawpulse.com a Playstation gaming website.
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Posted on April 26th, 2009 — in Uncategorized
The Gingerbread Nightmare
Do you ever see those beautiful gingerbread houses during the holiday
seasons that are so beautiful? They look so simple, and look like such a
fun project to do with the kids making gifts for grandma and grandpa. I
could just feel it….soft Christmas music in the background, the warm,
spicy smell of gingerbread filling the air, the cozy warmth of the fire
on a snowy day, and my children and I building these luscious goodies sure
to bless our family and friends, and all inexpensively as well.
That was the fantasy. Where was my mind? How could I forget about the
little thing we call REALITY? Ever notice how professionals make things
look easy? That’s the very mark of a professional.
The first reality check was the store. Money was very tight and these
looked like a great way to give a quality to gift to several loved ones.
After we did the shopping for the candy and the ingredients for these
gingerbread houses, the bill totaled nearly $75. I almost fainted. (We
could have bought some great gifts with that, or even bought beautiful
gingerbread houses).
As for Christmas music, the children insisted upon the Chipmunk’s
Christmas carols. Have you ever listened to more than 1 chipmunk song at a time? Have you ever noticed what that does to a brain?
The fire was nice, but then we had the fights over whose turn it was to
stoke the fire. Two boys can fight over anything, and anything involving
work makes a worthy fight indeed.
We started with the dough, and that part turned out! It was SO
delicious…..in fact we had to make more because after all of us eating
dough, there wasn’t enough for the houses. So….back to making more
dough.
This particular dough had to be chilled, then rolled, then you cut pieces of the house out from a paper mold with a knife. Ok, got that part. We put it in the oven for baking, and half of the pieces burnt terribly. The other half were perfect, but you can’t build a house with half the parts.
So…..we had to make MORE dough. By now, we’re not having fun anymore.
It’s getting late and mom is beginning to want to get this mess cleaned up
now.
We finished making new house pieces and it was like midnight, I had long
put the children to bed and was cranky now at this point. The only thing
to do now was to let everything cool (including tempers), and attempt the
decorating tomorrow.
Whew….new day, it’s a wonder what a little sleep will do ya. Now we make
the hard frosting that will act as glue to hold the pieces of the house
together, time to build. Time for the fun to begin, boy are we ready!
We begin assembling the house, and half the roof piece breaks in two on
one of the houses.
On the second house, we find the pieces to not match correctly. On a
third house, we overcome all these first two obstacles, and now have great difficulty getting props to hold the house together while the “glue”
dries, and it’s repeatedly falling apart and causing the oldest child to
have a temper tantrum in frustration (mom too). Somehow through this
fiasco, we end up with 1 viable house. (The others became, hard dog
biscuit type things for the family pet). Oh well, she needs her Christmas goodies too, right?
We frosted the house and each child decorated half. The end result? A
$75. UGLY gingerbread house that only a grandma (with apologizes from
mom), would take and not be too insulted by. But, we did accomplish one of our goals….it was a memory. A memory we fondly call “The Gingerbread
Nightmare”.
By Valerie Garner-Get a series of no cost traffic builders that work to
get traffic to your website, plus a few ideas for earning income too. Many
unique resources you’ll love! Mailto: Moredetails@quicktell.com
(resource box must be included in article for reprint permission)
Valerie Garner-an author who enjoys writing on a wide variety of topics, mostly pertaining to a home, sprinkled with humour.
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Posted on April 26th, 2009 — in Uncategorized
Thoughts on why doing crosswords is good for the body and soul.
Do I really need to know the definition of egregious?
You’re probably thinking, “oh, oh, not another one of those word nuts. I really don’t need to know the definition ait” or “yurt”.
This little essay is about memory, trivia, the odd bit of history and the retention thereof. One viewpoint says if you leave things lying in the closet too long, you will forget they are there. Same thing goes for the garage. Maybe this is okay. Personally I don’t think so. Another viewpoint might be that all knowledge is useful in some way. That’s probably too simplistic. I suspect there is truth in both. There are other viewpoints. If you are a writer, you better know every word you can get your hands on, or into your memory. How much slower writing goes when the sentence that needs a special word goes unwritten because we can’t find exactly what is needed.
When I was ten I read so much I worried there wouldn’t be room enough in my head and it would explode spattering my surroundings with brains and such in some really disgusting way. I did not know the pluses and minuses of having a vivid visual imagination at the time. I read more and discovered that it would not explode. I was greatly relieved. It still hasn’t exploded many years later.
Another example of the value or penalty of reading anything in print came in my twenties when I was working in the Philippine jungle. I happened across a large tome on tropical medicine. I should have used it for a doorstop. Instead I read it. For the next month I manifested twenty or thirty of the most horrible, disfiguring diseases known to medical science. Those diseases fell into the fertile soil of my mind like seeds on the jungle floor. Large, open suppurating sores and testes the size of coconuts played heavily in my waking and sleeping thoughts.
Now I am somewhat older (the actual number is irrelevant). If I forget to call my brother he makes bad jokes about Alzheimer’s. These jokes notwithstanding, I am convinced that the memory, like the mind itself that is not exercised will atrophy. Crossword puzzles are my way of exercising my memories. This is a garage that I clean and neaten regularly. The other garage I will clean if threatened with a baseball bat across the knees, having to date Hilary Clinton for a week or listen to Rap for two hours uninterrupted.
Metaphysically I think that doing crosswords is like shining a light on the many corners of the mind, and that light, that particular energy is retained by those locations even after you have moved on to other memories. I am the pilot of this odd little boat and when I decide to visit the physical mind I generate energy and that energy adds a little life to each memory visited. There, that ought to be confusing enough for the average academic. A chemical engineer probably has a different take on this theory.
Yes, I am addicted. Perhaps I should be standing in front of others who suffer from this terrible malady, admitting to my condition with great courage, facing up to my “problem”. I have the crossword monkey firmly astride my pitiful shoulders.
Whew! I feel a lot better about myself. I think I’ll go to the second hand bookstore; see if I can find a nice dictionary or four, I only have sixty one.
About the Author
Mr. Ladew has traveled and worked all over the world. He spent many years as an aerospace engineer. He works as a technical writer and trainer. Mr. Ladew is also a novelist (2 books published), writes articles, essays, short stories and Haiku. he has also written a best selling business book for mid-level supervisors.
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Posted on April 22nd, 2009 — in Money + Finance
For most of us, the answer is a simple “Yes”. Whether it’s a mortgage, a credit card debt, a student loan, a hire purchase agreement, an overdraft - debt plays a fundamental role in modern life, and very few people can say they have no debt at all.
“Are you in too much debt?” would be a more important question - but it’s also much harder to answer. Responding to this question requires a detailed assessment of your finances: not just what you owe, but what you own, what you earn, and how much you need to spend every month.
If you’re wondering whether you’re in too much debt, it’s good to talk to a debt adviser, who can help you go with your debt management and decide whether or not your debts are a problem.
Are you in too much debt?
First of all, it’s important to understand the difference between priority debts (from mortgage/rent to utility bills and child maintenance payments) and non-priority debts (everything from credit cards and overdrafts to unsecured loans and store cards).
1) Write down everything you owe - and add it all up.
• Do include all your non-priority debts.
• Don’t include your mortgage or any other debt secured on your home.
• Do include any arrears on your priority debts.
• Don’t include your latest bills for your priority debts - the ongoing cost of your mortgage/rent, utility bills, etc. is basically a living expense, like food or petrol, so you shouldn’t include it in your calculations here.
The figure you end up with is important, but it won’t answer the question until you’ve compared it with your income.
If it’s less than 3 months’ take-home pay, you’re probably on top of your debts. Even so:
• it’s important not to get complacent, as your debts could grow a lot faster than you realise, and
• it’s still worth trying to pay off whatever debt you can, as this will mean you’re paying less in interest, and
• your debt could become dangerous if your income dropped, as it would then be larger in comparison with your income.
If it’s the same as 3-6 months’ take-home pay, then your debts are potentially reaching a dangerous level, so:
• try your best to repay whatever you can, and
• avoid taking out any more credit - at least until you can reduce your total debt so it’s less than 3 months’ take-home pay.
If it’s more than 6 months’ take-home pay, then your debts are probably too high, so you should:
• avoid taking out any more credit, and
• focus on repaying your debt.
How can I pay off my debt?
If you feel you need to pay off your debt more rapidly than you are doing, it’s normally best to focus on the highest-interest debt first, and put as much as you can afford (if possible, your entire disposable income - everything that’s left once you’ve accounted for your living expenses and your payments to all your debts) towards it.
If you’d like some advice on doing this, you should talk to a debt adviser.
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Posted on April 19th, 2009 — in Uncategorized
I was in the supermarket this morning (nothing unusual in that) and pushing my trolley to the checkout. Well, my wife was pushing and I was away in airy-fairy land when it suddenly dawned on me that I was walking past water. Not just any water but a whole world of the stuff. A complete representation of nations: a veritable United Nations of water in one aisle.
There, in your local Supermarket: Highland Spring Water all the way from Scotland or water drawn from the speckled valleys in the Black Mountains of the Canadian Rockies. Or you prefer Continental European? How about Spa Reine Water from Germany (hope it wasn’t a public Spa) or Vittel from the French Societe Generale des Eaux Minerales de Vittel, whatever that is. Even Australia is represented by Wattle Water - Pure Water from the Australian outback and complete with a sprinkling of dust. And from the Continent of Africa comes “Oasis Pure” shipped out from the Negrev by Camel Train. China and Japan had ambassadors at the Supermarket I attended and the pictures on the bottles looked great, but the price of $4.50 was pushing my ability to grasp the essentials behind buying water a bit far.
Yes, one can buy water from almost any place in the world right in your local shop. You can even get water from the Three Gorges Damn in China at your local Chinese Take-away, which is a bit weird as the damn is not ready for completion for another six years or so.
How true the advertising of water is can be anybody’s guess, but to me it seems a mite strange to ship small bottles of water half way across the world when a quite decent reservoir exists just up the road. I realize that in an effort to promote certain brands you can pay twice as much for water in a colorful green bottle or in a bottle shaped like a duck - but is it all so necessary. The cost of this water is outrageous yet nobody seems to realize what they are actually doing when they faithfully buy bottled water everyday of the week. The way I see it is that people are buying water that comes from the other side of the world and costs them money that could be otherwise spent. Why not just go to the tap as we used to do and use the water from there? If concerned boil it, let it cool and put it in the fridge for later. That is what we used to do until all of these fancy and expensive bottles came on the scene.
In an attempt to understand this bottled water phenomena I decided to put the words “bottled” and “water” into the search engine on my computer. The first entry that came up surprised me greatly. There is a whole association dedicated to bottled water; a whole business geared up to its welfare. I mean I can understand the International Association for Rail Workers or for Medical Supplies, but the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) shocked me to the core. After this surprise I noticed that the whole Industry is massive, that not only this association exists but so do hundreds of others! Wow!
Anyway, it matters not. Looking through the IBWA site for inspiration I came to their “tip of the week” page. And here is the tip that they had for this week:
“Cool water is absorbed much more quickly than warm fluids and may help to cool off your overheated body”. Source: Nutrition Information Center in partnership with IBWA
Handy stuff! I got another useful hint from some other association that told me to drink two glasses of water every morning to offset imperceptible water loss that I have had during the night. Excellent stuff. This “handy tip” was given out by a Dr Fereydon Batmanghelidj and he wrote a book called, “Your Body’s Many Cries for Water”. I doubt that it is fictional in content.
Must try and get hold of that book - only joking. Another piece that I found was Ed Ford’s views on the matter of water:
“Human beings were invented by water as a device for transporting itself from one place to another”.
I am completely stuck for something to say after reading that weird statement. I must move onto other things or I will end up trying to find this man to see if he is for real.
As a kid in Edinburgh (which is not that long ago) we always used to drink water from the tap. If you wanted a glass of water then go to the kitchen sink and open the cold tap, let it run for a few seconds, more to make it cold than to clear the line and then fill your glass. Final step: drink it. This was always the case and 99% of the population of Britain (one percent lived on whisky) lived quite happily in this way with no notable side-effects form the tap water. And then suddenly bottled water came on the scene and life changed without noticeable falter, now 100% of the population drink from bottles.
Edinburgh Water shocks a lot of people when they find out the cycle that it goes through before it arrives in the glass that they are busy drinking from. Recycled sewage water is the ingredient of the stuff now inside their stomachs at the point when they grasp what you are telling them. Edinburgh has for many years removed the dung from the sewage (this used to be shipped out to sea in a special ship called the Gardyloo), it is then treated and passed through charcoal beds and retreated and analyzed endlessly before it is sent back into the system. And believe it or not Edinburgh has some of the highest quality water in Europe - and it comes straight from the tap!
Countries like Taiwan, the Philippines to name but a few do need treated water as the quality available from the tap could kill at ten yards. Taiwan has an extremely efficient system going - just go outside of your house to any one of the many machines dotted along the streets and by putting in 5NTD (8 pence) you will get a few gallons of clean and drinkable water in return. Not that the tap water is that bad (some waste chemicals and untreated sewage have been diverted to another river) and a boil in the kettle does me perfectly if I am feeling lazy.
It seems to me as if the whole world is shifting water around constantly. Singapore is a good example of the state of water today. Singapore has to buy water from Malaysia to survive and without such the whole of the Singapore economy would grind to a halt. This water is actually under serious contention as Malaysia has been complaining that Singapore does not pay enough for the water they pump everyday.
The Malaysian state of Johor provides 350 million gallons of water per day to Singapore at $0.007 per 1000 gallons, while Singapore has to resell a minimum 17 million gallons per day of treated water to Johor at $0.13 per 1000 gallons. The price differential has prompted calls from numerous Malaysian politicians that Singapore is profiteering from the deal. It also rankles the Malaysians that the price paid was derived from an agreement made decades ago and is still due to run for another few (until 2061). In basis: they want more for the water and Singapore doesn’t want to pay. They are even threatening to go to war over this!
In an attempt by Singapore to reduce their reliance on Malaysia they have started a program to build recycling plants around the Island. Great idea -convert dirty water into drinking water - and although it will take many years before the balance changes it is a good start. I am not sure about their marketing campaign - you can buy this water from the chosen outlets and it is called “New Water”. Sounds like a religious order.
The worlds shifting of water (despite Ed Fords thinking that water made humans so that it can transport itself) is none greater than what is going on in China as we speak. The Three Gorges Dam! China’s largest project since the Great Wall of China: and one with greater impact on China and the rest of the world than any other project underway today.
Some facts about the Three Gorges project: Project expected to take 17 years; completion expected in 2009. An estimated 250,000 workers are involved in the project. The Three Gorges Reservoir will inundate 632 square kilometers (395 square miles) of land. An estimated 1.2 million people will be resettled by the dam. The project’s 26 hydropower turbines are expected to produce 18.2 million kilowatts, up to one-ninth of China’s output. The amount of concrete totals 26.43 million cubic meters, twice that of the Itaipu project in Brazil, currently the world’s largest hydroelectric dam.
Source: Chinese government
Alongside of this massive shifting of natural resources we have the ice caps melting North and South of us, floods occurring worldwide where they should not and abnormal rainfalls flooding towns that usually do not see water for months on end. And of course the Meeting of Nations on the Supermarket shelves!
The world has water on the brain!
Just make sure that when you buy water from the supermarket that you try and miss out the “Clouds Recycled with Flouride” and the “Occaneechi Local Spa” and maybe go for the Deep Rock Crystal Drop and Whistlers Pure Glacial. It’s all in a name!
About the Author
Ieuan Dolby, from Scotland is an Engineering Officer in the Merchant Navy. He has been travelling the world for 15yrs on an endless tour of cultural diversification. Currently based in Singapore he writes various articles for magazines and newspapers and is working on a marine glossary.
ieuandolby@lycos.com
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Posted on April 18th, 2009 — in Shopping Mall
Sexy lingerie sales are seemingly unstoppable even in these economic times. With huge department stores seeing a downturn in sales and high street chains shutting down faster and faster, the sexy lingerie market is seeing sales grow at a generous rate.
A UK girls lingerie chain in Britain has reported a sales climb by six per cent. The main reason seems to be very clear, girls appreciate to feel good about themselves irrespective of how the UK economy is doing. With loads of women spending time at home instead of going out, females are finding the advantages of dressing hot for their partners. Find designer bikini lingerie and swimwear brands from around the world at Becheeky.
For the very best in gorgeous lingerie, lingerie retailers provide a range of beautiful and affordable underwear. For the girl that loves to look innocent and wholesome there are silk nighties, and for the more adventurous there is satin bras and knickers. For the ladies that are looking to seduce then there are balcony bras and g strings that is sure to please their lucky partner.
Of course, girls underwear is not only for ladies. Gentlemen’s underwear is furthermore seeing a shoot up in sales, mostly due to the popular David Beckham ads for Emporio Armani.
So that whilst the credit crunch continues to grab newspaper headlines, it seems girls are more interested in grabbing stunning lingerie.
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