Posts Tagged ‘Interesting Info’

When those in the US hear the term Black Friday,they would relate it to intensive shopping. When I first read the term my first thought was that, something bad must have happened on that day. But later learnt that it was the Friday following the Thanksgiving holidays in America. It is the day when people do their Christmas shopping because it is the time when they can find the best bargains.

As I had searched the history of this term, I found out that, it happened to be first used in 1869. It was used to call the day when the stock market was a major disaster.  But that doesn’t answer why the term is related to intensive holiday shopping right?

Now, as to why the term ‘black friday’ related to holiday shopping, is because on that day it is the time when the retailers making profit during the holiday season. In the times when people don’t use computers to keep their accounts, obviously they keep their books by hand. They usually use red ink to write down the loss, while they indicate profit with black ink. Hence, came the term, ‘in the red’ for making loss, or ‘in the black’ for making profit.

So Black Friday is the day when the retailers make lots of profit.

Most people who rely on the internet to obtain information, they would definitely have used wikipedia before. It is an online encyclopedia where users can contribute and share information on various subjects. In other words, it is an information website by users, for users.

We can find just about any information on wikipedia, including that of medical topics. However, today I have found another wikipedia-like website that specializes on medical information. The website is called, Ask Dr Wiki - askdrwiki.com. You would be able to find subject on acute abdominal pain to Mesothelioma cancer.

It is just great. Another source of information!

Although diet pills may work to get rid of those unwanted flabs, but just like any supplements or medicines you may need to learn about what side effects that they can cause. Some pills may have from little to no side effects at all, but there are still many more that may be rather harmful to your body.

Sideeffectsofdietpills.net is a website dedicated to bring you information on diet pills and what side effects they may have if you consume them - adipril, hoodiadrene, lipovox, 7 day slimming pill side effects, and much more. They have collected all the information you may need to know, to save you from having to scour the internet for the much need information before you even try to buy any sort of diet pills.

Most of us go to school for, let say, at least 13 years. Not including a few more years of tertiary or higher education.  They teach us many things in school but not how to be financially smart.  We are trained from childhood, to go study, try to get good grades, come out of school and find a job and work all your  life for money that never seem to be enough. If you are lucky you will end up with some savings, to see you through your old age. If you are not you may find yourself one day old, sick, and broke.

I just finished reading the second book of the Rich dad, Poor dad series early last week. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too much to say that I believe that I have been taught about the importance of financial literacy in just a few weeks of reading those books than  16 years of formal education could ever provide me.  I just wish I could have read it sooner. But as they say, it is better late than never and for one of my age, perhaps it isn’t too late at all.

It is interesting that what ever information Kiyosaki had mentioned in his book isn’t something that you need a rocket scientist to come up with. It’s so simple that it is just so mind boggling that why we and I believe many of us never have thought about it before. That simple yet precious info is how to read a financial statement. Make a distinction of what is really and asset and what is a liability.

So next thing I’d like to read about are about all those investment ‘vehicles’, as the call it. Like investing on - gold coins & bullion, stocks, mutual funds, unit trusts, etc.  Just investing a little bit more of my time to educate myself on such subjects.

There is this debate among environmental conscious people regarding which is greener or environmentally friendly - the paper towels or the hand dryers?

At first thought I would say the hand dryers are greener. Well, with paper towels you would use once and you throw it away, while with hand dryers the machine is reusable. Further more hand dryer manufacturers are making their hand dryers energy efficient.

However, I came across a video on youtube where Karen Jones from Secrets of Living Lightly shares her view on which is greener.

According to her, it all depends. If there are 2 possible choices to choose from - either the paper towel or the hand dryer there are criteria that will determine which one is better. Check out the video to find out what she recommends.

A good friend emailed me a url of a really interesting website - thisiswhyyourefat.com. If you cannot guess already, the site is filled with mouth-watering,fat rich food pictures. The pictures are submitted by readers from everywhere.

<photo via thisiswhyyourefat.com>

Looking at a double coronary burger, I wonder how many hours one would need to exercise just to burn all those calories away?

Nevertheless, I just got to admit,many of the  food in the website does look wonderfully yummy…

Well, I’m quite sure if I like to eat these sort of rich food, a fat burner would be my close companion.

Some one I know just completed programming a cost calculator that is specially made to calculate Market research costs. So I’d dedicate a single post to describe what the product is all about.

Who is it for? It helps researchers calculate project cost and price easy and fast. It is particularly useful for small and medium size market research agencies with no settled pricing systems. Currently, it is able to help the costing process for telephone, F2F, depth interview, focust group and online panel projects.

There are many advantages of using the product such as detailed price breakdown, multiple currencies to calculate in, the flexibility it provides for options in quotations and overall a huge savings of time when using it. It is also a protected Excel file that can be used to calculate every single cost items like labor, incentives, transcripts, translations, interpretations, etc.

The product is based on Excel controls and heavy use of formulas. It makes calculations easy to store and modify. No VBA code inside, no harm to the user.

The product is unique in the mr industry as currently there is no such other product on the market for sale. Although it primary targets market research agencies, individual researchers and research buyers having regular research projects to manage can leverage on its usage.

There is more information on www.mrcosting.com where a detailed description can be found and a demo of the product can as well be requested.

It is a genuine market research product based on real life experience!

When I started learning Hungarian and Japanese, I did consider to become a professional translator one day. With the world becoming one global village, the need for translating services has become so much in demand.

There is one website that I just registered for free as a translator. (I translate Malay to English or vice versa) Translia.com. I can set the minimum rate I charge per word. Would be really interesting to see what happens next.

The site is also a place where those who need translation jobs done. There is no minimum words, even one word translation job will be accepted. So if you need one word translation, one sentence translation, brand name translation, business card translation, even a million words translation project to be done, that is the place for you to choose many translators (like myself),with the right affordable rate that you are looking for, to work for you.

Now I am even more motivated to become fluent in Hungarian and Japanese.

After reading about the dangers of using asbestos, I am rather surprised to learn that this material is not already banned in Malaysia. It is said that Malaysia only has regulations on the safe use of asbestos.

Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has already launched a signature campaign demanding the government to impose a ban on the use of asbestos in the contruction and manufacturing sectors by the year 2010.

I believe countries around the world should have Asbestos legislation enforced. This is because there is no such thing as a safe way to use asbestos since there is always a risk of inhaling asbestos and risk developing diseases like, mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.

In 2007, 60 year old Hazel Lea, died from lung cancer due to being exposed to asbestos while washing her husband’s working clothes. (source:http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news?articleid=2857574)

I really hope that the goverment of Malaysia would take this matter seriously and would ban the usage of asbestos once and for all.

One of my dreams is travelling around in a motorhome. Seeing new places without having to leave the comfort of home behind. Well, only if the motorhome is big enough to have a bed, a shower, a kitchen and perhaps a small lounge, that is.

But check out this small motorhome that is big enough for a single mattress.

Interesting…. At least this small motorhome won’t be needing any special motorhome towing services.

But I don’t think I’d want to travel far in that.