Where can we get nicer lighting fittings? Strip lighting doesn’t suit
By InvestorBlogger | June 29, 2008
Lighting, ah, lighting! We’ve been rearranging our lighting at school. In my other blog, I went into the details about how easy it was to save money on lighting … by selecting lighting carefully… It would be great if we could find suppliers like Hinkley lighting for our school because our lighting situation isn’t attractive. We tend to choose lighting that is affordable and plentiful. Utility concerns tend to outweigh decorative concerns: such utility concerns include cost, safety, replacement issues, and sourcing.
Topics: Entertainment | No Comments »
Summer Sun and Sea: North East Coast of Taiwan
By InvestorBlogger | June 28, 2008
Taiwan is full of beaches that look idyllic. And in summer, these empty beaches fill up all over the north coast. Many swimmers take the to the sea because they haven’t got pools in their homes. Still, you’ll see people with pool floats and all manner of swimming pool equipment trying to enjoy the summer sun and sea.
I love the beach, but I can’t swim! Even if I could, I would still limit my swimming to pools as there are dangerous rip tides and undercurrents that can pull even the strongest swimmers out to sea. Paddling is fine, though! I just wish my skin was better able to handle the sun!
Topics: Taiwan | No Comments »
Summer in Taiwan: Take a look!
By InvestorBlogger | June 27, 2008
This is how it rains in Taiwan. It clouds over quickly, the light fades, the winds blow, and then the rain starts. Don’t be standing outside… Forget an umbrella? Well, you’re toast! Even with an umbrella, it’s pretty bad!
This is the resulting movie I made on JumpCut…
Topics: Taiwan | No Comments »
Summer time and the strike action is rife!
By InvestorBlogger | June 21, 2008
It’s summer time again. Most people are planning their vacation. And I was thinking of returning to the UK to see my family and friends, too.
But. It’s also strike season. The unions in the airlines and at airports know that this is one of the busiest seasons, and so they take delight in striking to cause maximum inconvenience to travelers to press for their own demands.
In fact, a few years ago, my wife and I on a trip to the UK got caught up in a wildcat strike at Heathrow which started just 30 minutes before we entered the airport. It was absolute chaos. Our flight was canceled, and we couldn’t transfer our ticket to another airline at the last minute.
We ended up having to return to our friends’ home, in Brighton. They very graciously put us up until we could make alternative arrangements. Of course, we didn’t buy any travel insurance, and I haven’t bought any in years. I’m not sure that this is a good idea, though.
Would I buy travel insurance to cover such an event in the future? Perhaps not. I’d rather travel in a less busy part of the year, such as May or September. Prices are cheaper, travelers are fewer, and the whole thing is a ‘little’ more pleasant.
Topics: News and Views | No Comments »
Are you becoming your own doctor?
By InvestorBlogger | June 21, 2008
We were visiting our mother-in-law this afternoon. Father-in-law recently had a stroke (albeit minor) and is recovering nicely. I was surprised how interested both of them are in living a healthier life now that they are both in their early 60’s.
When I was a kid a few short decades ago, most homes confined their medical diagnostics to a mercury thermometer and a hand on your pulse. Perhaps there was a set of scales in the bathroom, too! Now it’s possible to get any number of devices for measuring your blood pressure, pulse, temperature, blood sugar level, and breathing measuring tools for asthmatics.
Are we all becoming our own doctors? We certainly are moving to a life where much of our biometric information can be monitored continuously. Who knows? Perhaps that will help reduce the life style diseases that afflict 21st century populations with large waists and bad diets!
We’ve got a digital thermometer, and we are about to buy a bp gauge. What else can improve our lifestyle? I’ll tell you tomorrow!
Stay healthy!
Topics: Die-ting | No Comments »
Of Golf, St. Andrews and Jack Nicklaus: Why did I never learn to play golf?
By InvestorBlogger | June 20, 2008
As I already said, I studied at St. Andrews for five glorious years. That was quite sometime ago, I came across this video on YouTube… Jack Nicklaus playing the 18th at the Old Course in St. Andrews before he retired. I can remember the course being covered in snow one winter in 1985 or 1986.
and
Unfortunately, during those years, I never ventured onto the Old Course, even though I lived (yes!) just five minutes from that Course! Of course, I knew the sacrifices that golfers have made throughout the hundreds of years that the course has been open to play the Old Course. I didn’t pick up any Callaway irons or indeed any other irons at all! It would have been a good place to start playing golf! Who knows, I might have even liked it! Perhaps I will still try. And now there are seven courses to play in St. Andrews alone: Old, New, Jubilee, Eden, Strathtyrum, Balgove and the Castle Course!
But it’s one of the odd facets of human nature: when things are easy, we don’t want them; it’s only when things get more difficult that we begin to understand their importance.
Kenneth
Topics: Entertainment | No Comments »
The Mortgage Crisis: Why Do Mortgage Lenders Hate America?
By InvestorBlogger | June 19, 2008
Some Mortgage News: Companies do go under! CBS news report
Frank Factor: Why Do Mortgage Lenders Hate America?
How has the mortgage crisis affected you? Rates here have already risen to 4% in my case.
Topics: News and Views | No Comments »
Bubbles DO pop - Lenders, Borrowers, Shareholders, and Employees ALL caught in the downdraught
By InvestorBlogger | June 19, 2008
CNN recently ran a report on home repossessions in the US that detailed how many former home owners were reduced to living in trailer parks after they hadn’t been able to keep up with payments on their house.
I felt sorry for those people, somehow caught up in the shenanigans of the mortgage lenders and their folly in lending too much money to people who didn’t even include a salary statement in their application.
Instead of living the American dream, those poor individuals found themselves victims of the cruel side of capitalism and living the nightmare. What would you do?
Unfortunately, they aren’t the only victims. Think of the thousands of employees without work now, who were fired after the financial organization went under or was taken over because of the weakness of its lending portfolio.
I wonder who isn’t hurting. I’m also curious to know why the bankers, and other ‘guardians of the system’ failed in their duty to manage the risk to the system. Bubbles will occur and pop, as they always do.
But is there wrongdoing somewhere? Let’s ask who benefited the most from these dodgy arrangements, who made the most money? Did the guardians have their fingers in the honeypot, too? Looks like they did.
What do you think?
Topics: Making Money | No Comments »
Some tips on buying wine: Video Posts
By InvestorBlogger | June 19, 2008
I’ve done some recent posts on Wine. I thought I’d like to share this video on buying good wine. I hope it’s helpful.
Thanks to MustLoveWine.TV.
Topics: Entertainment | No Comments »
Wine buying in Taiwan: Affordable, Lots of Reds, and Good Selections
By InvestorBlogger | June 19, 2008
When I first came to Taiwan quite a few years ago, there were quite a few things that were hard to come by:
- 1. decent ground coffee and cappuccino
- 2. inexpensive wines
- 3. English language TV
Since those early days in 1992, things have changed a lot. I can now saunter down to the local supermarket, and pick up any of half a dozen choices, or go to the local coffee shop, and have a decent choice of coffees (fresh, ground or beans!).
Wines, too, are a lot easier to get. The better supermarkets provide quite a range of wines, (Jason’s, Carrefour, the better Wellcomes and there are any number of smaller wine shops), mostly reds from the New World, France, South America. It’s more difficult to buy whites here, and roses are quite scarce, but findable. Pricing is keen: a typical table wine starts at about NT$250 or so, a reasonable red NT$300 and up, and better wines pop in around NT$500 plus.
Getting a wine rack isn’t really so useful here, as most apartments just don’t have the space for one, and the price range isn’t typical of wines that you’d buy and keep. Also, good red wines NEED to be kept cool, and Taiwan’s humidity is just too high, as well as the ambient temperature. I suspect an old gold mine would be more appropriate to store the bottles!
Still, smaller wine racks should be quite fine, unless you’re going through a dozen bottles or more a month! Mmm.. Oh, and there’re lots of English TV channels here now… You may even find one or two programs on Asia Travel + Living that explore the wine growing regions of the world! I know, I’ve already learned quite a bit about Champagne (the region, and the wine!).
Topics: Entertainment, Life in Taiwan | No Comments »
