Assembling IKEA furniture

Posted on May 30, 2008
Filed Under Style | Leave a Comment

I had to make an important decision recently. Where should I buy my new furniture? I have often trusted IKEA as my main source. For a while I did contemplate the possibility of buying my furniture from a local vendor in order to support a local business. But then I realized that my best choice was to go with what I know works. And IKEA has always worked well for me.

What I really like about them is that they have a large range of furniture from very cheap and just plain functional to very expensive and stylish. You can always mix and much from this large range of quality products and always decorate your house or apartment in so many different ways. Best of all, IKEA furniture are easy to assemble. You need just simple tools ( a screw driver and maybe a hummer will do, no need for anything excessive such as power or air tools) often included in the package. In addition, the instructions given are easy to follow even for a high school drop out. Once I heard that some scientists at Stanford University were actually working on a new robot that would assemble IKEA furniture for you. I can’t say that that is a bad idea but these furniture are so easy to put together that you have to be truly lazy to want a robot to do it for you.

At any rate, for these many reasons and my past and positive experiences with IKEA, I bought all my new furniture from them. So far, I am a happy customer.

Diet pills that work: Do any exist?

Posted on May 30, 2008
Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment

The magic diet pill that will cure the obesity epidemic in North America and some European countries is highly anticipated. Such a pill will make it possible for any individual to shed many pounds of unwanted fat without the need for diet and exercise. The are many diet pills in the market today, i.e., Orovo, Nuphedragen, Noxycut, TrimSpa X32 etc., and the questions in everyone’s mind is “do you know of any diet pills that work?”

To tell you the truth, I don’t know. And when I say that, I mean I don’t know from personal experience (I have never used these pills) and also I don’t know of any valid scientific studies that support the ambitious claims put forth by the manufacturers. Often such miracle diet pills are backed up by simple laboratory experiments that look legit but would hardly pass as truly scientific and as such any conclusions drawn from these are as good as any guess.

In my opinion the only thing that truly works when it comes to weight loss is not a miracle diet pill but a well designed diet and frequent trips to the local gym. It is all about finding a balance between the amount of calories consumed and burned on a daily basis. It is actually very simple.

Sydney bus drivers are crazy

Posted on May 27, 2008
Filed Under Travel | Leave a Comment

It is true. Sydney bus drivers are crazy. However, let me elaborate on the kind of crazy they are. The basic idea here is that most, if not all, of them probably believe that they are actually F1 drivers. I don’t know if this is some kind of mass delusion among this particular group of people or if they are just bored with their jobs and try to make it a bit more exciting clearly on the expense of the passengers.

What does this mean for you and me who may require to take a bus daily or just every now and then?

First of all, if you have requested that the bus stops to let you off at the next possible location, then don’t get up from your seat until the bus has come to a complete stop. If you do get up, then you will regret it. Why is this? Drivers seem to ignore the fact that they are driving a massive vehicle with a lot of inertia and that the passengers are not strapped on the seats securely with a seatbelt on. A bus driver will gladly continue to drive at full speed until he/she gets to within a couple of meters of the bus stop and then slam on the brakes. If you happen to be standing, you will go flying. I think Sydney commuters have figured this out long ago so nobody stands up until the bus has come to a complete stop. In North America it is usual for passengers to make their way towards the rear door a block before the bus stop is reached to make it easier and faster to exit the vehicle. Don’t try this in Sydney.

Once a bus has stopped and allowed passengers off and on, it is time to start moving again. If you are one of the people getting on, hold on because you are in for a surprise. Sydney bus drivers essentially ignore the well being of their passengers just as much when accelerating as decelerating. Drivers will simply step on the gas pedal with all their might rocketing the bus forward at speeds known previously only to NASCAR drivers. If you are not holding onto something solid expect to be thrown backwards thanks to a beautiful (but annoying) thing called inertia. I think the reason why bus drivers do this is not so much because they want to hurt passengers (obviously) but because of the other car drivers on the road. Basically, few drivers will give the right of way to a bus. As a result, the bus drivers have to muscle their way into traffic which often means that given the opportunity to merge, they have to do so swiftly or else they will be stuck at the bus stop for the rest of the day.

At any rate and whatever the reasons, if you are visiting or just moving to Sydney be advised that bus drivers can be rather crazy in their driving habits. Once you get used to their driving behavior, riding a Sydney bus can be fun.

Teak indoor and outdoor furniture

Posted on May 22, 2008
Filed Under Style | Leave a Comment

I don’t know about you, but I like my furniture made of wood and not metal or plastic. Somehow, wood furniture have a certain quality to them even if you decide to buy the cheapest ones in the store. There are many different types of wood that is used for furniture each having its pros and cons. I recently purchased some teak furniture for my new apartment and so far I have been very pleased with them.

For the record, teak is a kind of tree that grows in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Teak is a hardwood that is suitable for stylish and durable outdoor (garden) furniture but not only. Indoor teak furniture can be found at many stores. Teak will last you a long time even in harsh weather so look for it when buying new garden furniture.

Natural acne treatments

Posted on May 20, 2008
Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment

Acne is one of those things that will always be part of life. As far as I can tell there are few effective acne treatment medical or not. Some medical treatments can have unpleasant effects and as such doctors only prescribe them for severe cases. Antibiotics can also be used to control certain forms of acne but there effectiveness lessens and eventually mostly diminishes over time.

Alternatively, there is a myriad of natural acne treatments marketed today; a good example is the Acnexus acne scrub. A natural acne treatment does not require a prescription and can be purchased over the counter or online. The effectiveness of such treatments is always in question. All these promise a cure to desperate people but in many cases don’t deliver as promised. Although, as long as there are not negative side effects, there is nothing wrong with such products being marketed but for someone suffering from acne to try all of them certainly costs a considerable amount of money.

For serious cases of acne (and there are some really bad cases,) patients should always seek the advice of a dermatologist. Acne can leave a person’s skin scarred if not properly treated and the only way to properly treat acne and minimize the damage to your skin is to get medical advice. Natural acne treatments may be effective for less severe cases of acne although I don’t know of any scientific studies that prove them to be effective for a majority of sufferers.

Flexo Solvent recycling

Posted on May 19, 2008
Filed Under Environment | Leave a Comment

When it comes to recycling, many people only think about items such as plastic bottles and aluminum cans. While it is important that these items are taken care of in the appropriate manner, there are other items that need just as much attention. This is where flexo solvent recycling comes into play.

Many companies use flexo solvents that can and should be recycled on a regular basis. The main reason that some do not get involved with this is that flexo solvent recycling can be a time consuming process. After all, it is more difficult to recycle solvents than basic aluminum cans. With that being said, flexo solvent recycling has become more and more popular over the past few years.

What are some of the more commonly recycled solvents? They include Solvit, Optisol, NutreClean, and Polysafe HF among many others. If your company currently uses any type of flexo solvent, it is important that you find out about your recycling program.

In most cases, a flexo solvent recycling company will take the proper steps and then return the solvent back to its place of origination. In other words, a company will have to pay for the service, but in the end they will receive new solvent. And the great part is that the recycled products can usually be had for a much cheaper price than buying new.

It is only a matter of time until flexo solvent recycling catches on amongst more companies. Hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later.

Net Present Value: What is it and how to calculate it?

Posted on May 17, 2008
Filed Under Money | Leave a Comment

Net present value (NPV) is a standard method for the financial appraisal of long-term projects. Used for capital budgeting, and widely throughout economics, it measures the excess or shortfall of cash flows, in present value (PV) terms, once financing charges are met.

Formula

Each cash inflow/outflow is discounted back to its PV. Then they are summed. The formula for computing Net Present Value is given below,

Net Present Value formula

Where,

t - the time of the cash flow
N - the total time of the project
r - the discount rate (the rate of return that could be earned on an investment in the financial markets with similar risk.)
Ct - the net cash flow (the amount of cash) at time t (for educational purposes, C0 is commonly placed to the left of the sum to emphasize its role as the initial investment.).

The Discount Rate

The rate used to discount future cash flows to their present values is a key variable of this process. A firm’s weighted average cost of capital (after tax) is often used, but many people believe that it is appropriate to use higher discount rates to adjust for risk for riskier projects. A variable discount rate with higher rates applied to cash flows occurring further along the time span might be used to reflect the yield curve premium for long-term debt.

Another approach to choosing the discount rate factor is to decide the rate which the capital needed for the project could return if invested in an alternative venture. If, for example, the capital required for Project A can earn five percent elsewhere, use this discount rate in the NPV calculation to allow a direct comparison to be made between Project A and the alternative. Related to this concept is to use the firm’s Reinvestment Rate. Reinvestment rate can be defined as the rate of return for the firm’s investments on average. When analyzing projects in a capital constrained environment, it may be appropriate to use the reinvestment rate rather than the firm’s weighted average cost of capital as the discount factor. It reflects opportunity cost of investment, rather than the possibly lower cost of capital.

NPV value obtained using variable discount rates (if they are known) with the years of the investment duration better reflects the real situation than that calculated from a constant discount rate for the entire investment duration. Refer to the tutorial article written by Samuel Baker for more detailed relationship between the NPV value and the discount rate.

For some professional investors, their investment funds are committed to target a specified rate of return. In such cases, that rate of return should be selected as the discount rate for the NPV calculation. In this way, a direct comparison can be made between the profitability of the project and the desired rate of return.

To some extent, the selection of the discount rate is dependent on the use to which it will be put. If the intent is simply to determine whether a project will add value to the company, using the firm’s weighted average cost of capital may be appropriate. If trying to decide between alternative investments in order to maximize the value of the firm, the corporate reinvestment rate would probably be a better choice.

Using variable rates over time, or discounting “guaranteed” cash flows different from “at risk” cash flows may be a superior methodology, but is seldom used in practice. Using the discount rate to adjust for risk is often difficult to do in practice (especially internationally), and is really difficult to do well. An alternative to using discount factor to adjust for risk is to explicitly correct the cash flows for the risk elements, then discount at the firm’s rate.

What NPV Means

NPV is an indicator of how much value an investment or project adds to the value of the firm. With a particular project, if Ct is a positive value, the project is in the status of discounted cash inflow in the time of t. If Ct is a negative value, the project is in the status of discounted cash outflow in the time of t. Appropriately risked projects with a positive NPV could be accepted. This does not necessarily mean that they should be undertaken since NPV at the cost of capital may not account for opportunity cost, i.e. comparison with other available investments. In financial theory, if there is a choice between two mutually exclusive alternatives, the one yielding the higher NPV should be selected. The following sums up the NPVs in various situations.

However, NPV = 0 does not mean that a project is only expected to break even, in the sense of undiscounted profit or loss (earnings). It will show net total positive cash flow and earnings over its life.

Common Pitfalls

If some (or all) of the Ct have a negative value, then paradoxical results are possible. For example, if the Ct are generally negative late in the project (eg, an industrial or mining project might have clean-up and restoration costs), then an increase in the discount rate can make the project appear more favourable. Some people see this as a problem with NPV. A way to avoid this problem is to include explicit provision for financing any losses after the initial investment, i.e, explicitly calculate the cost of financing such losses.

Another common pitfall is to adjust for risk by adding a premium to the discount rate. Whilst a bank might charge a higher rate of interest for a risky project, that does not mean that this is a valid approach to adjusting a net present value for risk, although it can be a reasonable approximation in some specific cases. One reason such an approach may not work well can be seen from the foregoing: if some risk is incurred resulting in some losses, then a discount rate in the NPV will reduce the impact of such losses below their true financial cost. A rigorous approach to risk requires identifying and valuing risks explicitly, e.g. by actuarial or Monte Carlo techniques, and explicitly calculating the cost of financing any losses incurred.

Yet another issue can result from the compounding of the risk premium. R is a composite of the risk free rate and the risk premium. As a result, future cash flows are discounted by both the risk free rate as well as the risk premium and this effect is compounded by each subsequent cash flow. This compounding results in a much lower NPV than might be otherwise calculated. The certainty equivalent model can be used to account for the risk premium without compounding its effect on present value.

Foam mattress quality counts when it comes to sleeping well

Posted on May 16, 2008
Filed Under Health | Leave a Comment

Memory foam mattressJust to continue on the subject of moving to a new apartment and buying new furniture, I figured to publish another article this time focused on selecting a mattress. Let’s face it, the mattress is probably the most important piece of furniture that you will buy. A mattress that does not offer enough support for your spine can lead to muscle fatigue and a lower quality of sleep. A good night’s sleep goes a long way in making the following day a productive one. You have many options when it comes to selecting a new mattress the two main of which are the more traditional spring mattress and the newer foam mattress. Assuming that you have your heart set on buying a foam mattress, how do you decide on one?

What do I mean with that? Well, when you go to a furniture store be it a local one or IKEA, you will quickly find out that there is a good selection of foam mattress on sale varying in thickness and, of course, price. Many use price to tell the difference in quality among a number of products and this is no different. The cheaper the mattress, the lower the quality. Essentially, you get what you pay for. That’s not to say that a cheaper mattress will also be terrible but if money is tight then try to get something mid-range and trust me, you won’t regret it. They don’t call the better mattresses premium quality just for kicks.

Basically, when selecting a mattress quality is very important if you are looking for a good night’s sleep. When at the furniture store, make sure to pick up a mid to high quality foam mattress even if it will cost you a little bit more.

Buying furniture tips (or how to do it the easy way)

Posted on May 15, 2008
Filed Under Style | Leave a Comment

Moving is always more trouble than anything but often you have little choice but to do it. Sometimes, you have to move because of a new job, a growing family, studies, and not as often for the fun of it. At any rate, if you can’t use your old furniture, buying a new set is always the most difficult part. Having become an expert in moving all around the world, here are a couple of tips on making buying furniture for your new place a more pleasurable experience than it looks.

First of all, my policy is to only buy the amount of furniture that I need. I hate a cluttered apartment so purchasing only what I need without sacrificing style is my number one priority. Having to buy fewer pieces of furniture implies that I don’t have to spend as much money or that I can spend the same amount of money but get better quality pieces. Another advantage is that if you have to move again some time soon, then you have less stuff to move.

Once you decide on the quantity of furniture you will need and a budget for it, you are ready to start looking for a store for making your purchases. This is where the Internet is truly your friend. Go online and find a few stores that are close to your neighborhood. Then, spend a good amount of time browsing the furniture catalog for each store. Mark the furniture that you like and keep notes. Put together a budget. Being organized will make the trips to the stores much more pleasurable.

These are my two main tips for buying new furniture after a move. Remember that planning ahead and taking advantage of the resources available to you (mainly the Internet) can help make a stressful experience into a fun activity.

How the rich fly

Posted on May 14, 2008
Filed Under Travel | Leave a Comment

My job requires that I fly around the world a couple of times every year. Some times the flight is just to a nearby city and the time I spent at the airport is longer than the time I spend in the plane flying. Other times, I have to fly as far away as Australia and as such I may spent anywhere from 15 to 20 hours inside the plane. As you might have guessed, flying economy in the latter case is a very unpleasant experience. Certainly, the business class is a far more desirable way for flying across the world but good luck convincing your employer that it is a justifiable cost.

That said, have you ever wondered how those better off actually fly? Those who make 150K plus are likely to be the people flying first class in the same plane that you are in economy. The truly wealthy such as Oprah, and Playboy legend Hugh Hefner either own their own private jet or utilize a jet charter service. The best way to fly if you don’t want to spend your fortune keeping a plane service when you only need it a few times a year is to hire a jet on a per need basis via a jet charter company. Because you don’t become wealthy by wasting your money.

« go back — keep looking »
Your Ad Here