This is a post from re:kuwait, which I could not help, but borrow.
What would happen if it costs 18KD to fill up your SUV? Would your life be ruined? I don’t think so. What will happen is that you will adjust your lifestyle to meet this new reality. You might reconsider buying a new SUV, and maybe get a car with better mileage. People might decide not to buy a car at all, and you’ll find that there’s less traffic on the street because people who can’t afford to drive are now willing to carpool and use public transportation. 18KD is a reasonable amount to pay because that’s the true price of the petrol.
What if you had to pay over 1000KD every year to pay for you electricity consumption? What would change? You would obviously think twice about leaving the air conditioning on all the time even when no one is home. You will think about how much a house consumes energy before buying it. You decide that maybe a small house with a bigger garden makes more sense than a three floor mansion. We might find that we don’t have blackouts anymore. The KOC will be able to sell more oil instead of burning it to make more electricity for Kuwait.
What if water cost you 50KD a month? Will you stand idly by as your driver sprays you car with a hose to clean it, when a sponge will do the same thing for a fraction of the water? Will you decide against a lawn and maybe plant more appropriate landscaping for the region?
If resources are priced according to their true value, without subsidies or manipulation, then human behavior will revert to a mode of living that is both efficient and ‘sustainable’. People will never change because of morality and the desire to feel ‘green’. That’s bullshit. The only way we can ever change is if it hurts us in our wallets if we don’t change. We’re not pricing in what’s called the negative externalities; the unpriced cost of traffic, pollution, blackouts and wasted finite resources.
This might seem politically impossible in Kuwait, but what if there was a way to make it work? What if all the savings and revenue generated was given back to Kuwaitis as a form of energy rebate? That way we can reward good behavior while we punish wasteful people by punching them with the invisible hand. We can have our cake and eat it too.
Well, wouldn’t we be all very conservative, if we had to pay the ‘true’ price of the products and services? Things which are given ‘almost free’ tend to be overconsumed, just for the fact that you are not paying ‘too much’ for it. We would not be ashamed to be called ‘misers’, had we been paying thru our noses for the ‘true value’ of the service.
Well, its no longer the ‘green’ factor, but has to be the ‘conscious’ factor, that should determine the consumption pattern of people.
1. Two as One. Embracing each other gently, begin to sense your partner’s breathing and gradually try to synchronize your breathing with his or hers. After a few minutes, you might feel that the two of you have merged.
Inhibitions. Countless millions of relationships have probably started with a glass of wine. Inhibitions block feelings of vulnerability, so lowering inhibitions can indeed help people bond. Getting drunk, however, is blinding and debilitating. Instead of alcohol, try the Two as One exercise above.
2. Soul Gazing. Standing or sitting about two feet away from each other, look deeply into each other’s eyes, trying to look into the very core of your beings. Do this for about two minutes and then talk about what you saw.
3. Monkey Love. Standing or sitting fairly near each other, start moving your hands, arms and legs any way you like—but in a fashion that perfectly imitates your partner. This is fun but also challenging. You will both feel as if you are moving voluntarily, but your actions are also linked to those of your partner.
Similarity. Opposites sometimes attract, but research by behavioral economist Dan Ariely of Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others shows that people usually tend to pair off with those who are similar to themselves—in intelligence, background and level of attractiveness. Some research even suggests that merely imitating someone can increase closeness. See the Monkey Love exercise above.
4. Falling in Love. This is a trust exercise, one of many that increase mutual feelings of vulnerability. From a standing position, simply let yourself fall backward into the arms of your partner. Then trade places. Repeat several times and then talk about your feelings. Strangers who do this exercise sometimes feel connected to each other for years.
Arousal. Studies by researchers such as psychologist Arthur Aron of Stony Brook University show that people tend to bond emotionally when aroused, say, through exercise, adventures or exposure to dangerous situations. Roller coaster, anyone? See the Falling in Love exercise above.
5. Secret Swap. Write down a deep secret and have your partner do the same. Then trade papers and talk about what you read. You can continue this process until you have run out of secrets. Better yet, save some of your secrets for another day
Self-disclosure. Research by Aron, Sprecher and others indicates that people tend to bond when they share secrets with each other. Once again, the key here is allowing oneself to be vulnerable. See the Secret Swap exercise above.
6. Mind-Reading Game. Write down a thought that you want to convey to your partner. Then spend a few minutes wordlessly trying to broadcast that thought to him or her, as he or she tries to guess what it is. If he or she cannot guess, reveal what you were thinking. Then switch roles.
7. Let Me Inside. Stand about four feet away from each other and focus on each other. Every 10 seconds or so move a bit closer until, after several shifts, you are well inside each other’s personal space (the boundary is about 18 inches). Get as close as you can without touching. (This exercise often ends with kissing.)
Proximity and familiarity. Studies by Stanford University social psychologists Leon Festinger and Robert Zajonc and others conclude that simply being around someone tends to produce positive feelings. When two people consciously and deliberately allow each other to invade their personal space, feelings of intimacy can grow quickly. See the Let Me Inside exercise above.
8. Love Aura. Place the palm of your hand as close as possible to your partner’s palm without actually touching. Do this for several minutes, during which you will feel not only heat but also, sometimes, eerie kinds of sparks.
Politics has marred the sports arena for a long time and its time that Kuwait learns a lesson, to give independence to certain bodies. Yes, Kuwait is a democratic country, so let the democracy percolate down to all spheres of Kuwait life.
Its a shame that, inspite of being warned and given time to rectify & reorganize the Kuwait Olympic Committee, the politicians have not heeded to the advise of IOC.
Now they have the face the backlash of the sportsmen and sports enthusiasts in Kuwait. Its time that a movement be started by the sportsmen and sports lovers to make the Kuwait OC take the necessary steps to make IOC remove the suspension.
This is a urge to all to ACT NOW. Please spread the message, thru you blogs, columns, speech, etc.
Who else but the Japanese would think of designing an iPhone app that replicates the sound of a toilet flushing.
Now, thanks to the “eco-oto” (”エコ音”, which is short for “ecological sound”) iPhone app, you no longer have to feel embarrassed that someone is hearing you take a whiz in a public toilet. Do I hear you saying “Why on earth would I be embarrassed fulfilling a call of nature?” Well there are a few things that you need to know about Japan.
Japanese women are very self-concious about the noise that they make in the bathroom. Maybe it is because there are so many other women hanging out in front of the mirrors doing other things that it is no longer deemed appropriate to have a whiz (or whatever..) in a public toilet anymore. Whatever reason it may be, many toilets in Japan come equipped with a “sound” button on their control panel (if you don’t know why Japanese toilets have a control panel then you have a little catching up to do but unfortunately that it out of scope of this article!). When you press the “sound button” these toilets will play a recording either of some music, or more likely, they replicate the sound of a flushing toilet. The idea is that this sound will drown out the noise of you “fulfilling your duty” on the commode, and hence quash the embarrassment factor of taking a slash.
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The app, which has been on sale in the Apple iPhone app store since last Thursday 5th Nov (link to iTunes Appstore), is designed to be cute and pink and the buttons are large and easy to press so you can even press them if you have long nails. For people who tend to be louder than average, or perhaps for those days after a great curry you can even increase the volume of your simulated flushing sound (think Niagra falls). Better still, you can choose between “flushing water” for 30, 60, 90 and 120 seconds depending on your mood.
So why is it called eco-oto? Because apparently people who are “caught out” without a sound button on a public toilet are well known to constantly press the “flush” button on their public thrones until they are complete. Think about how much water is wasted there! Just as we’ve grown to know and love in Japan, the designers of this app actually went out and calculated that for us. Apparently each “use” of the eco-oto will save you flushing away a massive 6-8 litres of water!! (they thoughtfully mention however, that this discrepancy depends on the age and style of your toilet). The app costs 115 yen or 99 cents and is semi-bilingual (it comes with hilarious Jinglish translations). You can download the app by using this direct link to the iTunes Appstore.
It’s quite funny, and apart from some of the features mentioned above, Eco-Oto also has the following selling points:
Very easy for girls to carry around, with a cute & stylish design (its an app for Christ’s sake, how can it not be easy to carry around if you already have the iPhone!)
Sound level that you use is automatically saved for next time (where would be be without that?)
The pink dotted indicators slowly flush in towards the middle, to indicate how much more flush time you have (theoretically, this should be longer than your own “steady stream time”)
The flush button flashes 10 seconds before the sound finishes (to warn you to put the squeeze on the flow – and here I was thinking that this would be delayed until version 2.0!)
Easy for beginners (well, there is a first time for everything I guess)
Tiger Woods is no doubt the world richest golfer and probably the richest sportman ( I’m not sure) living today. Over the span of his career, he not only achieved enviable fame but also equally enviable wealth. He was considered the man to promote products that mean success in life. So he endorsed and promote many high lifestyles products. In the process, apart from him, the advertisers, the media, the ad agencies, the PR agencies, the goods manufacturers, etc. all made tons on money alongside him.
Now that he is caught in a scandal, which is more titilating than scandalous, all of the media – press, websites, feeders, paparazzi, reporter, etc. are having a good time collecting any small nuts and bits about his life that can add spice to the already hot news item of his affairs. He is now the most searched person on the search engines such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, Bing, etc. The media and paparazzi are trying to find some more skeletons (even a small bone is a treasure now) in his cupboard. Everybody has turned into a newsperson and is expecting to make a good amount by exposing about Tiger Woods. Sometimes the dead are more valuable than the living ones.
No doubt, it is said that, once you are celebrity, you automatically become a public property, and under the scanner of a million eyes. You probably loose your old privacy. All you life becomes social and the public turns you into a demi-GOD and expects you walk the line that the society has drawn and you not expected to deviate, however little whatsoever. Or else, its a field time again for the media to show the ‘other’ of you.
We all want to become famous, but wonder how many can handle such a situation when it arises.
Schmap is like your virtual business card – key in your contact address, website URL, phone number, email or any other details that you want to reveal in public and it creates a personal web page for you with all this information.
You can ever grab a personal URL for your contact page and it looks the same on desktop browsers as well as mobile phones.
Your virtual business card with Google Map looks the same everywhere on web & mobile phones
Schmap uses Google Maps to display the location. If privacy is a concern, just enter your city or country in the address field or you may even leave any of the fields blank.
To get your contact page, visit schmap.me. Here are some dummycards I created to test the service – they look pretty good even on the mobile phone.
The service doesn’t require any registration but if you need a provision to edit your contact details later, they provide a secret URL for that as well.
A new wave is fast catching up to become a trend, i.e. communicating with the dead.
Tweeters are being invited to submit questions for the spirits of departed celebrities including Michael Jackson and William Shakespeare as part of the worlds first Twitter seance.
A psychic medium will then try to contact the stars who were chosen along with actor River Phoenix and Nirvanas Kurt Cobain from nominations sent in by the public at the London-based seance on Friday, the day before Halloween.
Other prominent dead figures nominated by tweeters keen to pose questions during the tweance included John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Abraham Lincoln and Houdini.
Twitter users will be able to follow the seance live on the micro-blogging site, which psychic Jayne Wallace will use to relay any responses she receives from the spirits.
Who would you want to communicate with among passed away Kuwaitis? And what would ask them?
Tweet your questions amongst the Kuwaiti tweeters and lets find a psychic to commuicate with the spirits.
Damn! Can it be really this simple to make thousands of dollars by wearing a t-shirt? Yes, if only one could have been as innovative as Jason Sadler. Jason started a unique social media drive known as “I Wear Your Shirt” this year. In this campaign, he is wearing one shirt from one company per day and will be posting his image on YouTube, Twitter, Ustream etc. and at one go the brands would have a poster cum social media campaign through Jason. Interesting, but more interesting is his pricing strategy which varies upon the day of the calendar. For the 1st day of year, he would be charging $1 and for the last day $365. Ustream.tv gave him 1 dollar to wear its shirt on 1st Jan & on Jan 29th he was paid 29 dollars to wear Zappos.com shirt. And this is no joke, his 2009 calendar is already sold out and this means that he has made $66,795 this year by just wearing these shirts. To add to that he charges extra for contests & deals etc.
His idea has been so successful that he has extended it for another year and that too with twice the earlier price, as quoted on his website:
I’ve had so much fun wearing shirts this year that I’m going to keep wearing them in 2010, but with a twist… 2 guys in your shirt, 2 time zones, 2x the exposure and January 1 starts at $2! Reserve your day now on the 2010 calendar and meet the person who will also be wearing your shirt next year.
As I’m writing this post, his 2010 calendar is already sold out up till May’10! Now this definitely speaks for the popularity of the idea clearly! I don’t remember any media property in recent times being booked so well in advance by any brand. And the way in just one year there are already takers for this property with double exposure at double rates, I’m wondering if Jason will soon make this a full-fledged promotion company where he will have promoters across the globe working for him as walking-talking media properties and he can offer clients customized exposure at customized rates! How about Jason or likes of Jason doing this in Kuwait? Well, I think this idea is expandable & undoubtedly one of the most innovative utilization of social media to promote a brand.
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