If you have money, you should invest in the Canadian cellphone companies. They found the way to make twice more money than any other cellphone cmopaniy in the world.
How's that? Pretty easy.
In any "normal" country, you pay when you make a call. You are the caller, you want to talk to your friend/boss/lover, you must pay for your decision.
In Canada, you pay in that case, which is logical, but you also pay when you RECEIVE a call !! So, even if you don't want to talk to somebody, you do pay if you answer the phone !
No wonder why people in Canada don't answer to their cellphones... If you're not worth it, why pay to hear you??
Another weird thing about cellphones is the cellphone voicemail. First, they don't tell you when you received the voicemail. No date or hour. Of course! They want the caller who is leaving you the message to talk more and actually give that date !! A few more bucks for the phone company !!
And, I won't tell you about the fact that you need to enter your voicemail pin number anytime you want to listen to your own voicemail. You're the owner of the damn phone, so why have to type the PIN everytime single time ??? What are the chances somebody else wll find your phone and listen to your voicemail? You shouldn't have lost your phone, that's all !!
dimanche 27 septembre 2009
UK, New Zealand, Australia: The electrical plugs with a switch
When you get for the first time in New Zealand, you are in your hotel room (or at a friend's place), you want to plug your computer, and you realise the little green light doesn't light up. What's wrong? There is power around, the light bulb is on!!
Ohhh, there is a little switch next to the plug !! If you don't see the red dot, no power is going through the plug.
Why is it good?
First, for safety: you turn off the power for the plug, your child might not get electrocuted.
Second, for practical reasons: you don't have to plug, unplug, plug unplug your devices if they have no switch. Just switch it on or off !
Ohhh, there is a little switch next to the plug !! If you don't see the red dot, no power is going through the plug.
Why is it good?
First, for safety: you turn off the power for the plug, your child might not get electrocuted.
Second, for practical reasons: you don't have to plug, unplug, plug unplug your devices if they have no switch. Just switch it on or off !
mardi 1 septembre 2009
Canada : Vancouver buses with the bike rack at the front
When you're in Vancouver, you see all these people biking around. You can't believe how many people use their bikes.
But they can only do it thanks to the authorities good ideas. First, promote biking with some safe biking trails on the roads. Bikes and cars can share the road !
Second, by installing some bike racks on pretty much all the buses, so it's possible to do some of the trip on the bus, and go the last kilometers by bike !
Every bus can carry up to two bikes at a time, you just install your bike at the front when your bus shows up, hop in the bus and off you go !!
It makes a lot of people's lives easier, when they need a car just because the public transportation doesn't go right at their doorstep or office's building. No need to buy a car anymore!
In France you can do this with the train: some trains accept bikes, but trains are always to go from one town to another, not just to travel inside one only town.
But they can only do it thanks to the authorities good ideas. First, promote biking with some safe biking trails on the roads. Bikes and cars can share the road !
Second, by installing some bike racks on pretty much all the buses, so it's possible to do some of the trip on the bus, and go the last kilometers by bike !
Every bus can carry up to two bikes at a time, you just install your bike at the front when your bus shows up, hop in the bus and off you go !!
It makes a lot of people's lives easier, when they need a car just because the public transportation doesn't go right at their doorstep or office's building. No need to buy a car anymore!
In France you can do this with the train: some trains accept bikes, but trains are always to go from one town to another, not just to travel inside one only town.
mardi 26 août 2008
UK and New Zealand- Clean and FREE toilets in every town/village
Have you ever been in UK ? Have you ever been driving up north, in Scotland? Have you been all the way up north, to the Shetlands? I have, and we were driving along. So we know how much important are the toilets breaks along the way.
And this is unbelievable but in every single village we went, we found some FREE public toilets (yes, FREE as in "no charge") and they were CLEAN ! All the time !! Clean super clean !
It's the same if you travel around New Zealand, from the south end of the South Island to the north end of the North Island. You'll always find some clean and free toilets along the way.
In France they only have the free toilets booths along the highways (the ones with the tolls too, yes, so I wouldn't call them free...)
People from everywhere around the world, we have a big lesson to take here. Tourists are normal people too, they need to pee once in a while. So they need public toilets. And clean toilets are always a lot nicer ! And make a good impression on people.
So why don't the town halls and/or the government hire somebody to clean the toilets? It will look better for the tourism of the country, and it will create new jobs !
And this is unbelievable but in every single village we went, we found some FREE public toilets (yes, FREE as in "no charge") and they were CLEAN ! All the time !! Clean super clean !
It's the same if you travel around New Zealand, from the south end of the South Island to the north end of the North Island. You'll always find some clean and free toilets along the way.
In France they only have the free toilets booths along the highways (the ones with the tolls too, yes, so I wouldn't call them free...)
People from everywhere around the world, we have a big lesson to take here. Tourists are normal people too, they need to pee once in a while. So they need public toilets. And clean toilets are always a lot nicer ! And make a good impression on people.
So why don't the town halls and/or the government hire somebody to clean the toilets? It will look better for the tourism of the country, and it will create new jobs !
jeudi 21 août 2008
Canada Bathroom: bath tub handle
In Canada, the shower/bath handle is pretty easy to use, way easier than in France.
Three parts in their system:
_ the shower jet
_ the water handle, which is round
_ the bath tub tap, in case you want to take a bath
To choose between bath and shower, you need to pull on a small lever on the bath tub tap.
To choose the temperature, you turn the water handle to the left (hotter) or to the right (colder). To get the water flowing you pull the handle towards you. The more you pull, the more water is flowing.
This handle is really easy to use, even if at first it's kind of strange. But it's easier than the double knobs (one cold one hot) system and more practical than the handle with an arm. Yes you know, the one you push inadvertently with your elbow while you're soaping yourself, and you end up discovering how life was under the ice age!!
Three parts in their system:
_ the shower jet
_ the water handle, which is round
_ the bath tub tap, in case you want to take a bath
To choose between bath and shower, you need to pull on a small lever on the bath tub tap.
To choose the temperature, you turn the water handle to the left (hotter) or to the right (colder). To get the water flowing you pull the handle towards you. The more you pull, the more water is flowing.
This handle is really easy to use, even if at first it's kind of strange. But it's easier than the double knobs (one cold one hot) system and more practical than the handle with an arm. Yes you know, the one you push inadvertently with your elbow while you're soaping yourself, and you end up discovering how life was under the ice age!!
lundi 28 juillet 2008
Spain - Kitchen: Spanish way to get the dishes dry
In Spain, not everybody has a dishwasher. And people who don't have found the way to save space in their kitchen to get the plates drying without using the counter.
They just created a dish rack cupboard, and they installed it above the sink. So after you've rinsed the plates, just place them on the rack cupboard, above the sink, and let the water drop back in the sink.
It's practical: the cupboard is right in front of you while you're washing the dishes
It's space-saving: you don't use the space on the counter anymore and you can put more plates in the counter
It's safer: your plates are not in balance because you dish rack is too small
It's easy: you can grab the plates one by one without having to move the small plates that are above because you don't have enough space in the cupboard...
The only down side I can see is that if you're not tall enough to get to the cupboard, the plates might be more difficult to reach at. But nothing prevents you from installing the dish rack cupboard at a reachable level !!
They just created a dish rack cupboard, and they installed it above the sink. So after you've rinsed the plates, just place them on the rack cupboard, above the sink, and let the water drop back in the sink.
It's practical: the cupboard is right in front of you while you're washing the dishes
It's space-saving: you don't use the space on the counter anymore and you can put more plates in the counter
It's safer: your plates are not in balance because you dish rack is too small
It's easy: you can grab the plates one by one without having to move the small plates that are above because you don't have enough space in the cupboard...
The only down side I can see is that if you're not tall enough to get to the cupboard, the plates might be more difficult to reach at. But nothing prevents you from installing the dish rack cupboard at a reachable level !!
vendredi 18 juillet 2008
Why a blOg about other countries ideas ?
Nowadays, everybody is traveling around the world, thanks to planes.
On my international trips, I discovered some really nice ideas that I think are worth talking about. They are actually worth exporting around, but this is up to you to really adopt them. Or sometimes it's up to the local governments/towns to take the decisions to accept them.
If, like me, you would like to live in a better place, but staying where you are, here are a few of the good ideas I met along the way. If you have any ideas you would talk about here, please comment this post.
The world is full of good ideas. Why don't we try to use them too ???
On my international trips, I discovered some really nice ideas that I think are worth talking about. They are actually worth exporting around, but this is up to you to really adopt them. Or sometimes it's up to the local governments/towns to take the decisions to accept them.
If, like me, you would like to live in a better place, but staying where you are, here are a few of the good ideas I met along the way. If you have any ideas you would talk about here, please comment this post.
The world is full of good ideas. Why don't we try to use them too ???
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