Packing Clothes: One Bag

Summary: How to pack your clothes inside your suitcase without crease...

Introducing Packing Clothes :: One Bag a website that provides all sorts of information on travel packing. The website provides checklists, packing lists and packing tips which are useful if you go travelling.

How to pack it > Packing clothes introduces the 'One Bag' method for light packing. It is adapted from the bundle wrapping technique, which is basically stacking the clothes and wrapping it into a bundle. On the above link you can click on this image and follow the instructions step-by-step:

Having actually tried this technique during my 4 day staycation at the Lake District, I must confess that it does what it says on the cover: "No creases and wrinkles". This may be especially useful when you go on a business trip with all your fancy shirts and trousers. I also managed to pack more things inside my suitcase as the bundle reduces the overall volume of the packed clothing.

However, it took a substantial amount of time to wrap the clothes up. You first choose all the clothes you are bringing, then stack them in order, then wrap the whole thing and shove it into your suitcase. It is so much quicker and simpler to chuck everything in the suitcase and zip up. In addition, by the end of the trip, I found it difficult to pack the dirty clothes in the suitcase without using the bundle method.

Note to self: when using the bundle method, don't get too carried away and bring excess clothing. Remember to leave space for dirty clothing and souvenirs.

Posts to come

• Dragonica - how to earn 10gold in 5 minutes
• Folliculitis in Hair/ Hair acne cure
• Maximuscle chocolate review
• Nokia e71 mobile phone review
• Fixing D-Link G604T plus AOL internet problems
• Strangest things sell on Ebay

ENVU3DX8VS3V

Sony Joining the 3D TV Market with June Launch

News: Sony will be updating PS3 and Blu-ray for compatibility with 3D TV...

Sony announced today that it will be launching its 3D TVs in June and hopes to sell 25million sets by March next year. For those on the PS3 ladder, no worries because Sony will be releasing updates to make sure that your precious and Blu-ray will entertain you in 3 dimensions.

However... This does mean that Sony will be joining Samsung and Panasonic with the 3D glasses dilemma. Yes. After you chip out for 3D telly (which surprisingly will have a similar cost to normal tellys), you can invite all your mates over to your house to watch You watch footie in 3D. Why? Well you can't actually get a 3D experience without wearng a pair. Duh.

Seriously, these 3D glasses cost about £90 a pair. If you got the 3D ready LX900, you will get 2 pairs for free. These glasses have a shutter function and is linked to your TV via infrared to enhance your viewing experience (according to this article). With the 3D compatible tvs you will have to fork out £33 for an emitter on top of the glasses. So, if you watched Alice in Wonderland at home, hopefully you will be able to see details other than the actors' faces. Otherwise it's totally not worth it in my book.

Anyway, if you want to set up your own 3D home entertainment system, start saving up for June 2010!

Old Style Twenty Pound Notes to be Withdrawn from Circulation

News: Old style £20 Elgar notes going out of circulation starting July 2010...

According to the BBC, 1 in 10 of the £20 notes currently in circulation will be withdrawn in the middle of the year. Since 2007, the Bank of England started introducing the Adam Smith £20 notes with the intention of phasing out the Elgar £20s. Whilst banks may still accept the Elgar notes after the withdrawal date, it is still advisable to make sure that your £20s are the below new style Smith notes.

More information on this can be found on this Bank of England webpage. You can also download posters and leaflets with guidance and advice.

Canaan Online: Pets on Attack Mode

Summary: How to have your pet attack in battle...

Canaan Online is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (aka MMORPG) hosted by gPotato. The game wiped the player's data last month as it came to the end of its beta testing phase. Now the server has re-opened and players have had to re-train their characters. Luckily, I had received a pet bat as a reward for being a beta tester.

However, I completely forgot how to train my pet in battle! Pathetic. So here's a note-to-self that will hopefully be useful for others.

First, go to pet slot by pressing P and set your pet from rest mode(Rest) to attack mode(ATK).

Second, when in battle, the little picture indicates your pet's current battle status. So make sure that you click the pet status button to change Idle to Attack.

 

 

And... enjoy your Canaan gaming experience.

Nissan Micra K12 2003- Replacement Car Key

Summary: How to get a cheap non-intelligent Nissan K12 Car Key...

So you lose your non-intelligent car key (ie the above). You call your Nissan main dealers and find that it will cost around £200 for a key. You are annoyed at yourself, pissed off at Nissan and calculate the cans of baked beans you will be eating until payday.

Before I detail how to get a cheap replacement key, I'll briefly go over the 3 functions of a non-intelligent key.

1. The remote, which enables you to lock and unlock your car via the button on the key.
2. The immobiliser control, which turns the immobiliser off for you to drive the car.
3. The key blade, which is inserted into the lock and turns the engine on.

According to the people at the Micra forum, you may be able to buy a used key off ebay and code the key yourself to enable the remote function(1). You can also buy a new key blade and get a locksmith to cut it for you(3). However, not all used keys can be recoded(1) and you will still need to link the key with the car immobiliser(2) somehow.

Now that I've confused you, here's what I did to get a fully working car key for half the quote. I found new uncut remote keys on ebay and called nearby Nissan dealers to see if they were willing to cut and code my blank key at a lower price. Fortunately, on my 5th call the dealer said they would do it for £50. Off I went to Watford on the day of my appointment with the blank key and got my new key in a couple of hours. The key was cut using the original template on the Nissan system and looks slightly different from the old key. It was a bit temperamental at first but now that it is worn in, it works just fine.

High dropout rate for architecture - BDonline

High dropout rate for architecture 03 August 2007 By Marguerite Lazell

Compared with other subjects, students on architecture and related courses are the sixth least likely out of those in 20 course areas to return to university after the first year. This retention rate lags far behind that for medicine and dentistry, which has the best one, at 97.9%.

The facts are laid out by the article, but the explanation of this phenomenon is some what poor. I think that for most of us it is a combination of the 3 below reasons:

1. Heavy load of coursework,
2. High financial burden,
3. Poor level of satisfaction and/or achievement. 

All work and low grade makes one an archi dropout.

Playing DVDs on a Modified PlayStation 2

Summary: How I play DVDs on a modded PS2...

I've always been more of a PC gamer, until my mate passed me his PS2 when he got a PS3. Ed, you are awesome, mate! Anyway I've only been using it to play Residents Evil 4, so I was well baffled when I tried to play a DVD. Yes, I am a n00b and I admit it!

As this PS2 has been modified, the DVD playing function has to be "activated". So, put the DVD in, then press the Power button for 10 seconds. The lights will go from green back to red and will hear the disk loading. Now press the Power button again for 2 seconds and let go when the disk starts loading.

And voila! Your legally purchased DVD may remind you to not download it... Well yeah, thanks for putting this on legitimate DVDs MPAA. Smart move =___=

Kamen Rider Double/ W/ Daburu - Japanese Drama Series

Summary: How to watch Kamen Rider TV series online via streaming

& Veoh vs Youtube comparison...

This popular drama series is currently being broadcasted by Asahi TV at 8 o'clock every Sunday morning. Die hard Rider fans outside Japan often resort to downloading or streaming the fan-subbed clips.

If you prefer the latter, watching the subtitled clips online, then Veoh.com is your new friend. By typing "kamen rider w" with the episode number you want (eg "23"), you should have no problems finding the clips. It's that simple!

 

 But why not use Youtube.com? Well, Veoh loads faster, has better video quality and hosts complete clips. Veoh: 3, Youtube: 0 and Kamen Rider for the win!

Dealing with Cold Calls and Telemarketers

Summary: How to deal with these beings...

The door bell rang and I went to answer it today. It was a cute looking brunette with a little twinkle in her eyes. I smiled and said: "Hi." Her smile lit up as she greeted me with this cute Australian accent... But reality fell on me like a tonne of bricks when she asked me if I was the 'payer of bills'. Feeling cheated, I told her I wasn't. She proceeded to ask where the bill payer is. My answer was short and hasty "At work." She then asked me when the person will be back. I told her that under the Data Protection Act, I couldn't tell her and shut the door. Love is deceitful!

My family, unlike me, have a sixth sense for detecting these types of creatures. My mum just says "No" and shakes her head to whatever they ask. However, this trick works better when you speak with an accent and are not caucasian.

If you are more passive aggressive and have lots of time at hand, then you can learn from my gran. After receiving cold calls gran attempts to keep them on the line for as long as possible. She has simply leaves the phone the hook on the table. When person on the other end goes silent, she mutters a few sentences into the phone to keep the rambling going. She has managed to keep the call going for hours at times.

For those that seek comprehensive guidance on how to carry out gran's method, you will probaby find A Script to Countering Telemarketers by Martijn Engelbregt extremely useful. Enjoy.

 

Lloyds Banking Group Shares

Summary: How I bought my first shares...

I received some cash last month for my birthday and on the spur of the moment, I decided to try make some money off it. My mate who is training to be an accountant told me that the shares of banks were on the low side. I kept my eye out for dips in the share price.

In the mean time, I did some research on how to buy shares. Since my investment is of low value, I decided to manage the trading myself. Having read some introductory stuff on good old MoneySavingExpert.com about "Execution only stockbrokers", I scavenged the internet for the cheapest execution only share dealing providers.

According to my mate, iii.co.uk is his top choice because it provides good market information as well as cheap transaction fee. In fact on their share dealing web page they provided a comparison table which is more up to date than the one on MSE.

I was quite tempted by £10 per trade until I found x-o.co.uk offering £5.95 per trade! Naturally, I was a bit skeptical at first, as our good friends at MSE have discussed its legitimacy, I decided to give x-o a try.

My x-o account was opened within an hour or so after my signing up. I transferred some money into the account, and... panicked for 40 minutes whilst constantly refreshing... The money finally went in as I prepared to express my rage online... Phew...

On the glorious day of 11 Feb 2010. Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) was one of the biggest FTSE100 losers of the day. So I held my breath when the shares dropped below the 47p mark and bought my first shares through x-o. The offer price was a little higher than the Yahoo!Finance ticker, and I was charged stamp duty on the side. In short, the interface was easy to use and I promptly received a Contract Note from x-o.

Here's the formula I am using to see when to sell my shares:

(1.05*share purchase price) + (11.9/number of shares purchased)

When I plug in my numbers, my calculations come to 0.56. If I were to sell my shares when the share price exceeds the 55p per share benchmark, I will have made a nice little profit. Naturally the greater the sell price, the more profitable this is. Lastly, as a reminder to myself - red marks the spot!