Philately Collection - Album 9 Part 2 - USA, England & Switzerland
Switzerland is one of the countries that's on everyone's dream travel wish list. I too want to go and visit the same. I have already visited the USA and England. I have stayed for 14 months in Wembley, London and around 42 days in California, United States of America.
Noodler's Ink is a brand built by Nathan Tardif in Massachusetts, United States of America. It now has more than 100+ inks that have gained much popularity. They all are 100% handmade in the USA and no material is procured from China and totally made in the USA. I got these from my brother who brought them from the USA to India and I brought them here to South Africa. It's also available at Applebee pens and WriteGear online stores. Check this solid black ink in this video.
Noodler's has around 15 range of inks that I told you in this video and this Black forms part of their second range named Bulletproof inks. This ink is water resistant to the most and it was so difficult to take it out from my Glass pen as well. It still reflects the blackish tint and I have done some more writing with other inks with the glass pen thereafter.
It's really strong in terms of being bulletproof which makes it the most popular Black ink amongst the collectors and users of fountain pens. All the portions on the ink swabs looked like water dipped in some black material and on the wetter portions, the paper was totally black.
My only problem is that I have to commit a pen to this ink and then I can't use that pen to any other colour ink. Coming to that one pen is the main issue and though I have many pens, I have to identify the one that will always be filled with this ink. As I am writing this, I think the Parker Vector XL will be best suited for this ink as it has a medium wider nib and the body colour is also matt black. The pen writes a little wetter as well so more ink means more black legible writing on the paper. Hence, I can now definitely go ahead and finish the already installed ink in the pen and clean the same for this ink to take over the beautiful body of Parker Fountain Pen.
It's also available at Applebee pens and WriteGear online stores. The price ranges from ZAR 360 to ZAR 560 but you will get them locally in South Africa. WriteGear currently have no stock as of date but maybe they will have the same in future. Between Applebee and WriteGear, there is hardly any change in the prices so if you are in Cape Town, you should travel to the Write Gear shop and if in Johannesburg, travel to the Applebee collection point for pickup as then you don't pay for the courier charges.
The ink in the Noodler's ink really spoils your hands etc so be careful with this ink. The bottle doesn't help as well as it's filled to the top and has a wide opening. That's done by the brand to provide a lot of value to its customers which I totally respect.
This ink is also water resistant and can sustain a lot of water on the paper and retain your writing. Also, all the drawings on the ink bottles are made and that makes each bottle unique. I totally loved the Noodler's range of inks and if I could find money I would definitely invest more money into their smaller bottles.
What are your views on a single person's started brands similar to Organics Studio and Noodler's Inks? These are not corporate style or branded inks and need the support of all the users to buy and share their inks with the world.
If any ink brand wants to send us their inks, please contact me at editor@thelifesway.com. Even if they cannot ship to South Africa, I can provide them with the Aramex Global Shopper Address where they can send the same to their local country address as well and I pay the courier charges to get them to South Africa.
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This is going to be the final week of the month of May-23 and so far I have been great in being consistent to post 5 YouTube shorts every day for this month. I got 209 new YouTube subscribers because of this effort with more than 150+ shorts on my channel. Some performed and some didn't but at least they can pick up sometime in future as well. That's the only hope I am living on that someday one of my videos will go viral and I will get the Silver Play Button from YouTube on my wall.
1. Entertainment - It was the week of the TATA IPL 2023 Finals between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans. It was an entertaining match till the last ball and it was great to see Dhoni lift the cup once more to match Mumbai Indians 5 times being the winner of this tournament.
I also watched a nice simple movie Kacchey Limbu which is about a gully cricket team being formed and how the team gets to the finals finding their lifepath along the way. Radhika Madan stars in the movie along with Ayush Mehra and Rajat Barmecha.
Then I was eagerly waiting for the ASUR Season 2 and watched all the episodes on the 1st of June. The ending is again kept for the possibility of another season but this season also tells the story of the antagonist in detail. It's a one-time watch but as seen the first season brought a lot of thrill which I can't say about the second one at all.
2. USA Dreams - My brother and sister-in-law got their US Passports after spending all their life on different continents. It was really great news and I totally loved that they got what they wanted but after a lot of sacrifice, struggle and effort along with the money spent on the same.
3. YouTube Shorts - I completed 155+ short videos for this month and crossed 2050 subscribers on my channel. Thanks to YouTube Shorts for taking me past 200+ subscribers in a single month of May 2023. The last time I crossed 200 subscribers was in the month of May 2022 when I did 207 in a single month. This time it was 209 subscribers in a single month. Thanks a lot to everyone who likes my kind of videos and shorts.
4. Thank You - I started from 1500 onwards and reached 3000 when the counter again reset to zero. I started again and reached 15000 and then again the counter reset to zero. I again started and completed the week at 13000 counts. This to-and-fro mechanism on the counter is not good as I really want to finish the 100000 in a single go. The continuity is really good and you should also adopt this habit of being thankful all the time.
5. Travel - I have a travel that's on my mind and I have already booked the tickets to Zambia at the end of the month. I really love watching the new spots and then sharing the same on Google Maps and recently I crossed 65 Million photo views on my profile with more than 17000 photos and videos shared for the general public across the world interested in visiting South Africa.
There are a lot of things I do without any real benefits to me like sharing photos of various locations around the world. I am really grateful to the universe for everything that is being granted to me by the Lord Almighty Shiva. I now am living my own life without any external pressure and I need to think that I don't want all the things or gadgets of the world. I have limited time left on planet earth and I can only take so much as I need to take care of the stuff I own as well. Let's live stress-free, worry-free with the resources we already own and try to make the best use of the same and enjoy them as well. The things I don't enjoy using will be then gifted to my near and dear ones if they want to own them.
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Did you know that the 7 April is ‘unofficially’ known as National Beer Day in the USA. On this day in 1933 President Roosevelt took the first steps to end prohibition and after a 13 year dry spell allow beer drinkers to once again legally purchase beer. An unofficial beer day is a great reason for Windhoek fans to relax and celebrate with a ‘cold one’.
Here’s a few quirky facts to enjoy with your beer:
1. The study of beer and beer-making even has an official scientific name – zythology. It derives from the Greek words “zythos” (beer) and “logos” (study)
2. Beer is one of the world's oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9500 BC.
3. Windhoek still brews its beer according to a 500 year old brewing tradition.Reinheitsgebot is often referred to as the Germany Beer Purity Law and stipulates that only barley, hops and water are to be used in the brewing of beer.
4. The Ancient Egyptians built the pyramids under the influence. According to Patrick McGovern, an archaeologist from the University of Pennsylvania, workers at Giza received about four liters of beer a day.
5. The world's largest beer festival is Oktoberfest. Held annually in Munich, Germany, it is a 16-day funfair running from late September to the first weekend in October with more than 6 million people from around the world attending the event every year. That equates to almost 10% of the South Africa’s population. #WindhoekBeerDay www.windhoekbeer.co.za
The number of international patent applications submitted to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reached 218,000 last year, setting a new record, according to a press release of WIPO on March 16. Regarding numbers of filed patents, by country, the United States remained the largest, while China saw the fastest growth; by enterprise, Huawei Technology retained its leading position among global enterprises.
In 2015, the United States submitted a total of about 57,400 applications, followed by Japan and China with about 44,200 and 29,800 applications filed, respectively. According to WIPO, China, South Korea and Israel saw the biggest growth in patent applications last year, with respective increase rates being 16.8%, 11.5% and 7.4%.
Among enterprises, Huawei ranked first for the second year with 3,898 applications, followed by Qualcomm with 2,442 applications and China's ZTE with 2,155 applications.
In the opening ceremony of the fourth session of the 12th The National People’s Congress (NPC) held on March 5, Prime Minister Li Keqiang said in a speech entitled “Report on the Work of the Government “that China should improve its protection and application of intellectual property. Not long ago, telecommunications giant Huawei renewed a global patent cross-licensing agreement with Ericsson. In fact, communications and technology companies agree that protecting innovation and intellectual property is essential in further developing the smartphone industry, and patent plays a hugely important role in the development of smartphone manufacturers, and is the basis for transnational enterprises to lead in innovation and achieve growth. Huawei’s upward momentum in its global development clearly underscores this point.
As an emerging technology company seeing fast growth in the smartphone era, Huawei has performed especially well in terms of patents. Huawei has obtained a large number of patents not only in China but also in overseas areas, making it qualified to be included into the "giant-class" and the competition to its Western counterparts in the mobile phone industry.
According to the 2015 annual report of the European Patent Office (EPO), Huawei ranks ninth in Europe with 498 granted applications, and remains among the top 10 in Europe with this number. In the 2015 European Patent Application rankings, Huawei was fourth with 1,953 patent applications, and first with 1,197 patent applications in the digital communications field in terms of differentiation techniques. At present, Huawei is growing steadily with an annual increase of 1,300 patent applications globally.
As we know, Huawei has a considerable patent reserve and is rapidly acquiring new patents. At the same time, Huawei has also entered into patent cross-licensing agreements with Apple and Ericsson. So as one of the leaders in the global communications and technology industries, Huawei is not only working to build its own intellectual property reserve nut also cooperating with other big players to observe and maintain order in the field of patents.
Possession of high-quality patents is the engine to drive Huawei forward. Patent applications on their own do not give the applicant any advantages, as only granted patents can be used to protect interests. In fact, in international patent litigation cases only patents granted overseas can be considered as the legal basis.
Over the past few decades, Huawei has accumulated a leading number of overseas patents. By 2015, Huawei Consumer BG had more than 9,000 global patent applications, including more than 2,000 patents obtained in China and 1,100 in overseas areas like Europe, America and other regions.
Huawei clearly enjoys a considerable advantage in patents, which is considered as crucial intellectual ammunition in international competition. Over the next 10 or 20 years, this basic advantage will help propel Huawei forward, allow it to focus on technological innovation and product development, to maintain stable and efficient growth, and to solidify its global competitive advantages.
Wishing Huawei All the very best in all their future endeavors.
Bluetooth devices have taken the digital world by storm. Each and every brand is producing some nice gadgets having the latest Bluetooth capabilities to enhance the customer's experience of rich sound and less battery consumption. Kinivo has been such brand that has always kept itself in the loop to produce some amazing gadgets at value for money proposition not only for themselves but also for the end users.
Kinivo BTE40 Bluetooth In-Ear Headset is designed to provide high quality audio wirelessly from Bluetooth capable devices. This device can be also be used to transform your home speaker system into a Bluetooth sound system with the BTE40 3.5mm audio output port. You can connect the BTE40's stereo output to your home theater and stream music from your smartphone or tablet. The BTE40 Bluetooth In-Ear Headset is ideal for listening to music wirelessly on the go from your phone or music player. The device has all the manual controls for your easy access to play, change and pause the songs as well as calling and accepting voice calls.
Kinivo BTE40 is very similar to Sony MW600 which I reviewed earlier in some of it's features. Kinivo BTE40 has micro-usb charging which is common these days for all the android phones and accessories. It helps as you need not carry any extra cable for charging the device. The best part is that it can be used with any of your costly headphones and to turn your car's speakers into bluetooth also.
The device has red and blue LED lights to indicate low battery & charging status. The device gets charged fully between 2-3 hours and gives battery output of more than 5 hours of continuous music play. You can easily control your music player directly from the headset with functions such as play, pause, next & previous track, and volume controls. The buttons are easy to press and works perfectly great.
On-Off switch on the side helps to save battery when the device is not in use. Kinivo has been a front-runner in making some nice devices for everyday use. BTE40 comes with two auxiliary cords (long and short) to match all your needs. Also the package contains a pair of earphones with once cord longer than the other one to go behind your neck but there are no extra pair of ear plugs of different sizes. The charging cable is provided in the package.
The earphones that comes in the package are nice to use and will go a long way in your day to day usage. For better sound quality and performance, you can use your higher end earphones from brands like Sennheiser and Beats using it's 3.5mm audio output port.
The user can easily switch between calls and music using this BTE40 as it comes with noise cancellation microphone. Also, it can be connected to two simultaneous bluetooth devices for example it can be connected to your video player on your tablet as well as receive call from your smartphone.
There is an app for iOS devices called "Bluetooth Battery Meter" which shows the remaining battery capacity for this BTE40 main controller. All Kinivo devices come with a warranty of 1 year.
Keep an eye on Kinivo products if you are considering buying some bluetooth gadgets to enhance your audio experience at value for customer prices.
Some devices you always wanted to use but are
afraid of the quality and value it will serve over the long period of time.
Kinivo is one of the brands which have established themselves in making some
good quality gadgets giving value for money.
Latest in their stable is the latest upgraded
version of Bluetooth Stereo headphones BTH240 from BTH220. BTH240 has all the
upgrades/modifications which were missing in the earlier version. This product
has got all the features which will make you to carry this one only on your
trips and for general day to day usage.
BTH240 is very lightweight (only 73 grams),
sleek and comfortable design and rests on your ears using its unique neck band
design. The ear cup covers your ears and isolates outside noises also. The
headphones have a foldable design which really makes it easy to carry. The
headphones have rechargeable battery built into the set and gives up to 9-10
hours of continuous music playback. The headphones can be easily recharged
using the Micro-USB charging port. The device has 400mAhLi-Polymer battery which can be fully
charged in 2-3 hours and Red LED indicator will show its getting charged which
turns off once the headphones are fully charged.
One side of the headphones has all the controls
to play, pause, next & previous tracks as well as volume controls. The
headphone is compatible with all the Bluetooth enabled music players and A2DP
enabled devices such as iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android phones and tablets. To do
the pairing, we just need to press the middle multifunction button till the LED
starts blinking red and blue. The headphones remember last 5 Bluetooth
connections and connect with them automatically when in use. Once you are done
with the headphones, it can be switched off by pressing the same button and a
red led indicator will show that it’s going off now.
The best feature is that the device also has
microphone built in for Bluetooth hands free calling. The device can switch
automatically between calling and music as soon as your call is disconnected.
The multifunction button can receive and end calls as well as if you press it
two times in quick succession it can take voice commands also. The sound output
of the headphones is really good in its price range and ear cups do give noise
isolation for music pleasure.It has normal balanced sound for everyday
listening to music on the go.
The package included the headphones,
charging cable and cloth carrying pouch with Kinivo branding on the same. Good news is
that the headphones are now available in four colors – Black, Red, limited edition Posh Pink and
limited edition Arctic White. With the price ranging between US$ 25-30 these are one of the
best valued products to offer a lot of features you want in your Bluetooth
headphones which comes with a 1 year limited hardware warranty.
This is my third product from Kinivo’s range of
products and I am totally a fan of their gadgets because they offer everything
I want to use and their products are really very high on value for money.Of all
the Bluetooth headphones I have with me, I loved this one for it's unique
foldable design, light on pocket in value & weight, offers voice calling
facility along with music playback, uses same micro-USB port to charge and
awesome sound quality. Check out the product at Amazon.in
With his career and personal life suddenly at crossroads, a once-celebrated L.A. chef embarks on a cross-country culinary odyssey with his best friend and young son in an effort to rediscover his creativity and love for cooking. When he started running the kitchen at trendy Brentwood eatery Gauloises, Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) was on of the hottest chefs to hit the L.A. food scene. Now, a decade later, the restaurant is still always full, but creatively Carl is running on empty. Divorced and disconnected from his 11-year-old son, he's convinced cooking is the only thing he's good at- and he yearns to reignite the spark that made him love doing it in the first place. When he learns that popular food blogger Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt) is coming to review the restaurant, Carl plans to dazzle him with an adventurous new menu. But the restaurant's owner Rive (Dustin Hoffman), insists he serve the same safe and predictable dishes that have kept the place packed year in and year out. Disappointed at the meal's lack of originality, Ramsey writes a scathing review, which- along with a video of Carl's embarrassing out-of-control response- quickly goes viral. With his illustrious career suddenly reduced to a punch line, Carl finds himself jobless with no prospects for work.
Chef is one of those movies which is worth your time and money. This movie is definitely going for Oscars this year and might win some for sure. It's the most uplifting story and you will really enjoy every scene of the same. The cinematography is great and so is the food shots. The food truck travels through some of the towns of America and you will really love to see the variance in culture. The social media channels has been used to perfection in the movie and are the underlying theme of the movie also.
I really loved the acting of Jon Favreau and he is one who has written and directed the movie too. Robert Downey Jr is amazingly cool in one of his scenes. Scarlett Johansson looks beautiful in every scene she is on the screen. But the movie belongs to Emjay Anthony who is the soul of the movie. All the scenes between father and son in this movie will bring you more closer to your heart. It's really a heartfelt movie and if you are blogger like me, you will definitely learn some tips and tricks of the trade.
Go for it! First day First show! -Starting from scratch never tasted so good
KINIVO is a multimedia accessories making USA based company which is really making it's way into the hearts of its users. I have always been in love with the bluetooth devices and headphones so I thought of taking Kinivo's BTC450 which is a handsfree car kit for a ride. This device is 2.1+ EDR bluetooth ready and can be connected to Apple, Android, Blackberry and Lumia products alike.
The product comes in a small packing and looks beautiful in it's round shape. The product can be easily connected to your mobile devices having bluetooth and the music and calls can then be streamed through your car's audio speakers. The bluetooth connection is easy to connect and the device is powered using the Cigarette adapter so no worries about the battery life etc. Also the adapter which is connected with the dial has the option to charge other USB devices. The aux-in plug needs to be connected to your Car's audio system and you are ready to rock and roll.
The multifunctional dial which you see has buttons to skip to previous and next songs. The muti-functional button at the center of the dial can be used for various operations esp playing of the songs and accepting the call. It has a small microphone built into the dial.
The hands-free kit can be attached with the help of adhesive tapes which comes with the package to Car's dashboard anywhere you want to. Once connected to the dashboard, you just need to plug it in the cigarette charger to switch the device on ready to accept the incoming bluetooth streaming from your mobile or tablet.
I really loved this amazing KINIVO BTC450 product as earlier I was using Sony's MW600 (using Aux in cable bought separately) which has in internal rechargeable battery for my car which usually lasted for some hours and then I was out of music for quiet some time during my long drives.
The product comes with a 1 year warranty but I don't think anything will happen to device within that year if you take care of the cables and not accidentally pull then or cut them.
The market is flooded with a lot of original and fake products in this segment but some of the brands really stood out. Kinivo is making it's way to become a brand which will be recognized by music lovers for it's specialty products making music on the go available to accompany your life anywhere you want to.
They company also makes various speakers ZX100 & BTX350, bluetooth headsets BTH220 and various other accessories for day to day use.
I am looking forward to blog about Kinivo's ZX100 in it's various colourful avatars as soon as I receive the same.
It's been a pleasure to try out different range of luxurious shaving and bathing products when it's been gifted to you by your relatives from abroad. You must have been ignorant about the brand and suddenly you are using some of the amazing products from the same making you realize that what you have been missing in the likes of Gillette etc.
Frais Monde is an Italian brand which is equally famous in USA. I received these amazing Brutia UOMO men's range of products in a jute bag.
The packaging contained three tubes with Italian names. It is Caema Da Barba which is a Shaving Cream. Emulsione Dopo Barba which is a After Shave Lotion and Bagno Doccia Tonificante Stimolante is a Toning and Invigorating Shower Gel.
The first time I used the Shower Gel, I was like wow! the fragrance was amazing and it felt so fresh after taking a bath using this gel. The products are really great and comes at a good cost.
I really loved the Shaving cream as it gave a nice foam and really left good fragrance on your face. After-shave lotion is equivalently great to be used after the shave. It really heals any cuts and gives a nice feeling.
Overall it's a great men's range and you will like to use it for yourself or to gift it to someone on his birthday or marriage. I have really fallen in love with these products and will try to make full use of them while they last.
I was introduced to The Body Shop product range by my brother who gifted me MACA ROOT range of products from the men's range when he came on holidays to India from USA. I have been using Gillette shaving products before using these ones.
The gift pack comes in a nice toiletries bag containing four tubes - Shave Cream, Face Wash, Face Protector and Razor Relief - all from the Peruvian maca root. The gift pack offers the whole range required for men for their daily shaving range except for Razors.
The best part about this shaving cream is the amount of cream that you need to apply for shaving. Only a small pinch of cream on your finger is enough to produce a lot of foam to glide the razor easily on your face. The fragrance is awesome and your skin feels refreshed after the shaving. I really loved this cream so much that I bought another gift pack for myself in London. The Body Shop products are available at a lot of discounts in sale in London. I made use of one of those sales and bought them at 50% discount.
Maca Root face wash is also great and I feel great every time I use it. One thing with these products is that they last really long if you are not using them daily.
Razor Relief does what it says and is to be used after shaving to cool any cuts happened during shaving.
Face Protector can be used anytime as and when required and is a general multipurpose cream for men.
I really like this entire range of products and now I am on the verge of finishing my second set of these products. I need to go and check out the Sandton City shop of The Body Shop for some sale or offers to continue using them for another years to come.
Also, I want to try their Fragrance for Men range as my earlier perfume is also on the verge of completion. Follow them on twitter or facebook. I would love to review their products if any chance comes in future.
I was always a data cruncher meaning that I was always on a look out of songs, videos, books etc from friends, internet etc. Earlier I used to carry the hard-disk of my desktop at that time it was something of the size of 40-80 gb capacity. As time progressed, I bought this Transcend 640gb hard disk on 22 July 2010 but that didn't worked well and lost all my data by June 2011. At that time I had to invest in another hard disk as I got the transcend one from Delhi and I was in London at that point. I still have that hard disk as I couldn't complaint to Transcend for the same, but at the time of writing I think this month I will file a complaint.
Coming back to the buying decision, I had listened about Western Digital but never thought that their hdd will be so small and great in looks. I went on to see the same at the nearest PC Curry showroom and saw the one kept there. I compared the prices with their online store and found out that there is a scheme going on where we can get the same 1TB hdd at cheaper rates of around £65 only using some codes etc.
I ordered the same in Sep 2011 and got the same within 2-3 days time. This is the amazing piece of technology which has kept my data safe till now and I am really happy with my purchase. To add to my love, I ordered the same model for 3 of my friends and they were equally happy with the purchase.
I hope that as now the 2 years limited warranty will end but my data will remain safe inside the walls of the hard disk.
.png "Philately Collection - Album 9 Part 2 - USA, England & Switzerland")
.png "Philately Collection - Album 9 Part 1 - Canada and USA")
.png "Stationery Review 6: Noodler's Black Bulletproof Ink (90ml) USD 14")
.png "New Year Resolutions - Week 22 Achievements & Failures in 2023 #TheLifesWay")
