Living With Parents, Is It Acceptable To Be A Kipper

The Empty Nest Syndrome: A general feeling of loneliness that parents/other guardian relatives may feel when one or more of their children leave home. While more common in women, it can happen to both sexes. The marriage of a child can lead to similar feelings, with the role and influence of the parents often becoming less important compared to the new spouse.

One of the main differences between parents in India and the Western World(including Australia) is that at some point of time all parents in the west go through the empty nest syndrome. In India it is very common for young adults to live with their parents for their whole lives, even after they get married. The social setup in India makes children more dependent on their parents than the children in the west. The kids in most western countries such as Europe,USA, Mexico, and Australia are encouraged to become independent from a very early age and most of them move out of their homes after high school and certainly after they get married. It’s certainly looked down upon for a young adult to stay with his parents even though he maybe making a decent living himself in these countries.

In fact any young adult say 23 or older living with his parents is termed a K.I.P.P.E.R short for “Kids In Parents’ Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings“. While it is true that most parents in the western world encourage their kids to be on their own completely it is also true that most parents wouldn’t mind preventing the empty nest syndrome. The soaring real-estate prices in the big, populous and commercial capitals of the world like Sydney, New York, London etc is slowly and gradually bringing about a social transformation where more and more kids are becoming Kippers.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports here that almost one in five people in Australia aged 25 to 29 are still living at home, compared to just one in 10 two decades ago, figures released by the Housing Industry Association show. And about half of people in their early 20s are also living at home, whereas two decades ago this proportion was two in five. The demographer Bernard Salt said living at home was often a lifestyle choice by financially savvy young adults. “If mum and dad are picking up the tab, then the quality of life that you can lead is much better.” This trend is also catching on in the US with Dennis Prager from WorldNetDaily reporting here that an unprecedented number of American adults are living with their parents. Most obvious is the increasingly common phenomenon of men and women returning home after graduating college.

It is interesting to note that most of the changes in family structures and dynamics have taken place after World War II mostly in the last 40 years, thanks to increased personal mobility and better lifestyles. Well, if history repeats itself then it seems likely that parents of the future wouldn’t have to worry about the empty nest syndrome too much.

Tags: parents, kipper, empty, nest, syndrome, living, sydney, america, easy, life

Venezuela And The Beauty Economy : A Look Into The Thriving Beauty Industry Of Venezuela

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a Latin American Spanish speaking country slightly greater than twice the size of California. It is bordered by Brazil, Columbia and Guyana and has a population of about 26.5 million with the fairer sex forming more than 50% of that number. It is a country whose history has been characterized by political turmoil, dictatorial rule, military coups and frequent economic ups and downs. It is a country which remains highly dependent on oil revenues, which account for roughly 90% of export earnings, more than 50% of the federal budget revenues, and around 30% of GDP. It also has the least expensive petrol in the world, due to high government subsidies.

Despite all it’s problems and troubles this country has made it’s mark in the world and is known as the land having the most beautiful women in the world. It has the distinction of winning five Miss World pageant titles (the most by any country and tied with India which also has five) as well as five Miss Universe pageant titles. It is one of the few countries of the world which has a thriving beauty economy which has now become Venezuela’s second biggest industry after oil.

So how big is the Beauty Industry in Venezuela after all, let’s consider some facts.

• It is estimated that Venezuelans spend one fifth of their disposable income on beauty products, a startling statistic for a country in which 40 percent of its population lives below the poverty line.
• A study conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide a couple of years ago revealed that 65 percent of Venezuelan women think about their looks “all the time,” in contrast to the 27 percent of American women in the same category.
• Studies show that Venezuela is the largest consumer of cosmetics and personal care products per capita in the world, taking a 9.3% share of the world cosmetic market according to the Review of In-Cosmetics Industry Trends Presentations, 2004.

So while the Venezuelans like most Latin Americans are gifted with better than average looks, it is actually a combination of their natural looks, cosmetics, plastic surgery and of course their hard work which makes them look so good. And when it comes to creating a league of women who go on to win the International beauty pageants so frequently it is thanks to the determination and ambition of Osmel Sousa, the president of the Miss Venezuela Organization.

Sousa transforms pretty girls into knockout contest winners. After selecting twenty girls from over two thousand participants in a nation-wide scouting competition, he enrolls them in his academy for six months of intense training for the Miss Venezuela contest. Over the past three decades he has developed an eye that he claims can quickly pick a winner from a crowd. The girls will work with a team of professionals that will help them improve on all areas of their presentation. From the way they walk to the way they talk, after six months in Sousa’s academy, they ideally will emerge as confident, eloquent, elegant women with perfect bodies and promising futures.

Sousa’s academy boasts of the countries leading plastic surgeons who help the contestants with operations such as breast augmentation, thigh lipo-sculpting, and waist reduction. The team of cosmetic dentists and dermatologists combine their efforts in perfecting the face and smile of every contestant. Then there is also a team of talented people who hone the skills of the beauties so as to improve their singing, dancing and cat-walking skills. As you would have probably guessed by now, the institute doesn’t have any dietitians or nutritionists as the girls are often kept on unhealthy and unbalanced diets so as to achieve that perfect shape and look suited for the camera.

Infact there is so much preparation involved in grooming the MIss Venezuela contestants that by the time the winner emerges she is almost ready to take on the contestants from the rest of the world. The Miss Venezuela contest is a matter of national pride. When a Miss makes it to the final round of the international circuit, the entire country celebrates. Just as Brazilians are fanatical about the World Cup and Americans about the Super Bowl, for Venezuelans, this is the most important event of the year. The video below shows exactly what the beauty industry in Venezuela is all about and what goes on to find the perfect Miss Venezuela.

Note: This article has used several sources for reference some of which are The Brooklyn Rail and Press releases from the Government of Trinidad And Tobago.

Me, Myself And My Phone

Well, that seems to be the latest trend for young kids around the world, move over iPods, videogames or computers, the mobile phone is what every kid wants today. These days it’s not uncommon to see 8-9 year old kids talking on their cell phones for hours and in general spending a lot of time with on them.

Young people ‘consider their mobile phone to be their best friend‘ and would choose it over all other forms of electrical entertainment. So says the annual Mobile Life Report from the Carphone Warehouse. The report is the latest stage of a research project started in 2006 looking at the impact of mobile phones on people’s lives. The fifth report titled, Mobile Life Report 2008: the connected world, questioned 6,000 people in the UK and US to explore the relationship adults and youngsters have with mobile and internet technology.

“The internet and mobile phones play an important role in breaking traditional barriers for engagement. There is an appetite especially amongst the youth across the two countries(UK and US) to engage, discuss, and communicate. This is reflected in over a third of the children in both countries nominating the mobile phone as their most important possession, while the adult generations were most likely to nominate the TV,” stated Dr. Sorensen, senior lecturer in Information Systems at the London School Of Economics (Source).

The kids and youngsters today certainly consider the phone to be an integral part of their lives and this is true for the Indian and world markets. India has a highly youthful population and it’ll be interesting to see the response of the Indian market to the launch of the iPhone which is set to happen in a few weeks.

Tags: india, kids, phone, survey, study, london, iPhone

DelhiPlanet Weekends : 5 Places Where It Pays To Be A Guy

Ah, the weekend is here again. The only time of the week to relax, chill or go out, visit friends, visit places and in general do things leisurely. In most places of the world the working week is from Monday To Friday with Saturday and Sunday being holidays. However there is some variance with regards to this in the middle-east. For instance, most middle east-countries including Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Kuwait have a working week from Saturday to Wednesday with Thursday and Friday being off-days. However in Egypt, Syria and the UAE the working week is from Sunday to Thursday. So if you’re in one of these places you’re really gonna miss “Saturday Nights“.

Well, this weekend we’ve got something really suited for the young,single and eligible bachelor, a species that is most certainly the most widespread. So what are the factors that would influence the decision of young bachelor to move to another city. Well let’s see, level of development, public transport, cost of living, leisure and entertainment, drinking age, etc, etc and at some level the kind of women. After all who wouldn’t like to move to a city that is not only well-developed but also has an excellent male-female ratio with some really good looking and easy to talk to girls.

Recently a survey was done to find out the top cities of the world having the most beautiful women where the results were determined by: Quality of women, Male to Female ratio and Ease of talking to women. Let’s have a look at what the top 5 cities are:

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Take a trip across the streets of Amsterdam (check the exclusive DP Travel Coverage here) and you’ll find so many beautiful women cycling across the streets. The women of Amsterdam and dutch women in general are naturally beautiful and very Independent. They usually make nice home-makers and are known be better in relationships as compared to their other european counterparts.

Caracas, Venezuela

There’s something about this developing latin american country that just amazes you. It’s a well known fact that Venezuela has won the maximum number of Miss World and Miss Universe pageants and has a thriving beauty industry. The women here take great pride in their appearance. Regardless of their socio-economic status, it is estimated that Venezuelans spend one fifth of their disposable income on beauty products, a startling statistic for a country in which 80 percent of its population lives below the poverty line. A study conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide revealed that 65 percent of Venezuelan women think about their looks “all the time,” in contrast to the 27 percent of American women in the same category.

In Caracas’s shanty towns, jumping over puddles in sloping alleys of clapboard houses, high-heeled women in tight low-waist jeans work their way to the bus stop. A mixture of Amazonian Indian, African, and European blood has created a race that, although subtle to the foreign eye, is quite exotic. As women pass by, men will compliment them and unlike most countries of the world these compliments are well received and are followed by a hug or a thank you. Someone we met also told us that turning 18 years old is something that all girls look forward to in this country, because at this age the girls father usually gives a major beauty enhancing gift to the daughter.

Now this is surely a place worth visiting for the young and eligible bachelor.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Venezuela, Brazil along with Argentina form the trio of Latin American countries which boast of an extremely attractive female species. The women of Buenos Aires are naturally beautiful and every women in Buenos Aires is a model waiting to be found. The parties are legendary and the clubs and events are overloaded with beautiful, approachable, and fun women.

No wonder that Argentinian men are masters at flirting and consider it to be a part of their culture.

Copenhagen, Denmark & Stockholm, Sweden

Finally the Scandinavians have the kind of looks that most people can just dream of, Tall people with blonde hair and blue eyes. Scandinavian women are one of the most approachable, educated and friendly women in the world and the sex ratio is also extremely good in these countries. Definitely a must visit place for the eligible bachelor.

While the countries listed above definitely score on the ratio and ease of talking factors which is the criteria on which the survey is based on, it must be said that all countries of the world have good-looking women and in general women are always beautiful in one way or the other.

Being Carbon Neutral – What It Means and What’s Being Done

As we gradually approach the end of the first decade of the 21^st century and start planning for the next, we are sure that there is atleast one existing issue that we would have to tackle. No prizes for guessing, it’s the issue of Global Warming. As oil prices soar to record highs (read our previous articles here and here) and global climates become highly unpredictable (Delhi had an unusually cool summer this time with lots and lots of rain, read here for more), the race has started to cut down on emissions and become “Carbon Neutral“.

Carbon Neutral, Carbon Trading, Carbon Credits etc etc, heck there are just so many terms being talked about these days that’s it’s hard to keep track of what each one means. How about starting with something that doesn’t seem to be capitalist and doesn’t deal with money for a change, let’s find out what “Being Carbon Neutral” means.

Being carbon neutral, or carbon neutrality, refers to zero total carbon release, brought about by balancing the amount of carbon released with the amount offset. In the loose sense it could mean either one of the following:

• It can refer to the practice of balancing carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, with renewable energy that creates a similar amount of useful energy, so that the carbon emissions are compensated, or alternatively using only renewable energies that don’t produce any carbon dioxide.
• It is also used to describe the practice of carbon offsetting, by paying others to remove 100% of the carbon dioxide emitted from the atmosphere, for example by planting trees – or by funding ‘carbon projects‘ that should lead to the prevention of future greenhouse gas emissions, or by buying carbon credits to remove them through carbon trading. These practices are often used in parallel, together with energy conservation measures to minimize energy use.

To be considered carbon neutral, an organization must reduce its carbon footprint to zero. Determining what to include in the carbon footprint depends upon the organization and the standards they are following. Generally, direct emissions sources must be reduced and offset completely, while indirect emissions from purchased electricity can be reduced with renewable energy purchases. Becoming carbon neutral has now become a major goal for the various multi-billion dollar corporations and ranks high on their corporate social responsibility initiatives.

For instance, Dell Inc. has promised that it would neutralize its carbon emissions and become carbon neutral by the end of 2008 (read here for more) while Google has started to make grants for research that would promote fuel-efficient, hybrid cars. Google also plans to switch to solar energy and has promised to create more than 2 megawatts of renewable energy by the end of 2012. Other organization that are working towards becoming carbon neutral are HSBC, ING Group, PepsiCo and Tesco.

It is interesting to note that in such times when the awareness towards carbon emissions is increasing by the hour developed economies like USA, Canada, Japan and UK are hardly taking any initiatives to control their energy needs. On the other hand countries like New Zealand, Costa Rica, Iceland and Norway have vowed to become carbon neutral in the next 30-40 years(read here for more). Costa Rica in fact aims to be fully carbon neutral before 2030. In 2004 itself, 46.7% of Costa Rica’s primary energy came from renewable sources, while 94% of its electricity was generated from hydroelectric power, wind farms and geothermal energy in 2006. In fact Costa Rica is so pro-active about being Carbon Neutral that there is a 3.5% tax on gasoline in the country which is used for payments to compensate landowners for growing trees and protecting forests.

Now that’s a tax that a lot of people won’t mind paying, instead it would actually make you feel good. Kudos to such countries and it’ll be great to see the US do something in this regard.

Tags: carbon, offset, trading, costa, rica, usa, pollution, neutral, global, warming

(Coming Soon: What’s The Connection between the Roman Catholic Church and Eco-Capitalist Companies, A closer Look Into the Carbon Neutral Myth).

No Boxing, No Packing, Just Swipe Away

Buying that “perfect gift” for someone you care about, a friend, a relative or your beloved is always a painful job. Many a times its difficult to decide on the gift while on some occasions there just isn’t enough time to buy one. In such situations the only thought that comes to mind is “I wish I could just give them money, so that they can get whatever they want. That would be so great“.

Well, that surely is a great thought and on the positive side it also saves a lot of paper that is otherwise wasted in packing up the gifts. Unfortunately this kind of action is not treated very well in a lot of places although it is gaining popularity with people in India and other parts of the world. For instance, when people get married in Israel, the guests usually leave cash or cheques in envelopes which they slip into a safe placed at the reception hall’s door. This happens to be the norm for most formal parties in Israel.

So what if you forget to take your chequebook to the wedding and don’t have enough cash either. Well, the Israeli wedding planners have found a way out for that too. Guests at an Israeli wedding hall can now insert a credit card into a machine at its entrance, tap in a sum and leave a gift for the bride and groom.

“It’s new in Israel and the world,” Aya Alon Kaufman of the Gan Oranim hall in Tel Aviv said on Israel’s Channel 10 television. “It’s very convenient … guests can give a gift even if they forget their chequebooks.” Couples pay 500 shekels ($155) to rent the device, which resembles an automated teller machine, and the recorded funds are transferred into their bank account the next day. The machine, shown being used in the television report, prints out a “deposit” slip with the guest’s name, which can be put into an envelope along with a congratulatory note and inserted into a slot in the device for the couple to retrieve (Source).

Now isn’t that just so convenient. The only thing that could beat this would be using your mobile phone to send over the money to the couple’s account. So the next time you need to attend a party and have to buy a gift you might just consider giving money instead. A few shekels and a story like this is bound to make the hosts happy .

Tags: gifts, paper, money, swipe, credit, cards, israel, india, weddings, parties

Marketing Your Brand The Wacky Way

It is a well-known fact that the best way to grab attention is to do something different. So the past few years have seen a number of television channels resort to different techniques to market themselves, the most popular amongst these beings on-screen fighting and harsh judgements on reality shows like Indian Idol, Voice Of India and in the American context shows like America’s Next Top Model, Girlicious and others. While these methods of marketing do have an impact on the audiences (with some Indian News Channels going to the extent of showing them on their news segments) there are not ethical by any standards and are a poor form of marketing.

The best way to market a brand is do something fun, innovative and at times wacky. So when the Mozilla Corporation wanted to market the latest and highly improved version of their browser, FireFox -3 they decided to do it by creating a record. June 17, 2008 would be remembered as Download Day, a new term coined by the Firefox team which placed itself in the record books by inventing a new category called “Most Downloaded software in 24 hours“.

The Download day website states “Thanks to the support of the always amazing Mozilla community, we now hold a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. From 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008, 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3 and are now enjoying a safer, smarter and better Web“. Now isn’t that an amazing way to market your brand, just go ahead and create a wacky record which would involve your end-users who ultimately decide the fate of your product.

Firefox 3 is certainly a brilliant browser and is much better than IE-7 which like all microsoft products has severe stability issues, so it’s no wonder that people were really looking forward to using Firefox 3, something which the Mozilla corporation was quite aware of. Well, it’s always fun to be a part of a record and so we’re really proud to show off our certificate of the same (see below).

So if you’re really fed up and sick of Internet Explorer and are looking out for something better, it’s time you tried Firefox-3. It’s fun,highly customizable and secure. Also you can play more than 2,500 Nintendo games and relive your days as a child by downloading the Firenes extension for firefox. Now that’s a great browser.

Tags: browser, mozilla, firefox, ie, records, guinness, download, wacky, marketing

DelhiPlanet Weekends : The Perfect 10

0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, 10 digits which when put together can form infinite other numbers and quantities. Each of these digits have some special characteristics and qualities associated with them both mathematically and numerologically as well as historically. The Number 9 is regarded as the King Of all numbers as it is the only number which when multiplied by any either natural number would always have the sum of the digits as 9. The Number 7 on the other hand is also quite significant as it occurs very frequently in our nature and life (7 Colors of the Rainbow, 7 Days Of the Week, 7 Chakras in the Human Body, 7 Deadly Sins etc. ).

And then there is something special about the number 10 as well – it is a sign and symbol of perfection. 10 on 10 is the sign of a perfect score, All the great sportsmen in history have been associated with the number 10. So much so that if you are watching a football match and wish to know who the best player in the team is, then all you need to do is to find out who wears the Number 10 jersey.

This week DelhiPlanet delves back into history to re-capture some amazing moments and re-live the magic of the Perfect 10.

When The Aussies Were Lakered

It’s not very often that you see the Aussies humbled in cricket and that too by one man. However in 1956 during the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford, one man single handedly destroyed the Aussies with figures of 19/90 for the entire test. Jim Laker took 9 wickets for 37 runs in the first innings of the test match and 10 wickets for 53 runs in the second innings. Laker who was married to an Austrian national at the time and she didn’t happen to know much about cricket. On the day of his achievement when he arrived home, his wife asked him, “Jim, did you do something good today?” after she had taken hundreds of congratulatory telephone calls. Remarkably, Laker had also taken all ten wickets in an innings for Surrey against the same Australians earlier in the season, the first time a bowler had taken all ten against the Australians since Ted Barratt did so in 1878.

Jim Laker’s record of 19/90 was something that happens only once in the lifetime of a sport and it is very unlikely that it would ever happen again. Surely a great example of a Perfect 10.

The Perfect 10 X 7

At the tender age of 14, Romanian Gymnast Nadia Elena Comaneci became one of the stars of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. During the team portion of the competition, her routine on the uneven bars was scored at a 10.0. It was the first time in modern Olympic gymnastics history that the score had ever been awarded. In those days the scoreboards were not even equipped to display scores of 10.0—so Nadia’s perfect marks were reported on the boards as 1.00 instead. Over the course of the Olympics, Comaneci would earn six additional 10s, en route to capturing the all-around, beam and bars titles and a bronze medal on the floor exercise. The Romanian team also placed second in the team competition.

After Nadia there have been very few other gymnasts who have managed to get the perfect score of 10. America’s Mary Lou Retton is another name that comes to mind. Mary had perfect 10s on floor exercise and vault in the 1984 Summer Olympics. These days however it’s not possible to score a perfect 10, not because the gymnasts are not upto it but because the new perfect score is now 17.

Just like Laker, Nadia’s performance was also something that is most unlikely to be ever repeated by anyone. Yet another instance of a Perfect 10.

When Pakistan Were Kumbled

Well, for this one we’ll just let the images and the video do the talking. Anil Kumble’s feat of 10 wickets in a innings was surely a great achievement which happened right here in Delhi and it just goes to show that even Indian sportsmen are capable of achieving the perfect score.

The Volkswagen Miser : Its Time For Ultra Fuel Efficiency

Is the rising cost of fuel pinching your pocket ? Are you losing sleep over the fact that the high price of fuel would further lead to an increase in prices of other essential goods ?

Well, it’s surely a reason to to worry about and there seems to be no respite in sight. People around the world are feeling the pinch with Fuel costs dampening Independence Day travel plans in the US (read here), Australia (read here) and many other places. As written by us previously (check here) the need of the hour is too either cut down on our energy consumption or develop more fuel efficient sources of energy or if we’re just too lazy to do any of that, we would need to find more reserves of oil soon.

“There is lots of oil under the North Pole,” said geologist Donald Gautier of the US Geological Survey at the World Petroleum Congress this week. He estimated that the Arctic holds 100 billion barrels of oil. But while extracting the oil from the harsh Arctic environment poses unprecedented technical challenges, the biggest barrier to exploration is the disputed ownership of the region with five countries namely Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States claiming interest in the region’s resources (Source).

While it would be great if we can find more reserves of oil soon, it would still not provide a long term solution to the global energy crisis. However if we could invent a car that would give a mileage of “100 Kilometers per liter“, than that would go a long way in cutting down fuel costs. Well, if Volkswagen sticks to it’s plan then we could see such a Car on the roads by the end of 2010.

Volkswagen is reportedly planning to build a limited production run of ultra-efficient city cars that could travel from Sydney to Brisbane on just 10 litres of fuel. Volkswagen first unveiled a concept version of the tandem two-seater car at a company annual general meeting back in 2002, predicting it could see production in 2012. The original bullet-shaped concept car looked more like a solar vehicle than regular passenger transport. It was 3.65m long, just 1.25m wide and less than a metre tall, with a jet fighter-style gull-wing canopy door. The side mirrors were replaced by cameras to improve the aerodynamics. The 2002 concept was built entirely from composite carbon-fiber reinforced material and weighed just 290kg. (Source)

Now that’s seems like a real solution to our energy woes and people would rather goto work in such a car than cancel travel plans with their family. Many Car companies are also trying to make Hydrogen Cars and cars that would run on other renewable sources of energy, but a recent report (read here) suggests that these would not be available commercially till at least 2020.

Tags: cars, fuel, efficiency, crisis, energy, money, costs, concept, volkswagen