The weather in NY Metro area last week was hot - above 90 F on many days.
While traveling around the metro area by public transportation - there is limited choice for soft drinks - you can get packaged soft drinks, water and juices from vending machines, but if you want fresh juice it is generally not available.
A few specialty stores do offer fresh juice, but it is very expensive due to the labor costs.
All the technology to make fresh juice making vending machines is available, and I do see some online ads about it in other countries - but is yet to be commercialized in US.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Cinemas with Beds
The first time I saw a cinema theater with beds, pillows, comforters and side tables was in a smaller city in India, many years back. Here, waiters could bring you food and soft drinks on your side table. The beds could be adjusted to suit your comfort while watching the film. The ticket for this homelike-comfort was 5 times the regular price.
Also, very recently saw an ad by a cinema theater in US. It has dinner tables and they can serve you food and drinks while you watch the movie.
Perhaps, altering the level of comfort in any service can be utilized to charge higher pricing.
Also, very recently saw an ad by a cinema theater in US. It has dinner tables and they can serve you food and drinks while you watch the movie.
Perhaps, altering the level of comfort in any service can be utilized to charge higher pricing.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Suburbs of America
Last weekend, I went to a suburb in New Jersey where a friend lives.
This is a small town in the middle of no-where, and it takes almost 2 hour each way for my friend to commute to New York city for work.
The town has no public transportation and you need to drive for every single thing. Children cannot go too far from homes as there are hardly any footpaths/roads for pedestrians.
It is a 'Good School district town' and almost every body in the town goes to live in the town during the school years of his/her children and leaves once children go to college.
Here, children from the neighborhoods, go to same school, come back from school and play together. They do their school projects together in the afternoons/early evenings and plan for sports during weekends together. Children have many after-school activities and they do it in groups with support of at-home moms.
Probably, this is more like an extended Hostel where parents are allowed to live with their children.
This is a small town in the middle of no-where, and it takes almost 2 hour each way for my friend to commute to New York city for work.
The town has no public transportation and you need to drive for every single thing. Children cannot go too far from homes as there are hardly any footpaths/roads for pedestrians.
It is a 'Good School district town' and almost every body in the town goes to live in the town during the school years of his/her children and leaves once children go to college.
Here, children from the neighborhoods, go to same school, come back from school and play together. They do their school projects together in the afternoons/early evenings and plan for sports during weekends together. Children have many after-school activities and they do it in groups with support of at-home moms.
Probably, this is more like an extended Hostel where parents are allowed to live with their children.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Winter Goggles
Some days in Winter, the temperature goes below 20 degrees F and cold wind is blowing fiercely. You want to stay inside, but still are forced to walk, specially in a city like New York.
Most people wear 4 layers of upper body clothing, 2-3 layers of lower body clothing and may be two layers on their head. Some people even resort to wearing monkey caps to cover their face.
But what about the eyes ? Cold dry air touches the eyes and gives teary and red eyes to many people.
A normal pair of goggles has too much gap on the sides and does not protect the eyes enough.
A pair of Swimming goggles could have been a solution except for the fact that it has to be tied on the back of your head, is too tight on the eyes and looks odd.
Another solution could have been a set of ski-goggles as it has a foam rim to protect the sides, but it has also to be tied on the back and looks too big to look normal in a city.
A third option I identified as suitable and bought are the extra-sized UV-protection goggles made to cover and wear over spectacles. These are only slightly bigger than spectacles and cover the sides.
These could have been perfect, if only the glasses were non colored/clear and the rims had a thin foam cover, like the ski-goggles to cover the cold air from the sides.
Most people wear 4 layers of upper body clothing, 2-3 layers of lower body clothing and may be two layers on their head. Some people even resort to wearing monkey caps to cover their face.
But what about the eyes ? Cold dry air touches the eyes and gives teary and red eyes to many people.
A normal pair of goggles has too much gap on the sides and does not protect the eyes enough.
A pair of Swimming goggles could have been a solution except for the fact that it has to be tied on the back of your head, is too tight on the eyes and looks odd.
Another solution could have been a set of ski-goggles as it has a foam rim to protect the sides, but it has also to be tied on the back and looks too big to look normal in a city.
A third option I identified as suitable and bought are the extra-sized UV-protection goggles made to cover and wear over spectacles. These are only slightly bigger than spectacles and cover the sides.
These could have been perfect, if only the glasses were non colored/clear and the rims had a thin foam cover, like the ski-goggles to cover the cold air from the sides.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
This Radiator
Yesterday night, I woke up to change the temperature control setting in the device situated in the living room.
I noticed that if I set the temperature in the living room to 60˚ F, my bed room temperature becomes 64˚ F, but when I set the living room temperature to 62˚ F, the temperature in the bed room goes up to more than 70˚ F, which is uncomfortable. Ideally, I like the temperature to be 68˚ F.
This is because the radiator's size in the living room is the same as the radiator's size in the bedroom, while the size of the living room is more than two times the size of the bedrooms.
While 62˚ F is not warm enough for the living room, the temperature in the bed room becomes uncomfortably hot.
During the day, if the living room temperature is set to 68˚ F, the bed room temperature becomes unbearably hot and we either sometimes shut down the valve to the radiator, or open the windows slightly.
Most American homes are heated with indirect heating thru radiators. Hot water or steam comes to the radiators from the water boiler, usually located in the basement. These homes are single heating zones controlled by a single thermostat/temperature control device, mostly located in the living room.
The raditor sizes in the home can be changed to keep the temperatures in all rooms more or less the same. However, that would still mean loosing energy costs to keep the living room warm enough in the night , when it is not being used.
Probably, there is a big market to replace the existing heating systems with systems that can save energy costs by keeping the rooms not being used at slightly lower temperatures.
I noticed that if I set the temperature in the living room to 60˚ F, my bed room temperature becomes 64˚ F, but when I set the living room temperature to 62˚ F, the temperature in the bed room goes up to more than 70˚ F, which is uncomfortable. Ideally, I like the temperature to be 68˚ F.
This is because the radiator's size in the living room is the same as the radiator's size in the bedroom, while the size of the living room is more than two times the size of the bedrooms.
While 62˚ F is not warm enough for the living room, the temperature in the bed room becomes uncomfortably hot.
During the day, if the living room temperature is set to 68˚ F, the bed room temperature becomes unbearably hot and we either sometimes shut down the valve to the radiator, or open the windows slightly.
Most American homes are heated with indirect heating thru radiators. Hot water or steam comes to the radiators from the water boiler, usually located in the basement. These homes are single heating zones controlled by a single thermostat/temperature control device, mostly located in the living room.
The raditor sizes in the home can be changed to keep the temperatures in all rooms more or less the same. However, that would still mean loosing energy costs to keep the living room warm enough in the night , when it is not being used.
Probably, there is a big market to replace the existing heating systems with systems that can save energy costs by keeping the rooms not being used at slightly lower temperatures.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Gurgaon
A seemingly ultra-modern city has come up on the outskirts of new delhi, called gurgaon.
It is full of skyscrapers ( the attached picture was taken on the evening of 27th July 2009) and parts of it look like downtown manhatten.
It has a population of a quarter million people, and many more come from New Delhi to work here.
Though the city shows the zeal of private Industries in India, it is a good example of the result of lack of regulation and government support.
A city this large and seemingly modern does not yet have municipal water or drainage/sewerage. Everybody in the town is using ground water for consumption (along with Reverse Osmosis machines for cleaning it) and septic tanks are used for sewerage.
There have been cases of polluting factories putting used water back into the ground.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Concoction of medicines
This comes due to a personal tragedy recently.
Though medicines are exhaustively tested for all side effects, before these are allowed by government authorities (like FDA), I do not think they are tested thoroughly for side effects when taken in combination with other medicines.
Further, how much and how many medicines should be given together should be based on the health and medical condition of a patient.
In the absence of either the ‘experience’ or readily accessible data, patients are many times given too many medicines at the same time.
Though medicines are exhaustively tested for all side effects, before these are allowed by government authorities (like FDA), I do not think they are tested thoroughly for side effects when taken in combination with other medicines.
Further, how much and how many medicines should be given together should be based on the health and medical condition of a patient.
In the absence of either the ‘experience’ or readily accessible data, patients are many times given too many medicines at the same time.
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