California

Feeling hot, hot, hot

• Posted by Rob (#1) on February 24, 2006 18:23 CET

Yesterday I finally installed my new weather station. Apparently my flat is a mere 13.8 degrees Celcius (57F) when I get home from work and regardless of whether I heat it in the evening or not, bedroom temperatures drop to 11.7C (53F) during the night now that it is (only barely) freezing outside. And yet I feel comfortable wearing a shirt plus hoodie and more often than not I feel hot in bed - in more ways than one I must admit.

Guess I should strike weather of the list of reasons to move to California!

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• Tags: weather, California
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Junk (food) legislation

• Posted by Rob (#1) on September 16, 2005 15:45 CEST

In case you've been stuck at the Jack in the Box and haven't gotten the news: Governor Schwarzenegger is banning the sale of junk food in Californian high schools to battle obesity.

"We are going to terminate obesity in California once and for all," the former bodybuilder and actor said.

No, you're not going to do that.

You're just going to piss of healthy kids who would like a tasteful snack or meal because their bodies can perfectly handle them. You're also going to send obese families into debt because eat they will, and if not at the school cafeteria it will be at Wendy's after class. You're also going to send state-funded schools into debt because current products actually generate revenue from producers.

What Schwarzenegger should be doing is to stop using the now-boring catchphrase "terminate" and to return responsibility to individuals instead of nanny-stating the population as some sort of kindergarten cop.

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• Tags: California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, fast food
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Why I love America

• Posted by Rob (#1) on June 26, 2005 11:07 CEST

I text a lot of UK numbers and I'm very disappointed by the costs involved.

Three years ago, I could send SMS messages to any mobile in the world for $0.05 (less than 3p) with the Cingular pre-paid card I used in California. According to their web site, that price is still accurate.

Well, forget about that in Europe. Last week, I got a T-Mobile pre-paid card in the UK. Within the UK, texts cost me 10p to UK numbers (or as cheap as 5p with a bundle) and 20p to foreign numbers. My Dutch subscription plan (KPN Hi) allows me to send SMS messages for only €0.07 (over 4p) to Dutch numbers but it's still €0.29 (nearly 20p) to foreign numbers.

It's understandable that texting UK numbers with a UK plan, even pre-paid, is twice to four times as cheap as doing so with a calling plan in Holland. But it's really frustrating to know that it would be seven times cheaper with a pre-paid card in the US, indeed cutting even local UK prices in half.

The telecommunication market in Europe is such a rip-off. Why can't life be affordable for the middle class, like it is in the United States?

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• Tags: California, Cingular, pre-paid, SMS, UK, T-Mobile, KPN
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