Runners Wanted!

Now that the temperatures have cooled down considerably, I am considering taking up running and I am inspired by Nike's campaign, "Never Stop Running". Check it out below.

Lanre Da Silva-Ajayi designs

This week I stumbled on Lanre Da Silva-Ajayi; an amazing designer who is blowing up the Nigerian and international fashion scene. According to her website, she has been on the scene since 2005. Her collections are chic, sophisticated and bold. I love how she combines great fashion sense with some exquisite fabric and traditional print.

Check out some designs from her labor love collection

 

I can totally see myself in her clothes and head dresses, can you? For more information about these great designer and her designs go to http://lanredasilvaajayi.com/biography.php

Don't Order A Martini Until You See This!

This is one of those Fridays . . . can’t wait till the week is over, Friday!

In honor of the almost here Happy Hour when many of us are looking forward to ordering martinis, check out this video that tells you exactly what a martini is and isn’t.

Who knew? Ben is hilarious . . . I am feeling better already.

Happy Friday and don’t drink and drive or drink and bike or drink and jay walk . . . Drink responsibly!

Where Do You Place in the 7 billion population

The United States Population Fund has a cool population counter which will help you figure out where you are placed in the world birth order. You need to plug in the following details to get started

• Sex
• Date of birth
• Which country you were born
• Where in the country
• Which country you live now

Here are my stats..

In the entire history of the world, as far back as the first homo sapiens,

78,514,426,075                                  people were born before you.

On the day you were born,

4,122,276,735                             people born before you were alive.

• 4,122,276,735
  +4,701,066,539
  -1,822,819,353
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• people were alive when you were born
  people were born since you
  people have died since you were born


• As a result, the population today is7,000,523,921

Go to http://www.7billionandme.org/about-you.php and find out your stats.

Inside Out Project - Global Art for Social Change

The Inside Out project is a global art project that uses personal portraits exhibited in local communities to connect people and bring them together.

In Cape Town, South Africa one group has used the project to bring two communities together, who on the face of it have little in common, fostering conversations about life in post apartheid South Africa. One community is primarily black, Xhosa speaking and the other is primarily coloured, Afrikaans speaking.

Check out this video of their project. Click here for other Inside Out projects.

African Girl with Natural Hair Series: My Secret Weapon

My hair loves the Herbal Essences Herbal Hydration conditioner.

I use this conditioner in the following ways

• Cowashing twice a week
• Conditioning rinse on the rare days I use shampoo
• Leave it on my hair overnight for deep conditioning
• Mix it with a natural oil as a leave-in conditioner
• Mix it with Shikakai powder for my shampoo days
• Use it to do my two strand twists

This conditioner always leaves my hair feeling soft, luxurious and smelling great. It keeps my hair super moisturized. 

Renting Your First Apartment

Renting your first apartment will be one of the most exciting and scary things you will do after moving to a new country. It is especially scary when you are a student. Here are some things to think about when taking this important step:

• Location: Find the most convenient place to get you to the places where you spend the most time. If you are a student, find a place with an easy commute to school and work especially if you get home at night. It is important to consider safety and your mode of transportation. 
• Price: It is important to consider how much you are willing to spend before going out to find an apartment. Be sure to stay within your price range especially once you start looking around and see different places that you may really like. 
• Use the Internet: Once you have an idea of the price range and location, use the internet to look at various options. Use it to narrow down your choices. Websites such as www.apartments.com are a great resource. Once you have narrowed down to 3-5 choices, schedule an appointment to go and visit the apartments. 

Application process: Once you decide on an apartment, you will need the following to be approved.

• Personal Information: Provide your personal information, residential and employment history on the application. You will need your state's driver's license and social security card in most cases. You may also need your green card or passport to show that you just relocated. Banking information to show you can support yourself may also be requested especially if you do not have a job. 
• Application Fee: You will need to pay a fee to the landlord to process the application. Fees run anywhere between $25-$50 in the US. 
• Credit Information: The landlord will run a credit and sometimes a criminal report. This can be a challenge for new immigrants who do not yet have an established credit history. be prepared to provide additional documentation if requested. 
• Security deposit: If you do not have credit history, you may have to provide a higher security deposit or have a cosigner to get approved. A cosigner signs off as the person who bears financial responsibility in the event of a default of the rent. 

Once you have been approved for your first apartment, pay your rent on time to start building a solid rental history. 

8 State Mottos That I Love

Each state in the U.S. has a motto that captures the sentiments of the people at the time the state was created. Mottos can be found inscribed on coins, buildings and monuments. Here are 8 favorites that capture how I see America:

1. Live Free or Die—New Hampshire
2. Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain—Iowa
3. United We Stand, Divided We Fall—Kentucky
4. Liberty and Prosperity—New Jersey
5. While I breathe, I hope—South Carolina
6. Equal Rights—Wyoming
7. Justice to all—Washington, D.C.
8. The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law—Missouri

To learn the motto of each state, check out www.e-referencedesk.com

Find A Book To Read For Book Lovers Day

I was not aware of this until today, but apparently next Saturday (November 5) is Book Lovers Day. With the weather turning chilly, this is a perfect excuse to spend the day reading in bed.

To plan ahead, I took a look at the twenty books that have been selected as 2011 National Book finalists. The National Book award is an award given to writers by writers, allowing us to assume that the books on the shortlist are indeed the cream of the crop. There are four categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry and young people’s literature.

As I am neither a poetry fan nor a young person, I am left with 2 categories to choose from. I prefer non-fiction to fiction but curling up in bed, reading, calls for a good fictional read or two . . . so fiction it will be for Book Lovers Day.

From the fiction world, I am especially partial to books written by immigrants or books about immigrants or books set in faraway lands. The list of finalists does not disappoint—4 out of 5 of the books in the fiction category fit the bill perfectly.

1. The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak
2. The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht
3. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
4. Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman

Click here for the list of finalists and let us know what you will be reading on Book Lovers Day.

Want more information on College? Check out these Sites!

We have been talking about college this week. For many people it is overwhelming because they have no idea where to start to get the information they need. This article will provide some resources that will help you learn more about what majors schools offer and what makes them each school unique. 

A good place to start if you are just thinking about college is finding out which college will offer the best bang for your buck. It is important to think about the quality and the cost of the education. 

Here are some websites that will help you get started in your research

http://www.collegeboard.org/: This is a great comprehensive website for college preparation. It covers testing, college search tools with comparisons and information on paying for college. It is definitely the go-to website for college prep testing. 

http://www.usnews.com/education: This is a great website to find out how schools rank by major and in general. College rankings are important and could determine the size of the field of the opportunities available after graduation. It also provides ranking for universities around the world which is great for students who may want an education from different countries. This site a must check out.

http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/: This is a government website which provides the most information for each individual college. It is a great site to go to once the student has narrowed down some options and wants to learn more about each school. 

http://www.collegemajors101.com/: This is a great website if you want to narrow down on your majors. It provides information on how various majors can be put to use and the opportunities available. 

http://www.schoolsoup.com/: This website is the largest scholarship match site for students. It is a great place for students to register and get scholarship matches. It is important to do this at the beginning of high school so the student and parents have an idea what they may qualify for and start preparing for the scholarship applications. 

http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org/: This is a great site to find out more about the financing options that colleges offer. You can get more information on the makeup of the financial package and the percentage of student loans involved. This is a great site to get the best bang for your buck. 

How Much Will College Cost?

We have been talking a lot about college on this blog-the application process, scholarship resources etc. We try and find resources that will help students and their parents handle the college process.

One resource that we found out about is the ‘Net Price College Calculator” which gives you a very easy way to calculate what you can expect to pay for college and how much federal financial aid you can expect to receive.

If a college participates in the federal student-aid programs, they are now required by law to provide a “Net Price College Calculator” on their website. The law goes into effect at the end of this month.

Most calculators can be found on the financial aid section of the college website. Some are hard to find, you have to dig around the website a little bit. For example to find the calculator on the University of Texas-Austin website, I had to do the following:

Go to website www.utexas.edu
On Home Page, scroll down the page to the section “Apply Here”
Click on “Financial Aid”
Click on “Quick Links”
Click on “Net Price Calculator”

When you have narrowed down your college choices, make sure to use the calculators to figure out how much you can expect to pay. If you find that you have to pay more than you can afford, don’t hesitate to call the schools and find out what other options are available to you.

Parents can also use this tool to help them plan how much to save for their children’s college costs. The earlier you start saving, the less stressful the college application process will be.

Should You Invest In Mutual Funds?

Mutual funds are a great option for people that are starting their investment journey. This video by Motley's fool highlights what you should consider before investing in a mutual fund.

Credits
The Motley Fool YouTube channel

Approaching 7 Billion and Fast

According to the U.N Population fund, by the end of this month we're expected to hit a world population of 7 billion. So why pay attention? After all, a lot more has happened this month than we have time to focus on the population.

Just in the 24 days we’ve seen this month, an earthquake has rocked eastern Turkey and severe flooding has affected Thailand. We lost a technology innovator in Steve jobs and a mad man is dead in Libya, reigniting the Arab spring movement.  Tunisia, the country that started it all just had its first democratic elections. Within the US, presidential candidates took off the gloves as the debate turned heated and personal gluing us to our TV sets. Then there’s been numerous stock, commodity and currency market swings to make anyone gag from the uncertainty. 

You combine that with what’s happening in our own personal world and there’s little left to think about the global population.

But in a world where the twists and turns will surely continue, 7 billion people on earth is here. Over the coming days, the news channels will be focused on the number and some  will blame the number as a sign we’ve overloaded the earth. But are 7 billion people on earth too many? We got to 7 Billion fast. 

After hitting our first billion in 1800 we’ve been on a tear clocking a billion more people every 12 to 15 years. Even though it’ll take you more than 200 years to say “Hi” to 7Billion people non-stop, please consider that if we all stood shoulder to shoulder we couldn’t even fill up the city of Los Angeles.

The number isn't the problem and it’s not more space that we need.

Right now in developed countries three quarters of us live in cities with 1million or more people. About half for those of us who live in emerging nations. 

100 years ago, there were only 14 cities with 1 million or more people. Today that number is at 83 with 19 of those categorized as megacities (i.e. 10 million or more people). In other words most of us live in a very small section of this earth.

Overall, the population explosion is due to improved health and despite what the news channels shows you, there's been relative peace. I mean you were 35 times more likely to be killed just 100 years ago. And even though the devastation of war looks worse there’s been far fewer wars and resulting deaths overall are way down. 

Say what you want but we are living far better than our parents and way better than our ancestors. As a result, the total population will continue to grow and by 2045 we will be at 9 Billion. With that being only 34 years away, most of us will be alive to see that. If it’s not the number and if we are safer now then what’s the problem?

Like anything else in life what we need is balance.

• 5% of us consume nearly a quarter of the world’s energy.
• 13% of us don't have access to clean drinking water.
• 60% of anything that is for consumption is consumed by 12% of us while the bottom one-third of us account for only 3.2% consumption.

The problem isn’t the growing population and the whole notion of forcing underdeveloped countries to quit having children or developed countries to consume less hasn’t and won’t work. The growth curve has been on the same predicted path. In other words, rest assured that children will continue being born at a high rate and consumption of resources will continue to increase in pace. 

The problem has always been finding balance and as long as imbalances like those above continue to exist, we will always struggle. Finding solutions is tough stuff and there’s no magic wand to help us solve this. But how do we find balance and what’s the good news with having a large word population?

That I’ll attempt to answer in next week’s blogs. For now, you may be interested to note that in the time it took you to read this article, 1,200 babies were just born. 

Bernard Wambugu

CEO Lantel Systems

http://lantelsystems.com How we work continues to change. We provide the technology solutions to allow for that change.

Let’s stay in touch 

http://www.facebook.com/bernardmw

http://twitter.com//bernardmw

Credits:

 http://www.prb.org/Educators/TeachersGuides/HumanPopulation/Urbanization.aspx

The numbers behind the numbers http://www.grist.org/population/2011-09-23-numbers-statistics-population-meet-your-7-billion-neighbors

Think again on war http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/08/15/think_again_war?page=full

Want to understand demographics?  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/demographic-data.html

Are You an Immigrant or a Visitor?

What exactly does it mean to be an immigrant? Merriam-Webster, defines one as "a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence". What does permanent residence mean? Till you die? Is it in the intent i.e. the intention at the time of migration to make your destination your permanent residence?

Take for example, a student who leaves their home country and moves to the USA to study. The intention at the time is to study and obtain a degree and return home. However, after graduation, many of us choose to look for work and decide to stay without actually making an active decision to become an immigrant i.e. to take up permanent residence?

We find ourselves working, buying a home, starting a family, participating in our communities, in essence putting down roots while we talk about returning back home as our immediate and future goal.

We never acknowledge that we are immigrants. Instead we live as visitors with one foot in our adopted countries and one foot back in our home countries that we long to return to as soon as "circumstances allow". And yet, most of us never return home. We live out our days in our adopted country that we never acknowledged as our home.

What are the consequences of not making the decision to be an immigrant, of not making the decision to make a permanent home, of having one foot in each country?

I can think of 2 major costs to having one foot in each country. Emotionally, you will never belong to your adopted country because in the back of your mind you plan to return home. If you move from a developing country to a developed country, chances are that the standards of living, the way of life is so different that it becomes impossible to return home after being away for so many years. The longer you stay away from home, the harder it is to return. So you live the majority of your years, your most productive years, as a visitor only to return home in your retirement to a way of life that has become foreign to you and where in turn you feel that you are a visitor.

There are also financial consequences for this indecision. If you are currently in the USA, you may not save enough for your retirement if you have plans to "retire" back home, thinking that it would be cheaper to retire at home. However, you would be surprised at the cost of living in your home country especially in developing countries. The cost of living in these countries has increased dramatically and once you figure in the cost of the things you have been accustomed to in the USA then retirement at home is not as cheap as you might imagine. So at retirement you find yourself in a situation that you can not afford. You can't afford to retire in the US and you can't afford to retire in your home country.

Have you decided if you are an immigrant or a visitor? If not, why have you not made the decision? What factors did you consider? What other costs are there for this indecision?