Airbus A380

The Airbus A380 is the largest airliner ever made, with a carrying capability of up to 853 passengers. Being 50% wider than the Boeing 747, it’s closest competitor, the Airbus has truly surpassed all previous achievements of plane construction and interior design.

The entire upper-deck is dedicated for premium passengers. All seats can be transformed into full-sized beds (190 cm in length) with a pillow and a mattress. Each passenger has his own mini-bar and a full-sized, bartender-serviced bar is available at the rear of the plane. And on top of all, there are two shower cabins available during flight.

Some of the other features:

• In front of each passenger there is a 17-inch touch screen, electric plug, 2 USB ports (for USB-charging or viewing photos) and a remote-control combined with a satellite phone
• Each seat has it’s own wireless control device regulating the backrest angle, lighting level and massage-modes of the chair
• Several external video-cameras are available for viewing
• 2 additional pilots and 1 extra bathhouse attendant are additionally employed for 14-hour long flights, making it a total of 30 crew members
• Engine noise can surprisingly be heard very faintly. The only thing interrupting the silence is the ventilation system on the ceiling

And now for some numbers….any guesses what a return flight would cost? Well…a Bangkok-Dubai destination with Emirates in a A380 is $2500 for economy and $4000 for first class.

Click here for more pictures.

LCD TV and Plasma TV

As laymen, we often say plasma TV/LCD TV interchangeably. But actually, there is a whole lot of difference between the two. Wanted to find out what.

Technology:

In plasma TVs, there are tiny cells between two glass plates where xenon, neon and argon gases are injected and sealed in plasma form during the manufacturing process. The gas is electrically charged at specific intervals so that gas is ionized and form plasma state. This ionized gas when hits the red, green, blue colored phosphors, they produce the colored images correspondingly.

In LCD TVs, In between two layers of transparent oppositely polarized materials, a special polymer is used that holds liquid crystals. The crystals can block or pass light according to the amount of current passed to them. Each individual picture element or pixel is divided into three red, green, blue colored subpixels. These subpixels when appropriately illuminated can produce vast array of colors. Unlike the standard CRT or Plasma, there are no phosphors to be lit. This is why the LCDs are much cooler and requires less power and there is no radiation from the screen.

Price:

The plasma TV sizes range from 32 inches to 65 inches and the LCD TV ranges from 14 inches to 46 inches though more larger sizes of both are readily available. The comparative prices for the larger size plasmas ( ~ 52 inches) are lesser than same sized LCD TVs. On the other hand, the smaller LCD TVs ( ~ 32 inches ) are cheaper than the same sized plasmas.

Resolution:

The small sized LCDs have more pixels packed into them than the plasmas. The small sized Plasmas are not so good at displaying high resolution pictures as they have less number of pixels per square inch.

Therefore, from the above, if you want to buy a smaller screen, LCDs are preferable and for larger screen sizes, plasmas are the better bet.

Read this article for more inputs.

Tea or coffee?

Am addicted to 2-3 cups of tea or coffee a day(difficult to stay up in office otherwise ). Always had a pre-conceived notion that too much of caffeiene is bad for health but wanted to find out the exact details.

According to an article on BBC’s wesite, Instant coffee has about 61-70 mg of caffeine per cup of coffee whereas tea can have from 15-75 mg of caffeine per cup, depending on the brand. People with high blood pressure and pregnant women are advised to limit their caffeine consumption and pregnant women are supposed to restrict their consumption of caffeine to less than 300 mg a day. Both tea and coffee contain polyphenols that can bind to iron, making it difficult for our bodies to absorb. Avoiding tea and coffee during and around mealtimes is important for people at risk of iron deficiency.

But for the rest of the population, there’s no evidence caffeine does any long-term harm.

Howver, there have been some research to prove that both coffee and tea do have beneficial effects, for example coffee may reduce the chance of getting kidney stones or gall stones. However, according to this aritcle in the website of ABC News, more than 4 cups of coffee in a day is not recommended.

Tea contains some useful minerals such as zinc, manganese and potassium, and scientists are researching its potential to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and some cancers.

There is the strong suggestion that the antioxidants in tea – whether it’s black, green or white – have health benefits. Antioxidants can prevent inflammation of the blood vessels, and it has been linked to reduced risk for cancer. In terms of antioxidants, white tea has the most, followed by green tea, black tea and coffee.

How much workout do you need in a day?

This post was triggered by my guilt of doing absolutely no workout these days.

Came across an article in BBC’s website which said that according to the chief medical officer (government’s top dostor) in UK, this is what you need to do at a minimum:

• Adults should do a minimum of 30 minutes moderate-intensity physical activity, five days a week.
• You don’t have to do the whole 30 minutes in one go. Your half-hour could be made up of three ten-minute bursts of activity spread through the day, if you prefer.
• The activity can be a ‘lifestyle activity’ (in other words, walking to the shops or taking the dog out) or structured exercise or sport, or a combination of these. But it does need to be of at least moderate intensity.
• People who are at specific risk from obesity, or who need to manage their weight because of a medical condition, need 45-60 minutes of exercise at least five times a week.

For older people it is more important to maintain mobility through daily activities and in case they are mobile enough the above apply to them also.

Also, this particular article in the website of an international charity organization which works for older people gives a few helpful tips:

• If you are heading for the hills and are unused to them, build up muscle strength gradually by brisk walking on the flat first. By far the most damaging form of exercise is running downhill, when the muscles are used as brakes: unless you have done this most of your life, avoid running down mountains or very steep hills. Even walking down a steep hill should be done carefully.

Avoid exercise if you are unwell, particularly if you have a significant infection – you may damage your muscles. Don’t immobilise yourself during illness however – it’s vital to keep moving about to avoid the risk of thrombosis and muscle wasting. Gentle pottering in your own home is the most you should attempt until you are fully recovered.