Your postcode and your life span

The Thursday issue of the Coventry Times carried a very interesting report. "..where you live can have a crucial bearing on HOW LONG you live", it said.

I guess I am lucky because I live in Radford where the average life expectancy of Men is the second highest (77.3 years) in the Whole of Coventry after Sherbourne. Earlsdon came out on top with Men and Women live to an average age of 77.2 and 83.5 years respectively.

Foleshill, where most Malaysians reside came out on the bottom, with the average life expectancy of Men and Women were both below the average.

Not surprising that people live longer in the more affluent areas of Coventry. Besides standard of living, genetics does play a role as well. The population in Foleshill is predominantly made up of south Asians and as Dr. Zifhiri points out in the report, they tend to be more prone to type-two diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol problems.

I wonder whether the lack of green spaces may have something to do with this as well. Unlike Earlsdon, there's not a single nice park in the entire area. A healthy lifestyle is essential of course but the environment does play a big role in your life expectancy as well.

ah ok lah not on MSN search

Quite disappointed with MSN's Live Search. Searched for the keywords "ah ok lah" (the name of my blog) there and my blog was nowhere on the first page nor on the second page either. This is strange considering that it is the first result on Google and Yahoo for the key words.

Going through the MSN Live search results, I discovered that the #1 spot has been taken by www.ok-lah.com owned by someone in Singapore. However, #4 is a widget linked to my site provided by Netvibes. #6 links to my MyBlogLog page.

This might indicate that MSN search gives preference to top-level domain names, viz., .com, .net, .org, etc..

Vistaprint business cards

Just realised that I have almost run out of my business cards. It's been slightly more than a year since I took Vistaprint's "250 free business cards" offer.



This was before I commenced my PhD studies and was a stay-at-home husband taking care of the kids. I was a full time blogger then and my blogs were my sole source of income. One day I happened to come across the above mentioned offer and I thought "why not". All I had to do was pay for the delivery cost.

Though initially I was wondering what I would do with the cards, they have proved really useful. Before this, people would give me their business cards and I would have to explain that I didn't have one - I was unemployed, blah, blah, blah. That doesn't happen any more.

Unlike some bloggers who prefer to put only the blog url, I put in my home address in as well. Great to give out to friends who always forget your house address. It's definitely better than writing it down on a loose pieces of paper which might get thrown away accidentally. Besides, it is a great way to create awareness about your blogs.

Anyway, I was thinking of ordering a new set of business cards from Vistaprint and was delighted to find out that you can still order 250 cards for free (you only pay for the delivery). The free option has 42 designs you can choose from. There are many more ways you can further customize your card such as by uploading your own designs and so on.

The great thing is that they have slashed prices for a number of options. For example, However, by paying a little bit more (£8.24 instead of £11.99) you can opt for the Premium quality cards. Do check out their range of products including cards letter heads, sticky notes, etc.

However, make sure you do read the fine print before you order and don't rush while going through the ordering process. Decide whether you really want to join the VistaPrint Rewards scheme or accept any of the offers or extras as the costs can add up.

Five years blogging

Was reading Liew's post on how he has been blogging full-time for three years when I suddenly realised that my own blog is now five years old. My first post on this blog was on September 8, 2003 and as they say, the rest is history.

This is how my blog looked in 2003:

The CERN rap

Everyone seems to be talking about the Big Bang experiment now taking place at the HQ of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) on the Swiss-French border. No! The World has not ended (yet). However, very few people actually understand what's happening there and how the Large Hadron Collider works.

23 years old Katherine McAlpine, has become famous for her "CERN Rap" video, which has had over 1,700,000 views on YouTube. Even my daughter understands the Large Hadron Collider now. Thanks AlpineKat.

Visit to Warwick Castle 2

Last Saturday we visited Warwick Castle along with some friends. We got in free thanks to Saiful who gave us free entry vouchers. This was my second visit and it was definitely more crowded this time, probably due to the fact that it was a weekend. Unlike the last time we visited Warwick Castle, we didn't go inside the buildings. There were just too many people.

However, this time I got to see the "Flight of the Eagles", the Jousting tournament and the firing of the Trebuchet - which I had failed to see last time.

Here are the pictures.




The "Flight of the Eagle" show


Imaan enjoying himself


Watching the Jousting tournament from across the stream


Mozard, Nana, yana and Saiful's daughter


My son with mother feeding the ducks




the Trebuchet


Duck's butt


Castle walls


With the lady of the castle

Do check out Nana's post as well.

First day at school

It was my daughter's first day at school. She starts reception - an important milestone. With uniforms and rules. I saw a lot of other kids crying their hearts out. I am so proud that my Princess didn't cry.