World's Friendliest Countries: A Rigged Survey???

I found this news article on MSNBC. I must say that I am quite sure that this survey doesn't reflect the ground reality of the state of nations across the world. I say this because I have several questions about the survey. The study was conducted with only 3,100 respondents, in a world of 6 billion people, and several million living as expatriates in various countries this number is just too small to be of consideration. Second even among the nations studied the number of respondents differed. For example only 35 respondents were surveyed in Bahrain (ranked 1), while more than 450 people were surveyed in UK.

The media is calling the results surprising, but I call it fixed for one of the two reasons. Either HSBC has some vested interest in promoting Bahrain as a great country for expatriates or someone among the researchers want to aggressively market Universal Healthcare proposed by Obama Administration. Most of the respondents from Bahrain praised the public healthcare system highly.

Save on Name Brand products!!!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Bidazzled. All opinions are 100% mine.

The festival-holiday season is coming up. Are you wondering about how to buy all the name brand stuff for your kids, loved ones, and family? The economy is down and money is tight, but there are opportunities to save and celebrate well. There is a new auction site Bidazzled, where one can buy name brand products for 80% off of the retail price.

The unique features of this website is that there are no winners and losers in this auction. If you lose the auction you get a 50 bonus bids as a note of thanks. If you don't have the patience to bid and wait for the auction to get over you can purchase the items for lesser price also. In case you win and decide that you don't want the product, Bidazzled will make an offer to buy it back for cash (paypal or check). Last month two participants won Nintendo Wii's with just 5 free bids.

Still unsure how this whole auction thing works? Let me do something for you I will give you 15 Additional Bids, until January 15. All you need to do is to enter this code (BBP1202A) on the registration page, there is no obligation or cost of any kind.

Apart from all this to encourage you to spread the word among your friends Bidazzled has started a lucrative Viral Referral program too. Here is how it works
*A refers B. A receives 5 Bonus Bids
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Are you all excited? Just go to Bidazzled and get your stuff for the holiday season. Hurry you might miss some great goodies if you delay.

Fall and Winter chills!!!

Image by brewbooks via Flickr

It is that time of the year when I regret being in Dallas. It doesn't snow and transform the surroundings to milky white complexion, the sun never shines through the misty, foggy and cloudy atmosphere. The trees shorn of leaves and brown grass make the already bleak scenery appear duller. There is nothing one could do during the fall other than go out and eat. Winters in Dallas are punishment for outdoor lovers like me. Three more months of pain before I can go out and enjoy activities... unless there is a sudden miraculous burst of sunshine, which can happen in Dallas.
Most outdoors people in Dallas survive the winter with this hope that there will be some days in between which are warm and sunny...