Bad manners, Cars, Collections, Coworkers, the Environment and the Government are some of the topics tou want to have a moan at. We also have sections on Habits, Help, Public Places, Social manners and the last but not least..our friendly Travel Agent.

When rechargeable batteries first came out on the market, people were amazed at how easy it was. Rechargeable batteries typically gave a longer life than regular batteries, and when they died it was so simple to pop them back into the charger. The downside with rechargeable batteries was the expense, and most people opted to use them only in cameras and similar electronic equipment. Today however, there is the clever and affordable Battery Wizard on the market; a charger which will charge all kinds of different sized batteries rechargeable as well as ordinary batteries.

The Battery Wizard has a built-in sensor which detects exactly what kind of battery is being charged. It can even inform the user if the battery is faulty, and will display charge progress as time goes on. It takes all kinds of batteries; rechargeable and ordinary, and will save people loads of money from the onset.

Many people have seen the popular Hummer on the roads; unmistakeable in their size and demeanour. The original civilian Hummer vehicle was based on the military Humvee vehicle, or HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose wheeled vehicle). The civilian version became increasingly popular over the years and was exported to various areas across the world. Today however, there has been an increasing amount of criticism voiced, and it is unknown whether the vehicle will continue to be manufactured.

The demand for Hummers has decreased amidst the ongoing recession. With a high demand in petrol, many owners are turning to something a little bit more economical. The increasing amount of criticism of the large vehicles has also been heard, with more people voicing concerns about the size and safety of the car.

Collecting as a hobby can be fun as well as educational. A collection can be anything at all, including stamps, cars, money, photographs, postcards, fossils and bottles. A person who collects things is typically called a collector and what they collect depends on their individual interests. Building a collection can be challenging, as well as very rewarding.

Stamp collections are very popular, and people all over the world collect and trade in international stamps. Building your collection from scratch can be very exciting, as you arrange and organise all your things in order and size. Collectors can spend hours researching the origins of their items, learning much in the process. Depending on the items collected, it can be very rewarding to bring together a complete set of a collection, often to find that it is in high demand by another collector somewhere else in the world. For avid collectors, there are hundreds of websites and forums where people can meet and ask questions to other people with the same interests. Collecting can be a great way to meet people as well as learn more about your favourite items.

First dates can be very important, and you will want to be on your best behaviour in order to impress your date. One of the most important things to do is to be yourself, and avoid acting the way you think your date wants you to be. Your date more than likely likes you for who you were when you first met, so there is no need to change now.

Everyone loves to laugh, so a good sense of humour is important. Avoid telling corny or rude jokes however, as your date may take it the wrong way. Interesting anecdotes and stories are good, but do not monopolise the conversation. When your date is talking, you will want to listen to what they are saying. Appear interested and ask questions. Everyone likes being listened to and not brushed off.

If appropriate, you may want to compliment your date. Nothing too corny; but a genuine compliment on what you think. Everyone likes to receive compliments no matter what they say.

Car pooling is a great idea for a variety of different reasons. Have you ever found yourself running late for work after dropping your kids off to school? Or missing an important meeting because you have to pick up your son from soccer practice? Car pooling enables parents to share the responsibility of taking their kids to school, and enables different families to take turns in driving the kids. It also saves on petrol and money for different households; using one car instead of three, as well as cutting down on carbon emissions and promoting the environment.

Car pooling has become a very popular thing for people to do. Work colleagues opt to take one car to work instead of everyone taking a separate vehicle which not only saves money on fuel, but also on parking. Families share the responsibility of driving their kids around with other families, giving parents some needed quality time on their own to do their own things. Using one vehicle instead of several also promotes the environment; less carbon emissions and much less traffic. The benefits of car pooling are immense, and people are finding it very convenient.

In most cases, volunteers provide the necessary skills and time to facilitate the attainment of specific objectives. Anybody can volunteer.  A young person can sing or dance during a fundraising campaign. Another person can sell some items to earn money for a particular project. A computer programmer can work on a website promoting the advocacy of a certain organization. A teacher can teach in a far flung village. A doctor can have free medical consultation. A schoolgirl can help out in the distribution of reading materials promoting awareness of certain issues like global warming.

The scope of volunteer efforts is quite wide and the need for committed volunteer workers is increasing. Interested individuals do not have to go very far to do it. There is a need for one in almost every community.

Get involved! Be a volunteer and help make a change.

Where we work is a hotbed of intrigues from  gossiping to backstabbing. It cannot be avoid unless maybe if all of our coworkers are deaf, mute and blind. It would be so easy to give in and offer our own comments, bad or good, about somebody else in the office but we have to pause and think.

Check whatever it was that we were supposed to say. We have to ask ourselves if it would do good or would it make the existing conditions worse. Would it help somebody or would it destroy their reputation?

Yes, it is so easy but then if we do not put an end to all those intrigues, what kind of atmosphere will prevail in the workplace. We cannot control what other people do or say but we can control ourselves. Let us start with that and end that cycle of intrigues.

First would be our families. We learn most of our habits from this basic unit of society which we grew up in. If everybody in the family tends to wake up at dawn, there is a big chance that you have adopted that same habit of waking very early in the morning. Young kids tend to assimilate the habits of the people around him and usually these are the ones who are part of their families.

As they grow older, they have more interactions with people outside of their family circle and they learn separate sets of habits from them. For teen-agers, this would be from their friends. The peer factor is very strong during adolescence thus, we can observe these young people having very similar habits starting with the way they dress and their leisure activities.

Third is our culture. This has an even bigger scope. Some of our habits are culturally laden like the penchant for spicy foods or the bowing of the head every time we meet somebody of authority or more senior than we are.

Habits may be positive or negative. The good ones we just need to maintain but the bad ones we can unlearn and replace with positive habits.

This is the start of another year for us and it is high time for us to learn new and positive habits.