Do-it-yourself funeral kits go on sale in Japan

If funeral hall prices are killing you, this Nagano-based company wants to help make your final purchase an affordable one.

Do-it-yourself projects aren’t just fun, they’re financially rewarding too. When you consider all the things you can do yourself, it seems like you’re practically throwing your money away by paying someone else to build your furniture, repair your car, or hold your funeral, doesn’t it?

What’s that? You said you’ve never heard of anyone having a DIY funeral? To be honest, neither have we, but there’s now a company in Japan that’s offering to set customers up with a kit to let them handle the ceremony themselves.

Tsubasa, a funerary services company based in Nagano Prefecture, has begun taking orders for its new DIY Funeral Set. The set includes a wooden coffin, with a fold-open window to show the face of the deceased, as well as a pillow, mattress, and blanket. The package also provides an urn for ashes and a silver-accented box to hold the bones left over after cremation, as well as three furoshiki wrapping cloths. Finally, there’s a handbook that explains how to perform the ceremony’s rites to put the soul of the departed at ease.

Priced at 25,800 yen (US$240), the DIY Funeral Set is a major savings over the services of a professional funeral hall. Not that we’re planning on dying anytime soon, but a bit of online research shows that the average price of a funeral in Japan is somewhere around 2 million yen, so Tsubasa’s kit is a huge savings.

We should point out that the kit is only meant to give buyers what they need for the funeral ceremony itself. The handbook doesn’t teach you how to use cosmetics to prepare the deceased’s face, so you may still need to contact a mortician for that, and you’ll also need the services of a licensed crematorium after the ceremony.

Oh, and since SoraNes24 is deeply devoted to linguistics, we must also mention that the DIY Funeral Set is really a do-it-for-someone-else funeral kit, since no matter how industrious you are by the time it’s your turn to be the one in the casket, you’re really not going to be in any position to carry out the ceremony yourself.

But provided you’ve got a friend or family member who you think would be willing to do you one last favor, Tsubasa’s DIY Funeral Set can be ordered online.

Source: https://soranews24.com/

Sharjah National Oil Company and Eni's partnership reveals the 'Mahani' natural gas well in the emirate

Sharjah said it discovered a new well of natural gas and condensate onshore in the emirate, its first in more than three decades.

State-owned Sharjah National Oil Corporation (Snoc) and Italy's oil company Eni discovered the "Mahani" exploration well within the first year of their partnership, Snoc said in a statement on Monday. Mahani-1 was drilled to a total measured depth of 14,597 ft and the well has tested gas at flow rates of up to 50 million standard cubic feet per day, together with associated condensate. The size of the discovery will be further evaluated in "due course" with additional drilling expected, Snoc said.

"This discovery is a promising development for Snoc and meets our commitment to make reliable gas supplies available throughout the United Arab Emirates,” Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, President of Snoc, said. “Sharjah provides strategic energy infrastructure to help the nation meet the growing demand for energy by residential, industrial and utility consumers.”

The Italian oil and gas company had won three concessions in Sharjah’s first-ever competitive bid in January 2019. Snoc, which launched the bidding round in 2018, awarded Eni areas A, B and C onshore exploration concessions. Mahani-1, located in the area B concession, is the first exploration well drilled by Snoc following a 3-D seismic survey of the territory.

“I am delighted that the first exploration well to be drilled in Sharjah by Snoc, is a gas discovery. This is the first onshore Sharjah discovery in 37 years and marks the beginning of an exciting time for Snoc and for Sharjah’s energy sector," Hatem Al Mosa, chief executive of Snoc, said. "We look forward to further collaboration in the future."

Snoc, the operator of area B, and Eni hold a 50 per cent stake each in the concession.

The two companies are also partners in concession areas A and C, which are both located onshore Sharjah.

"Mahani-1 represents the first exploration success for Eni in the UAE," the Italian oil major said in a statement on its website.

The joint venture has started studies to "fast track the exploitation of these new resources, leveraging on the synergies with the existing facilities and infrastructures, while finalizing the evaluation of the discovery," Eni said.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Sultan Al Qasimi said the discovery is set to bolster the emirate's economy and contribute to its energy reserves, according to a separate statement from the Sharjah Government Media Bureau.

The discovery will bring about a "major transformation" in Sharjah's industrial and commercial sectors by providing energy resources and attracting top global companies to invest in various sectors in the emirate, Sheikh Ahmed bin Sultan Al Qasimi said.

Sheikh Khalid bin Abdullah bin Sultan Al Qasimi, chairman of the Department of Seaports and Customs in Sharjah, said the natural gas discovery will stimulate various sectors by generating more commercial and industrial projects.

Source: www.thenational.ae

Uber makes JFK airport helicopter taxis available to all users

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) is taking to the air in New York City where users with a little cash to spare will soon be able to book helicopter flights to John F. Kennedy International airport through their apps.

The company announced its Uber Copter offer on Thursday, saying flights to and from Lower Manhattan will become available to all Uber users on Oct. 3. Uber made the feature available to its premium members in June.

The roughly eight-minute flight will cost between $200 and $225 per person and include ground transportation on either side of the trip. Passengers can bring along a small suitcase and have to watch a safety video before takeoff, similar to that on an airplane.

The flights are operated by HeliFlite Shares, a licensed company, and Uber’s prices roughly compare to those of competitors offering helicopter rides to JFK.

For now, Uber rides shuttling passengers to the heliport in Manhattan are only available from the southern tip of the island.

Uber says the service is intended to reduce travel times, but when Reuters tried Copter on Wednesday, a trip from its Midtown office to the airport took 70 minutes, including a subway ride downtown and two Uber rides to and from the heliport. That’s about the same time it would have taken by regular taxi in moderate traffic.

An Uber spokeswoman on Thursday said that trip was not realistic as part of the commercial rollout, however, as the Copter option is only shown to customers located in the geofenced Lower Manhattan area.

“Uber Copter won’t appear as an option in the app if you are outside of the geofence because it wouldn’t provide time savings,” the spokeswoman said.

But Uber might gradually expand the Manhattan pick-up zone, said Eric Allison, head of Elevate, Uber’s aerial ride-hailing program.

“Helicopters are certainly expensive and it will be a premium product, but we think we’re actually able to offer a fairly accessible entry point with Uber Copter,” Allison said during an interview on Wednesday.

JFK is one of the countTry’s largest airports and car trips from congested Manhattan can take anywhere from one to two hours, while public transit takes between 50 and 75 minutes.

With concerns mounting over congestion and vehicle emissions, Uber hopes its NYC Copter project will pave the way for Uber Air, a taxi service of electric “vertical take-off and landing” aircraft.

Source: https://www.reuters.com

“The youth of the soul is what matters”: Brigitte Bardot celebrates her 85th birthday

On September 28, 1934, an actress, singer and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot was born in Paris. Thanks to appearance, spontaneity and elegant manners, she gained fame as one of the main beauties of the XX century. Legends circulate about the actress’s grace (they say that the paparazzi calculated it by one gait only!), And the pretty face of the French woman was immortalized many times on canvas and in marble. When Bardo was 39, she decided to leave the movie and do animal protection. To open her own fund, the artist sold jewelry and transferred the organization to her home. “I gave my youth and my beauty to people. Now I give my wisdom and experience - the best that I have - to animals, ”Brigitte Bardot explained her decision.

UAE in space: Astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri arrives on the ISS

The Emirati made history as he arrived at the International Space Station early on Thursday morning.

The first Emirati astronaut was beginning his first day on board the International Space Station on Thursday after floating through the hatch at 2.20am UAE time.

Maj Hazza Al Mansouri greeted the world with a 'salaam alaikum' from the ISS, eight hours after a historic blast off from Earth.

"We are grateful to have reached the ISS and ilhamdillah everything is good," he said in Arabic.

"The Earth is beautiful from this place. It is small but I can see a small part of it.

"God protect you. Send my regards to the people of the UAE."

He and fellow astronauts, Russian commander Oleg Skripochka and Nasa’s Jessica Meir, embraced the existing six crew and gathered together in front of the live stream cameras to Earth, beaming with pride.

Major Al Mansouri will stay on for eight days, returning to Earth on October 3.

In his eight days Maj Al Mansouri will perform a series of experiments, question-and-answer sessions with young people in the UAE and present a live tour of the station in Arabic. He will also undergo brief medical experiments to study the effects of space on his body.

After docking about midnight the Soyuz hatch will open at 2am, allowing the crew on to the ISS.

During his eight-day trip, Maj Al Mansouri will make dinner for his crew mates with traditional Emirati food flown up in cans.

• Thursday, September 26, he will carry out a series of science in space experiments and take part in a short radio call at 11.33pm
• Friday, September 27, experiments include time perception in microgravity and a live session at 2.30pm UAE time lasting about 20 minutes
• Saturday, September 28, science in space experiments followed by a cardiovector session. This is a study that astronauts undergo to understand more about cardiology in space and the stresses placed on the body
• Sunday, September 29 - tour of the station in Arabic. Space chiefs hope to educate and inspire millions of young Arabs as Maj Al Mansouri takes them around the ISS. There will also be a live chat session between 2.40pm and 3pm.
• Monday, September 30, another live session at 4.14pm, followed by further experiments.
• Tuesday, October 1, a further live session with young people followed by experiments involving fluids in space
• Wednesday, October 2, more experiments and preparations for the Soyuz craft to undock
• Thursday, October 3, undock at 11.34pm to descend to Earth. Maj Al Mansouri will return to Earth, landing at one of three sites in Kazakhstan.
• On board the ISS already are Russians Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Skvortsov, Nasa astronauts Christina Koch, Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano.

**Hague and Ovchinin are scheduled to wrap up a mission of more than 200 days on October 3 and return to Earth with Maj Al Mansouri

Other news on https://www.thenational.ae (source)

I am expecting a global recession; oil could go to $30 if not $20 a barrel: Raoul Pal, Real Vision

I deal in probabilities, not certainties. There is a lot of leading indicators that suggest that there is trouble ahead, says Raoul Pal, CEO & Co-Founder, Real Vision Group. Excerpts from an interview with ETNOW.

Your first prediction is that forget about contraction, there is a recession which is coming and one should fasten the seatbelts because turbulent times are coming and the fall could be bigger than what we have seen even in 2008.

 I deal in probabilities, not certainties. I am looking at an increasing probability that we are going to enter a difficult period, based on a number of things. Firstly, it is US and global economic growth. As we know we are seeing economic growth on the decline everywhere. Many nations around the world are already in recession. The US looks like it is following suit and my belief is that it is going into recession as a result of the Fed tightening rates a year or so ago.

On top of that, there are the trade tariffs and the Chinese slowdown which put together has created a big problem for the global backdrop. We have seen it with India slowing down as well.

Now the question is, does it fall into something that can get more complex and difficult? It probably does and the bond market is telling us that in Europe and the US in particular, bond yields have been falling sharply and kind of screaming that recession is a big risk

We understand that the Federal Reserve is slowly cutting rates but my view is that they probably would not do enough. I think there is an issue with the US dollar; there is a shortage of dollars offshore and that is driving emerging market currencies and other currencies down versus the US dollar. The most spectacular of all has been the break of the Chinese RMB against the US dollar at that seven level and that is driven by this dollar shortage.

We are about to enter a period from September, October, November where we are going to start taking out even more dollars from the system and there is a complicated part to the financial plumbing of the system where the US treasuries get issued a lot more bills, a lot more debt to start replenishing the savings account that they sent when the debt ceiling was in place.

That plus the extra spending means that the government has to raise something like $600 billion of new capital from the markets and that will be a $600 billion tightening of money coming out from the financial markets. The problem is, there is not enough dollars around globally to deal with that. We have a structural problem in a cyclical slowdown and there is a catalyst out there as well and it makes one really nervous

I have seen it coming for sometime. It has been my core thesis. In March 2018, I saw China slowing down dramatically. Then the trade tariffs came in and we started to see the US slowdown and the bond market yield started falling dramatically. We have started the next part of the cycle -- the rate cutting cycle. We have had only 25 bps cut in the US but the bond market is pricing in a lot more

I have a fear that the Federal Reserve is not reading the situation well enough and that they might underperform. If they do that, then that is likely to ignite the dollar and the bond market again. Maybe we will see more inversion of the curve.

I am expecting us to go into recession globally because I do not see anything to counteract this. Even if there is no more escalation and there is more tariffs to come and most corporates around the world are looking at the global supply chains and making adjustments because they cannot trust the US government stance with regards to where certain nations lie, in terms of favourability: can they manufacture in India or not? Can they manufacture in Mexico or not, we do not know. If you are a corporation, you are not going to make investment decisions. So, that is a recessionary situation, globally.

I do not think we have seen all of that start to flow through yet. Capital expenditure is falling globally. The global PMI is below 50, which would suggest that the world is headed towards recession. We are seeing the US ISM fall below 50, which increases the probability of recession significantly. We are also seeing Germany, China essentially in recession. We are seeing manufacturing, global trade contract everywhere. All major countries are seeing global exports decreasing. We are seeing big ticket items decreasing as well. This is a lot of leading indicators that suggest that there is trouble ahead.

A look at global prices over the last two years suggests that things are going to get worse as is the business cycle at least till the middle of next year. Any optimism seen in the markets currently is probably misplaced. Again I do not deal in certainties, I deal in probabilities. But the balance of evidence suggests that we should continue to see a slowdown and the majority of US data will prove that overtime

Your view is that even though history may not repeat itself, it certainly rhymes and the importance of the dollar index in the near term positioning of risk and emerging markets cannot be dismissed

Generally 80% of all of the performance in emerging markets is explained by the weakness or strength in the US dollar. When the US dollar is strong, emerging markets do badly which is why most emerging markets have not done well over the last few years, as the dollar supply has shrunk. When the dollar is weak, emerging markets tend to do well. Within that, different countries have different cycles and different strengths, etc.

The one that worries me the most, would be South Korea. I think South Korea is getting caught up in the global trade situation. They are already in a trade dispute with Japan, one of its largest trading parties. China, the largest trade counterpart of South Korea, is slowing down dramatically. There is a reasonable amount of debt within South Korea as well and that makes me worry that the South Korean currency is going to weaken significantly and that would see the stock market fall as well.

India may fall into that zone. I am structurally long term a very big India bull but I worry that there is a little too much exposure to India still and there is some disappointment in the economic cycle. I would rather own India from a cheaper place. Although I am not actively looking to short India, I never bet against my structural view. My structural view is much longer term bull.

Your view on India is centred around the fact that you expect that Indian markets to benefit. What is your understanding of other sectors, especially the banks because Indian banks are in unique position right now?

I have been very long on India for a period of time. I closed out most of my longs about eight-nine months ago when I started getting concerned about the bigger picture. I was long on the banks, telecom companies and the Nifty overall. I still think longer term they are okay, but short term, you can see the price action is much choppier and complex and it just feels like there is a rotation.

The Indian government bond market offers great returns in comparison to equities right now and much more surety. You can see that kind of rotation going on. It is the right thing to happen for India. I don’t really have any chart patterns that I am aiming for within India, but I do know that I think bond yields fall significantly over time.

Is the bear market in oil [NSE -0.33 %] here to stay and we may not see $70 or $80 of oil for a really long time?

Yes I think that is right. We are in that most positive seasonality for oil now. It is bouncing around a little bit. There is always news out of Iran, always news out of OPEC. But if you think of the story that I have been telling, the narrative in the market that is explained by the charts, it is one of deflationary and global demand destruction. If that is the case, we should see it in copper, we should see it in oil.

Copper broke a big head and shoulder’s top and looks to be suggesting there is further downside and oil looks like it has fallen some sort of wedge pattern that would allow for a fall down to somewhere around $45 which will be larger support level in a neckline of a much bigger head and shoulder’s top.

If that breaks, which I think it will, because it will be consistent with the dollar and all the other charts, I think oil could go to $30 or if not $20 a barrel which I do not think people are prepared for. Again if you are thinking in Indian terms, that is pretty constructive for India to have one of its largest import costs reduced so dramatically. So that will be a stabilising effect.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Bride-To-Be Invented An Epic IKEA Bag Hack To Protect Her Wedding Dress While Peeing

Your wedding day is one of the most significant milestones in your life, a day to remember forever. But it can also be stressful. With months of meticulous planning, you want everything to go smoothly! So you account for any potential problem that could occur.

However, did you think about how you are going to go to the toilet in a huge wedding dress? With the champagne flowing, there will be frequent pee breaks, and it is hardly realistic to be getting dressed and undressed every time.

A British woman, Tina, has thought of everything and solved this issue with our old friend the IKEA bag. She shared the pictures of her genius hack on IKEA hackers blog, and it quickly went viral.

Cutting a hole in the bottom of the bag, Tina gathers the folds of the dress and lifts the bag, putting the straps over her shoulders. Now the fancy, ‘mermaid-style’ wedding dress is all in one neat package, and will not get sullied by a dirty bathroom floor. Smart, right?

Source: http://www.thinkinghumanity.com