My Life on this planet.

The Chinese Pavilion and Japanese Tower, two beautiful buildings in Laken, Belgium, that you wouldn't expect here but are perfect in the country of surrealism. In 2013 the buildings were closed because of stability problems. The administration responsible for the maintenance of the buildings promised they would start restoration that should end in 2021, but at the start of 2023 little happened to these iconic, and now protected buildings . In another part of Brussels you can visit the recently restored Hallepoort / Porte de Hal (Halle Gate). Now, a discussion about the future of these buildings started as the  owner Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) wants to sell them .  Chinese Pavilion and Japanese Tower These two buildings, located in Laken in the north of Brussels, were museums that housed Asian art, Chinese art in the Chinese Pavilion and Japanese art in the Japanese Tower and they are collectively known as Museums of the Far East. After the closure of the buildings...

It seems lower and middle ranking universities in the UK are wasting lots of money on ads to attract students . Indeed, wasting. But also higher ranking universities are begging but differently and hidden, i.e. by contacting old students to ask money to support students from poorer background; unfortunately, I'm not rich myself. Great institutions in London, both old (such as UCL and King's College London) and new (such as the Francis Crick Institute - why not named after the woman Rosalind Franklin who had a major contribution to the discovery of DNA but was not awarded the Nobel price and is now refused that a building was named in her honour) But these universities, certainly the higher ranking ones, knew this would happen or they should not be allowed to teach economy. Yes, some advertisements are needed but waste large sums of money on ads to attract students while the problem is that courses became too expensive at over £9000. A bigger effect on student numbers ma...

Four in 10 UK first-time buyers will retire with mortgages, FCA warns As was predictable (and as I wrote about before, see here ) houses become much too expensive so that people, in order to be able to buy a house, need to take ever higher mortgages that with ordinary salaries need to be repaid over ever longer periods and now for a growing number of people well into their retirement. A house, ones regarded as a good investment for later, now seems to become a burden for many. I think people should stop buying houses to force a correction or prices may continue to increase until a new crisis may hit and those who bought now will impoverish. Yes, after the financial crisis that was a result of among others inflated house prices whereby too many people were no longer able to repay, some people warned against uncontrolled housing markets but it may all repeat itself. And, even as an investment, when houses become too expensive, also the rent will go up and more difficult to let. ...

Cities are most likely the way forward with a growing number of very large cities although these megacities will be mainly located outside the USA and Europe, if migration slows down. These cities develop because people can find jobs and socialise. But, in order to remain viable, I think clean energy by the use of renewables, including electric cars, as well as waste water that is cleaned so it can be used again as drinkable water or to clean toilets is the way forward. At the same time, nature between cities should be allowed to recover so plants and animals can return. A series about the development of cities into possible future megacities , such as Lagos that grew from unknown to one of the largest cities in the world while some predict it may further grow to a population close to 100 million people. Still, I don't think this will happen soon although I may be called a racist for this. In Africa, people quickly fight with each other over resources, even when plenty are avai...

I belong to a chain of gyms and although I enjoy doing some exercises, there are many moments I think about all the other things I could do (such as meeting friends or practising my hobbies) if sport was not a necessity to keep body and mind in good health. But afterwards, in general I feel better and more relaxed unless I exaggerated. Before going to the gym, I eat something small to get some energy, thereby disobeying experts by eating a snack (e.g. snicker or bounty) so I don’t feel exhausted after a short exercise while life is also much too short to not enjoy the joys of life. But I agree, people who want to lose weight can exercise while getting energy from burning fat and thus should not eat something in advance. Current situation Recently many gyms were renovated: redesign of the different areas and installation of new equipment so gyms improved, except their changing rooms. In these areas, the gyms changed the system how water from showers is collected but also the entran...

An article published in The Guardian describes how mass timber projects in Portland, Oregon and New York City are believed to offer eco-friendly dwellings while the article questions whether ‘ plywood on steroids ’ can actually catch on in the industry. Wood According to the article, building mid-to-high rise wooden buildings may be a good alternative to building concrete buildings. It mentions that concrete needs to be transported and as it is heavy and fossil fuels are used, the transport results in the release of large quantities of green house gasses while wood is lighter and thus less of these gasses are released. The article also mentioned it ' will be New York City’s first to use mass timber systems '. According to Amir Shahrokhi, one of the benefits of wooden houses is that the use of plenty of wood has demonstrated " ... to have considerable psychological benefits for the inhabitants, from reduced hearts rates and stress levels to improved productiv...