Why BIC cap has a hole on the top ? To save lives!!

Everyone’s familiar with these ballpoint pens. But very few people have ever really thought about why the cap has a hole on top of it.

In 1991, the BIC company presented the world with a new design solution for its pens which remained completely unnoticed by the majority of people: there was now a small hole in the top of the cap of their extremely popular Cristal Pen.

Many people paid no attention to this innovation. Yet at the same time, the decision to adopt this design has saved the lives of a large number of children. More than a hundred children, to be precise. As well as a slightly smaller number of adults. Every year.

Small children love to taste all kinds of objects which fall into their hands, especially small ones which they can fit whole in their mouths. Adults, on the other hand, love to chew on the cap of a pen when they’re concentrating intensely, or when nervous. A pen cap can very easily get lodged in a person’s windpipe, causing them to choke. In such situations, that little hole in the cap helps a person get enough oxygen whilst the ambulance is on its way.

BIC’s decision to adopt the design solution was backed by all the other large manufacturers of pens, whilst the the British Standards Institution produced an amendment into its existing recommendations for this particular item’s production and use.

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6 Renovation Mistakes You Need to Avoid and Should Never Make Again

Whether you are completing a home project yourself or hiring a contractor home renovation mistakes can really turn out to be expensive enough. Home renovation and remodelling projects can turn out to be stressful enough on their own without the expensive mistakes that could cost the owners with their time and money. Anyone who has been looking out for minor renovations need to keep their eye closed for the 6 common mistakes that they need to avoid and should never make again as it could get expensive when not avoided.

 

Do not take things for granted: Not many home owners are rich, most have a budget before they go ahead and make an investment in the property that they have choosen. Renovations are different and though you have experts who exist and have home owners to take their renovations in an affordable stages. Designers, contractors, architects and the interior design specialists are available to all the home aid owners in planning their makeovers one step at an affordable time.

Starting demo without a plan: The prep work generally seems to be lengthy process, even carrying out small steps such as pulling up carpet or buying some initial supplies can turn out to be a costly mistake. Before any demo or construction takes place the owners should have permits, budget and a timeline with a comprehensive plan being set.

Not Getting Multiple quotes: Just as every home renovation project turns out to be unique, the qualifications and quotes for every home are quite different. So try and have conversations with atleast three construction organization in order to get the quotes from them. Understand the specifics of what this quotes generally entails such as warrantee, guarantee and material types etc. Never assume that the option given to you is the lowest one.

Being overconfident: Before you begin with any kind of an update try and evaluate your own listings. Praising your own project may sound to be appealing enough but if you lack with all the necessary skills required, it would then require an outsourced contractor to repair your mistakes. A simple YouTube video here could make some of the updates look very easy, but respect the experience professionals who have a planning, potential challenges and best practices.

Changing your mind a lot: Once the renovation of your project has started then try your best and stick to it. Do a walk through with your interior designer or contractor before the work starts so that everyone is on the same page, and there won’t be any kind of surprises. Stick to your mind and do not get things changed on frequent basis. A lot many individuals generally get persuaded enough by their contractor, the interior designer, family members or friends in order to change something only to regret it.

Carrying out hidden updates in order to improve the value: Most home owners would want to improve the value of their property with any money that they reinvest back into their home, but hidden upgrades are not an effective way you could accomplish it. So those who are looking out to improve the value of your home need to focus on projects like updating an entryway or creating an outdoor living for a minimum return of investment.

So want to avoid the renovation mistakes, then the above mentioned could help. What other renovation mistakes you think that the homeowners could actually avoid. Share your comments below.

About Author:

 Ankita Aggrawal is a business architect in real estate industry. She has 5 years of experience and she has got knowledge about various real estate projects including commercial properties,Residential properties,bunglows,Flats and Villa Projects in Bangalore

WhatsApp adds end-to-end encryption to chat and calls

Update your WhatsApp today and you will receive a new message with a lock at the beginning “Messages  you send to this chat and calls are now secured with end-to-end encryption. Tab for more info”

whatapp secure message

The app had encryption since november 2014 but today they accomplished complete communications encryption throughout the whole application, beside the regular text messages encryption which was already available, WhatsApp now protects voice calls, video chats and group messages.

This protection is available throughout all the platforms that WhatsApp runs on including Android, iOS and BB10 and others, all you have to do is update the latest version from your store(google play, iTunes…).

A thumbs up for Open Whisper Systems who worked on achieving this open source messaging encryption.

On a side note, in this same update WhatsApp added a new option for attaching pdf files, when attaching a PDF, you can now tap “Browse other docs..” to pick a PDF from another source, like Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive.

Drop us a comment if you have any thoughts on this topics.