Too much water in Paris..
Since 2 or 3 weeks, we have many snowing day,. then when all of this snow melt.. La Seine overflow ! About the Tolbiac Bridge, with a lenght of 168m, it was built between 1879 and 1882, , linking the Parc de Bercy to the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand Area.
From Pont de Tolbiac
How to hide your “facebook relation status” to your girlfriend(s)
Ok, so first, I want to decline all the responsability if you lose your girlfriend after that.. I just want teach you a technical point of Facebook.
As you know, we can set a relationship status on facebook, “single“, “in relationship“, “complicated“,.. That’s really interesting if you have only one girlfriend, but if you want to have a second one, it’s possible, and transparent ! We will use the privacy settings, which is very granular.
On the home page, just go to the Account, then “Privacy settings“. On the setting, let’s go to the “Custom settings” section. Just search for the “Relationships” line.. and use the custom settings.
Custom privacy settings
Then.. you can “blacklist” someone. this person won’t be able to see your relation status ! You can check with the preview profile and select your girlfriend.. then you’ll see what she can see.
This short tutorial also can be use for other purpose, like hide your status or “parties pictures” from your familly.
Pourquoi une telle haine envers les véhicules 4×4 ?
Depuis quelques années, une mouvance populaire veut que les 4×4 soient les vilains canards, tout cela à cause de leur pollution; qui semblerait gâcher le bonheur dans les centres ville. De formation scientifique, je me demande donc comment peut-on associer une “carrosserie” avec consommation d’un moteur, mais cela pourrait s’expliquer par leur poids supérieur aux véhicules berlines.. Nous allons donc nous pencher sur ce sujet.
Premier point important, 4×4 n’est pas un type de véhicule mais un type de transmission. Une transmission 4×4 ou “transmission intégrale”, signifie que les 4 roues sont motrices, au contraire de la propulsion (roues arrières motrices) ou de la traction (roues avants motrices). Il existe donc des berlines 4×4, comme les Audi Quatro, Subaru,.. A contrario, il existe aussi des “véhicules tout terrain” qui ne sont pas des 4×4, comme la bonne partie des SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle).
Après ce petit point de détail, passons au sujet principal, la pollution ! J’entends régulièrement à la télévision, que les “véhicules tout-terrain” sont les responsables de la pollution en ville et que si on les supprime (des centres villes), tout le monde serait heureux. Qu’en est-t-vraiment ? Ces véhicules ne représentant que ~5-6% des ventes (depuis 2005), cela voudrait donc dire qu’ils consomment énormément plus que les berlines et autres compacts.
Nous allons donc prendre quelques exemples.. à moteur équivalent (et non comparer une twingo à un ML500).
Prenons dans les tout-terrain les plus vendus en France (1er trimestre 2010), nous prendrons des modèles classiques, avec motorisation classique:
- Volkswagen Tiguan (6448, + 35%): Essence 1,4L, 150ch, 156 g/km
- Toyota Rav4 (4253, + 44): Essence 150ch, 2WD, BVM, 150 g/km
- Ford Kuga (4169, + 38%): Diesel 136ch, 159 g/km
- BMW X1 (3418, -): Diesel xDrive 2,0L, 139 g/km
Prenons maintenant leurs “équivalents” en non-tout-terrain. Nous prendrons donc des modèles de taille similaire et de motorisation similaire. A notez, que la plupart de ces véhicules sont très diffusés sur le marché français.
- Renault Grand Scenic III: Diesel 2,0L, 160ch, 173 g/km
- Renault Espace: Essence 2,0L, 170ch, 242 g/km
- Peugeot 308 SW: Diesel 2.0L HDI, BMV, 157 g/km
- Mercedes Classe A: Essence 2,0L, BMV, 172 g/km
On va me dire, “hey, mais qu’en est-il des autres 4×4, qui sont gros et qui font peur ? Comme les BMW X5, Mercedes ML,..). Très bien, passons les deux véhicules en revu, bien qu’encore une fois, ils ne représentent qu’une part infime du marché:
- BMW X5: Essence xDrive 3,0L, 225ch, 236 g/km
- BMX X5: Diesel xDrive 3,0L, 180ch, 195 g/km
- Mercedes ML: Essence V6 3,0L, 224ch, 240 g/km
- Peugeot 607: Essense 2,7L, 204ch, 223 g/km
- Mercedes E: Essence 3,0L, 231ch, 180 g/km
- Renault Espace: Essence 2,0L, 170ch, 242 g/km
L’intérêt ici, était de prouver que, à moteur et taille équivalente, nous avions des consommations semblable. Les véhicules tout-terrain ne représente qu’une très faible part du parc automobile en circulation, de plus, les possesseurs de ces véhicules, ont le plus souvent une seconde voiture pour la ville.. mais cela reste un autre sujet.
On fait souvent le procès des tout-terrain, en montrant l’exemple du Mercedes G55 AMG, qui, avec 378 g/km, serait la voiture qui nuirait la plus à nos chères villes.. Avec un V8 5,5L de 507ch, un poids de ~2500kg, et surtout un prix d’environ.. 115.000€.. ce n’est pas vraiment le véhicule que l’on trouve partout dans la rue. D’ailleurs, juste pour information, dans les 30 voitures les plus polluantes en France, on ne retrouve que.. 1 seul et unique tout-terrain :).
La plupart des chiffres proviennent de l’ADEME (Agence de l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie).
BMW X5
A new phone.. HTC Desire HD
Just back in France, and without phone I needed a new phone and new line. I choosed the HTC Desire HD and a monthly plan with SFR (2h, SMS/MMS/Internet Unlimited).
About this phone, the first point is the screen, with a 4,3′ screen, it’s the biggest screen I ever seen. To compare, the iPhone 4 have a screen of only 3,5′. We can fully use the phone application, and use internet is really a pleasure with large pages. Second point, Google android, which is really nice to use. For me, iOS4 is really nice for very end user, but this plateform is really not open.. With Android that’s a little better, we have more choice and more parameters. Third point, the widgets, we have a plenty of widget, from the calendar to the mail, the weather to the clock. That’s something that iPhone’s users cannot imagine. To conclude this very brief review, the phone is really powerful, with the new SnapDragon 1Ghz and 768MB of RAM.
Important point of this phone:
- Very large screen 4,3′
- Google Android 2.2 Froyo
- Widgets
- SnapDragon Processor 1Ghz with 768MB RAM
HTC Desire HD
Back in France..
Yes ! Finally back in France after more than 2 years in China. I should say that France didn’t change so much, still so many difficulties, everything is expensive, people seems to be unhappy and angry all the time. Weather is cold.. maybe colder than Beijing, on the road to home, we even had some snow.
I’m now looking for a new job and new opportunities, feel free to contact me or just have a look on my resume. I’m mostly interested in IT Project Management positions, but still open to other domains.
What is Luduan (甪端)
Luduan (甪端), also called “Keeper of the Truth“ comes from the chinese mythology, it’s a kind of beast which could detect the truth amonth the humans. In the Qing dynasty (清朝), some emperor such as Qianlong (乾隆帝) would surround his throne with luduan in order to properly subdue his subjects.
Luduan 甪端
Beijing apartment rental guide
I live since more than 2 years in China, move very often, and had many different situations when come to question “which flat should I choose?”
Location
First operation, is to choose a location. Even the have subways, buses and cheaper taxis, Beijing is a quite large city. So basically, don’t find a place which is more than 45min, door-to-door from your work place, or your daily life will be terrible.
Transportation is also an important point, choose a place with subway not too far (less than 1km), if this station can be an interconnection with 2 lines, it will be even better (Dongdan 东单, Guomao 国贸, Dongzhimen 东直门,..).
An optional point, think about where you live should be too far from your friends or “evening/night” places. It’s quite annoying to spend 50rmb taxi everytime you want meet your friends. Normally if you live inside the 4th ring, it will be fine.
Building/Living
Now you know in which areas you want to live, so we can now pick up a building in these areas. My first advice will be to really take care of the building age. Buildings built before 2000/2001 are really “old” and mostly not really suitable for “foreigners”, or maybe if you really want to find low price flats..
Normally it’s not a problem in China, but check if there is all the convenient store near your home, a small supermarket, some small restaurants, some coffee shop, some small chinese shop where you can buy your daily baijiu,.. Because it’s very annoying to take subway or bus just because you need some sugar.. But one more time, normally it’s not a problem, in China there is always shops near your home !
About the building, or maybe the complex of building, you should take a look of the place, if it’s clean, have trees,.. another important point, does the place have guard? Doors are closed (not broken..) ? Check if the building have lifts.. because 5 floors are nothing.. but everyday climb 5 floors, you’ll hate yourself very fast.
Flat himself
Ok, now we have a precise place to live, so we can start to visit some flats.
The flat is more a personal choice or.. heart choice, so I cannot be very detailled here. Just keep in mind some basics points.
Check the kitchen don’t be shy and try to open the closets or cupboards.. sometimes we really have big surprises.. Do they give you some equipment (rice cooker and cie). Check the bathrooms, open the water, try the hot/cold water, also check if there’s no special problems with the shower. Check the bedrooms, check the heater/airconditioner, check the view, it still better to see a park than a parking. Check the living room, check the tv and equipment, the sofa is ok, not too old or dirty… also prefer wood floor, its really better for the foot.
The size of flats should be a problem in China, it will always be bigger than what you can have in another country.
Other tips..
If you are really new in China, maybe you haven’t idea about the price here. Let say that:
- studio/1 bedroom: 1500-4000 rmb/month (classical medium price: ~3000rmb)
- 2 bedrooms: 3500-6000 rmb/month (classical medium price: 4000rmb)
- 3 bedrooms: 5000-8000 rmb/month (classical medium price: 6000rmb)
I’ll try to make a Beijing make with the price by square meter when I have time. But normally it’s something like that:
- Luxury flat, new building: 100rmb/sqm/month
- Normal quality, new building: 60rmb/sqm/month
- Normal quality, old building: 50rmb/sqm/month
- Low quality, old building: 30-40rmb/sqm/month
Please don’t take these price very seriously, this is just to give you a brief idea. Also don’t forgot, a price should be negociated, you always can grap some hundreds.. :)
Beijing CBD view