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Budget-friendly Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day
“We are most alive when we are in love,” according to John Updike. People around the world celebrate Valentine’s day on 14th February as a day of love. Valentine's Day is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate how much you care for your partner. However, due to the economic slowdown, post-pandemic effect, and many other reasons, many couples can't spend money to get their partner expensive gifts on this special day. Let's find out some ideas to celebrate Valentine's Day in affordable ways.
Affordable Ways to Have a Special Valentine’s Day
Set a Budget for the Day
The first step towards saving significantly on Valentine's Day is establishing a budget. Consider what additional costs you have for the month, what bills need to be paid, and the amount of money you will have left over after paying your bills.
Most importantly, after you've established a Valentine's Day budget, adhere to it! If you and your significant other have a financial strategy or objective, they will appreciate this action.
Read More: 2023 Valentine’s Day Deals, Offers by Different Brands in Bangladesh
Make DIY Cards and Gifts
For many celebrants, Valentine's Day is about spending time and expressing affection and appreciation for a loved one. Certainly, extravagant presents are lovely, but most recipients will not anticipate them. They may even want a more personalized approach. Anyone may acquire diamonds, but not everyone has the ability to be inventive and produce something valuable.
By creating your own Valentine's Day card, you may immediately save a significant amount of money. It just requires scissors, paper, and a customized, sincere message. Add a piece of handmade music, bake a delicious treat, or take it to the next level by creating jewelry from craft shop supplies.
Plan a Home Dining Event
If you truly want to save money on Valentine's Day, have the whole supper at home. Then you may splurge on appetizers, entrees, desserts, and beverages at half the price. Additionally, this creates a much more intimate and personal encounter.
Read More: 10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Wife
Create a customized playlist of your favorite tunes and light some candles. In addition, your significant other will appreciate the additional effort you are doing to establish the atmosphere. They won't even suspect you're attempting to save money by dining at home.
2023 Valentine’s Day Deals, Offers by Different Brands in Bangladesh
The season of love is upon us again this year. It feels like love is definitely in the air as the cold sultry winter makes way for the warm and charming spring. Every year, different brands and hotels come up with exciting offers to make Valentine’s day memorable for the lovebirds. Here’s a list of offers, deals, and discounts in Bangladesh for Valentine’s Day 2023.
Exciting Offers and Deals to Celebrate Valentine’s 2023 in Bangladesh
We’ve decided to break down all the deals and discounts into several categories for your ease. Head over to the one you’re most excited about, or go through them all to find out what works best for you.
Dine Out and Staycations
Every year, a gross chunk of deals and offers are found in different upscale hotels and eateries across Dhaka. This year is also no different. Here are a few offers we’re most excited about.
Amari Dhaka
Amari Dhaka is offering a luxurious staycation experience complete with a buffet for two on the occasion of Valentine’s day. The rate for their deluxe double starts at 12,223 BDT and goes up to 19,223 with the buffet perk included. You can also avail candlelight dinner or high tea experience if you’re not willing to stay the night. Candlelight dinner will cost around 6,499 BDT, whereas the high tea will set you back at 1,450 BDT.
Read More: 10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Wife
Best Western Plus Maple Leaf
Best Western Hotel is also offering Valentine’s getaway experience complete with a candlelight dinner for 14,000 BDT. You can also avail of this candlelight dinner and their grand buffet for 5000 and 3400 BDT respectively.
Hotel Sarina Dhaka
Hotel Sarina also offers a host of amenities with their lunch and dinner buffet. Their 7-course couple dinner will set you back 5000 BDT. They also have a staycation offer with complimentary breakfast and lunch for 12,000 BDT.
Dhaka Regency
Dhaka Regency is hosting Valentine’s on the Skyline with their signature Grill on the Skyline restaurant. The dinner event offers it all, from live BBQ, enchanting music, cake, and photo frames. This offer is valid on a first-come, first-served basis and will only apply to the first 50 couples. This luxury BBQ dinner will set you back around 8,585 BDT.
Read More: With Ekushey, Pahela Falgun and Valentine’s Day in Feb, Jashore flower farmers eye huge sales
Intercontinental Dhaka
This year, Intercontinental Dhaka has brought their Valentine's theme to three of their signature restaurants. The Elements, Amber Room, and the Aquadeck. The cost of a candlelight dinner at each restaurant is around 15,000 BDT.
Le Meridien
Le Meridien has also introduced a six-course dinner set meal for couples on Valentine’s day. Their grand buffet will set the diners back at 8500 BDT, whereas the six-course poolside candlelight dinner will range from 16,000 to 19500 BDT.
Several other restaurants and hotels like Izakaya, Hongbao, and Thai Emerald will also announce their Valentine’s day offers soon.
Read More: How Can Singles Celebrate Valentine's Day Cheerfully?
10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Wife
Valentine's Day is celebrated worldwide on February 14 showing respect to Saint Valentine who died for love. Later it has become a celebration of romance and love in most countries of the world. Valentine’s Day is the time to show how much you love your wife. So, we are here with 10 romantic valentine’s gift ideas for your wife.
Best Romantic Gift Ideas for Women on Valentine's Day 2023
AirPods Pro
If your wife loves music, get her the gift she really wants this year which is the AirPods Pro. It has an active noise cancellation feature that blocks outside noise. It's adaptive EQ tunes the music to your ears. The three sizes of silicone tips of AirPods pro give you an extra-customized fit. Moreover, a sensor lets you easily answer calls, adjust the volume, and more. So, what stops you from giving AirPods Pro to your lovely mate?
Jewelry
Females love jewelry. You can give her gold, diamond, or pearl jewelry. It can be earrings, necklaces, or pendants. She might have many collections but a gift on valentine’s day can make her feel special and loved.
Read More: 15 Gift Ideas for a Newborn Baby
Stainless Steel Ice Cream Maker
Treat your wife with a handy gadget like an ice cream maker. It is a fully automatic device. It can create two quarts of frozen yogurt, ice cream, and sorbet in 25 minutes to 30 minutes. It will be a unique and exceptional gift for her and most importantly it will be usable. When she uses it, she will recall her love for her.
Portable LED Lamp
Lighting can be the best gift for her if she loves interior design. An indoor or outdoor rechargeable lamp design can help her decorate the home or garden. A portable LED lamp radiates a beautiful, warm light as much as your Valentine. It has different brightness settings that help you to give extra vibrancy to the room.
Leather Cardholder
Working women love leather wallets. You can give your wife a leather cardholder that she really loves to get. Various types and brands of leather cardholders are available in the market. You can choose a fancy one for your wife to wow her this Valentine's day.
Read More: Mother's Day Gift Ideas: Best Presents for the Best Person You Know
Love Note Messenger
Definitely, this gift comes directly from the heart. It is the messenger that can send notes, photos, images, and animations, and the heart on the box spins when there's new content to take in. Show your creative and affectionate side with this lovely gift to your lovely wife.
Nagad-Rokomari book fair begins
Mobile financial services provider Nagad has come up with an instant cashback of up to 21 percent for book lovers on payments for books bought from the two-month Nagad-Rokomari online book fair 2023.
The online fair that began Wednesday will continue on March 31. Customers will be able to enjoy the offer more than once, according to a media statement.
Under this campaign, customers can enjoy a cashback of up to Tk75 on each transaction and a maximum of Tk100 during the entire campaign only if they buy books from the Rokomari website and make payments through Nagad.
The offer, however, will not be valid if the payment is made via the Nagad app or USSD (*167#).
Md Shihab Uddin Chowdhury, chief sales officer of Nagad, said, "The month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair 2023 began today. In the month of Language Movement, we have also started the two-month Nagad-Rokomari Online Book Fair 2023 to encourage our customers to read books."
OnnoRokom Group Chair Mahmudul Hasan Sohag said: "Currently, rokomari.com has a collection of two lakh books with over 80,000 writers and more than 8,000 publishers associated with it. The book delivery service from Rokomari is also available for the customers' convenience."
Thrive: A Non-Profit Organization’s Attempt to Answer Hunger
Food is one of the most important basic human rights. Even though global food production is more than the demand, the geopolitical and distributional bureaucracy causes 10% of the global population to go hungry each day. Against the backdrop of such a pressing issue, one organization is aiming to challenge the status quo with one child and one meal at a time. Here’s the inspiring story of Thrive.
What is Thrive?
Thrive is a 501c3 and Bangladesh Registered Trust that currently operates in Bangladesh and the Philippines. Thrive was co-founded and started by Priscilla Heffelfinger, Regina Landor, and Gina Gabel. The main goal of the organization is to provide nutritious meals to school-going children every day.
The Story of Thrive
It all started back in 2012. Priscilla Heffelfinger has just moved to Dhaka, accompanying her husband, who was the country director of CDC and had a role with ICDDR, B. Priscilla Heffelfinger, along with Regina Landor and Gina Gabel, saw hungry children and knew they wanted to help.
Read More: Majority of children with disabilities are not enrolled in any formal education: Survey
They asked local schools what they needed most, and the resounding response was food. The children were either not showing up or were too hungry to learn took the first initiative for a definitive answer to student hunger.
Thrive grew, but not overnight. It took the work and dedication of many volunteers willing to give their time to help hungry kids. While Thrive began as an expat start-up, it grew due to the generous support of the Bangladesh community.
Local leaders Amna Rahman, Sadia Moyeen, and Kanwal Bhagat, who joined in 2013, propelled Thrive’s work by engaging local individuals and companies to commit financial support, in-kind donations, and their volunteer talents to expand our work to feed more needy schoolchildren.
Read More: RU teachers ‘beat’ students on hunger strike
But there were a lot of constraints while starting. The idea was to help socially neglected children by means of support. But support how exactly?
The Need for Food
While doing groundwork, Priscilla and her team found that the most pressing need for growing children is the lack of adequate micro and macro nutrients. Social welfare schools set up for economically challenged students pointed out that the immediate need for such institutes isn’t often money. Rather a meal since a fair share of students are unfed or half fed.
Going hungry often challenges these students to reevaluate their priorities. As a result, there are a large number of student dropouts who opt for wage-earning instead of going to school.
Read More: Imprisoned Egyptian activist calls off hunger strike
Priscilla and her team thought of this as the exact opportunity. Having worked in the development sector for over 20 years, Priscilla understood the imminent need. A mix of two basic human rights is fulfilled through food.
How Does Thrive Work?
Thrive is different from traditional NGOs or INGOs in Bangladesh in the sense that it was initially an expat-led social venture that aimed to work with students from slum areas. The venture has been supported by both local and international well-wishers and has seen rapid growth over the years.
Currently, Thrive serves nutritious meals to over 12000 students each week in Bangladesh and the Philippines. Thrive claims that there is an imminent wait list of another 3000 students waiting to be incorporated into their meal plan.
Read More: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021: UN Report
Now feeding hungry children and school performance may seem unrelated. But from the socio-economic concept of Bangladesh, where 50 million people live in extreme poverty, it's not surprising that child labor is ever so prevalent. These children turn into breadwinners for themselves and their families while they should have been studying.
With a nutritious meal each day, hunger is addressed. The balanced diet ensures children are getting their essentials which act as brain fuel. The culmination is increased concentration, focus, physical and mental development as well as increased attendance in classes.
5 New Year Resolutions that are actually achievable
The wheels of time are running and another year is going to end in our life. As the new year approaches new possibilities are coming. To build a successful life and career in 2023 it is essential to make plans and determinations. However, making big plans and tough targets might lead to failure. Let’s find out 5 attainable New Year resolutions that will help you to be successful in professional life and relationships.
5 New Year Resolutions for Better Life and Career
Learn a New Language
Learning a new language opens a door of opportunities. Usually, people learn at least one international language in schools besides their mother language. For instance, in Bangladesh, English is taught in educational institutes as an international language. Besides English, there are many other international languages like German, French, Chinese, Russian, etc.
If you can make a resolution to learn a new international language, it will not only help you find new employment options; but also sharpen your mind.
Read More: 10 Most Useful Foreign Languages to Learn in 2022
Learn a New Life Skill
Many adults lack basic life skills like cooking, swimming, driving, etc. However, your life might go on without knowing the basic life skills. But life skills can make you more confident. And who knows sometimes life skills can save your life during emergency situations.
If you wish to learn any certain life skill, but couldn’t do that due to lack of time or other reasons, take it as your new year's resolution. You can reserve a certain time in your daily routine or make plans on the weekend to learn and practice your desired life skill.
Read More: 10 Essential Life Skills for Teens to Learn before College
Learn a New Professional Skill
Due to the pandemic many businesses have been affected leaving a blow on the job market in most countries around the world. Therefore, learning a new professional skill like digital marketing, graphic design, video editing, etc can give you scope to earn extra cash through freelancing or outsourcing.
What’s more, you can learn advanced skills regarding your current job or profession. For instance, if you are a programmer, make a resolution to learn an advanced programming language that can strengthen your CV, secure your career and help you make handsome incomes.
Read More: Top 10 In-demand Tech Skills Freshers Should Learn in 2023
Adopt a Good Habit
Humans are built with habits. Some are good while some are bad. The new year gives you the opportunity to rethink your habits.
You can make a resolution to build a good habit considering your health, passion and profession. For instance, if you are doing a desk job, try to build a habit of walking one hour everyday or 3 days a week. If you have dreams of traveling abroad, make a resolution to build a habit of saving.
Read More: Benefits of Reading Habit for Mind and Body
Get Rid of a Bad Habit
Certainly, you have some bad habits that are ruining your precious time or health like smoking, social media addiction, fast food addiction, a sedentary lifestyle, etc. Therefore, you can target one or two habits you want to change and make a resolution in the new year.
Getting rid of an old habit that you have practiced for years won't be easy; but it won't be impossible either. It takes strong determination and patience.
For instance, if you make a new year's resolution to quit smoking, then find alternatives that can discourage you from lighting a cigarette. You can give yourself incentives for the successful attainment of your resolution.
Read More: Post Meal Bad Habits: Things You Must Avoid Right After Eating Meal
Bottom Line
As a new year comes we grow old. Still, experiencing the new year is a blessing and joyful for everyone. Why not make some resolutions to make our life and health better. So far, we have discussed 5 attainable new year resolution ideas for 2023. You can make your own resolutions to make the upcoming year prosperous, peaceful, and felicitous.
Post-Earthquake Cautions: Do’s & Don’ts
After an earthquake, it is important to be cautious and stay safe. Earthquakes can cause significant damage to buildings and human lives. Knowing what to do and what not to do after an earthquake is essential. Let's take a look at the do’s and don’ts after an earthquake.
Potential hazards of earthquakes
Earthquakes can have far-reaching consequences, both immediate and long-term. It can cause immense destruction to lives, communities, buildings, and infrastructure. In addition to that, an earthquake can also trigger landslides, floods, tsunamis, or other secondary hazards.
Human lives are vulnerable to earthquakes. Earthquakes can lead to serious injuries such as broken bones, concussions, and even death.
Earthquakes extensively damage buildings and infrastructure. Buildings may collapse due to shaking or be damaged by falling debris. Bridges, roads, and other transportation routes can also get damaged severely. Furthermore, fires can break out due to broken gas lines or other sources of ignition.
Earthquakes can also lead to environmental hazards, such as landslides, floods, and tsunamis. Landslides are caused by the shaking of the ground, which can cause rocks and soil to become displaced and slide down a slope. Floods can be triggered by heavy rains following the earthquake or by dams that fail due to shaking. Tsunamis are large waves caused by the sudden displacement of large amounts of water by the earthquake and can cause extensive destruction to coastal areas.
Finally, earthquakes can have long-term consequences such as environmental damage, economic loss, and psychological trauma. Earthquakes can cause air and water pollution due to the release of hazardous materials.
Read More: Earthquake Safety: Do’s and Don’ts during an Earthquake
Do’s and Don’ts After an Earthquake
Many people die by falling under the buildings demolished by the earthquake. Therefore, increasing public awareness is necessary to prepare for potential earthquakes and reduce damage. Check the following to know your steps after an earthquake.
- Try to stay calm and check the surroundings.
- Check yourself and others for injuries.
- After the shaking, wait for a while, then exit. Because hanging objects may fall from above after a while.
- Check that gas and electrical appliances are switched off. Also, check for any exposed pipes for gas or water leaks. If you can smell gas, open windows and get out of the home or structure. Get repairs done quickly.
- Turn off the main switch or fuse if there is an electric spark anywhere. Beware of damaged buildings.
- Listen to the radio or, if possible, contact others through mobile for further instructions from the authorities.
- Make a gentle tap on the pipe or wall to make your presence known during the rescue operation. Consider screaming as the last option. Because, while shouting, harmful dust can enter the mouth.Move away from building exteriors and power lines.
- If you are indoors, remain inside and move away from windows.
- If you are outside, move away from any building, infrastructure, tree, and power line.
- Don’t go near the coastline in case of a tsunami warning.
- Don’t try to drive until roads have been cleared of debris.
- Refrain from going sightseeing. Stay away from affected areas.
- Stay away from using elevators or escalators.
- If you suspect damage in the sewer, don’t flash your toilet.
- Cover your nose and mouth with your hand or a handkerchief if you fall into the dust.Engage yourself in rescue work. Help for evacuation of affected people to temporary shelters.
Read More: Landslide Safety, Preparedness Tips: Dos and Don'ts
Final Words
Bangladesh is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world due to unplanned urbanization, non-compliance with required building codes, and sprawling buildings and structures. Since an earthquake is a natural disaster, it cannot be stopped. Therefore, this disaster is possible only through strong and effective post-earthquake institutional management to prevent earthquake pre-preparation and damage.
All public and private organizations must be prepared in advance for earthquakes. That is why it is important to take proper steps for all the organizations, including necessary training to properly concentrate in the post-earthquake period. Development of pre-preparedness is absolutely essential as overall readiness for earthquakes in the current framework is very poor in Bangladesh.
So far, we have discussed the potential hazards of earthquakes and the steps to take after an earthquake. By understanding these post-earthquake cautions, you can better prepare yourself and your family for an earthquake.
Earthquake Safety: Do’s and Don’ts during an Earthquake
Earthquake is a kind of natural disaster that scientists have not yet figured out how to predict. An earthquake can destroy lives, property, cities, and civilizations at the same time. Bangladesh is at extreme risk of the earthquake as the country is unfortunately located between the Indian, Eurasian, and Myanmar tectonic plates. As a result, even moderate earthquakes can cause severe damage. While a large earthquake can cause terrible destruction of lives and structures. For survival during such a disaster, we should keep in mind some earthquake safety measures.
7 Do's and Don'ts During Earthquake
If you understand that an earthquake is happening, you must first try to stay calm to save lives and not panic in any way. Although our brains might not work properly during a disaster, we still need to stay calm and think to better handle the situation. Check the following tips.
Drop, cover, and hold-on methods
The best approach during an earthquake is the ‘drop, cover, hold on’ or ‘duck-cover’ method, as advised by the American Red Cross. That is, when the earthquake starts, sit on the floor, then get under a sturdy table or desk and take cover; choose a desk or cover in such a way that you can move with the cover if necessary.
Read More: 5.2 magnitude earthquake felt in Dhaka, other areas
If a building is earthquake-resistant, it rarely collapses. What happens is that various objects or furniture falling on the body is more likely to cause injury. So, to avoid them, it is important to take shelter under a hard desk or table at this time.
If you are in a wheelchair, lock or close the wheel and cover the head and neck with your hands. If in school, college, or other educational institution, students should take shelter under the hard table with a school bag on their head.
Use a pillow to support your head when in bed. You can take shelter by sitting near the inner wall of the house. Exterior walls or glass windows are dangerous. Stay away from them.
Turn off utility lines
Remember, one of the reasons for earthquake damage is gas and electrical fires. So, the gas stove in the kitchen and the electrical switches in the house should be turned off as soon as possible. Do not light the match or candle until you are sure that there is no gas leakage.
Read More: Death toll from Indonesia earthquake reaches 310 as more bodies found
Wait until the shake stops
If you are on the upper floor, you should wait until the shaking stops. When the shaking stops, quickly go down the stairs and take a position in an open place or a safe place. Avoid jumping the stairs.
If you are in an industrial factory, hospital, market, or cinema hall, do not rush or rush in front of the door. Sit where you are with both hands covering your head. Once the shake stops, it can occur again. So, take the opportunity to get out of the building and try to move to an empty space.
If you are near the sea or river, you should take or climb a high position as soon as possible. If you are outdoors during an earthquake, take shelter in an open area away from tall trees, tall buildings, electric poles, etc.
Stop the car
If you are in a car, pull over instead of blocking the road and stay inside. Stay away from bridges, over bridges, flyovers, underpasses, trees, electric poles, billboards etc. Being outside the car is more likely to get injured. Be careful of cars rushing from behind, and keep an eye on the rear mirror.
Read More: 252 dead as Indonesia earthquake topples homes, buildings, roads
Be prepared to deal with aftershocks
The “main shock” or main earthquake can be preceded and followed by several more mild to moderate earthquakes known as ‘foreshocks’ and ‘aftershocks’. If not careful, these can become even bigger dangers. Typically, the ‘aftershock’ of a large earthquake can last from the first hour to a few days.
Do not walk barefoot
During an earthquake, do not walk barefoot, but wear sturdy shoes to avoid injury from glass, metal, etc. Having an injury during this time will make the situation worse for you.
Do not use lifts
Stairs must be used to get down from high-rise buildings during earthquakes. Never use the elevator. When in an elevator, rush down to the nearest floor.
Read More: Earthquake rocks Nepal, six dead while in sleep
Final Words
Earthquakes caused huge death tolls in different countries in recent years. Increasing public awareness is essential in preparing for potential earthquakes and mitigating the damage. And these do’s, and don’ts during earthquakes will surely help an individual to stay safe and survive.
‘Goblin Mode’: What does Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year mean?
Asked to sum up 2022 in a word, the public has chosen a phrase.
Oxford Dictionaries said Monday that “goblin mode” has been selected by online vote as its word of the year.
It defines the term as “a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”
Read: Survey finds young people follow news, but without much joy
First seen on Twitter in 2009, “goblin mode” gained popularity in 2022 as people around the world emerged uncertainly from pandemic lockdowns.
“Given the year we’ve just experienced, ‘goblin mode’ resonates with all of us who are feeling a little overwhelmed at this point,” said Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl.
The word of the year is intended to reflect “the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the past twelve months.” For the first time this year’s winning phrase was chosen by public vote, from among three finalists selected by Oxford Languages lexicographers: goblin mode, metaverse and the hashtag IStandWith.
Despite being relatively unknown offline, goblin mode was the overwhelming favorite, winning 93% of the more than 340,000 votes cast.
Read: Everyday Habits to Learn English Successfully
The choice is more evidence of a world unsettled after years of pandemic turmoil, and by the huge changes in behavior and politics brought by social media.
Last week Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year is “gaslighting” — psychological manipulation intended to make a person question the validity of their own thoughts.
In 2021 the Oxford word of the year was “vax” and Merriam-Webster’s was “vaccine.”
Steve Jobs' sandals from 1970s sold for nearly $220,000
The California house where Steve Jobs co-founded Apple is a historical site, and now the sandals he wore while pacing its floors have been sold for nearly $220,000, according to an auction house.
The “well used” brown suede Birkenstocks dating to the mid-1970s set a record for the highest price ever paid for a pair of sandals, Julien’s Auctions said Sunday.
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“The cork and jute footbed retains the imprint of Steve Jobs’ feet, which had been shaped after years of use,” the auction house said in the listing on its website.
The sandals were expected to bring $60,000, but the final sale price with an accompanying NFT was $218,750, Julien’s said. The buyer was not named.
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Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1976 at Jobs’ parents’ house in Los Altos, California. In 2013, the property was named a historic landmark by the Los Altos Historical Commission.
Jobs died in 2011 from complications of pancreatic cancer.