On the plus side, everybody gets a five-day weekend. The downside? An economy in tatters, rampant inflation and a country in the dark. Literally. Venezuela's 2.8 million government employees will be working just Mondays and Tuesdays for the next two weeks at least, President Nicolas Maduro announced on Tuesday.
Having the world's largest proven oil reserves, at almost 25 per cent of the global total (Saudi Arabia takes the silver medal at 22 per cent), is both a blessing and a curse.
Venezuela is the mother of all non-diversified economies, with 95 per cent of the country's export earnings coming from oil, so paying workers while oil prices are in the dumps is a challenge, even if the lights were on.
But the electricity (or lack thereof) is an even bigger concern at the moment. Hydroelectric power may be greener than other sources, but a severe drought has reduced water levels to the breaking point at the country's main dam, which supplies two-thirds of Venezuela's power, Reuters reports.
Everyone needs to pitch in and do their part in dealing with the national crisis. So step up to the plate, ladies, and turn off those hair dryers.
Yes, that's just one of several ways Venezuela can conserve its precious energy resources, Mr. Maduro said in an appeal to the country, as the PanAm Post reported this month.
"During this 60-day period the hair dryer should have minimum use. Do you think you can do it, women? The clothes dryer and the hair dryer are high-energy consumers. The iron, too. We must raise awareness about this," Mr. Maduro said.
It must have been hard for the nation's women to resist his entreaties when he turned the charm factor up to 11.
"I think a woman looks more beautiful when she combs her hair with her fingers and then lets it dry naturally," he said.
So let's applaud the tousle-haired women of Venezuela for providing power to the people.
Cold comfort
Who'd have thunk it, but one of the coolest holiday destinations out there is down under. No, not Australia. We're talking way down under. As in Antarctica.
The number of travellers to hit its shores this season is expected to top the record high of 46,000 set in 2007-08, before the global financial crisis pulled the rug out from under luxury travel, Bloomberg reported Monday.
The first large-scale luxury cruise through the Arctic's Northwest Passage will set sail this August, as Disclosures reported earlier this month.
Racking up sailings to both ends of the Earth might be the ultimate bucket-list adventure.
Fifty years ago, Swedish entrepreneur Lars-Eric Lindblad led the first commercial expedition to Antarctica. In the brochure for this year's sailing, he describes how one day, while sitting around a campfire in Mongolia in 1964, watching the distant launch of a Russian missile (as one does), he announced to his fellow travellers that their next destination would be Antarctica.
He also says the fireside decision was made while "inspired by the koumiss," described in a footnote as "consisting of fermented mare's milk, slightly effervescent and carrying a wallop."
Which probably explains how anyone could come up with the idea of spending their next vacation in Antarctica.
Smarter than your average scale
Finnish telco group Nokia announced Tuesday that it was snapping up French-based Withings SA for €170-million ($244-million) in a bid to expand its footprint in the burgeoning industry of the Internet of Things. Nokia is especially keen on the digital health sector.
Once one of Europe's most valuable brands, Nokia phones were everywhere. Then Apple came along with one. And the rest, for Nokia anyway, is history. Since cutting the phone business loose in a deal with Microsoft two years ago, Nokia has been rebuilding its business in telecommunications networks and connectivity.
And that brings us to your bathroom. Who'd have thought the Internet of Things would worm its way there, but if you were to buy the latest in bathroom scales, you'd have a device that not only tells you your weight, but also your body fat percentage and your body mass index (BMI).
The Withings Smart Body Analyzer is possibly the most upscale of scales out there. Not only can it do the basic fancy smart-scale stuff, it also measures heart rate and air quality. (This last feature is probably not available in Beijing, as the result would likely send your heart rate soaring.)
Think that's fancy enough? Well, guess again. Your new smart scale is connected to your WiFi network to store and track your measurements. So not only will your scale be able to tell you you're fat and flabby, it will also follow you around to remind you that you're fat and flabby.
Buddhism with batteries
You knew it had to happen. As technology continues its great leaps forward and we become ever more interconnected (see bathroom scales, above), even an ancient Chinese temple has caught up.
At the 500-year-old Longquan Buddhist temple near Beijing, you will find the yellow-robed Xian'er, chanting mantras and expounding upon the faith.
What's unique about Xian'er is that he's a 60-centimetre-tall robot monk.
Its creator, Master Xianfan, told Reuters that Xian'er is at the intersection of science and faith, which "are not opposing nor contradicting and can be combined and mutually compatible."
(It's not the first time Buddhism has embraced technology: In February, Disclosures wrote about Amazon Japan's monk delivery service Obo-san bin, which provides monks for funerals for a fee, plus transportation and a donation.)
According to Reuters, Xian'er spends most of his days meditating (on a shelf in an office).
But if you get an audience with him, your conversation will be pretty limited. He's programmed to answer 20 simple questions – among them, according to a report in The New York Times gleaned from WeChat, "What is love?" and "Who is Xi Jinping?"
You can also ask the biggie: "What is the meaning of life?" Spoiler alert: The answer is helping more people finally leave behind bitterness and gain happiness. So now you know.
Taking Britain for a ride
French theatre director Ariane Mnouchkine called Disneyland Paris "a cultural Chernobyl" back in 1992, so she was pretty clearly not a big fan of the Mouse.
While Disney won't be bringing its magic to Britain, the country will see a massive Hollywood-style theme park in a deal signed with Paramount Pictures worth as much as £2-billion ($3.6-billion), The Independent reported Tuesday.
Attractions will be based on films, including Mission: Impossible and The Godfather. (Perhaps a roller coaster that drops a horse's head on you, then riddles your car with bullets?)
Set to be built on 353 hectares in the southeast county of Kent, the project is being developed by London Resort Company Holdings Ltd., whose majority owner is Kuwait's Al-Humaidi family.
Anyone planning to make the trip two years from now to attend the ribbon cutting will be disappointed. The opening date was originally 2018 but has since been pushed back to 2021 due to "an accounting error," The Independent reported.
London Resort said it suffered the setback in February when it overstated its cash assets, claiming it had more than £291,000 in the bank when in fact it had only £952 ($1,747).
If you were to base the new theme park's prices on Disneyland Paris's ticket price of €284 ($408) for a family, London Resort's cash assets work out to about the cost of admission for four families. So clearly there needs to be a little more money in the pot to get things going.