How to start a letter

Hong Kong (CNN) — An Australian schoolboy with dreams of setting up his own airline has penned a letter to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce asking for advice.

In the letter, which Qantas shared on Twitter this week, 10-year-old Alex Jacquot writes he is already the CEO of an airline called "Oceania Express" and urges Joyce to "please take me seriously."

"I have already started some stuff like what type of planes I'll need, flight numbers, catering and more," writes Jacquot in the letter, which has since gone viral on social media.

Jacquot claims he has already hired a chief financial officer, an IT head and a head of maintenance, among other key roles.

But the budding air travel entrepreneur says he's keen to get a few specific pieces of advice from Joyce while he's on school holidays and has time to work on his new airline.

Notably, he asks if the Qantas CEO can offer some general tips and says -- like Qantas -- he too is thinking about A350 planes for Sydney/Melbourne to London flights but questions how people can get a decent sleep during a 25-hour journey.

CEO to CEO

Jacquot's aspirations didn't go unnoticed either.

"Our competitors don't normally ask us for advice, but when an airline leader reached out, we couldn't ignore it," says Qantas in a tongue-in-cheek Twitter post.

In his response, Joyce writes he normally doesn't give advice to competitors but will make an exception as he, too, was "once a young boy who was so curious about flight and all its possibilities."

As for Jacquot's request for tips, Joyce advises him to put "safety front and center." When it comes to those long flights to London, he tells the young CEO that Qantas is looking at "different designs that give people spaces to stretch out and exercise."

Joyce also invited him for a personal meeting to brainstorm ideas and a tour of Qantas' Operation Centre.

A 10-year-old boy with a dream to start his own airline wrote to the CEO of Qantas Airways last month and was thrilled to receive a personal response from the managing director himself.

Alex Jacquot from Australia penned a touching letter to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce seeking tips on how to make his future company a success.

READ MORE: 10-year-old's powerful poem about dyslexia goes viral 

In the handwritten note, the schoolboy explained that he has started an airline named Oceania Express with friends taking on the roles of Vice CEO, CFO, Head of Maintenance and Head of Onboard Services.

He later asks for help on three topics from tips on kick-starting the airline to helping passengers sleep comfortably on a 25-hour flight from Sydney to London.

"Seeing as it is the school holidays, I have more time to work," he wrote. "But I don't have anything to do (that I can think of). Do you have any ideas of what I can do?"

In the letter, Jacqout also asks the CEO to take him seriously despite his tender age.

To the young boy's delight, he swiftly received a response in the post with Joyce writing that although he doesn't usually offer advice to "competitors", he's willing to make an exception.

READ MORE: Airline reunites bridesmaid with dress and saves the wedding

After offering tips on how to ensure his forthcoming airline is safe and comfortable for passengers, he asked Jacqout to a private meeting to "compare notes on what it's like to run an airline".

"I would like to invite you to a Project Sunrise meeting between myself, as the CEO of Australia's oldest airline, and you, as the CEO of Australia's newest airline," Joyce replied. "And I'd like to offer you a tour of our Operations Centre (where we keep an eye on every Qantas flight, wherever they are in the world."

Jacquot was admittedly overwhelmed with the response and told Brisbane-based radio station 4BC: "I ripped open the envelope and I quickly read it and I was so excited, I was running around the house for ten minutes. I can't believe it."

Unsurprisingly, the heartwarming exchange proved a hit on social media with Twitter users praising the airline for "taking young people seriously":

We recently had an important day in New Jersey history when it comes to clean energy. On the same day the Board of Public Utilities took the first major step in making offshore wind a reality, Oyster Creek nuclear plant closed for good. This is a sign of how we are transitioning from dirty energy to cleaner, safer energy.

The plan to open solicitations for wind developers for 1,100 megawatts of energy production off our coast is the most ambitious wind plan in the nation. This moves us forward with Gov. Phil Murphy's goal of 3,500 megawatts by 2030. Wind power can provide a third of New Jersey's electrical needs without contributing to climate change or air pollution.

At the same time, the oldest nuclear plant in the country is closing. We have been fighting to close the Oyster Creek plant in Lacy Township for years because of safety and environmental concerns. The plant polluted Barnegat Bay and was a disaster waiting to happen. Now that it's closed, we can put more energy into moving forward with renewable energy.

If we truly want to move toward a clean energy future, we must stop fossil fuel infrastructure in New Jersey with a moratorium on power plants and pipelines. To reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, we must have policies that support renewable energy and stop fossil fuel projects. We're off to a great start, but we still have a long way to go to transition New Jersey from dangerous energy towards a green economy.

Jeff TittelDirector, New Jersey Sierra ClubTrenton

The upcoming Tata 45X premium hatchback has been teased by the company very recently ahead of its Geneva debut. Tata Motors has teased the car and has dropped a major hint regarding its name. The company has revealed the first letter of the name for the production version of the 45X. The six letter word is also the name for an agile seabird, the company added. Rumours on the internet have been suggesting that the Tata 45X production version will be named Aquila and looking at the riddle that Tata has thrown, there is a healthy possibility of the said name getting true. Tata 45X production version has been snapped multiple times and the same has a striking resemblance with the 45X concept on which it is based. While currently, there are no details available on the engine options for the 45X, we expect that the car will get power from 1.2-litre petrol and 1.5-litre diesel engine options.

Watch the upcoming Tata 45X teaser video:

The production version of the Tata 45X will come with sleek headlamps and tail lamps and the overall body gets sharp creases in order to make the car look sporty and appealing.  A few weeks back, the interiors of the Tata 45X production version were snapped that gave an idea of how the cabin of the Baleno rivalling hatchback will be like. The biggest highlight of the cabin of the Tata 45X is the new floating type touchscreen infotainment system that is expected to support Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

The upcoming Tata 45X will primarily rub shoulders against the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Baleno and Hyundai i20 in the segment. More details and letters of the name will be revealed closer to the Geneva Motor Show. Stay tuned with Express Drives for more such updates!

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Time to grow up

I think that the members of Congress who refuse to sit down and discuss this problem that is keeping our government in shutdown mode are being totally irresponsible and self-serving.

They are not thinking of the public or or the country.

Apparently on Friday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and President Donald Trump started acting like adults and got down to the business of running this country.

Their lack of responsibility and attitudes were destroying a great county.

I will not vote for anyone who is was not actively trying to solve the problem.

Our borders need to be protected, whether by a wall or by some other solution, but it does need protection.

It is a sieve for illegal drugs and criminals.

It looks like Pelosi, Schumer and Trump finally got off their backsides and negotiated an agreement.

Pelosi and Schumer, you have made your party into the Party of No because of your past actions..

That is not why you were elected.

That is not what the American public is paying you to do.

And let me not forget our illustrious Washington state delegation to Washington, D.C., senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and representatives from the state of Washington.

Quit blindly following the lead of the party and start voting to represent those who elected you.

We put our faith in you and it is high time you started earning that faith.

Grow up.

Robert Nelson,

Sequim

One of the most annoying things in the Windows 10 Start Menu are the "alphabet letters" which are apparently intended to speed up your app search and choices. People across the Internet are constantly asking how to remove these and the answer is YOU CAN'T, at least not without a third-party apps.

Alphabet letters in the start menu are a left-over from Windows 8 Metro UI. Windows 8 Start Menu had very bad reviews and comments among Windows users so Microsoft decided to modify the Window 8 start menu to resemble the start menu from Windows 7. Unfortunately, they did not finish the transition and those letters are as of 2/28/2019 unremovable.

We should add that the real question is not why we can't remove these letters, but why we can't edit the Start menu at all.

An interesting thing, however, is that we can move a "Start menu" element, only to see the "not permitted" icon pop up. This tells us that Microsoft does plan to enable the modification of the "Start menu" at some point.

It is worth to mention the original Microsoft intention for these… For example, if you try clicking on a letter (any letter) you will see the complete alphabet. Next click will lead you right to the apps that start with that letter. This could be useful if an average user had thousands of applications installed, but even then, everybody would simply use search by typing, for even faster application access.

Classic Shell

One of the most used apps to achieve the goal of removing the alphabet letters is free and it's called Classic Shell. You can download it from http://www.classicshell.net/.

It does what it promises. It is fast, customizable and best of all – free.

Start 10 by Stardock

Second best option is Start 10 by Stardock, but unfortunately, it is not free.

You can find the app here: http://www.stardock.com/products/start10/

This app will completely transform your Windows 10 Start Menu to Windows 7-licious Start Menu.

Search, pin to start, quick access – everything will work. And the new menu will be customizable as well.

Figuring out how much college will cost can be complicated. College websites and promotional materials publish sticker prices, which can easily top $65,000 a year at a private college or $25,000 a year for an in-state public school. But most families will pay far less. Need-based financial aid awards often cut a school's sticker price in half for families who qualify. And non-need-based aid further reduces the costs for stellar students.

SEE ALSO: Best College Majors for a Lucrative Career

Still, how much any financial aid award will shave off your bill remains a mystery until after your child has been accepted. Then, within about two weeks, you'll receive a letter summarizing the types, sources and amount of financial aid being offered. Many of the letters, however, are missing important information or make financial aid awards appear more generous than they are.

Lawmakers are considering proposals that would standardize the letters and require schools to show cost and aid information in a more consumer-friendly way. Legislation that includes new rules for financial aid letters is likely to pass this year, says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of SavingforCollege.com. But even if that happens, changes to the award letters won't reach families for another one to three years.

Examine the costs

Start by calculating the full annual cost of attendance for each school that has accepted your student. You can't always take the listed costs at face value because colleges often exclude from award letters some expenses or underestimate how much students will spend on things such as textbooks and transportation. Use the highest estimated book expense. You should also adjust transportation expenses for each school to reflect how far--and how often--your student will likely travel for school breaks. Then add up the cost of tuition, fees, room and board, books and supplies, and transportation to determine the sticker price for one year.

Most colleges group different types of financial aid under the same umbrella. It can be difficult to tell which items are scholarships and grants and which are loans. Ask the financial aid office if the award is likely to shrink in future years, or visit www.collegenavigator.gov to see how the average awards for first-year students compare with those of all undergraduates.

Calculate and compare

To see how much each school will cost your family, subtract the gift aid your student was awarded from the estimated cost of attendance. This is the amount your family is expected to contribute from savings, income or loans to cover costs for one year. If your student has been accepted at more than one school, make your own chart to compare each school's costs and offers, or use the tool at www.consumerfinance.gov.

SEE ALSO: How I Slashed My Kids' College Tuition Bill By 50%

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