December 2004 Edition
ACCURACY
Atomic clock technology has been made so small it may soon be possible to incorporate super-accurate timekeeping into mobile devices such as cellphones. Researchers believe final development should see a battery-operated system about the size of a sugar lump that will neither lose nor gain a second in 300 years. Standard atomic clocks measure time by 'counting' the natural vibrations of caesium atoms, at 9.2 billion 'ticks' per second.
POPULATION
The U.N. Population Fund forecast that the population of developing countries will soar unless donors give more money to reproductive and health programmes. The world's 50 poorest countries will triple in size by 2050, surging to 1.7 billion people. It is estimated that there will be 8.9 billion people on Earth by 2050.
COLOUR
According to a colour psychologist, the 'in' colour for teachers is now purple. Office-supply stores say their focus groups and conversations with teachers have also led them to conclude that a growing number of educators are switching to purple because it is 'friendlier' than red. Red is considered an aggressive colour that sets off the fight-or- flight response. Purple is attention-getting without being intimidating.
SERVICE
The owners of France's 60,000 bars, brasseries and cafes have said that poor service is driving customers away and have promised to do better. The number of cafes and customers has been dwindling as the number of complaints has been growing. The number of French cafes has dropped from 150,000 to 60,000 in fifteen years.
EXPOSURE
A Boston College report states that the average American child is exposed to 40,000 advertising messages each year and corporations are spending US$15-billion annually advertising and marketing to children up to age 12.
CONNECTED
South Korea is the most connected, high-speed internet country in the world and the technology is having a broad impact on society. Almost three of every four South Korean households had a high-speed Internet connection by the end of 2003. That is double the No. 2 country, Canada, with 27 per cent of households, and more than three times the United States, with 23 per cent.
RAIL
A new report states that the United States' outdated rail infrastructure is beginning to show its age after being exposed to record freight volumes this year. The rail network dates back many decades to the days of the Civil War when single track railroads were built to move troops. The report says the system is unsuited to the modern day operations with trains using double tracks allowing for travel in both directions.
BRAZIL
The global capital for computer hacking and internet fraud is Brazil, according to experts. Brazil is home to eight out of 10 of the world's most significant hackers. Within Brazil, the amount of money lost in internet financial fraud outstrips that lost through bank robberies. Roughly two-thirds of the internet's child pornography pages are also said to originate in the country.
SPEAKERS
Green-fingered gardeners have long espoused the benefits of talking to plants. Now, a gadget developed in Japan is allowing flowers to answer back with music. Called Ka-on, which means "flower sound" in Japanese, the gadget consists of a doughnut shaped magnet and coil at the base of a vase. It hooks up to a CD player, TV or stereo and relays sounds up through a plant's stem and out via the petals. The speakers shoot sound in all directions, filling a room with music.
FILTHY
Paper money is so rancid in parts of French-speaking West Africa that even beggars hate to touch the notes. Now an eight-country money-laundering campaign is about to begin which aims to retire more than 1 billion dollars in decaying currency which is seen as much as vectors of disease as units of exchange. French West Africans have until December 31 to turn in old bills for new ones.
PERFUME
The Comoros Islands are know as the Perfume Isles and export around 80 per cent of the world's supply of ylang essence, an essential oil that is the main ingredient of most expensive perfumes. Originally from the Philippines, the ylang plant was introduced to the Comoros by the French in the late nineteenth century. It takes 100kg of flowers to produce three litres of the essential oil.
TRADE
A Canadian economist has warned that China could eventually supplant Canada as the United States' largest trading partner unless policy makers in Ottawa respond energetically and creatively to the Asian giants rapid worldwide economic expansion. This means the federal government must develop a sound North American economic strategy and a long-term non-North American strategy. China is already closing in on Mexico as the U.S' second largest trading partner after Canada.
THE WALL
Fourteen years and a billion euros after reunification, one in five Germans would like to see the barrier that split the country during the Cold War put back, a new survey has found. A quarter of western Germans wish the 15 million east Germans were behind the Berlin Wall again. 12 per cent of east Germans want out of the united Germany.
COFFINS
The death industry is going through big changes. For instance, mega-retailer Costco is test marketing a coffin kiosk in two Chicago stores. People can't drive away with a pine box tied to the roof of their car but they can see samples. The coffins come in just one style and six colours, but sell for US$800, half the ticket price for the same coffin in funeral homes. A coffin can be delivered to the funeral home of choice within 48 hours.
CEMENT
Construction demands in Asia are one factor crimping global cement supplies and affecting 29 U.S. states. There are 144 cement plants in the U.S. all running 24 hours a day and seven days a week, but they still can't keep up with demand. Traditionally the U.S. imports 25 per cent of its cement.
LOBSTER
Maine's lobstermen have been hauling up phenomenal numbers of lobster for almost 15 years. Their 62.3 million pounds in 2002 set a record--triple the typical catch during the 1980s. That catch was worth more than $200-million and by far the dominant share of the Northeast's most valuable fishery. But starting in the late 1990s, in the southern reaches of the commercial range, the catch has been withering at an alarming rate from New York to Massachusetts and signs of decline have now reached Maine. Some blame overfishing and other disease, pollution and predators.
COFFEE
Four of the world's largest coffee companies have agreed to a voluntary pact to help improve conditions in producer countries. The agreement, signed by coffee giants Nestle, Tchibo, Sara Lee and Kraft, aims to end the use of child and forced labour. The pact also calls for closer ties with growers of the best coffee beans to ensure they get the highest price. Critics say prices will only rise if coffee's huge oversupply is tackled by cutting supply.
ADVERTISING
In the first four months of this year, advertising spending in China surged 36 per cent from a year earlier to $9.1-billion without counting radio, outdoor and cinema ads. China will certainly soon overtake Japan as the world's second-largest advertising market. It is even gaining on the U.S. where overall spending is still about four times as high.
MUSIC
Global sales of recorded music fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2003. Sales of recorded music, both in audio and video formats fell by 7.6 per cent in value and by 6.6 per cent in units, compared with 2002 and is now valued at $32-billion on unit sales of 2.7 billion. The market has declined by $6.2-billion since 1999, a fall of 16.3 per cent. The decline is attributed to three causes; CD burning and illegal downloading; competition for consumer spending from DVDs and cellphones and economic uncertainty in Latin America and Asia.
STORES
The General Merchandise Distributors Council in the U.S. has released a study saying that supermarkets have a tremendous opportunity to increase store sales by leveraging pharmacy operations. The study contends that a new consumer-concentric approach combined with a holistic view of the whole store rather than one segregated by merchandise categories, brands, or retailer disciplines is essential to generating notable growth.
EXERCISE
Money spent on sports and exercise should be tax deductible as part of a national strategy to fight flab, say doctors in Britain who are grappling with one of the world's most rapidly growing obesity epidemics. The U.S. has the highest proportion of fat people in the industrialized world, though many European countries are close behind. Doctors in Britain can already refer patients to supervised programmes in gyms or local leisure centres.
TV
Twelve years after his death, The Lawrence Welk Show is the highest-rated syndicated show on U.S. public television, with an audience of more than three million households. Viewers outnumber those for MTV and BET on Saturday nights. More than 1,000 episodes of the Welk show were taped.
PORT
The Prince Rupert Port Authority has announced that it will triple the size of its Fairview Terminal to 150 acres by 2009. The expanded facility should help relieve congestion that ports on the U.S. and Canadian west coast are experiencing due to the rapidly growing trade between Asia and North America. The projects first phase, scheduled for completion by late 2006, will provide an annual handling capacity of 400,000 TEUs.
LAW
Foreign companies will soon be able to independently ship goods to and from China without having to use the services of a Chinese trading house following amendments made to trade laws recently. Foreign companies will be able to contract directly with Chinese firms without having to go through an import\export intermediary.
LUXURY
Until recently, wealthy Muscovites travelled to New York, Paris, Milan and Swiss ski resorts for luxury goods. In the last few years however, shops have rushed to open in Moscow. Burberry, Hermes, Christian Dior, Gucci, Bulgari, Ferrari and dozens more. Rolls- Royces are sold at the quintessential Russian address: 1 Red Square. Moscow is now one of the fastest growing markets for luxury goods with shoppers spending around $3-billion annually.
DUST
Dust storms emanating from the Sahara desert have increased ten-fold in the past 50 years, threatening human health, contributing to climate change and affecting the environment around the world. Experts believe that a major cause is the replacement of the camel by four-wheel drive vehicles which have destroyed the thin crust of lichen and stones that have protected the Sahara for centuries.
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