January 2008 Edition
Fedex
There can be as many as 280 Fedex planes in the air at any time. The company has 670 planes making it the second-largest airline behind American Airlines. Rival UPS has 277 planes. Fedex flies 238 million air miles each year and in the U.S. alone, its trucks drive 1.29 billion km a year. Fedex runs a fleet of 75,000 trucks worldwide. On December 18, 2006, Fedex moved a record 9.8 million packages through its global air and ground networks. This compares with just 186 parcels handled on Fedex's first night of operations, April 17, 1973.
Eating
Casual dining chains in the US have been having problems lately with sales softening as cash-strapped customers trade down. Middle class consumers have less spending money because of higher gasoline prices and the depressed housing market. Another problem is the resurgence of fast-food chains which is now known as "fast casual" which now have better, healthier products and better environments. Applebee's which was recently acquired by IHOP, and spends about $180 million a year on advertising, is changing its ad campaign to combat this.
Disparity
Of the 57,095 people in Canada in 2001 who held a doctorate in either science or engineering, some 45,670, or nearly 80 per cent were men. In contrast, women accounted for 47 per cent of employed Canadians and 57 per cent of university graduates. For every dollar earned by male doctorate holders, female doctorate holders earned 77 cents.
Convenience
The Kaneko Sangyo Co. of Japan has developed a new portable toilet for cars. It comes with a curtain large enough to conceal users and a plastic bag to collect waste. The product is small enough to fit into a suitcase and will come in handy during major disasters such as earthquakes or when caught in a traffic jam.
Size
In its first commercial flight, the A380 airbus recently touched down in Changi Airport in Singapore. The upgrades to Changi to accommodate the A380 began three years ago. The runways were widened because the A380 engines are far apart and the risk of debris ingestion had to be limited. Bridges over roads had to be strengthened, baggage belt carousels lengthened, 19 gates enlarged and seating added to departures lounges that will serve the A380. The cost of all this was US$40 million.
eBay
The world's largest online auctioneer has launched a website that allows people to invest in loans that lift people out of poverty. The site, called MicroPlace, acts as a broker between ordinary investors and microfinance organizations. For as little as $100, US investors will be able to help entrepreneurs in poor countries, be they coffee sellers in Cambodia or hairdressers in Ghana. Microfinance is the supply of small, usually unsecured loans to poor households and small businesses in developing countries. The investments offer investors returns of from 1.5 to 3.00 per cent.
GM
Recent figures show that the area planted to genetically modified crops in England has grown by 77 per cent since last year. In 2007, more than 1,000 sq km (386 sq miles) of GM maize was harvested. This is still a small fraction of the total farmed area of Europe and also tiny compared with the one million sq km under GM around the world, an expanse four times the size of Britain.
Beer
China has the world's largest thirst for beer, comfortably outstripping the U.S. which is in second place. China consumes 305 million hectolitres against the 235 million hectolitres consumed in the U.S. Germany is the third largest beer consumer followed by Brazil, Russia, Japan and Britain. Half the beer in the US is made by one company while the most popular brand in China commands only five per cent of the market.
Money
The UN's Fund for Agricultural Development estimates that over 150 million migrants send $301 billion to their families in 162 developing countries. Although Mexico and India receive the most cash, at around $24.5 billion each, this represents less than 3 per cent of GDP. By contrast Guinea-Bissau relies heavily on its migrants' money with remittances making up nearly half of GDP.
Income
Wages in China's cities rose by nearly 20 per cent in 2007, adding to fears that the economy is overheating. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the average salary was US$2,175. In recent years it has been the salaries at foreign-run multinationals that have caused most envy, but those in the state-owned enterprises are now catching up. Rising prices and inflation are putting pressure on the government to rein in the economy.
Teaching
Some 4,000 foreign teachers in Japan are without jobs and are owed significant back pay as Japan's largest school chain, Nova Corp. closed its 900 schools and declared bankruptcy. and failed to pay refunds to its 400,000 students. In 2002, the government estimated that there were 15,800 foreign teachers in Japan and about one million students at private language schools.
Green
Your "carbon footprint" is a rough calculation of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, either directly or indirectly, to support your lifestyle. If you get 30 per cent of your calories from meat, dairy and poultry, as most Americans do, your diet contributes more than 3,275 pounds of carbon dioxide to the environment each year. Replace red meat with fish, eggs and poultry and you save 950 pounds. A vegetarian would save 1,600 pounds.
Ink
Scientists have developed printer ink that vanishes after 24 hours. When a document is printed on reusable paper, the text initially appears similar to normal printed text, only a shade of dark purple rather than black. Eight hours later, the image has faded and after a day it is gone completely. The blank page can then be put back in the printer, saving waste paper.
Giving
Canadian taxfilers reported making charitable donations totalling C$8.5-billion in 2006, up 8.3 per cent over 2005. The amount of donations increased in all provinces and territories. In 2006, the median donation was $250. Donors in Nunavut led all provinces and territories in 2006 with a median donation of $450.
War
A report on armed conflict in Africa has shown that the cost to the continent's development over a fifteen year period was nearly US$300-billion, equal to the amount of aid received in the same period. Between 1990 and 2005, 23 African nations were involved in conflict, and on average this cost African economies US$18-billion a year.
Halloween
This past holiday season saw retailers in the US sell more than US$2.1-billion worth of candy. Chocolate and non-chocolate miniature candies generated more than a third (39 per cent) of Halloween candy sales. The average candy-buying household spent $74.68 during the year and purchased candy 19 times per year.
Resources
The characterization of Canada's resources sector as "hewers of wood and drawers of water" is outdated. The economy has rediscovered its resource base over the past five years thanks to a surge in commodity prices now in the midst of their longest and strongest upswing ever. Since 2002 there has been a large shift in the resource sector away from trees and water. Metals and energy products found underground now drive the growth of resources.
Wealth
China's booming stock markets are creating a new elite class of the superrich giving the country more billionaires than any country in the world, except the U.S. There are now 106 dollar-billionaires in China, up from 15 in 2006 and none the previous year. The two richest people in China are women.
Coffee
Sales of organic coffee are growing rapidly. US retail sales of organic coffee in 2006 increased 24 per cent to US$110-million. The industry states that this dramatic increase in organic coffee sales mirrors the continuing growth in the overall organic sector and reflects consumers' increasing awareness of these products, their high quality and the availability of these products.
Loss
Motorists are being forced to spend as much as $700 on replacement car keys because of increasingly sophisticated alarm systems. It is estimated that the total replacement bill for motorists in the UK that do not have replacement keys could be $200 million. It usually costs about $400 to design, program and make a new key but those used in some new cars cost significantly more.
Phones
Sixty three per cent of 1,531 Canadians polled in a recent survey say they will register with a Do Not Call registry when it comes into effect. It is estimated that nine million phone numbers could be on the Canadian registry by 2011.
Siberia
Russia is forging ahead with ambitious energy projects. Work has now begun on a 4,130km oil pipeline, the longest in the world's largest country. The plan is to feed the growing demand for oil in China and Russia's other energy-hungry East Asian neighbours. However, the indigenous Evank people are complaining that their age-old way of life is in danger as thousands of reindeer have been driven away because of construction, thus affecting their livelihoods.
Bookings
US travel produced double digit sales growth in 2006 but unlike other major e-commerce markets this one actually lost customers. A recent survey of more than 60,000 internet users in the US found that 9 per cent fewer people booked travel online in 2006 than in 2005. One expert claims that customers are tired of spending two to three hours trying to find the airline or hotel or vacation package that meets their needs.
Distributoin
Canada's film and video distributors reported revenues of C$1.7-billion in 2005, down 8.2 per cent from 2004, mainly as a result of a reduction in exports. Total expenses surged to $1.4-billion in the same period.
Wafers
IBM Corp. has developed a silicon wafer recycling system that may help ease the refined silicon shortage that has limited output of solar energy panels. Every day about 250,000 wafers are produced globally to make chips for products from cellphones to computers and to monitor and control manufacturing. IBM can remove intellectual property from discarded semiconductor wafers made out of silicon and then sell them to the solar industry.
Savings
The Sicilian town of Castelbuono has replaced its garbage trucks with donkeys and claims to be saving money as well as helping to beat global warming. Since February 2007, six donkeys have replaced the four garbage trucks in the town of 10,000 people. A donkey costs about $1,600 to buy plus about $4,000 a year for food and cleaning compared with $60,000 for a truck that needs about $15,000 in maintenance a year.
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