“7 billion and counting”
The global population is expected to surpass 7 billion later this year, up from 6 billion in 1999. An estimated 2.3 billion more people will be added—nearly as many as inhabited the planet as recently as 1950 between now and 2050. The population will reach 10.1 billion in 2100 according to new estimates from the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations.
Continue reading… “Global population to hit 7 billion in 2011”
Those were the days.
MS-DOS has turned 30 years old this week. Microsoft’s first desktop operating system was launched on July 27, 1981, after Microsoft bought the full rights to QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System), the PC operating system the company acquired from Seattle Computer Products…
Continue reading… “MS-DOS turned 30 years old”
Yummy irradiated food?
Irradiating food doesn’t make it radioactive, and it does kill dangerous bacteria, like the E.coli that killed many Europeans this summer. But it’s also not a panacea against food poisoning and it’s definitely not the most popular idea ever thought up…
Continue reading… “The pros and cons of irradiated food”
All blown up!
If you’d like to go out with a bang, Holy Smoke LLC offers to pack your cremated ashes (or those of your loved ones) into ammunition cartridges. You tell them the caliber or gauge, ship the remains to them, and they’ll load the cartridges…
Continue reading… “Cremated ashes packed into ammunition”
CEOs are not quite so easily noticeable as a psychopath.
We all know CEOs are charismatic, competitive, and work-obsessed, but are they also psychopathic? British journalist Jon Ronson says some fit the bill.
“I think my book offers really good evidence that the way that capitalism is structured really is a physical manifestation of the brain anomaly known as psychopathy,” says Ronson, author of “The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry” in an interview with Forbes…
Continue reading… “20 signs that you are a psychopath”
Get your own town today!
Had it with life in the big city? The traffic, crowds, and high rent got you down? Then may we suggest you consider investing in the town of Scenic, South Dakota? And by “invest” we mean “buy the whole darn town for $800,000.”
Continue reading… “Own your own town in South Dakota for only $800k”
“Any industry that mislays 25-30% of its product in the process
of delivering it might reasonably be thought to have a problem.”
Between the water treatment plant and the tap in your kitchen, a lot can happen to water. Old pipes sometimes have slow leaks that are hard to detect, and sometimes there are bigger leaks that can waste a lot of potable water in a short time. According to a World Bank report published a few years ago, these leaks cost at least $14 billion a year.
Continue reading… “Slashing water waste with smart software could save billions of dollars”
Screwing the public to help corporations is pretty standard procedure
these days for people like New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Last month, the major American ISPs and entertainment industry lobbyists struck a deal to limit Internet access for alleged copyright infringers. This deal, negotiated in secret with the help of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo did not include any public interest groups or comment from the public. As a result, it’s as one-sided and stilted as you’d imagine. Corynne McSherry from the Electronic Frontier Foundation analyzes the material that these cozy corporate negotiators left out, the stuff that public interest groups would have demanded. Here’s an abbreviated list…
Gotta have a hit of Twitter!
You’re at an outing or a dinner table with friends but itching to check your email or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Google+ or whatever digital hit of serotonin you prefer. Have you ever ‘gone to the bathroom’ in order to check email or come up with a socially appropriate excuse to pull out your smartphone just so you can check your @ replies on Twitter?
Continue reading… “Technology is the new smoking”
Could social media save you from a natural disaster?
Facebook and Twitter are helping to improve and speed up responses to natural disasters and health emergencies by involving members of the public, it has been claimed.
Social media allowed an ”unprecedented” two-way exchange of information between the public and those given the task of preparing for and responding to major events such as earthquakes, floods and infection pandemics, said researchers…
Do you want your baby name to be part of the popular crowd?
Oliver and Olivia are the most popular baby names in England and Wales for the second year running, it was revealed today.
Jack held on to second place in the boys’ name category after slipping from the top spot last year after a 14-year reign.
Sophie jumped three places up the rankings, making it the second most popular name for girls, according to figures published today by the Office for National Statistics on first names given to babies born in 2010…
Continue reading… “Oliver and Olivia most popular baby names in 2010”
Agave can be a fuel?
It fuels your party, your buzz and your hangover the next day, but believe it or not tequila may soon be fueling your car. That’s because the agave plant extract used to make liquor can also be used to make an ethanol like alcohol which can serve as vehicle fuel, won’t interfere with food crops, and can even be grown in the desert…
Someday, our cars may hit the bottle more often than we do, but at least it won’t be hitting our wallets very hard.
Image via Wikimedia Commons
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.
