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Important Trends |
| From February 2008, a new global communication campaign in favour of micro-credit in Senegal AFRICA WORKS
Benetton supports and promotes Africa for Africans.
In partnership with Youssou N’Dour
Dakar, 13th February 2008. Benetton puts the spotlight on entrepreneurial Africa. Its global communication campaign for 2008 promotes the Birima micro-credit programme in Senegal, a co-operative credit society founded by the Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour. The programme will also receive financial support from Benetton Group. |
Is het culturele klimaat in Nederland aan het veranderen onder de invloed van de conservatieve, religieus reactionaire en fundamentalistische krachten?
Wij (and the rest of the world) letten op! |
Magna Plaza Shopping Center Amsterdam - Magna Plaza Shoppingcenter · Home · Fashion · Gifts & Accessories · Beauty & Health · DVD's · Food & Drinks · From past to present - Het voormalige hoofdpostkantoor in Amsterdam is een schitterend gebouw. De imposante gevel tussen het Paleis op de Dam en de Nieuwe Kerk biedt al bijna een eeuw een vertrouwde aanblik, eerst als hoofdpostkantoor en tegenwoordig als winkelcentrum van internationale allure. |
The Worst Climate Predictions for 2008
“2008 will be the hottest year in a century:” The Old Farmers’ Almanac, September 11, 2008, Hurricanes, Arctic Ice, Coral, Drinking water, Aspen skiing
We’re now well into the earth’s third straight harsher winter-but in late 2007 it was still hard to forget 22 straight years of global warming from 1976-1998. So the Old Farmer’s Almanac predicted 2008 would be the hottest year in the last 100.
“You could potentially sail, kayak or even swim to the North Pole by the end of the summer. Climate scientists say that the Arctic ice . . . is currently on track to melt sometime in 2008.” Ted Alvarez, Backpacker Magazine Blogs, June, 2008.
Soon after this prediction, a huge Russian icebreaker got trapped in the thick ice of the Northwest Passage for a full week. The Arctic ice hadn’t melted in 2007, it got blown into warmer southern waters. Now it’s back. (Reference)
“Corals will become increasingly rare on reef systems.” Dr. Hans Hoegh-Guldberg, head of Queensland University (Australia) marine studies.
In 2006, Dr. Hoegh-Guldberg warned that high temperatures might kill 30-40 percent of the coral on the Great Barrier Reef “within a month.” In 2007, he said global warming temperatures were bleaching [potentially killing] the reef.
But, in 2008, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network said climate change had not damaged the “well-managed” reef in the four years since its last report. Veteran diver Ben Cropp said that in 50 years he’d seen no heat damage to the reef at all. “The only change I’ve seen has been the result of over-fishing, pollution, too many tourists or people dropping anchors on the reef,” he said.
And more... See: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/12/30/the-worst-climate-predictions-of-2008 |
Religious Watch - Preaching Tolerance whilst Practising Intolerance
Religious Watch seeks respect for the basic human right of freedom of religion, and this includes the right not to believe or not to participate.
This site will record the intolerance of those that that show no such respect and those that attempt to impose their beliefs on others. |
The Doing Business project...
provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 181 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level.
Compiled with the help of 6,700 business experts and government officials around the world, "Doing Business 2009" analyzes how difficult it is to comply with 10 different sets of business regulations that affect company lifecycles, from startup to closure. The World Bank's research team examined the number of procedures required to start a business and the ease and cost of transactions such as obtaining construction permits, hiring workers, getting credit, paying taxes, enforcing contracts and declaring bankruptcy. Each category is given equal weight to create an overall "ease of doing business" index and ranking.
http://www.doingbusiness.org/
Doing Business 2009 -- Full report now available for download! Azerbaijan was the top reformer in doing business, while Eastern Europe and Central Asia led the world’s regions in regulatory reforms, according to Doing Business 2009. Download the entire 211-page report to learn more about reforms and other changes to the business environment in 181 economies.
Download full report (PDF, 4.7MB) or by chapter
Also available in Arabic (PDF, 9MB), French (PDF, 5MB) and Spanish (PDF, 5MB)
http://www.doingbusiness.org/documents/fullreport/2009/DB09_Full_Report.pdf
Study: Singapore is No. 1 spot in the world for small businesses
The U.S. ranks third in a World Bank survey of the friendliest regulatory environments for startups and small companies. (Source CNN Money, read Article)
With the world in economic turmoil and the quest for a new 21st century economy gainig momentum, these reports provide (this report) very usefull information for business people, start ups, entrepreneurs, innovators and inventors who want to be part of the new business wave.
A hundred years ago a wave of innovation happened, almost 50 years ago a new wave started in California in what later became Sillicon Valley. The spirit of these entrepreneurs and innovators is still very much alive but lots of them today are simply looking for the best places to set up business. The best of them are the 'hands on' people. Subsidies and bureaucracies are shunned by the best and brightest.
For our Dutch readers we would like to point out that The Netherlands is not even in the first 20 of the best places to do business. |
BanTransFats.com, Inc. is a California non-profit corporation. Our goal is the reduction and elimination of partially hydrogenated oils from all food products. California Bars Restaurant Use of Trans Fats
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER - Published: July 26, 2008
Under a new law, the fats long linked to health problems must be excised from restaurants and retail baked goods |
| Scientific American: Happiness: Good for Creativity, Bad for Single-Minded Focus
Happy people are open to all sorts of ideas, some of which can be distracting
by JR Minkel |
Independent Online Edition - Science & Technology -The future, now: 10 lifestyle trends. ... Germany's latest best-selling cookery title, the Hart(z) IV cookbook, tells consumers how to serve up low-cost ... |
The gathering brainstorm
It is unregulated, untested, more dangerous than its proponents would have you believe — and soon to become even more powerful. Mark Anslow reports on the inexorable march of Wi-Fi
Date:13/03/2008 - Author:Mark Anslow
In early summer of 1997, computer scientist and former Dutch military radar engineer Vic Hayes joined the end of a long line of scientists and smiled at the camera. The shutter clicked, celebrating the official launch of the first international Wi-Fi standard.
In early summer of 1997, computer scientist and former Dutch military radar engineer Vic Hayes joined the end of a long line of scientists and smiled at the camera. The shutter clicked, celebrating the official launch of the first international Wi-Fi standard.
Originally designed to connect together cash-registers at checkouts, the ambitious scientist made no secret of his desires for the new technology. ‘I see Wi-Fi being used for everything eventually,’ he was quoted as saying, but not even he could have predicted how widespread his invention would become.
By 2008, experts predict that there will be 53 million Wi-Fi enabled devices in Europe alone. One in every five UK adults already owns a Wi-Fi enabled laptop, and 80 per cent of secondary schools in the UK have installed the technology throughout their buildings. McDonald’s recently announced that free Wi- Fi facilities would be available in all its restaurants, and the growing ‘Mu-Fi’ initiative – where entire municipalities receive Wi-Fi coverage – has already made Norwich the UK’s first ‘Wi-Fi town’. |
Three-dimensional virtual worlds are the next frontier for social networks. Among them Kaneva stands out for its simplicity. Forbes.com Special Report
Rocking The Virtual World - Matthew Schifrin 12.24.07, 12:00 AM ET
On the Web Facebook is the flavor of the moment, with 55 million users and a valuation (if you want to extrapolate from what Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) paid for a sliver) of $15 billion. So what's the next big thing? Three-dimensional communities. In a recent study Gartner predicted that by 2011 up to 80% of active Internet users, or 250 million people, will participate online in virtual worlds. |
Conference Call Company - A company dedicated to bring the newest technology in conference calling and voice mail to small and large business world wide. |
Thoughts about the Future of Advertising - Rather than dreary, the future of advertising is bright and unlimited. ...Advertising will provide the primary source of income for the future expansion of ... |
Building the world's cleanest city
In a Persian Gulf desert, a U.S. engineering firm drives clean tech forward.
By Marc Gunther, senior writer
(Fortune) -- Halfway around the world, a zero-carbon, zero-waste, automobile-free city known as Masdar is rising from a 2.3-square mile plot of desert in Abu Dhabi.
If all goes according to plan, Masdar - financed with $15 billion in oil money - will become a showcase for smart urban planning, green building, renewable energy, sustainable materials and advanced recycling.
"There is nothing like it in the world," says Masdar CEO Sultan Al Jaber, without exaggeration. "Masdar has a simple promise - to be the world's center for future energy solutions." Should this grand experiment work, Abu Dhabi will profit from the clean energy economy of tomorrow, just as it profits from $100-a-barrel oil today.
To get from here to there, Abu Dhabi will tap into the vision of London architects Foster and Partners and the skills of a big U.S. engineering firm called CH2M Hill. Last week, I visited CH2M Hill's headquarters in Englewood, Colorado, a Denver suburb, to learn more about the project, and about the company that's been hired to make it real.
Masdar "is about a journey to zero carbon, zero waste," says Jim Otta, a senior executive with CH2M Hill. "It's like the U.S. on its quest to the moon. Nobody quite knew how to get to the moon when Kennedy announced the goal. Yet a decade later, people were walking on the moon." |
Broadband Conquers the World
More than three-quarters of the online population in 12 major countries used broadband at the end of 2006, while just one-fifth used dial-up. In 2003, Ipsos Insight reported that 45% of adult Internet users were on dial-up connections while 56% used broadband. |
Communities World
CommunitiesWorld.com is a site about online communities, virtual communities and social networking. |
The California Center for Public Health Advocacy uses a combination of seven key strategies to build and support policy reforms at the state and local levels. CCPHA has applied these strategies to issues related to healthy eating, physical activity, childhood obesity, and diabetes. We also train organizations to use these strategies to support policy reforms addressing these and other public health issues. |
The World of Travel in 2020
The explosion in world tourism is one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the last half-century.
Tourism is now one of the world’s largest industries and accounts for 12% of international spending and generates 1 in 12 jobs worldwide. Europe’s tourism industry alone generates 32% of the world’s total economic output and is the major generator of outbound international tourism, accounting for 54% of global travel.
The WTO (World Tourism Organisation) forecasts predict steady growth for the global tourism industry in the next 15 years. In particular rising levels of prosperity across the globe and the emergence of a newly affluent middle class in China, India, Eastern Europe and the Americas would suggest a rosy future for the travel industry. However, behind these economic variables there are a series of underlying social, cultural, political and technological factors at work that are driving change in consumer attitudes and behaviour. |
Why Are There So Many Single Americans? - By KATE ZERNIKE - Published: January 21, 2007 - It’s worth repeating: the “marriage gap” isn’t about men and women. It’s about class and education. |
Future Music Magazine - elevating you to the next level -You are a young music lover, you cam compose music using anything from your personal computer and soft synths to a room full of equalizers, samplers, keyboards and a whole lot of composing stuff then you are at the right place and Future Music is the perfect magazine for you. http://www.music-future.com/ |
The Long Tail - Forget squeezing millions from a few megahits at the top of the charts. The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html |
| BBC News - Download fans boost music sales - Online piracy is not solely responsible for dwindling sales of recorded music, says a report. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5281272.stm |
| Life Expectancy and Health Trends in Modern Society - Life expectancy, chronic illness, and disability statistics as indicators of trends in public health. Are we living longer and becoming healthier or are we ...
www.holistichealthtopics.com/HMG/trends.html |
A Healthy New Year - From yoga to Tae-Bo, new exercises for the resolution-minded - ODDS ARE YOU'RE ONE of the millions of people whose New Year's ... The new fitnesstrends give participants the chance to work out their minds as well as ... www.factmonster.com/spot/healthtrends1.html |
Ross Dawson's Trends in the Living Networks blog - Uncovering the structure of influence and social opinion
An article in the Wall Street Journal titled The Wizards of Buzz zooms in on a group of people much discussed by the tech crowd over the last year, but who have not visible in the mainstream media before now. They are the people who submit stories to the social news sites. |
Founded on the Internet in 1998, DigitalJournal.com is the official online home of Digital Journal magazine, and one of the fastest-growing user-driven news sites. In a totally unique revenue-sharing initiative, DigitalJournal.com is the first User News community where bloggers and citizen journalists can actually get paid for contributing. Unlike most websites where bloggers post for free (and the company takes in all the ad revenue), DigitalJournal.com shares a portion of its advertising revenue with all active members. |
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Vital Facts: Selected facts and story ideas from Vital Signs 2006 - Transportation and Communications Trends. The world reached a new record in vehicle production, with 64.1 million cars and light trucks being manufactured ...
www.worldwatch.org/node/4346 |
The Future of Industrial Automation - We cannot figure out future trends merely by extending past trends; ... The future belongs to nanotech, wireless everything, and complex adaptive systems. ...
www.jimpinto.com/writings/automation2005.html |
EPA -Global Warming - Climate - ... Trends. Atmospheric Change. Future Climate. Uncertainties. Science FAQ. Climate. An Introduction ... are projected to be 30-150% higher than today's levels. http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/Climate.html |
| BBC News | Europe | Domestic killings shock Swiss -The murder of a top Swiss skier by her husband focuses attention on a ...News Front Page ... "I think the guns should not be kept at home," he says. ...
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4755143.stm |
| Further Calls for Tighter Gun Laws in Switzerland - The Swiss Society of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy says that the fact that guns are widely available in Switzerland leads inevitably to an increased risk of ... |
MIT CARS: "MIT Media Lab drives car design into the future" ...MIT Architecture: Computation Group ... "MIT group presents research on city car of the future" ... www.archinode.com/mitcar1.html |
Mitsubishi Motors Unveils Dramatic Concept For Future Hybrid-Powered Small Car At North American International Auto Show- "We are carefully studying ideas showcased in this innovative concept car." Mitsubishi Signature Design With An Accent on the Future... |
Modern Fashion: The 10 Biggest Trends - Denim and T-shirts? Trends. To define the biggest fashion moments of the modern American era, we decided to begin on a high note (thigh high, that is). ... |
Latest IRI Baby Boomers Report Uncovers $46 Billion Growth Bonanza for the Taking - Many Conventional Views about Baby Boomer Shoppers are Incorrect; IRI Study Dispels Myths and Examines Trends - The IRI Baby Boomers Report uncovers emerging and future trends across 25 food, beverage, and non-food categories across seven major retail food channels. ...
us.infores.com/page/news/pr?mode=single&pr_id=158 |
Heat waves expose divide in U.K. and U.S. stances on global warming - "Weather and climate are not separate - they are intrinsically linked, ... An upcoming IPCC report next year is expected to further solidify the link ...
www.cicero.uio.no/webnews.asp?id=10689&lang=en |
| Wiring The Fashion Trend Of The Future: NASA Engineers Developing Wearable "Augmented Reality" Computer - "Our goal is to bridge NASA to a new generation of space designers and architects." ...
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/07/020729074543.htm |
| Spy agencies say Iraq war increased terrorism threat - The National Intelligence Estimate, titled “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implicationsfor the United States” and completed in April, asserts that Islamic ...
www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/09/24/spy-agencies-say-iraq-war-increased-terrorism-threat/ |
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| Ringleader of Dutch-based Internet scam is arrested in Nigeria - Twelve Nigerians were arrested in the Netherlands in February over the scam. ...Nigeria is a major hub for Internet scams with criminals bombarding ...
www.theage.com.au/.../2006/08/06/1154802733670.html |
| Internet Fraud - Department of Justice site includes information defining Internet fraud, what to do about it, and where to go to get more information.
www.internetfraud.usdoj.gov/ |
| Federal Bureau of Investigation -Internet Fraud -Guard your account information carefully. The Nigerian Letter Scam is described on the Common Fraud Schemes webpage. Related Link: Internet Crime Complaint ...
www.fbi.gov/majcases/fraud/internetschemes.htm |
| Lifestyle News - Digital Trends - The latest Lifestyle news. ... Newsletter. Be in the know! Sign up for the Digital Trends Newsletter today. E-mail:. Sponsored Links ... news.digitaltrends.com/channel11.html |
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