Archive for October 6th, 2009

The Best Places To Live In The World Based On HDI Rankings

The United Nations human development index is a criteria that measures factors such as literacy rates, life expectancy and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The 2009 HDI which was released on Monday, has found that Norway is the best place to live in the world.

China has made the biggest strides in improving the well-being of its citizens. It moved up seven places on the list to rank as the 92nd most developed country due to improvements in education as well as income levels and life expectancy.

The top ten places were taken by Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan respectively, whist Niger was ranked bottom, just ahead of Afghanistan.

To put the data in context, a child born in Niger can expect to live to just over 50, which is 30 years less than a child born in Norway, and for every dollar a person earns in Niger, 85 dollars are earned in Norway.

The United States was ranked 13th, which is down one place on last year.

Link

Emotional Robot Substitutes Human Contact

Ignoring the rather odd music, this concept of an emotional robot is pretty awesome if I’m being honest. The closest thing that I can compare it to, is a gigantic cuddly Tamagotchi.

Based on EAP-technology “Funktionide” is a concept for an emotional robot that substitutes human contact. In a future where technology will play a huge part in our lifes it is very likely that some day it will shift from satisfiying our basic funtional needs to include our emotional needs as well.

How will this future be? How do we want it to be? Will it affect our human interactions if we start to fall in love with machines? Will the machines fall in love with us?

World Champion Arm Wrestler is Just 3ft 5in Tall

Despite his short stature, Joby Matthew, from Kerala, India, is a world champion arm wrestler.

Joby, who stands at just 5-foot-3, has so much upper body strength that he can crush challengers with no disabilities, which has earned him five world podiums in an illustrious career.

Jobe has severely underdeveloped legs caused by Proximal Fimoral Focal Deficiency (PFFD), however he amazes onlookers as he lifts huge weights and does push ups on just one hand on the streets of Kerala.

In a heart-warming twist to his amazing story, the 9 stone sports trainer at a petroleum company says his incredible journey against all odds began with a supportive family.

Facing a troubling trek just to get to school every day, his relatives showed him how to overcome the physical challenges he would face every day.

Link

Chop Cup Illusion

The classic shell game with a twist. You might need to watch it twice!

Via Neatorama

15 of the Most Iconic Newspaper Headlines Ever Printed

A Newspaper headline can capture a story and the emotions of a nation in a matter of words. Here are 15 of the most iconic newspaper headlines in history. From the Kennedy assasiation and the Nixon Resignation to the 9/11 attacks and the sinking of the Titanic.

Relive some of the most significant events in recent history and experience how readers must have felt when they first heard the news. Headlines in the link.

Link (Thanks Andy!)

Do You Know What A Web Browser Is?

While many of us may think we know what a web browser is, do we really have a clue? Google tries to explain what a web browser is and then sends an employee out to Times Square, New York, to find out if the general public know what they’re talking about when it comes to browsers. The results are astonishing!

Via Mashable

Women Spend Twice as Much Time as Men on Chores

Okay, so it’s official – women spend twice as long on household chores as men, a new survey by Stylist magazine has found.

Whilst the average man takes just 49 minutes to complete his morning chores before going out the front door, the average woman takes two hours and three minutes.

On top of that, the morning and afternoon school run means women’s preparation for work takes a total three hours and fifteen minutes a day. On the other hand, a man’s “tasks to do the night before” take a mere eight minutes – bringing his total daily preparation for work to just 57 minutes.

In total, the average working woman spends 32 days a year just getting ready for work – including sorting herself, her children, her home and, more often than not, her husband. Over a 40 year working life this amounts to 1,280 days – or three and a half years.

The average working woman has an early 6.47am start – seven minutes earlier than her other half – and 6.32am for those with young children which is also seven minutes earlier than him. She also has only 6 hours 49 minutes sleep before the treadmill begins.
This includes a shower (10 minutes ), drying/styling her hair (9 minutes), putting on moisturiser/make-up (8 mins), getting dressed/sorting accessories’ (7 mins), having breakfast (6 mins) and exercising – yoga, pilates, jogging (4 mins).

Then there’s the dishwasher to stack and the washing to be found and put on (7 minutes), the hoovering, beds to make and the general morning clear up (8 mins) – and for mums there’s the kids to wash and dress (11 mins).

Making breakfast takes 9 mins – this task falls to 81% of mums compared to 19% of dads – and help with last minute homework (4 mins) before’making their packed lunches and packing their school bags (7 mins) – again 86% of working mums compared to 14% of working dads do this.

Pre-preparing the evening meal takes another five minutes and she’s got papers to sort (2 mins), phone calls to make (3 mins) and emails to check and send (4 mins) before carting the kids to nursery or school on the way to work (19 mins). Only 8% of men are the main school runners.

Then there is the nursery/school run home after work (19 minutes) and sorting everyone’s clothes for the next day (11 mins), ironing – including his – (13 mins), and unpacking school bags, washing lunch boxes and organising ingredients (5 mins).

Food shopping is another 16 minutes and preparing food for the next day is 8 minutes – without including the general evening housework which needs to be done because there isn’t time for it during the working day.

Link

A Circular Rainbow

Since I began posting on this blog, I have seen and learnt about some extraordinary features of nature that I didn’t even know existed. You may remember a recent post about an upside down rainbow – well just as you thought rainbows couldn’t get any more unusual, they just have.

This is a picture of a rare circular rainbow that was taken from the window of a Thai Airways jet.

The aeroplane’s shadow can be faintly seen in the centre of the ring, with the colours fading from blue to red around it.

Rainbows are formed when sunlight strikes the curved inside of a raindrop at a specific angle and is reflected back through the water, creating a prism effect.

The apparent semicircle of a normal rainbow is only limited by the horizon. The full circle could be seen if the viewer were standing on a sufficiently high cliff, although it is more easily seen from aircraft.

Link