HARDminute factoid #45 happy countries

The HARDminute # 45
A Series of “Top Tens”
That Took Forever to Compile
But Requires Only Sixty Seconds
for You to Read.
TOP TEN
Happiest Places on Earth

Forbes.com rates countries on a happiness scale. The scale takes into account people’s satisfaction with their present life, “predicted satisfaction with future life” (I think this is while on earth!) the gross domestic product per capita and the unemployment rate. While this is a subjective combination of factors, it is based on totally objective data. The first two items are from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the third is from the International Monetary Fund, and the unemployment stats come from the CIA World Factbook.

Denmark
Finland
Netherlands
Sweden
Ireland
Canada
Switzerland
New Zealand
Norway
Belgium

See the story at
http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/05/world-happiest-places-lifestyle-travel-world-happiest_slide_2.html?thisspeed=25000.

Please let me know if this is of interest to you. I welcome your feedback!
HARD

HARDminute factoid #44: Expensive parking!

The HARDminute # 44
A Series of “Top Tens”
That Took Forever to Compile
But Requires Only Sixty Seconds
for You to Read.
TOP TEN
Most Expensive Parking

Colliers International conducts an annual survey of parking costs. Below are the top ten monthly costs as of last week’s release. Figures are expressed in US dollars.

London, The City $1167
London, West End $1136
Sydney, Australia $775
Hong Kong $742
Perth, Australia $610
Midtown Manhattan $585
Stockholm, Sweden $509
New York, downtown $462
Boston $460
Calgary, Canada $364

*See entire article at:
http://www.colliers.com/Markets/AsiaPacific/News/Global-carparking
Please let me know if this is of interest to you. I welcome your feedback!
HARD

HARDminute factoid #43: Birthrates

The HARDminute # 43
A Series of “Top Tens”
That Took Forever to Compile
But Requires Only Sixty Seconds
for You to Read.
Top 10 Countries’ Birthrates*

India: 24,073,392
China: 17,778,908
Nigeria: 5,428,253
Indonesia: 4,960,256
Pakistan; 4,919,004
Bangladesh: 4,417,163
USA: 4,264,142
Brazil: 3,097,174
Ethiopia: 2,860,779
Congo: 2,798,765

(source: US Census Bureau, International Data Base 2007 est.)

Birthrates do not necessarily translate into long term population growth. “Permanent” population growth is also affected by overall health, life expectancy, etc. The above figures are for live births only. However, there are some results that demographers can already see.

India is now forecast to surpass China in total population by 2030, five years earlier than previously thought.

India’s population is slated to rise by almost 350 million over the next quarter century, twice as fast as the United States, Western Europe and China combined.

China’s population is currently larger than India’s by 182 million, (1,133,900,000 vs. 1,157,000,000) but by 2050 India’s population is expected to exceed China’s by 200,000,000.

India’s urban population is projected to rise from 29 percent of total population in 2005 to 41 percent by 2030.

And, just to put things in perspective, the India mobile subscriber base is set to exceed 737 million connections by 2012.

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HARD

HARDminute factoid #42 CANADA

July 1 was Canada Day. To honour (!) the country of my birth, here are a few interesting items about Canada.

1. Canada (The name "Canada" comes from the Huron and Iroquois word "Kanata" meaning "village".) is the second largest country in the world and became independent on July 1, 1867 (Confederation Day)
2. Canada stretches across 6 time zones and borders three oceans (Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic), thus having the world’s longest coastline.
3. Covering nearly half its land mass, Canada’s forests represent about 10% of the world’s forests.
4. One quarter of the world’s fresh water is in Canada.
5. Canada is the world's leader in the production of potash and uranium, and is the third largest diamond producing nation on earth.
6. The Trans-Canada Highway, running from St. John’s Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia, is the longest national highway in the world at 7604 KM long.
7. Canada is America’s largest trading partner (both in imports and exports) and its largest export to the US is petroleum products…over 2,300,000 barrels per DAY…but US soybean imports from Canada were up 152% from 2007 to 2008.
8. Canadian life expectancy at birth is 80.34 years (#14 in the world) while US is 78.06 years (and #45.)
9. Canadians have invented many staples of everyday life: the candy bar, the gas mask, SONAR, IMAX, basketball, garbage bags, peanut butter, and the snow plow. I understand why the last one.
10. In 2007, Research in Motion, developer of the Blackberry, passed the Royal Bank of Canada as the largest company in Canada.

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HARD

HARDminute factoid #41:Longest road tunnels

The HARDminute # 41
A Series of “Top Tens”
That Took Forever to Compile
But Requires Only Sixty Seconds
for You to Read.
Top 10 Longest Road Tunnels


Location, tunnel / yr. completed / length in KM

Laerdal, Norway / 2000 / 24.51
Zhongnanshan, China / 2007 / 18.04
St. Gotthard, Switzerland / 1980 / 16.918
Arlberg, Austria / 1978 / 13.972
Hseuhshan, Taiwan / 2005 / 12.9
Fréjus, France-Italy / 1980 / 12.895
Mont-Blanc, France-Italy / 1965 / 11.611
Gudvangen, Norway / 1991 / 11.428
Folgefonn, Norway / 2001 / 11.1
Kan-Etsu, Japan / 1990 / 11.01

Please let me know if this is of interest to you. I welcome your feedback!
HARD

HARDminute Factoid #40:Most Ppular US Cties

The HARDminute # 40
A Series of “Top Tens”
That Took Forever to Compile
But Requires Only Sixty Seconds
for You to Read.
Top 10 Most Popular Big U.S. Cities


Pew Research Center ranked cities by the by the % of respondents who say they'd want to live in this city or its surrounding metropolitan area:


43% Denver CO
40% San Diego
38% Seattle WA
34% Orlando FL
34% Tampa FL
34% San Francisco CA
33% Phoenix AZ
31% Portland OR
29% Sacramento CA
29% San Antonio CA

Please let me know if this is of interest to you. I welcome your feedback!
HARD

A Sales Messiah

“The Home Front” is a newsletter mostly for new home sales & marketing professionals. Mary LeBlanc, a trusted advisor and consultant of many years, operates a mystery shopping business among other tools for builders. I often give Mary some original opinion pieces in hopes that they can add value for her clients. The latest edition of The Home Front came out today. I hope you enjoy ALL the articles. Maybe mine has some value for all…not only new home marketeers. 7/21/09.

Hyperlink follows.

http://www.mleblanc.com/homefront.html