Interesting Facts

According to the World Health Organisation, Spain is the noisiest country in Europe, and Madrid is one of the noisiest capitals. (In fact Spain is the second noisiest country in the world, behind Japan. Most of the noise comes from traffic, such as cars, heavy lorries and noisy motorbikes and mopeds. This is closely followed by building works, discotheques and leisure activities in general; especially in summer. Having been to Valencia during Las Fallas, I'm sure fireworks, which are more like army ordnance, don't help.)

According to a review by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), the health of the world’s oceans is deteriorating. (The problems have been known for some time, but the deterioration is happening even faster than had previously been thought. The oceans face many threats; climate change means they are warming, and slowly turning less alkaline by absorbing CO2.  Additional problems include over-fishing, pollution, siltation and toxic algal blooms. If that's not bad enough, dead zones are being formed by fertilizer run off pollution.)

According to a report published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, between 30% and 50% of the world's food goes to waste. (This means around two billion tonnes, of the four billion tonnes of food produced around the world each year, ends up not being eaten, and half the food bought in Europe and the US is thrown away. The reasons seem to range from poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage, best before dates on food, and those notorious BOGOFF (buy-one-get-one-free) offers, that encourage consumers to buy more than they need. I would say that in Europe it could be down to weekly shopping too.  Once upon a time we bought food fresh from markets, but nowadays we do a weekly shop, and something is bound to go off in that time.  My worst culprit is salad items.  The number of half eaten cucumbers I've thrown away...) You can read the report here. http://www.imeche.org/Libraries/Reports/IMechE_Global_Food_Report.sflb.ashx

The Census Bureau in America says that there are now nearly 2 million people in the USA in their 90s. (This is three times as many as there were back in 1980 and the number is projected to reach 9 million by 2050, but aging isn't just a phenomena in the West, it is a global issue:  Worldwide, by 2050, the increase in population ages 65 and over is forecast to be 2.5 times that of the population ages 0-4. This is an exact reversal of the situation in 1950.  Of course some people think this is a problem, but when it comes to aging, I for one am all for it!)

Today is world hello day. Say hello to ten people to promote peace and happiness.

End of the world predictions have been around for as long as someone could write on a piece of cardboard "The end of the world is nigh". Here are some of the most famous (infamous) ones:- 1. Followers of William Miller believed the world would end on October 22, 1844. 2.The Jehovah's Witness religion has predicted the end of the world in 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994. 3. Charles Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, predicted the world would end in 1794. 4. Famous forecaster Nostradamus predicted doomsday would happen in July 1999. 5. English mystic Joanna Southcott predicted the world would end on October 19, 1814, when she gave birth to the Messiah. And of course US Preacher Harold Camping, 89, who has studied the Bible for 70 years, predicted today as Judgment Day. Using his calculator he worked out that Jesus was crucified on April 1, AD33, and 722,500 (calculated by multiplying three holy numbers together) days later would be May ...

According to the Foundation for Endangered Languages every year the world loses around 25 mother tongues. (That equates to losing 250 languages over a decade. In 2010, the Bo language died out when the only speaker of the language, an 85-year-old member of the Bo tribe in the India-owned Andaman islands died.)

Spanish is spoken by around 500 million people in more than 20 countries. According to the Spanish in the World website, the following countries have a Spanish-speaking population greater than 100,000. Mexico - 106 million Colombia - 44 million Spain - 44 million Argentina - 39 million United States - 31 million Venezuela - 25 million Peru - 25 million Chile - 16 million Guatemala - 14 million Ecuador - 13 million Cuba - 11 million Bolivia - 8.7 million Dominican Republic - 8.5 million El Salvador - 6.8 million Honduras - 6.8 million Nicaragua - 5.5 million Paraguay - 4.5 million Costa Rica - 4 million Puerto Rico - 3.6 million Uruguay - 3.4 million Panama - 3 million

According to the UN, 1.02 billion people throughout the world suffer from hunger. (The number of people suffering from hunger has increased by 100 million because of the global financial crisis, making it a record high - one-sixth of humanity. Asia-Pacific: 642m Sub-Saharan Africa: 265m Latin America and Caribbean: 53m Middle East and North Africa: 42m Developed world: 15m Source: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization)

According to statistics from French media ratings agency, 2008 was the year of the one-minute hike in the couch potato syndrome. They found that in 80 territories worldwide people spent more time than ever glued to the goggle box. (Not surprisingly sport, particularly football, remained the firm TV favourite, followed by fiction. Perhaps we should try living more, and spectating less.)

Is World Philosophy Day