Post 540 - Peter Drucker once told me, "There are only two profit activities in business: innovation and marketing. Everything else is expense." Drucker said his intellectual model was Walter Bagehot, the famous editor of The Economist. Like Bagehot, Drucker saw the tension between the need for continuity and the need for innovation and change as central to society and civilization. There are only three basic business strategies: Operational excellence (low cost models), Innovation, and Customization. That's it. Everything else is a derivative.
Andrew Hargadon, an expert in technology management, management of innovation, entrepreneurship and new product development at UC Davis Graduate School of Management, calls innovation “a phenomenon of networks connected by 'technology brokers' - people or organizations that link isolated groups and industries to integrate previously unrelated viewpoints and technologies to resolve new problems." This suggests that innovation occurs by bringing together different ways of looking at common and mundane ideas. For example, Gutenberg married two different tools - a coin stamping tool-and-die process, and a winepress - to come up with the printing press. New ideas come from having different perspectives and juxtaposing different theories. However, only innovation that depends on technical platforms or infrastructure that others lack will provide a sustainable source of competitive advantage. Little lasting advantage accrues today solely from developing clever technical applications.
According to Theodore Levitt, "Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things." Texaco provides a useful example. Worried about political obstacles to its overseas exploration plans in the late 1980s, Texaco began turning more of its attention to increasing production in its domestic fields. In 1992, Stephen Hadden, then a 40-year old petroleum engineer, was sent to the declining, 100-year old Kern River oilfield in California to help breathe new life into its operations. A minor miracle resulted: Production increased from 80,000 barrels a day and surpassed 100,000 by 1998. Production per worker surged from 150 barrels a day in 1992 to 250 barrels in 1995, and Texaco raised its estimates of recoverable oil at Kern River by 66 million barrels, good for another ten years of production.
The turnaround began when Hadden assembled a group of 25 engineers, geologists, technicians, field workers, and outside contractors, and put them through a nine-month brainstorming program where they developed proposals about ways to improve operations. He abolished the old lines of authority and replaced them with a team system, thus freeing the field workers from many traditional management restraints. As Hadden remembers, “We simply started a conversation with each other asking why we were where we were.” The brainstorming team met each morning to discuss problems and to develop new ways of dealing with them. As a result, employees were given new powers to act on their own, including freedom to communicate with other departments without management approval.
They also had unrestricted access to a new central computer system that stored data on all aspects of operations, including each well’s history and the location of underground rock formations. Information that previously took weeks to obtain could now be retrieved in minutes. The computer was also linked to Texaco’s research laboratories in Houston. Initially, the new approach resulted in mostly small improvements. But the daily meetings eventually led to innovations that revolutionized how oil was extracted as technicians introduced a new method of injecting lower-pressure, lower-heat steam into much larger sections of the underground layers of rock and sand. As a result, Kern River increased its recovery rate from 50% to 66%, and eventually push this to 80%. Hadden says his operating strategy was, “to stay out of the way and give people the resources they needed to get the job done.”
An OECD study of the Japanese automobile industry estimated that 60% of innovation in Japan came from the place of work, not from the universities or the research departments. To get this level of innovation, you must allow freedom. But to have a network, you have to have a certain amount of control. Also among the prerequisites for innovation, employees should have a sense of security and a sense of possibility.
Writer-director Brad Bird of Pixar says, “Involved people make for better innovation. Passionate involvement can make you happy, sometimes, and miserable at other times. You want people to be involved and engaged. Involved people can be quiet, loud, or anything in-between - what they have in common is a restless, probing nature: ‘I want to get to the problem. There’s something I want to do.’ If you had thermal glasses, you could see heat coming off them.”
Useful knowledge is widely dispersed and expensive to collect. What economist F. A. Hayek called “competition as a discovery procedure” allows companies to find new ideas through decentralized trial and error, through adaptation and improvisation. Without a peripheral view of the data however, it's easy to get blindsided when something new turns up. Trends are easy enough to predict but abrupt innovations are harder to anticipate. There’s an aphorism that any time you jump three orders of magnitude, (say from 10 to 10,000) you have a whole new science.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
One view of how Apple succeeds.
Post 539 - Sachin Agarwal learned a lot about Apple's management style during his days as an engineer. He worked at the company for six years, before leaving to start the simple blogging platform, Posterous. When he left, he made sure to take a few important management lessons with him, and these have helped to make Posterous successful as well. Here are some of Sachin's management lessons:
- Apple is completely run by its engineers. It doesn't have a lot of product management. Most of the project teams are really small, and they’re all driven by the engineers. On top of that, most of the managers are engineers as well, not product people or MBAs. That means that the people overseeing projects understand the technology, what's necessary for the project to succeed, and can really relate to the needs of their team members.
- Because most of the managers have strong engineering backgrounds, there isn't a big division between product managers and 'code monkeys.' There's a lot of respect between the two tiers.
- If employees use a product and find an issue that bothers them, they have the freedom to go and fix it without having to deal with layers of bureaucracy to get approval. All projects are driven by long-term goals, but the best ideas come from the engineers acting on their own initiative.
- Management really challenges people by giving them tasks that are a little beyond their current capabilities. So they learn quickly and many get to manage projects within six months of starting employment. Apple is really good at developing their employees, and giving them the skills they need to rise up within the company.
- Apple requires absolute deadlines, and they never miss them. It doesn’t ship products that aren’t of 'Apple quality,' even if that means cutting something that doesn't make it in time. Especially at a startup, it's easy to keep building and never launch anything. It's better to stick to deadlines and ship, then iterate later.
- Apple doesn’t believe in playing the "feature game" with its products. The company focuses more on its goals for its own products, rather than comparing itself to competitors' and trying to outdo them on the same levels. That mission is deeply ingrained in the culture. Employees aren't focusing on copying what the competition is doing – instead, they're driven to innovate and come up with products that challenge the status quo.
- The people who work at Apple really, really want to be there. That enthusiasm is a key element of the hiring process. Management looks to attract people who are really passionate about the company, its products, and its overall style.
- Apple puts a huge emphasis on work/life balance. Employees are expected to work hard, but the company lets then enjoy their time off on their own. From excellent healthcare to generous office holidays around Christmas and Thanksgiving, people love the type of environment the company provides for its employees.
- Apple keeps winning because it's a giant startup. From its lack of bureaucracy within projects, to its engineer-focused culture, to its emphasis on passionate and loyal employees, the huge company has maintained the corporate culture of its startup days. And that culture is a huge part of what makes it so successful - and, not surprisingly, a good place to work.
- Apple is completely run by its engineers. It doesn't have a lot of product management. Most of the project teams are really small, and they’re all driven by the engineers. On top of that, most of the managers are engineers as well, not product people or MBAs. That means that the people overseeing projects understand the technology, what's necessary for the project to succeed, and can really relate to the needs of their team members.
- Because most of the managers have strong engineering backgrounds, there isn't a big division between product managers and 'code monkeys.' There's a lot of respect between the two tiers.
- If employees use a product and find an issue that bothers them, they have the freedom to go and fix it without having to deal with layers of bureaucracy to get approval. All projects are driven by long-term goals, but the best ideas come from the engineers acting on their own initiative.
- Management really challenges people by giving them tasks that are a little beyond their current capabilities. So they learn quickly and many get to manage projects within six months of starting employment. Apple is really good at developing their employees, and giving them the skills they need to rise up within the company.
- Apple requires absolute deadlines, and they never miss them. It doesn’t ship products that aren’t of 'Apple quality,' even if that means cutting something that doesn't make it in time. Especially at a startup, it's easy to keep building and never launch anything. It's better to stick to deadlines and ship, then iterate later.
- Apple doesn’t believe in playing the "feature game" with its products. The company focuses more on its goals for its own products, rather than comparing itself to competitors' and trying to outdo them on the same levels. That mission is deeply ingrained in the culture. Employees aren't focusing on copying what the competition is doing – instead, they're driven to innovate and come up with products that challenge the status quo.
- The people who work at Apple really, really want to be there. That enthusiasm is a key element of the hiring process. Management looks to attract people who are really passionate about the company, its products, and its overall style.
- Apple puts a huge emphasis on work/life balance. Employees are expected to work hard, but the company lets then enjoy their time off on their own. From excellent healthcare to generous office holidays around Christmas and Thanksgiving, people love the type of environment the company provides for its employees.
- Apple keeps winning because it's a giant startup. From its lack of bureaucracy within projects, to its engineer-focused culture, to its emphasis on passionate and loyal employees, the huge company has maintained the corporate culture of its startup days. And that culture is a huge part of what makes it so successful - and, not surprisingly, a good place to work.
Monday, August 9, 2010
The current state of things.
Post 538 - Here's another set of data reported in the past week. Seems like the rich continue to get richer and the poor continue to get poorer. So, what else is new?
Some 16.5 percent of America’s workers are now either unemployed and trying to find a job, involuntarily working part time, or have stopped looking for work altogether. That figure doesn’t include the many Americans who’ve had to settle for jobs for which they are overqualified.
Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of software maker Oracle Corp., topped the list of best-paid executives of public companies during the past decade, receiving $1.84 billion in compensation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of CEO pay.
One of the most famous sub-categories of specialty lines insurance is body part insurance. Plenty of people have heard the stories of singers like Bruce Springsteen or Celine Dion ensuring their voices (or vocal chords) or actresses like Heidi Klum, Tina Turner and Betty Grable insuring their legs. Sometimes the performer takes the initiative, while in other cases it may be a company doing so - as in the case of Heidi Klum. Braun, now part of Procter & Gamble, took out the policy when Ms. Klum signed on as a celebrity promoter.
Jeanne Louise Calment (21 February 1875 Р4 August 1997) had the longest confirmed human life span in recent history, living 122 years and 164 days (44,724 days total). In 1965, aged 90 years and with no heirs, Calment signed a deal to sell her former apartment to lawyer Andr̩-Fran̤ois Raffray, on a contingency contract. Raffray, then aged 47 years, agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500 francs until she died. Raffray ended up paying Calment the equivalent of more than $180,000, which was more than double the apartment's value. After Raffray's death from cancer at the age of 77, in 1995, his widow continued the payments until Calment's death.
Today, adults consume more than 3,400 mgs of sodium on average a day, not including salt used in cooking or sprinkled on food from a shaker. This is more than twice the amount recommended for most people, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Middle-aged men are eating on average about 54% more salt today than in the early 1970s; for women, consumption has jumped 67% in that time.
Sen. John Kerry bought and housed his $7 million yacht in Rhode Island instead of Massachusetts, where he’s the senior senator and champion of higher taxes on the rich, thereby avoiding some $437,500 in state sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000. Howard Metzenbaum, the former Ohio senator and liberal supporter of the death tax, chose to change his official residence to Florida just before he died because Florida doesn’t have an estate tax while Ohio does.
Rich married men who are approaching retirement have the highest self-esteem, according to scientists. Confidence is lowest among young adults but increases with age until it peaks around 60. Then retirement and failing health cause a decline in self-regard, researchers have found. A study published by the American Psychological Association looked at 3617 people aged 25 to 104 between 1986 and 2002 and rated how their self-esteem changed. Women were less confident than men, only catching up in their 80s or 90s. Those with better education, income, health and employment status were also likely to report higher levels of self-esteem, especially as they aged, the study found. "It’s possible that wealth and health are related to feeling more independent and better able to contribute to one's family and society, which in turn bolsters self-esteem," said study leader Ulrich Orth. Participants were asked to rate their agreement with statements such as "I take a positive attitude towards myself." They were asked about their ethnic background, education, income, work status, relationship satisfaction, and whether they had experienced stressful events. People in happy relationships had higher levels of self-esteem, but experienced the same drop in confidence when they passed 60 as those in unhappy relationships.
Some 16.5 percent of America’s workers are now either unemployed and trying to find a job, involuntarily working part time, or have stopped looking for work altogether. That figure doesn’t include the many Americans who’ve had to settle for jobs for which they are overqualified.
Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of software maker Oracle Corp., topped the list of best-paid executives of public companies during the past decade, receiving $1.84 billion in compensation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of CEO pay.
One of the most famous sub-categories of specialty lines insurance is body part insurance. Plenty of people have heard the stories of singers like Bruce Springsteen or Celine Dion ensuring their voices (or vocal chords) or actresses like Heidi Klum, Tina Turner and Betty Grable insuring their legs. Sometimes the performer takes the initiative, while in other cases it may be a company doing so - as in the case of Heidi Klum. Braun, now part of Procter & Gamble, took out the policy when Ms. Klum signed on as a celebrity promoter.
Jeanne Louise Calment (21 February 1875 Р4 August 1997) had the longest confirmed human life span in recent history, living 122 years and 164 days (44,724 days total). In 1965, aged 90 years and with no heirs, Calment signed a deal to sell her former apartment to lawyer Andr̩-Fran̤ois Raffray, on a contingency contract. Raffray, then aged 47 years, agreed to pay her a monthly sum of 2,500 francs until she died. Raffray ended up paying Calment the equivalent of more than $180,000, which was more than double the apartment's value. After Raffray's death from cancer at the age of 77, in 1995, his widow continued the payments until Calment's death.
Today, adults consume more than 3,400 mgs of sodium on average a day, not including salt used in cooking or sprinkled on food from a shaker. This is more than twice the amount recommended for most people, according to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Middle-aged men are eating on average about 54% more salt today than in the early 1970s; for women, consumption has jumped 67% in that time.
Sen. John Kerry bought and housed his $7 million yacht in Rhode Island instead of Massachusetts, where he’s the senior senator and champion of higher taxes on the rich, thereby avoiding some $437,500 in state sales tax and an annual excise tax of about $70,000. Howard Metzenbaum, the former Ohio senator and liberal supporter of the death tax, chose to change his official residence to Florida just before he died because Florida doesn’t have an estate tax while Ohio does.
Rich married men who are approaching retirement have the highest self-esteem, according to scientists. Confidence is lowest among young adults but increases with age until it peaks around 60. Then retirement and failing health cause a decline in self-regard, researchers have found. A study published by the American Psychological Association looked at 3617 people aged 25 to 104 between 1986 and 2002 and rated how their self-esteem changed. Women were less confident than men, only catching up in their 80s or 90s. Those with better education, income, health and employment status were also likely to report higher levels of self-esteem, especially as they aged, the study found. "It’s possible that wealth and health are related to feeling more independent and better able to contribute to one's family and society, which in turn bolsters self-esteem," said study leader Ulrich Orth. Participants were asked to rate their agreement with statements such as "I take a positive attitude towards myself." They were asked about their ethnic background, education, income, work status, relationship satisfaction, and whether they had experienced stressful events. People in happy relationships had higher levels of self-esteem, but experienced the same drop in confidence when they passed 60 as those in unhappy relationships.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Blessing the Boats, a poem by Lucille Clifton.
Post 537 - Lucille Clifton (Sayles) was born in 1936, in Depew, New York and moved to Buffalo with her family early on in her life. She won a scholarship to Howard University in Washington D.C. and then transferred to Fredonia State Teachers College. When Clifton was attending Fredonia, she was also experimenting and exploring poetry, drama, and other various things that went on to shape her writing. Also at Fredonia Clifton met her future husband, Fred Clifton, who at the time was a philosophy professor at the University of Buffalo. Clifton had six children with Fred and they were happily married until 1984 when Fred passed away.
Clifton is one of the most accomplished women in the literary world. Owner of Pulitzer Prize nominations for poetry in 1980, 1987, and 1991, the Lannan Literary Award for poetry in 1997, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize in 1997, the Los Angeles Times Poetry Award in 1997, the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Award in 1999, and the National Book Award for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000 (2000) also a National Book Award nomination for The Terrible Stories (1996). She’s also been awarded honorary degrees from Colby College, the University of Maryland, Towson State University, Washington College, and Albright College.
Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton.
may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love you back may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that.
Clifton is one of the most accomplished women in the literary world. Owner of Pulitzer Prize nominations for poetry in 1980, 1987, and 1991, the Lannan Literary Award for poetry in 1997, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize in 1997, the Los Angeles Times Poetry Award in 1997, the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Award in 1999, and the National Book Award for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems, 1988-2000 (2000) also a National Book Award nomination for The Terrible Stories (1996). She’s also been awarded honorary degrees from Colby College, the University of Maryland, Towson State University, Washington College, and Albright College.
Blessing the Boats by Lucille Clifton.
may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love you back may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
How to test your company’s creative ability.
Post 536 - Last Friday, I had lunch with eight colleagues where we talked about our experiences with innovation and creativity. One of those present was a visiting researcher from Sweden who introduced us to the following test. I thought you might find it useful. Just answer YES or NO to the following ten questions:
1. Are you encouraged to be creative and come up with new ideas at work?
2. Do you and your colleagues take initiatives even if the outcomes are uncertain?
3. Are you allowed to fail in your workplace?
4. Do you experience the atmosphere at your workplace as lively and eventful?
5. Do you feel that there’s room for humor and laughter in your workplace?
6. Does your boss listen to you? Is there a dialogue rather than a monologue at your workplace?
7. Do you have time to think of new ideas?
8. Have you and your colleagues the opportunity to take part in how the company is managed and developed?
9. Do you verbally encourage others in the workplace?
10. Are you encouraged to collaborate with others?
The number of YES answers to the above test are evaluated as follows:
0-3 YES:
Probably you don’t have much room to be creative.
Action: Download Farida’s dissertation summary on www.farida.se and give the dissertation to your management! Do the test again after six months and if the score hasn’t improved - change jobs!
4 – 6 YES;
Not a super-creative company, but has the right conditions to
become one!
Action: Work on the points that you’ve answered NO to and enhance
the areas where you've answered YES.
7-10 YES:
You’re probably in an organization that can perform and deliver
super-creative results.
Action: Spread the word, and recruit more people who don’t have space to be creative in their current companies. Focus on your own creativity so you can get even better results.
Farida’s research shows that when employees are more creative, you get both better economic results and a healthier, happier staff.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Farida Rasulzada
Department of Psychology
Lund University, Sweden
+46 (0) 736 222 121
Farida.Rasulzada@psychology.lu.se
1. Are you encouraged to be creative and come up with new ideas at work?
2. Do you and your colleagues take initiatives even if the outcomes are uncertain?
3. Are you allowed to fail in your workplace?
4. Do you experience the atmosphere at your workplace as lively and eventful?
5. Do you feel that there’s room for humor and laughter in your workplace?
6. Does your boss listen to you? Is there a dialogue rather than a monologue at your workplace?
7. Do you have time to think of new ideas?
8. Have you and your colleagues the opportunity to take part in how the company is managed and developed?
9. Do you verbally encourage others in the workplace?
10. Are you encouraged to collaborate with others?
The number of YES answers to the above test are evaluated as follows:
0-3 YES:
Probably you don’t have much room to be creative.
Action: Download Farida’s dissertation summary on www.farida.se and give the dissertation to your management! Do the test again after six months and if the score hasn’t improved - change jobs!
4 – 6 YES;
Not a super-creative company, but has the right conditions to
become one!
Action: Work on the points that you’ve answered NO to and enhance
the areas where you've answered YES.
7-10 YES:
You’re probably in an organization that can perform and deliver
super-creative results.
Action: Spread the word, and recruit more people who don’t have space to be creative in their current companies. Focus on your own creativity so you can get even better results.
Farida’s research shows that when employees are more creative, you get both better economic results and a healthier, happier staff.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Farida Rasulzada
Department of Psychology
Lund University, Sweden
+46 (0) 736 222 121
Farida.Rasulzada@psychology.lu.se
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
What sex can do for your brain.
Post 535 - I have my doubts that you need another reason to have sex, but in case you were searching for one that also happens to provide an excellent side effect, you've come to the right place today. According to LiveScience.com, scientists at Princeton University who study rats found that not only do sexually active rats appear to be "less anxious" than their virginal counterparts, but the activity also helps grow the rats' brains.
It seems that scientists played matchmaker by pairing up adult male rats with "sexually receptive" females, either once a day for two weeks or just once every two-weeks. Those two groups were then compared with male virgins and it turned out that the sexually active groups had more neurons in the hippocampus (an area of the brain tied to memory), while the rats who were the most sexually active had growth in adult brain cells and more connections between the cells.
However, the rats that only saw females once every two weeks had elevated levels of stress hormones, while the rats that had regular access showed no increase in their hormones. Sexually experienced rodents also proved to be less anxious than the virgin rats. As the article notes, the findings suggest that while stress hormones can be detrimental to the brain, these effects can be overridden if the experiences that triggered them were pleasant. And, apparently, if those experiences also happen more regularly.
Bigger brains and less stress? Just the reason you were looking for, right?
It seems that scientists played matchmaker by pairing up adult male rats with "sexually receptive" females, either once a day for two weeks or just once every two-weeks. Those two groups were then compared with male virgins and it turned out that the sexually active groups had more neurons in the hippocampus (an area of the brain tied to memory), while the rats who were the most sexually active had growth in adult brain cells and more connections between the cells.
However, the rats that only saw females once every two weeks had elevated levels of stress hormones, while the rats that had regular access showed no increase in their hormones. Sexually experienced rodents also proved to be less anxious than the virgin rats. As the article notes, the findings suggest that while stress hormones can be detrimental to the brain, these effects can be overridden if the experiences that triggered them were pleasant. And, apparently, if those experiences also happen more regularly.
Bigger brains and less stress? Just the reason you were looking for, right?
Monday, August 2, 2010
Why the world is the way it is today.
Post 534 - Here's another set of strange and wonderful facts and findings that help to explain why the world we live in today is the way it is:
Here are the percentages of each president's cabinet who'd worked in the private business sector prior to their appointment to the cabinet:
T. Roosevelt........ 38%
Taft.................40%
Wilson .............52%
Harding..............49%
Coolidge.............48%
Hoover ..............42%
F. Roosevelt........50%
Truman...............50%
Eisenhower...........57%
Kennedy..............30%
Johnson..............47%
Nixon................53%
Ford.................42%
Carter...............32%
Reagan...............56%
GH Bush.............51%
Clinton ..........39%
GW Bush..............55%
Obama.................8%
More than 57,000 high school students applied for about 4,700 places in the fall 2010 entering class at UCLA. The weighted average high school GPA of those admitted was approximately 4.25. I'm glad I enrolled there thirty-five years ago.
In 2008, there were 53,500 working barbers in the U.S. according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau predicts that by 2018, the number will jump 12 percent to 59,700, primarily because of increased population. To be a licensed barber in California, you must complete a 1,500-hour course (involving at least 750 haircuts) at an approved institution, as well as passing the written and practical portions of the state licensing examination.
Global temperatures in the first half of the year were the hottest since records began more than a century ago, according to two of the world's leading climate research centers. Scientists have also released what they described as the "best evidence yet" of rising long-term temperatures. The report is the first to collate 11 different indicators – from air and sea temperatures to melting ice – each one based on between three and seven data sets, dating back to between 1850 and the 1970s.
Researchers from Brigham Young University reviewed 148 studies that tracked the social habits of more than 300,000 people. They found that people who have strong ties to family, friends or co-workers have a 50 percent lower risk of dying over a given period than those with fewer social connections. The researchers concluded that having few friends or weak social ties to the community is just as harmful to health as being an alcoholic or smoking nearly a pack of cigarettes a day. Weak social ties are more harmful than not exercising and twice as risky as being obese, the researchers say.
Japanese women have enjoyed the longest life expectancy in the world for the past quarter of a century, according to government figures. In 2009, they could expect to live, on average, a record 86.4 years – up almost five months from the previous year – followed by women in Hong Kong and France. Experts attribute Japan's extraordinary longevity statistics to a traditional diet of fish, rice and simmered vegetables, easy access to healthcare and a comparatively high standard of living in old age.
There are 309,860,745 people in the U.S. If everyone were lined up in single file, the line would stretch around the Earth almost seven times. That's a lot of people!
In addition, the U.S. Census Bureau statistics tell us that there are at least 151,671 different last names and 5,163 different first names in common use. Some names are more common than others. There are 44,803 people named John Smith, 974 people named James Bond, 102 people named Harry Potter, 436 people named George Bush, and 31 people named Emily Dickinson. However, Johnny Cash (32 people) songs aside there are, statistically speaking, very few boys named Sue.
Wondering about your own name? Check it out at http://howmanyofme.com/
And finally, in all the EU member states, except Ireland, more than eight in ten interviewees felt that people driving under the influence of alcohol constituted a major road safety problem in their country. However, in Ireland, just 62 percent of respondents regarded drink-driving as a major threat to road safety and 31 percent simply regarded it as a minor problem. Go figure - maybe they were a bit under the influence when they were interviewed.
Here are the percentages of each president's cabinet who'd worked in the private business sector prior to their appointment to the cabinet:
T. Roosevelt........ 38%
Taft.................40%
Wilson .............52%
Harding..............49%
Coolidge.............48%
Hoover ..............42%
F. Roosevelt........50%
Truman...............50%
Eisenhower...........57%
Kennedy..............30%
Johnson..............47%
Nixon................53%
Ford.................42%
Carter...............32%
Reagan...............56%
GH Bush.............51%
Clinton ..........39%
GW Bush..............55%
Obama.................8%
More than 57,000 high school students applied for about 4,700 places in the fall 2010 entering class at UCLA. The weighted average high school GPA of those admitted was approximately 4.25. I'm glad I enrolled there thirty-five years ago.
In 2008, there were 53,500 working barbers in the U.S. according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bureau predicts that by 2018, the number will jump 12 percent to 59,700, primarily because of increased population. To be a licensed barber in California, you must complete a 1,500-hour course (involving at least 750 haircuts) at an approved institution, as well as passing the written and practical portions of the state licensing examination.
Global temperatures in the first half of the year were the hottest since records began more than a century ago, according to two of the world's leading climate research centers. Scientists have also released what they described as the "best evidence yet" of rising long-term temperatures. The report is the first to collate 11 different indicators – from air and sea temperatures to melting ice – each one based on between three and seven data sets, dating back to between 1850 and the 1970s.
Researchers from Brigham Young University reviewed 148 studies that tracked the social habits of more than 300,000 people. They found that people who have strong ties to family, friends or co-workers have a 50 percent lower risk of dying over a given period than those with fewer social connections. The researchers concluded that having few friends or weak social ties to the community is just as harmful to health as being an alcoholic or smoking nearly a pack of cigarettes a day. Weak social ties are more harmful than not exercising and twice as risky as being obese, the researchers say.
Japanese women have enjoyed the longest life expectancy in the world for the past quarter of a century, according to government figures. In 2009, they could expect to live, on average, a record 86.4 years – up almost five months from the previous year – followed by women in Hong Kong and France. Experts attribute Japan's extraordinary longevity statistics to a traditional diet of fish, rice and simmered vegetables, easy access to healthcare and a comparatively high standard of living in old age.
There are 309,860,745 people in the U.S. If everyone were lined up in single file, the line would stretch around the Earth almost seven times. That's a lot of people!
In addition, the U.S. Census Bureau statistics tell us that there are at least 151,671 different last names and 5,163 different first names in common use. Some names are more common than others. There are 44,803 people named John Smith, 974 people named James Bond, 102 people named Harry Potter, 436 people named George Bush, and 31 people named Emily Dickinson. However, Johnny Cash (32 people) songs aside there are, statistically speaking, very few boys named Sue.
Wondering about your own name? Check it out at http://howmanyofme.com/
And finally, in all the EU member states, except Ireland, more than eight in ten interviewees felt that people driving under the influence of alcohol constituted a major road safety problem in their country. However, in Ireland, just 62 percent of respondents regarded drink-driving as a major threat to road safety and 31 percent simply regarded it as a minor problem. Go figure - maybe they were a bit under the influence when they were interviewed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
