MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS

MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS

Mice have existed for at least72 million years, have similar genes to humans, AND may be an ancestor.

At least 64 large fires surrounded Sydney Australia during one of the worse droughts in the last 50 years. (6/12/02)

New Zealand has a population of 31/2 million people and 57 million sheep. (1/1/03)

The Vancouver Canada population will, by 2006 have 1 million people living there that will be of another ethnicity. Vancouver population growth is about 160,000 per year.

The Pope is the most recognised person in the world, has sold more CD’s than any entertainer. His 1998 CD sold 60 million copies worldwide and is the first non-Italian pope in 456 years. (2002)

Men sweat up to 50% more than women do.

In September 2003 Microsoft’s Bill Gates Foundation donated US$51 million to New York to help improve the standards of 67 schools in the poor areas. He had previously expanded the educational development of a further 91 schools in the USA.  In the US about 45% of African Americans and Latinos don’t finish High school, while 30% of Anglo-American don’t graduate from High school.

Public opinion on Prime Minister John Howard and the 2003 Iraqi invasion:

46% totally disapproved, 72% did not condone it and 26% were undecided.

World opinion on using force to remove Saddam Husain:

United States……………Yes=62% ___No=26%

Britain…………………..       =47% ___     =47%

France…………………..       =33% ___     =64%

Germany………………..       =26% ___     =71%

Russia…………………..       =12% ___     =79%

Turkey………………….       =13% ___     =83%.

World opinion on suicide bombing in defence of Islam:

Lebanon……………….. Yes=73% ___No=21%

Nigeria…………………       =47%  ___     =45%

Jordon………………….       =43%  ___     =48%

Pakistan………………..       =33%  ___     =43%

Indonesia………………       =27%  ___     =70%. (12/02)

World journalistic integrity status;

Australia equivalent to Ghana and Korea

Sweden is the most open journalism

Brazil is the least open.

Spoken language has been around in some form for at least 100,000 years, with written language only about 5,000 years. (Time magazine)