Chit chat fodder by the water cooler

As I get ready to join the respectable workforce on Monday, my former customs broker has sent me another round of handy chit chat fodder. Nothing makes a better first impression than random socio-economic facts (Co-workers nod to reams of chit chat fodder while thinking, "What a nerd. Not a contender to replace me at all. A keeper.") I hope I don't get fired.

HAL will be a cell phone
Mobile phones are becoming an increasingly popular way to make all sorts of payments. In the U.S., fans of the Atlanta Hawks have been testing specially adapted phones linked to their Visa cards to enter the local stadium and to buy refreshments. In Japan, thousands of transactions, from buying railway tickets to picking up groceries, take place every day using mobile phones. It is estimated that worldwide payments using mobile phones will climb from just US$3.2-billion in 2003 to more than $37-billion by 2008.

HAL as a car
The Health Ministry in Japan has found that almost two per cent of the population are alcoholics and drunk driving is a serious problem. Toyota will introduce a new car next year that will shut down the engine if its driver is drunk, using sensors on the steering wheel to measure the alcohol level in the driver's sweat. If the driver is wearing gloves, a camera on the dashboard will check for dilated pupils and the car will detect erratic steering. Nissan is experimenting with a breathalyser-like device into which the driver must blow before starting the car.

Incandescent down under
The Australian government has announced plans to phase out incandescent light bulbs and replace them with more energy efficient compact fluorescent bulbs across the country. The legislation to gradually restrict the sale of the old-style bulbs could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by four million tonnes by 2012 and cut household power bills by up to 66 per cent.

Corn-fed with a silver spoon
Farmland from Iowa to Argentina is rising faster in price than apartments in Manhattan and London for the first time in 30 years. Demand for corn used in ethanol increased the value of cropland 16 per cent in Indiana and 35 per cent in Idaho in 2006. The price of a New York loft appreciated only 12 per cent and an apartment in London, England, by 11 per cent. Farmland prices are expected to take a quantum leap over the next 18 months after corn prices surged to a ten-year high earlier this year.

Men and women are filthy
A University of Arizona team has found that the average office desktop harbours 400 times more bacteria than the average office toilet seat. They also found that on average women have three to four times the amount of germs in, on and around their work area. Women are more likely to keep snacks in their drawers and make-up and lotions help to transfer bacteria. However, men's wallets provide the most fertile bug breeding ground of all. The Arizona team took samples from 100 offices at the university and in offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oregon and Washington.

Shrubbery over sex
U.S. circulation figures continue to decline among many magazines. Reader's Digest sales tumbled 12 per cent in the second half of last year to 10.1 million. Woman's Day was off by 20 per cent to 4 million, Redbook down 28.6 per cent to 2.4 million and Vogue was off six per cent to 1.3 million. Cosmopolitan has fallen below the two million mark in newsstand sales for the first time in years, dropping 5.9 per cent to 1.9 million. Time and Newsweek are also down. Going against the trend, Better Homes and Gardens rose 6.8 per cent, BusinessWeek was up 25 per cent and CondeNast rose 19.9 per cent.

Uter goes to Britain
German families are increasingly looking to Britain's best public schools to provide the well-rounded disciplined education they fear is being eroded in their own country. Census figures reveal significant numbers of German students are enrolled in British boarding schools where fees average $40,000 a year. Last year, 1,097 pupils from Germany obtained places at British schools compared with 868 in 2005, an increase of 20 per cent. Agencies which help German parents find places have reported record numbers of enquiries this year.

Long before there was a border to run for
Inhabitants of the New World had chili peppers and the making of taco chips over 6,000 years ago according to new research that examined the bowl-scrapings of people throughout Central America and the Amazon basin. This makes the chili pepper the oldest spice used in the Americas, and one of the oldest in the world. Within decades of European contact, the New World plant was carried across Europe and into Africa and Asia. In all seven New World sites where chili peppers residue was found, the researchers also detected remnants of corn.

Visual stimulant
A Japanese company has developed glasses that prevent the wearer from falling asleep. If the head drops below certain level, a little motor kicks in to vibrate a earpiece until the head returns to an upright position.

Smells like money
Some electronic manufacturers, airlines and banks are commissioning unique fragrances for use in their stores and on their products. This marketing ploy has emerged from an Oxford University study which shows that it is possible to train people to associate smells with particular experiences or objects. British Airways releases a faint smell of freshly cut grass into its lounges to create a pleasant atmosphere. Sony has run trials of a unique combination of vanilla and orange in some US stores.

American without benefits
A new Harvard study reveals that the U.S. lags behind virtually all wealthy countries with regard to family-oriented workplace policies such as maternity leave, paid sick days and support for breast feeding. The U.S. is one of only five countries out of 173 in the survey that does not guarantee some form of paid maternity leave, the others are Lesotho, Liberia, Swaziland and Papua New Guinea. At least 145 countries provide paid sick days.

Land of a thousand bids
The British Treasury is to lose over US$50 million in taxes as a result of Ebay moving its tax base from Britain to Luxembourg. The company is taking advantage of a loophole in the EU tax regime that allows online retailers to shop around for the lowest tax rates. British Ebay users will now pay tax on their selling price to the Luxembourg government rather than to the UK Treasury. Other EU countries such as Germany will also lose tax revenue and Luxembourg will benefit from the windfall of $200 million a year, more than $400 for every man, woman and child in its 450,000 population.

Farmer rejigs his good ole Jag
A farmer in England has converted his Jaguar to run on rotting apple fumes. He packs two underground tanks full of apples and collects the methane gas produced as they rot. He claims his XJ6 gains 10 per cent in power by running on compressed methane and still returns about 28 miles per gallon.