MAP The Data Sheet lists all geopolitical entities with populations of 150,000 or more and all members of the UN. These include sovereign states, dependencies, overseas departments, and some territories whose status or boundaries may be undetermined or in dispute. More developed regions, following the UN classification, comprise all of Europe and North America, plus Australia, Japan, and New Zealand. All other regions and countries are classified as less developed. Sub-Saharan Africa: All countries of Africa except the northern African countries of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. World and Regional Totals: Regional population totals are independently rounded and include small countries or areas not shown. World Population Data Sheets from different years should not be used as a time series. Country-specific notes include: (—) Indicates data unavailable or inapplicable. A date range indicates the most recent data point during that time period.
How to Solve Difficult Problems by Using the Inversion Technique Imagine the most important goal or project you are working on right now. Now, fast forward six months and assume the project has failed. Tell the story of how it happened. What went wrong? What mistakes did you make? How did it fail? This strategy is known as Failure Premortem. So much of strategy is focused on planning future success. The idea, of course, is to develop a plan to prevent failures and prepare for challenges ahead of time. It is a perfect example of the power of Inversion. What is Inversion? The way to use the Inversion Technique is to look at a particular problem from the opposite direction. For example, if you want to be a better manager, then you would ask, “What would someone do each day if they were a terrible manager?” Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi—who, in addition to growing up in a family that really valued the name Jacob, also was a fine mathematician—lived by the motto “man muss immer umkehren,” or loosely translated, “invert, always invert.” Becoming Smart vs. Sex
All you need to know about blockchain, explained simply Many people know it as the technology behind Bitcoin, but blockchain’s potential uses extend far beyond digital currencies. Its admirers include Bill Gates and Richard Branson, and banks and insurers are falling over one another to be the first to work out how to use it. So what exactly is blockchain, and why are Wall Street and Silicon Valley so excited about it? Currently, most people use a trusted middleman such as a bank to make a transaction. Using cryptography to keep exchanges secure, blockchain provides a decentralized database, or “digital ledger”, of transactions that everyone on the network can see. How does it work in practice? In the case of Bitcoin, blockchain stores the details of every transaction of the digital currency, and the technology stops the same Bitcoin being spent more than once. Image: Financial Times Why is it so revolutionary? The technology can work for almost every type of transaction involving value, including money, goods and property. Image: Quartz Share
The Pain of Creating Posted on 28 Jan | 1 comment I have wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. My most romantic dream about writing is being like Ernest Hemingway living in the Florida Keys, sitting at a typewriter (okay, a computer), writing in the morning, and spending my afternoon and evenings at the pub down the street sharing drinks with locals and tourists. But in the process of contributing to this blog, I am learning that writing is not such an easy task. Drafting original, meaningful pieces is at best difficult and at its worst devastating. In his book The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker writes, “I think taking life seriously means something such as this: that whatever man does on this planet has to be done in the lived truth of the terror of creation, of the grotesque, of the rumble of panic underneath everything. One does not have to spend much searching for the word “innovation” in today’s news. References Becker, E. (1973). May, R. (1975). -- Steve Fehl
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Creative People Say No A Hungarian psychology professor once wrote to famous creators asking them to be interviewed for a book he was writing. One of the most interesting things about his project was how many people said “no.” Management writer Peter Drucker: “One of the secrets of productivity (in which I believe whereas I do not believe in creativity) is to have a VERY BIG waste paper basket to take care of ALL invitations such as yours — productivity in my experience consists of NOT doing anything that helps the work of other people but to spend all one’s time on the work the Good Lord has fitted one to do, and to do well.” Secretary to novelist Saul Bellow: “Mr Bellow informed me that he remains creative in the second half of life, at least in part, because he does not allow himself to be a part of other people’s ‘studies.’ ” Photographer Richard Avedon: “Sorry — too little time left.” Secretary to composer György Ligeti: “He is creative and, because of this, totally overworked. People who create know this.
These are the most obese countries in the world A recent study showed that 700m people across the world are obese. These maps show obesity levels around the world - with red showing countries with the highest proportion of people classified as obese and green having the lowest proportion. The graphics were created by Clinic Compare using data from the CIA’s World Factbook and show that obesity is a problem affecting every continent. Interestingly, although countries in North America and Europe appear prominent on the global map owing to their size, the countries with the biggest obesity problems are almost exclusively found in the Pacific Islands - with American Samoa (74.6 per cent of the population), Nauru (71.1 per cent) and Cook Islands (63.7 per cent) making up the top three. The UK is 43rd on the list with 27 per cent of the population being classified as obese while the US is 18th with 33 per cent. The top 10 most obese countries Africa Asia and the Middle East Central America Europe North America South America Africa Central America
6 Famous Artists Talk About What It’s Like to Overcome Fear and Create Beauty Long before I was publishing articles for the world to read, I wrote in a private document. I did this for more than a year. There were a variety of reasons and excuses that I used to rationalize why I wasn’t sharing my writing with others, but in many ways it boiled down to fear. Here’s what I didn’t realize at the time: fear isn’t something that must be avoided. It is not an indicator that you’re doing things wrong. Fear is simply a cost that all artists have to pay on the way to doing meaningful work. Obviously, not everything that is thought or written or created needs to be shared. However, if you have a story inside of you, I think you should share it. With that in mind, here are six passages from famous authors, actors, and artists on overcoming fear and unleashing your creativity. Fear Tells Us What We Have to Do Are you paralyzed with fear? In the beginning, it is more important to start than it is to succeed. Start Small Run to the Roar It’s not your job to tell yourself no.
Jerez Territorio. El Marco de Jerez[editar] El "Marco de Jerez" es el territorio vitivinícola español de las provincias de Cádiz y Sevilla, en la comunidad autónoma de Andalucía, donde se produce y se cría el jerez. Paisaje característico del Marco de Jerez. Su situación geográfica, bajo la influencia climática del Atlántico y del Mediterráneo y con una media de 30 días al año de precipitaciones intensas, hace que la crianza de sus caldos tenga características especiales. Sin embargo, en los últimos diez años las viñas en la provincia se han visto reducidas (principalmente por el exceso de producción) de 32.000 a 7.000 hectáreas, lo que ha dado lugar a que la Junta de Andalucía lance un programa para su mejora de cara a fomentar el enoturismo[4] Historia[editar] Mapamundi diseñado por el geógrafo ceutíal-Idrisi en 1150 para el rey Roger II de Sicilia. En el siglo I a. Durante la Edad Media, en el año 711, con la islamización de Hispania, Ceret pasó a denominarse Šeriš (Sherish). Clima[editar]
Tapping Into the Daily Rituals of Our Great Creative Minds History can teach us a lot about the way we work today. Benjamin Franklin rigorously planned and segmented his daily routine in an effort to accomplish good each day. Thomas Edison used an epic to-do list to fuel his prolific innovation and inventions. Out of superstition, Tchaikovsky took a daily two-hour walk. Mason Currey, author of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, researched and profiled 161 artists, composers, philosophers, playwrights, scientists, writers, and poets. We recently spoke with Mason about the work rituals and routines of great creative minds. We all start each day on equal footing. It definitely matters when and how you start the day—but that doesn’t mean that there’s one “right” way to do so. Was there a particular part of the day that was most frequently the source of great productivity for these 161 creative minds you chronicled? Early mornings are a popular working time for many writers and artists, for a few obvious reasons. It’s hard to pick favorites.