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Australia offers joint venture for development of Thar Coal

ISLAMABAD: Australia has offered Pakistan joint venture for the development of Thar coal to exploit its energy potential that would help the country overcome its energy crisis.
“We can jointly exploit the gift of Thar Coal,” the Ambassador of Australia to Pakistan Peter Heyward said Tuesday in a meeting with the delegation of Islamabad Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI).
The delegation members included President IWCCI Farida Rashid, Adviser IWCCI Malik Sohail, Naima Ansari and other officer bearers.
The Ambassador said that major Australian mining and oil and gas companies were keenly watching developments in Pakistan which would help them plan stepping in this promising market.
The Australian Ambassador said that his country was also interested in Pakistan’s matchless potential in human and natural resource.
Peter Heyward said that Australia can get access to energy rich central Asia and Gulf states by using Pakistan as an economic bridge and noted that both the countries can further strengthen bonds in education and agriculture sectors.
Pakistan fulfils every criterion to become a developed nation soon, he said, adding that no county can afford keep away women from taking part in the development of economy.
Underlining the importance of linkages, Heyward said that Pakistani and Australian businesswomen associations would be linked while his country will offer training, education, networking, information sharing and exchange opportunities to Pakistani women.
According to IWCCI press statement, speaking on the occasion,wife of the Ambassador, Ms Suzzane Heyward said that she will try best to infuse confidence in business women by encouragement and capacity building measures.
She offered her residence for exhibitions where wives of all Ambassadors would be invited which will help local women entrepreneurs find business and intercommunication opportunities.
President IWCCI Farida Rashid said that economies of Pakistan and Australia were compatible which is prerequisite for enhanced bilateral cooperation.
“We have a great consumer market and a competent workforce which is fourth largest in the world,” Farida informed.
Adviser IWCCI Malik Sohail also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the potential of Pakistani market for the international investors.

World wastes 1.3bn tons of food annually

ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: Roughly one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tons per year, according to results of a study commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The study reveals that food is lost or wasted throughout the supply chain, from initial agricultural production down to final household consumption.
In medium- and high-income countries food is to a significant extent wasted at the consumption stage, meaning that it is discarded even if it is still suitable for human consumption.
Significant losses also occur early in the food supply chains in the industrialised regions. In low-income countries food is lost mostly during the early and middle stages of the food supply chain; much less food is wasted at the consumer level, it says.
The causes of food losses and waste in low-income countries are mainly connected to financial, managerial and technical limitations in harvesting techniques, storage and cooling facilities in different climatic conditions, infrastructure, packaging and marketing systems; in medium and high-income countries, the causes of food waste mainly relate to consumer behaviour and lack of coordination between actors in the supply chain.
The study says that food losses in industrial countries are as high as in developing countries, but in developing countries more than 40 per cent of the food losses occur at post-harvest levels, while in industrialised countries, more than 40 per cent of the food losses occur at retail and consumer levels. Food waste at consumer level in industrialised countries which amounts to 222 million tons, is almost as high as total net food production in sub Saharan Africa, stands at 230 million tons.
Per capita food wasted by consumers in Europe and North Africa is 95kg to 115kg a year, while this figure in Sub-Saharan Africa and South/ Southeast Asia is 6kg to 11 kg per year.
The study emphasised the need that food supply chains in developing countries should be strengthened by encouraging small farmers to organise and to diversify and upscale their production and marketing.
Investments in infrastructure, transportation, food industries and packaging industries are also required. Both the public and private sectors have a role to play in achieving this, the report stresses.
Food security is a major concern in large parts of the developing world. Food production must clearly increase significantly to meet the future demands of an increasing and more affluent world population.
In a world with limited natural resources – land, water, energy, fertiliser – and where cost-effective solutions are to be found to produce enough safe and nutritious food for all, reducing food losses should not be a forgotten priority, it concludes.

McDonalds is not lovin’ it

NEW YORK: Tough competition in the US and the weakening economy abroad was a double whammy for McDonald’s in the third-quarter, sending the burger chain’s net income down nearly four per cent.
McDonald’s said Friday it was adjusting some of its plans to deal with the pressures, including stepping up advertising for its dollar menu and bringing back the popular McRib sandwich nationally in December to drive traffic into US stores.
The world’s largest hamburger chain with 33,000 locations worldwide has thrived in boom and bust times by selling cheap eats and constantly updating its menu. But global economic pressures and intensifying competition are wearing at the company, which does two-thirds of its business overseas.
”When economic crisis began in 2008, few people thought the environment would still be as uncertain and fragile as it is today,” said CEO Don Thompson in a call with analysts. ”It is clear however that this operating environment is the new normal. As such our near-term focus is on stabilizing and growing traffic and market share.”
Thompson said revenue in stores open at least 13 months, a key restaurant metric, is trending negative so far in October.
That news sent shares down $4.14, or 4.5 per cent, to close at $88.72. The stock had been down seven per cent since the beginning of the year.
”McDonald’s is facing a lot of pressure,” said Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy. ”They’re seeing more competition from their quick-service restaurants and fast-casual peers in the US and facing austerity measures and macro-economic pressures in Europe and Asia”
Oak Brook, Illinois-based McDonald’s said its net income fell to $1.46 billion, or $1.43 per share. That compares with net income of $1.51 billion, or $1.45 per share last year. Analysts expected net income of $1.47 per share, according to Fact Set.
The stronger dollar hurt net income by eight cents per share. When the dollar is strong, international sales translate into fewer dollars back at home.
Revenue was nearly flat at $7.15 billion from $7.17 billion last year. Analysts expected revenue of $7.17 billion.
Revenue in stores open at least 13 months rose 1.9 per cent globally, including a 1.2 percent rise in the US, where the company said it faced ”broad competitive activity.”
McDonald’s is facing stiffer competition from newer chains like Panera Bread Co., which offers higher-end food in a fast casual atmosphere. Long-time rivals such as Wendy’s Inc. and Burger King Worldwide Inc. are also reworking their menus, renovating restaurants and launching new ad campaigns to win back customers.
McDonald’s said it will step up advertising around its dollar menu rather than its more profitable extra value menu that includes items more expensive than $1. Fast-food chains usually lose money on dollar menus, but they’re used as a traffic driver in the hopes customers will spend more once they’re at McDonald’s. It’s also bringing back the always-popular McRib sandwich in December and introducing a new item, a cheddar bacon onion sandwich that will be available in both chicken and beef varieties.
Hottovy, the Morningstar analyst, said focusing on the value menu was a good move for McDonald’s: ”In this environment you have to give customers what they want, and across the globe consumers are squarely focused on value.”
In Europe, where McDonald’s does 40 per cent of its business, revenue in stores open at least 13 months rose 1.8 per cent, hurt by negative guest traffic.
In Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, the measure rose 1.4 per cent as the company promoted limited-time offers and traffic increased. In China, the measure rose 3.6 per cent. Many US companies are focusing on China for growth, but there is concern of a slowdown in the country. But Thompson said the country is a ”market with significant potential,” and that McDonald’s is on track to open 225 to 250 restaurants there this year, with the goal of having 2000 open by the end of 2013.
Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski said he expects tougher comparisons with a year ago will weigh on sales trends and lowered his estimates on McDonald’s for the current fiscal year as well as fiscal 2013 and 2014. He kept his ”Neutral” rating on the stock.
”We would not be buyers in the context of tougher year-over-year comparisons in the US to be lapped over October through May,” he wrote in a client note.

Tony Greig diagnosed with cancer

SYDNEY: Former England captain and renowned cricket commentator Tony Greig revealed on Saturday that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer.
“I have had a few scrapes in my life and this is another one,” South African-born Greig, 66, told The Sunday Telegraph in Australia.
“Vivian (his wife) and I are going to put the boxing gloves on and fight this like we’ve never fought anything before.” Greig will undergo a biopsy next week on his lung to precisely diagnose the seriousness of the cancer.
Greig said that he first became aware that he had a problem when he was commentating on Australia’s series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates in September.
On his return from the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, he said he had “a lot of fluid” removed from his right lung and tests revealed he had cancer.
As well as his spell as England skipper, Greig also became a leading figure in the Kerry Packer rebel World Series Cricket in 1977 which sent shockwaves through the sport.
Source: DAWN NEWS

Amazing Texture

Amazing Speedometer !!

Darsait Muscat

Best place for boating..

Akmal assault wins it against hapless Indian bowlers

A day before the World Twenty20 begins in Sri Lanka, India's bowlers failed to defend 185 in a warm-up game after R Ashwin had reduced Pakistan to 91 for 5. Kamran Akmal's sustained assault finished the game with nearly an over left. Barring Ashwin, Kamran toyed with India's bowling as he swung six after meaty six in the company of Shoaib Malik, who bettered even Kamran with a strike-rate over 200 for his 37. What will worry India further is that they lost despite the use of five frontline bowlers, the warm-up game effectively allowing them the Supersub.

Pakistan won't be complaining, though. after an indisciplined show from their bowlers, they had their task cut out when they came out to bat. They started in belligerent fashion, but lost two wickets in Ashwin's first over. Kamran, though, made sure the momentum was not lost. He began with a good-looking cover-drive for a couple first ball, and lofted the second ball he faced for a six.

Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh then suffered at Kamran's hands before Ashwin came back to turn it around it with a mid-innings spell. In the 10th over he had Hafeez and Shahid Afridi caught at the boundary, before diving full length to his right to catch Umar Akmal off his own bowling. At that stage it seemed Pakistan had messed the chase up by playing around too much with the batting order, but Malik and Kamran had other ideas.

Sensible batting followed before the turnaround started in the 15th over when Kamran swung Zaheer Khan for successive sixes over long-on, and Malik drove him for four over mid-off. While runs seemed all too easy, the key over remained Ashwin's. All Indian eggs seemed to be in his basket as Kamran and Malik basically had their way with the others. By the time Ashwin came on to bowl the 18th over, the equation had changed completely.

Pakistan needed 29 now, and they could afford to take it easy in Ashwin's over. They were content with risk-free seven runs off his over, knowing well they could hit the others. And hit others they did. Kamran walked way across to Balaji in the 19th over to sweep a low full toss for a square leg over six, and Malik matched it with a loft over long-off to leave only six to get off the last over. Irfan conceded it through one loopy full toss.

It wasn't all doom and gloom for India, though, as one of their main batsmen extended his golden form, and another found some much-needed form. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma powered to fifties in a century partnership that seemed to have given India enough. While Kohli's was just an extension of an incredible run, Rohit's showing in both warm-up matches - he made 37 against Sri Lanka on Saturday - will be a big relief for the management. The only downside of Kohli and Rohit's dominance was that Yuvraj Singh has now faced just 17 deliveries in both warm-up games put together.

Kohli's supreme touch was evident when he nonchalantly clipped his first delivery through midwicket for four in the fifth over. His confidence spurred him to step out consistently to the Pakistan spinners. Rohit found confidence as his innings grew, and even overtook Kohli on the scoreboard briefly. Their partnership of 127 came at close to 10 runs an over. Like Ashwin for India, the Pakistan bowling unit had Saeed Ajmal fighting a lone, losing battle. He went at under a run a ball while others bowled poorly under pressure.

Kohli and Rohit found a way around Ajmal quite appreciably, but they were to find out the same done to their bowling unit, only much more emphatically. 

Courtesy: ESPNcricinfo

Should lunch breaks be mandatory?

People are always being told that lunch is under threat from workaholism, but would a compulsory long break actually mean we achieved more. Former Wall Street trader Frank Partnoy thinks so.

Most of us rush through lunch. We might have a sandwich at our desk or grab a quick salad with a colleague. Or perhaps we skip lunch altogether. After all, breakfast is widely regarded as the most important meal of the day. Dinner is often the most enjoyable. Lunch gets short shrift.
Lunch also has suffered from the crush of technology. Email, social media, and 24-hour news all eat away at lunch. Even when we have lunch alone, we rarely spend the whole time quietly reading or thinking. We are more connected to our hand-held electronic devices than our own thoughts.
Given the fast pace of modern life, it is worth considering whether employers should require a substantial lunch break.
Or, if a mandatory lunch seems too draconian, perhaps employers could give workers incentives to take time off for lunch, just as in some countries they subsidise or reward regular visits to the gym or a physician. Would we benefit from a long intraday pause?

One obvious reason to do lunch is to slow down and gain some perspective. If we burrow into work, and don't come up for air during the day, we will have a hard time thinking strategically or putting our daily tasks into broader context.

By taking a lunch break, we can think outside the box. In the interviews I conducted for my book, I was struck by how many senior leaders stressed the importance of strategic "downtime" - lunch or some other block of an hour or more per day - to break up their thinking and spur them to be more strategic.
Where we have lunch can be almost as important as whether we have it. If we sit down at a real restaurant and take time to chat leisurely with colleagues, we are more likely to slow down than if we dash to a fast food chain. In fact, a fast food lunch can be more harmful than no lunch at all.
Although a mandatory lunch could generate substantial benefits, we are unlikely to do it on our own. When we have the choice, many of us see the salient costs of a leisurely lunch, but not the benefits.
To encourage people to enjoy the benefits of lunch, we need to change the lunch default rule with the kind of "libertarian paternalism" advocated by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their book Nudge. Just as they would impose a default rule requiring people to save money, while permitting them to "opt out," employers could do the same for lunch. People could skip lunch if they wanted, but they would have to take some action - fill out a form, or log on to a website.
And it wouldn't necessarily create an unproductive 90-minute block. Employers could ensure someone is on staff at all times by staggering lunch periods (11:30-13:00; 1200-13:30 and 12:30-14:00), like schools do.
Finally, lunch breaks could create new opportunities for part-time work by institutionalising two half-time shifts - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Parents with newborns might choose to work just one of those times. It might become easier and more acceptable to become a halftime employee if there were a clean, natural split between morning and afternoon.
If our leaders want to improve economic growth and productivity, they could start by experimenting with a policy tool that is simpler than fiscal spending and less risky than monetary stimulus. How about lunch?

Pakistani stocks hit four-year high

KARACHI: Pakistani stocks closed at a four-year high on Friday after investors were encouraged by a slowdown in inflation, dealers said.
The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) benchmark 100-share index closed 0.90 per cent, or 137.87 points, higher at 15,391.58, on volume of 13.12 million shares.
Pakistan’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 9.1 per cent in August from a year earlier, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. The year-on-year rate was 9.60 per cent in July.
“A further slowdown in inflation numbers enticed investors to take fresh positions,” said Samar Iqbal, a trader at Topline Securities.
In the currency market, the Pakistani rupee ended slightly weaker at 94.56/94.61 to the dollar, compared to Thursday’s close of 94.48/94.54.
Overnight rates in the money market ended at 10.40 per cent compared with 7.50 on Thursday.
Source: Dawn News
Link: http://dawn.com/2012/08/31/pakistani-stocks-hit-four-year-high/

Paris plane passenger flown back to Lahore while asleep

A Frenchwoman who flew from Pakistan, slept through her arrival at Paris and then flew back to Lahore, has finally arrived back in the French capital.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is investigating how ground crew at Charles de Gaulle Airport failed to notice Patrice Christine Ahmed during the plane's two-hour stopover.
By the time she woke up she was on her way back to Pakistan.
PIA later arranged for Mrs Ahmed to fly back to Paris.
However, it said that whoever was at fault would pay for the extra ticket.
Mrs Ahmed, who is married to a Pakistani national, left the Pakistani city of Lahore at noon on Tuesday to fly to Paris via Milan.
After having slept through landing and disembarkation at Paris, Mrs Ahmed did not mention her misfortune to cabin crew on the return flight.
The matter only came to light when she was stopped by immigration officials in Lahore on Wednesday morning, after a 12,000km (7,700 mile) round trip.
Inquiry launched PIA spokesman Sultan Hasan told AFP news agency that they were investigating the incident and also the French subcontractor responsible for passenger handling in Paris.
"We have put questions to this French firm about the incident but it is also the responsibility of the passenger to disembark at the destination," he said.
"It is a passenger's responsibility to check about the destination and disembark when the plane arrives at the particular airport."
PIA arranged to send Mrs Ahmed back to Paris with another airline as none of its own flights was available, but said that the party responsible for the incident should pay for the extra ticket.
"It depends who is at fault," Mr Hasan said.
"If it is a mistake by the local firm, they will pay and if the woman herself is responsible than she will have to bear the cost."

Apple is most valuable company ever at $622 bn

NEW YORK: Apple on Monday dethroned longtime rival Microsoft as the most valuable company in history based on the value of its stock, which climbed to around $622 billion.
Apple’s stock began a steady rise late last week and hit a new high of $664.75 a share near midday Monday on the Nasdaq exchange amid rumors the tech giant is poised to release new versions of iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV devices.
Apple topped the record of nearly $619 billion set by software titan Microsoft in 1999, during the famed dot-com boom years.
Apple shares began a rapid ascent on Friday after Jefferies investment bank analyst Peter Misek predicted the stock will hit $900 and predicted that the arrival of the iPhone 5 “will be the biggest handset launch in history.”
Jefferies reasoned that Apple is positioned to take a significant portion of the profit to be generated by hot trends in smartphones, tablet computers, and gadgets linking to the Internet on latest-generation 4G networks.
The Internet has been abuzz with unconfirmed reports that Apple will introduce a new iPhone, perhaps with a larger screen, at a press event in September.
The Cupertino, California-based company is also believed to be readying a smaller version of its market-ruling iPad, and a revamped Apple TV box, referred to unofficially as “iTV,” that routes video or programming to televisions.
“We believe the iTV is in full production,” Misek said.
The surge in Apple’s stock price demonstrated the powerful expectations for the next generation of gadgets from the culture-changing company, according to Wedbush Securities managing director of equities trading Michael James.
Investors also see promise in hot new Apple gadgets hitting the market in time for year-end holiday shopping, when the company’s products typically shine, James added.

Live your dream.

Live your dream and just latch on fulfilling it. It looks hard in a start but it gets easier by the lapse time. Never give up your dreams. :)

Are we facing population overload?

Coutesy: BBC - Gaia Vince


Some 10,000 years ago, at the beginning of the Holocene geological age, there were only around five million of us on the planet. Although humans had a significant impact on the natural world – by using fires to clear forestry or hunting large mammals to extinction – their effects were localised.
Boy, have things changed. In 1900, there were 1.6 billion of us; by 2000 the global population had shot up to 6.1 billion. Last year, we passed the seven billion mark, and best estimates have us reaching the nine billion mark before 2050.
The sheer number of people has profoundly changed the global landscape, as we convert vast tracts of wild vegetation to agricultural or grazing areas, for example. Fishing on an industrial scale to provide for billions has dramatically altered marine diversity. Individual farmers breeding livestock or keeping chickens, when multiplied by millions, have caused biodiversity changes in which more than 90% of the weight of all terrestrial vertebrates is now made up of humans and the animals we've domesticated. The quest for resources to supply us all with materials and the trappings of life has depleted the forests, polluted rivers and soils and even carved the tops of mountains. And the fuels used by each of us for energy have produced combined emissions that are already altering the planet's climate.
By 2050, it is estimated that we could triple our resource consumption to a whopping 140 billion tonnes of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year. Our food requirement alone is expected to double by then.
Is our ever-increasing human population propelling us to our doom? Is there a limit to how many people can be sustained on a finite planet – and, if so, have we already passed it?
Grim predictions
It’s not the first time we’ve been presented with this doomsday scenario. More than two centuries ago, when the global population was around an estimated one billion, the British social economist Thomas Malthus issued dire warnings about the risk of population exceeding resource limits. In 1798, he advocated limiting family size and postponing marriage. (As one of seven children, he practiced what he preached by only having three of his own.)
Since Malthus, there has been no shortage of economists, environmentalists and demographers predicting humanity's collapse through famine, wars and epidemics, if we don't check our population. Some environmentalists even go as far as to say it is morally wrong to have children at all.
So far, the doomsayers have been proved wrong: tragedy has been averted through better technologies, the invention of artificial fertilisers, improved medicines and other rescuing remedies. Indeed, there are some examples of where population increase has led to resources being better conserved and managed. For example, Machakos in Kenya, whose population rose to 250,000 – with accompanying resource over-exploitation, denuded hillsides and soil erosion – actually improved when its population rose still further. The extra labour available meant hillsides could be restored and soil erosion tempered, and Machakos is now home to 1.5 million people.
However, whether this improvement can be solely attributed to the increase in population, and whether it can be replicated elsewhere, remains debatable. Examples like Machakos are few and far between – outweighed by the far greater number of societies that have collapsed due to unsustainable resource use, driven by overpopulation.

Phillips Exeter Academy Library / New Hampshire - USA

Amazing sliced apple

Why are we so curious ?

Evolution made us the ultimate learning machines, and the ultimate learning machines need to be oiled by curiosity.







I hate to disappoint you, but whatever your ambitions, whatever your long-term goals, I'm pretty sure that reading this column isn’t going to further them. It won't stop you feeling hungry. It won't provide any information that might save your life. It’s unlikely to make you attractive to the opposite sex.
And yet if I were to say that I will teach you a valuable lesson about your inner child, I hope you will want to carry on reading, driven by nothing more than your curiosity to find out a little more. What could be going on in your brain to make you so inquisitive?
We humans have a deeply curious nature, and more often than not it is about the minor tittle-tattle in our lives. Our curiosity has us doing utterly unproductive things like reading news about people we will never meet, learning topics we will never have use for, or exploring places we will never come back to. We just love to know the answers to things, even if there's no obvious benefit.
From the perspective of evolution this appears to be something of a mystery. We associate evolution with ‘survival-of-the-fittest’ traits that support the essentials of day-to-day survival and reproduction. So why did we evolve to waste so much time? Shouldn't evolution have selected for a species which was – you know – a bit more focussed?
hild’s play
The roots of our peculiar curiosity can be linked to a trait of the human species call neoteny. This is a term from evolutionary theory that means the "retention of juvenile characteristics". It means that as a species we are more child-like than other mammals. Being relatively hairless is one physical example. A large brain relative to body size is another. Our lifelong curiosity and playfulness is a behavioural characteristic of neoteny.
Exploration bonus
In the world of artificial intelligence, computer scientists have explored how behaviour evolves when guided by different learning algorithms. An important result is that even the best learning algorithms fall down if they are not encouraged to explore a little. Without a little something to distract them from what they should be doing, these algorithms get stuck in a rut, relying on the same responses time and time again.
Obviously it would be best if we knew what we needed to know, and just concentrated on that. Fortunately, in a complex world it is impossible to know what might be useful in the future. And thank goodness – otherwise we would have evolved to be a deadly-boring species which never wanted to get lost, never tried things to just see what happened or did things for the hell of it.
Evolution made us the ultimate learning machines, and the ultimate learning machines need a healthy dash of curiosity to help us take full advantage of this learning capacity.
Or, as Kurt Vonnegut said, "We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different."
(Copyright: Thinkstock)

I dream of that day

A very special video.. I wish this happens one day..

"Super Moon" Sierra Nevada Sequoia National Park California USA

"Super Moon" Sierra Nevada Sequoia National Park California USA

Amazing University TUM

University life: stressful or fun?

In the Technical University of Munich, also known as TUM, they sure know how to make students enjoy their days at school. Instead of using regular stairs they have installed two giant tubes or better said slides from the 4th floor to the ground floor of their Faculty building for Math and Computer Science.

Mr Bean's Olympic appearance

Rowan Atkinson's comic creation Mr Bean made an appearance as a keyboard player at the London 2012 opening ceremony.

Sir Simon Rattle conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in a tribute to the film Chariots of Fire.

I love books which increase my knowledge

I love which increase my knowledge.. Not all books are good to read, some can seriously misguide you. Be careful in choosing yours one and make sure you spend your time for the right one which enlighten you at the end rather misguide you.

Computing giant Microsoft reported loss for the firast time in history

Computing giant Microsoft has made the first quarterly loss in its history after it wrote off some of the value of its online advertising business.

The loss came after it wrote down the value of Aquantive by $6.2bn (£3.94bn; 5bn euros), which failed to bring the profits expected by Microsoft.
That led to a $492m loss in the three months to the end of June, compared with a profit of $5.9bn a year ago.
The company has not made a loss since it joined the stock market in 1986.
It took over Aquantive in 2007 but it struggled to compete with rival Google.
Microsoft paid $6.3bn for Aquantive.
Microsoft is doing well in other areas, despite the decline in popularity of its Windows operating system, which dominated the personal computer market for years.
Revenue for the three months to June rose by 4% to $18.06bn.

Facebook getting fake "likes" from fake profiles

A BBC investigation suggests companies are wasting large sums of money on adverts to gain "likes" from Facebook members who have no real interest in their products.





It also appears many account holders who click on the links have lied about their personal details.
A security expert has said some of the profiles appeared to be "fakes" run by computer programs to spread spam.
Facebook said it had "not seen evidence of a significant problem".
"Likes" are highly valued by many leading brands' marketing departments.
Once a user has clicked on a link the company it belongs to can then post content on their news feed, send them messages and alert their friends to the connection.
Facebook makes money by charging companies a fee to show adverts designed to attract new "likes".
Some companies have attracted millions of "likes".
But the BBC has been contacted by one marketing consultant who has warned clients to be wary of their value, and carried out an experiment that backed up his concerns.
The vast majority of Facebook's revenues come from advertising and its performance will be scrutinised when it releases its financial results on 26 July - the first such report since its flotation.
Detecting fakes
Facebook played down the issue of fake profiles.
"We've not seen evidence of a significant problem," said a spokesman.
"Neither has it been raised by the many advertisers who are enjoying positive results from using Facebook.
"All of these companies have access to Facebook's analytics which allow them to see the identities of people who have liked their pages, yet this has not been flagged as an issue.
"A very small percentage of users do open accounts using pseudonyms but this is against our rules and we use automated systems as well as user reports to help us detect them."
Courtesy: BBC News

Amazing book shelf

Save our environent and reduce your carbon footprints

Save our Environment and reduce your carbon footprints. We always speak about nations and countries when it comes to environmental responsibility. Its not just the responsibility of any one government, community or organization rather it demands the combine effort all of the users of Earth. The pace by which we are consuming and absorbing our environment is increasing day by day and if the pace stays same we are completely ignoring our future generation.
Take a small steps, even though they does not make a big difference but believe me its just a start for a big change awaited.

Amazing balloons

Hamilton Pool Preserve

Hamilton Pool Preserve is a natural pool that was created when the dome of an underground river collapsed due to massive erosion thousands of years ago. The pool is located about 23 miles (37 km) west of Austin, Texas off Highway 71. Since the 1960s, Hamilton Pool has been a favorite summer swimming spot.

The human limits of roller coasters

According to the statistics, you are far more likely to die by lightning strike than in a roller coaster accident.

In the UK, the odds of being killed on an amusement ride are 300 million to one, whereas the odds of being killed by lightning are 10 million to one. In the US, around 1.7 billion rides are taken by nearly 300 million people each year, and from 1994 to 2004, the country reported an average of just four deaths per year. Comparatively, an average of 39 people die each year in the US from being struck by lightning.
Thanks to safety regulations and industry compliance, roller coasters manage to maintain a fairly sound safety record despite pushing the human body to exhilarating extremes.
The most extreme
The Formula Rossa in the Abu Dhabi theme park Ferrari World is the fastest roller coaster in the world, reaching speeds of 149mph. Aided by hydraulic power, it accelerates from 0 to 62mph in two seconds. Built by the Liechtenstein manufacturer Intamin, the ride’s track was modelled after the Italian racetrack Autodromo Nazionale Monza, located north of Milan, which hosts the Formula One Italian Grand Prix motor racing championsh
ip every year.
Playing it safe
Over the centuries, roller coasters have become both more exciting and safer. The first roller coasters may have been Russian ice slides built in the late 16th Century. Compare that with today’s ultra-sophisticated, ultra-precise, carefully-engineered coasters, which are bigger, faster and more death-defying (or at least marketed that way) than ever before. Regulations have also increased dramatically – especially considering that some countries, such as the US, had no regulations at all until the 1960s.
Roller coaster regulation varies from country to country. For instance, in Singapore, the Building and Construction Authority, an agency of the federal Ministry of National Development, oversees amusement ride safety. In the US, on the other hand, the federal government only regulates rides at travelling carnivals and fairs, while state governments regulate stationary parks. Rules vary at the local level, too. Florida, home to Walt Disney World, for example, has state officials who inspect rides at theme parks with fewer than 1,000 employees, but the state relies on large parks like Disney World and Universal Studios to regulate themselves.
Coutesy: BBC Travel

Majlis Al Jinn - World second largest underground chamber

Stretching from the lunar-like Hajar Mountains in the north to lush and temperate city of Salalah in the south, the Sultanate of Oman -- with its year-round sunshine and a stable economy -- is one of the lesser-known treasures of the Arabian Peninsula.

 

 

But above the ground is only half of the story. Oman is hollowed out with incredible natural underground playgrounds, including the second largest underground chamber in the world, called Majlis Al Jinn, or “Spirits’ meeting place”.  Although currently shut indefinitely to the public  for redevelopment, there are plenty of others that are suitable for beginners and experienced spelunkers.
Al Hoota Cave, located at near Jabal Shams mountain near the northeastern town of Al Hamra, is the only cave that has daily organised tours which are suitable for all adults and older children (book in advance). Al Hoota is a two million year old complex comprising two lakes (one an impressive 800m long) and a series of huge underground caverns. Oman’s underground world teems with life, and you will be sharing the depths with more than 100 species of animals including bats, hunter spiders and water beetles, as well as a rare type of blind fish called garra barreimiae. The 45 minute tour whisks you round 10% of the 4.5km long cavern, long enough for you to get a sense of the majesty hidden below your feet.
If a guided tour is too tame, Hoti Cave is a 2.7km tunnel also near Al Hamra that runs under the Hajar Mountains. There are two entrances, Al Fallah and Al Hota; access to the former is reached by a 20 minute fairly easy hike to the large entrance beneath the Hajar cliff’s overhang, while the latter should only be attempted by experienced spelunkers who have a guide, safety gear and other climbing equipment. Once inside you will need torches and a sense of adventure, the hardest part is getting there. The tunnel, whichever way you get there, is worth the scramble. The rock strata, stalactites and stalagmites below reveal the ancient history of the area, through their distinctive red, yellow and pink coloured bands, formed as different sediments settled over the millennia and compressed into rock. Eager explorers can continue 1km on through the tunnel to a huge underground cavern called “Cairn Hall”, said to be full of bats.
Despite Oman being arid most of the year, the country is pockmarked with wadis (river beds) which can flood very quickly when it rains. To see some of the country’s serious water power up close head to Muqal Cave at Wadi Bani Khalid A’Sharqiyah near Sur in Muscat. This is one of the area’s greenest wadis, with plenty of natural pools and waterfalls to cool off in. The entrance to the cave is a small lateral slit in the rock face; make sure you take torches to see the underground rivers and falls that lie hidden inside the actual cave. This is an easier cave to explore than Hoti Cave, but still difficult to find without a guide.
For a more relaxed experience, Ettein Cave, around 10km from Salalah, is made up of two enormous chambers and is the largest and most well-known cave in the southern region of Oman. The entrance is an easy walk halfway up a hillside off the main Salalah-Ettein road; take a picnic and enjoy the lush green scenery. Anyone who is relatively fit should be able to attempt this one, and once inside the gigantic cave expect to see the colossal stalagmites -- watch out for the odd creepy crawly!
Practicalities
One of the reasons why Oman is still so unspoilt and its caves mostly left for individual exploration is that there is a shortage of organised information about most of these sites. Most caves in Oman are not signposted or marked and will not be regulated in any way, which makes you feel like the first one to discover them. To get the best out of your adventure always book through a local guide or tour operator.
Omani tour companies, such as Gulf Leisure or Alanaka Tours, can create bespoke trips, depending on what region you are looking to visit and how much effort you want to put in to getting underground. Most caves detailed above can be explored on day trips from Muscat city, but for a more of a wilderness or eco-experience, combine them with a camping trip.
Courtesy: BBC Travel

 

Italy, the logical choice for Pakistani fans

“Venceréis pero no convenceréis.” You will win but you will not convince. It’s a phrase first uttered by Miguel de Unamuno during the Spanish Civil War. Since then it has become part of the Spanish football lexicon. And it’s a phrase that has repeatedly been referenced during Spain’s Euro odyssey this year. As the national team has stuttered through the tournament, their legions of minions have decreased. There are still those who continue to think of la Seleccion as “their” team.
But the casual fan/glory hunter has found a new bandwagon for this tournament: Germany. It makes sense too. Germany have been everything that Spain should’ve been: gloriously attacking, aggressive and ruthless with panache. They are the prime examples of a young, exuberant and supremely talented team realising what they are capable of. They have not been as reactive as they were two years, but their ability to entertain hasn’t suffered due to this slight change in ideology.
The third team – whom Germany takes on tonight (and are expected to stomp over) – hasn’t been garnering the sort of attention the two favorites have. Cesare Prandelli’s Italy are a flawed team but they are the only team in the competition who can say with confidence, that every one of their matches has been entertaining. And one would think that of the three remaining teams in the competition, they should be the ones that appeal to the Pakistani fan more than any other.
Just look at the evidence: the Azzurri went through a sharp decline over the second half of the last decade, culminating in the disgrace of summer 2010. Since then, now under new administration, they have slowly climbed back up the international ladder and restored the pride associated with the national team. They have done this by employing methods that are alien to their history. Devoid of what were once their most prized and distinctive assets (world class defenders), they have changed their philosophy, and have challenged – and surprised – the best in the world. The team – which has defied most expectations – is one which has a curious inventory: a couple of old dogs in the middle of their swansongs; a bunch of failed wunderkinds who are finally showing a bit of consistency; a handful of journeymen footballers who wouldn’t have ever expected to make the national team; and one eccentric prodigy who is capable of anything.
During this time, their country has gone through an economic and political meltdown, and even the sport has not escaped the financial and moral corruption that is rife in society. Allegations of match-fixing weakened the team, but they have soldiered on in their attempts to restore their reputations. Surely if anyone can have sympathy and fraternity with the Italians, it has to be the Pakistani cricket fan.
But even beyond that, there is much to like about them. There is, of course, the joy of watching Gig Buffon and Andrea Pirlo roll back the years. Pirlo’s performance in the quarter-final versus England was reminiscent of Zidane against Brazil six years ago: a veteran showing the kids – and the world – who the boss is. Then there are the likes of Cassano and Montolivo – anointed successors to Baggio and Totti, respectively, in their youth.
To see them, finally, achieve what their talent deserved makes one believe in the power of second chances. Then there are Marchisio and Bonucci who could never be considered wonderkids; but they have shown how desire and ambition can trump talent, or the lack of it. But more than anyone else, this is Cesare Prandelli’s team. Here’s a man who was willing to opt out of the tournament that he has prepared two years (if not his whole lifetime) for, if it meant cleaning up the game in his country. His words and his actions – such as making the players train on land confiscated from the Mafia – have been designed to restore honour and dignity to the national team. And what the world has seen from Italy over the past three weeks shows that he may well have succeeded in that aim.
He has also moved away from the caution that had dogged Italy from 2006 to 2010; his acceptance of mavericks has been unique in modern football. He’s got players amongst whom he has got one who burnt his house down with fireworks, another who admitted that if he wasn’t a footballer he’d be a criminal, one who claims to have slept with 600 to 700 women, and a man who changed a Serie A season as an 18-year old. And that’s just his regular front two.
The subs are a whole different kettle of fish altogether. Tactical innovation and diversity, a propensity for mavericks, a last hurrah of a great generation, underdogs in their remaining matches and the football equivalent of the our cricket team: supporting Italy should be the obvious decision to make for a Pakistani. But with no guarantees of glory or consistency, perhaps we might be better off restricting our heartbreaks to one sport. Forza Italia? No. Viva Espana!
By: Hassan Cheema
Courtesy: Dawn News
http://dawn.com/2012/06/28/italy-the-logical-choice-for-pakistani-fans/

Camera bag

Even camera can`t catch him

Speed master Shoib Akhtar.
No one has break his record of worlds fastest ball in cricket.. Even Australian bowlers Dirk Nannes, Brett Lee and Shaun Tait have failed after several attempts to break his record. Now the speedster has decided to encourage county cricket in Pakistan and will be seen soon in grounds coaching young cricketers throughout the country.

Take it easy !

Tokyo world’s costliest city, Karachi cheapest

PARIS: Tokyo has regained the unenviable title of the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, while the eurozone crisis has made many European cities cheaper according to a survey published on Tuesday.
At the other end of the scale, the survey by the Mercer group named Karachi as the least expensive city, with living costs around three times cheaper than in the Japanese capital.
The report, published annually to help companies assess compensation allowances for expatriate workers, compared the cost of over 200 items in 214 cities, using New York as a reference. The items on the list included housing, food and transport.
Tokyo pushed the oil-boom Angolan capital Luanda into second place to retake the top spot in the survey. Another Japanese city, Osaka, came third, the Russian capital Moscow in fourth, and Geneva fifth.
Cities in the eurozone slid in the rankings as the euro has slid against the US dollar during the debt crisis. Paris dropped 10 spots to 37th, Rome fell eight to 42nd, and Athens tumbled 24 to 77th.
London slipped from 18th in the table last year down to 25th place.
In contrast, appreciation against the US dollar helped push Australian and New Zealand cities up, with Adelaide jumping 19 spots to 27th.—AFP

The Jindo Moses Miracle

Wow!!The Jindo Moses Miracle♥One of the world's most amazing natural phenomenons, occurs twice a year forseveral hours. It creates a land path between Modo and Jindo Island (South Korea).

Mystery Clock

What makes us laugh?

A simple question with a surprisingly complex answer – understanding laughter means understanding fundamental issues about human nature. 

Why do we laugh? Well it's funny you should ask, but this question was suggested by reader Andrew Martin, and it is a very interesting one to investigate. For what at first seems like a simple question turns out to require a surprisingly complex answer – one that takes us on a journey into the very heart of trying to understand human nature.
Most people would guess that we laugh because something is funny. But if you watch when people actually laugh, you’ll find this isn't the case. Laughter expert Robert Provine spent hours recording real conversations at shopping malls, classrooms, offices and cocktail parties, and he found that most laughter did not follow what looked like jokes. People laughed at the end of normal sentences, in response to unfunny comments or questions such as "Look, it's Andre," or "Are you sure?". Even attempts at humour that provoked laughter didn't sound that funny. Provine reports that the lines that got the biggest laughs were ones such as "You don't have to drink, just buy us drinks," and "Do you date within your species?". I guess you had to be there.
Brain triggers
So if we want to understand laughter, perhaps we need to go deeper, and look at what is going on in the brain. The areas that control laughing lie deep in the subcortex, and in terms of evolutionary development these parts of the brain are ancient, responsible for primal behaviours such as breathing and controlling basic reflexes. This means laughter control mechanisms are located a long way away from brain regions that developed later and control higher functions such as language or even memory.
Perhaps this explains why it is so hard to suppress a laugh, even if we know it is inappropriate. Once a laugh is kindled deep within our brains these ‘higher function’ brain regions have trouble intervening. And the reverse is true, of course, it is difficult to laugh on demand. If you consciously make yourself laugh it will not sound like the real thing – at least initially.
There is another fundamental aspect to laughing. All humans laugh, and laughter always involves a similar pattern of whooping noises. Deaf people who have never heard a sound still make laughing noises. The laughing noises produced by humans share many of the acoustic properties of speech, further evidence laughter is hijacking the brain and body apparatus that we use for breathing and talking.
But this does not fully answer the original question. Even if we identified the precise brain areas associated with laughing, even if we were able to make someone laugh by stimulating part of their brain (which can be done), we still don’t know what makes people laugh. Yes, we know about the effect, but what about the cause, that is, the reason why we laugh in the first place?
What these observations show is that laughter is both fundamentally social, and rooted deep within our brains, part and parcel of ancient brain structures. We laugh because we feel like it, because our brains make us, and because we want to fit in socially. All these things are true. But biologists distinguish at least four fundamental types of answer you can give to explain behaviour: "why did it evolve?"; "how did it evolve?"; "How does it develop across the lifespan?" and  "how does it work?".
By: Tom Stafford
BBC.com/future

 

Google deploying planes over cities for 3D maps

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc is deploying a fleet of small, camera-equipped airplanes above several cities, the Internet search company’s latest step in its ambitious and sometimes controversial plan to create a digital map of the world.     
Google plans to release the first three-dimensional maps for several cities by the end of the year, the company said at a news conference at its San Francisco offices on We dnesday.
Google declined to name the cities, but it showed a demonstration of a 3D map of San Francisco, in which a user can navigate around an aerial view of the city.
“We’re trying to create the illusion that you’re just flying over the city, almost as if you were in your own personal helicopter,” said Peter Birch, a product manager for Google Earth.
Google’s head of engineering for its maps product, Brian McClendon, said the company was using a fleet of airplanes owned and operated by contractors and flying exclusively for Google.
Asked about potential privacy implications, McClendon said the privacy issues were similar to all aerial imagery and that the type of 45-degree-angle pictures that the planes take have been used for a long time.
Google has used airplanes to collect aerial photos in the past, such as following the 2010 San Bruno, Calif. gas-line explosion, but the latest effort marks the first time the company will deploy the planes in a systemic manner to build a standard feature in one of its products.
By the end of the year, Google said it expects to have 3D map coverage for metropolitan areas with a combined population of 300 million people. The first 3D cityscape will be available within weeks.
Google has for years operated a fleet of camera-equipped cars that crisscross the globe taking panoramic pictures of streets for its popular mapping service. The cars have raised privacy concerns in some countries.
In 2010, Google acknowledged that the so-called Street View cars had been inadvertently collecting emails, passwords and other personal data from people’s home wireless networks.
Collecting the WiFi data was unrelated to the Google Maps project, and was done instead so that Google could collect data on WiFi hotspots that can be used to provide separate location-based services.
The forthcoming 3D city maps will be part of the Google Earth software app available for mobile devices such as smartphones based on Google’s Android software and Apple’s iOS software.
The company also announced a version of Google maps for Android smartphones that allows users to access certain maps without an Internet connection.
Shares of Google finished Wednesday’s regular session up 1.8 per cent at $580.57.
Google’s announcement comes a week before Apple Inc’s developer conference in San Francisco, as competition between the two tech giants continues to heat up, particularly in the fast-growing mobile market.
Apple is planning to replace Google Maps as the built-in mapping service on its iPhone and iPad later this year with technology that it has created in-house, according to media reports. Apple could show off its new mapping software at next week’s conference.
Google’s McClendon said the company would continue to make Google maps services available as widely as possible, on “all platforms.”
In what appeared to be a veiled jab at Apple, he said the integration with Google’s search engine provides a mapping serving that is far more useful than a product that simply uses a “geocoder” – technology that uses geographic coordinates to create a digital map.
Apple began to use its own geocoder technology for the Google-based maps on its smartphones late last year.
Google said on Wednesday that there are currently 1 billion monthly active users of Google maps services and that the Street View cars have driven more than 5 million miles (8 million km) Pho tographing streets all over the world.
Asked if Google had any plans to use unmanned aerial drones to gather photos for its 3D cityscapes, McClendon said it was an interesting question, but noted that drones were still being evaluated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“That’s a larger can of worms that we’re not going to get into here,” he said.
Source: Dawn News

Remembering Numbers

Numbers can be hard to remember because they’re abstract concepts, but there are several techniques that will make a big difference.

Chunking

Simple but effective. If you have a long number to remember, break it down into manageable pieces, no more than 2-4 digits long. So 3361986010 might become 336 1986 010 To make things even more memorable, look for patterns or associations within each chunk. Eg. 336 makes sense because 3+3=6. 1986 is a date, what happened then that you remember? And 010 is nicely balanced. Or you could even make a % sign out of it.

Rhymes

Radio stations and adverts often use this technique to drill their frequencies or phone numbers into your head. Create a catchy song or rhyme that involves the number you need. Here’s a well known one: ‘In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.’

The Peg System

This technique takes a little bit of work to begin with, but is a much more powerful technique. It involves combining numbers with images. Here’s how to do it:

Step One

Decide on an image you’re going to use for each number from 0 to 9. These images are based on the shape of the number – so there’s a visual clue to help you remember them. Here are some examples you could use:
1 = a pencil, or a sentry, or a magic wand
2 = a swan
3 = a fork
4 = a yacht
5 = a hook
6 = an elephant’s trunk
7 = a cliff
8 = a snowman
9 = a balloon on a string

Step Two

Take a few minutes to get the images lodged in your mind.

Step Three

Now, each time you have to remember a number, invent a story using the respective images. Say you want to remember the number 4489. You could dream up a story which starts with two yachts (44) … then a huge snowman (8) comes along and jumps on them, blows up a balloon on a string (9) and floats off up to the skies. The more surreal the better – just make sure it all happens in the right sequence.
Use this one for:

• Remembering dates
• Memorising PIN numbers
• Remembering important phone numbers.

Airline to seat passengers based on moods

Feeling chatty on a plane but not sure your seatmate wants to hear all about your summer vacation plans?  Not to worry.
First, the Dutch airlines KLM announced it would allow passengers to pick seatmates via social media. Now, air Baltic is stepping it up a notch by offering passengers the ability to choose seatmates according to their mood, reports News.com.au.
The national airline of Latvia calls its "SeatBuddy" system a way to keep the peace in the skies by seating like-minded flyers next to each other.  It will let passengers select from three "flight moods": whether passengers want to work, make new business contacts or simply be left alone. It also takes into account any hobbies or interests fellow travellers might share.
Michael Grimme, air Baltic's senior vice president of sales and marketing in a press release said the goal of SeatBuddy is to improve improve passenger service. "We are launching this as a free-of-charge additional service, and at the same time exploring its future commercial potential.”
Customer information is collected in a secure database and the closest match available on the same flight is identified automatically without disclosing passenger identity or any personal data.
The first test flights are expected to take off at the end of June.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2012/06/05/airline-to-seat-passengers-based-on-moods/#ixzz1www5g8r9

Safe House Trailer

A must watch movie..
When a CIA-operated safe house is targeted by a group of bad guys, the facility's house-sitter is tasked with the dangerous job of moving the criminal.

Dream place !

Heaven on Earth !!

Where are you on the global pay scale?

If there were no rich and poor, and everyone had an equal share of the world's total pay packet, how much would they earn?

The total value of world income is closing in on $70 trillion (£43.9tn) per year, and there are seven billion people in the world, so the average income is heading towards $10,000 (£6,273) per person per year. Easy.
But not everyone has a job and some of those seven billion are children. So another question you could ask is: "What is the world's average wage?"
That is more tricky to answer, but a group of economists at the United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO) has had a go, though they have never gone public with this information. Until now.
Let's consider the scale of the Herculean task the number crunchers at the ILO set themselves.
First, they work out the total wage bill for every country in the world. To do that they get the average salary from each office for national statistics, and multiply that amount by the number of earners in each country.

In this way, they are able to give more weight to countries which have more workers in them. The average salary in China has more influence on the world average than the average salary in New Zealand, where many fewer people live.

Once they have the total wage bill for each country, they add them all together and divide by the total number of earners in the world.
That gives you the answer - the world's average salary is $1,480 (£928) a month, which is just less than $18,000 (£11,291) a year.
But these dollars are not normal US dollars. The economists use specially adjusted exchange rates - the average salary is calculated in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars. One PPP dollar is equal to $1 spent in the US.
Essentially, the PPP dollar takes into account the fact that it is cheaper to live in some countries than others. The idea is that we don't care how many actual dollars somebody is paid in, say, China, but we care about what sort of stuff those dollars can buy.

"If someone in China takes their salary of 1,500 yuan per month and they go to the bank, they will actually get $200," ILO economist Patrick Belser explains.

"But this is not what we use to compute this global average, because what is important here is what people are able to buy with these 1,500 yuan, and this is where we compare to the purchasing power of the US dollars and find that it is actually equivalent to around $400."
Another way of putting it is that the conversion to PPP dollars expresses how much it would cost you in the US to get the equivalent goods and services you can buy with your salary locally.
Let's put the world's average salary - in PPP dollars - of $1,480 a month, or almost $18,000 a year, in context:

• It is less than half the average salary of the UK and the United States, where average monthly earnings are just over $3,000 a month, or around $37,000 a year
• It is twice the average salary of Bulgaria, and the same as the average salary in Poland
• The country at the bottom of the average earnings league is Tajikistan, where the average wage is about $2,700 a year - while the country out on top is Luxembourg with average earnings of around $48,000 a year

You might think that $1,480 a month, or $18,000 a year, is quite high. It comes to $75 a day for a 20-day working month - but it's well known that more than a third of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day. How can these two views of global incomes add up?
In truth, the economists at the ILO have had to rely on very patchy statistics. Data is missing for some countries - even a country as large as Nigeria, for example. And also, the economists at the ILO are only counting wage earners.
They exclude huge numbers of people who appear in the poverty statistics but not in the calculations for the average wage - pensioners, children and stay-at-home parents, for example, and even the self-employed.
The number of self-employed is huge. In developed countries about 90% of working people are paid employees, but that figure is lower in many developing countries. For example, in South Asia, where many people are self employed or independent farmers, just 25% of workers are salaried.
But calculating the world's average salary is still an exercise worth doing, according to Belser.