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Given the low birth rates of some countries (I'm looking at you, Hong Kong* and Singapore), it's only a matter of time before they simply depopulate themselves out of existence. But how long do they have?
The Economist did the (wild) projection:
In Hong Kong, for example, a cohort of 1,000 women is now expected to give birth to just 547 daughters. If nothing changed, those 547 daughters would be succeeded by 299 daughters of their own, and so on. Extrapolating wildly, it would take only 25 generations for Hong Kong’s female population to shrink from 3.75m to just one. Given that Hong Kong’s average age of childbearing is 31.4 years, the territory would expect to see the birth of its last woman in the year 2798.
By the same unflinching logic, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Spain will not see out the next millennium. Even China has only 1,500 years left.
*Yes, I know that Hong Kong is not an independent country, but it operates like one.
Apparently this popsicle that looks like a banana actually tastes like grape and vanilla. Any of you live in Hong Kong and want to send me one?
Link Via GeekOsystem
Hong Kong actor Law Lok-lam works for broadcasting company TVB, so he is assured to find other roles after five of his characters were killed off -all in one 24 hour period!
His character met a bloody end during a fight in the martial arts drama Grace Under Fire, and he vomited blood before expiring in Fate to Fate, the Sunday Morning Post reported.
In Relic of an Emissary, Law played the Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who died after an illness.
In two other shows, Police Station No. 7 and comedy Virtues of Harmony, the actor did not die on screen but his death was discussed, the paper said.
A company spokesman said the timing of the dramatic deaths were a coincidence. Law said he doesn’t mind, but it bothered his daughter. Link -via Arbroath
People in Hong Kong drive on the left side of the road, but people in mainland China drive on the right side of the road. How do you switch them when they cross the Pearl River? Dutch design firm NL Architects proposes this figure-eight design that splits the lanes and reroutes both to the correct side of the road for each direction.
The bridge does exactly what the name suggests: It flips traffic around. The key here is separating the two sides of traffic, using a figure-eight shape. One side of the road dips under the other, funneling cars that were traveling on the left to the right (and vice versa), without forcing them to encounter head-on traffic at an intersection.[...]
Say, for instance, you’re coming from Zhuhai. As you cross the bridge on the right into Hong Kong, the highway slopes downward to let you pass under the oncoming traffic. As it slopes back up, you reemerge on the left. No cars barreling straight at you. No concrete labyrinth to maneuver through. No sweat (and, ostensibly, no blood).
Link | Image: NL Architects
Brynn Mannino of Woman’s Day has compiled pictures of and information about seventeen stunning works of art composed of LEGO blocks. Pictured above is a mosaic made by LEGO enthusiasts in Hong Kong to encourage citizens of that city to overcome economic hurdles. It was made from 64,000 pieces.
These new vessels, set to enter service in November, get 3/4 of their power from solar cells and 1/4 from liquefied petroleum:
The technology could cut in half carbon-dioxide output on a typical urban ferry route, Solar Sailor said on its Web site. Makers of ships, planes and autos around the world are trying to cut greenhouse gases from transport, which account for about 13 percent of global emissions…Solar Sailor’s so-called hybrid marine power, a sea-going equivalent to Toyota Motor Corp.’s Prius car, according to Chief Executive Officer Robert Dane, can save ferry operators $6 million in fuel costs over a typical 15-year lifespan, the company says. Even so, recent development of the technology makes it hard to compete with the more established diesel motor industry, Dane said.
In Mr. Chang’s solution, a kind of human-size briefcase, everything can be folded away so that the space feels expansive, like a yoga studio.
The wall units, which are suspended from steel tracks bolted into the ceiling, seem to float an inch above the reflective black granite floor. As they are shifted around, the apartment becomes all manner of spaces — kitchen, library, laundry room, dressing room, a lounge with a hammock, an enclosed dining area and a wet bar.
Link - via unclutterer
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