January 2, 2006

• Got this interesting link from Lim Kit Siang’s blog. Whether they mean anything waits to be seen, but Ed Caesar
  of the Independent believes the following list is a certainty. If so,
  that’s a lot to chew on don’t you think? What is striking about a
  seemingly value-free list such as this is not what it says, but what it
  does not say. 

  2006: WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW
  

  It’s
  too early to tell if the new year will turn out good or bad. But a surprising
  number of facts about it can be stated with something close to certainty. Ed
  Caesar presents a selection

  Next year, for the first time, more than 50 per cent of the world’s
  population will live in towns and cities rather than in the countryside

  30bn tonnes of greenhouse gases will be discharged

  There will be more than 2bn mobile phones in use

  More than 65m new cars will be made

  22bn rolls of toilet paper will be used

  Twenty-four nations are due to hold national elections

  The sea will rise by 2mm

  Around 130m babies will be born, and around 57m people will die

  At least 35 nations will experience armed conflict

  On 29 March, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from over half the
  Earth

  More than 1m people will die from acute malaria

  Around 2.7trn insects will be accidentally eaten by humans

  NASA will attempt to launch its first mission to Pluto

  Manuel Noriega will become eligible for parole

  More than 3m people will die from HIV/Aids; a further 3m will become newly
  infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

  At least 25,000 sq km of Amazonian rain forest will be destroyed

  The global internet community will reach 1.21bn

  Gas and electricity bills in the UK will increase

  292bn cans or bottles of Coke will be sold

  Tesco will open 80 new hypermarkets and 128 new supermarkets worldwide

  Russia will assume the presidency of G8

  One person in five will have less than $1 a day to live on

  50,000 species will become extinct

  More than 1bn people will watch the final of football’s World Cup on 9
  July

  At least 13m people will be refugees

  Smoking in public places will become illegal in Scotland

  Austria, and then Finland, will take over the EU presidency

  More than 1m people will commit suicide; a further 10m will try but fail

  Roughly a third of the planet’s population will be under 18

  Kofi Annan will step down after 10 years as Secretary-General of the UN

  Ten million people – including 4.5m children – will die from hunger or
  hunger-related diseases

  More than 1m working computers will be thrown away

  39bn barrels of oil will be pumped

  The UK will produce around 400m tonnes of waste, including 30m tonnes of
  domestic waste

  Around £350bn will be spent on advertising

  Kenneth Lay, formerly of Enron, and Conrad Black, former owner of the
  Telegraph Group, will both stand trial

  More than 900 films will be made in Bollywood

  Al Jazeera will launch its satellite service, Al Jazeera International, in
  Europe, North America and Asia

  Around $1trn will be spent on arms

  Roughly 530,000 military servicemen and women will be deployed globally;
  70 per cent of them American

  Patras, in south-west Greece, will be European City of Culture

  Over 100,000 new book titles will be published in the UK

  More than 4m British people will be on weight-reducing diets

  One person in five will be Chinese

  At least 6,150 square miles of Arctic sea-ice will disappear

  The average Briton will spend more than 400 hours shopping

  Next year, for the first time, more
  than 50 per cent of the world’s population will live in towns and cities rather
  than in the countryside

  30bn tonnes of greenhouse gases will
  be discharged

  There will be more than 2bn mobile
  phones in use

  More than 65m new cars will be made

  22bn rolls of toilet paper will be
  used

  Twenty-four nations are due to hold
  national elections

  The sea will rise by 2mm

  Around 130m babies will be born, and
  around 57m people will die

  At least 35 nations will experience
  armed conflict

  On 29 March, a total eclipse of the
  Sun will be visible from over half the Earth

  More than 1m people will die from
  acute malaria

  Around 2.7trn insects will be
  accidentally eaten by humans

  NASA will attempt to launch its first
  mission to Pluto

  Manuel Noriega will become eligible
  for parole

  More than 3m people will die from
  HIV/Aids; a further 3m will become newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

  At least 25,000 sq km of Amazonian
  rain forest will be destroyed

  The global internet community will
  reach 1.21bn

  Gas and electricity bills in the UK
  will increase

  292bn cans or bottles of Coke will be
  sold

  Tesco will open 80 new hypermarkets
  and 128 new supermarkets worldwide

  Russia
  will assume the presidency of G8

  One person in five will have less than
  $1 a day to live on

  50,000 species will become extinct

  More than 1bn people will watch the
  final of football’s World Cup on 9 July

  At least 13m people will be refugees

  Smoking in public places will become
  illegal in Scotland

  Austria,
  and then Finland,
  will take over the EU presidency

  More than 1m people will commit
  suicide; a further 10m will try but fail

  Roughly a third of the planet’s
  population will be under 18

  Kofi Annan will step down after 10
  years as Secretary-General of the UN

  Ten million people – including 4.5m
  children – will die from hunger or hunger-related diseases

  More than 1m working computers will be
  thrown away

  39bn barrels of oil will be pumped

  The UK
  will produce around 400m tonnes of waste, including 30m tonnes of domestic
  waste

  Around £350bn will be spent on
  advertising

  Kenneth Lay, formerly of Enron, and
  Conrad Black, former owner of the Telegraph Group, will both stand trial

  More than 900 films will be made in
  Bollywood

  Al Jazeera will launch its satellite
  service, Al Jazeera International, in Europe, North
  America and Asia

  Around $1trn will be spent on arms

  Roughly 530,000 military servicemen
  and women will be deployed globally; 70 per cent of them American

  Patras, in south-west Greece,
  will be European City
  of Culture

  Over 100,000 new book titles will be
  published in the UK

  More than 4m British people will be on
  weight-reducing diets

  One person in five will be Chinese

  At least 6,150 square miles of Arctic
  sea-ice will disappear

  The average Briton will spend more
  than 400 hours shopping
  

  • 10:49 am
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