The Japan's fallout

Even if the tragedy happened in Japan it is having an effect on the world. The government estimates that they have lost about $100 billion which is relatively a lot but it is still hopefully not enough to wreck as rich country as Japan. Japan is being pushed into recession and because it is the third-biggest economy in the world there is no way that the impact will not be felt all over the world.

Some of the Asian countries are already having a problem with disruptions to electricity supply. Nuclear power, which gives one third of states' electricity, is still totally down. As soon as many Japan's neighbors were relying on this country there is going to be a big problem. Also after this disaster USA, Germany and China started to have second thoughts about building new reactors or extending plants. In these three countries there are debates about nuclear power because it is a very good but also risky way to produce  energy. They are hesitating about safety of these constructions.

After the Tsunami there was a lot of damage caused by fires, explosions even dangerous releases of radiation, which in worst scenario might have an impact on public health of Japan and countries nearby. 

So as we can see we can state that nuclear crises affect lots of countries.

Elasticity of demand

Demand (popyt) - the quantity of a product that consumers are able and willing to purchase at various prices over a period of time.

elasticity of demand - how demand for particular product can be affected by changes in price. Usually when prices go down demand increases and decreases when prices go up. This concerns things such as cars, appliances and other not so necessary products because we can easily substitute or cancel the purchase. 

E.g if we want to buy a car but the price of it has gone up significantly we can replace it by a car from other brand which has a similar standard but a lower price. 

When it is about necessities as food, medicines and basic clothes demand is inelastic because changes in price doesn't affect demand so much because no matter how much does food cost we will still buy it.

Coffee giant

World famous coffee house company Costa Coffee was established in UK 1971. Originally founders were Italian brother now it belongs to international company which has about 442 stores in 28 countries. 

Some economic basis about 'Costa':

First of all shops in which this coffee is sold always look very nice. Decor as big comfortable, stylish sofa and a lot of space, your own table big enough to e.g leave books attracts you to stay in. Of course nothing is free. They charge extra more-less 20p. for every cup of coffee/tea etc. and cake just because you can have a sit and drink/eat already prepared things in nice place. To attract you even more after buying anything there you can have access to the 'free' internet what mostly make you stay longer and very often spend more money. They advertise themselves 'free internet in every shop' but literally to have wi-fi you have to buy something which excludes word free. They also use on posters happy looking man who won competition for the best barista with persuade people to enter shop and try high quality coffee. This  is obviously good trick because most of the people working there have no deeper experience with making coffee so you can't even call them barista not to say a qualified one.

It's also worth to mention loyalty cards. They are one of the best marketing trick. People commonly choose places in which they have or they can have special member card. Even if it doesn't make big differences it subconsciously helps us to think that we are saving money. 

At the end there is also one very customer affecting thing. The Costa foundation which helps people in countries where coffee is growing. They gives money for education, improving places with clean water, sanitation and school meals. 

'The Costa Foundation was set up in 2006 to give something back to coffee growing communities.'

Isn't that good advertisement?

Creep - radiohead

Happiness

'Happiness does not just make you enjoy life more, it actually affects how successful you are in both your personal and professional life.'

Happiness makes people:

• more sociable
• altruistic
• improve ability of solving the conflicts 
• increase how much the like themselves and others 
• have succesful relationships 
• live longer 
• have better health 
• better type of live
• have even a bit higher IQ results 

Some true statements about happiness:

• 'When people can afford the necessities in life, an increase in income does not result in a significantly happier life.'
• '40 per cent of your happiness level is derived from day-to-day behavior, and the way in which you think about yourself and others'

to be continued

Tricky questions - continued

Why do people without a watch look at their wrist when you ask them what time it is?

This is reflex made by our subconscious. We are all used to have watches on our wrist. Even if not we are all taught by our culture, mostly gestures in cinema, to connect time with watch on our wrist.

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injections? 
I guess in case when person will survive such a injection not to contract some other disease due to unsterilized needle. I also think that only healthy person can be legally executed so it is kind of health and safety guidelines.

Why is a person who plays the piano called pianist, but a person who drives a race car not called racist?
I think that term racist, which means discrimination of people from other race, came first to the spoken language. It was common before invention of the car and car race. So because of the very bad meaning  people create another way to call person who drives race car.

If it's true that we are here to help others, hat are others doing here?
If we are helping someone, this person is supposed to help someone else. This should work as a circulation.

Shouldn't it be called a 'near hit' rather than a 'near miss'?

Tricky questions. 22

Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?

Slim chance is when there is a minimal chance of winning and achieving your goal. Fat chance is an irony.

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

Evolution does not say that man evolved form ape. It does say that man and ape evolved from a common ancestor. So this question now doesn't have any sense.

Did Adam and Eve have navels (belly-button)? 

According to Christians they couldn't have belly-buttons because they were created by God not born by human. Naval is sign that you were once attached to your mother, that you spent nine months in her uterus. Adam were formed of 'dust form the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life', Eve from Adam's rib so there is no particular reason why should they have navels.

Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle? 

Glue doesn't stick inside the bottle because the chemicals within the glue is triggered by oxygen so when the glue bottle is opened it triggers the chemicals to make it sticky. That's why if a bottle if left out with no cap the glue becomes quite hard. 

What is a free gift? Aren't all gifts free?

If person give you a gift and doesn't want anything in return then it is free. But most of the gifts in shop are conditional. 'Buy one product and have a free gift'. Such a promotion are always related with the purchase of something over a certain value. Using 'free' in headlines makes people believe in saving money and they are more likely to buy products with such a promotion.

If the temperature is zero outside today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow how cold will it be?

It depends which scale do you use. 

I

f it is 0 now and twice as cold tomorrow, 0 x 2 = 0. it will be 0 degrees Celsius. But if you use Fahrenheit twice as cold as zero is equal to -31 degrees.