In this issue: WORD DETECTIVE: MOTS DO NOT DRINK AND DRONE AXE EVOLUTION And much, much more... --------------------------------- BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL BRAINMAIL *Feeding hungry minds since 2004 --------------------------------- Issue 106 --------------------------------- Brainmail is a free monthly (usually) newsletter dedicated to intellectual miscellany and ephemera. A file of hand-picked curiosities, cerebral snacks and fortuitous facts. To subscribe or unsubscribe (or to search the whole 13-year brainmail archive) visit: http://brainmail.nowandnext.com/ Like it? - then surely share it on social media. --------------------------------- : INSIGHTS & IDEAS > Statistics of the year Who knew there was a Royal Statistical Society? Well now you do and their numbers of the year in 2017 were apparently 69 and 0.1. The number 69 is the average amount of people killed in the US by lawnmowers (as an aside, just 2 are killed by Islamic terrorists and 21 by armed toddlers each year). 0.1 is the percentage of the UK that's a densely built urban area (only 5.4 percent of the UK's total land mass has been built upon). Ref: Financial Times (UK) > Idea of the month To circumvent local anti-drinking laws on New Year's Eve, a group of Kiwis built an artificial island out of sand in an estuary. The island, slightly larger than a picnic table, was described by its creators as being in "international waters". A policeman described the island as "creative", adding that "If I had known I would probably have joined them." Ref: New Zealand Herald (NZ) > No dig pipe repairs Con Edison, a utility company in the US, has started to deploy robots developed by ULC Robotics to repair leaky gas pipes in New York. The robots enter through a launch tube from which oxygen is expelled. Because the pipes do not then contain oxygen, repairs can be carried out without shutting off gas mains or digging up the streets. Ref: New York Times (US) > Fitness trends for 2018 Do you really care? OK, here's a list if you really must: Prehab Not Rehab (preventative exercise), Data-Driven Fitness Classes (get a life), Immersive Fitness (VR, screens, gamification, projections etc.), Fitness Scans (full body scans, not just BMI), Virtual Yoga (a 2018 take on fitness videos), Hot (Humid) Pilates (load of hot air). Ref: Daily Telegraph (UK) > 5 business trends The Big Tech Backlash Intensifies, AI Advances & Integration, Shift in Workplace Behaviour towards Women, CEO Statesmen, and Recession Watching/Preparedness. Ref: Fortune (US) > Word detective: MOTS More an acronym than a word, MOTS stands for More Of The Same and refers to the likely geo-political and economic situation in 2018. We'll see... Ref: Financial Times (UK) > Consumer tech trends Another enumeration for you: Home Robots, Wireless Re-Charging, Longer-Lasting Laptops, and Smarter TVs. Ref: CNBC (US) > No soldier ant left behind Scientists that studied ant colonies on the Ivory Coast, as well as in laboratories, found that ants use battlefield evacuation techniques similar to those used by humans. Ref: Proceedings of the Royal Society (UK) > Do not drink and drone The US is clamping down on drink-droning after 48 prosecutions between 2015 and mid-2017. Not all of these drone-related incidents were drink related, but flying a drone while under the influence of alcohol, or drugs is, apparently, a thing. Ref: The Times (US) > No longer music to our ears Music is worth #4.4 billion to the UK economy, yet music tuition in government schools has been deemed a luxury that can no longer be afforded in many instances. This is potentially making music a preserve of the rich. 56 per cent of students graduating the Royal Academy of Music in 2016 came from private schools. Ref: The Economist > Axe evolution Seems the surprise drink trend of 2018 could be axe throwing. Bars in the US are serving axe throwing alongside beer. Recipe for disaster? Ref: Forbes (US) --------------------------------- : THE NUMBERS Unmanned drones now outnumber light aircraft in the US. Ref: FAA (US) Sales of bookshelves and bookcases in Heal's, an upmarket UK furniture and homewares store, rose by 47 per cent in 2017. Ref: The Telegraph magazine (UK) 40 per cent of dogs in the US are overweight. Ref: Harper's (US) Antibiotics failed to work on one fifth of infections after surgery, according to a global study of 13,000 patients in 66 countries. Yikes. Ref: The Lancet (UK) The environmental and social costs of plastics, especially greenhouse gas emissions caused by production and transport, are around $139 billion per year according to one estimate. However, the number for damage created by farming is $3 trillion per year. Ref: The Economist (UK) 23 per cent of Americans prefer to see dogs in TV commercials rather than people, because dogs are "more interesting". Ref: Harper's (US) Americans make up 4.4 per cent of the world's population, but own 42 per cent of the world's firearms. Ref: Washington Post (US) According to UBS, urban car ownership is set to fall by 70 per cent by the year 2050. Ref: The Economist (UK) The chance of a recession before 2020 is 70 per cent according to Ray Dalio, the billionaire investor that predicted the 2008 crash (I predicted it too, in my book Future Files, but made considerably less money). Ref: Money.cnn.com In 1975, there were just three cities with populations greater than 10 million (Mexico City, Tokyo, and New York). By 2018 there were 31. Ref: Washington Post (US) --------------------------------- : QUOTE OF THE MONTH "In the end, the only things worth doing are the things that might possibly break your heart." - Colum McCann --------------------------------- : WEB SIGHT OF THE MONTH Museum of your Parents' Things museumofyourparentsthings.com --------------------------------- : STILL HUNGRY? Not a lot of people know this, but brainmail is put together using some of the leftover bits from the What's Next trends report. So if this snack-sized newsletter is leaving you a bit hungry, go to nowandnext.com for something more substantial (and that's free too). --------------------------------- : BRAINMAIL LIVE If you are looking for an interesting speaker for your next conference, workshop, or event ask your speaker agency about Richard Watson or contact him direct via nowandnext.com. Richard, who is based in London, is the creator of brainmail (along with Matt Doyle and Phil Beresford, both of whom had the good sense to stay in Australia). --------------------------------- : SMALL PRINT The material appearing in brainmail is sourced from a variety of usually reliable publications worldwide. However, we cannot guarantee the truthfulness of stories and a degree of commonsense should be applied before quoting or using any material in a commercial context. If something appears to be too good to be true it probably is. That's all folks. Back soon...