Meet the World’s ‘Most Typical’ Person

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Source: Youtube.com, National Geographic Society

Tags: National Geographic, National Geographic Society, Typical Person
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Can the World Hold 7 Billion?

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Some time this year, there will be 7 billion people on the planet. If we all stood shoulder-to-shoulder, we would fit inside the city of Los Angeles.

National Geographic just kicked off its year-long series dedicated to this global milestone. Check out this video.

According to National Geographic, no human had lived through a doubling of the human population before the 20th Century. Now, there are people on this planet who have seen it triple. In fact, the world population hasn’t fallen since the Black Death wiped out nearly 60 percent of Europe’s population.

The problem with population isn’t space—we have plenty of it—it’s resources. Nearly 1 billion people go hungry every day and 20 years from now there will be 2 billion more mouths to feed.

If you’re analytical, you can think of it this way—the Earth has a finite number of resources but the demand and use of these resources are the variables. That demand not only depends on the number of people, but how intense their usage is.

Today, usage intensity is picking up in the emerging world—which happens to be home to the majority of the global population. As these people move, for example, from using bicycles to cars, or candles to electricity, the pressure on that finite amount of resources rises.

This, in a nutshell, is why we’re positive on natural resources—the supply of resources is limited while the demand is rising. Daily, monthly and even yearly fluctuations in demand or geopolitical events will cause volatility in prices, but the overall supply/demand fundamentals remain intact, and we believe these fundamentals lead to higher prices for these increasingly rare commodities.

Since this population theme is a cornerstone of the natural resources story, we’ll check back in on the National Geographic series as it progresses.

All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor.

Tags: Bicycles, Black Death, Commodities, Cornerstone, Finite Number, Fluctuations, Geopolitical Events, Global Population, Human Population, Intensity, Milestone, Mouths, National Geographic, National Geographic Series, Natural Resources, Nutshell, Rare Commodities, Shoulder To Shoulder, Volatility, World Population
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What are the Origins of Groundhog Day?

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

Ever asked yourself, what is this Groundhog Day thing anyway?

This excerpt is courtesy of National Geographic, February 1, 2010.

Video: Wild Groundhog in “Action”

Groundhog Day Origins

According to the official Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Day Web site, Groundhog Day is the result of a blend of ancient Christian and Roman customs that came together in Germany.

In the early days of Christianity in Europe, clergy would distribute blessed candles to the faithful on February 2 in honor of Candlemas, a holiday celebrating the Virgin Mary’s presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after his birth.

Along the way, February 2 also became associated with weather prediction, perhaps due to its proximity to the pagan Celtic festival of Imbolc—also a time of meteorological superstition—which falls on February 1.

Tradition held that the weather on Candlemas was important: clear skies meant an extended winter.

Legend has it that the Romans also believed that conditions during the first days of February were good predictors of future weather, but the empire looked to hedgehogs for their forecasts.

These two traditions melded in Germany, and was brought over to the United States by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania. Lacking hedgehogs, the German settlers substituted native groundhogs in the ritual, and Groundhog Day was born.

Source: NationalGeographic.com

Tags: Candlemas, Celtic Festival, Clear Skies, Clergy, Excerpt, February 2, Future Weather, German Immigrants, German Settlers, Groundhog Day, Groundhogs, Imbolc, Jesus At The Temple, National Geographic, Origins, Punxsutawney Phil, Romans, Superstition, Virgin Mary, Weather Prediction
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