British & American English

Still deciphering between American and British English?? .... nowadays, it does not matter much, heck American English will prevail owing to the media and modern culture being largely American. We all know what the words mean, so fergedaboudit, use both without snobbery or rolling of the eyes, please.

Liquor Guzzling Countries

If we were all guessing, we'd think the Russians and the Polish would top the drinking table. Read till the end and be surprised. 
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Whether it’s whiskey, vodka, or soju, people around the world love their liquor. And some countries love liquor more than others.

Global marketing research firm Euromonitor International shared their analysis of the market for hard liquor in 53 countries around the world. This map shows the amount of liquor sold in each country during 2013 per capita, per week:

Business Insider, data from Euromonitor

South Korea handily dominates the list of countries, drinking more than twice as much liquor per capita as any other country. Three predominantly Muslim countries — Egypt, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia — reported zero liquor sales in 2013.

We converted the Euromonitor data from mL to shots, using a standard U.S. 1.5 oz (44 mL) shot glass.

Here are the ten countries in Euromonitor’s database who consume the most liquor:

1. South Korea — 11.2 shots/week
2. Russia — 5.0 shots/week
3. Thailand — 4.8 shots/week
4. Poland — 4.0 shots/week
5. Japan — 3.6 shots/week
6. Philippines — 3.5 shots/week
7. Bulgaria — 3.3 shots/week
8. Slovakia — 3.0 shots/week
9. Ukraine — 2.8 shots/week
10. France — 2.7 shots/week

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Who knew that our neighbours in Thailand drank so much, and the Koreans OMG. But the question everyone should be pondering:

Are they drinking to celebrate life, or drinking to drown their sorrows or numb their desperate lives. Many drunks, but each with their own reason. What's yours?

CLSA Feng Shui Chart So Far So Good

Following the turbulent and scary month of January, nobody would have dared to predict a swift rebound. Last year's chart was pretty accurate as was 2012. Judging from the chart, we have February and March being decent months followed by a lull. Let's see if that pans out, if it does, then we can be more confident for May, June and July. LOL ... when fundamentals and technicals cannot make better predictions, when you have lost all hope in your own abilities to predict the markets, .... this chart is not too bad. 

Investors are a silly bunch, there are those who believe that they will NEVER be able to beat the markets. Then there are those who have exhausted their fundamentals analysis and still cannot beat the markets. Then there are the technical guys, same result. But the worst kind of investors are those who pooh-pooh everything that does not fall into their line of thinking, or that they must know why they make money or lose money, and would never bother to give this "fantastic fengshui chart" a try. 

Whatever works man, whatever works is my friend ... investing is an inexact and fluid science.

Getting A Degree Outweighs The Cost

An interesting article from WSJ:

College is costly. But not going is even more costly.

A new report from the Pew Research Center finds that Millennials with a college degree earn more, have higher employment rates and report greater job satisfaction than those who stopped their formal educations during or after high school.

Median annual earnings among college-educated full-time workers aged 25-32 rose by nearly $7,000–to $45,500, in 2012 dollars–between 1965 and 2013. Meanwhile, their high-school-educated peers lost more than $3,000, with earnings falling to $28,000 over that time period.

The findings are based on a Pew survey of 2,002 adults and an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
Young adults with college degrees also have a greater sense that they’re on a clear career path, with 86% saying their job is a career, or at least a steppingstone to a career. Just 57% of high school graduates feel the same way.

Though the up-front cost of college is high, and climbing higher, the Pew report found that Millennials overwhelmingly feel their college education has already paid off. Eighty-six percent of those with loans say the degree has been worth it, or will be soon.

The earnings divide between college graduates and high school graduates has been a topic of conversation for years, but the Pew report reinforces the fact that the gap is particularly wide in the Millennial generation. In 1979, high school graduates of the Baby Boomer generation earned about three-quarters of what their college-educated peers did. Today, they bring in just 62 cents on the dollar.

Cutest Dogs Ever

Internet famous dog Harlow has a new best friend. His tiny new pal is called Indi and they have lots of fun together. Funny thing is that it appears that the two are taking selfies, like they have a sense of awareness of posing for the camera.... and yes, they are the best of friends.