The World’s Top Richest People

The World’s Top Ten Billionaires

First Published Date: November 18, 2013 ADawnJournal.com

Bloomberg Market just came up with their list of the world’s top 100 billionaires. These billionaires are the rich of the richest on earth. Here are the top ten richest people from that list:

1.    Bill Gates – Unites States

2.    Carlos Slim – Mexico

3.    Amancio Ortega – Spain

4.    Warren Buffett – United States

5.    Ingvar Kamprad – Sweden

6.    Charles Koch – United States

7.    David Koch – United States

8.    Larry Ellison – United States

9.    Christy Walton – United States

10.    Jim Walton – United States

Source: Bloomberg

Here are some other interesting facts from the Bloomberg Market’s Richest of the Rich report:

– Canada’s David Thompson (of Thompson Reuters) is #22 on the top 100 list.

– U.S. (37) and Russia (11) have the most top 100 billionaires.

– Mark Zuckerberg (29) is the youngest billionaire among the top 100.

– Karl Albrecht (93) is the oldest.

– There are 11 women in the top 100 list.

– Median net worth is $15.7B of these top 100.

– Net worth is $2.1 Trillion of these top 100 billionaires.

The view the full report, visit Bloomberg Market’s Richest of the Rich

Alexandria Day Trip – Part 5 | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 1 (Part 10)

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

The catacombs of Kom El Shofaqa; date back to the second century AD and were accidentally discovered in 1900 when a donkey got lost.

The catacombs are the largest-known Roman burial site in Egypt and they consist of three tiers of tombs and chambers cut into bedrock to a depth of 35m.

The catacombs of Alexandria were originally a private tomb, but later expanded and became a public cemetery. These are one of the last major works of construction dedicated to ancient Egyptian religion.

Inside the catacombs, the endless tunnels were like a maze and it was impressive how they carved them in the solid rock.

The entry was like a spiral staircase. In the old days, the dead bodies were lowered on ropes to the centre of the circular shaft. This archaeological site was one of the Seven Wonders in the Middle Ages.

When the catacombs started in the 2nd century AD, there was only the triclinium (left) and principal tomb chamber. Later on, over 300 years of time, more and more chambers were added to accommodate bodies numbering 300 or even more.

The antechamber, the most important part or major sight, had decorations and statues. It had carvings of the Egyptian god Anubis (the god of the dead) dressed like a Roman. There were some statues of Roman emperors who ruled Egypt during this period.

We were to visit Pompey’s Pillar next, which I will talk about in the next post.

China Eases One Child Policy

China Relaxes One Child Policy

First Published Date: November 27, 2013 ADawnJournal.com

In the past, I wrote about how the Chinese economy got its boost from its one-child policy: China’s One Child Policy. In a recent announcement, after months of speculation China announced that it is relaxing its unpopular and decades-old one-child policy.

The new policy change will apply to those families where one parent is an only child. In some places, especially in the countryside, families can have a second child if the first child is a girl. It is estimated that some 20 million parents will be affected and can have a second child.

There are possibly 2 reasons behind this policy shift by the Chinese government. China will face enormous labour shortages in the future due to its heavy concentration of aging population. Over 25 percent of its population is expected to be over 65 by 2050.

And then there is another problem of gender imbalance. Unless changes are made rapidly, in the near future Chinese males will be unable to find a female partner to get married, and this could mean nearly 24 million men will be unable to find wives by the end of the decade.

Despite the easing the one-child policy, the policymakers are not expecting a dramatic growth of newborn babies creating a Chinese baby boom. New generation Chinese families are opting for smaller families and the fertility rate is already on the decline.

As time goes by, if no significant or unexpected population influx arises it is possible that the Chinese authorities will abolish the remaining family planning restrictions altogether.

Green Fingers = Green Future

Eco-Friendly Green Gardening

First Published Date: November 30, 2013 ADawnJournal.com

It is commonly held that global warming and other environmental concerns are far too big for humans to turn back. Some even believe that global warming is not man-made despite the large amount of evidence to suggest that it very much is. For such reasons, there are many people who decide not to do anything about it, and say “I’m only one person – what can I do, realistically?”. These people are missing the point. If no-one does anything, then there is no question that the problems will get worse. In order to turn back the tide, there are things that we can do. Although many may feel that it isn’t worth bothering, if enough of us take a lead, then at least we can set an example.

Setting a good example can be done in many ways, but the chances of it being taken up depend on several factors. Not least of these is the fact that people can specifically benefit themselves by taking a greener approach. This is best referred to as the “What’s in it for me?” factor. Although there may be little incentive for someone to take a greener approach to life if all it is going to achieve is a lessening in the global problems some years down the line, they will think differently if they feel that it might benefit them in the long term and the short term. One way to do this is to look at planting a vegetable garden.

Although gardening is seen by many as a pastime for older people, there is little doubt that it can benefit us all. Taking it on the most basic level, all of us need to eat in order to live. Inevitably, part of our diet is sure to come from vegetables. Now, we can get in our car and drive to the supermarket to buy veg there. The advantage of this approach is that it is convenient. But aside from that, there is little reason why we should do this. Supermarkets, for all their eye-catching green initiatives, are simply not going to take part in any approach that may hurt their profit margins. And the vegetables they sell will come with a healthy profit for the company – putting us, the consumers, out of pocket.

If we grow our own veg, then we immediately create a saving for ourselves. Instead of having to drive to the supermarket (spending money on fuel as we do so), buying the veg (and thus paying more than we would had we grown it ourselves) and putting it into a bag (we pay for that, too), we could be cutting out these extra costs and helping ourselves. Additionally, we are causing less pollution by cutting out exhaust fumes and unnecessary packaging.

By growing our own veg we will also ensure the utmost freshness, which is always a major factor in terms of taste. And although it takes an initial investment of our time, it saves us a lot more in the long run – how many people do you know who can take care of most of the ingredients for dinner just by popping outside for a few minutes?

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Thegreenlivingblog.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on April 24, 2009.

Amazon Canada Rewards Visa Credit Card Review

A Visa Card That Saves You Foreign Currency Transaction Fees

First Published Date: December 5, 2013 ADawnJournal.com

Probably 90 percent of retailers have some sort of credit cards tied to some kind of reward points of their own, so why not Amazon Canada? Today, I will talk about some of the features the Amazon.ca Rewards Visa card offers.

The instantaneous benefit of this card is that once you are approved, Amazon.ca will take off $15 of your next purchase on the Amazon online store. And then there are ongoing reward points for each transaction you make (whether online or offline). For example, spending $1 at Amazon.ca earns 2 points (works out to be 2 percent cash back) and spending $1 anywhere else (where Visa is accepted) earns 1 point (works out to be 1 percent cash back).

There are also promotional financing offers on qualifying purchases of $199 or more. For example, you can take 6 months to pay without paying interest on $199+ or 12 months to pay on $499+ purchases. These can change any moment. So check at Amazon.ca before you make any large transactions to take advantage of promotional offers.

The best feature of the Amazon.ca Visa card is that it does not have any foreign exchange fees when you use your card outside Canada. All other major credit cards charge a 2.5 percent fee if you make any transactions outside Canada. If you travel a lot, saving 2.5 percent on each transaction can save you a lot of money.