Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Delivery Drones?

Amazon Founder revealing a nascent plan for an Amazon Prime Air fleet of unmanned “octocopters” to drop packages gently on the doorsteps of customers. The idea may or may not come to fruition, and if it ever does it won’t be for years and many FAA studies and logistical work-arounds. Amazon is known for being aggressive and forward thinking in their business model but the reveal of this bold new plan brought a large buzz in social media. If they ever do work out I would definitely buy more stuff from amazon.

Life expectancy

Earlier this month, the Organizations for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a report highlighting the latest life expectancy figures for its 34 member nations as well as several other developed nations. Switzerland had the highest life expectancy of any country measured, with residents born in the country in 2011 likely to live 82.8 years. Rounding out the top ten is Italy, Japan, Iceland, Spain, France, Australia, Sweden, Israel, and Norway. While medical spending does not have a clear relationship with health or life expectancy, the availability of medical professionals does. In all but one of the 10 nations where residents live the longest, the number of doctors per 1,000 residents exceeded the average of 3.16. Italy, which had the second-highest life expectancy, had 4.1 doctors per 1,000 residents, and all but one of the 10 nations with the highest life expectancy at birth had a GDP per capita of at least $30,000 in 2011. None of the 10 with the lowest life expectancy had a GDP per capita higher than $25,000.