Addicted to TV?

An average america now watches 4.5 hours of tv a day. (Source: Fortune Magazine)

Beer for Dogs

$2.14 is the price of a bottle of Kwispelbier, a beef-flavored beer created for dogs by dutch pet-shop owner who wanted to have drinks with her Weimaraners after hunt. (Source: Time Magazine)

Technorati tags: Beer for dogs, Kwispelbier, beef flavored beer, beer

Fighting Measles

345,000 people died of measles in 2005, down 60% from 1999, beating a goal set by the United Nations. The cost of measles vaccine is 16 cents which is often unaffordable in the Third World without underwriting from charities and foreign governments. (Source: Time Magazine)

Dying fishes

1/3 portion of the 150 species of fish once found in China’s Yellow River are now believed to be extinct from the effects of industrial pollution and overfishing.

155 million people depend on the Yellow River as their major source of water.

(Source: Time Magazine)

Borrowing book from library

Robert Nuranen kept a copy of the book Prince of Egypt borrowed from the public library in Hancock, MI for 47 years before returning it sometime last week.

$171.32 was the amount he paid in late fees for the book (Source: Time Magazine)

Healthcare Spending in 2005

Medicare spending now accounts for 45 percent of total health spending

Medicare growth for physician services was 9.5 percent in 2005 (slightly slower than the 10.4 percent growth in 2004)

Spending for hospital care accounted for the largest share of overall health care in 2005, reaching $611.6 billion, with growth stable at 7.9 percent in both 2004 and 2005

Spending for physician and clinical services reached $421.2 billion in 2005, an increase of 7.0 percent over 2004

Fastest growing segment of healthcare spending: home healthcare agencies (increasing 11.1 percent to $47.5 billion. This is the third straight year of double digit growth, driven by strong growth in public payments, which accounted for 75 percent of total home health spending in 2005. As the boomers age, expect this to skyrocket)

Nursing home expenditures increased 6.0 percent in 2005, following growth of 4.1 percent in 2004, to $121.9 billion. Medicaid, representing 44 percent of funding for nursing home care, grew 3.9 percent in 2005. Medicare increased 12.0 percent in 2005 after increasing 16.2 percent in 2004

Private health insurance contributed $694.4 billion (64 percent), out-of-pocket payments contributed $249.4 billion (23 percent), and other private funds made up the remaining $141.2 billion (13 percent)

Private health insurance premiums grew 6.6 percent in 2005, slowing from 7.9 percent in 2004

Total spending for prescription drugs in 2005 was $200.7 billion, compared to $189.7 billion in 2004

Private sources of funding, which include out-of-pocket and private health insurance spending, accounted for 73 percent of spending for prescription drugs in 2005 and grew just 6.0 percent in 2005 compared to 7.2 percent in 2004

Medicare spending for prescription drugs grew 19.7 percent in 2005, but does not include expenditures associated with the full Part D prescription drug benefit, which did not begin until January 1, 2006

(Source: http://blogs.bsti.com/healthcare/)

Rising stock price!

$85 was the initial per-share public offering of Google in 2004. The stock broke $500 for the first time last month. Analysts predict a rise to $600 within a year.

Reading skills

72.6% of U.S. eighth-graders had basic reading skills or better in 2005, down 1.2% from 2003.

3.0% of U.S. eighth-graders had advanced reading skills last year. (Source: Time Magazine)

Distribution of US soldiers all over the world

Europe: 53,000 soldiers

Kosovo, Bosnia: 2,000 soldiers

Iraq: 150,00 troops (101,000 Army, 22,000 Marines)

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: 700 soldiers

Afghanistan: 18,000 soldiers

South Korea: 19,000 soldiers

Japan: 20,000 Marines

Price for loud music

A woman was given 20 months prison term in Japan recently for blasting music at her neighbor 24 hours a day.

The distance between the two houses was 20 ft. (Source: Time Magazine)