Germany: Is Your Coffee too Cheap? Using Brainwaves to Test Prices
A German scientist is developing a new way of testing prices by measuring brain waves. Some marketing critics are horrified by the idea of feel-good pricing, but others argue it could make products more successful.
The most subversive criticism of capitalism at the moment comes from the small town of Aspach, in the Swabian-Franconian Forest, a region of southern Germany known for its industrious and energetic inhabitants. Kai-Markus Müller is sitting in his office in a nondescript building, thinking about the coffee-roasting company Starbucks. “Everyone thinks that they’ve truly figured out how to sell a relatively inexpensive product for a lot of money,” he says. “But the odd thing is that even this company doesn’t understand it.” ...
Spiegel Online
UK: A list for living, not a bucket list
What would you do if you found out that your time was limited? If you were told that you could be dead within months, you certainly had no more than five years to live?
Well, that’s the situation which I’m facing. On Christmas Eve last year I found out that I had incurable ovarian cancer. I felt waves of shock, sadness and anger. But I also knew that once I'd come to terms with the devastating news, I was going to make the most of the time I had left. ...
Getting a dog, exploring the ancient ruins in Rome, taking a speed boat down the Thames, having my book published, learning to play poker and seeing penguins in the South Pole are just some of the 50 things I want to do. ...
BBC
Germany: Train Stations Become Hip German Homes
Converting old train stations into living spaces is all the rage in Germany. They’re charming and, often, affordable -- but making these buildings livable can be more difficult than people anticipate.
The former train station on Kardinal-von-Galen Street has seen better days. Its platform-facing façade is covered in graffiti and its facilities are in desperate need of renovation. Three decades ago, the building -- which is several centuries old -- suffered a renovation in the then-contemporary 1970s style. Its old-fashioned mouldings were replaced with austere-looking plaster. Reviving the building’s original 19th-century feel presents a challenge for any architect. ...
Spiegel Online
South Korea: 277 fake test results found at reactors
The government said Thursday that it found a total of 277 falsified test certificates for parts and materials used in nuclear reactors currently in operation.
About 100 officials from the state-run nuclear power plant operator, parts suppliers and certifiers have also been indicted on charges of forgery and corruption, the Office of Government Coordination said. ...
The Korea Herald
Africa: Survey Lists 55 Billionaires in Africa
There are at least 55 billionaires on the African continent. That’s according to the Africa’s Richest survey from Venture Africa, an Africa-based business magazine.
There are 10 countries represented on the list, with Nigeria leading the way with 20 billionaires, South Africa with nine and Egypt with eight. ...
All Africa
Canada: Rogers cellphone outage highlights 911 vulnerability
A countrywide outage of the Rogers Wireless network has focused concern over persisting problems with Canada’s 911 system.
Rogers Wireless customers reported widespread disruptions with voice and text messaging services on Wednesday evening. The outage also affected ... more than nine million people in total.
Police in Toronto, Calgary and other communities urged those affected by the outage to use a landline or another cellphone provider to call 911 in the event of an emergency.
But landlines are becoming less common, leaving more people high and dry when a wireless outage strikes. Payphones are similarly disappearing. ...
CBC
Angola: Teenager Jailed for ‘T-Shirt Crime’
A 17-year-old boy was thrown into solitary confinement for weeks, without access to family, lawyers, or medical care, just for ordering T-shirts.
Nito Alves was arrested on September 12 in Luanda, Angola’s capital, one week before a protest he had helped organize.
Nito Alves had commissioned T-shirts with the slogan “Out Disgusting Dictator,” a reference to Angola’s president, José Eduardo Dos Santos, who has been in power for 34 years. The boy’s name probably didn’t help: Nito Alves was the iconic leader of a ruling party faction whose failed uprising in 1977 prompted the party’s worst purges. ...
All Africa
