10 Interesting Facts About Water That’ll Leave You Astounded

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StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective Article |interesting facts about water|10 Interesting Facts About Water That'll Leave You AstoundedEveryone knows that water is critical for our existence. It covers approximately 71 percent of our planet and makes up around 60 percent of the human body. We use it to stay hydrated, keep clean, and as a fun way to cool off on a hot summer day.

Did you know you can also use water to impress your friends? It’s true! Learn some of the most interesting facts about water and you can “wow” them with just how smart you are.

Sound like a fun goal? Keep reading! You’ll be the smartest person in the room before you know it.

10 Interesting Facts About Water You Probably Didn’t Know

Some facts about water, like the ones mentioned above, are pretty cool. But, they’re also common knowledge. If you want to look really smart, you need to learn some amazing facts about water that are a little more obscure.

These 10 pieces of water trivia are a great start.

1. Most of the Earth’s Water Isn’t Drinkable

It’s true! Only about 1 percent of the water on Earth is drinkable in its present state. Although much of the planet is covered in water, it’s almost all saltwater.

In fact, only 2.5 percent of the Earth’s water is freshwater and 69 percent of it is trapped in glaciers and ice caps. While glaciers do melt and release some water during the summer months, it’s still not enough to bring this number above 1 percent.

2. Water Can Actually Cut Metal!

With a powerful-enough stream, you can actually use water to cut through metal! A waterjet is a tool used in machine shops to slice through metal and leave a smooth, clean edge. It does this by harnessing the power of pressure – a waterjet has about 30 times the pressure of a typical power washer.

Other waterjet cutting benefits include simplicity, accuracy, and the versatility to cut through other objects like tile and glass.

3. Americans Use an Average of 300 Gallons of Water a Day

In the United States, the average family uses about 300 gallons of water per day!

The biggest culprit? Flushing the toilet. This accounts for 24% of our daily water use.

The other ways we use water each day include:

  • Showers (20%)
  • Faucet (19%)
  • Washing Clothes (17%)
  • Leaks/drips (12%)
  • “Other” (8%)

An average of 30% of our water use occurs outdoors, mainly through activities like watering our lawns and topping off our pools. The other 70% of water use occurs from the indoor activities listed above.

4. Half of All Bottled Water Is Just Tap Water

Are you a water snob? If you prefer bottled water, you might be completely wasting your money. Turns out, about 50 percent of bottled water is just tap water that has been purified.

You can do the planet (and your wallet!) a big favor by just getting a filter or purifier for your home and drinking the water that comes from the tap.

5. The First Water Pipes in the U.S. Were Made from Logs

Water technology sure has come a long way! You might not know that the first water pipes in the U.S. were made from hollowed-out logs. Artifacts have recently been found that prove that this was a common system in larger U.S. cities back in the 1700s.

6. It Takes a Lot of Water to Make the Things We Need

Water is necessary to create almost all of the things that humans want and need. The amount required is sometimes astounding. Check out these facts:

  • It takes 37.5 gallons of water to make one egg
  • You’ll need 146 gallons of water to make a pound of corn
  • It takes 1,847 gallons to produce one pound of beef
  • The average amount of water used to make one pair of jeans is 2,900 gallons

7. Much of the World is in a Water Crisis

It might surprise you to learn that 785 million people (one in nine!) around the globe don’t have access to clean, safe water. In addition, 2 billion people don’t have an effective sanitation system.

This has caused a serious health crisis. Nearly a million people die each year from diseases related to water, sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases.

8. Women Carry Most of the World’s Water

In many countries, women and girls carry the responsibility of retrieving the water needed for daily living. In countries like sub-Saharan Africa, women spend a collective 16 million hours collecting water every day.

In Kenya, water collection accounts for approximately 4.5 hours of a woman’s average week. When women have to spend so much time meeting a basic need, it cuts into time that they could be working, expanding their education, or getting much-needed rest.

9. Water is Heavy!

If you’ve ever tried to carry a bucket full of water, you know that it’s pretty heavy. Although there are factors that can impact the weight of water – like temperature, atmospheric pressure, and gravity – on average, one gallon of water weighs about 8 pounds.

10. Frozen Water Weighs Less Than Liquid Water

The fact above only applies to water in its liquid state. Frozen water, also known as ice, weighs less by volume than liquid water. That’s why ice cubes float in your drink!

Keep Getting Smarter Every Day!

Now that you know the most interesting facts about water, you probably feel much smarter already. But, don’t stop there! We have plenty of great articles that can expand your knowledge even further.

Take a few more minutes to browse through our blog, then bookmark it and check back often. This way, you’ll never miss out on our best content.

7 Outsourcing Trends You Should Keep an Eye on in 2020

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StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective Article | 7 Outsourcing Trends You Should Keep an Eye on in 2020Is your small business expanding? Do you wish to cut down on your costs without compromising your services? Then outsourcing is likely the answer you are looking for.

Regardless if you’re a small firm or an established one, outsourcing can help you in many ways. A key survey revealed that 59% of companies invest in outsourcing to cut down their expenses.

Though this is encouraging to hear, it is not enough for you to simply outsource on the fly. You must also look at the latest outsourcing trends that will shape the industry this year.

So what are these trends to look out for? Continue reading below as we discuss seven trends that businesses must be aware of.

The Outsourcing Industry: A Brief Overview

Before we discuss the latest outsourcing trends, let us first get a glimpse of the outsourcing industry today. Apart from its cost-cutting benefits, outsourcing helps companies focus on their core business. This helped the industry nearly double its growth over the past two decades.

From $46 billion in 2000, spending on outsourcing grew to $85.6 billion in 2018. Furthermore, the United States outsources around 300,000 jobs annually.

Companies are also starting to embrace cloud services to improve their outsourcing. This is despite the concerns on data security surrounding cloud technology.

Furthermore, 70% of transportation and retail firms outsource portions of their services. The same thing goes for 71% of financial service executives in the country.

Outsourcing Trends

With 2020 already underway, there are outsourcing trends that will make an impact this year. Let’s take a look at seven of the most important ones:

1. More Flexible Contracts

If it is your first time to outsource, you will encounter a contract that comes with stipulations. But unlike before, companies can expect more custom outsourcing agreements this year.

You will see more contracts that come with room for flexibility. This is important considering the different limitations and cost pressures that businesses face in regard to their outsourcing needs.

This flexibility covers service, delivery, and pricing.

2. More VAs and Chatbots

You can also expect to see more virtual assistants (VA) and chatbots doing the job for companies. Businesses will incorporate these technologies to interact with their customers.

This new form of outsourcing is evident in the chat boxes that you see on various websites. These chat boxes address customer inquiries without sounding too robotic.

The good thing about chatbots and Vas is that they offer consistency. Though real people can show emotional knowledge, there is a tendency for them to lose their cool. Moreover, chatbots can handle different tasks that don’t require human emotions.

These tasks include arranging schedules, finalizing meetings, and qualifying clients, among others.

3. The Cloud Effect

As we mentioned earlier, more companies are opening up to cloud services. Cloud-based technology increases connectivity. In turn, this makes offshoring more efficient.

Furthermore, the media and information industries will continue to invest in telecommunications outsourcing. They will continue to incorporate cloud-based systems to expand their reach without physically going out in the field.

Also, the cloud computing industry will likely continue to grow. In 2020, the market grew to $180 billion. By the end of 2020, observers believe the industry will reach the $411 billion mark.

This is because tech leaders like Google, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft will pour in more money to create a quantum computer. Experts also believe that the quantum computing market will reach a value of $8 billion globally by 2027.

4. Telehealth Market to Make Waves

The healthcare and medical technology industries will continue to outsource reduce their costs while improving their processes. The telehealth market will offer more online video calls in lieu of physical hospital visits to the doctor. You can expect to see more hospitals attending to patients living in faraway places through online services.

Moreover, hospitals will outsource wearables to improve their diagnostics. Examples of these wearables include smart eyewear, wearable patches, trackers, and heart bands. Observers project the medical industry will spend over $27 billion over the next six years.

Additionally, more doctors will outsource virtual reality tools featuring artificial intelligence. They will use these gadgets to diagnose more complex diseases like Alzheimer’s.

5. Small Businesses to Outsource Heavily

More start-ups and small businesses will outsource this year. These companies will increase their spending on software development from 6% last year to 9% this year. Moreover, small companies will look to use new technologies and approaches to improve their services.

Instead of building in-house teams to cover non-key operations and other excess workloads, they will opt to outsource since it’s the more cost-effective way to go.

Outsourcing offers financial respite for smaller companies that are working on a tight budget. It also solves problems concerning a lack of manpower.

6. New Outsourcing Destinations

You can expect to see new players for software development outsourcing. Though China and India will continue to serve as havens for IT and business process outsourcing companies, Eastern Europe will rise as the emerging provider for small to medium-sized firms. For example, Ukraine is one of the top outsourcing providers in Central and Eastern Europe. IT services in Ukraine are growing rapidly, and the opening of R&D centers of tech giants is proof of that.

Also, medium-sized companies in the US and Western Europe will continue to experience a talent shortage. This will prompt them to outsource employees who are technologically-skilled.

7. The Emerging Experience Economy

Last but not least, there is the emerging experience economy that will play a bigger role this year. This pertains to the companies’ needs concerning experiences affecting the overall client experience.

This involves outsourcing services that focus on intangibles and immaterial attributes. These include aesthetics, values, culture, and design.

Examples are services that improve the health and wellness of employees. Companies will look to outsource wellness solutions to increase employee retention and satisfaction. More businesses will hire coaches, trainers, doctors, and therapists who can provide these services.

Outsourcing and Beyond

By following these outsourcing trends, you can make better decisions about your outsourcing needs. You can invest in the right services that will improve your company’s overall efficiency.

But outsourcing is only one of the many tools worth considering. Check out our other articles to learn more about other solutions. We discuss topics that will help grow your business.

Crypto Trading Bots – Next Step to an Epic Future

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By traveling at an untraceable speed, the face of technology has witnessed several transformations over time. As everything around us has flipped over into the screens, there is no more turning back into the age of physicality. Gone is the era of tangibility and undeniably that phase did have a fair share of advantages, many of which cannot be easily replaced by technology. But the future lies in those screens, and in this decade as even the concept of money has taken the digital form, equipping yourself with the right devices and technology is imperative. As cryptocurrency started becoming prevalent, various innovations took birth to tweak the digital currency into the most efficient form.

Automated Trading

The roots of crypto trading robots extend to the concept of automated trading. The US has adopted this method of trading and has successfully gained profits out of it. This technology has already proven to be beneficial and is now a widely accepted one. Many of its potentials are still being discovered. Automated trading helps users to create a book of accounts where details regarding the trade are recorded, which can be later employed by a computer to run the system for specific functions of trading. It stands as a good option for those users who lack time to analyze the working of their accounts and market trends.

StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective Article | Crypto Trading Bots - Next Step to an Epic Future

Cryptocurrency Trading Bots

One of the major driving forces behind the invention of trading bots was the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. The function of such bots is wholly based on the nature of digital money, which is unpredictable to a large extent. Controlling the accounts all through the day would be an impossible task; the trading bots came as an antidote to this issue. Since humans cannot control the volatility of cryptocurrency, untimely dips and surges are equally probable. When users are in a state where they are unable to control their trade, the bots are assigned to do the job. Apart from the task of running errands for the users, the bots also make the trades more efficient and profitable. The system that operates the bots can receive relevant data and make the best results out of it, by improving on the skills of human traders. The benefits of using bots have attracted more users to the idea of equipping themselves with this technology to enhance their trade. As the demand for trading bots hiked, so did its production. With several bots in the market now, users might fall into a dilemma over selecting the best one. Many of them offer free service whereas some have to be bought at prices fixed by the developers. You can now relax, as Immediate Edge Bot is here to help you manage your crypto trading account and take more than half the burden off your shoulders.

Working of trading bots

You gaze on the screens as you read this; this activity demands your presence. In the case of trading, that place of yours is being replaced by the robots. These bots function efficiently in making decisions for the trader while they are not available or also when a complex issue arises. The bots will work based on the programmed criteria to generate an appropriate reaction to the problem encountered (price drops). Indeed, an arbitrage crypto bot can help you enjoy significant profits by taking advantage of price differences across multiple exchanges. These bots track the prices of assets from several markets. If, for example, the Ethereum price is higher on one exchange and slightly lower on another, the bot can rapidly acquire the lower-priced coin and sell it later for a decent profit. Price differences are quite common, but they often don’t last long. Therefore, it is beneficial to have a bot on your side that can work round the clock to find and exploit the most profitable trading opportunities in real-time. The two significant drawbacks of the traditional crypto bots are the high cost and low accessibility, which can be reduced to a considerable extent by providing direct access through cryptocurrency exchanges.

StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective Article | Crypto Trading Bots - Next Step to an Epic Future

Things to consider before choosing a particular trading bot

  • The reliability of the company should be of prime concern. Since the purchase is made online, the issue with the genuineness of the product could arise, so pay extra attention to this factor.
  • Companies with murky content clouding their reputation are best removed off your list. It would help if you always looked for the transparency in the details on the company’s website.
  • Since technology has developed towards an age where online frauds and hacks are prevalent, the security factor of the bot that you are planning to buy should also be checked properly.

Conclusion

As the world is moving into the era of AI, everything around us is bound to change and take the intangible form. Various iterations to cryptocurrency trading platforms have frequently been entering the market for a few years now, and the bot technology has been the most widely accepted one among these. With numerous companies offering bot trading services, it would be quite strenuous to pick the best one out of it. Before clicking on that option of yours, make sure it provides the best service and that the bot trading platform is reliable.

 

7 Interesting Reasons to Invest In Platinum Today

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StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective Article | 7 Interesting Reasons to Invest In Platinum Today

As soon as you start earning a steady income, people ask you to invest. Whether it’s in vintage cars, stocks, a business or even a house, investment is a huge part of a stable financial plan. Putting aside your money each year or month not only helps you save up for emergencies faster but also gives you a lot of profit on your earnings.

The investment market dealing with precious metals has barely made the cut in terms of popularity among people, and it’s not something many people tap into, if they do hear about it, it’s mostly for either gold, silver or palladium.

There’s a reason that highest-paid memberships in any category offer a ‘platinum card’ or make you their ‘platinum member’. The term ‘high value’ is greatly synonymous with platinum, and that automatically translates to better quality and reliable investment. Because of platinum’s unique characteristics and the growing demand in the global market due to its versatility, it makes sense that this should be a solid investment. But if you need some more convincing, here are seven reasons why you should consider investing in platinum today;

Solid Properties

Platinum is a soft white metal with a very beautiful sheen. Not only is it ductile but malleable too, which means that it can be industrially processed to make wires or sheets to be used in many things. The metal is pretty resistant to corrosion or rust where even the best give up. The biggest use of platinum is as a catalyst or controller in motor vehicles, jewelry or most importantly, in dental work where it can be yielded to make cast partial dentures etc.

Growth in Industrial Demand

One of the rarest precious metals in the category today is platinum. Its production is around 10% of that of gold (merely 7 million ounces a year), and during the world war, the US government banned any ownership of platinum and termed it as a strategic element. While the supply is only 7 million ounces a year, the demand has grown from 2.6 million in the 1970s to 7 million today and is expected to go even higher in the coming years. As diesel vehicles take up quite some space in the global market, platinum’s demand is only going up to be used in catalytic converters.

Around more than 20% of consumer goods use platinum, while more uses are still being discovered. Majority of the industries like medical, glassworks and dies, dental applications, chemical processing and petroleum refining now use platinum as a catalytic controller or a major component. It is also readily used in transport applications to lessen global warming and exhaust waste to a much greater degree.

The beautiful sheen, ease in malleability and gorgeous luster also makes it a star of the jewelry industry.

Growth in Platinum Investment

Investment funds have bought platinum in significant amounts, and the numbers are only expected to increase. Private businesses with pension funds have increased their commodities investment, especially through Exchange-traded funding. One such example is that of a large Swiss-based pharmaceutical company that invested around $11.3 billion in platinum and other metals as well. The establishment of EFT is slowly growing, and with its increase, the mining companies dealing with the extraction of platinum say that there will soon be a considerable increase in platinum demand soon in the global market.

Limited Supply Sources

Most Platinum reserves and mines are concentrated around the areas of South Africa and Russia. More than half of the world’s platinum comes only from these countries. With such a limited and short supply and only finite resources for platinum, there is a huge amount of uncertainty that lies regarding its supply in the future which makes it even more precious to own now. Holding greater importance in the industrial and the military sector, the difficulty in mining and the lack of a number of resources makes platinum the most precious of the precious metals. In case of any disruptions in Russia or South America, the global market would be affected severely, and the prices will break records. This makes platinum a very smart and stable investment.

Price Performance in Recent Years

Platinum has proven to be one of the most top-performing assets over a period of a few years. In 1971 platinum was sold for $90 an ounce and by 1980 it was $1000 an ounce. The increase in platinum prices has been much more significant than the increase in prices of other precious metals. Platinum has almost sold premium to gold for much more than 25 years, and though there have been divergences in the over-all selling point, it is important to note that these falls were mere anomalies, but in the market, these anomalies do not change the fact that such investments are long term opportunities of the greatest kind.

Liquidity

Liquidity, in business, refers to the ability of an asset like stocks and bonds to be turned into cash with ease. The higher the liquidity, the easier it is for a certain asset to be turned into cash. In the global market, while gold has been termed more liquid than platinum, Platinum has had the advantage of playing it’s cards right and turning its less liquidity into its own favor which means that in an environment with rising platinum prices, it will take fewer buys to raise the prices further.

Current Volatility

While platinum’s less liquidity may play to its advantage, the opposite might be harmful too thus making it more volatile, but as history has been great at reminding us why platinum has done wonderfully in the past three decades, the current low price of platinum can be a huge plus point for the investors. They can very easily seize this opportunity before the market realizes that platinum’s decline as compared to gold in nonsensical on a number of levels.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is safe to say that while the supply of platinum remains affixed with respect to rising industrial and investment demand, platinum is one of the safest investments out there.

Revealed: Who is meeting the official development assistance targets?

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Foreign aid is one of those topics that always divides opinion but like it or not, most of the world has signed up to official development assistance targets.

What does this mean? It means that countries should be aiming to provide at least 0.70% of their GNI towards foreign aid.

Well, perhaps unsurprisingly, a new infographic from Wristband has shown that this isn’t necessarily the case. Instead, there are just five countries who have met such targets, with Nordic countries often taking the mantle. Sweden ranks at the top of the charge at 1.02%, while Norway is at 0.99% and Denmark is at 0.74%. Luxembourg and the United Kingdom were the two other nations above the recommended threshold at 1% and 0.70% respectively.

Of course, the main headline that will derive from this will be the countries that aren’t meeting these recommended targets. While the United States is by far and away the biggest donator, pledging over $34 billion, this only equates to 0.18% of their Gross National income. In fairness to Germany, who are the second biggest donator, they fall only slightly under the recommended target at 0.67%.

For those of you who want to delve into the data in more granular form, we will leave you with the infographic below. It reveals the countries which benefit the most, as well as just how much your own nation is giving to respective countries. It makes for interesting reading, and certainly provides a fresh insight into a topic that is somewhat polemic, should we say.

StrategyDriven Editorial Perspective Article | Revealed: Who is meeting the official development assistance targets? | Foreign Aid