Sunday, July 17, 2005
statistics sunday... expen$ive world tour edition
And now for the rest of the WORLD that slows down just a tad - long enough to... visit the luminous blog! My question is: does anyone of the precious L.O.V.s here (*lol* - Luminous Online Visitors of course - what else) come from any one of *these* metropolises, where the high cost of living would get to just about anybody? Of course, if you can drop by the luminous blog and other blogs with regularity, you must have high speed internet (like 30 million Chinese do, according to a recent poll - yet not a single Chinese L.O.V. here... snif snif :( cry cry). And... if you have high speed internet, you must be relatively well off... So, the next experiment on the luminous blog (after sending a shout out to my portuguese compatriotes...! ;) is to survey any L.O.V. who might be residing in one of the cities listed below... More details on the costliest cities of the world - in the comments / cornucopia of luminescence section... ;)
Top 25 cities (with last year's ranking):
1. Tokyo, Japan (1)
2. Osaka, Japan (4)
3. London, Britain (2)
4. Moscow, Russia (3)
5. Seoul, South Korea (7)
6. Geneva, Switzerland (6)
7. Zurich, Switzerland (9)
8. Copenhagen, Denmark (8)
9. Hong Kong, Hong Kong (5)
10. Oslo, Norway (15)
11. Milan, Italy (14)
12. Paris, France (17)
13. New York City, United States (12)
14. Dublin, Ireland (14)
15. St. Petersburg, Russia (10)
16. Vienna, Austria (19)
17. Rome, Italy (21)
18. Stockholm, Sweden (22)
19. Beijing, China (11)
20. Sydney, Australia (20)
21. Helsinki, Finland (23)
22. Douala, Cameroon (25)
23. Istanbul, Turkey (18)
24. Amsterdam, Netherlands (26), Budapest, Hungary (34)
(Amsterdam and Budapest ranked equally).
Top 25 cities (with last year's ranking):
1. Tokyo, Japan (1)
2. Osaka, Japan (4)
3. London, Britain (2)
4. Moscow, Russia (3)
5. Seoul, South Korea (7)
6. Geneva, Switzerland (6)
7. Zurich, Switzerland (9)
8. Copenhagen, Denmark (8)
9. Hong Kong, Hong Kong (5)
10. Oslo, Norway (15)
11. Milan, Italy (14)
12. Paris, France (17)
13. New York City, United States (12)
14. Dublin, Ireland (14)
15. St. Petersburg, Russia (10)
16. Vienna, Austria (19)
17. Rome, Italy (21)
18. Stockholm, Sweden (22)
19. Beijing, China (11)
20. Sydney, Australia (20)
21. Helsinki, Finland (23)
22. Douala, Cameroon (25)
23. Istanbul, Turkey (18)
24. Amsterdam, Netherlands (26), Budapest, Hungary (34)
(Amsterdam and Budapest ranked equally).
"All In God's Hands"
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Tokyo, Osaka world's costliest cities with London in third place
20/06/2005 5:53:00 PM
LONDON (CP) - Japan's Tokyo and Osaka are the world's most expensive cities with London in third place, according to a survey released Monday. New York, which placed 13th, is the most costly of North American cities and Ottawa, in 122nd spot, is the cheapest.
The annual report released in London Monday ranked cities based on the comparative cost of more than 200 items including housing, public and private transport, food, clothing and entertainment.
For example researchers for Mercer Human Resource Consulting found a bus ride in London cost $3.66 US compared to 51 cents in Prague, $1.83 in Dublin and $1.76 in Paris.
Surveys are conducted in 144 cities around the globe every March. All cities are compared to New York, which is automatically given a ranking of 100, Tokyo in comparison scored 135.
Toronto is the most expensive Canadian city, and sits in 82nd spot.
South America was home to the least expensive cities, with Asuncion, Paraguay the cheapest of all surveyed cities.
The Mercer group put the relative expensiveness of Tokyo at No. 1, followed by Osaka then London down to the strength of the pound and the yen against the U.S. dollar and cited the high cost of housing and transport as a major factor in London's cost of living.
"Many of the U.S. cities surveyed have fallen in the rankings due to the weakening of the dollar against the Euro, Canadian dollar and Asian Pacific currencies," Mercer research manager Marie-Laurence Sepede said.
Because China pegs its currency to the U.S. dollar its cities ratings were also affected by the dollar's depreciation and were lower in the rankings than the previous year.
The report also found the cost of living divide between the world's cheapest and most expensive cities was narrowing.
-
Top 25 cities (with last year's ranking):
1. Tokyo, Japan (1)
2. Osaka, Japan (4)
3. London, Britain (2)
4. Moscow, Russia (3)
5. Seoul, South Korea (7)
6. Geneva, Switzerland (6)
7. Zurich, Switzerland (9)
8. Copenhagen, Denmark (8)
9. Hong Kong, Hong Kong (5)
10. Oslo, Norway (15)
11. Milan, Italy (14)
12. Paris, France (17)
13. New York City, United States (12)
14. Dublin, Ireland (14)
15. St. Petersburg, Russia (10)
16. Vienna, Austria (19)
17. Rome, Italy (21)
18. Stockholm, Sweden (22)
19. Beijing, China (11)
20. Sydney, Australia (20)
21. Helsinki, Finland (23)
22. Douala, Cameroon (25)
23. Istanbul, Turkey (18)
24. Amsterdam, Netherlands (26), Budapest, Hungary (34) (Amsterdam and Budapest ranked equally).
82. Toronto.
122. Ottawa.
=========================
Yeah - excuse the Canadian bias of the (not surprisingly) Canadian news agencies - soooooo preoccupied they are to note where their nation's capital (Ottawa - not Toronto - for all of you non-Canadians out there...) and their biggest city (Toronto aka T.O. - usually T.K.O. on a worldy stage though... *LOL*) rate in those type of listings...
Such news reporting bias is far more unsufferable when one hears stuff like "5,937 deaths... fortunately, no Canadians among the victims..." - arrrrrrghhhhh!!! Almost sounds like they are saying that everybody else can croak - as long as as French Frogs and fellow surrounding critters are "a-ok"... you know... it's fine?!?
Don't know about thee - but to me, such news style is infuriating...
20/06/2005 5:53:00 PM
LONDON (CP) - Japan's Tokyo and Osaka are the world's most expensive cities with London in third place, according to a survey released Monday. New York, which placed 13th, is the most costly of North American cities and Ottawa, in 122nd spot, is the cheapest.
The annual report released in London Monday ranked cities based on the comparative cost of more than 200 items including housing, public and private transport, food, clothing and entertainment.
For example researchers for Mercer Human Resource Consulting found a bus ride in London cost $3.66 US compared to 51 cents in Prague, $1.83 in Dublin and $1.76 in Paris.
Surveys are conducted in 144 cities around the globe every March. All cities are compared to New York, which is automatically given a ranking of 100, Tokyo in comparison scored 135.
Toronto is the most expensive Canadian city, and sits in 82nd spot.
South America was home to the least expensive cities, with Asuncion, Paraguay the cheapest of all surveyed cities.
The Mercer group put the relative expensiveness of Tokyo at No. 1, followed by Osaka then London down to the strength of the pound and the yen against the U.S. dollar and cited the high cost of housing and transport as a major factor in London's cost of living.
"Many of the U.S. cities surveyed have fallen in the rankings due to the weakening of the dollar against the Euro, Canadian dollar and Asian Pacific currencies," Mercer research manager Marie-Laurence Sepede said.
Because China pegs its currency to the U.S. dollar its cities ratings were also affected by the dollar's depreciation and were lower in the rankings than the previous year.
The report also found the cost of living divide between the world's cheapest and most expensive cities was narrowing.
-
Top 25 cities (with last year's ranking):
1. Tokyo, Japan (1)
2. Osaka, Japan (4)
3. London, Britain (2)
4. Moscow, Russia (3)
5. Seoul, South Korea (7)
6. Geneva, Switzerland (6)
7. Zurich, Switzerland (9)
8. Copenhagen, Denmark (8)
9. Hong Kong, Hong Kong (5)
10. Oslo, Norway (15)
11. Milan, Italy (14)
12. Paris, France (17)
13. New York City, United States (12)
14. Dublin, Ireland (14)
15. St. Petersburg, Russia (10)
16. Vienna, Austria (19)
17. Rome, Italy (21)
18. Stockholm, Sweden (22)
19. Beijing, China (11)
20. Sydney, Australia (20)
21. Helsinki, Finland (23)
22. Douala, Cameroon (25)
23. Istanbul, Turkey (18)
24. Amsterdam, Netherlands (26), Budapest, Hungary (34) (Amsterdam and Budapest ranked equally).
82. Toronto.
122. Ottawa.
=========================
Yeah - excuse the Canadian bias of the (not surprisingly) Canadian news agencies - soooooo preoccupied they are to note where their nation's capital (Ottawa - not Toronto - for all of you non-Canadians out there...) and their biggest city (Toronto aka T.O. - usually T.K.O. on a worldy stage though... *LOL*) rate in those type of listings...
Such news reporting bias is far more unsufferable when one hears stuff like "5,937 deaths... fortunately, no Canadians among the victims..." - arrrrrrghhhhh!!! Almost sounds like they are saying that everybody else can croak - as long as as French Frogs and fellow surrounding critters are "a-ok"... you know... it's fine?!?
Don't know about thee - but to me, such news style is infuriating...
I am glad I don't live in one of those cities!
Where I live isn't even concidered a town, let alone a city. lol
I doubt if where I live was even looked at to be part of the poll.
Luciano,
I agree with you about how some of the media other peoples they don't like. I don't like it one bit.
They seem to have tunnel vision when it comes to their own country! I know that the US media does the same thing.
((HUGS))
Countess
Where I live isn't even concidered a town, let alone a city. lol
I doubt if where I live was even looked at to be part of the poll.
Luciano,
I agree with you about how some of the media other peoples they don't like. I don't like it one bit.
They seem to have tunnel vision when it comes to their own country! I know that the US media does the same thing.
((HUGS))
Countess
Never too late for a bit of editing - eh?
"Such news reporting bias is far more insufferable when one hears stuff like "5,937 deaths... fortunately, no Canadians among the victims..." - arrrrrrghhhhh!!! Almost sounds like they are saying that everybody else can croak - as long as French Frogs and fellow surrounding critters are "a-ok"... you know... it's fine?!?"
And, if I may add to the rant now... *lol*
Of course, anchorpersons (the politically correct way to refer to them now - though I prefer my CNN anchorpersons to be CNN anchorwomen indeed... for sports, it can be a guy - all I want is the scores! *lol*) anchorpersons, thus, will try to jolt the interest of audiences with a cold cruel heart and link the story - any story - to HOME... I'll never forget the 9/11 aftermath - one redneck american male telling the newslady who was wasting her time giving him his 15 minutes of fame as he said "this is America; this doesn't happen here". Yeah... right. Bombs and death are an exclusivity of the Middle-East - no way the US of A can ever go through the same thing - they are too good for that... right? This redneck and millions more like him actually NEED the newscast linking it all TO HOME - otherwise they will continue to live in the deluded illusion that they are a notch above or away from the rest of the world... and will always be "untouched" by some very much imagined decree... NOT SO, at all...
And then there is the need to inform families of those who have someone near and dear travelling abroad - as succinctly surmised by our faithful reader from Halifax, N.S. who e-mailed again (thank you :)
"Just a very small bone of contention today with the blog, just to shed some light on the issue from another perspective :) Of course Canadian news reporters are going to throw in bits of information to help their viewers/listeners/readers relate more to the news story. In news reports like the one you focused on, I like to know where Canada stands in relation to the rest of the world - it would annoy me if a Canadian news reporter didn't include such details. And as far as reporting that no Canadians were killed in disasters, etc, I've always thought that kind of thing must be a reassurance for people living here in Canada with loved ones abroad - for instance, I spent a couple of months in Spain some years back, and just a couple of days after I arrived in Madrid there was a car bombing in that city that killed and injured some people. My Mom back home worried that I might have been one of those people until the organization that I was with called her to let her know that I was fine (in fact, I didn't even hear about the car bombing until quite a few days after it had actually happened - she knew I was ok before I even knew that I might not have been - LOL). So my take on those kinds of reports has always been that they help people like my Mom who worry about such things.
Just my two cents worth :)"
And what fine small change it is indeed! :)
I am sure that the parents of neo-saints (as I would call them) Rachel Corrie and Marla Ruzicka appreciated getting advance word of what had happened to their respective daughter... Likewise, the parents of Nicolas Berg, the beheaded victim of the islamic jihad in Iraq... they appreciated simply KNOWING... for one's torment is decupled a hundred-fold when one does not know for sure, either way, what has happened...
Hmm... only through the luminous system of making *connections* indeed could we go from a mere top 100 of costly cities to live in - to the trial of news reporting methods in general! *lol*
:)
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"Such news reporting bias is far more insufferable when one hears stuff like "5,937 deaths... fortunately, no Canadians among the victims..." - arrrrrrghhhhh!!! Almost sounds like they are saying that everybody else can croak - as long as French Frogs and fellow surrounding critters are "a-ok"... you know... it's fine?!?"
And, if I may add to the rant now... *lol*
Of course, anchorpersons (the politically correct way to refer to them now - though I prefer my CNN anchorpersons to be CNN anchorwomen indeed... for sports, it can be a guy - all I want is the scores! *lol*) anchorpersons, thus, will try to jolt the interest of audiences with a cold cruel heart and link the story - any story - to HOME... I'll never forget the 9/11 aftermath - one redneck american male telling the newslady who was wasting her time giving him his 15 minutes of fame as he said "this is America; this doesn't happen here". Yeah... right. Bombs and death are an exclusivity of the Middle-East - no way the US of A can ever go through the same thing - they are too good for that... right? This redneck and millions more like him actually NEED the newscast linking it all TO HOME - otherwise they will continue to live in the deluded illusion that they are a notch above or away from the rest of the world... and will always be "untouched" by some very much imagined decree... NOT SO, at all...
And then there is the need to inform families of those who have someone near and dear travelling abroad - as succinctly surmised by our faithful reader from Halifax, N.S. who e-mailed again (thank you :)
"Just a very small bone of contention today with the blog, just to shed some light on the issue from another perspective :) Of course Canadian news reporters are going to throw in bits of information to help their viewers/listeners/readers relate more to the news story. In news reports like the one you focused on, I like to know where Canada stands in relation to the rest of the world - it would annoy me if a Canadian news reporter didn't include such details. And as far as reporting that no Canadians were killed in disasters, etc, I've always thought that kind of thing must be a reassurance for people living here in Canada with loved ones abroad - for instance, I spent a couple of months in Spain some years back, and just a couple of days after I arrived in Madrid there was a car bombing in that city that killed and injured some people. My Mom back home worried that I might have been one of those people until the organization that I was with called her to let her know that I was fine (in fact, I didn't even hear about the car bombing until quite a few days after it had actually happened - she knew I was ok before I even knew that I might not have been - LOL). So my take on those kinds of reports has always been that they help people like my Mom who worry about such things.
Just my two cents worth :)"
And what fine small change it is indeed! :)
I am sure that the parents of neo-saints (as I would call them) Rachel Corrie and Marla Ruzicka appreciated getting advance word of what had happened to their respective daughter... Likewise, the parents of Nicolas Berg, the beheaded victim of the islamic jihad in Iraq... they appreciated simply KNOWING... for one's torment is decupled a hundred-fold when one does not know for sure, either way, what has happened...
Hmm... only through the luminous system of making *connections* indeed could we go from a mere top 100 of costly cities to live in - to the trial of news reporting methods in general! *lol*
:)
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