Behavior of a Global Villager.

1) Spends at least 1/3 of their leisure time online

2) Belong to an average of 2 social networks and have regular contact with 16 people whom they met 'virtually' on the net (plus, minus)

3) 1 out of 10 connects to the internet via mobile handsets at least once a day

4) The world of internet is his/her oyster - search for anything and everything - answering 'whys, hows, whats, whens, wheres and whos' (you got the question, the web has the answer, or at least someone on the web has the answer)

5) Uses the internet to ease everyday chores such as online banking and researching a product/service (the paradox of spending more time online to get more time in life)

6) Engaged in some form of 'commerce' activity - either actual purchase online or leading to a purchase offline (buy, compare and research)

Reference from TNS.

What's most interesting is the paradox I noted above. The web enables people to multi-task therefore able to do more for less time. Synovates answer: "Multi-tasking, media-rich lifestyles are the norm among 8-24 year olds in Asia, with these on-the-pulse consumers fitting 38 hours of activities into every 24 hour period". A 40-something-year old once told me: "Everyone is equal. Everyone has 24 hours". Well. I beg to differ ;)

Man is forever searching.

How are social networks evolving to become search engines of their own right?

YouTube --> Search for videos
Facebook --> Search for people
Twitter --> Search for trends
MySpace --> Search for talents
Wikipedia --> Search for knowledge

Shows why Google in a few years time may not be the default search engine as users are getting more and more targeted and specific with not only the content but the format it comes in. This is one example of human intelligence (collectively) evolves at a much faster rate than one creator's technology. Freakily, this reminds me of the ouija board. You know the stuff meddlesome people play with to invite 'spirits' into the living dimension? I'm not saying that it works, but I'm imagining this whole 2.0 thing as this 'force' of collective intelligence directing the mass to where the next big thing is, without the mass actually knowing that they are the collective intelligence (see the paradox?!). Neat huh.

Be conscious of what you put in your mouth a'ight?

About a year back, I questioned if we're depleting our protein source faster than we can say fish. Because of our disgustingly huge appetite for all things natural and swimming, our grandchildren may really think all fishes look like Nemo in decades down the road. Here's a snippet of a really interesting article which I'd like to share. Originally published in TimeOut KL, July issue: All you can't eat, pg 30.

***

“Eating a bluefin tuna is like eating a rhino,” claims WWF Hong Kong conservation director Dr Andy Cornish. Extreme as this might sound, the comparison is accurate. The world’s relentless demand for seafood has pushed many fish to the verge of extinction.

Humans rely on seafood as a source of nutrition and as a livelihood. According to London-based international charity the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), established by the WWF and Unilever in 1997, the diets of 2.6 billion people depend on fish as a source of animal protein. They estimate that 52 per cent of fish stocks are ‘fully exploited’, which means they are being fished at their ‘maximum biological capacity’.

Human consumption of fish has risen from 93.6 million tonnes in 1998 to 100.7 million tonnes in 2002. The MSC doesn’t want people to stop eating fish. Instead, it wants people to ensure consumers source their seafood from a well-managed fishery, which in turn guartantees a future for the industry and all those who depend on it for their livelihood. Shoppers who want to minimise the environmental and social consequences of eating fish should look out for MSC-certified products, which display a distinctive blue fish on the packaging.

Nevertheless, there are other ways to reduce your impact on the the world’s fish supplies. A few years back, WWF survey released a pocket-sized guide (visit http://www.wwf.org.hk/ to download it for free) that categorises 60 types of fish according to their sustainability. Alaskan Pacific salmon, North American black cod and Western Australian rock lobster (which are also availale MSC certified) are fine for consumption because they are not over fished. But shoppers should steer clear of Chinese shrimp, Hong Kong grouper and orange roughy (which share the endangered list with the bluefin tuna).

But with so little MSC-certified fish in our supermarkets, and even fewer restaurants serving it, the onus still lies with the consumer. But experts believe that even though change must come from the consumer, it is also the restaurant’s job to make sustainable food appealing and to supply their customers with information about the source of their seafood.

It is recently discovered that people are slowly becoming more proactive. In Hong Kong for example, it’s the younger Chinese generations that place around 60 per cent of the orders for MSC fish. Similarly in KL, with more youngsters refusing to consume shark’s fin, it’s a matter of time before we move our environmental consciousness up another notch.

***

(Bold mine)

Statistic from: http://www.dof.gov.my/

Also just to give you a clearer picture of where your fishes are coming from if you're living in Malaysia. Just remember, aquaculture good. Overfishing bad. We're not saying you should stop eating. But hey, keep your knack for exotic endeavours somewhere else perhaps?

Sparks and The Green Buddies support responsible seafood consumption.