Xpat Magazine September, 2007
Most recent athletic feat undertaken by Taiwanese ultramarathon champion, Kevin Lin: Running 6,920 km across six countries, and the Sahara Desert, in 111 days
The average distance run per day: 62 km
Total number of Taiwanese to play Major League Baseball: 4
Number of Taiwanese MLB players, present and former, of aboriginal ancestry: 2 (Chin-Feng Chen and Chin-hui Tsao)
Number of the Taiwanese MLB players, present and former, from Tainan City and County: 3
Day of the year that the most collect calls are made: Father’s Day
Number of people killed by falling coconuts each year: approximately 150
Number of people killed by sharks each year: approximately 10
Reaction of some octopuses to extreme stress: Eating their own arms
Oldest defense secretary in the history of the United States: Donald Rumsfield
Youngest defense secretary in the history of the United States: Donald Rumsfield
Worst defense secretary in the history of the United States: take a wild guess
Which came first, the chicken or the egg: The egg, as concluded by a panel of scientific and philosophic experts last year
Name of the first company to offer genetically designed hypoallergenic (non-allergy inducing) kittens: Allerca Inc.
Cost per kitten: USD$3950
Product’s popularity: There’s currently a two-year backlog of unfilled orders
First-ever genetically modified pet sold: The GloFish®
Date GloFish® first entered the US market: December, 2003
Colors of GloFish®: Starfire Red™, Electric Green™ and Sunburst Orange™
Suggested retail price: USD$5
Factor by which the volume of land used to produce genetically modified crops increased between 1996 and 2005: 50 (from 4.2 million acres to 222 million acres)
Countries that saw the greatest increases: Brazil and India
Percentage of normal baby rats that die within three weeks of birth according to a recent Russian study: 6.8
Percentage of baby rats born to a mother fed a natural soy diet that died within three weeks of birth (same study): 9
Percentage of baby rats born to a mother who was fed a GM soybean diet that died within three weeks of birth (same study): 55.6
Percentage of soybeans grown in the United States in 2006 with GM traits: 89
Taiwan’s policy towards labeling GM foods: Products containing more than 5% GMO ingredients must be labeled as such. Products containing less can be labeled “Non-GMO”
Percentage of GMO ingredients that must be present for mandatory GMO labeling in the EU: 1
Percentage of GMO ingredients that must be present for mandatory GMO labeling in Japan: .1
Canada and the United States’ policies for mandatory labeling of GMO foods: nonexistent
Percentage of processed foods containing GM products in the United States according to the Grocery Manufacturers of America: 75
BEST GEAR DEALS ONLINE
