Showing results by author "iMinds" in All Categories

Learn about Murphy's Law with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Murphy's Law is a tongue-in-cheek and rather pessimistic adage of eight simple words: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The translation of these words into "Murphy's Law" was in honour of US aerospace engineer Edward Aloysius Murphy Junior.

It is increasingly in the media, but what exactly is culture jamming and how does it work? Culture jamming is a form of protest in which advertisements and other media messages are re-arranged or parodied in humorous or disturbing ways. The term covers a range of practices, including sabotaging billboards, spoofing well-known ads, and hoaxing the mainstream media.

Learn about Contracts for Difference with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Contracts for difference, or simply CFDs, are a type of derivative whereby two parties agree to exchange the difference between the current value of an underlying asset and its value upon expiry. The underlying assets can be very diverse, from equity to commodities, but share prices, exchange traded funds or market indices are most commonly used.

Learn about the World Bank with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. The World Bank is an international financial institution of the UN whose purpose is the alleviation of poverty through providing leveraged loans and technical assistance to the world’s poorest countries. The World Bank was created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944 with the primary role of financing the post-war reconstruction of European and Asian countries devastated in World War II.

Christmas trees and Christmas cards seem to be an essential part of the holiday season. So it may surprise you to know they are both relatively recent traditions in the United States and Britain!

Learn about the process of German Reunification with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Reunification in Germany was a slow process. The country was divided between the communist East and the capitalist West from the end of World War Two in 1945 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. To understand how momentous a step reunification in Germany was, it is necessary to go back to the start of the division in 1945.

Learn about the life and inventions of Thomas Edison with the iMindsJNR audio-learning series for younger minds. Imagine a world where you couldn't phone your friends, listen to music, or watch movies. This was the world before Thomas Edison's inventions. Edison is one of the greatest inventors in history. He was born in Ohio in 1847, the youngest of seven children. By the time he died in 1931, aged 84, the world had benefited from so many of his inventions that now make our lives easier and more enjoyable.

Learn about the history of Bank Notes with iMindsJNR audio learning series for younger minds. When you think of money, the first image that comes into your head is probably a bank note. We all know what they look like and how you can use them. Bank notes are such a large part of our lives that it is hard to imagine how the world would work without them. That's why it may surprise you to learn that the bank notes we know today are a relatively recent form of money.

Learn about the discovery of Atoms with iMindsJNR audio learning series for younger minds. How is your body similar to the chair you are sitting in? Both things are made up of atoms! In fact, almost everything in the entire universe is made up of atoms. They are the building blocks of matter.

Learn about the story behind the tradition of Thanksgiving with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. Thanksgiving is a North American festival. It commemorates the good fortune its founders encountered when they arrived in the New World. In Canada, Thanksgiving is held on the second Monday of October. In the United States of America, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.

We can all be smarter - keep learning every day with iMinds' Generalist ,Volume 6. A compilation of diverse topics across our 12 categories, in this volume you will learn about the history of the blues, the truth of the Spanish Inquisition, the phenomenon that is the Nazca Lines, the history of the Barbary Pirates, the story behind the concept of Murphy's Law, the science of REM Sleep, the mystery of the Dropa Stones, the amazing history of Route 66, the ins and outs of political lobbying, and more.

Learn about subprime lending with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Originally, the term subprime lending described any loan that charged less than the prime, or base, rate of interest. This definition, however, has changed over the last twenty years to mean quite the opposite. Now subprime refers not to the interest rate charged, but to the credit worthiness of the loan taker.

Learn about the history of the U.S. Civil War with the iMinds JNR audio-learning series for younger minds. A civil war is a war where the two opposing sides come from the same country. It is a war that occurs within a single nation. The U.S. Civil War was waged from 1861 to 1865 and was fought between the Northern states (making up the Union) and eleven Southern states (the Confederacy). A major cause of the U.S. Civil War was the North's condemnation of slavery.

Learn about arbitrage with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Arbitrage is defined as attempting to profit by exploiting price differences of identical or similar financial instruments between two or more markets. The difference between the two market prices is the profit or spread. The term is usually used to describe transaction involving financial instruments such as stock, bonds, commodities, currencies and derivatives.

Learn about Antitrust Laws with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Competition is an essential part of the free market. The competition between participants in the market promotes efficiency. This occurs as the supply of a product is improved to provide more attractive prices than a competitor can offer. Competition also drives innovation, as producers develop superior products and services to gain the favour of buyers.

Learn about Reverse Swaps with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. A reverse swap is a secondary swap agreement entered into by a party to an existing swap contract. The secondary swap will offset, or reverse, the position held in the original agreement. In other words, it is a new swap with the exact opposite terms to a pre-existing swap contract is made. A reverse swap can therefore simply be thought of as the undoing, without the cancellation, of a previous swap agreement.

Learn about the Chinese market with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. China’s market offers unprecedented opportunities. It contains a population of over 1.3 billion in the world’s second largest and strongest growing economy. Through trade liberalisation and the deregulation of its economy China has utilised its low cost labour advantage to dominate world trade in simple manufactured goods.

Learn about Food Security with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation defines Food Security as a state when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.

Learn about Peak Oil with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. Oil is put to use every day in vehicles, plains, agriculture and many other ways. Developed nations have been built on oil and are still very much reliant on this finite commodity. The vast changes to life brought about by the Industrial Revolution depended on oil as a power source. It is not unexpected then that many people find it difficult to admit the world is changing.

Learn about Mutual Funds with iMinds Money's insightful fast knowledge series. A mutual fund is an investment vehicle that allows a group of investors to pool their money, allowing a professional to collectively trade securities on their behalf in exchange for a small fee. The pooled funds are used to purchase a diverse range of assets and provide a return to the investor.