Avian flu infects “Twelve Days” prices
The gifts from the “Twelve Days of Christmas” will cost your true love more this year, thanks to higher energy prices and the threat of avian flu.
The cost of paying for every gift and service from the holiday carol, from a partridge in a pear tree to 12 drummers drumming, rose 6.1 percent this year to $18,348, according to the tongue-in-cheek Christmas Price Index released by PNC Advisors in Philadelphia.
The biggest year-over-year increases in the index were in obtaining six geese-a-laying, seven swans-a-swimming and five gold rings. Only one area remained steady and that’s wages, making it easier to pay for eight maids-a-milking, 10 lords-a-leaping, 11 pipers piping and 12 drummers drumming.
U.S. consumer prices in October rose at the slowest pace in four months, limited by cheaper gasoline and the biggest drop in the costs of goods such as computers and clothing since July 2004, according to Labor Department figures released Nov. 16.
Denver picayune on poinsettia scale
OK, Denver. Where’s your holiday spirit?
A new measure of holiday merriment shows that Denver businesses score low in spending on poinsettias to decorate their office spaces. The Poinsettia Meter, released last week by Initial Tropical Plants, ranked Denver as eighth in the nation based on spending on the festive holiday plant.
According to Initial, which provides interior plants for commercial clients, Denver businesses have purchased $36,217 worth of poinsettias from the company through the middle of last week. That’s up 10 percent from a year ago but far behind No. 1 Chicago, where businesses have plunked down $188,388 on Initial’s Poinsettias.
Houston followed with $124,355 and Washington, D.C., was third with $111,108.
Nationally, companies have purchased 170,525 poinsettias, up from 155,025 last year. Poinsettia spending nationally has reached $1.1 million at Initial, compared with $1 million a year ago.
“Podcast” makes dictionary’s download
Editors at the New Oxford American Dictionary have selected “podcast” as their word of the year.
The definition is “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal-audio player.” “Podcast” was a runner-up in last year’s judging, according to Erin McKean, editor in chief. “It really seems that there’s only so much music you can listen to, so people are turning to other content to fill those earphones,” she said.
The difference this year was that millions of portable devices have been sold and the awareness of podcasts has soared. “That’s what dictionaries do. They catalog words in popular use,” McKean added. It does not mean the editors think podcasts are a sure thing to be important or even popular five years from now, she cautioned.
Runners-up for the word of the year included “bird flu,” “persistent vegetative state” and “trans fat.” McKean said “podcast” will be added to an online version of the New Oxford American Dictionary early next year.
Currently, the dictionary is included in Apple Computer Inc.’s operating system, and can be downloaded to smart phones, BlackBerries and Palms.
’06 likely a Scroogish year for salary hikes
For U.S. workers, bigger salaries and better bonuses might be hard to come by next year.
According to a new survey, nearly two-thirds of the more than 1,400 chief financial officers surveyed said they do not expect to offer higher salaries in 2006 compared with this year. Even more, 67 percent of CFOs surveyed said bonuses would remain flat or decline.
The reason?
Rising health-care and energy costs are forcing many companies to rein in employee pay, according to Robert Half International, the staffing services firm that developed the survey.
Come to “Mountain,” help a nonprofit
Denver radio station “99.5 The Mountain” wants to give away $100,000 this holiday season – and it’s looking to its listeners for help.
Here’s how the program works:
Listeners first log on to the radio station’s website, www.995themountain.com, and join the station’s so-called “Mountain Community.”
Members then select one nonprofit from a list of 20 local charities. The list includes the Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation, the Denver Dumb Friends League and the Food Bank of the Rockies.
The station then donates $10 to the nonprofit of your choice.
As of Friday, the station had given away more than $50,000. The program ends Dec. 22.
“For those who have given to many causes this year, this is an opportunity to support over 20 local charities with our money,” said Dan Michaels, the station’s program director. “You can make a difference by simply registering with the Mountain Community.”
Frequent flyer could go out of this world
If you’re worried that your frequent-flier miles won’t get you anywhere that exciting, then Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic chairman Richard Branson is trying to get your attention.
Rack up enough miles with Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club, and you might be able to redeem a flight into space. There is a catch – it will take 2 million miles. Virgin Galactic is a company established by Branson’s Virgin Group to develop space tourism.
According to Branson, the first flight is expected in 2008. For the vast majority who likely won’t have 2 million miles, a trip would cost $200,000 but Virgin Galactic expects prices would fall over time.
