Arizona's star

Have you ever watched an Arizona basketball game? If you have then you know who Salim Stoudamire is. This kid is an amazing player who is going to blow up in the NBA next year. This McDonald's All-American guard from Oregon has had four amazing seasons at Arizona. Each year he has improved his scoring. He went from averaging 12.8 pts a game as a freshman to averaging 18.4 pts as a senior. Most players in college would consider it an honor to score 1,000 pts in their college career. Salim Stoudamire has scored 3849 pts in four years at Arizona, scoring over 1,000 in his first year there. These stats are very impressive. What impresses me most is that Stoudamire doesn't take a bunch of shots each game to gain his average. He is leading the entire nation in 3pt field goal percentage. He is shooting exactly 50% from 3pt. To give everyone an idea of how good that is - shooting 40% from 3pt range is considered to be excellent. Statistically, every two 3's he takes, one of them goes in. GIVE THAT MAN THE BALL!!!!!!
(http://sports-att.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=4969)

Dan Dickau

The Hornets, for some people, have had a disappointing season. Last year they finished 41-41, exactly at .500. This year they are 16-54 (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings). However, I am more proud of the way they have played this year than last year. Despite big injuries of key players, this year I see every person on the team hustling for loose balls even when the game is out of reach. Last year they had more talent and won more games but they didn't have as much heart. The leader of the team right now is a relatively new player in the league. He doesn't look like much, but he is a very solid, fundamental player. His name is Dan Dickau. At first glance, he looks like an unathletic clown who couldn't chew gum and walk at the same time. After seeing him play, the census definitely changes. The Hornets signed him this year for 3.2 million dollars over 4 years. The Hornets definitely spent their money well on this guy. In his first year playing more than 30 games he has averaged 12.7 pts, 4.5 assists, and only 2.1 turnovers a game (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?statsId=3625). I'm glad that the Hornets got rid of "superstar" Baron Davis. Baron Davis was always "hurt" and complaining of not wanting to be in New Orleans. Dan Dickau has proved to be a solid point guard for the Hornets and is a better fit for the Hornets than Baron Davis. Even though Baron Davis' stats are better, he lacks something that is more important - playing unselfish basketball with heart. Dickau has a lot of heart and he proves it every time he steps on the court.

Heart Disease

Heart disease is one of the major epidemics that is plagueing the population. For most Americans, the first detection of heart disease is sudden death. Cardio vascular disease is the number one killer in the United States. It was estimated that in 2002 alone, 16.7 million people around the world died of cardio vascular disease, that equals to about 1/3 of all of the total deaths globally. By the year 2020, heart disease and stroke will become the leading cause of death. The number is estimated to increase by more than 20 million. A large 60%of the burdon of heart disease will occur in developing countries. It is costing our economy millions of dollars per year in hospital and insurance fee's. The average rate of hospital charges in the United States for: CVD:2190000; coronary heart disease: 629000; stroke : 356000. CVD was nearly 60% of the total mortality rate. Heart disease is not targeted towards any specific person. Everyone is at risk from the silent killer, heart disease.

"The nose always knows"

For years, dog owners have been informing their doctors about the apparent disease-detecting ability of their pets, and today those claims gain some credibility with the release of the first ever peer-reviewed scientific study showing that dogs can smell cancer. In the study, three cocker spaniels, one papillon, one Labrador, and one mongrel were trained for seven months to discriminate between urine from patients with bladder cancer and urine from healthy and otherwise-diseased patients. Whenever the dogs smelled cancer, they were taught to lie down in front of the sample. Each dog underwent nine trials, which consisted of six control samples and one positive urine sample. Some of the samples contained dried urine. The chances of a dog sniffing out a diseased sample were predicted to be correct 1 out of 7 times (14%), but actual research statistics showed they were correct 22 out of 54 times (or 41%). That's amazing. Dogs are more useful to their owners than we thought. One of the leaders advises dog owners to "pay attention if their pets exhibit unusual sniffing behavior related to a possible health issue, such as a skin mole." So three cheers for man's best friend!

Most of this information comes directly from http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040920/dogcancer.html.

computer games

Did you know that the revenue from computer games exceeds that of the Hollywood box office? The Bureau of labor says that the growth of software publishing will be of 67.9% from 2002 to 2012! The average salary of video game designers is between 35,000 and 75,000 and with every house having more than one computer, video game consoles, mobile phones there is even greater opportunities for a video game designer.

Major Religions in the United States

As I was studiyng the different religions in my world religions class it came to my mind which of the most famous religions that most of us know and have studied is the most predominant in the United States. So, I thought it was Roman Catholic since it is the largest Christian Church in the world followed by Protestants that have the big percents of the boards. It came to my surprise that is wasn't Roman Catholic the number one, but the Protestant that occupy a 54% of the civilization in the USA, followed by thre Roman Catholics with 25% percent. Even though I guessed that those two were the religions most practiced, it still surpised me that their respective percents weren't as high as I expected. Following these two religions goes the non religious faith, or people that don't share any beleif for any religion, with 10%, and then the Eastern Orthodox (3%), Mormon (2%), Jewish (2-3%), Muslims (2%), and a .3% and 5% for each Buddhist, Hindu, and Unitarian Unversalist. If any of you would like to know more information on the percentages or of any particular religion go to <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States#Religion>, where you will find links to decriptions and information on each religion. Furthermore if you would like to see a visual of the distribution in the United States of the population that claim to participate or be adherents to any of the 149 major religious groups in the world got to <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:US-religion.jpg>.

Surprising stats about teens

In the next 24 hours, 1,439 teens will attempt suicide, 15,006 teens will use drugs for the first time, and 2,795 teenage girls will become pregnant. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds. Every four minutes, a teen is arrested for an alcohol related crime and every seven minutes, a drug related one. In the next 24 hours, around 3,000 teens will run away. Every two hours, a teen is murdered. I believe that the family unit is what provides a solid structure in the raising of a child. There may be a strong correlation between these "troubled" teens and the lack of family unity. What do you think?




http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/familylife/a/statistics.htm

Church and state

The United States has an interesting way of separating church and state. Most cases the US execute a “civil religion” rather than a black and white view of what is church and what is state. In a survey conducted by FOX news, 77% of the polled believe the 10 commandments should be displayed on government property. This is clearly a blending of religion and politics, but Americans don’t seem to mind.

Our current president is known for framing his presidency around “value based voters” and his personal values. He has made it no secret that he is looking to overturn Row v. Wade based on personal moral decisions. You would think Americans would find this offensive, since it is impeding on their personal believes. However, 60% of registered voters (also by Fox news) say Bush talks about God and religion just enough, or not enough at all!

Surprising.

http://www.pollingreport.com/religion.htm

car accidents

Car crashes are a major killer in the United States. In 2000, there were an estimated 6,356,000 car accidents in the U.S. There were around 3.2 million injuries and 41,821 people killed in accidents. When restraints were used, there were only 11,127 people killed as opposed to 33,551 when restraints were not used. 508,000 of these crashes were alcohol related.


http://www.car-accidents.com/pages/stats.html

Soda and Cancer

I'm sure everyone has heard that drinking soda raises the risk of getting cancer. But, in a recent study conducted by a team from Tata Memorial Hospital in India, the consumption of carbonated drinks in the U.S. has increased from 10.8 gallons in 1946 to 49.2 gallons per person in 2000. For American men, the rise in esophageal cancer has risen along with the rise in consumption of carbonated soft drinks by 570%. Although this study is not complete, the strong correlation between drinking carbonated drinks and esophageal cancer may have a biological explanation. According to the research team, carbonated soft drinks cause the stomach to distend, which causes the gastric reflux associated with esophageal cancer.

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/403988%7Ctop%7C05-17-2004::20:04%7Creuters.html

Plus/Minus Stats in the NBA

A new measure of performance, previously used only in the NHL, is starting to gain ground in the NBA. As sports fans--and sports executives--consistently look for improved ways to gauge a players impact, the plus/minus measurement has gained ground and provided unprecedented insights for professional basketball enthusiasts. By adding all the points the team scores when a player is on the court, and subtracting all the points the team allows when he is on the court, the plus/minus tool has yielded powerful import. If we find the difference between the latter from the former, and you end up with how many points better or worse (i.e., plus or minus) the team fares when that player is in the game.
This rating system shows how some big name players are truly effective for their teams and how other big name players actually seem to hurt their team when they're on the court. Dirk Nowitzki has an 8.8 positive gain for his team when he's on the court and -9.7 effect when he's off. Thus, by finding the difference between the two, we can see that Nowitzki contributes on average 18.5 points to the Dallas Mavericks when he plays. Bonzi Wells, on the other hand, is the hotshot of the Memphis Grizzlies yet when put to the plus/minus test actually appears to be a detriment. His team scores -.8 points when he's on the court and +5.0 when he's off, thus hurting the Grizzlies by 5.8 points in total.
This new statistic may start influencing NBA GM's decisions in the future. Poor Bonzi!

http://www.82games.com/peronoff0405.htm

mmm... poker!

Online poker. I personally think the whole idea is ridiculous. Americans are becoming irreversibly anti-social, and playing a social game online seems to defeat the purpose. No matter what I think, 2 million Americans last month alone disagree with my distaste for the activity. Why is poker in cyber space becoming so popular? According to an article from msn money (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P112493.asp?GT1=6305) televised poker tournaments is fueling the online passion. The article reports that “an estimated 1.88 million people played online in February 2005 -- a 264% increase from a year earlier”.

The Internet also allows a type of convenience poker players never had before. Now instead of getting in a car and driving to your friend’s house/ casino, you can just roll off your bed to the computer! Fabulous!

It’s not just the United States getting swept up in this online poker insanity, but those Brits too! “The UK poker industry has grown from an initial $100,000 per day in January 2002 to between $2 million and $2.5 million. According to PokerPulse.com statistics, online poker industry has more than tripled in the past year unlike other online gaming activities showing weak growth”.

Place your bets!

Cigarette Smoking, Migrane Sufferers Beware

Do you fit the aforementioned despcription? Do you also experience "auras," i.e. temporary visual disturbances, with your migranes? If you do, you are at two times the risk of developing heart disease than someone who does not fit this description. The Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences discovered that their 620 migrane sufferers (31% of which experience auras) are more likely to have risk factors for heart disease. This often includes a cigarette habit, family history of stroke/heart attack, and/or high cholesterol/blood pressure. In an effort to reduce heart disease, let's kick the habit and work on the factors that are in our control such as cholesterol and blood pressure. Yes, put down that Big Mac and your Camel Lights. Opt for whole grains and some cardio, and let's reduce these statistics.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7019644/site/newsweek/

US ready for woman president?

Is the United States ready for a woman president? Statistics fall all across the board on this question, depending on whom you ask. According to a release by the Siena Research Institute (http://www.siena.edu/sri/FirstWomanPresident/FWP_release_final_sans.pdf ), 62% of the 1,125 registered voters polled believe 2008 should present a woman candidate. According to the same survey, 67% of voters believe a woman president would handle domestic issues better than a male president.

As would be expected, the Democratic Party is overwhelmingly more supportive of a female president (still according to the Siena survey). 60 % of the voters expect to see a woman on the Democratic ticket and only 18% expect a woman Republican candidate. The two most talked about names are Hilary Clinton (D) and Condoleezza Rice(R).

But lets take a look at another set of data. According to a poll conducted by Fox News, a fairly conservative organization, 56% of polled voters say they want a woman in office. This number is up five percent over the last 7 years. So slowly, but surely, America is preparing for a woman commander in chief. However from the same Fox News survey, only 48% of republicans say they would vote for a female candidate versus the democratic 76% (http://www.pollingreport.com/politics.htm#President).

These sets of data are fairly congruent. However, take a look at a survey done by ABC news done in 1999. (http://www.pollingreport.com/politics.htm#President) It suggests that 91% of voters would vote for a woman president. Has our want for a woman president really declined? I would say that voters were looking to sound politically correct because the second part of the data confirms what FOX and Siena suggested with 48% of voters saying they are ready for a woman president.

I guess we’ll just have to wait for the nominations and see what happens!

College Campus Blues

Parents of children away at college definitely do not need anything else to worry about, however, that does not mean that they won't get something. A new study shows that a growing number of students are reporting or exhibiting symptoms of mental illness. This number could be attributed to increased stress levels due to admissions/academics, or simply because universities are being forced (because of litigation regarding suicides and the like) to pay more attention to the mental health of their students. It is estimated that more than 1100 college students commit suicide each year. In the 2003-2004 school year at NYU, four students fell to their deaths off of the roofs of buildings. As alarming as that is, the problem is also more subtle. It is reported that thirty percent of students believe that they are suffering for anxiety disorder or depression. Also, 40% of students reported feeling so depressed that it made it diffucult to function at least once a year. Something has to be done about the enormous amount of pressure that is put on college students. Every year, students are expected to be able to handle more and more work and meet more and more deadlines. While I am by no means encouraging complacency, I think that students should not ever feel so overwhelmed by school that it makes it difficult to function. If a student cannot function, how can they learn and effectively live up to their potential--that is still the goal of college, correct?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5626585/site/newsweek/

College Campus Blues

Parents of children away at college definitely do not need anything else to worry about, however, that does not mean that they won't get something. A new study shows that a growing number of students are reporting or exhibiting symptoms of mental illness. This number could be attributed to increased stress levels due to admissions/academics, or simply because universities are being forced (because of litigation regarding suicides and the like) to pay more attention to the mental health of their students. It is estimated that more than 1100 college students commit suicide each year. In the 2003-2004 school year at NYU, four students fell to their deaths off of the roofs of buildings. As alarming as that is, the problem is also more subtle. It is reported that thirty percent of students believe that they are suffering for anxiety disorder or depression. Also, 40% of students reported feeling so depressed that it made it diffucult to function at least once a year. Something has to be done about the enormous amount of pressure that is put on college students. Every year, students are expected to be able to handle more and more work and meet more and more deadlines. While I am by no means encouraging complacency, I think that students should not ever feel so overwhelmed by school that it makes it difficult to function. If a student cannot function, how can they learn and effectively live up to their potential--that is still the goal of college, correct?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5626585/site/newsweek/

Teens abusing inhalants

For years, parents have only worried about drugs and alcohols. But statistics have shown that the overall drug uses have decreases in this country. It has shown that almost 23 million people have abused inhalants in their lifetimes. Inhalants are substances that could be found anywhere we go. Products such as hair spray and cleaning fluids could often be found in any household. Due to the fact that these products are so easy for the adolescent and teenagers to get their hands on, it is easier for them to use it. In the statistics in 2002, more than 833,000 aged 12-17 have sniffed for the first time. In 2003, 1.1 million of the 2 million that said they sniffed inhalants were from the aged 12 - 17. The increases in from the statistic show that adults are too concern about alcohol and drug uses, that they forgot to educated their teens about inhalants. Inhalants could cause brain and neural damages, as well as, many other side effects.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/03/22/drugs.inhalants.reut/index.html

Teens abusing inhalants

For years, parents have only worried about drugs and alcohols. But statistics have shown that the overall drug uses have decreases in this country. It has shown that almost 23 million people have abused inhalants in their lifetimes. Inhalants are substances that could be found anywhere we go. Products such as hair spray and cleaning fluids could often be found in any household. Due to the fact that these products are so easy for the adolescent and teenagers to get their hands on, it is easier for them to use it. In the statistics in 2002, more than 833,000 aged 12-17 have sniffed for the first time. In 2003, 1.1 million of the 2 million that said they sniffed inhalants were from the aged 12 - 17. The increases in from the statistic show that adults are too concern about alcohol and drug uses, that they forgot to educated their teens about inhalants. Inhalants could cause brain and neural damages, as well as, many other side effects.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/03/22/drugs.inhalants.reut/index.html

Reasons for Private Accounts

There is much opposition to President Bush's idea for privitization of the Social Security system, but here are some of the reasons and numbers to why. Many people say that it is too risky for individuals to be diverting payroll taxes into investments in the stock market. With a steadily growing economy the stock market can provide greater returns than the present social security system does. For retirement purposes, year-to-year market fluctuations are irrelevant compared with the long-term trends over the 40 or more years of a person's working lifetime. And there is no 40-year period in history in which an investor would have come close to losing money in the stock market. In fact, the worst 20-year period in U.S. history, encompassing the 1929 crash and the Great Depression, produced a return of more than 3 percent after inflation. The average 20-year real return has been around 7 percent. The program will begin running deficits in 15 years and will be more than $22 trillion in debt over the next 75 years. Unless payroll taxes are raised, benefits will have to be slashed by a third.

Children with Parent Substance Abuse

In recent reports, it stated that about 50% of all U.S. children come from homes of parent who are alcoholics, smokers, and drug users. It shows that children of substance abusers are more likely will become one themselves. Statistics have shown that these adults are three times more likely to abuse their children and four times more likely to neglect them than parents who do not abuse alcohol or drugs or use tobacco. About 35.6 million U.S. children live in a home where a parent or other adult uses tobacco, drinks heavily or uses illicit drugs. About 37% of U.S. children live with an adult who smoke tobacco, 24% with a binge or heavy drinker and 12.7% in a household where a parent or other adult uses illicit drugs. As you may see, the large portion of the children in the U.S. is indirectly influenced into using drug and drink due to poor parenting. Parents who are substance abusers give bad examples to their children when they are supposed to be role-model. It just a shame how some of these children could make a better life of themselves if they weren’t exposes to these substances at a young age.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1437&e=10&u=/nm/20050329/hl_nm/health_parents_dc&sid=95864961

Teens Steroids

Steroids are synthetic substances similar to the male sex hormone testosterone. They do have legitimate medical uses to help people who don't produce enough testosterone on their own. Yet, teens today have a different use of it. As you may have already known, social appearances have always been a main thing when a person is in their teens. Teens today use steroids to help them build muscles and have a better fitness. Yet, without a prescription from a doctor, steroids are illegal. In the 2002 NIDA-funded study, it had measured about 2.5% of 8th graders tried steroids; only 3.5% of 10th graders; and 4% of 12th graders. Yet, most of these teens don’t know that steroid cause side-effects such as baldness and causes the livers to grow tumors and hearts to clog up.


http://teens.drugabuse.gov/facts/facts_ster1.asp

Oil prices begin to fall

With crude oil inventories above normal the price of light sweet crude continues to fall. Oil fell $ .24 cents today to close at $53.99 per barrel. This is over three dollars off of its high of 57.60 which was reached on March 17. Petroleum supply grew by 5.4 million barrels last week up 9.9% from a year ago. OPEC agreed to increase supply earlier this month by half amillion barrels a day, and they reported that they could increse production by another 500,000 barrels a day if necessary, that is the reason why oil prices are coming down. The average price of gasoline across the country is $2.15 that is up $.40 from this time last year. The need for oil is forecasted to increase 2.2% this year to 84.3 million barrels a day, but if OPEC can keep up with demand and refineries are at maximum output oil prices may come down even more.

Shark Attack

Ever since the famous Spielberg movie, many people have developed a deep seeded fear of the sea. Due to negative media attention sharks receive, these animals are viewed as dangerous menaces of the ocean, instead as the amazing creatures they are. New crappie movies such "Spring Break Shark Attacks" (as seen on Professor Topoloski's website) and "Open Water" have caused me to question the legitimacy of my shark fears. It turns out that since 1670 till present, there have been only 754 shark attacks in the United States. With all the hundreds of millions of people that have ventured into the water through out that time, the amount of attacks is relatively small. According to calculations performed by smartpaperz.com, you have a 1 in 300,000,000 chance of getting attacked by a shark. You have a better chance winning the lottery or getting hit by lightning. And even by chance you do get attacked by a shark there is only about a 7 percent chance of dyeing from it. But divers and surfers beware because they make up 84 percent of all shark attacks. With these statistics it is easy to see that shark attacks are not as prevalent as the media makes them seem, but I do not care because they still scare me.

Plastic surgery data vs. public misconception

Some of the information included in a recent MTV broadcast about plastic surgery seemed rather skewed and warranted my further investigation. Reality television has had a special fascination with plastic surgery and the trends it follows for some time now and while MTV did not provide any of its data or any resources from which they took it, I believe a more accurate picture can be formulated from information made available through The American Society of Plastic Surgeons. They offer a wide array of statistical data tables which I found to be helpful in sizing up the situation for myself. These can be found here: http://www.plasticsurgery.org/public_education/2004Statistics.cfm
The table I used for this post is found here:
http://www.plasticsurgery.org/public_education/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=16158
While pundits may claim that plastic surgery is a case of vanity run amok in our society they should be dissuaded from this outlook. The procedures are divided into three main categories which are: cosmetic surgical procedures, cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures, and reconstructive surgical procedures. These cosmetic surgical procedures which include breast augmentation and buttock lifts are the best known but also make up the smallest portion of the total procedures (only 1,740,236 out of the total 14,785,814 in 2004). This coupled with the fact that their frequency has decreased from the year 2000 figures by 8% shows me that this is not a problem of epic proportions.
Significantly more important to the figures are the numbers of cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures which include the popular Botox treatments and chemical peels. There were 7,470,391 procedures of this type done. This number is significantly buoyed by the popularity of Botox which amounts to nearly three million of the 7,470,391 total. Botox itself is an interesting case because it requires reapplication every few months. A relatively low number of people could easily provide a large number of Botox numbers which means the actual number of patients could be much smaller. The problem arising here for MTV’s statements is that these treatments along with many in the category are not marketed towards the audience watching MTV’s shows. Wrinkle reducing bacteria does not interest the author in the slightest, whereas the positive therapeutic uses of it do. Botox is now used to help those with juvenile cerebral palsy, recovering from strokes, and muscle spasms. These uses do not support suggestions of purely narcissistic application.
For my info on Botox see:
http://www.botoxfacts.ca/
The last category which encompasses reconstructive surgical procedures is nearly as large as the minimally-invasive and far outweighs the number of purely cosmetic procedures. These can be animal bite repairs, birth defect reconstruction, or care for burns. Tumor removal is the primary focus of these reconstruction surgeries (4,084,651 of the total 5,575,187) and can easily skew the figures.
The tables provide an impressive amount of data for comparison. I think it is important to change focus and point out that while there is a 9% increase from 2000 the year to year increases are significantly smaller and even decrease from 2003 to 2004.

Is your job killing you?

Thinking about calling in "sick" to work today? Your job could potentially have adverse effects on your health. Over 30% of the respondents in the "Overwork in America" poll reported that they felt overworked on a regular basis. More than half of the people polled reported that they felt that they were overwhelmed by the amount of work assigned to them at some time in the past month. Nine out of ten people claim to not have enough time to get their work done. This has resulted in declining leisure time for America's workforce. In the age of technology, which allows the portability of work, and multi-tasking, which most Americans do without thinking, the workforce is working harder and more often than ever. While this might sound like good news for our GDP, it can result in high levels of stress in workers. The "overworked"-force even displays symptoms of depression, decreased productivity (due to mistakes made), as well as resentment toward their co-workers and/or employer. Not one of these conditions makes for a happy workplace.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7184214/site/newsweek/

Some stats about guns in the US

I support the possession of guns in a household, but at the same time am aware of some of the negative consequences, so here are some facts that I decided to research on guns in America. On the positive side, a study has proven that guns clearly deter criminals from burglarizing someone's home. The U.S. is prone to have more guns than some areas such as Britain. The burglary rate in the U.S. is under 13%, while in Britain it is 45%. In the U.S., a victim is attacked or threatened 30% of the time during a burglary.
Another showed how people who committed crimes with their gun obtained it. 2% bought their gun from a flea market, 12% purchased it from a retail store, and 80% obtained the weapon illegally. I believe that this shows us that if a criminal wants a gun, many gun control laws will not stop them from getting one.
On the negative side, many people aren't responsible enough to own a gun. 40% of American households with children have guns. In 30% of the households, the gun was stored unlocked and loaded. A gun is 43 times more likely to kill an innocent person than a criminal. I believe that this shows people should be more careful with guns, and when used properly, can be very effective in defending innocent people.

http://www.getunloaded.org/statistics.htm

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/guns.htm

http://www.guncite.com/

The Effects of Grief

The loss of a child is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a person. A recent study conducted by the Danish Epidemiology Science Center has shown that there is a definite relation between mental illness and parent bereavement. "This is a very important study, because bereavement traditionally has been way underrecognized and undertreated in medicine and psychiatry," said Dr. M. Katherine Shear, director of the Bereavement and Grief Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The study was led by Dr. Jiong Li who, along with a team of doctors, analyzed the medical records of more than a million people who had at least one child born before 1999. A total of approximately 17,000 parents in the database had lost a child under 18, and 495 of them were hospitalized for psychiatric problems for the first time in the five years afterward. In the year after the death, bereaved mothers were almost seven times as likely as their non-grieving peers to be hospitalized for a mood disorder, like depression; about four times as likely to be admitted for schizophrenia; and nearly three times as likely to be admitted for abusing drugs and alcohol. Bereaved fathers were at lower risk than bereaved mothers during this first year, but were still nearly six times as likely as fathers who weren't grieving to be admitted for a mood disorder like depression, and more than twice as likely for schizophrenia. With time, the difference in risk between the bereaved parents and their peers narrowed significantly, but after five years the bereaved group still had a higher rate of being hospitalized for psychiatric problems - about 40 percent higher in fathers, nearly 80 percent in mothers. Also, parents who had lost an only child were at higher risk than those who had larger families. *

I have never personally experience the loss of a child who was near to me. Still I can understand how it can very painful. I sympathize with the parents who have suffered such a great loss because I know how it feels for people to ignore your feelings because they think you should have been done grieving already. So my heart goes out.

*most of this come directly from the article http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/health/24child.html.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders, like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating, are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout western countries. According to US estimates from The National Institute of Mental Health, between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of girls and women (i.e. 5-10 million people) and 1 million boys and men suffer from eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or other associated dietary conditions. Estimates suggest that as many as 15 percent of young women adopt unhealthy attitudes and behaviors about food.
Additional Stats:
An estimated 10 per cent of female college students suffer from a clinical or sub-clinical (borderline) eating disorder, of which over half suffer from bulimia nervosa.
An estimated 1 in 100 American women binges and purges to lose weight.
Approximately 5 per cent of women and 1 percent of men have anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder.
15 per cent of young women have significantly disordered eating attitudes and behavior.
It is estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 Canadian women aged 13 to 40 have anorexia nervosa and twice as many have bulimia.
Studies suggest that 5 to 10 percent of people with anorexia or bulimia are males.
An estimated 1 in 3 of all dieters develop compulsive dieting attitudes and behaviors.Of these, one quarter will develop full or partial eating disorders.
http://www.annecollins.com/eating-disorders/statistics.htm

Food Poisoning

An estimated 76 million cases of foodborne disease occur each year in the United States. The great majority of these cases are mild and cause symptoms for only a day or two. Some cases are more serious, and CDC estimates that there are 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths related to foodborne diseases each year. The most severe cases tend to occur in the very old, the very young, those who have an illness already that reduces their immune system function, and in healthy people exposed to a very high dose of an organism. Harmful bacteria are the most common causes of foodborne illnesses. Some bacteria may be present on foods when you purchase them. Raw foods are not sterile. Raw meat and poultry may become contaminated during slaughter. Seafood may become contaminated during harvest or through processing. One in 20,000 eggs may be contaminated with Salmonella inside the egg shell. Produce such as lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, and melons can become contaminated with Salmonella, Shigella, or Escherichia coli. Contamination can occur during growing, harvesting, processing, storing, shipping, or final preparation.
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/f/food_poisoning/prevalence.htm

Drunk Driving

Alcohol is a large cause of car accidents. There is an alcohol-related traffic fatality every 30 minutes, and an alcohol-related traffic injury every 2 minutes. Alcohol-related crashes are defined as those where someone involved, either a driver or a pedestrian or another nonoccupant, had a traceable amount of alcohol in his or her blood. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 17,401 people died in alcohol-related crashes in 2003 and alcohol was involved in 40 percent of all crash fatalities. About 1.5 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics in 2002. The arrest rate works out to one arrest for every 137 licensed drivers in the United States.Antidrunk driving campaigns especially target drivers under the age of 21, repeat offenders, and 21 to 34 year olds, the age group that is responsible for more alcohol-related fatal crashes than any other. Young drivers are the ones that are the least responsive to arguments against drunk driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.To make sellers and servers of liquor more careful about to whom and how they serve drinks, 43 states and the District of Columbia hold liquor servers legally liable for the damage a drunk driver causes. http://www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/drunk/ Also, 21-34 Year old drinking drivers comprise approximately half of all the drunk drivers involved in alcohol-related fatal crashes, and have the highest blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) in fatal crashes. (NCADD) Approximately 79 percent of legally drunk drivers have BACs greater than .15 and 52 percent exceed .20. Drivers with BACs over .15 are more than 200 times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than non-drinking drivers, and those with BACs over .20 are 460 times more likely.These hard core drunk drivers account for only one percent of all drivers on the road at night and on weekends, while representing nearly half of all fatal crashes at that time. http://www.usd394.com/rhhs/sadd.shtml

Childrens Well Being Improving

According to a Washington report found at www.cnn.com children are doing better then their parents in allot of areas. For instance they are using fewer drugs, committing fewer crimes and having fewer babies. A resent survey by the Child Well Being Index found many decreases in At Risk Behavior among kids. For example teen birth rate has dropped from 20 births per 1000 girls in 1992 to an estimate 10.9 births per 1000 girls in 2004. Binge drinking was also found to have decreased among high school seniors from 36.9% in 1975 to 29.2% in 2004 (keep in mind the drinking age changed between then). Also the number of youths ages 12-17 who were victim to a crime dropped from 120 per 1000 children in 1994 to 45 per 1000 children of the same age group in 2004. This decrease in At Risk Behavior has been attributed to a better economy and parents who grew up in the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s around or who used drugs and are keeping a closer eye on their kids. Although these changes are great not all is good. The CWBI also reported childhood obesity had tripled from 1975. Achievement test scores are at an all time low and the number of teens who live in a single parent household has increased by 27.5% from the 1980’s.

Junk Food Ban

Oregon schools district is joining the ranks of at least 27 other states in banning junk food in school cafeterias. This action is being taking under the assumption of some super intendments who feel that children will not live as long as their parents because of the diseases associated with obesity and the rapid growing number of children who are considered obese. Oregon is working to pass to major bills reports www.cnn.com . One of which will ban junk food from vending machines and all food FDA labeled as having minimal nutritious value. The other which will implement a stronger Physical Education program. Although these bills have met little opposition some school boards argue that there budget is 30% dependent on junk food revenue from vending machines.

Fat Football Players

We all know that in the NFL size matters. The bigger the player the better, but according to a recent survey, there might be too many big players in the NFL. A recent article in Sports illustrated noted that nearly 56 percent of professional football players in the NFL are considered obese. The standards for obesity used in this survey is based on the body-mass index, a measurement that calculates the ratio between height and mass. NFL players are upset with this recent statistic because the body-mass index does not distinguish between muscle and fat. Most NFL players weigh as much as they do because of the amount of muscle they possesses. One such example is Former NFL superstar Ricky Williams. Williams is a relatively short man at 5' 10'', yet ways nearly 250 pounds. According to the body-mass index, Williams is more than 80 pounds over weight, making him obese. What the body-mass index fails to realize is that a man like this has about a 95 percent muscle mass and is as cut and in shape as can be. This is just another example of how sometimes statistics can be manipulated and/or incorrect

Catholic School Enrollment

According to a March 30, 2005 report from Philadelphia on www.cnn.com Catholic school enrollment has dropped … again. According to the NCEA (National Catholic Education Association) enrollment has dropped from 2.6 million students in 2000 to 2.4 million in 2004-05. They have also assessed that the national enrollment has dropped 2.6 percent from the 2003-04 school year to the 2004-05 school year. 173 schools have been closed or consolidated while only 37 new schools have been opened across the United States. Costs are believed to be the incremental factor in the decrease in enrollment not the recent clergy scandal. There has been over a 37 percent increase in the cost of Catholic education with little help from out side benefactors. Among the cities most rapidly closing Catholic schools are Chicago, Boston, Brooklyn, and St. Lewis. Among those opening schools are Atlanta, Minneapolis and Austin. Support from groups such as the Business Leadership Organization for Catholic Schools, who raised over 5 million dollars for Philadelphia schools has been instrumental in keeping Catholic schools open.

Dont tip the SUV

This web page does not give any realevant stats, it is as if the just pulled nubers from the sky, and the safty ratings for SUVs that might tip over, constantly change, i think it does a diservice to many car companies when there SUVs get panned for safty, when the web page does not tell where they get the info. from. Landrover Discovery was ranked highest safty rating from this page, but now it is in 3rd place to the saturn Vue. Last week the Saturn Vue was ranked last due to a defective axil, that caused the SUV to flip over if you take a turn that exceeds 40 MPH.http://www.esuvee.com/flash.html

Text the new way to use the cell phone

This artical talks about how yourger people are getting more cell phones, and we a nation are starting to become a cell phone nation. children as young as 11 and 12 are using the cell phone as the main phone in there house today.
Our age group (18-21) use our cell phone for 90 of our communication. Teenagers right now are "the sweet spot," says Burris of Sprint. An estimated 76% of kids ages 15 to 19 and 90% of people in their early 20s regularly use their cell phones for text messaging, ringtones and games, and that enthusiasm has turned wireless data services into a significant business. Gartner Research tion.
these stats are very awkward because most cell companys charge extra for text messaging, yet all these people in the poll claim that their monthly cell phone bill is between 60 and 70 dollars.http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1042443-2,00.html

Cancer in Men

This artical tells about the growwing problem of prostate cancer in the baby boomer generation.
According to the artical, one in six men will develope prostate cancer, and these numbers did not tell how many people were polled and in which region of the country. They also estimated that 30000 men will die this year alone, but in the next 2 to 3 years the death toll per year will jump from 30000 to 50000 and even 60000 a year. Out of the 1 out of 6 these numbers dont seem to make sence of the yearly death toll given that the baby boomer generation far exceeds the stats givenhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7325063/site/newsweek/

TEEN SEX!

Everyone these days are talking about sex like it is an unimportant matter. Teen sex today is very different from how it is back then. Statistics shows that in the United States 7 in 10 women admit they had sex before the age of 14. Fourteen? Come on now, at that age I admit of thinking about sex but I would never try anything at least until I was sixteen. Teen’s sex has increased over the years and should be stopped somehow. Many teens are careless and do not think of the consequences. Nearly one million of teens are impregnated under the age of 20 every year. This is a serious matter, so teens, no sex please!http://www.soundvision.com/Info/teens/stat.asp

Murder In the N.O.

Murder in New Orleans is an ongoing crime that decreased by a slim margin in 1999 and the year 2000. The total index of crimes committed in 1999 is 35762, which is absolutely one of the highest ratings in the United States. In 2000, the total index of crimes committed is 33824. Even though it has decreased a little, 33824 are still a high number. Murder, rape, arm robbery, simple robbery, assault, burglary, theft and auto theft are crimes included in the total index. With the crime rate so high, people should think twice about going outside with a bulletproof vest on. http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx?portal=50&tabid=16

AVALANCHE!!!!

Hurricanes, tornadoes, and avalanches are mother natures’ most deadly disasters. Avalanches have decrease dramatically over the years. Avalanches have contributed close to 200 deaths. Statistics show that Asia has the highest number of avalanches recorded with 109. Next in line would be the United States, with 33 avalanches ever recorded. Europe falls right under the United States with 31 avalanches that was recorded. Latin America, Australia, Russia, and the Middle East have fewer than ten avalanches that have been recorded. Most of these tragic deaths happen when victims are at home or in their village. 25 deaths have been recorded due to an avalanche while skiing. Avalanches are one of Mother Nature’s deadliest threats!http://www.ifyouski.com/avalanche/nivologie/

AVALANCHE!!!!

Hurricanes, tornadoes, and avalanches are mother natures’ most deadly disasters. Avalanches have decrease dramatically over the years. Avalanches have contributed close to 200 deaths. Statistics show that Asia has the highest number of avalanches recorded with 109. Next in line would be the United States, with 33 avalanches ever recorded. Europe falls right under the United States with 31 avalanches that was recorded. Latin America, Australia, Russia, and the Middle East have fewer than ten avalanches that have been recorded. Most of these tragic deaths happen when victims are at home or in their village. 25 deaths have been recorded due to an avalanche while skiing. Avalanches are one of Mother Nature’s deadliest threats!
http://www.ifyouski.com/avalanche/nivologie/

Insomniacs

In today's world, especially in the U.S., there is an ever growing amount of people who have problems sleeping. A poll, conducted by WB&A Market Research, used a random sample of 1,506 adults who were interviewed by phone between September 20 and November 7, 2004. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. This survey found that six in 10 adult motorists said they have driven while drowsy in the past year; 4 percent reported that they have had an accident or near-accident because they were too tired or actually fell asleep while driving.Three-fourths said their partner has a sleep problem, and the most common is snoring. Also,roughly one-fourth of respondents who have partners report that their sexual relationship has been hurt because they have been too sleepy. They had sex less often or lost interest in having sex because they were too tired. As well as seven in 10 people said their doctor has never asked them about their sleep. Analyst of these numbers try to explain this by saying the nation's sleep habits can be attributed to an always-on-the-go society. The U.S. is virtually on a non stop 24 hr schedual. Also, it is not the amount of sleep that seems to be the problem, but the quality of sleep that people are getting. And who said that only college students had it bad? http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/03/28/lack.of.sleep.ap/index.html

The Killer of Women

The prevalence of heart disease is increasing in America, and it is now impacting women more than men. Doctors are ordering that women undergo changes in their eating habits and focus on their health. Exercise is a necessity, and in all actuality, it is one of the only ways to prevent heart disease. Without proper diet and exercise, the likelihood that a woman will suffer from a heart attack is very high. 1 in 3 women will suffer from a cardiovascular problem after the age of 65. This life-threatening problem stems from years of unhealthy behavior. It is shocking to learn that fewer women die each year from accidents and cancer than from heart disease. This is an alarming statistic because the severity of the situation has not been publicized. Many women are not aware of how common this problem is becoming. Thousands of women truly can be saved if they act now and alter their lives. If women put their health first, the benefits will be seen in years to come.

http://health.yahoo.com/centers/women/_102.html

Obesity: An Inner Battle for Kids

Being a child in the 21st century is hard enough. Expectations are so high, and children face a constant battle to meet them. They are constantly trying to be in style and thus accepted. Children are always working to emulate their favorite actors or singers. They are continually trying to be perfect just like their Hollywood idols. These stars are physically perfect and to many kids, this perfection equals happiness. The skinnier a child is the happier he or she is. Truly, children who are both average or below average weight are happy and accepted by their peers. A relationship between weight loss and increased happiness truly exist. On the other hand, children who are obese do not experience this happiness. 1 in 7 children suffer from obesity. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that obese children have an increased likelihood of being unhappy and even depressed. These children feel that their quality of life is very poor. Sadly, some obese children rated their quality of life at the same level as children who were suffering from cancer. Parents truly must step in and help their children both physically and emotionally. No child deserves to carry these feelings.

http://health.yahoo.com/ate/drgreene/alldaily/2003/04/00020656

Endless Benefits of a Simple Eye Examination

topostat

Many Americans, young and old, do not realize how important it is to take care of their eyes. A simple, yearly eye exam could prevent a lifelong struggle with blindness. Since the population of elderly people is increasing, age-related macular degeneration is being seen more frequently. This disease most commonly begins to impair the vision of individuals around the age of 60. Surely, this is a problem that numerous people are dealing with since one in eight Americans is above the age of 65. The elderly are not the only people that should be concerned. 5.3 million Americans suffer from diabetic retinopathy. This condition is found in patients with diabetes. It leads to blindness and effects people starting in their teen years.

Other daily factors also lead to eyesight deterioration and eventual blindness. People who are exposed to smoke and frequent, excessive sunlight have an increased likelihood of hurting their eyes. Many people develop cataracts, a condition that can be treated. If left untreated, severe impairment will occur. 4.2 million Americans also suffer from glaucoma. It is hard to believe that nearly fifty percent of people with glaucoma do not know that they are suffering from this disease. The disturbing factor is that any damage that their eyes undergo before diagnosis is irreversible. Surely, the importance of eye examinations is clear. It is hard to set aside time for eye examinations, but in the long run, the benefits prevail. An eye examination a year can lead to a life of great vision. Isn’t it worth it?

http://health.yahoo.com/centers/eye_vision/102.html

Tax Cheaters Cost You $300 Billion a Year!

If you are like me, you probably hate paying taxes. However, I like most people do what is right and pay the required amount. Yet, many people do not pay their taxes fully, instead they either understate their incomes or overstate their deductions. Tax gaps are composed of three things; under reporting income, underpayment of taxes, or failing to file tax returns. It was reported that U.S. tax payers owe the government over $300 billion a year. A federal research found that the U.S. tax gap ranged from $312 billion to $353 billion in tax year 2001. Furthermore, the research was done on individual returns which made up the largest part of the gap about two-thirds of the total. The IRS managed to recover only $55 billion of the gap leaving a gap of $257 billion to $298 billion. According to the IRS this yields a noncompliance rate of 15% to 16.6%. The largest of the three components was under reporting income which accounted for 80% of the gap. Underpayment and not filing tax returns accounted for 10% of the tax gap. The study also found that compliance was more likely when another party was involved. For example, if an employer had to file tax reports wages and salaries were misreported by less than 1.5%. I used to think “so what? They don’t pay their taxes”. However, the reality is that “People who aren’t paying their taxes shift the burden to the rest of us”. This article can be found at http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P113435.asp

America's Youth Is Really Fat

For anyone questioning the reason for increasing rates of type 2 diabetes, look no further. America’s youth are fat! Really fat! The average weight for a ten year old girl in 1966 was 77.4 lbs and in 2002 it was 88 lbs, an increase of 13.7%. The average weight for a ten year old boy in 1966 was 74.2 lbs while in 2002 it was 85 lbs, an14.5% increase. These rising rates will eventually lead to much more than an increase in type 2 diabetes. Cholesterol and blood pressure rates will increase, while the average life span will begin to decrease if these figures continue to rise. Besides harmful body effects, the increase in obesity amongst children will eventually lead to higher taxes towards Medicare, higher health insurance, and possibly higher taxes used to prevent obesity in children.

USA TODAY, March 17, 2005, pg. A1
Hellmich, Nancy. “Obesity Threatens Life Expectancy.” USA TODAY, March 17, 2005, pg. A1



posted by spolitte
(this was posted by spolitte. I had to delete a comment, but in doing so I had to delete then repost spollite's the original post).

Cause and correlation of violence

Is it really accurate to say that violent video and computer games are the causes of violence? While the number of children playing violent video games is growing, it is only logical for one to speculate that this is where they learn and develop such behavior; but according to statistics and national headlines, setting the blame for desensitizing the youth should not be entirely on the video game community.

In most recent headlines, has anyone noticed that our notoriously accused BTK serial killer was a devoted churchman as well as president of his church council? As many of his close friends and family were utterly surprised, he was described as a faithful and hardworking man.

Last month, Terry Ratzmann who was a regular church-goer went on a shooting rampage inside his church killing seven people including the minister and his own teenage son, wounding four others, and eventually taking his own life. This man who was described to be just an average Joe with no previous criminal record, was apparently upset by a sermon he heard last week.

Church, is it really good for you?

For more information:
http://news.com.com/The%20myth%20of%20the%20violent%20gamer/2061-12_3-5624089.html?tag=techdirt

Sleepy?

How many of us actually get a good night's rest every night? I bet less than half of us do, especially being college students. The National Sleep Foundation conducted a recent survey that the average American adult gets 6.9 hours of sleep every night. Many experts say that adults should sleep at least seven to nine hours per night. Sleep deprivation hurts us more than we know. It decreases the quality of life, lowers productivity on the job, increases the risk of auto accidents, and can be the cause of a less vibrant sex life. Also, three out of four adults polled said they have a problem, including difficulty falling asleep, waking a lot during the night, waking up too early and not being able to get back to sleep, waking up feeling unrefreshed, snoring, unpleasant feelings in the legs or pauses in breathing. The senior scientist at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Center in Detroit and co-chairman of the 2005 poll task force, Chris Drake, said, "In an increasing 24-hour society, people are staying up much later...They can go to a 24-hour pharmacy or supermarket. They can do anything at any time of the night and day." And he's right. Nowadays, it's no big deal to pull an all-nighter. Being a college student (and even a few times in high school) I've pulled my fair share of over-nighters. I get about 6 hours of sleep per night, which is definitely not enough for me to function properly. I need at least 11 or 12 to be fully alert. Over the past few years, my short-term memory has decreased quite a bit due to sleep deprivation. I love sleeping more than almost anything else; but plenty homework, my job, poor time-management skills, and the appeal of the night life make it impossible for me to sleep as much a I want. I'm sure most people get caught in this same slump, as the following statistics prove:

"Six in 10 adult motorists said they have driven while drowsy in the past year; 4 percent reported that they have had an accident or near-accident because they were too tired or actually fell asleep while driving."

"Three-fourths said their partner has a sleep problem, and the most common is snoring."

"Roughly one-fourth of respondents who have partners report that their sexual relationship has been hurt because they have been too sleepy. They had sex less often or lost interest in having sex because they were too tired."

The National Sleep Foundation and many sleep experts recommend avoiding alcohol and caffeine close to bedtime. They also recommend that adults pay attention to how much sleep they get and the quality of that sleep, and seek help if needed. So get some rest!

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20050329015109990002&_ccc=5&cid=842

I Love Bald Eagles!!!!!

Yes! My name is Derek and I love Bald Eagles!! This beautiful, majestic, powerful being of flight is the national bird of the United States. This beautiful bird is a large, powerful, brown bird with a white head and tail. The term “bald” does not mean this bird lacks feathers. They are about 32 inches long, and with wingspan, about 80 inches. It simply comes from the word piebald, which means “marked with white”. In the 1600s when Europeans arrived in North America, there were an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 bald eagles, but in 1967 the eagle was included on the Endangered Species List. Many bald eagles in Florida were forced to fly away from the Hurricane last year, but now they are returning and instead of perching high in trees they are perching in buildings and lower trees. Most of the high trees and there nests were destroyed by the wind and the rain, but they are still flourishing. With our help, our flying friends cannot only survive, but can multiply and be a growing sign of the power and perseverance of the United States of America.

http://www.shgresources.com/us/symbols/bird/
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/newsrel/2004/04_0021.htm

Teenage Pregnancy Statistics

The teenage years are difficult ones for everyone. There are so many different changes going on in one's life and so many different emotions that are experienced. Many teenage girls face one problem in particular- unwanted pregnancies. These types of pregnancies occur because of a few reasons, whether they be unprotected sex, rape, or just by chance, but no matter what the reason, they bring a serious issue to the table.

After reviewing this website, I had found out a number of things I did not know before. I found out that 1990 was the year with the highest rate of teen pregnancies. I also found out that the rate has declined since then. I had no idea that the rate had been declining. This surprised me in a way, for I always thought that unwanted pregnancies were a problem that wouldn't really go away. Hopefully the rates are decreasing because of more caution being used in these types of situations.

The website stated that over 800,000 teenage girls become pregnant each year. To me, this sounds like a very high number. I also learned that about 40% of these pregnancies end in abortion. This does not really surprise me, for I feel that teenage girls become scared in a situation like this, but then again who wouldn't? They feel as if they have no other choices and that their lives will be ruined being a teenage mother. The website stated that 78% of teen pregnancies are unplanned and that the number of teenage pregnancies is found to be the highest in the United States.

There are many more statistics on this site concerning teenage pregnancy, abortion, and contraceptive use. To find out more....
http://womensissues.about.com/od/statistics/a/teenpregstats.htm

Salaries of NFL Free Agency

Now that the Free Agency period in the NFL is over it is amazing to see the prices that some of these players are getting paid. Most of the guys were second tier guys that have potential to become good players, but they have not yet earned the kind of money that some of them are getting paid. At http://proxy.espn.go.com/nfl/fa?null is a list of free agents with their new teams and old teams. It is also interesting to see how the teams can just get rid of their old players just because there are other players out there, some are not even better than the ones the had. Take the Saints for instance, the Saints traded to get FS Tebucky Jones and after just two years that they considered to be disappointing they decided to sign FS Dwight Smith to a 5 year/15 million dollar deal. Thus prompting them to let go Tebucky Jones.
The NFL Draft is also a time when teams go crazy paying a bunch of rookies an absurd amount of money without ever playing a game.
I think its crazy how teams throw around the kind of money that they are.

Irish Pride Anyone?

Everyone knows that the Irish have a lot of pride. Here is just one more reason to celebrate for those of you who are Irish. According to the USA Today, Ireland has a population of 3.9 million people, yet 34 million people who are residents of the U.S. are claiming to be Irish. This means that “the number of U.S. residents who claim to be Irish is almost nine times the population of Ireland.” That makes 12% of the U.S. population Irish --- Go Irish pride!!

USA TODAY, March 17, 2005, pg. A1

How accurate are statistics?

Everyday we see, hear, and read statistics from the media and people, but how easily we are manipulated and innocently swayed by these convincing statistics is interesting. Here are some examples: Children with bigger feet spell better. Counties with higher divorce rates tend to have lower death rates. Countries that drink water containing fluoride have higher cancer rates than those that do not.

Wouldn't that want to make us stretch our children's feet, divorce our wives, and drink nothing but bottled water?

Instead, these are definite examples of correlation and causation. Two or more quantities are related in some way, but not necessarily causes the other.

The truth is: older children have bigger feet and obviously can spell better than a toddler, older couples are less likely to divorce and more likely to die than younger couples, and nations with fluoride water are more wealthier and health-conscious resulting in a life span long enough to develop cancer, which is the disease of old age.

For more information:
http://www.cut-the-knot.org/do_you_know/misuse.shtml

Violent Crimes in the U.S.

Going home for break helped me realize how safe my hometown really is. I don't get afraid for my safety too often here in New Orleans, but I am aware that it is not necessarily the safest place on Earth to be living. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice show that violent crime rates against males and females have been declining since 1994. The crime rate against males is higher in all instances, but the rates between males and females have become closer in the past few years. Here is a link to the U.S. Department of Justice's statistics page. The data was collected over a period of 30 years (from 1973-2003), and includes victimization rates of males and females older than 12 years of age. The violent crimes included are homicide, rape, robbery, and both simple and aggravated assault.

The chart is shaded after 1993, because the method of collecting data was modified in 1993, so adjustments were made to the data before 1993 so that it would correlate. It seems misleading to change the collection method after 20 years. In both male and female instances, the data seems to peak around 1993, then make a fairly sharp decline. Clicking on the chart leads you to a page with the data put into a table. Here is a link to the table. After reviewing the table, most of the numbers from the first 20 years show male victimization to be almost double that of females. After 1993, however, the numbers grow closer.

The statistics cause one to believe that the crime rate is decreasing greatly, but the changes in the method of data collection may be misleading.

Abortion Rates

As everbody knows abortion is an big issue in the United States. Many wonder if this is a wrong doing. According to USA Today, in 2000, 857,475 legal induced abortions were reported. Multiple abortions are the norm, not the exception. According to the survey, where the "number of previous abortions was adequately reported," 53% of women had an abortion for the first time in 2000. That means 47% of women having abortions in 2000 were not having their first abortion. Abortion rates vary significantly throughout the world. Among countries with comprehensive statistics, abortion rates per 1,000 women aged 15-44 in 1996 ranged from a low of 6.5 in the Netherlands to a high of 77.7 in Cuba. U.S. rates for that year (20.0-22.9) were inter-mediate, but higher than most other industrialized nations. http://www.abort73.com/HTML/II-A-US.html

Abortion Rates

As everbody knows abortion is an big issue in the United States. Many wonder if this is a wrong doing. According to USA Today, in 2000, 857,475 legal induced abortions were reported. Multiple abortions are the norm, not the exception. According to the survey, where the "number of previous abortions was adequately reported," 53% of women had an abortion for the first time in 2000. That means 47% of women having abortions in 2000 were not having their first abortion. Abortion rates vary significantly throughout the world. Among countries with comprehensive statistics, abortion rates per 1,000 women aged 15-44 in 1996 ranged from a low of 6.5 in the Netherlands to a high of 77.7 in Cuba. U.S. rates for that year (20.0-22.9) were inter-mediate, but higher than most other industrialized nations. http://www.abort73.com/HTML/II-A-US.html

Increase in Gas Prices

Hello to everyone, as everybody knows gasoline prices is on the rise. As of right now the New Orleans metropolitan area is paying about $2.06 a gallon for regular unleaded. Gasoline prices could rocket 24 cents a gallon the next few days, as stations across the USA scramble to keep up with big jumps in the prices of oil and wholesale gas. I remember when gas used to be $1.19 a gallon. This drastic increase in gasoline has made many people think twice about buying a car. I feel that with all the technology we have today someone should be able to think of something to repalace gasoline.

March Madness

Hello to everyone, as everybody knows this month is a big month for college basketball. There are only four team reamaining(North Carolina vs. Michigan State, and Louisville vs. Illinois). North Carolina who is the number one seed out of its divison is expected to play Michigan State in Texas. North Carolina is ranked number one in ppg (points per game) for this tournament. The Tarheels are also ranked number one for FG percentages (of the four team remaining). Despite these statistics the Michigan State Spartens has proven to be one of the top teams out the tournament. Also Illonios is to face off with Louisville in New Mexico to capture a spot in the championship game. Who do you think will be in the championship game and who will take it home? http://sports-att.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney05/bracket

Teenage Suicide

Teenage suicide is not an uncommon occurrence in society today. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, completed a study among people with ages ranging from 15 to 24. Suicide found its place as the number three leading cause of death among people of these ages. Number one was car accidents and number two was homicide. These rates were compared throughout the years of 1980 to 1996, and they were found to have drastically increased. In addition to the rising numbers of suicides committed, suicide attempts are on the rise as well.

This website states that there are a number of factors that lead to these teens committing suicides. The CDC says that gender is a major factor and that the different sexes go about suicide in different manners. Girls are said to be 2 times more likely to attempt suicide, and they carry this out by using excess amounts of drugs or cutting. While girls are 2 times more likely to carry out suicide attempts, boys are much more likely to bring it to completion, using means of guns or jumping from heights.

The CDC also found that almost 60% of all suicides were committed with a firearm of some kind and that children are more likely to commit suicide if these weapons are available in their homes.

The issue of teenage suicide is a very sad and sensitive one. It saddens me to see that the rates across this country are rising. I hope that in the present year and throughout the near future that American teen suicide rates will begin to decrease.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/suicide.html

Euthanasia

Voluntary euthanasia is, by definition, when the person who is killed has requested to be killed. On the other hand, non-voluntary euthanasia is when the person who is killed made no request and gave no consent. Euthanasia, by action, is intentionally causing a person's death by performing an action such as by giving a lethal injection. Euthanasia by omission is intentionally causing death by not providing necessary and ordinary (usual and customary) care or food and water. (more definitions concerning euthanasia)

The debate concerning Terri Schindler-Schiavo has been in the headlines for days. Today, March 24, 2005, marks Terri's 6th day without food or water. The debate is controversial because some say that Terri is in a coma and hooked to life support machines and others say that she is alert and interactive. This is a difficult situation for Terri's family because it could be considered non-voluntary euthanasia if Terri's food and water supply is not re-connected because, so far, there has been no request made by Terri to unhook her food/water supply.

According to a Zogby poll, only one-in-three Americans, if they contracted a painful terminal disease, would prefer assisted suicide to letting nature take its course. 30.4% of those individuals surveyed would rather have a doctor end their suffering instead of waiting for nature to end the suffering. Even more impressive is the 63.5% that would prefer to live through the suffering and not give consent to be killed. I believe that Terri is alive and not dependent upon a life support machine to live. If this proves true, then the detaching of her food and water supply can be considered non-voluntary euthanasia.

A Song For Spring

Today is the first full day of spring. Celebrate by listening to one of my favorite songs Poisoning Pigeons in the Park by Tom Lehrer.




PS. If NANA472k1 or MICK sees this, please let me know who you are so I can give you credit for your posts and comments.

Increasing Immigrant Population

The United States’ undocumented immigrant population increased from about 8.4 million in March of 2000 to 10.3 million last March. That is a 23% increase, and equates to a net increase of approximately 485,000 between 2000 and 2004. One of the main reasons for this increase is the job opportunities in America compared to in their native countries. Undocumented immigrants refer mainly to those here illegally, because of an expired visa or a violation of their terms of admission. Also, there is a small percentage of legal immigrants included in the report. At 5.9 million, or 57% of the March 2004 estimate, Mexicans are the largest group of undocumented immigrants. Another 2.5 million, or 24%, are from Latin American countries. “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other government officials have raised concerns about border security amid recent intelligence that al Qaeda terrorists have considered using the Southwest border to infiltrate the United States.” President Bush has promoted a guest-worker program that would allow migrants to work in the United States for a limited time as long as they already have work lined up. However, critics of this program argue that these migrants would cause wages to fall because they often work for lower pay and fewer benefits than U.S.-born residents. According to Steve Camorata of the private Center for Immigration Studies, the best way to protect wages and prevent some terrorists is better enforcement of borders and of worksites.

Sorry, forgot the link to increasing immigrant post.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/21/undocumented.immigrants.ap/index.html

Guns

If I told you the US has both the world’s highest per-capita incidence of osteoporosis and the world’s highest per-capita intake of calcium does this mean that calcium causes osteoporosis. No, in fact doctors believe just the opposite, and they prescribe calcium to treat osteoporosis. The more likely explanation of our high rates of osteoporosis in the US is that our older women don’t lift a lot of heavy weights. Lifting makes your body demand growth in bone density. People lift things more in other countries as part of their daily activities.
What does this tell us about gun statistics? We have more guns than Japan and more attacks on people using guns. However, there are other significant differences between the US and Japan, however, that help explain the difference in gun violence. Guns are far more regulated in Japan than in the US. Thus, most people owning guns in the Japan are necessarily engaging in criminal activities. Who are those most likely to break the law? You guessed it criminals.
My thesis is that liberalizing gun laws, and thereby allowing more people to own guns, will reduce gun crimes in any country.
This is because all the statistics are driven by ordinary human nature. Given the opportunity to be able to defend themselves and their families, fathers and mothers will take the opportunity, making criminals and government (or do I repeat myself?) less daring in their threats against our lives and property. At the same time, the vast majority of us, in every country, don’t want to go out and commit crimes against others for a living. With these two ordinary, observable facts together, you can bet that in any country, taking guns away from people will result in an increase in ordinary crime and in government oppression. Ultimately, the statistics paint a picture consistent with that.
When you see vast disparities in a single datum between one country and another, nothing as simple as the "presence of guns" will be the explanation. Guns are, after all, completely inanimate. And there is no case in which a single correlation is all you need to know.

Here are some statistics on gun crimes:
http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/facts.htm

General Blog Post comments

I'll update your posts grades over spring break. I appreciate your patience.

I am impressed by the effort that some of you have been putting into your posts. Many of them are quite interesting.While I don't comment on all of them, I do read them all.

That being said I would like to see more analysis of the statistics that you're discussing. Some things you might touch upon are the issue of correlation vs. causation (which is a common issue in many of the posts), whether the source of your information has an agenda that might obscure the information they're presenting, or the reasons or background of the statistics.

For example, many of the posts that deal with social issues use sources from groups that have a vested interest and use statistics to persuade you that their position is correct. Sometimes they make good use of statistics and sometimes not.

A good example was the shark attack post or the Airplane Crashes Not As Likely As You May Think post, both of which dealt with the availability bias, where we overestimate the probability of an event happening if it appears frequently in the media. The posts pointed this out (even if they didn't use the word "availability bias".

Remember, you're not graded for the content of the posts, but this might be a way of getting more out of them. I'll try to point out these things as they come up.

So 1) attempt to try to understand what you're putting in the posts, 2) try to keep your posts from being too long (250 - 300 words is pretty good), 3) try not to simply copy and paste from a website. I'm more interested in your understanding / interpretation rather than knowing you can copy and paste.

Text Away

In the United States, text messaging is becoming ever more popular.Usage correlates with age: 63 percent of cell phone users ages 18-27 have used text messaging compared with 31 percent for ages 28-39 and 7 percent for those over 60. Text messages are quick and convinient and save people the time and hassle of actually talking on the phone. Corporate business is profiting off of this phone feature because they have commenced unsolicited commercial messages. This way they can sell their product and all the user has to do is type in several characters, and the cost is automatically placed on the phone bill. It is clever because it is so easy. These businesses have such a huge market because practically everybody has a cell phone these days. If one does not, they are falling behind the times quickly. The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that 28 percent of people who text message have received these commercial messages.Services also are available to receive news alerts such as weather and sports.The Pew study was based on a random telephone survey of 1,460 cell phone users January 13 to February 9. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. All I have to say is watch out, nobody is safe from text messaging!
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/ptech/03/17/text.messaging.ap/index.html

Trial Marriages

topostat

After doing my blog on divorces within marriage, I begin to think about “trial marriages,” that is couples that live together before marriage. A study done by the Rocky Mountain Family Council found that couples that live together out of wedlock have a higher chance of divorcing after marriage or cheating on each other. “In a recent study published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family researchers analyzed reported sexual relationships of 1,235 women, ages 20 to 37, and found that it was 3.3 times more likely that a woman who had cohabited before marriage would have a secondary sex partner after marriage. The study also found that married women were five times less likely to have a secondary sex partner than cohabiting women and that cohabiting relationships appear to be more similar to dating relationships than to marriage." A recent study by John Hopkins University found that couples that choose to live together before marriage actually weakened their marriage. They found that most marriages end within two years. “In a recent study published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family researchers analyzed reported sexual relationships of 1,235 women, ages 20 to 37, and found that it was 3.3 times more likely that a woman who had cohabited before marriage would have a secondary sex partner after marriage. The study also found that married women were five times less likely to have a secondary sex partner than cohabiting women and that cohabiting relationships appear to be more similar to dating relationships than to marriage." They found that couples took marriage less seriously. A recent study published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships showed that couples living together before marriage were more likely to have promiscuity than couples that begin living together after marriage. This study also showed that most of the men were not employed or were employed in low paying jobs, and that the women were employed full time. The wives that cohabited before marriage took on more “masculine” roles than wives that had not cohabited before marriage. I think that this study may have been biased. I believe that there are other factors that would be the cause of the rise in divorce rates among marriages rather than living together. For example, in the study done by the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships it showed that couples that lived together before marriage showed reversed roles. The increase in women working full-time could also be due to other factors such as women beginning to return to the work force that was not considered. Also, the increase in divorce rates could be due to the ease of getting divorces now, as opposed to years ago. Also, people are waiting longer to get married and are moving further away from traditional marriages.

Millions of Viewers Watch Notre Dame Football Games

Notre Dame football has a large following. Rarely, does a day go by that one doesn't come across someone wearing Notre Dame football apparel. There are those people who love Notre Dame, and those who hate Notre Dame, there is rarely an in between. Therefore, the fact that the last 148 Notre Dame football games have been televised by either, NBC, ABC, CBS or ESPN should not be surprising. Millions of viewers tune in to watch Notre Dame play. For example, Notre Dame's final regular season game against bitter rival USC was the highest-rated network game of the 2004 regular season. The game was viewed in over 6.8 million households across the country. Five other Notre Dame games this past season were also among the top 25 highest-rated network games. For example, Notre Dame's victory over Michigan on September 11, 2004, was the ninth highest-rated network game. More than 4.3 million viewers tuned in to watch the game. All in all, as long as millions of viewers continue to tune in to Notre Dame games, the major networks will continue to broadcast every game.

Women in the Business World

If you asked our parents how often a woman was the CEO of a company when they were kids, they would most likely tell you not that often. However, times are changing, and women are now taking stronger leadership positions in companies. Between 1997 and 2002, one source shows that the number of women-owned firms increased by 14% nationwide -- twice the rate of all firms. One would say that this is a dramatic step in the positive direction, other statistics show otherwise. Just when we think society is welcoming women with open arms into the business world, statistics show that most people refuse to invest in companies operated by women. According to recent statistics from Venture One, only ~5% of venture investing went to companies with women CEOs in 1999, 2000 and 2001. This is disappointing in the fact that the many of the students in business school these days are women trying to make it in the tough world of business. Therefore, although there are many changes that have occurred thus far in the world, women are not fully embraced quite yet.

http://www.fwe.org/p/p.asp?mlid=91

Rape and Binge Drinking

Going to school in New Orleans may be a little tough due to the huge amounts of alcohol that students are tempted with on a daily basis. Though going out and having a good time is perfectly normal and exciting, there are dangers if one takes it too far.

I was searching the web and found a site that told of statistics found by the Harvard College Alcohol Study. These facts, gathered from a total of 119 colleges and universities around the country, were all about women in college being raped while they were under the influence of alcohol. The study found that alcohol is present in the majority of rapes of college women.

In a period of a mere 7 months, 1 in 20 women in college, or 4.7%, reported being raped since the beginning of the school year. Three-quarters, or 72%, of these rapes occurred when the victims were beyond the point of reason because they were so extremely intoxicated; they could not say yes or no to their agressor.

It was also found that women who attend colleges where students have a medium or high tendency to binge drink have over a 1.5-fold greater chance of being a victim to rape in this situation compared to students who attend colleges where binge drinking rates are very low.

The site stated that binge drinking was considered to be the most prevalent health issue among students at college campuses, resulting in lower grades and physical and sexual violence. There were a few significant risk factors for rape victims included which scared me a little, seeing as I comply with almost all of them- women under the age of 21, caucasian, residents of sorority houses, and those women who were drug users and drinkers while in high school.

While these factors scared me a little, the scariest fact that I found from this study and this website was that more women are raped while under the influence of alcohol than any other drug.

All of these statistics have really hit home with me. Now I am reminded of how careful I have to be when I go out and drink at night because of how dangerous things can get.

Oops...I forgot to include the link to the site where I found my information on the rape and binge drinking post...so here it is.http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/college/a/blcas040214.htm

Relating Economics to Statistics

While checking out the msnbc.com website, I came across an article about consumer confidence index and the drastic fluctuations that it has been taking in the last eleven months. Consumer confidence is the concept about how people feel about the economy and the decisions people make about how much money they spend. This index is so important because "consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity", according to msnbc.com.

The consumer confidence index rose up 6.4%, which is the largest jump it has made since August 2004. Previous to this enormous gap being filled, within the last year consumer confidence fell dramatically possibly due to social security plans and the slow job growth. However, there is going to be two million new jobs created and this increase in the job market is one of the main reasons why the index is so far up. The sentiments about job prospects rose 10.9% and and personal finance went up 10.6%. Also, one of the main components of the consumer confidence index is the view on the entirety of the economic situation, which rose 12.3%, which helps bring up the average.

Not everything has sky rocketed for the consumer confidence index, however. The downfall to this is feelings about the future fell 10.2%. This actually does not make sense to me because if the society feels that there are good job openings and finances will do well, then why do they think that the future is going to be bad?

The Coca-Cola Company

Have you ever had a glass of Coca-Cola? I bet you have. Well, that makes you one more in the list of billions that have tried this carbonated beverage. One thing I bet you didn’t know is that the original recipe was actually invented in Starkville, Mississippi not in Georgia and that the original recipe was sold to a traveling business man that liked the taste for a couple of bucks. Contrary to common believe, Coca-Cola was not an instant success. Actually, in 1886 Coca-Cola’s sales added up to 9 servings a day compared to about 1 ¼ billion dollars in net sales during the 2004 year. Now a days, every second of the day, 7 thousand Coca-Cola products are consumed. Also, Coca-Cola Company operates in 46 of the 50 United States, Canada, and 8 other countries in Europe. It also employs about 74 thousand people who operate 454 facilities and delivery trucks.

The Coca-Cola Company is without a doubt the largest distributor and marketer of carbonated drinks in the world. Coca-Cola Company has so many vending machines in the U.S that if they were stacked on top of each other, the pile would be over 450 miles high.

There is a saying in the business world that says that “if you don’t innovate, you die”. Well, although I am a big fan of the Classic Coke, Coca-Cola Company is in the process of introducing their new “Coke Lime”.

And if you thought the U.S was the largest consumer of Coke, you were wrong again. It is actually Mexico who has the largest consumption per capita ratio.

Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities

I ran across a number of articles and research on this subject and so far the most recent statistics come from 2003 as this information I found was published in 2004. Child abuse and neglect is very serious and very abundant. It is also, as the website points out, very hard to keep track of. According to the website, The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) reported an estimated 1,400 child fatalities in 2002. This translates to a rate of 1.98 children per 100,000 children in the general population. NCANDS defines "child fatality" as the death of a child caused by an injury resulting from abuse or neglect, or where abuse or neglect were contributing factors. It seems to have slightly increased each year from 1.84 per 100,000 children in 2000 to 1.96 in 2001 and 1.98 in 2002 but some experts question whether this is truly an increase or simply a result of more efficient data collection. Statistically, as of 2002, children 4 and under are 76% more likely to be victims of child fatalities. The site states that in 2002, more than one-third (38 percent) of child maltreatment fatalities were associated with neglect alone. Physical abuse alone was cited in more than one-quarter (30 percent) of reported fatalities. Another 29 percent of fatalities were the result of multiple maltreatment types. 79% had one or more parents involved , 16% were nonparent caretakers and 5% were unknown or missing. These perpetrators are said to be mid 20's, high school diploma recipients, and typically live below poverty level.

I sincerely hope there are major improvements in child care services. I know that there are so many children in New Orleans living in horrible homes that are abused and neglected. This brings to mind the little eight-year-old boy, not too long ago, whose father punched him and then kicked him out of his car, leaving him to wander the city for days. According to my mother, a mental health specialist who works with troubled children, she has reported many things to child care services and has taken time to document everything fully but, in the end, these children remain in their homes without even a visit from them. I apologize for such a somber topic but I felt it is important to know and be aware of.

http://nccanch.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/factsheets/fatality.cfm

Country kids fatter than ever

It has been a long-held belief that in farm communities and other rural towns, that heavy chores, wide expanses of land and fresh air make leaner, stronger bodies. This is not so. In fact, now in these rural areas, the kids literally take the cake from urban children. "Whatever the situation was, rural areas are leading the way now ... they're ahead of the curve," said Michael Meit, director of the University of Pittsburgh Center for Rural Health Practice. About 16 percent of urban students qualified as obese, according to Meit's study, which is in line with national average for children ages 6-19. In rural school districts, however, 20 percent of students were considered obese. Researchers were also surprised to find that the number of obese students in rural school districts rose about 5 percent during the past 2 years of the survey, more than twice the rate of their urban counterparts. Here are a few of the most drastic findings:In rural North Carolina children had a 50 percent greater chance of being obese. More than a quarter of all fifth-graders in West Virginia are obese, where two-thirds of the population is rural and one in four public school children in Arkansas are obese. It isn't too clear as to why rural child obesity is on the rise but some speculate that with fewer family farms and more mechanization, children are not burning many calories, but they're still eating high-calorie meals. Another theory is that the answer might be found in the satellite dishes, computers and game consoles that have popped up in almost every town, regardless of the region's economic engine. The same technology is found in cities and suburbs, but health officials say it arrived later and spread much more rapidly in rural areas, changing behavior dramatically in a very short time. Officials are concerned that because of all this, diabetes and heart disease will be rampid. All I have to say is lets start those sit-ups!
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/14/rural.obesity.ap/index.html