A Curious Statistical Anomaly

I’d thought about writing something on this topic, but hadn’t really figured out what I wanted to say, when I found this article on Numbers on Teen Pregnancy as a Freakonomics NY Times Opinion piece (here’s the Freakonomincs NY Times blog).  I found the statistics on teen pregnancies interesting:

High teen pregnancy rates remain a serious problem in the U.S. Although they have declined since they peaked in 1990, rates are still twice as high as in Canada or England, and eight times as high as in the Netherlands or in Japan.

These international differences are due to low contraceptive use in the U.S.; most of the recent decline in teen pregnancy in the U.S. is due to more consistent use of birth control, although teens are also waiting longer to have sex than in the past. In 1995, almost 20 percent of girls had sex by age 17, compared to 15 percent in 2002.

Notice that the drop in pregnancies among teens has two components — more consistent use of birth control and teen waiting longer to have sex.  As to the first, it’s mighty difficult for teens to consistently use birth control when the sex education in our American school systems is mainly about abstinence. We currently have a shinning example of how well that works to lower teen pregnancy with the recent announcement of the pregnancy of the teenage daughter of the Republican Party’s Vice-Presidential nominee.  Palin espouses the party line of abstinence-only sex education and pairs it with absolutely no choice even for rape or incest.   Obviously, abstinence education didn’t work in this case, as it hasn’t worked for many other teens.  For Palin’s daughter, I’d hope that the future will not look as bleak as for most teenage mothers.  Again from the article:

…on average, teen pregnancies are more likely to result in premature births and low-birth-weight babies. This is not a good start in life. Babies with a low birth weight are more likely to have A.D.H.D. and are less likely to graduate from high school.

Teen moms are less likely than other women to attend or complete college, and their marriages are more likely to end in divorce; about 50 percent of women who married younger than age 18 are divorced after 10 years, compared to 20 percent of women who married at age 25 or older. In turn, single mothers have the highest poverty rates of any demographic group, and 60 percent of the U.S.-born children in mother-only families are poor.

Being a teenage mother, whether married to the father of the child or not, is a bad spot to be in. It’s not all roses and happy times. It’s mainly lots of work: studying for school, working to pay childcare, rent, food, and all the other assorted expenses of being on your own, and find the time and energy to actually spend time with the child, do the laundry, cook meals, study, and, oh yes, sleep.

How do I know? Been there. Done that. Came out okay with a child that I’m very proud of, a college degree, and I’m sure lots of bad decisions and good ones — but all ones I thought I had to make at the time.  How did I end up pregnant? Well, I know it seems strange, but my total sex education was a small six page booklet on menstruation along with the wisdom that only married women get pregnant.  Of course, this was in the dark ages — forty years ago now.  So this has been a perennial problem and it has never worked to stop teens from having sex by telling them to abstain or leaving them ignorant of what sex is and how one actually gets pregnant — (hint, a marriage license has absolutely no effect on the sperm and the egg getting together).

What does work in helping to reduce teen pregnancy?  Truth.  Unvarnished truth about how one gets pregnant, what those teenage hormones feel like, that love and hormones are indeed hard to tell apart but mostly it’s hormones at that age, and that if you are going to have sex, protect yourself and good solid information on how to do that.  Anything else is just leaving young people vulnerable to their hormones and if you don’t remember what that was like when you were a teen, you shouldn’t have any say over what to tell teens about sex.   Abstinence may work, but only if the teens have all the information about what is happening in their body and can make informed decisions.  Since many teens are not going to abstain, there must also be information and access to birth control.

If the Republicans want to stick their heads in the sand about these problems, then the least they can do is also set aside money for free child care, free health care, education assistance, and financial assistant to unwed teenage (and older) single parents.  But, wait…this is the party that is also cutting back on all these programs.  It seems the family values party doesn’t have any concern for families unless they meet strict definitions of what they consider a family and those families are all rich and don’t need any help.  And the Pro-Life policy would be better labeled Pro-Birth, because once the child is born, they no longer care about it until its old enough to vote.

Teenage pregnancy is a real problem for the people involved and for the country as a whole and ignoring it and placing the blame on the teens does nothing to rectify the problem or help to solve it.  I wish Ms. Palin good luck with the child she’s about to have and the marriage she’s about to undertake.  She has a better chance at success than many girls who find themselves in her position, but then she’s not typical.   Hopefully, her being in the limelight; after all it’s her mother who is the candidate, will not cause other teens to follow in her footsteps because she’s an outlier on the curve, not the norm (but I forgot Republicans don’t care that much for science either).

Note: On Where Did I Come From?  I found this book to be a great beginning in opening up discussion with children about sex and where babies come from.  It’s informative, funny, and straightforward.  If you’re looking for a way to broach the subject to young children who are asking — give this book a try.

Not much to say.  The zines went live yesterday.  So if you go to SFRevu or Gumshoe Review, you’ll find the new September issues are now up and live.  This month SFRevu has an interview with Joe Abercrombie, the author of The Last Argument of Kings. In Gumshoe, we’ve got an interview with Sheila Lowe, author of Written in Blood.  If you enjoy science fiction and fantasy or mystery, check them out.

In other news, my harddrive is full and I can’t download my photos to get them uploaded to my site.  I’ve ordered an external harddrive but it hasn’t gotten here yet so I’m feeling bereft of photos.  As soon as I get it and get connected, I’ll get up a photo of my September coffee cup, my new sock project, and the totally finished and organized pantry shelves.  Bet you can hardly wait on that one.

Meanwhile, I’m working on the final few items to finish up a website project.  Ran into a few wrinkles, but when don’t you, when designing and setting up a website for someone else.  But, it’s coming along nicely and I hope to finish it before too much longer.

I’ve also bookmarked some interesting articles on science topics that I hope to turn into blog posts as soon as I get a chance to read the articles and then look for the original source material and check some collateral material as well.  Then there’s my TBR (To Be Read) pile to starting getting whittled down for the October issue of the zines.

Moles and Trolls.  Work, work, work, work, work….

The last week has been a bit of a strain.  Not that anything really awful has happened.  There’s been the usual stress of gearing up for the publication of all the zines on September 1st.  Just the usual stuff of pinging all the reviewers and seeing where we stand.  Not to bad except I realized that the questions for the author interview for one of the zines never got sent — will do that tomorrow but it may be too late.

Then there was  a major code update.  Somehow, it shouldn’t have happened, but the update lost us a chunk of data from the database. Then the host servers crashed the next morning so it took longer than usual for the restore.  Then when the restore was in place, well all the work of at least two days was gone and had to be redone.  I think, as of today, that most of that has been recovered and put back in place.

Don’t you just love how computers make our lives so much more organized, in touch with others, and streamlined and then if there’s a glitch… Well, nothing can even come close to screwing up like a computer and its bits and bytes.  But now that we’re back to where we were several days ago — things are looking pretty good.

Meanwhile, while all the computer problems and stressors were going on there was the usual household stuff to do.  I’m trying to get things a bit more organized — boxed, labeled, gathered for tossing or giving away, or storing.  I’ve been pulling out the books that we don’t want to keep in our personal library and making a pile to put on Amazon for sale.  I need the bookshelf space for the book we have acquired lately and want to keep or haven’t read yet.  You’d think with all the books I review, Hyperion reviews, and that we read (from the library), that we’d never buy books.  You’d think that, but you’d be wrong.  We buy lots of books — mostly for research, reference, or just because they look like fun and the library doesn’t have it.

I also picked up some new yarn for socks today.  It’s a stretchy sock yarn in a pretty variegated  purple, yellow, pink, rosy color scheme.  Once I finish the pair I’m making now (just got the toe to do), I’ll start a pair with this yarn and using the circular needle technique to knit two socks at once.  Just need to figure out how I want them to look and find a pattern to use.

I’ve actually managed to spin four of the last eight days.  Not as much as I should but at least I’m keeping my hand (and feet) in.  I’m beginning to feel more comfortable.  I’m trying really hard to over-spin so I don’t lose so much twist when I ply.   I’m still working on using up the green top that I was working on for the Tour de Fleece.  I almost have half a spool full.  Maybe by the end of the month I’ll be plying it and setting the twist for this second skein.  It’s still a lace/sock weight yarn (with 3-ply Navaho plying).

What I have to snap out of is the funk that I seem to be in.  Everyday, it seems like I’m wading waist deep in water.  Everything just seems to take more effort.  I’m not letting it stop me.  I even walked down to the mailbox twice in the last week — I know I should be doing it every day.  But, I’m making a real effort to not give up and that’s got to count for something.  I guess what it counts for is that I keep going and eventually I will find it easier and easier to just keep going.  Maybe I should just buy more spoons, but I’m hoping to “snap out of it”.  So, since I love her work and the puzzle is so bright and cheery — I thought I’d share.  It is available through Amazon (isn’t everything).

Still expect a post only when you see one.  My schedule is a bit uneven just now.

The problem with going to a convention or taking a vacation is that life just keeps on going while you’re gone. So, when you get back you don’t start fresh, you start about one thousand feet back from the starting line.

When we got back from Denver, we returned the car and picked up our mail. The mail came in two of those big white US Postal Service bins. That was in addition to the two trash cans filled with packages that UPS and FedEx delivered while we were gone. Then last night our neighbor dropped by with two bags of mail that they had received for us.

So, the upshot is that it’s taken me three days to find the top of my desk (which is the dining room table until the office area is done….not looking like it’s coming anytime soon) so we’ve been eating in the living room off trays. Today, I found the surface of the table. Yes, I achieved success in finding spots of the table. Hyperion can now sit on his side and see me without having to stand up to peer over books, mail, and other paper debris. I’m truly psyched by this.

If I can keep going on this schedule of working ten to eleven hours I day, I may finish off — clearing the full table. However, now that I can actually find some of it. I need to now switch gears to work on a project that I need to get done in the next week since I got the last piece of information that I need (sort of, I still need a few biographical paragraphs but basically the core information is now all available).

What does that mean? It means that I may be sporadic in my posting to this blog over the coming week. But after that I should be back on schedule. There has got to be a way to expand days so that you have extra time when you need it. Coffee does help keep me going and somewhat staves off brain-collapse but what I really need is a full day of work and then some extra time to unwind and just do what I want to refresh the mental circuitry. But I didn’t have that when I worked full time and I certainly don’t seem to have it now that I’m freelance. Why is that when you work for yourself you work even harder than when you worked for someone else — it’s not like I’m going to fire me if I take a break. It’s got to be one of those weird New Englander work ethic things that just crops up when you least expect it (same way I always have to have some project going or I can’t just sit and watch TV or a movie — somehow that feels like I’m a slacker). Hmmmm. I’m going to have to think about this some more.

NASA has opened it’s Space Imagery Library to the general public. This screen shot (I clipped a lot of the middle of the image where there was no information for this photo) shows that there are collections of images of the Universe, the Solar System, Earth, and the Astronauts. There also some workspace and software that will help you put together some embed imagery for your site — I played around a bit but didn’t try it out. So, have at it and let me know how it works out for you.

An article on Australian PC Authority says:

The launch is the first step in a five-year partnership that will add millions of images and thousands of hours of video and audio content, with enhanced search and viewing capabilities and new user features.

That sounds terrific because I could spend hours looking at astronomical photos, videos, and other images because I find them all fascinating. As it is I love checking out the Astronomy Picture of the Day site. But, that’s beside the point here a couple of images from the NASA Imagery site that I thought were just gorgeous.

…..Space may be the final frontier but we can enjoy exploration through NASA many wonderfully informative, useful, and entertaining websites about science, space exploration, and all things astronomical. Have fun visiting this new resource. I did and will continue to explore it further.

I usually start my day out reading Amazon Daily’s entries. Today there was one about Starbucks new drink the Vivanno — Banana Chocolate and you can have a shot of espresso added. The writer gave it good marks and it sounded interesting. Didn’t think much more about it, that is until we stopped for coffee on the way home from the doc’s.

There we were in Starbucks and feeling adventurous I order a Vivanno, the Banana Chocolate with a shot of espresso. So, here’s the good and the not so good.

Good: It contains a banana which is really good for you. There’s no gritty taste from the whey powder. It doesn’t give you brain freeze like the Frappaccino does. The texture is really nice on the tongue — I sort of imagine it would be like silk if you wanted to actually taste/lick silk but why would you ….

Not so good: There’s no taste. It has a hint of banana, even less of a hint of chocolate and I couldn’t taste the espresso at all. My husband, the coffee hater, took a sip and yucked about the coffee taste. But I really didn’t taste anything. It had less taste than cream of wheat (and I like cream of wheat). It was super bland. I expected it to be banana-chocolate and sort of hoped more chocolate than banana but it wasn’t either.

So, all in all nice temperature, nice texture, filling. But absolutely little to no taste to it as far as my taste buds could tell — perhaps they were out on a break but I finally gave up and threw out 1/3 of it because that stuff they give you before a lower G.I. series has much more flavor than this stuff (at least to me).

Notice all the caveats and IMHOs — I wanted to really like it. I’m disappointed and I won’t order it again. But on the other hand, I love their Iced Caramel Macchiato (this is my new summer favorite).

Just a few odds and ends (some political ranting so you may want to skip.  If you’re a Republican, you’re not going to be happy.  Come back tomorrow instead.  If you want to object to what I’ve said … don’t.  These are my opinions and it’s my blog.):

• Finished my spool of thread. Plied it as 3-ply using Navaho plying. Turns out to be close to sock or light weight. I’ll figure the wraps per inch later. I ended up with about 329 yards. Just need to get it off the niddy-noddy and wash and skein it. Then start on the next spool.
• I can’t believe that our congress critters actually voted to give the telecoms immunity for performing illegal taps on American citizens at the behest of the Shrub without a warrant. Obama voted for the bill. I’ll still vote for him for Pres because I certainly won’t vote for a Republican. I’m trying to maintain the illusion that somehow someone will stand up for the America that we used to have. You know, the one with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Of course our current White House sitter seems to think they are quaint little documents that don’t apply to him or his administration BUT they used to mean something to the people of this country and to the people of the world. Now, we have no honor or standing since we’ve violated most of the treaties we’ve signed, tortured people, hired others to torture people, and spied upon our own citizens just because…well because the W.H. sitter wanted to.
• At least one person in Congress wants to do the right thing. He’s trying to get Congress to impeach the Shrub. Congress can impeach a Pres for having a sex with a consenting adult but we can’t manage to impeach a person who lies to Congress, lies to the American people, violates the Constitution of this Country, ignores the rights and freedoms of the citizenry, and the laws of the land, and gets thousands of American killed in a war that he lied to start. Just where is our honor and integrity — does American even have any left anymore?
• And what do people care about? Not the fact that we’re losing our rights and freedoms and our country is being dismantled around us? No, they paying more attention to the sound bites about religion, patriotism, and safety. I think it was said best that “those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one”.
• Okay, I’m grumpy. I want to live in the country that I grew up in again. I want my Congress critters to do the right things because it is the right thing to do … not because it will get them more pac money or elected next time. If you do the right thing for the right reason and because it is just and needed and for the betterment of all Americans — it will eventually be found that you are a patriot. Wrapping oneself in the flag, as far as I can see is a sure sign that one is NOT a patriot (just look at the current administration — I don’t think based on their statements to the press that they have even read our Constitution or our Bill of Rights).
• As a side note, security theater doesn’t make you safer. It just means that it takes longer to go anywhere or do anything. Entertaining as it may be to watch everyone line up and take off their shoes, it doesn’t make any flight any safer than it was before they made us take off our shoes.
• Did you know that deer will eat onions? I didn’t but one actually came into our garden and dug up our onions and ate them. So, beware there is a deer with really bad breath out there in Maryland somewhere.
• Why do gas prices always go up when there is a holiday when nothing else has changed? Why does gas go up when oil per barrel prices go up but they never go down when they drop?
• Why is the price of American oil the same as for foreign oil.  The pundits keep saying the price of oil is up because of Iran’s threats, or fighting in Nigeria, or whatever.  Is oil in Alaska threatened by Iran or Nigeria?  Why isn’t American pumped oil cheaper?  Oh yeah, because the oil companies have the God given right to make as much money as possible, regardless of how much it hurts America.  Why the hell doesn’t the government claim National Security when our National Security is actually really threatened?  Oh yeah, because the Shrub’s family all make their money off oil.  Silly me.
• Just where is the government funding for actual alternative energy? Why don’t people get rebates that actually would help them add solar panels to their roofs or windmills to their yards? Why do hybrids cost so much more than a gas guzzler?
• Did you know that if everyone took just one bag to the grocery store rather than using a plastic bag it would help save our environment, landfills, and oil? Just one bag not used every week for every person who goes shopping. Amazing how one person CAN make a difference.
• Can you believe that some people believe that Intelligent Design is actually a scientific theory? It’s a religious doctrine folks, not science. It should be taught, if taught at all, in a philosophy class, not in a science classroom. Science is the study of facts, testing what actually happened against what you thought would happen and adjusting. Adjusting facts to fit a belief is not science, it’s wishful thinking. Belief doesn’t have to make sense but science does or things fall apart.  Evolution is a FACT.  It’s observable and measurable.  It’s called a theory because scientists still haven’t worked out enough of the details to warrant changing the name.  “Theory” is a scientific term, with a scientific definition.  Twisting it to match a non-scientific usage doesn’t  change reality.  Evolution is a fact whether you want to call it a Law, Theory, Hypothosis, or Marmoset.
• Life is difficult. Things don’t always work out the way we want them too. It’s not always fair but it is the way it is. They only thing we can do is the best we can each day, living our lives as if this is all we got.  We should be the best person we can because we care about our family, our neighbors, and our fellow human beings and the planet we live on. If there is more (and there may or may not be depending on your beliefs) then living the best life you can, can not hurt your chances for a better afterlife either.

End of rants and odd thoughts. I’ve just had a bad day — I really, really should not listen to news anymore — it only depresses me and makes me think less of my fellow humans. When did the bottom line become the ultimate goal in life. I always thought it was to be the kind of person that other people wouldn’t mind spending time with or knowing.  But then again that’s just me.

Rose: The photo is of Paul’s chocolate rose. We’ve come to really like roses and this was one Paul wanted mostly for the name — it doesn’t have much scent. But the first year we had it, it didn’t really do much. The second year, we dug it up and put it in a fancy garden planter and moved it to the garden area near the herb garden. It now gets the required 6 hours of sun per day and is much happier. Last year it had two blooms. So far, this years we’ve had about six roses on it. This picture shows two of them.

Car: Not much going on. Getting right back into the swing of work. Paul had to take some time today to go check out tires — we’ve had three flats in two months. I think we’re now back on track.

Poison Ivy: The consensus seems to be that pictures B & C are poison ivy. Picture A seems right out of the fray. So, I’ll be particularly careful when around the vines in B & C from now on. Poison ivy is getting better now that we’re on steroids (Prednisone). Hopefully, it will be all gone by the end of the pills — but right now half way through it doesn’t look like it.

Garden matters: It’s been rainy so haven’t been out to do much in the yard. We got the buckets to plant the rest of the tomatoes in. The lettuce is starting to come up. Our blueberry bushes on the deck have given enough berries for blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes and some for just nibbling. Those are pretty much over. The strawberries are still blooming and making fruit but we can’t seem to beat the critters to it. Guess were not fast enough.

Tour de Fleece: So, far I’ve managed to spin for at least an hour each evening. That’s better than I expected but then that includes the time I’ve spend fussing with the spool and the tension. I’ve now got it so that I feed the thread in and it doesn’t get yanked out of my hand. So, I’m at bit more at peace. I’ll post another photo of progress on Friday.

Reading: Been reading books for review in the August issue of SFRevu and Gumshoe Review. So far, I’ve read Exodus by Julie Bertagna, Written in Blood by Sheila Lowe, and Dead over Heels by Charlaine Harris. I’m about half-way through Underground by Kat Richardson. It’s certainly a good month so far in my reading pile. Except for Exodus by Julie Bertagna, they’re all series that I’ve been following, so it’s a really nice break after getting the issues up on line on the 1st, the holiday buzz, and the car problems, and the migraines.

So, that’s a quick update. I’m hoping to follow through on the spinning and get the rest of the gardening in this week. Along with the contract job and the usual stuff. Life is pretty good today in spite of the headache.

It’s me, the cat.  Just thought I’d add my own 8.5 cents in (due to inflation you know).  Getting the car taken care of was pretty easy this time.  The first time was about a month ago.  I came out on my way to work, got in the car, drove the quarter of a mile down the dirt road, and as soon as I turned out onto the pavement, I could feel something was wrong.  So I pulled into a neighbors driveway (also a quarter mile long, so it’s not like they’re ever going to know I was there) and took a look.  The right rear tire was totally flat.  I guess I couldn’t feel it when bumping along dirt and stones at low speeds.  Anyway, it’s annoying, but it’s been a few years since I had a flat, so I figure it’s about time.  I pull the spare off, replace the tire, and find that the spare is only about half full.  Remember it had been a couple of years?  Well apparently, you need to check your spare tire’s pressure when you check the others.  Doh!  So I get some air at the first gas station (costs $1.50 for freaking air!  What is the world coming too?).  I go to work, head over to the tire place and sit in their waiting room for 3 hours while the car slowly moves through their queue of work.  Again, annoying, but these things happen.   Finally get the car back with the tire patched (and at no cost too!) and I figure that’s that.  The next day, the same tire is flat again.  Back on goes the spare and I sit for three more hours after work.  This time they tell me they can’t fix it and I need a new one.  $80 for a tire.  Holy Moly!  Well, again, it’s been a couple of years since I had to buy one, and apparently the cost of rubber has gone up too.  Anyway, now I’m done.  Brand new tire, and all should be right with the world.

Nope!

Last Thursday, I’m on my way to the doctors (where they’re squeezing me in before the holidays) to get my own poison ivy checked out.  I’m in bumper to bumper traffic when a woman in the next car starts waving at me.  I roll down the window (why do we keep using that phrase?  There’s no handled to roll!  Anyway …) and the lady informs me that my front-right tire is flat.  Grrrrr!  So, after finding a flat space to pull over into and putting the spare back to to play, I’m now twenty minutes late getting the the appointment that they were doing me the favor of squeezing in the first place.  Lucky me, they take me anyway and my poison ivy is on the mend.  Afterward … it’s back to the tire place (visit #3) where it takes 4 hours to get the tire patched.  Grumble grumble, but yeah, that’s got to be the end, right!

Nope!

The very next day, we head off to the 4th of July barbecue.  We have a very nice time, head back to the car, and find the front-left tire is flat.  This is the third different tire now.  Back goes the spare again and we have to hope for the best until today, since it’s a holiday weekend and all that.  So this morning, I e-mail into work that I’m going to be out since I have to sit and wait for the car.  I drive up to the car place, hand over the keys, and get them handed back 15 minutes later.  What?  How can that be?  Looks like my luck finally changed and I was first in line in the queue.  Turns out to have been a rotted valve stem, so the repair was free of charge and I’m out and about, wild and free.  So, being the wild and crazy guy that I am … I go to work.

Where I find out my corporate manager has been replaced (I can’t pronounce the name of the new guy, and he doesn’t speak English very well either).  And my government boss has also changed (can’t pronounce his name either). As you might expect, it went rapidly down hill from there, but as I’d prefer to keep my job, I think the fewer details there, the better.  Besides, I’ve bored you long enough.  But I bet it makes you look forward to Gayle taking back over again.