From the monthly archives:

October 2004

Reproduction

October 29, 2004

I’m currently taking a course, “Measures and Models of Demography,” and today we were discussing calculating fertility and birth rates and how these calculations have had to change quite a bit for developed countries recently because of technology and cultural changes. Combining this with my reading of books on genetics like Genome, The Red Queen, [...]

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South Beach Diet and the low-carb craze

October 27, 2004

I just attended an interesting lecture on age trajectories of mortality. Since I’m now working at one of the world’s preeminent demographic research centers, I thought I would share some insights. Japan is the healthiest, most robust, oldest living population in the world, with Japanese women living an average of 85 years. The age expectancy [...]

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Germany’s view of America

October 27, 2004

Rainer told me that he watched a program on German TV where Germany’s top newscasters discussed the German view of America. Over the years since WWII, consistently 85-90% of Germans had a positive view of America. When George W. took office, this percentage dropped to about 65%, then after September 11, it rose back to [...]

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Argh, the disappointment…

October 26, 2004

After reading several news websites, I think that CNN International erred when reporting that Virginia was a battleground state. The CNN website reports Virginia is “Likely Bush.” So, Bush says of Kerry, “You cannot win a war you do not believe in fighting.” We’re still at war? Didn’t Bush say, “my fellow Americans, major combat [...]

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Virginia is for Lovers

October 26, 2004

Well, I just noticed last night that Virginia is a battleground state in this election, so my vote does count! Woohoo! Depressingly, the polls show Bush with a slight lead, but it is within the margin of error, and I haven’t seen these broken down by state. Wouldn’t it be funny if Bush won the [...]

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Pig noses…

October 25, 2004

This weekend was also a disturbing weekend because I found a pig nose in my garden. A real pig nose. It was completely disgusting. I have no idea how it got there. Rainer suggests that it was either some teenage boys playing a joke or someone doesn’t like us. But if it’s teenage boys, it [...]

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Troublemaking bunnies!

October 25, 2004

My bunnies got in some serious trouble this weekend. Because my walls are getting torn down, they had to be moved to the bathroom, which I bunny-proofed, of course. So, I was upstairs reading (The Alienist – very good) when the power went out suddenly. I ran downstairs, hoping not to find a fried bunny. [...]

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