Save The Planet, One Baby At A Time

The Telegraph had an interesting analysis of the US economy vs the world economy the other day. It's basically a pep talk, or perhaps a warning to the rest of the world; the gist of which is that while the US economy is showing signs of slowing and the dollar continues to fall in value, the US is still and will continue to be the world's economic leader.

Which is all very well and good, but something else altogether jumped out at me. Read this:

"At the end of the day, the US remains the only major power still producing babies a rate high enough to survive through the 21st century as a dynamic society."

Babies? You mean, we need people? For thirty odd years, and perhaps longer, we have been taught that the world had too many people. I remember sitting in an Environmental Science class in college and having a class discussion on the overpopulation problem. Not surprisingly, much of the problem was blamed on religious people, specifically Mormons. Apparently, big families were dooming the planet. We had an entire section devoted to this crisis, and what must be done about it.

Problem is, they got it wrong. Hard to believe, I know.

According to the UN, the developed world is facing an underpopulation crisis. Seems all those "too many people" lessons in college really hit home and we all stopped having babies. Japan's running out of people, Europe's running out too, and Russia recently had a "Conception Day" designed to remind people to, you know, reproduce when they have sex.

A major part of the Telegraph's reasoning for US economic optimism is based on the underpopulation crisis:

"China's workforce will peak in 2015. The country will then tip over into the steepest demographic decline ever recorded. It will be old before it becomes rich, doomed to second-tier status.

Japan began to shrink in 2005. Russia will shrivel to 104m by 2050, on UN data. Germany, Italy and Spain are all going grey, succumbing to that status quo outlook that comes with age. Their economies may even start to contract. Yes, birth rates can rise, but only by cultural revolution, and with long lags."

It sure would have been nice to have had this data handy in that class discussion a fews years back. As one of the few "Big Family" Mormons in the group, I could have been hailed as a planet saving hero.

Christmas Music Online

I love Christmas music. I've been listening online at work for some time now, mostly via local radio stations. But I recently found a website with worldwide Christmas-music-playing radio stations available online. So I've been listening to stations from all parts of this country, as well as from Europe and I couldn't be happier. While most stations play the classic standbys, it's been interesting to see the slight variations in playlists depending on the station.

Here's the website, for your listening pleasure. Now you can wow your coworkers by blasting your favorite seasonal music

all

day

long

Dr. Henry Eyring

Geologists search for the meaning to be read into the piled-up strata of the earth much as an historian might turn the pages of an ancient, damaged manuscript. The astronomer seeks the answer to his questions in the depths of space. Still other men concentrate on the scriptures alone. The wise man searches of these and other sources, knowing that all are communications from the same divine source and certain that, if followed far enough, all will guide him back to the divine Presence.

- Dr. Henry Eyring

The Root Of All Evil

Yesterday my wife and I were at a grocery store and found a $50 dollar bill on the floor. As my wife picked it up we both looked at each other with the same thought, "can we keep it?" We looked around to see if anyone was there searching for it but there was no one. As we walked towards the aisle that had the item we needed, we went through all the reasons why we should just keep it. Nobody would come for it. If we turned it in to the store, the clerk would just keep it. All real possibilities, and all very tempting. But we finally looked at each other one more time and knew what we had to do.

We took the money to the customer service desk and told the lady what happened. She took down our names and number and told us she'd let us know if someone came for it. We left feeling a little better knowing we had done the right thing, but not expecting to hear anything more about it. Instead, a little while later when we were back home my wife got a phone call. It was the lady who had lost the money. It dropped out of her pocket while she took her keys out. She thanked my wife over and over again for turning in the money, crying as she did so. It was a great warm fuzzy moment for us. We almost didn't do the right thing, but I'm glad we did.

He-Man and She-Ra Christmas

It's the day after Thanksgiving, and therefore the Christmas season has begun. To kick off the season, I present everyone's favorite holiday show, the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special:

I'm Thankful For...

I'm thankful for my wife, Holly. There is nobody better.

Last year I wrote a Thanksgiving post. Go read it.

Today, KBYU replayed the BYU-Utah football game. We taped it, and I watched from about midway through the third quarter all the way to the all-time amazing ending. You can watch it in my previous post.

The Deseret News has a few articles with videos about the game today too. There's this one which has a video taken by a BYU fan in the stands using a camera phone and has the audio of a married couple talking and screaming through the final play. Then there's this one with the final call and in the background you can hear the stats guy screaming like a little girl. It was truly an amazing game, which makes the anticipation for this Saturday's rematch even bigger. That is what makes college football so great. The fans have something invested in the game, and the players are often fans themselves. Rivalries mean something.

Remember Last Year?

Rivalry Week

It's rivalry week in Utah, as BYU and Utah play this weekend. Today's sports radio talkshow had fans call in with their favorite jokes. Here's a sampling:

What do you get when you cross an Arkansas Razerback and a BYU Cougar?
Nothing. There are some things even a pig won't do.

What does a BYU co-ed do after she fills up the tub?
Turns on the water.

How is a BYU co-ed like a blow up doll?
Put a ring on her finger and she inflates.

Why isn't there any ice in the BYU cafeteria?
The only one on campus that knew the recipe graduated last year.

How do you know if you're a Cougar?
You eat ice cream and get a buzz.

What's the difference between a Ute and a dollar bill?
You can still get 4 quarters out of a dollar bill.

What does a Ute get on the SAT?
Drool.

What do you get when you cross a Ute and a groundhog?
6 more weeks of bad football.

How do you keep the Utes out of your backyard?
Put up goalposts.

How do you get a Ute grad off your doorstep?
Pay for the pizza.

When OJ was running from the cops in the white bronco, why was he headed for the Utah campus?
Because nobody would look for a Heisman trophy winner at Utah.

Why has Utah never been able to have a nativity display?
After an extensive campus-wide search, they couldn't find 3 wise men or a virgin.

It's Official: Iraq Showing Signs of Progress

If NPR is reporting it, it must be true. The surge created a much greater sense of security which is allowing life to resume. People are moving back in, shops are opening, and Iraqi citizens and security forces are now invested in success.

Veteran's Day *Updated*

*Update*

Bubblehead has another post up about veterans and statistics that I thought deserved a link. So here it is.

It was Veterans Day yesterday, and as always I wonder if it's really properly recognized. I mean, I realize banks are closed today, and some people might have the day off from work, but it still feels like something's missing (Yes, that's sarcasm). But at least now we know, just in time for Veterans Day, that 25% of veterans are homeless.

It's an interesting statistic. I understand the purpose of publishing it now, and certainly more can and should be done to welcome veterans home, and to sustain that support through the years. As the NY Times notes, today's veterans aren't met with the same kind of venom that they received during the Vietnam War, though I would argue that the toned down anti-war movement of today has the same objective and same consequences of those in the past. The Times does make a good point that little to no sacrifice has been required of the general public in the current war, though by that they mean raising taxes.

The Stupid Shall be Punished is an Idaho blog on my blogroll that is run by a retired submariner calling himself Bubblehead. He has a post up for Veterans Day that also tackles the homeless vet stats a bit, and the comment section has some really interesting commentary - more so due to the fact that he and his readers are vets themselves.

FYI Department:

Two links concerning veteran homelessness,

NY Times article on a few of the non-profit resources for homeless vets.
The US Department of Veterans Affairs website concerned strictly with homeless vets:

"VA is the only Federal agency that provides substantial hands-on assistance directly to homeless persons. Although limited to veterans and their dependents, VA's major homeless-specific programs constitute the largest integrated network of homeless treatment and assistance services in the country."

Biofuels: Environmental Kneejerk Disaster

A common argument for human caused global warming is "even if we're wrong and it's not mankind's fault, shouldn't we do something anyway, just in case?"

Biofuels is the perfect example of why not. Here's the chain of events: Fossil fuels, oil, is blamed for causing global warming. Since everything uses oil, government is petitioned to find alternative sources of energy. As government is wont to do, they identify a solution that is really expensive, provides massive benefits to big business, has been proven to fail in the past and has little prospects for success in the future, and will wind up hurting the poor in the end.

Ethanol and its cousins are the biofuels of choice for most of the world, including the US government. It is made from corn and other plant products. Although it was tried and failed in the past, the recent excitement over global warming has convinced our Congress to shovel money into a failed product. The current farm bill would allocate billions of dollars to biofuels, the majority of which uses corn. Coincidentally, the Senate committee head overseeing the bill is from Iowa, where 12.5 million acres of land is used to grow corn. In addition, the Department of Energy recently gave a Spanish corporation half the cost of building a $35 million biofuels plant in Nebraska.

All of this public money flowing to private coffers, and for what? A highly suspect fuel source that, according to the UN, will be catastrophic for hungry people around the world as it diverts food and land from human consumption. The riches of business and politics come at a heavy price, as the number of starving people, which now takes the life of a child every 5 seconds, stands to increase exponentially.

VOTE!

I'm on my way to vote in a few minutes. The only thing on my ballot this year is Referendum 1, the school voucher issue. As I've noted below, I'll be voting in favor of vouchers. Incidentally, Representative Urquhart gave this humble little blog a nice plug at his place, so thank you. All you new visitors, please come again.

Oh, and go vote.

Voucher Debates

There have been some really good voucher debates around the state. Through the wonder of the internet, I don't have to actually be there to hear them, or be in a position to listen on the radio. I've listened to all of these debates, and it's been great. So without further ado, here they are:

Paul Mero and Rob Miller at Utah State University on KVNU

Rep. Greg Hughes and Richard Eyre against Pat Rusk and Rep. Sheryl Allen on KCPW

Carmen Snow against Rep. Steve Urquhart at Dixie College

These are the debates I have listened to so far, if there are others out there, please let me know and lend a link.

-UPDATE-

The Senate Site has a really good link page of op-eds, tv commercials, voter guide info, and newspaper articles. Check it out.

Heroes, And Yes, Desperate Housewives

Over the last couple of months we've discovered old seasons of two TV shows: Heroes and Desperate Housewives. Heroes is kind of a no brainer for me. But Desperate Housewives? Well, my wife dragged me into it after she was dragged into it, and I watched pretty much all of season 1. I admit it, I liked it. Now, I've seen a few episodes of later seasons and it looks like it went downhill from there. But that season 1, man, had me rolling. Here's a sample dialogue that pretty much sums up the humor for me. It's the Terri Hatcher character talking to her on again off again love interest about a murderous neighbor:

"There he is, a murderer, living right there on our street, and there's nothing we can do about it, because you're a convicted felon and I burned down that stupid house. It's not fair"

It's just a bizarre mix of characters and plot twists where everything is shocking, and yet at the same time nothing is. And I say shocking not in the stupid way, but a really really funny way. Unfortunately, it seems that they couldn't keep it going with the following seasons. So for me, the fun's over with Desperate Housewives.

Now Heroes is just really cool. Cool concept, great characters, fun show to watch. We really devoured the DVD's with this one. As an added bonus, now I feel a little more in tune with pop culture since I know what "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World" is all about.

My favorite character is Hiro Nakamura, the Japanese idealist and all around good guy. The man just always has a smile on his face. This was actually my biggest complaint with the show was that all these people with super powers seemed so bummed out about it. I realize the cheerleader is a teenager and all, but come on, what person in their right mind would realize they were indestructible and not think that was the coolest thing ever? Hiro can manipulate time, and he loves it. My favorite is when something good happens and he thrusts his arms in the air and grins.


So go see it.