Some Population Statistics to Chew On

In 1912, the US population reached 100,000,000 citizens.

52 years later, in 1967, the nation's 200,000,000th citizen was born in Atlanta to Chinese-American parents.

On October 16th, 2006 -- 39 years later -- the United States expects citizen number 300,000,000 to be born. Based on projections, it is expected that this addition to the population will be an Hispanic child from Los Angeles.

I sometimes teach a unit on overpopulation to my class, depending on the grade I have that year. This will make an interesting real-life teaching moment.

As for where I stand on this...I confess to not having done more research on this issue. I know that the global population in toto is commonly believed to be rising steadily. I also know that many believe that it is not overpopulation that is the problem we face.

It's underpopulation that may be the issue, at least for the rest of the world. The United States may be an exception to that: we are currently the fastest-growing industrial nation in the world, and will soon be reaching population numbers to rival China and India. This even as outsourcing and other job issues significantly reduce our ability to employ these new people. Compound this with the fact that this country has the highest quality health care in the world, so we are living longer and longer, reducing the turnover rate. (I refer to this as the bathtub faucet-and-drain problem - if the water is rushing into the tub faster than the drain can remove it, what will eventually happen? No doubt others have already used this metaphor because it is so obvious, but my kids have generally not encountered it before, so I look terribly erudite and nerdy).

I think about this in the same context I think about everything nowadays...Michael. What kind of a world is he going to grow up into? Certainly this is only one of many issues that cause me anxiety at 3 AM, thinking about his future, but it is still a concern.

Anyway...that's all for now.

Damn, It Feels Good to Be a (lil) Gangsta...

Some Mo' Michaels....

Linking to Google Pages

I just set up another page, for no particular reason than that it was there. I like the picture of Michael that I have posted there, very much.

Thursday is Hell Day

Mike P.
Originally uploaded by rapnyc.

Really. My last 2 periods of the day are usually the Classes from the Pit of Flames. I get them back to back, after the occupants thereof have been loaded up with carbs and enough sugar to launch a rocket ship. Then they are sent, howling and falling over each other, into class, where they proceed to converse, yell at each other, shout across to one another, exchange desserts, laugh, tie shoelaces, and otherwise nullify any chance of the class getting anywhere. Usually. Today, though, was an unexpected phenomenon: the first of the classes came in and everything was more or less OKAY. Weird!

I was soon to find out that Nature, abhoring the vacuum, had decided to stack the chaos and concentrate it into the last class of the day instead, where all hell broke loose. After 70 minutes of this fun, I was now ready for Extended Time, 30 minutes of EXTRA tutoring (thanks for nothing, Randi Weingarten),after which I hustled it up to Lehman in the Bronx. I am now in the computer lab in Carman Hall, where I should be finishing up my epic PowerPoint presentation but instead am drafting up this bit of breathless, deathless prose. Bad me.

Then of course...I think of da littlest gangsta...and it's all good, all over again. Sweet.

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