- It was old. It had been sitting on the back of the pantry shelf
I promise (or at least I will try) not to waste any more food or money in the time I have left.
According to the people who monitor the U.S. Census Bureau's International Data Base (IDB), the population of the world will reach 8,000,000,000 (that's billion, with a B) in October 2023. If people are born at a steady rate throughout a year (they probably aren't), simple math tells us that every single day nearly 22,000,000 people on this planet celebrate their birthdays. Despite that fact, during my 82 years so far on planet Earth I have met only two people who have the same birthday I do, Juanda Seeton of Mansfield, Texas, and Allison Summersill of Cumming, Georgia. I'm not saying there aren't others, I'm just saying I haven't met any.
World War II ended 78 years ago. The war in Europe ended in May 1945 and the war in the Pacific ended for all practical purposes in August after the first atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima on the 6th and the second atomic bomb destroyed Nagasaki on the 9th. Japan formally surrendered aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945, exactly 78 years ago this Saturday.
Do the math. The very youngest of the more than 16,000,000 Americans who served in the military during World War II -- that is, someone who entered the military on his or her 17th birthday on September 1, 1945 -- is now 95 years old (78 + 17). So how can "hero flights" ferrying participants to Normandy for D-Day observances (June 6, 1944) or Honolulu for Pearl Harbor Day observances (which occurred even earlier on December 7, 1941) occur with such frequency and be displayed on evening news telecasts?
I will tell you how. We are a big country to start with (335,000,000), plus people are living longer all the time. In 2010, for example, the decennial U.S. Census found 425,000 persons 95 or older. By 2020 the number had increased to 631,000 (a 48% increase in that particular age category).
I heard someone say recently on television that "we are losing U.S. veterans of World War II at the rate of 12,000 to 15,000 per month". If every single one of those 631,000 oldsters were military veterans (they aren't) and the death rate I heard is true (it may not be), they will all be gone in 3½ to 4½ years.
I love statistics of this sort.
But you knew that.
Advice columnist Ann Landers once wrote, "If life hands you a lemon, make lemonade". Apparently she never heard of World War II or Lucky Leaf lemon pie filling.
I once opened a can of tomato sauce that exploded all over me. I am lucky I wasn't able to eat any. I suppose canned goods don't last forever.
ReplyDeleteIf in doubt, throw it out. It is odd to think that some people have regular injections of botulinum toxin.
ReplyDeleteI do like the statistics in this post. Sometimes looking at stats can be nothing but looking at a boring set of figures, but these are not.
ReplyDeleteGiven this is the blog of a man particular about the accuracy of his statements please may I point out that the statement "...I haven't met any." at the end of the third paragraph may not be accurate. Perhaps it should read "......I haven't met any so far as I am aware." Or some such statement.
ReplyDeleteThe ages statistics are truly amazing and Very Interesting.
Until further notice or until I can figure out why Blogger is toying with us, I plan to iconsolidate my replies to your comments in one large comment at the end of the list. If more comments come in after that, I will repeat the technique. TYIA.
ReplyDeleteEmma, -- Thanks for commenting. What a mess that must have been!
jabblog -- Thanks for commenting. "If in doubt, throw it out" is a good rule to follow.
Rachel -- Thank you for the compliment. I have not been able to access your blog for a couple of weeks now, but I see that I am able to click on your name in your comment here and reach it. Now I have some readng to catch up on! I have no idea what Blogger is doing.
Graham -- You are absolutely right. How short-sighted of me. I am not going to back and modify the text now, however. What's done is done. I may address it in a future post, however. Thanks as always for commenting.
Bob, for one week I took my blog back to myself and made it Private. I have now released it again to Public. It was not meant as an act against any particular individuals as some appear to have thought, I just wanted to continue to write but be alone. Thank you for answering my comment left here today.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to say about veterans and statistics so let me just tell you, my lunch today doesn't have an expiry date because it was cooked in my kitchen. It languished in the back of the fridge for a little while but it still looks and smells good so hopefully no botulism :)
ReplyDeleteI was gonna say I'll let you know but if there's botulism, I probably wont
I read once that if you find yourself in a roomful of x number of people (sorry but I cannot remember the number, but it was not a particularly large one; way fewer than 100), guaranteed, someone in that room will have the same birthday as you. I share a birthday with Bryan Cranston, Ivan Lendl, Bret Easton Ellis, Lynn Swann, and others I don't care to mention. BTW I was reading my own blog today, hahahha because someone had read this particular post and wrote to ask me a question about it, and I noticed a comment from Tracie Walker (Rosezilla) from nearly 15 years ago, and so I went to her now-inactive blog and saw a comment from you on her blog from more than five years ago. So I came over here and I think I may stick around if you don't mind. xoxo
ReplyDelete