Ad astra per aspera
Thirteen may be unlucky for some, but not for the National Theatre of Wales's artistic director, John McGrath, who has just announced a baker's dozen of productions to mark NTW's inaugural year-long season. It's an eclectic list, ranging from the first production for more than 50 years of The Devil Inside Him, a "lost" John Osborne play set in a Cardiff boarding house, written just before Look Back in Anger - to a new show, Mundo Paralelo, from the brilliant Welsh-based No Fit State circus. The 13th show of the season, which will take place in Port Talbot in April 2011, is to be Passion, a contemporary version of the old community plays that used to be performed amid the steel town's smoking towers. Actor Michael Sheen, who grew up there, is creative director of the project and will also star in it.
Parents are to lose the right to withdraw their child from sex education classes when the youngster reaches 15, the Schools Secretary announced today. The move means all teenagers will receive at least one year's worth of lessons covering sex, contraception and relationships before the age of consent.
Parents are to lose the right to withdraw their child from sex education classes when the youngster reaches 15, the Schools Secretary announced today.
The move means all teenagers will receive at least one year's worth of lessons covering sex, contraception and relationships before the age of consent.
Plus I bet there are no condom machines for kids, they sure as heck won't buy them in chemists. keep to the Fen Causeway
most kids? waaaay before then?
That seems to be two rather big overstatements. The median age still is about 17, and even for those who started younger, it can't be MUCH younger than 14 for biological reasons. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
Still, I read something the other day, that people on average start having sex at 16-17, and that only one in ten have had sex at age 14. Which is probably why everyone felt that they were the only one who hadn't had sex when they were 14. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Maybe it's pollution? Maybe social changes lead the brain to delay it. I don't really know, but so far I had only ever read that people used to hit puberty younger in the past. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi
Timing of the onset of puberty The definition of the onset of puberty depends on perspective (e.g., hormonal versus physical) and purpose (establishing population normal standards, clinical care of early or late pubescent individuals, etc.) The most commonly used definition of the onset of puberty is physical changes to a person's body[citation needed]. These physical changes are the first visible signs of neural, hormonal, and gonadal function changes. The age at which puberty begins varies between individuals and populations. The age at which puberty begins is affected by both genetic factors and by environmental factors such as nutritional state and social circumstances.[1] The average age at which puberty begins is affected by your race. For example, the average age of menarche in various populations surveyed[weasel words] has ranged from 12 to 18 years. The earliest average onset of puberty is for African-American girls and the oldest average onset for high altitude subsistence populations in Asia. However, much of the higher age averages reflect nutritional limitations more than genetic differences and can change within a few generations with a substantial change in diet. The median age of menarche for a population may be an index of the proportion of undernourished girls in the population, and the width of the spread may reflect unevenness of wealth and food distribution in a population. Researchers have identified an earlier age of the onset of puberty. However, they have based their conclusions on a comparison of data from 1999 with data from 1969. In the earlier example, the sample population was based on a small sample of white girls (200, from Britain). The later study identified as puberty as occurring in 48% of African-American girls by age nine, and 12% of white girls by that age.[34] Historical shift The average age at which the onset of puberty occurs has dropped significantly since the 1840s.[35][36][37] Researchers[who?] refer to this drop as the 'secular trend'. In every decade from 1840 to 1950 there was a drop of four months in the average age of menarche among Western European females. In Norway, girls born in 1840 had their menarche at an average age of 17 years. In France the average in 1840 was 15.3 years. In England the average in 1840 was 16.5 years. In Japan the decline happened later and was then more rapid: from 1945 to 1975 in Japan there was a drop of 11 months per decade.
The definition of the onset of puberty depends on perspective (e.g., hormonal versus physical) and purpose (establishing population normal standards, clinical care of early or late pubescent individuals, etc.) The most commonly used definition of the onset of puberty is physical changes to a person's body[citation needed]. These physical changes are the first visible signs of neural, hormonal, and gonadal function changes.
The age at which puberty begins varies between individuals and populations. The age at which puberty begins is affected by both genetic factors and by environmental factors such as nutritional state and social circumstances.[1]
The average age at which puberty begins is affected by your race. For example, the average age of menarche in various populations surveyed[weasel words] has ranged from 12 to 18 years. The earliest average onset of puberty is for African-American girls and the oldest average onset for high altitude subsistence populations in Asia. However, much of the higher age averages reflect nutritional limitations more than genetic differences and can change within a few generations with a substantial change in diet. The median age of menarche for a population may be an index of the proportion of undernourished girls in the population, and the width of the spread may reflect unevenness of wealth and food distribution in a population.
Researchers have identified an earlier age of the onset of puberty. However, they have based their conclusions on a comparison of data from 1999 with data from 1969. In the earlier example, the sample population was based on a small sample of white girls (200, from Britain). The later study identified as puberty as occurring in 48% of African-American girls by age nine, and 12% of white girls by that age.[34] Historical shift
The average age at which the onset of puberty occurs has dropped significantly since the 1840s.[35][36][37] Researchers[who?] refer to this drop as the 'secular trend'. In every decade from 1840 to 1950 there was a drop of four months in the average age of menarche among Western European females. In Norway, girls born in 1840 had their menarche at an average age of 17 years. In France the average in 1840 was 15.3 years. In England the average in 1840 was 16.5 years. In Japan the decline happened later and was then more rapid: from 1945 to 1975 in Japan there was a drop of 11 months per decade.
But I guess no one should be surprised when something is influenced both bu genes and the local environment, after all, what isn't? Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
How do you separate the effect of genes and different social situations?... *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
people started having sex a lot earlier a few hundred years ago (when people die at 30, they'd better)
Where did you get that from? Do you mean people started having sex before puberty?
As for "when people die at 30", that's a common misunderstanding of life expectancy at birth statistics. Life expectancy at birth of 40 (the most common figure quoted for Early Modern Europe) does not mean everyone dies at 40. It's an average, and the reason it's so low is infantile mortality. At birth, you had a fairly high chance of dying in the first week of life, (first year, first ten years). But if you got through to 30 you had a decent chance of reaching 60 or 70.
No, that wouldn't make much sense, would it? But certainly earlier than the current 17. IIRC the age of consent was considerable lower in the olden days, in spite of people hitting puberty later than they do today, because of worse nutrition. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
I remember a story about Blair going into talk to a load of 14 year olds in a school and he was talking up sex education under labour and the firls just laughed and said 6 girls in their class had had kids before the much-trumpeted sex education even happened.
Problem is that we don't copy countries who do it right. And the reason is cos our so-called anglo-saxon morality is offended by the idea of teaching kids about sex at an age where it might help. We wait until they're sort-of adult cos that's when parents want their kids to learn, when it's actually too late for immature children who've already done the experimenting. And some of them, too many of them, pay the price for that. keep to the Fen Causeway
Parents are to lose the right to withdraw their child from sex education classes
Isn't anyone else bothered by this frame? The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European drug manufacturers and dealers are becoming highly innovative and sophisticated in marketing legal alternatives to illicit drugs, such as 'spice', an annual report on the state of drugs in Europe shows. While regular cannabis consumption is on the decline, a new trend, of 'legal' plant-based products with psychoactive effect is emerging, the European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction reports in its latest released data.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European drug manufacturers and dealers are becoming highly innovative and sophisticated in marketing legal alternatives to illicit drugs, such as 'spice', an annual report on the state of drugs in Europe shows.
While regular cannabis consumption is on the decline, a new trend, of 'legal' plant-based products with psychoactive effect is emerging, the European monitoring centre for drugs and drug addiction reports in its latest released data.
Cue Government stupidity in huge measure. Moral panics aplenty . Sell ignorance, it'll be everywhere soon.
{sigh} keep to the Fen Causeway
LONDON (Reuters) - The number of people needing hospital treatment for the H1N1 virus in England is "snowballing," although the rise in the overall number of estimated cases is slowing, health officials said on Thursday. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said there are now 848 patients in hospital with swine flu, of whom 172 are receiving critical care. In September, the number of swine flu patients in hospital was below 300. Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, said the reason for the jump in severe cases was unknown, although the virus is not thought to have mutated.
LONDON (Reuters) - The number of people needing hospital treatment for the H1N1 virus in England is "snowballing," although the rise in the overall number of estimated cases is slowing, health officials said on Thursday.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said there are now 848 patients in hospital with swine flu, of whom 172 are receiving critical care. In September, the number of swine flu patients in hospital was below 300.
Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, said the reason for the jump in severe cases was unknown, although the virus is not thought to have mutated.
Ethan Nadelmann is feeling good. Really good. As the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Nadelmann has long advocated for the liberalization of U.S. drug laws -- specifically, making marijuana legal, regulated and taxed and ending criminal penalties on the possession and use of all other drugs. For most of that time the Alliance has been relegated to the fringe of serious policy discussions, a space long occupied - or so the stereotype goes - by radical libertarians and readers of the marijuana enthusiast magazine High Times. But things are changing. The last few months are "the first time I've ever felt that the wind is at my back and not in my face," Nadelmann said. "There's a tremendous amount of momentum across the board." Consider the developments of the last year. In March, Virginia Sen. Jim Webb introduced a bill calling for a wholesale overhaul of the criminal justice system in the United States. Our system is cripplingly large, he argued, and marred by wrongful incarcerations, poor rehabilitative treatment and mental health care and a price tag of $44 billion a year on prisons alone.
As the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Nadelmann has long advocated for the liberalization of U.S. drug laws -- specifically, making marijuana legal, regulated and taxed and ending criminal penalties on the possession and use of all other drugs.
For most of that time the Alliance has been relegated to the fringe of serious policy discussions, a space long occupied - or so the stereotype goes - by radical libertarians and readers of the marijuana enthusiast magazine High Times.
But things are changing. The last few months are "the first time I've ever felt that the wind is at my back and not in my face," Nadelmann said. "There's a tremendous amount of momentum across the board."
Consider the developments of the last year. In March, Virginia Sen. Jim Webb introduced a bill calling for a wholesale overhaul of the criminal justice system in the United States. Our system is cripplingly large, he argued, and marred by wrongful incarcerations, poor rehabilitative treatment and mental health care and a price tag of $44 billion a year on prisons alone.
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the dead gunman as Nidal Malik Hasan. The Army Times earlier this year reported that Hasan, a doctor in the Medical Corps, had been promoted to major. Army officials refused Thursday to identify anyone involved in the shootings. According to records, Hasan had lived in Maryland and Virginia. He was assigned to Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood at the time of the attack. CNN reported that Hasan was a mental health specialist and had previously practiced at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, the commanding general of Fort Hood, said one gunman was shot at the processing center and that two others suspected of involvement were apprehended later.
According to records, Hasan had lived in Maryland and Virginia. He was assigned to Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood at the time of the attack. CNN reported that Hasan was a mental health specialist and had previously practiced at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, the commanding general of Fort Hood, said one gunman was shot at the processing center and that two others suspected of involvement were apprehended later.
hmmm Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
An Army psychiatrist is under guard in a Texas hospital after being accused of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others in one of the worst mass shootings at a U.S. military base. Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on fellow soldiers with two handguns at the Fort Hood Army Base yesterday afternoon before he was shot several times, Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the commander of III Corps at the base, told reporters. "He is currently in custody and in a stable condition," said Cone, adding authorities initially believed the assailant had been killed. "As horrible as this was, I think it could have been much worse." ...
Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on fellow soldiers with two handguns at the Fort Hood Army Base yesterday afternoon before he was shot several times, Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the commander of III Corps at the base, told reporters.
"He is currently in custody and in a stable condition," said Cone, adding authorities initially believed the assailant had been killed. "As horrible as this was, I think it could have been much worse." ...
a communication formula, historical motif. BTW, who are the other perps?
The suspect came to the attention of authorities six months ago because of Internet postings discussing suicide bombings and other threats, AP reported, citing unidentified law enforcement officials. Suicide Bombers One of the Web postings equated suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades, according to the report. Officials are trying to confirm whether Hasan was the author of the postings, the news service said.
Suicide Bombers
One of the Web postings equated suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades, according to the report. Officials are trying to confirm whether Hasan was the author of the postings, the news service said.
HMMMMMMMMMM Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
I realise it's not always easy to know if someone is dead or alive, especially if they're running around killing people, and they're Muslim too.
But it's a bit odd to be getting news reports of fatal shootage yesterday, and then being told the shooter is alive and well today - especially when the perp was 'shot multiple times' in an army camp, surrounded by professionals with weapons.
As for inaccurate reported, well, that's a real shock, isn't it?
It was, by all accounts, the army reporting that was incorrect.
Manchurian Candidate (1962) Manchurian Candidate (2004) The Bourne Identity (2002) The Bourne Identity Crisis (2003) Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
Ten of the victims were soldiers and one was a civilian police officer. Two other injured soldiers were in a "very serious" condition in hospital. Gun fire later erupted around the base as two alleged accomplices, also US soldiers, were captured and police said there may have been more than one gunman. One of them had barricaded himself in a traumatic brain injury unit where he was surrounded by SWAT teams. Four police officers were wounded before he was arrested.
Gun fire later erupted around the base as two alleged accomplices, also US soldiers, were captured and police said there may have been more than one gunman.
One of them had barricaded himself in a traumatic brain injury unit where he was surrounded by SWAT teams. Four police officers were wounded before he was arrested.
BTW, when did army property become FBI jurisdiction? Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
CNN: senior officer at golf course 2.5 mi from base witnessed the arrest of a suspect.
DJ wire: A second gunman is in custody after a shooting ... The report comes about two hours after a first suspect was captured, shortly after gunfire broke out.
ABC: Two other soldiers were taken into custody but were later released. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
Questions over competition in the media industry have been raised by Rupert Murdoch's admission that News Corporation is talking to other organisations about its plans to introduce web charging.Murdoch this week admitted that it is proving harder than expected to introduce charges for readers browsing his newspaper websites and that News Corp may miss a target of next June for the introduction of so-called "pay walls" at papers including the Sun, the Times, the New York Post and the Australian.The initiative, which has divided the industry, is an attempt to recalibrate the business model for struggling print media businesses.
Murdoch this week admitted that it is proving harder than expected to introduce charges for readers browsing his newspaper websites and that News Corp may miss a target of next June for the introduction of so-called "pay walls" at papers including the Sun, the Times, the New York Post and the Australian.
The initiative, which has divided the industry, is an attempt to recalibrate the business model for struggling print media businesses.
