I know something will get me in the end

but I'm glad I have never smoked, and I wish someone in my family would quit. She already has COPD, and I worry about her, as I watched her father go through the same thing.

Smoking Blamed for Half of Deaths From Major Cancers in People Over 35

About half of U.S. deaths caused by certain cancers -- including lung, colon and pancreatic tumors -- can be attributed to smoking, a new American Cancer Society study estimates.

In 2011, nearly half of the almost 346,000 deaths from 12 cancers in people 35 and older were linked to smoking, the study found.

"Despite large declines in smoking in the United States over the last 50 years, smoking still accounts for the majority of lung cancer deaths," said study co-author Rebecca Siegel, the American Cancer Society's director of surveillance information.

The researchers looked at 12 cancers known to be caused by smoking. In 2011, they found that 346,000 people died from these types of cancer. The researchers also had data on current and former smoking, and found that almost 168,000 of these deaths were due to tobacco.

Smoking is preventable. These deaths are preventable. It's no guarantee--people get cancer who have never smoked, even lung cancer, but it would decrease the deaths substantially. Isn't that worth putting down the cancer stick?

Interesting

Majority of Americans Now Own Smartphones, Survey Says

A study by Nielsen on Monday showed that 50.4 percent of all mobile subscribers owned a smartphone, as of March - the first time that smartphones outsold feature phones since Nielsen began tracking both several years ago. Moreover, the number of users with an Android phone continues to increase, reaching nearly half of all smartphone owners.

Smartphones, almost by definition, include the ability to access the combined knowledge of the Internet, either through a browser or the thousands of apps available via online app stores. Not surprisingly, Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that consumers tapped into the mobile computing and sharing power those smartphones offer.

Cool graphs of verbal vs. mathematical aptitude in various academic majors

Verbal vs. mathematical aptitude in academics

Worst verbal? Accounting and social work majors
Worst math/quantitative? Social work majors
Worst reading? Social work majors

Doesn't sound great for that profession. Philosophy majors do well in all three categories.

I was a history and sociology major with the honours programme (which was essentially a 'Great Books' curriculum that was in addition to other classes--I added a classical civilisation with a Judaic studies minor after I actually received my BA. Sadly, I was one class short of a linguistics major. (Damn phonological analysis, which was never taught when I could take it.) So I was an social sciences/humanities geek. When I took the GRE my intended major was history.)) Like the analysis for history, my quantitative was about average (somewhere in the upper 500s--that was 21 years ago and I have no idea where my original scores are) and my verbal high (somewhere in the upper 600s or lower 700s, I think). What I sucked majorly in was the special subject test for history of all things, because it had a lot of art history. I have since rectified that deficit. I wonder how'd I do these days? I think my brain is turning somewhat to mush. I need to exercise it more.

If you click on the ClustrMaps icon at the bottom of this page

an interesting chart pops up:

Current Country Totals
From 14 Jun 2008 to 22 Feb 2009

US - United States 4,054
GB - United Kingdom 301
CA - Canada 229
AU - Australia 110
IN - India 82
DE - Germany 69
IE - Ireland 43
PH - Philippines 39
NL - Netherlands 36
FR - France 33
CN - China 30
PL - Poland 25
EU - Europe 23
AE - United Arab Emirates 23
SE - Sweden 22
MX - Mexico 22
ES - Spain 20
NZ - New Zealand 18
JP - Japan 17
SA - Saudi Arabia 17
MY - Malaysia 17
SG - Singapore 16
DK - Denmark 16
RO - Romania 15
IL - Israel 15
NO - Norway 15
TR - Turkey 15
EG - Egypt 14
PK - Pakistan 14
IT - Italy 14
CZ - Czech Republic 13
AT - Austria 12
CH - Switzerland 12
BE - Belgium 12
TH - Thailand 12
GR - Greece 11
HU - Hungary 11
FI - Finland 11
RU - Russian Federation 10
RS - Serbia 9
ID - Indonesia 9
BR - Brazil 8
HK - Hong Kong 8
BG - Bulgaria 7
KR - Korea, Republic of 7
UA - Ukraine 7
ZA - South Africa 7
TW - Taiwan 6
PR - Puerto Rico 6
JO - Jordan 5
KW - Kuwait 5
AR - Argentina 5
PT - Portugal 4
SK - Slovakia 4
TT - Trinidad and Tobago 4
VN - Vietnam 4
VE - Venezuela 3
CL - Chile 3
DO - Dominican Republic 3
BA - Bosnia and Herzegovina 2
HR - Croatia 2
MK - Macedonia 2
DZ - Algeria 2
KE - Kenya 2
IR - Iran, Islamic Republic of 2
CO - Colombia 2
GH - Ghana 2
NG - Nigeria 2
LY - Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 2
PE - Peru 2
EE - Estonia 1
CM - Cameroon 1
BJ - Benin 1
UY - Uruguay 1
GY - Guyana 1
MU - Mauritius 1
UG - Uganda 1
TO - Tonga 1
LK - Sri Lanka 1
BY - Belarus 1
LT - Lithuania 1
ZW - Zimbabwe 1
SD - Sudan 1
GE - Georgia 1
BM - Bermuda 1
PS - Palestinian Territory 1
MA - Morocco 1
LB - Lebanon 1
TN - Tunisia 1
CY - Cyprus 1
BD - Bangladesh 1
OM - Oman 1
YE - Yemen 1
MT - Malta 1
AG - Antigua and Barbuda 1
SI - Slovenia 1
KY - Cayman Islands 1
VI - Virgin Islands, U.S. 1
GT - Guatemala 1

That's so cool. Who would have thought that people from that many countries would be reading this blog? 99 countries! If I'm doing my math right that's 5,758 hits over the last 8 months. Wow! And it still surprises me that I have over 77,283 visits over all since I began in 2001, and more than 107,716 page views. At the moment I have five followers through Blogger and 64 subscribers through Feedburner. Thank you so much for reading. It's a little weird to think about that many people tuning into my personal life and things that strike me as worthy of comment, but kind of nice, too. This blog is in its eighth year and I really appreciate that I'm not just writing in a vacuum, but that real people take the time to read what I write.

Now if we could only close the gaps in life-expectancy by race

Gender seems to be doing so.

From the newsfeed for what's new on PubMed:

Life expectancy for Americans surpassed 78 years for the first time in 2006, and life span increases occurred for both men and women, the National Center for Health Statistics recently reported. American women continue to outlive men. The record life expectancy for both white and African-American women was almost 77 and 71 years, respectively. But male life expectancy jumped too (at 76 and 70 years respectively for white and African-Americans)...

You can also listen to the NLM (National Library of Medicine) Director's Comments on the Increase in U.S. Life Expectancy. The transcript is also available.