[NON BLOG] Brief Health Note

My appointment with the doctor this afternoon to discuss my CAT scan went well.

It turned out that the X-ray technicians who suspected I had sarcoidosis read too much into the X-ray, and that I've nothing worse than a simple cough. No exotic strain of drug-resistant tuberculosis fresh from the former Soviet Union, no metastazing lung cancer, no P. carinii, no exotic auto-immune disease, nothing still more baroque.

I was surprised by how relieved I felt, since I'd expected a fairly grim report. I think that I might be a bit of a hypochondriac.

[BLOG-LIKE POSTING] Staying Poor and Growing Old in the Third World

Just today, I noticed an interesting article in the Korea Times, "Alarming Birth Rate Decline: Job Security, Social Justice Ought to Be Enhanced":

These days, an increasing number of young couples are not interested in having babies. Consequently, the rapidly declining birth rate has emerged as a serious social issue. In a desperate effort to increase the fertility rate, the government recently decided to grant a three-month leave to working husbands when their spouses give birth.

The alarming birth rate decline is supported by data, which the National Statistical Office made public Thursday. The number of births given by the nation's women averaged 1.17 in 2002, lower than 1.6 for the United Kingdom, 1.9 for France and 2.1 for the United States. The figures showed a steep decline from the 4.53 registered in 1970.

( Read more. )

( What does this mean for semi-peripheral economies? Not too much that's unmanageable. )

( What does this mean for the poorest countries, or the sending countries? )

Rural areas worldwide, in rich countries and poor countries, will be hit worst by this, particularly rural areas with unmodernized labour-intensive agricultural economies which suddenly find themselves lacking the labour they need. (Ukraine, anyone?) Globally, we may see a growing concentration of population in the relatively richer parts of the world--in the First World generally, but also in Mexico and MERCOSUR in Latin America, in the coastal provinces of China, in the south of the Korean peninsula, and elsewhere.

There's an irony here. At the 1974 Bucharest conference on world population, non-Western governments opposed Western governments which proposed relatively intrusive forms of population control. Many governments, most prominently China, claimed that these proposals were motivated by Western fears that growing non-Western populations would shift the global balance of power: If the world outside the West couldn't be rich, it could at least be populous. Now, it seems there's a realistic chance that much of it might be neither.

( Counter )

UPDATE (10:24 PM) : Crossposted to Bonoboland.

[NON BLOG] Four Things About My Evening

• Biking around Kingston is wonderful, even after I found out that what I thought was mist coming off of the lake was actually smog. With its well-maintained brick and limestone buildings, its lakefront location, and navigable streets, Kingston is a good place to explore on bike (on foot too, if you've the time).


• I went to the liquor store downtown, to pick up two bottles of Szekszárdi wine, a 2001 vintage "produced & bottled by Hungarovin Ltd." that's a dry red. I'm rather fond of Hungarian wines, particularly this one. I dropped one bottle off at my West Campus friends, the one who hosted that party last Friday night. The other bottle I kept for myself.


• Returning, I stopped by the Gallery Café on 189 Sydenham Street for supper. It had received glowingly positive write-ups in the PIC Press and the Queen's Journal, and I decided to give it a try. It was a pleasant environment, brightly-lit and well-arranged, with a guitarist and flautist collaborating first on some classical pieces then on some Celtic and Irish tunes. I enjoyed it, though I only got my pecan tart after I asked the cashier. I'll give it a 7 out of 10 for the time being, improvements dependent on improving service.


• Working on my resume tonight, I'm realizing only now how out of date it is. Gack. Will post later--comments much appreciated.