If Only 13 was Onety Three

Aaron is getting to like numbers. He likes counting things and he enjoys writing numbers. One to ten was easy to teach him. I think he's known them for close to a year now from the count down to end a nursing session.

Once he could write and recognize the numbers one to ten, we went further. Eleven and Twelve were ok. Thirteen to twenty were manageable.

It wasn't until I started introducing all the numbers above twenty that he started to get confused with all the teens.

After learning about double digit numbers like forty five or sixty seven, he started to draw a blank whenever I wrote a number beginning with '1'. I also need to lead him a little for the twenties and thirties.

I've been telling him to look at the first digit, for example in 53, say whatever that number is, "five", and add a "ty" on the end. After that, just read the second digit normally. If that number is a '0', you don't need to say anything.

Of course, this only works for numbers 40 to 99.

There is some sort of explanation for all the confusion here. Unfortunately, the link to further information seems dead.

But wouldn't it have been easier if they just did this:

10 - Onety
11 - Onety One
12 - Onety Two
13 - Onety Three
etc

20 and 30 can be twoty and threety. That sounds pretty cute. Doesn't it?

Cute doesn't cut it though. Tomorrow we'll have to persevere with reality.

On a separate note, I wanted to show off the new award that Bilbo passed on yesterday.

I think I started reading Bilbo's blog around August 2007 and have done so almost every day since. He's full of funny stories and colorful rants. I never thought we would end up pen pals as well. Thank you very much Bilbo!

407,295 Blog Posts today as of 11.19AM my time

Mike leaves frequent reminders about doing "numbers posts" and I have been meaning to do one for a long time but hadn't come across anything interesting until this morning. Here's a simple website with "real time" world statistics.

Worldometers has a page of simple to read statistics for the worlds population, government and economics, society and media, environment, food, water, energy and health.

The figures are "real time" based on an algorithm that processes the data (available from supposedly "prestigious" sources) and extrapolates the current number based on the time of YOUR computer clock.

In the time that it took me to type the title of this post and the three short paragraphs above, the number of blog posts has already risen to 414,651. Probably more since it took me awhile to type the previous sentence and type that number. That would mean that there were 7356 other people blogging at the same time as me.

Each of the numbers alone don't mean anything because there are no stories to go with this website. However, when you look at just how large some of these numbers are and spend a moment to think of, for example, the 1.3 Billion people in the world with no access to safe drinking water, you find yourself spending a lot more time on this website.

OK, lets have one final check for the number of blog posts as of NOW - 428,475.

Smoking in the rain

It has been raining continuously for a few days now and is forecasted to remain this way until Friday. This means I have to get creative with activities for Aaron indoors.

While Aaron hasn't made it out of the house much, I've kept to my routine of going to the gym each day. This morning, as I left the building where the gym is I walked past a row of people standing outside. Actually, they were all a little bent over and trying to stay dry because there was not much cover. And, they were all smoking.

We have been enjoying the smoke free environment here so much that I think I forgot about smokers. I wonder at the percentage of smokers here vs Palembang but I don't think I'd be able to find any real statistics on it. All I know is that there isn't a place in Palembang that I can go without being surrounded by smokers, indoors or outdoors.

Anyway, I know that people start smoking for various reasons and like any addiction, it is hard to stop. So, I am not judging those people I saw today. I just felt grateful that the non-smoking laws are so prevalent in Australia that it has taken me 2 months to inhale some second hand smoke.

Mike wanted a new numbers person and while I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable as Numeric Life, I managed to find these interesting numbers on what happens after your quit smoking. I got it from the American Lung Association site. I never knew that over time, the effects of smoking could be reversed.

At 20 minutes after quitting:
* blood pressure decreases
* pulse rate drops
* body temperature of hands and feet increases

At 8 hours:
* carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal
* oxygen level in blood increases to normal

At 24 hours:
* chance of a heart attack decreases

At 48 hours:
* nerve endings start regrowing
* ability to smell and taste is enhanced

At 2 weeks to 3 months:
* circulation improves
* walking becomes easier
* lung function increases

1 to 9 months:
* coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases

1 year:
* excess risk of coronary heart disease is decreased to half that of a smoker

At 5 years:
* from 5 to 15 years after quitting, stroke risk is reduced to that of people who have never smoked.

At 10 years:
* risk of lung cancer drops to as little as one-half that of continuing smokers
* risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases
* risk of ulcer decreases

At 15 years:
* risk of coronary heart disease is now similar to that of people who have never smoked
* risk of death returns to nearly the level of people who have never smoked