Thursday Odds and Ends

There's just too much to comment on, so let's just take on a few of them at once ...

1. According to this article based on a report from the Department of Agriculture, it costs $241,080 - 3% more than last year - to raise a child born in 2012 from birth to age 18. This does not include the cost of college. You can read or download the full report here, calculate the cost of raising your child here, or just look at this cool summary infographic (click it to giganticize it, or see it online in various larger sizes here):

It was tough enough for me when my children were small ... I don't know how they manage with their own children now.

2. Speaking of the economics of modern interpersonal relations, this article from Time Magazine discusses the results of a study that indicates men would like women to chip in and help pay for dates, but are afraid to ask. The study was based on a survey of 17,607 "unmarried, heterosexual men and women" who responded to a questionnaire posted on NBCNews.com. You can read the entire story, but here is a summary of the basic results:

- 84% of men and 58% of women said that men paid for most dating expenses.
- 39% of women hoped men would not ask them to contribute.
- 44% of women were annoyed when men “expected” women to pay.
- 44% of men said they would stop seeing women who never pay for dates.
- 64% of men believed women should pick up from time to time, though 76% said they felt “guilty” saying so.
- 4 in 10 men and women said that dating expenses were usually shared within the first month, and nearly three-fourths (74%) of men and 83% of women said they’re shared by the sixth-month mark.

So much for the gazillions of dollars I spent through high school, college, and my inter-marriage period trying to impress the ladies with my fiscal independence.

3. The word literally literally no longer means "literally." In a reflection of how language and the meaning of words change over time, major dictionaries - including the Oxford English Dictionary - have updated the definition of the word literally ... it no longer carries its original meaning of "in a literal manner or sense; exactly," but now officially has the new, informal meaning: "used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true." I literally don't know what to think about this.

4. People do many strange things nowadays, such as voting for hysterically ultra-far-right Republicans and brain dead ultra-far-left Democrats. Back in 1959, they did things that were strange, but made more sense than GOP fiscal and social policies. Like outhouse stuffing ...

When you gotta go, you gotta go ...

And I gotta go to work. Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo