Making Babies in NC

Here are some interesting stats from the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics on births in NC in 2007.

Youngest Mother	10
Oldest Mother	53
Youngest Father	14
Oldest Father	76
Sets of Twins	2,135
Sets of Triplets	63
Sets of Quadruplets	5
Sets of Quintuplets	0
Most Births Occurred on	Sept 14	487
Fewest Births Occurred on	Dec 25	208
Day of Week Most Births Occurred	Friday	21,207
Largest Live Birth	14 lbs. 0 ozs.
Total Births	130,886

Curious that the fewest number of births occured on Christmas Day.

Mass Transit in the US!

Recently mass transit has been getting some attention in the car-dependent USA thanks to the spiraling gas prices. In North Carolina, the Amtrak line has had a 20% increase in passengers compared to the same time last year. Thanks to Sam for showing me that article.

Another similar article that caught my eye was linked to from Paul Krugman's blog. The article notes that mass transit use is up 10-15% in cities in the West and South were driving culture is the strongest and mass transit options are more limited. I consider the increase in mass transit usage to be very good news. I hope we start investing in more mass transit options.