Statistics

i was in the library when i had nothing to do and some time to kill. i chanced upon 1 of the most interesting types of books to me.
statistics.

the stats module im doing aint very interesting, but statistics are. not only can u find out things u never thought it would be and make inferences from the stats, it also tells u the magnitute of change and the process. and... its the most reliable source of information. if theres no discrepancy in the surveys, that is.

the population of singapore is increasing substantially over time, but the local population is actually falling. due to low birth rate and high migration. which means the gap between number of locals and total number is pulling in opposite directions. and the remaining population is made up of - foreigners. soon singapore will be dominated by outsiders and those who werent born here.

in every case, every year, every ethnic group, theres almost always more males born than females by about 0.5%. and the male number remains higher until they reach the 20 - 25 age group, when sudenly the male population becomes less then females. which means, men start dying off as early as their early 20s, and thereafter the gap continues to widen. i thouht we shoud be the strongest in our early 20s. the premature death rate of men is much higher than women's. there are twice as many above-80 women than men. but men are always said to be physically stronger. i guess there are many factors to it.

people are marrying later. now the 30 - 35 age group is majority. used to be 20 - 25 in the 1950s. most women give birth between 30 to 35. i was one of them. but theres still a significant number of ppl marrying in 15 - 19. about 1%.

main causes of death is cardiovascular and circulatory diseases, followed by cancer. few caused by crimes. but suicide rate is increasing every year. so much for better quality of life.

quality of education is also decreasing. in the sense that the express : NA gap has been flattening over the years. i thought it should be the opposite cos theres more schools being built to accomodate more express students. or maybe the education standard has been increasing so much that it pushes more ppl down to NA.

Enrolment in poly is currently much more than JCs, and the gap is steadily widening. there may come a time in the future where JCs lose their place here. largest discipline is engineerings, where guys make up about 75%, and total number is 3 times of the 2nd largest, which is IT. so it can be seen that there are more guys in poly. about 20% more. the poly girls fill up courses like mine. not sure about jc's ratio. NIE is majority girls. but there seems to be a noticeable disparity in the total gender-based enrollments in higher learning institutes. does this mean ...a lot more girls retain or study overseas?

Anyway... i know i shouldnt take stats too seriously cos theres other unseen influencing factors on the stats. though most of them are minor. ill be sure to spend more time with that book should i see it again, and have the time.

the fish bone

yesterday night while i was eating a piece of fish, i thought it was all meat, but halfway swallowing i realised there was a bone in it. ok, nvm. i swallowed fish and chicken bones before, plus prawn shells, fingernails and fruit skins and nothing happened. So i just tried to force the bone down just like i did to previous others that went that far.

Bad idea.. it got stuck. and i tried to drink soup and eat sticky food to push it down. then i found its no use cos its no in the path of the food, but rather in the windpipe. i tried to end my finger down to investigate, but couldnt feel anything. so i went to the clinic. he shine the torch in and look all over, still cant find anything. so he said, "sorry, i cant see anyhting. so i cant do anything either. just go hospital lor." and sent me back.

I just had to tolerate it and went to sleep with the fishbone still stuck inside. it wont hurt as long as i dont swallow stuff. and it only hurts sometimes when the bone is in a position to prick my pharynx.. if thats what is called. and when it does, it would be a short but sharp pain. I just hoped that the bone would somehow dislodge during my sleep.

When i woke up, i felt the bone in some weird position. i thought it was coming out. what a false hope. so it was left with the only option of going to the hospital for some sort of surgery. i held on until after lunch, meanwhile receiving many painful pricks on my poor pharynx.

At the hospital, i had to register.. then wait... then get my receipt and referral.. then wait.. then go in for check.. the doctor couldnt find the bone again like the previous 1.. then wait.. then do x ray... then wait.. then finally i got a doctor who could find the bone. with the help of the x ray i suppose.

when doing the operation he pulled my tongue so hard it felt like it became an inch longer. and he inserted some bended tongs into my throat and made me feel like vomiting. while trying to pinch the bone he pinched my throat lining as well. but after a few attempts and throat pinches and tongue pulls it finally got out. about 4 hours was spent at the hospital just to et a bone out. he said it was big, but i find it rather small. about 2cm long.

seeing the shape of the bone, it all makes sense now. it was sharp on both ends and slightly curved. one end pierced into the wall of my windpipe, the other end which sometimes faces upwards would poke my pharynx whenever it closes. the bone is now kept as a momento.

Luckily my mom applied for insurance not long ago, so i got the bill subsidised by about 93%. otherwise it would be an unworth cost for removing a bone. just a simple food can cause so much trouble. i think ill be more scared of fish bones next time. but no doubt ill still like eating fish.