Now Wait Just a Minute . . .

I am off tonight to the "prom," the dinner/dance that precedes the social event of the season here in my town, Cheverly Day. If you are in the neighborhood, you should stop by. I am given to understand that the fireworks tomorrow night are spectacular.

So you don't miss me, here is a list that I shamelessly "borrowed" from the New York Times Op-Ed page today (it even bumped the list that was scheduled for today to another Friday) . . .

• Every 2 seconds someone requires a blood donation. (American Red Cross)
  
• Every 6 seconds someone dies from tobacco use. (World Health Organization)
• Every 6 seconds an Australian buys an item of clothing on eBay. (The Age)
• Every 6 second someone is killed or injured on a road somewhere in the world. (Make Roads Safe)
• Every 15 seconds the Large Synoptic Survey telescope in Chile photographs a section of the night sky. A complete panorama of the firmament is completed every three days. (The Guardian)
• Every 25 seconds someone in the United States is burned or scalded at home. (Health News Digest)
• Every 26 seconds a student drops out of an American public high school. (America's Promise Alliance)
• Every 30 seconds someone in the world commits suicide. (World Health Organization)
• Every 30 seconds a child with birth defects is born in China. (China Daily)
• Every 30 seconds someone loses a limb as a consequence of diabetes. (U.S. News & World Report)
• Every 35 seconds a child in the United States is reported neglected or abused. (KansasCity.com)
• Every 45 seconds a plane lands or takes off at Heathrow Airport, London. (The Economist)
• Every minute 1,000 people around the world sign up for a cellphone. (TheStar.com)
• Every minute 253 children are born into the world. (U.S. Census Bureau)
• Every 4-8 minutes violent, profane, or sexual content appears during prime time "family hour" television programming. (Parents Television Council)
• Every 8 minutes a woman in a developing county dies of complications from an unsafe abortion. (World Health Organization)
• Every 15 minutes someone in Scotland has a heart attack. (British Heart Foundation)
• Every 38 minutes Louisiana loses a football field-sized portion of its wetlands. (Science Daily)
• Every 104 minutes there is a case of "dowry death" in India. (The Guardian)
• Every 2 hours someone in New Zealand fractures a hip. (Osteoporosis New Zealand)
• Every 10 hours a driver with a suspended license crashes in Maine. (The Morning Sentinel)
• Every day more than 1.6 million blog posts appear online. (Technocrati)
• Every day 6,800 people are infected with H.I.V. (United Nations)
• Every fortnight (fourteen days) a language falls out of use. (New York Times)
• Every month 300 specialist nurses leave South Africa. (World Health Organization)
• Every month the American government adds around 20,000 names to its terrorist watch lists. (A.C.L.U.)
• Every month about 130 million rides are taken on the New York City subway (M.T.A.)
• Every year the average American eats nearly 200 pounds of meat, poultry, and fish. (New York Times)