Health risks, penis size, and Digicel

Egerton Chang

The recently announced ban on smoking was long in coming, and I, among many others, have been agitating over the years for same. In fact, just nine days before Health Minister Fenton Ferguson made the announcement, I wrote a piece published June 16 this year titled 'Teachers, distracted driving, and smoking':

That column ended as follows:

The WHO FCTC was signed by the GOJ on October 5, 2005.

That means more than 2,810 days, or 67,440 hours, have passed since. And counting. How much longer, Minister Ferguson, how much longer?

Well, the clock stopped ticking at 2,819 days, or 67,656 hours.

Now comes the implementation. Because the ban appears to be so all-encompassing, not even allowing a 'designated smoking area' in night clubs, bars, etc., where persons, knowing fully the danger, are free to partake, one fears that the ban may be more honoured in the breach than in the observance.

Incidentally, that phrase was first coined by Shakespeare in his Hamlet published in 1602:

HAMLET: Ay, marry, is't:

But to my mind, though I am native here

And to the manner born, it is a custom

More honour'd in the breach than the observance.

Falling US health rankings

A comprehensive study by the Journal of the American Medical Association published July 10, 2013 has found high levels of chronic illness and disability, causing the United States to fall behind other First World countries.

Even as overall health has improved among Americans since 1990, the report found that the US may have a ways to go to reverse the adverse trends while improving health care.

"The United States spends the most per capita on health care across all countries, lacks universal health coverage, and lags behind other high-income countries for life expectancy and many other health outcome measures. High costs with mediocre population health outcomes at the national level are compounded by marked disparities across communities, socio-economic groups, and race and ethnicity groups," added the authors, led by Dr Christopher J.L. Murray, a professor of global health at the University of Washington and institute director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

From 1990 to 2010, the US fell from ranking number 18 among wealthy nations to the 27th spot in terms of early deaths. Life expectancy at birth dropped from the 20th spot to 27th, while healthy life expectancy fell from 14th to 26th.

That's despite overall life expectancy rising from 75.2 years in 1990 to 78.2 in 2010, and healthy life expectancy increasing from 65.8 years to 68.1 years during that period.

"Individuals in the United States are living longer but are not necessarily in good health," wrote Murray.

Despite the life expectancy increase, premature death was still found to be a US health problem.

JAMAICA'S RANKING

Jamaica is ranked 61st in the world in terms of life expectancy as determined by the World Health Organization in 2011 (see table below). The overall life expectancy of Jamaica was 75 years, with men expected to live 71 years (82nd) and women 78 years (57th). The numbers in brackets indicate the respective world ranking.

Interestingly, Jamaica ranked above Trinidad and Tobago (108th with an overall life expectancy of 71 years), and Guyana, which ranked 147th, with an overall life expectancy of just 61 years.

A ranking of selected countries on life expectancy is shown in Table 1.

Average US penis size

The average American man's penis when erect is 5.6 inches long, a new survey finds.

The study, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine on July 10, shows hardly any change from prior surveys on penis size.

The focus of many studies, as well as a number of myths and a great deal of social chatter, the thought of not measuring up can cause a great deal of concern as regards penis size.

Debby Herbenick, a researcher at Indiana University, and her colleagues asked 1,661 men to measure their penis's length and circumference for the purposes of fitting for a condom. The smallest erect penis in the study was about 1.6 inches long, while the largest was 10.2 inches.

It seems that men who were aroused orally reported larger penis size.

While male penis size is well studied, Herbenick said she'd now like to gather data on female genitalia.

"It would be good for women to have good data to show, 'Hey, there's a lot of diversity for women's genitals, just like there are for men's," Herbenick said.

I know quite a few men that would like to take part in such a study. (Smile).

Screwed?

Talking of genitals, I get the distinct feeling that I am being screwed by Digicel.

I have been continuously noting the competitive call rates of the now two cellular companies. Somehow, I have been getting the real impression that LIME, trying to be competitive, has been offering better and better rates, culminating in its $2.99 anytime/any network plan. In addition, I have concluded that Digicel has been acting like a monopoly, treating its postpaid customer as captives that they don't need to give any of their goodies to.

Last week, as a first step, I decided to change from Digicel postpaid to their prepaid plan. On calling for information as to what I needed to do, I received conflicting information of the process. First, I was told that I had to go to the location that I had bought the SIM card. Then, I was told that I could go to any dealer.

I protested, as Digicel has structured its operations so that all/most transactions can be done online. Why not this? After all, I pay my cellular bills online. Nevertheless, that just gave me more impetus to make the change. I proceeded to a dealer and was told to pay the balance. I did that same afternoon, July 10, 2013. I was also told to buy another SIM for which I bought $200 credit. I had requested the same number and they said that would not be a problem.

I was told that they/Digicel would call within 24 hours with instructions as to how to activate the new SIM. Up to eight days later, there was still no call from them. That is, despite repeated calls (more than a dozen times) on my part and repeated promises from them that they would call back with the instructions to activate the prepaid SIM.

What gives, Digicel?

Egerton Chang is a businessman. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and e_rider69@hotmail.com.