Odds and Ends

You'll find some discussion touching on the economic utility, pro and con, of breeding here (thanks to tggp)...
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/12109

An essay about parenting and diminished happiness here...
http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/04/04/children-make-us-miserable/

And the article about the high school girls who made a pact to get pregnant here...
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html

But for folks who would look beyond selfish interests, let me remind those of you who plan on having children one day that all of them will suffer at various points throughout their lifetimes. Some will suffer horribly, cursing the day they were born, and cursing YOU for bringing them into existence. Also, a reminder to those fundamentalist monotheists out there, who believe a little(sic) suffering on earth is a small price to pay for heavenly bliss in the hereafter: remember, even the biblical Jesus warned you that the path to salvation was narrow, and that few would find it. There's a damned good chance YOUR son or daughter will screw up, and spend an eternity suffering torments the likes of which we can't even imagine now. You may justify this by telling yourself that it was by your child's 'own free will' that such a thing came to be...doesn't seem like much solace, though. Considering even the smallest risk of such a calamity, wouldn't it better 'were they never born'? Just seems like plain old common sense, to me.

Last, but not least, a nice Ian Anderson flute solo here...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8149889981370559214&q=jethro+tull+tampa&ei=kodgSLCJG4OKqgOq_9SVAw