GIVE NE A YIN, GIVE ME A YANG

When the ancient Chinese divided the world into the two energy forces of yin and yang -- dark and good forever interacting -- they didn't likely anticipate some of today's examples. Examples, incidentally, which are almost always broken down into statistics. In our modern age we have a passion for statisticalizing everything...!

For instance, here's a yin (or is at a yang?). Sixteen-year-old's passion for getting a driver's license as a status symbol dropped between 1998 and 2008 by almost 15%. Reason? Well, texting of course. In today's Internet culture the electron has replaced the wheel. A fact which makes some of us elders wonder exactly how -- without the parked car under the stars -- we would have ever discovered the infinite mysteries of the female..

In another yin, bank robberies declined almost 20% last year to their lowest level in a decade. Reason? Inter the Internet again, for today's stolen cash can be tracked by implanted GPS devices. Besides, who needs to steal by car when you can do it on-line, and never once dirty your hands.

There's a third statistic that's hard to label. But it certainly is a first. A British government employment service turned down a company's ad which read "must be very reliable and hardworking." The London official explained
the company could be sued for "discriminating against unreliable people."

Now if that last one makes sense to you, you may be altogether too much a part of this yin-yangy post-modern culture. You need immediate attention at your closest ER, which, by the way, is statistically busier than ever in these days of statistical stress.