| FootnoteTV® : Friends
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| 2002-04
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Yes, Friends is sometimes "footnotable." Not often, but sometimes.
- As Phoebe prepared for her wedding, she mentioned a friend who won't bathe until Tibet is free from China.
- Monica and Chandler tried for a year to get pregnant and would be considered an infertile couple, like 13.5 percent of married couples where the woman is aged 25-34 years old. They now have decided to adopt, but that process can take more than a year, especially if they want to adopt a Caucasian infant.
- Charlie's addition as a recurring character at the end of the 2002-03 season has again revived (in the real world) concerns about the representation of minorities on television, especially since sitcoms are considered by one study the least racially diverse TV genre.
- Phoebe's recently returned love David the Scientist Guy has spent most of the past decade working on a high-energy physics project overseas.
- Rachel is now a single mother. Single parents have become more common in recent decades and such situations now make up almost a third of all families with children, but most single mothers live below the poverty line; only 3.2 percent of single mothers in 2000 had incomes greater than $75,000 like Rachel presumably does.
Central Park in the Summer
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Tibet (last updated October 2, 2002) (back to top)
The Central Asian land of Tibet has been universally recognized -- including by the United States -- as being part of the People's Republic of China, which has continuously occupied it since 1950. Nevertheless, Tibet has remained a focus of much international attention due to the Dalai Lama's ongoing efforts to pressure China into recognizing and protecting the rights of Tibetan Buddhists.
China, which claims right over Tibet due to its historical ties to the land and an agreement made in 1951, has resisted the Dalai Lama's international efforts since the late 1980s. It has used force to put down protests within Tibet, it has tried discrediting the Dalai Lama both within Tibet and internationally, it has invested in the region and established a greater Chinese presence there, it has tried gaining more control over Tibetan Buddhists via a "patriotic education" campaign and arrests, and it has sought wider recognition of its choice for the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, a high spiritual leader generally considered second in importance only to the Dalai Lama.
According to the United States Department of State's 2001 report on human rights, the "overall level of repression of religious freedom in Tibet remained high and the [Chinese] Government's record of respect for religious freedom remained poor." The report also noted that the "preservation and development of Tibet's unique religious, cultural, and linguistic heritage and protection of its people's fundamental human rights continue to be of concern" to the United States.
In September 2002, the Dalai Lama's representatives made their first official visit to Tibet since 1985, possibly indicating some new flexibility on China's part. "We have made every effort to create the basis for opening a new chapter in our relationship. We are fully aware that this task cannot be completed during a single trip," said of the envoys, Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, in a statement after the trip.
Chinese Control of Tibet, and the Dalai Lama's International Efforts
Tibet does have historical ties to China, as both shared the same rulers for centuries; the Mongol Yuan dynasty ruled both Tibet and China from 1250 to 1368, and the Manchu Qing dynasty did so from 1644 to 1911. Moreover, according to a 1792 treaty, the Manchus who ruled China were also established as the overlords of Nepal and Tibet, and the method of choosing Tibet's great incarnate lamas was changed so that the Manchus would have a role.
Nevertheless, Tibet's exact relationship with China was unclear for most of the early 20th century when the British empire were seeking influence in Tibet and were raising questions about the precise legal status of the land. China claimed "suzerainty" over Tibet, which implied control but not actual ownership, and though the British acted as if Tibet was effectively autonomous, the British did not force official recognition of this status. China then began to consolidate its control over Tibet, but such efforts stalled when the Qing dynasty itself fell apart.
Tibet took steps towards being independent and was effectively so for the next few decades, as China itself saw many internal changes. However, there was no international recognition of this status, and so Tibet remained somewhat within the Chinese sphere of influence.
Mao Tse-tung and the Communists finally consolidated power in China in the 1940s, and then China sought to re-assert power over disparate parts the country once claimed, including Tibet. The People's Liberation Army entered Tibet in October 1950, beginning the military occupation that has continued to the present day. In early 1951, a Tibetan delegation signed the Seventeen-Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, and the Tibetan government finally decided to ratify the agreement. The Dalai Lama also ratified the agreement, and was initially even sympathetic to Mao's socialist leanings.
However, this new relationship turned sour as China implemented drastic reform programs that were already underway in other parts of China. These reforms, such as the Great Leap Forward, aimed to suppress regional cultures, including religion, in favor of an overarching idea of Communist China. Finally, in March 1959, thousands of Tibetans in the city of Lhasa revolted, and the Dalai Lama again fled to Dharamsala, India, where he established a government in exile and began seeking help from the United Nations.
Now that the last major obstacle to its control was gone, China began consolidating its control over Tibet. It established a regional government known as the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965, and encouraged immigration from other parts of China which diluted Tibetan presence in their own land. Chinese authorities also took actions against the Tibetan Buddhist religion, destroying monasteries and imprisoning monks and nuns; the Tibetan government in exile reports that thousands of monasteries and nunneries were destroyed between 1955 and 1976. At the same time, China did support economic development in Tibet and reportedly invested more than $6 billion in the region from the 1950s to the 1990s.
With new leadership after China's own Cultural Revolution, China began liberalizing its policy towards Tibet in the early 1980s, slowing immigration, releasing prisoners, rebuilding and re-opening some monasteries, and having some talks with the Dalai Lama's representatives. But 1987 marked a turning point, as the Dalai Lama proposed a peace plan while visiting the U.S. Congress, pro-independence riots again broke out in Lhasa, and China responded with force and a harder stance against the Tibetan Buddhists. In 1989, China briefly declared martial law after another widespread protest.
Since the late 1980s, the Dalai Lama has continued his efforts to rally international support and has indicated he would accept Chinese sovereignty over Tibet in exchange for autonomous rights. In his Five-Point Peace Plan of 1987, he called for the designation of Tibet as a zone of peace, an end to Chinese migration to Tibet, restoration of human rights, the ending of China's use of Tibet for nuclear-weapons production and nuclear-waste dumping, and "earnest negotiations" between Tibet and China. He elaborated on this plan in 1988 with what has been called the Strasbourg Proposal. There, he proposed the creation of a self-governing democratic Tibet "in association with" the Chinese government and emphasized the importance of Tibetan people's ultimate self-determination.
Tibet remains one of China's poorest regions, despite China's economic development there; China heavily subsidizes the economy, and more than 90 percent of its budget comes from outside the area, according to the United States Department of State's 2001 report on religious freedoms within China. An estimated 2 million ethnic Tibetans now live in China's Tibetan Autonomous Region, with another 2 to 3 million living in adjacent areas.
Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, and the Panchen Lama
In controlling Tibet, Chinese authorities in particular have focused on Tibetan Buddhism, which is a particular kind of Buddhism that blends Mahayana Buddhism (one of two schools that arose after the Buddha's death in the sixth century BC) with the indigenous animistic faith Bon. One of the central notions behind Tibetan Buddhism, which is known as Vajrayana ("diamond vehicle"), is that there are enlightened beings known as bodhisattvas, and that particularly enlightened beings are reincarnated in human form as a tulku, an "emanation body" sometimes known incorrectly as "living Buddhas."
The Dalai Lama (literally, "Ocean of Wisdom") is considered the most eminent tulku and is considered the manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who chose to reincarnate to serve the people. The current Dalai Lama, the 14th, is Tenzin Gyatso, who was recognized at the age of 2 as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama and was in his late 60s as of 2002. After being identified, he was trained for years and, as a child, he became friends with Heinrich Harrer, the mountaineer who later wrote "Seven Years in Tibet" (later turned into movie starring Brad Pitt). The Dalai Lama was then called upon to hold full political power in 1950 at the age of 16, two years earlier than he normally would have been.
The Dalai Lama went briefly into exile in India in 1951 but fled Tibet permanently in 1959 due to the Lhasa riots, and he has resided ever since in Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. He proposed major peace plans in 1987 and 1988, and he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Nonetheless, China has continued to condemn the Dalai Lama for trying to encourage separatism and disunity, and has maintained a ban on public displays of photographs of the Dalai Lama.
Another important figure in Tibetan Buddhism is the Panchen Lama, who is generally considered its second-most eminent tulku and spiritual leader, as well as a regional leader who historically has come into conflict with the Dalai Lama over feudal-like issues of land and power. Most importantly, the 10th Panchen Lama was more sympathetic to China than the Dalai Lama, though he later repudiated his support for China and was placed under house arrest for several years. The Panchen Lama died in January 1989, and identifying his reincarnation has been a source of political controversy.
Two different boys were designated in 1995 as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, and both are still recognized by some as the true reincarnation. The Dalai Lama designated Gendun Choekyi Nyima in May 1995, but Chinese authorities reportedly escorted the boy to Beijing just days later and have kept him in China ever since; Chinese authorities also arrested Chadrel Ripoche, the abbot who located Gendun Choekyi Nyima, and he remained in detention in 2001. In December 1995, China installed another boy, Gyaltsen Norbu, as the Panchen Lama.
Beyond the dispute over the Panchen Lama, Chinese authorities have conducted a widespread campaign to gain greater control over the Tibetan Buddhists. Chinese authorities conducted a "patriotic education" campaign in the mid-1990s, and they continue to send "work teams" to monasteries to conduct sessions on various topics. According to the United States Department of State's 2001 report on human rights, Chinese authorities in 2001 "continued to commit serious human rights abuses in Tibet, including instances of torture, arbitrary arrest, detention without public trial, and lengthy detention of Tibetan nationalists for peacefully expressing their political or religious views."
Sources: Warren W. Smith, Jr., Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Nationalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations (Westview Press, Inc., 1996). Orville Schell, Virtual Tibet: Searching for Shangri-La from the Himalayas to Hollywood (Metropolitan Books, 2000). Michael C. van Walt van Praag, The Status of Tibet: history, rights, and prospects in international law (Westview Press 1987). The State Department's 2001 report on human rights within China (and Tibet) is on-line here, and its 2001 report on religious freedoms within China (and Tibet) is on-line here. Senate testimony by Jeffrey Bader, deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (May 13, 1997), on-line here. The Tibetan Government in Exile is on-line here and has placed press releases and background information on-line. A white paper by the Chinese government on Tibet (September 1992) is on-line here.
Infertility and Couples (last updated May 9, 2003) (back to top)
Monica and Chandler have had problems getting pregnant, but they are far from alone. According to a 1995 survey, about 13.5 percent of married couples where the woman is aged 25-34 years old and has never had a child before are considered infertile, and about 17.1 percent of women aged 25-34 years old reported receiving some kind of infertility services.
The 1995 National Survey of Family Growth defines a married couple as being infertile when they have not used any kind of contraception for more than 12 months and not become pregnant. According to the survey, 7.1 percent of all married couples (2.1 million couples total) are infertile, with the likelihood of a married couple being infertile going up with the woman's age, especially if the woman has never given birth before.
|
| % Infertile, no children before
| % Infertile, 1+ child(ren) before
| % Received any infertility services
| % using any kind of assisted reproductive technology
|
| 15-24 years old
| 6.0
| 3.3
| 4.4
| 0.0
|
| 25-34 years old
| 13.5
| 4.5
| 17.1
| 0.8
|
| 35-44 years old
| 30.3
| 5.0
| 22.9
| 2.1
|
About 15 percent of all women aged 15-44 years old have received some kind of infertility service, but only about 1 percent have used some kind of assisted reproductive technology, such as in vitro fertilization. Of those couples who did use some kind of assisted reproductive technology in 1999, almost a fifth were infertile because of multiple factors involving both the male and the female, according to the 1999 Assisted Reproductive Technology Success Rates report.
- Factors involving the woman alone : 47.6% (total)
- Tubal factor (woman's fallopian tubes are blocked or damaged) : 17.3%
- Ovulatory dysfunction (woman's ovaries are not producing eggs normally) : 5.1%
- Diminished ovarian reserve (ovary's ability to produce eggs is reduced) : 3.3%
- Endometriosis (presence of tissue similar to the uterine lining in abnormal locations, affecting fertilization of the egg and embryo implantation) : 8.1%
- Uterine factor (disorder of the uterus resulting in reduced fertility) : 1.1%
- Multiple factors involving the woman alone : 12.7%
- Factors involving the man alone : 19.5% (low sperm count or another problem making it difficult for a sperm to fertilize an egg)
- Multiple factors involving both the man and the woman : 17.5%
- Other causes : 5.7%
- Unexplained cause : 9.7%
Sources: The 1995 National Survey of Family Growth is on-line here. The 1999 Assisted Reproductive Technology Success Rates report is on-line via the Centers for Disease Control here.
Adoption (last updated May 10, 2003) (back to top)
Monica and Chandler have decided to adopt. They can proceed in several different ways, but realistically they probably would not be very far in the process by the time the show ends in the spring of 2004 since they just made this decision in May 2003.
Some of the decisions they have to make are crucial and could show a lot about the kind of people the two are.
- How will they try adopting? Will they seek to adopt from a domestic public or private agency, or will they try adopting a child from another country? And would they only try adopting children that have been voluntarily given up or would they adopt a child who may have had serious problems in his or her original home?
Monica and Chandler could go through a public agency, but this can take several years and involve a lot of bureaucracy, and the children adopted through public agencies are more likely to have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by their birth parents. They can also try adopting through a private agency or by making contact directly with a pregnant woman who wants to give her child up for adoption, though the percentage of women voluntarily placing their children for adoption has declined in recent decades (primarily because the percentage of white women doing so has gone down). They could also go try adopting a child from another country, such as Russia, China, South Korea and Guatemala, which were the countries from which the most orphans emigrated in FY 1998 and 1999, but this will also take time and would involve getting an immigrant visa for the orphan.
- Would they adopt a Caucasian child or would they be willing to adopt a baby of another race?
A 1987 study showed that 8 percent of all adoptions were transracial adoptions involving involved parents and children of different races, and an estimated 15% of adoptions in FY 1998 were either transracial or transcultural. Federal law prohibits adoption agencies from denying or delaying placement of a child for adoption solely on the basis of race or national origin.
In any event, the decision Monica and Chandler make here will probably affect how fast they can adopt. According to the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse's "where do I start" page, adopting a Caucasian infant can take at least a year and as much as five years from the time a home study is completed. Adopting an African-American infant can be quicker and take less than six months. Intercountry adoptions can take a year and can be arranged without an agency.
Of the children waiting to be adopted as of September 2000, 43 percent were black, 34 percent were white non-Hispanic, 13 percent were Hispanic, 2 percent were American Indian, and 1 percent was Asian-American, according to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report.
- Would they adopt only an infant, or would they be willing to adopt an older child?
The vast majority of children waiting to be adopted are more than 1 year old. According to the AFCARS Report, 97 percent were more than 1 year old (33 percent were 1-5, 34 percent were 6-10, 26 percent were 11-15, and 4 percent were 16-18). Most children waiting to be adopted were living in foster homes (58 percent with a non-relative, and 19 percent with a relative) and almost half had been in continuous foster care for more than three years (49 percent).
Overall, there were about 131,000 children waiting to be adopted in the United States as of September 2000, according to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report produced by the federal government's Administration for Children and Families. About 1.1 percent of currently married couples were currently seeking to adopt in 1995, according to the 1995 National Survey of Family Growth. The federal government and some states help encourage adoption through tax credits and adoption subsidies.
Sources: The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, run by the Administration for Children and Families, is on-line here. Statistics from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) report is on-line here. New York City's adoption program is on-line here.
Diversity on Television (last updated May 11, 2003) (back to top)
The issue of diversity on television remains a concern for many, with some concluding that little progress has been made despite a very public protest in 1999. According to some studies, more black characters are now appearing on television, but casts are not necessarily becoming more racially mixed, and Asian-Pacific Americans and Hispanics are still underrepresented. Similarly, women, gays and lesbians, and disabled persons are also reportedly underrepresented.
In terms of race, sitcoms such as Friends are the least diverse genre of TV program, according to the Children Now media-advocacy organization's annual studies of diversity at the beginning of recent television seasons. Looking at the "primary" cast members listed in the opening credits, nearly two-thirds (64%) of the sitcoms that aired in the beginning of the 2001-02 season had all-white casts, 14% had all-black casts, 16% had single-race casts "with one" cast member of a different race, and just 7% had racially mixed casts.
Dramas, by contrast, were more likely to have racially-mixed primary casts. In the 2001-02 season, 32% of dramas had all-white casts, 29% had single-race casts with one member of a different race, and 39% had racially-mixed casts; there were no dramas with all-black casts.
Statistical Studies
Overall, studies by different groups show that white men are overrepresented on television programs, and that women and members of racial and ethnic minorities are still underrepresented on television when compared to their representation in the general population. The following chart compiles data from the Screen Actors Guild's 1998 report and from the Children Now studies from 2000, 2001 and 2002.
|
| % of U.S. population
| SAG 1982-92 (1)
| SAG 1994-97 (1)
| CN 1999 (2)
| CN 2000 (2)
| CN 2001 (2)
|
| Men
| 49.1% in 2000
| 66.8%
| 63.3%
| 62%
| 65%
| 64%
|
| Women
| 50.9% in 2000
| 33.2%
| 36.7%
| 38%
| 35%
| 36%
|
| Blacks
| 12.3% in 2000
| 11%
| 12.3%
| 13.8%
| 18%
| 15%
|
| Hispanics / Latinos
| 12.5% in 2000 (of all races)
| 1.1%
| 2.6%
| 3%
| 2%
| 2%
|
| Asian-Pacific Americans
| 3.6% in 2000
| 0.8%
| 1.3%
| 1%
| 2%
| 0.8%
|
| Native Americans / Alaskan Natives
| 0.9% in 2000
| 0.3%
| 0.4%
| 0%
| 0.2%
| 0.3%
|
| Disabled Persons
| 19.7% in 1997
|
|
| 1.4%
| 1%
| 1%
|
| Gay and Lesbian Persons
|
|
|
| 1%
| 1%
| 0.8%
|
NOTES: (1) The Screen Actors Guild 1993 and 1998 reports studied "10,796 characters appearing in prime time dramatic programming from 1981 to 1991" and "6,882 characters [who] appeared during 440 episodes of dramatic programs" from 1995 to 1997. (2) The Children Now statistics are of "primary recurring characters," which actors who appear in the opening cast credits and are involved in the primary storyline of most episodes. The Children Now reports are based on studies of the first two episodes of each prime-time show in the respective TV season.
While the number of black characters has increased in recent years, this has been seen as resulting from the rise of shows with all-black casts (particularly sitcoms) and not necessarily as efforts to reach more racially mixed casts. "Over a three-year period, the networks have established a pattern in which their shows have become more segregated instead of more diverse," said Katharine E. Heintz-Knowles, who conducted a study of the 2001-02 season for the Children Now media-advocacy group, in a May 2002 statement. "Overall, there are more characters of color on television, but they are grouped together on a smaller number of shows, resulting in fewer shows with people of color in prominent roles."
Protests
The issue of diversity in television has drawn attention time and again, with critics saying that television can and should do more to encourage portrayals of various minorities. In the summer of 1999, Kweisi Mfume, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP), announced a campaign to pressure television networks into increasing diversity on television, citing the lack of any minorities in any of the 26 prime-time shows to be introduced that fall. The protest led to some changes -- such as the introduction of a young black male character on NBC's The West Wing, which debuted that fall -- and culminated to some degree with agreements between the NAACP and each of the four major networks in late 1999 and early 2000 to increase minority hiring.
Nevertheless, some say that networks have still not done enough. Patti Miller, director of Children Now's Children and the Media program, said in a May 2002 statement that "we are dismayed to find that, despite stated commitments, there have been no significant improvements in on-screen diversity. Research documents the importance of children seeing people like themselves on television. We urge the networks to meet the challenge of reflecting the real world on television."
Sources: Children Now is on-line here; its 2001-02 prime time diversity report is on-line here and the corresponding May 2002 press release is on-line here. The Screen Actors Guild is on-line here, and its 1998 report "Casting the American Scene" by George Gerbner is on-line here. Lawrie Mifflin, N.A.A.C.P. plans to press for more diverse TV shows, New York Times, July 13, 1999. Alex Kuczynski, Following NBC's lead, ABC outlines minority hiring plan, New York Times, January 8, 2000. Census data on race is available on-line here and on disability here.
High-Energy Physics, the Higgs Boson, and Particle Accelerators (last updated March 10, 2002) (back to top)
By accelerating subatomic particles to extremely high energies and then colliding them, high-energy physicists can find evidence that would hopefully solve major problems in theoretical physics. But to run these experiments, they need particle accelerators, massive equipment that can cost billions of dollars and involve miles of underground tunnels.
The United States began construction of what would have been the world's most powerful particle accelerator, the Superconducting Super Collider, but that project was killed during budget cuts in 1993. Since then, high-energy physicists have looked to Europe, where construction of a powerful collider (still weaker than the SCSC would have been) was approved in 1994 and is expected to be finished by 2006, and are beginning to propose that the United States try again and build a complementary accelerator.
What Particle Physicists are Trying to Do
Particle physics aims, generally, to explain how the four fundamental forces of the universe (electromagnetic reactions, strong interactions, weak nuclear force, and gravity) interact with each other. Over the past few decades, physicists have developed a Standard Model that explains the interaction of all the forces but gravity, and they have proven this paradigm in most regards. (A theory that would explain the interaction of all four forces is generally called a grand unification theory, or a theory of everything; for more, go here)
One big hole in the Standard Model is that it does not yet fully explain why particles have mass, which would explain how the symmetry relating the weak and electromagnetic interactions was broken as the temperature of the universe cooled after the big bang. In the 1960s, British physicist Peter Higgs proposed a solution, theorizing that space is filled with a field through which all other subatomic parties must pass and, in doing so, experience a drag that results in mass. In order to prove this theory, physicists must discover the Higgs boson, a particle that would be associated with the Higgs field, if it exists.
Discovering new sub-atomic particles requires taking protons and electrons apart, a process that requires massive amounts of energy. Physicists have thus used particle accelerators and colliders already in existence, such as the Tevatron at the Fermi National Laboratory in suburban Chicago, to discover particles like the quark.
The Superconducting Super Collider (1988-1993)
In order to move particle physics forward, high-energy physicists in the United States proposed the Superconducting Super Collider in the 1980s. If built, the SCSC would have accelerated protons to energies of 20 trillion volts, which is expected to be enough to settle the question of why the symmetry relating the weak and electromagnetic interactions was broken, either by finding the Higgs boson or by finding new extra-strong forces.
The SCSC took its first big step towards reality in 1988, when the Department of Energy selected the Dallas-Fort Worth region of Texas as the site for the Superconducting Super Collider (specifically, the town of Waxahachie in Ellis County). Texas was one of seven finalist states lobbying for the project, and it even offered $1 billion in bonds to help fund the project. Illinois, which proposed building around the already-existing Fermi National Laboratory outside Chicago, was also considered a front-runner but lacked local support.
The project ultimately brought much federal funding and 7,000 jobs to Texas with the promise of even more for years to come, and it thus won strong allies in Congress from Texas and Louisiana, where the magnets used in the SCSC were built. President George Bush was a strong supporter, and Bill Clinton promised to keep the project alive during his 1992 presidential campaign.
Nevertheless, the SCSC became a prime target for budget cuts in the early 1990s, especially as reports of cost overruns and mismanagement emerged, and as hopes of funding from other countries failed to become realized. Beginning in the summer of 1992, the House of Representatives undertook a concerted campaign to stop the SCSC. The House first voted to stop funding in the summer of 1992 and did so again in the summer of 1993, but these efforts were rejected by the Senate. The House's third vote on October 19, 1993 proved to be the fatal blow to the project, and it was officially killed on October 21, 1993.
By this time, $2 billion had been spent on the SCSC and 14 miles of tunnels excavated, though estimated costs for the entire project had risen from $4.4 billion in 1988 to $13 billion. Department of Energy officials estimated that the project was 20 percent complete.
Other Projects
Since 1993, high-energy physicists in the United States have continued using accelerators already in existence and have looked increasingly to CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics). In 1994, the member nations of the CERN voted to build the Large Hadron Collider. The LHC is expected to accelerate protons to energies of 14 TeV and become the most powerful accelerator in the world, but will still be far short of the 20 TeV energy that the SCSC would have achieved. The United States is contributing about $500 million to the $4 billion project.
In recent years, high-energy physicists have begun discussing proposals for building a new, extremely powerful particle accelerator to complement the LHC. The proposed accelerator would accelerate particles along a linear track (about 20 miles long) rather than a circular one, it would use electrons rather than protons, and it would attain lower energies but more precise measurements than the LHC. Many high-energy physicists in the United States have proposed building it in the United States, possibly near or at the Fermilab facility. In January 2002, an advisory panel to the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation recommended such a proposal. Current estimates are that it would cost $6 billion.
There are several laboratories in the United States currently conducting accelerator-based experiments. Until the LHC is completed, the Fermilab's Tevatron Collider remains the world's most powerful accelerator; like the LHC, it accelerates protons along a circular track. Stanford University has the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, which accelerates electrons along a linear track. There are other accelerators at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cornell University.
Sources: Steven Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory (Vintage Books edition, January 1994). The Department of Energy and National Science Foundation High-Energy Physics Advisory Panel's January 2002 report on long-range planning can be found on-line here. The Fermi National Laboratory is on-line here. Explanations for the Higgs boson are available online here. Gary Taubes, The Supercollider: How big science lost favor and fell, New York Times, October 26, 1993. James Glanz, Particle physicists plan the next big thing, New York Times, July 10, 2001. The Future of U.S. High Energy Physics, a May 23-24, 1994 hearing of the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Science. Termination of the Superconducting Super Collider Project, a March 15, 1994 hearing of the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Science.
Single Parents (last updated November 13, 2002) (back to top)
One-parent families with children have become more common in recent decades, increasing from less than 13 percent of all such parent-child living situations in 1970 to more than 31 percent in 2000. Single mothers comprised 25.82 percent of the parent-child living situations in the United States in 2000, with single fathers making up another 5.45 percent.
The increase in one-parent households encompasses many different situations and types of marital status. In 2000, about 53 percent of all single mothers were divorced or separated, about 43 percent were never married, and about four percent were widowed, according to Census Bureau statistics. About 62 percent of all single fathers were divorced or separated, about 34 percent were never married, and about 4 percent were widowed.
Vice-President Dan Quayle helped make the changing nature of the American family a political issue with a controversial 1992 speech in which he criticized the fictional character Murphy Brown for having a child without being married. Television characters like Murphy Brown and Rachel Greene (from NBC's Friends) a decade later are not typical of single mothers; most single mothers are employed but nevertheless live below the poverty line. About 57 percent of all single mothers in 2000 had family incomes less than $20,000, and only 3.2 percent had incomes greater than $75,000.
The following table shows the breakdown by race of the marital status of single mothers in 2000.
|
| All races
| White
| Black
| Asian
| Hispanic
|
| Never married
| 43.2
| 32.8
| 64.8
| 27.8
| 43.8
|
| Divorced
| 35.0
| 44.2
| 17.1
| 31.7
| 25.2
|
| Separated
| 17.7
| 18.4
| 15.5
| 30.1
| 24.6
|
| Widowed
| 4.0
| 4.6
| 2.6
| 10.4
| 6.3
|
Sources: The U.S. Census Bureau has data on families and living arrangements on-line here, including America's Families and Living Arrangements for 2000. The graph is based on data on-line here. The table is based on data on-line here.
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