Where the ladies at?

Hey guys, I don't have anything original to share today, but I did come across the following story on cnn.com, and I've appended it below.  It explains so much.

A study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine provides quantitative support for a notion long held by American males between the ages of 25 and 33: the ladies have gone the way of the dodo.

While it's not unusual to have a slight imbalance in the sex ratio of all births in a country as large as the United States, the annual number has generally remained within a fraction of 1% of a perfect 50:50 split.  However, statistically, it's possible -- if improbable -- for the ratio to reach much higher levels of imbalance.  So, you can imagine the surprise of researchers when they discovered that from 1975 to 1983, the aggregate male-to-female birth ratio was approximately 9 to 1.  Just as remarkable, the ratio immediately returned to 50:50 in 1984 and has remained there since.

SexRatio

Naturally, it's reasonable to ask why this situation wasn't identified sooner, especially since the necessary data does not require an extensive amount of analysis to arrive at such a simple conclusion.  Said the study's lead author, Dr. Alvaro Mentirador, "Well, they still haven't made some of these documents available in electronic form, and nobody wanted to go to the library to look them up.  I mean, some of those books are pretty heavy.  Of course, it didn't help that one of our peer-reviewers was a first-grader who refused to provide critical comments in any form other than crayon drawings of dogs humping birds."  Mentirador continued, "Hey, I like a good picture of a beagle giving a blue jay the business as much as the next guy, but there's a time and a place for that sort of thing.  I still can't believe the editor made us address those 'criticisms'."

What are the possible implications of the finding that men in their late twenties and early thirties outnumber their female counterparts by a wide margin?  Zach Rudson, a graduate research assistant and co-author of the study, commented, "On the one hand, it's something of a relief.  I'm 28, I'm single, and maybe it's not my fault.  On the other hand, it suggests that I need to start dating women who are too young to get any 80's pop culture references or are so old that their biological clock is pounding."  Added Rudson, "Shit, I don't want some baby-crazed old chick telling me what color we're going to paint our nursery while I'm trying to choose an appetizer on our first date."

Researchers are now trying to understand the reason for such a strong imbalance.  Infanticide does not seem to be a cause, as the total number of childbirths was consistent with prevailing rates and simple population growth models.  Moreover, meta-analysis of health studies on the age group in question suggest that environmental or medical practices during the late '70's and early '80's did not contribute to the unusual male-to-female ratio.  When pressed to speculate on a possible cause, Dr. Mentirador said, "I don't know.  I could suggest any number of foolish and unlikely causes, but the one I keep coming back to is this:  maybe God just hates all these dudes."