By The Way...

When this subject omes up it always reminds me of a population counter display I saw at the 1964 New York World's Fair.  Back then the count was a little over 200 million, and for years afterward that was my rule of thumb - 210 million, 214 million, 220 million...after that I lost track.  I was fascinated at the time by the ticker (I was seven years old), and wanted to know how they knew that someone had been born, someone had died, someone had immigrated, someone had emigrated.  The display covered all four of those factors. I think it was my brother Steve (age 14 at the time) who explained about statistics and estimates and the census.  

But ever since then I've never quite believed the official count - in general, perhaps, but not specifically. Having gone door to door as an enumerator for R.L. Polk in 1977, I know that people don't always want to be counted.  How do they know exactly how many people are evading the census takers?  How do they know the degree of fluctuation in the birth and death rates between actual counts?  So okay, yes, MAYBE the 300 millionth current American arrived today by birth, boat, plane or on foot.  But more likely it's a statistical convention, and only vaguely correct. In terms of real living breathing people, the milestone may have been reached last week or last mont, or could be yet to come - and we'll never know it.

Hmm.  Clearly I need to blog this.

Karen
http://journals.aol.com/mavarin/MusingsfromMavarin/
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

 

The phrase "snowball rolling downhill" comes to mind.
-Paul
http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/