[Cowperson]

US Census survey of 2007 trends finds Americans will spend half their waking hours every day plugged into various forms of media, including TV, the internet, etc. . . .

"I know people who use television as wallpaper," said Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster based in Silicon Valley. But, he added, "The news means that America is making a smooth transition from a couch potato to a mouse potato. Put another way, I suspect the only exercise Americans are getting is walking between their TVs and their computers."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...ns-media_x.htm

A broader view of the data and trends in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/15/us...rtner=homepage

More Americans were born in 2004 than in any years except 1960 and 1990.

From 2000 to 2005, the number of manufacturing jobs declined nearly 18 percent. Virtually every job category registered decreases except pharmaceuticals. Employment in textile mills fell by 42 percent. The job projected to grow the fastest by 2014 is home health aide.

In 1970, 79 percent of graduate students said their goal was developing a meaningful philosophy of life. By 2005, 75 percent said their primary objective was to be financially very well off.

Among graduate students, 27 percent had at least one foreign-born parent.

As recently as 1980, only 12 percent of doctors were women; by 2004, 27 percent were.

In 1970, 33,000 men and 2,000 women earned professional degrees; in 2004, the numbers were 42,000 men and 41,000 women.

Cowperson