The U.S. Census estimated that the population of the United States reached 300 million today. From the census page, the statistics for October, 2006 estimate:
One birth every 7 seconds
One death every 13 seconds
One international migrant (net) every 31 seconds
Net gain of one person every 11 seconds
It took 39 years to grow from 200 million in 1968 to the current population. To grow from 100 to 200 million took 54 years from 1915.
The current growth rate for the U.S. population is roughly 1% per year.
The current world population is estimated at 6.551 billion, and estimated to reach 7 billion around 2012.
Wouldn’t you love to know what her conversation is about?
![[image: Little Anna and Mother Mary]](http://cowpi.com/journal/media/2006/anna_and_mary.JPG "Little Anna and Mother Mary")
I received this image in an email this morning. Did you notice the date of the newspaper?
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
The traffic that speeds by the lone vehicle pulled over onto the side of the highway by the trooper with his police car lights flashing is not much different than a herd of wildebeest standing off at a safe distance watching the lion feed on one of their own.
Looking Back, by artist unknown
This papercut was intricately made from one sheet of paper. The detail is just amazing and the composition of the image is striking. I wish I knew the name of the artist. I photoshopped the original image to make it look a little more artsy.
I wonder what the skeleton is contemplating? The hole left by the life of the person? The temporariness of human existence on earth? A list of wish-I-had-done-that’s? Did I do my best? Did I love enough? A life well-lived? What happens now?