GlennFrazier.com

Quick, while it's still funny, follow this link:

Search Google News for '300 millionth baby'.

Yes, in towns big and small, all across the United States, local news editors everywhere are sending out poor shlubs with the assignment: find a local angle for the "300 Millionth Citizen" story, and all across America, in every city and in many a town, they are coming up with this headline: "300 Millionth Baby May Have Been Born in [INSERT LOCAL CITY OR TOWN]!"

In case you are seeing this post well after the fact, here, below, is a sample of headlines from the search done just now:

• "New baby born near the 300-millionth milestone" (Capital News 9, New York)
• "300 millionth? Kalamazoo baby comes close" (MLive.com, Michigan)
• "baby girl is sign of changing US" (The Grand Rapids Press, Grand Rapids Michigan)
• "300 millionth baby" (WTWO, Indiana)
• "Pittsburgh Might Boast 300 Millionth Baby" (KDKA, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania)
• "Elmhurst Hospital claims birth of 300 millionth American Tuesday" (Times Ledger)
• "300 millionth American born in New York -- maybe" (Newsday)
• "300th millionth baby could be from Boise" (KTVB, Indiana)
• "Los Angeles Latino may well be 300 millionth American" (Reuters)
• "Los Angeles Latino newborn to be the 300 millionth American" (Peninsula Online)
• "Wake Co. baby almost 300 millionth US citizen" (News 14 Carolina, North Carolina)
• "Local baby came too early for national milestone" (Springfield News Sun, Springfield Ohio)
• "Tucson Baby Number 300 Million?" (KOLD-TV, Arizona)
• "A Local Face on the 300 Million People Mark" (NewsChannel 9 WSYR, New York)
• "Will milestone baby be born right here?" (The Trentonian, Trenton New Jersey)

I am not making these up. Every one is real.

Two quick additional observations before I go to bed: (1) While I saw many headlines (which I didn't bother posting above) proclaiming "Fame but Not Fortune Awaits the 300 Millionth Citizen", I also noticed (mostly via PR Newswire) that all sorts of fabulous prizes do, in fact await the apparrently omnipresent 300 Millionth American in the form of corporate giveaways from companies ranging from diaper makers to pizza delivery chains. (2) While many stories note with great alarm and fanfare that the trip from 300 million to 400 million will be a lot faster than the trip from 200 million to 300 million has been, some are also noting (many paragraphs in) that the actual percentage rate of population growth in the United States has been a flat one per-cent since the 1960's, and is predicted to stay at that level at least into the 2040's.

For what that's worth.