According to the U.S. Census Bureau, multiracial Americans are the fastest growing demographic group. Their numbers rose 3.4% in 2008 to about 5.2 million and more than half of them are younger than age 20. Demographers attribute this growth to more social acceptance, slowing immigration and high public profiles of people like President Obama and Tiger Woods. As of July 2008 California, Texas, New York and Florida had the most multiracial residents, with Utah having the biggest increase in multiracial residents. Today about 1 in 13 marriages is multiracial, which is multi good for the human race.

According to a study published in "Psychological Science", boredom "can kill a marriage, squashing intimacy and romance". In the study 123 couples applying for their first marriage license in Wayne County, Michigan were interviewed 7 and 16 years later. Boredom at 7 years strongly predicted loss of intimacy nine years later and often divorce. However, sharing new or exciting experiences duplicates some of the brain chemistry that occurs at the beginning of a relationship; and doing something a little scary creates an adrenalin surge that increases feelings of sexiness - which could lead to an increase in the sales of swinging chandeliers.

According to a study done at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, people replace about half their friends every 7 years, resulting in their social networks staying about the same size. Originally 1,007 people, ages 18-65, were interviewed and 604 were re-interviewed 7 years later. Although personal network sizes remained stable, only 48% were part of an individual's original network and of those about 30% were discussion partners and practical helpers. The study also showed that when people choose new friends, they frequently choose them from a context they have previously chosen a friend. That's not very social for social animals.

According to experiments done by New York University psychologists, announcing major goals to others doesn't help accomplish them. Law students were asked to rate a series of statements about their approach to becoming lawyers. Some anonymously dropped the questionnaire in a box; others discussed their answers with the researcher running the experiment. Then the students were asked to help analyze 20 difficult, criminal-law cases, knowing they could quit at anytime. The students who had discussed their questionnaires with the researcher failed to intensely follow through with the criminal-law cases. They talked the talk, but they didn't push themselves to walk the walk.

Knight Pierce Hirst takes a second look at what makes life interesting and it takes only second at http://knightwatch.typepad.com

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