In 2010, the aggregate U.S. income was about $12,530,101,184,000. I looked for an explanation of what defined this amount but that was not made available. I presume it follows similar IRS guidelines of regular taxable income but excluding non-taxable and capital gains income.

I think it's fair to say, "if you're making your fair share of the aggregate (aggregate divided by the number of full-time, year-round workers) then you're the middle of middle class".

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The current Wikipedia entry states: "the word "culture" is most commonly used in three basic senses:

1) Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture
2) An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning
3) The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group

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When I first moved to Long Island (April 2004) it was a culture shock for me. And by "culture" I include many of the attributes which shape culture.

I've lived in Pittsburgh, PA; Minneapolis, MN; Rochester, NY; London, England; and Geneva, Switzerland but Long Island is very different in many ways.

Climate: It's humid and the winters are short and relatively warm (only London's winter is shorter and warmer...but it's much less humid there). It's also much...