jrw1621
jrw1621 Dork
3/8/10 8:44 a.m.

I just got a letter in the mail (one page) that tells me, in about one week, I will receive a 2010 Census form in the mail.
In the next paragraph it tells me how important the Census is.

Did it really require a letter to announce the pending arrival of a letter?

93celicaGT2
93celicaGT2 SuperDork
3/8/10 8:47 a.m.

Someone's gotta keep the USPS in business...

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
3/8/10 9:16 a.m.

Apparently there are about 399 million idiots living within our borders. The preemptive letter is necessary.

With todays technology why do we really need a census? Seriously! Build a database that merges drivers license info, banking info, real estate info, power company info, cell phone info, facebook info, tax return info as well as any other info needed to organize where people are living, working and how much they have bred. Hell it would be almost real time!

tuna55
tuna55 HalfDork
3/8/10 9:21 a.m.

What, did you think your tax dollars were going to useful things?

DrBoost
DrBoost Dork
3/8/10 9:24 a.m.

Drop the census, just estimate.

skruffy
skruffy Dork
3/8/10 9:29 a.m.

I'm enjoying all the commercials. It's a snapshot of America! I'm totally stoked to fill that form out when it arrives. I'm gonna put so many numbers on it, this will be the best census ever!

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
3/8/10 9:34 a.m.

Mofos census notes:

Income : $48.00 annually combined

Adults living in household : 7

Children living in household : 23.2

slefain
slefain Dork
3/8/10 9:54 a.m.

This guy can't wait:

aircooled
aircooled SuperDork
3/8/10 10:09 a.m.

Don't do it! They are going to tattoo a number on you forehead!!

Type Q
Type Q HalfDork
3/8/10 4:34 p.m.
DrBoost wrote: Drop the census, just estimate.

IIRC the Census Bureau proposed moving to a statistical sampling method a couple of years ago to make the process simpler and less involved. It got shot down by Congress. It seems many members were afraid it might somehow give more votes to their opposing party.

oldtin
oldtin Reader
3/8/10 4:43 p.m.

Just wondering how many millions of $$$ got spent on ads and postage to tell us that our govt is going to be doing what they have been mandated to do by our fearless leaders.

John Brown
John Brown SuperDork
3/8/10 5:20 p.m.

Makes me glad I live in the Canadian state of Trashdumpigan.

Chris_V
Chris_V SuperDork
3/8/10 5:53 p.m.
Type Q wrote:
DrBoost wrote: Drop the census, just estimate.
IIRC the Census Bureau proposed moving to a statistical sampling method a couple of years ago to make the process simpler and less involved. It got shot down by Congress. It seems many members were afraid it might somehow give more votes to their opposing party.

And there you have the crux of it. Voting blocs, and potential redistricting.

ZOO
ZOO Dork
3/8/10 6:11 p.m.

Census data is really pretty neat.Statscan (the organization responsible for ours) has historical data going back to the first Canadian census on its website. I believe in a census -- of course, I studied a lot of demography at university, so I am somewhat biased.

carguy123
carguy123 SuperDork
3/8/10 7:15 p.m.
John Brown wrote: Apparently there are about 399 million idiots living within our borders. The preemptive letter is necessary. With todays technology why do we really need a census? Seriously! Build a database that merges drivers license info, banking info, real estate info, power company info, cell phone info, facebook info, tax return info as well as any other info needed to organize where people are living, working and how much they have bred. Hell it would be almost real time!

That's exactly what we DON'T need!!

porksboy
porksboy Dork
3/8/10 8:27 p.m.

My answer= three people live here, Two adults, one minor. You dont need to know how many toilets I have, how much money i make, how far i drive to work, how long my hootus is. The founding fathers specified a head count. Done.

tuna55
tuna55 HalfDork
3/8/10 9:01 p.m.
porksboy wrote: My answer= three people live here, Two adults, one minor. You dont need to know how many toilets I have, how much money i make, how far i drive to work, how long my hootus is. The founding fathers specified a head count. Done.

Exactly - certainly nothing will go down for "race" or any other such random unnecessary topic.

Marty!
Marty! HalfDork
3/8/10 9:10 p.m.
oldtin wrote: Just wondering how many millions of $$$ got spent on ads and postage to tell us that our govt is going to be doing what they have been mandated to do by our fearless leaders.

I've always been of the mindset to not ask questions that you don't want to know the answers to, but since you asked.......

From the US Census Bureau press release.

.......The life cycle cost for the Reengineered 2010 Census was estimated at $11.8 billion in the FY 2009 Budget Request, including $1.8 billion for the American Community Survey which replaced the long-form. The new estimated life cycle cost for the 2010 Census is $13.7 to $14.5 billion.......

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/2010_census/011773.html

Somebody had to fill that spot between the Pepsi and GoDaddy commercials during the Super Bowl.

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy New Reader
3/9/10 1:00 p.m.

On the Canadian census they don't offer "Canadian" as a possibility on the ethnic heritage question, so I write it in. I figure 5 generations and 150 years puts me as a natural born canuck.

Cone_Junky
Cone_Junky New Reader
3/9/10 2:13 p.m.
John Brown wrote: Apparently there are about 399 million idiots living within our borders. The preemptive letter is necessary. With todays technology why do we really need a census? Seriously! Build a database that merges drivers license info, banking info, real estate info, power company info, cell phone info, facebook info, tax return info as well as any other info needed to organize where people are living, working and how much they have bred. Hell it would be almost real time!

Here in California, especially the Southern half, we have about 10-12 million "undocumented workers". They don't have a driver's license (or insurance for that matter), don't have a bank account (all money sent to Mexico), and don't file for taxes. So they need a more convential questionare. Although most of them are paranoid that "the man" will come get them, so I doubt they will fill them out anyway.

GregTivo
GregTivo HalfDork
3/9/10 4:20 p.m.

Haha, I'm not sure what I should do, as in a week I'll be resident in two locations (my apt and recently purchased house). Should I pick an address and say I live there, risking bureaucrat kerfluffle or become 2 people, which is probably less forgivable. The census is tearing me apart!

stuart in mn
stuart in mn SuperDork
3/9/10 6:47 p.m.
GregTivo wrote: Haha, I'm not sure what I should do, as in a week I'll be resident in two locations (my apt and recently purchased house). Should I pick an address and say I live there, risking bureaucrat kerfluffle or become 2 people, which is probably less forgivable. The census is tearing me apart!

Put down the address where you're spending the most time. Unless you're spending exactly 50.00000% in both locations.

GregTivo
GregTivo HalfDork
3/9/10 7:14 p.m.

In reply to stuart in mn:

griffin729
griffin729 Reader
3/9/10 10:06 p.m.
GregTivo wrote: Haha, I'm not sure what I should do, as in a week I'll be resident in two locations (my apt and recently purchased house). Should I pick an address and say I live there, risking bureaucrat kerfluffle or become 2 people, which is probably less forgivable. The census is tearing me apart!

I'm in exactly this situation. I'll most likely be moving to the house in a couple weeks, but for now I'm still at the apartment. House = 2 car garage yay me. And the fiance has told me that to help with the longer commute and the mileage on my Subaru. I get $1000 to get a DD or maybe a project car in disguise.

I have a friend that works for the USPS. Census forms are already in the system. Delivery started this past Saturday.

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