2010 US Census thread because we can't move forward until you mail it back

I took the test to get a gig for this back in January, they never called me back.

xxp i was thinking baout that - the census doesn't verify the citizenship of respondents, which apparently bothers the cranky anti-immigrant faction of cities like prescott, arizona, because they don't want illegal immigrants to boost their district's funding/likelihood of additional representation, since according to the article they'd rather undocumented immigrants just be deported. but the census also doesn't verify the validity of responses, at least as far as i know (does it?). so, i'm wondering, if these people are truly not interested in the potential benefits of additional heads being counted, is that enough to stop them from fraudulently maxing out their forms by listing not only themselves, but also imaginary residents with whom they share their domicile?

anyway, mailed mine back today, maybe now we can finally move forward already

i mean it's like if you're gonna be racist, as least be racist against immigrants who live in OTHER districts

shh iij, i am still trying to figure out why sex sexual didn't get a callback

filled out the form today, will send it off in the morning! my answers were so boring -- two-person household, white/non-hispanic male and female. the form had room for twelve people in one household!

such a typical bureaucratic waste of ink to ask people for both their DOB and age in years

prob gonna riot

it seems like the ads/hype for the census has revolved around 'this will get us money for SCHOOLS and ROADS' and not 'YOU MIGHT GET ANOTHER REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE HoR AND THEREFORE U MAYBE NOT HAVE AN OLD WHITE REPRESENT YOU AND MAYBE U GET SOMEONE WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOUR GENERAL PREDICAMENT...' correct me if I'm wrong w/ this observation. I mean, granted, your faith in democracy might not make the idea of another representative worth your while, but still...

this is surprising? for ads to speak the simplest language in order to reach the most people? what's easier to understand: SCHOOLS AND ROADS or that other thing you said? of course they're gonna say schools and roads. same reason they say "this smelly new deodorant will make beautiful women want to touch you!"

the social work students at my school are raising awareness by visiting classes, handing out tote bags, and doing 10 minute presentations explaining what the census is. most students have no idea why they're being asked about who lives in their house, and they're really paranoid (some aren't legal). they haven't come to my classes yet, but i'm curious what they'll say.

got my form today

We got ours too!! Have never filled out before, excited tbh.

Got it last night, returned it this morning, I have done my part for the continuation of American society. Or something.

Thanks to you, Mr. Raggett, California is allowed schools and roads.

schools and roads for everyone!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2793/4440127957_cf1b708ccd.jpg

not the best picture of me, but it's the best picture of my 2010 census form yet

Oh hell yes, I better get one of me & my historical enabling of schools + roads before I mail that shit out.

ha you can see my bike in the middle of the living room, where it lives

Did it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marshmallowy/4441473078/sizes/m/

wait where's my photo. trying again.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/4441473078_238446f0a8.jpg

WDYLL being properly accounted for, as stipulated by the Constitution?

I'm going on chatroulette tonight with just a picture of my census form. And my balls.

you have to bring your balls into every thread don't you

Step aside.

not long ago he was talking about the pubes of others, so his balls are a step in the right direction

I was doing no such thing. Believe it or not, that was one of the rare occasions when I didn't bring up the topic myself.

and yet i believe her

you have to bring your balls into every thread don't you

censused

xp I suppose I have earned a lack of credibility in this area.

you were! maybe not overtly discussing in detail but reacting to the pubes of others!

anyway, can we talk about the special latino question?

i also found the language interesting "how many people live/stay in your apartment/house/mobile home"

the two verbs interest me

"special Latino question"...?

plz say it is not "Are you a special Latino? ___ yes ___ no"

my apartment holds three comfortably, seventeen uncomfortably

are you an "angry Latina judge"

Yes ___

No ___

Fuck you, Scalia ___

i also found the language interesting "how many people live/stay in your apartment/house/mobile home"

Yeah, that is a curious verb choice. Does my dead mother in the attic count?

y

Is she comfortable?

it asked very specifically "are you of latino/hispanic descent and if so what kind" and then listed puerto rican, mexican, nicaraguan, etc. then there was a little box asking "are you of 'other' hispanic descent?" and listed colombian, "spaniard" etc.

THEN it asked for my "race" and i was given a chance to say whether i was white, African America/black/Negro, korean, Chinese, Guamanian, etc.

then there was a box for "OTHER"

so basically what I understood is this:

* they are counting latinos
* they are counting if someone is latino + something else
* they don't give you an option to mark if you are [x] race + (something else not latino)

weird, i thought
* they want to know if you are

whoops
ignore that last * point

U+K Walken sketch

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4165/saturday-night-live-census-taker

If they want to know if I am weird, they're going to have to have to be a little more specific.

anyway, can we talk about the special latino question?

i think this is because the census is worried that if the significant population of americans who are latino/hispanic aren't given an option to list that as their ethnicity, they might get tripped up and choose white. from what i understand latino/hispanic isn't listed under the race category, because it's not technically a race. i assume the only reason there isn't also a separate white-race ethnicity disambiguation question for arab-americans is because that's not considered a "significant" population?

limiting people to specific races/ethnicities gets hairy, for sure. they should just provide a world map on the form and say "shade in every region from which you believe you have ancestors" during some particular time period.

function of time period, of course, would be so that everyone doesn't just shade ethiopia

I believe part of the reason for asking such specific questions is so such a map can be made.

right, but i'm saying at this point the accuracy of the map's data is only going to be as good as the question by which the data is obtained

i understand why they're doing it -- i just want to know what they're going to do with the data. are these contortions the work of squeezing people into a box or expanding the box? because squeezing isn't going to get us anywhere.

ps USians can't read maps, duh -- try harder!

It's all so they can round us up into FEMA death camps more efficiently.

oh, i see. well i don't think they're trying to fit people into these boxes one way or another, only make sure the box itself is accurately defined. i guess the purpose of that is so grad students' sociology theses can be as accurate as possible?

The white/non-hispanic vs. white/hispanic vs. non-white/hispanic-or-whatever-else-there-was distinction is one I'm familiar with primarily through seeing it used on Wikipedia. Thank you internet for keeping me up to date with demographic trends!

i like how the questions on the form are:

1) how many people are in your house?

2) How many people are REALLY in your house?

3) REALLY??

what is the legal difference btwn 'black' and 'negro'?

Are those two seperate options (haven't got mine yet)?

same

http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12244764

second form came yesterday.

Garcia said forms are not available online, even though the bureau has embraced social networking to help get the word out this year. The bureau began preparing for the 2010 census in 2005-06 and officials did not feel they could guarantee the confidentiality mandated in the process.

“We’re keeping up with the times and sparking a conversation. This spreads awareness to a new segment,” she said. “Confidentiality trumps everything else. In 2020, the Internet might be a thing of the past. Who knows?”

bahaha

Awesome! Yeah I kind of hope Chatroulette is the most internet thing that could possibly exist and from now on it's best to focus on how we're gonna live with regional augmented virtual reality nets.

Actually, I could imagine the Internet breaking back up into seperate national networks someday.

what a disaster for ilx

http://www.censusdiscriminationlawsuit.com/

http://ccrjustice.org/johnson-v-locke

Williamsburg hipsters not submitting their census forms.

ROBERT SMITH: The biggest census procrastinators in New York City happen to live in the most self-consciously hip neighborhood: Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Williamsburg is a magnet for kids just out of college, home of indie bands and ironic mustaches, wacky bikes and skinny jeans, and honest to goodness record stores like this one, Academy Annex.

http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/entertainment/07/07/24_robertsmith_lgl.jpg

SMITH: The Census Bureau is spending $133 million on advertising in dozens of languages telling people that the census is their civic duty, that it helps get federal funding in their communities, but the message isn't sinking in here in Williamsburg.

I just got this today.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i191/fluxion23/community-survey.jpg

Which I will happily fill out, of course. But apparently this only goes out to about three million households, which puts me in a pretty small percentile. Smaller still, since my household has one person in it.

My first thought, considering the identical questions on the first page, was that the Census Bureau was attempting to re-brand the Census form, and thought that maybe someone had been talking to Frank Luntz.

308,745,538!

^^exclamation point, not a factorial obv

I didn't counted in this census btw, so it's at least 308,745,539.

538 is my magical number!
add one and it blows my mind

xp iirc they have an algorithm to account for people like you.

just concerned abt my homegirl who works for a ny congressperson. they are losing two districts, hope she gets to keep her job in two years.

any more news about the special latino section?

Mapping America: Every City, Every Block
Browse local data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, based on samples from 2005 to 2009. Because these figures are based on samples, they are subject to a margin of error, particularly in places with a low population, and are best regarded as estimates.

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer

For the first time in U.S. history, most of the nation’s babies are members of minority groups, according to new census figures that signal the dawn of an era in which whites no longer will be in the majority.

Population estimates show that 50.4 percent of children younger than 1 last year were Hispanic, black, Asian American or in other minority groups. That’s almost a full percentage point higher than the 49.5 percent of minority babies counted when the decennial census was taken in April 2010. Census Bureau demographers said the tipping point came three months later, in July.

The latest estimates, which gauge changes since the last census, are a reflection of an immigration wave that began four decades ago. The transformation of the country’s racial and ethnic makeup has gathered steam as the white population grows collectively older, especially compared with Hispanics.

The census has forecast that non-Hispanic whites will be outnumbered in the United States by 2042, and social scientists consider that current status among infants a harbinger of the change.

“This is a watershed moment,” said Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University who specializes in family issues. “It shows us how multicultural we’ve become.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/census-minority-babies-are-now-majority-in-united-states/2012/05/16/gIQA1WY8UU_story.html

Apologies if this is being discussed elsewhere -- I just thought it was demographics-related so I stuck it here.