

New York's hipsters too cool for the census - hyperbovine
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125811666

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brandnewlow
Q: How many hipsters does it take to fill out the census?

A: It's kind of an obscure number. You probably haven't heard of it.

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SandB0x
Or A: You mean you don't _know_?

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spamizbad
"Mr. STARK: I guess it's laziness and like, what's the point? When it comes
down to it, nobody wants to fill out like another form that's just like
getting sent to your house that really relatively has nothing to do with your
life."

I mean, like, it provides essential statistics for the configuration of
congressional districts, and umm like it's mandated by the constitution and
stuff and junk, but like... what's the point?

~~~
ugh
He uses this idiotic and clumsy like-speak. Like, what do you expect? :)

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Tichy
Not sure what the point of a census is? At least in Germany, I think you are
required by law to tell the state when ad where you have moved. So the state
should have all the information already on file. Nevertheless, the German
government has at times tried to make a census. But improved technology might
alleviate the need?

Probably there are people who don't bother to announce their moves and births
- but why would they bother to fill in a census form instead?

Maybe an easier way would be to make announcing a move a lot easier, like
sending a tweet to the government.

Or create an iPhone app for the census form, that automatically determines
your location, sex and age from your usage patterns.

Even simpler: create a law that requires Google to disclose that information.

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tptacek
There is no such requirement in the US.

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joubert
And according to the story the return rate from the Hasidics in Williamsburg
is only 25%.

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zephjc
Hipsters won't fill out the census because everyone else does and it's not
underground.

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balding_n_tired
When in Williamsburg the other month, I saw lots of folks I took to be
Hasidic, but nobody who looked any hipper than my middle-aged un-hip self. Of
course, it was between 11 and noon, so perhaps the truly hip had not rolled
out of the sack yet.

But it surprises me that the Satmars wouldn't have the whole congressional
thing in mind.

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tomjen3
Hell I wouldn't do it either, but the Danish government already has all of
that info on file.

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clammer
People should only note how many people live in the dwelling and send it back.
That's the only constitutionally approved question the census is supposed to
ask.

The rest of the questions are there to tell politicians what group they should
pander to and how to reconfigure congressional zones.

The census TV ads about filling in your race (actually your country of
ancestry) are really pissing me off too. It wasn't that long ago census data
was used to roundup Japanese citizens during WWII...they claimed it was
private back then too.

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aaronbrethorst
The Constitution (Article 1 Section 2) specifically gives the House of
Representatives power to decide the questions present in the census: "[I]n
such Manner as [the House] shall by Law direct."

Here are the questions asked in the first census, conducted in 1790:

* Name of the head of each household.

* How many free white males age 16 and older.

* How many free white males under age 16.

* How many free white females.

* How many of all other free persons.

* How many slaves.

I don't suppose you're a fan of Michelle Bachmann's, are you? Here's a recent
response a FOX News(!) anchor gave Bachmann regarding this:

“We’ve had a lot of good years since then,” Kelly said. “That was a different
time and a different era. We’ve had decades since then when, at least to our
knowledge, this information hasn’t been abused. So how do you respond to
people who say, ‘Look, we’ve been doing it for decades since then. The law is
what it is and you as a lawmaker should know better than to break it.’”

[http://minnesotaindependent.com/37810/bachmann-links-
census-...](http://minnesotaindependent.com/37810/bachmann-links-census-to-
japanese-internment)

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yummyfajitas
If we don't know how many [ _Japanese_ ] we have, how do we know how many [
_prison camps_ ] to build?

We can't move forward until you mail it back.

