On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:47:16 +0100, Brad Rogers <news@yoss1960.ukfsn.org> wrote: >On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:21:53 +0200, Lesley Robertson wrote: > >> I'm a bit puzzled - I thought that the USA census happen in years with a 0 >> on the end, not a 6? Is it more frequent than every 10 years? > >I believe that the USA sometime trial a series of questions in a mini >census (not usually across the whole of USA) to see if a) they're worded >well and b) produce responses that can be categorised into meaningful >statistics. > >IIRC, Canada and Britain do something similar, on occasion. I don't have the original in this thread- but those weasel words drew me out of lurkdom. . . 'I believe. . . IIRC'? C'm'on. How about a good 'it looks to me like'. . ., or an 'if I had to take a wild guess'. . . ? [insert either here]. . . the source of this troll/rumor/legend is a Canadian Agricultural census for which they have a $500 fine for not responding. http://www.statcan.ca/english/agcensus2006/faq.htm At least that's what all the first google hits are for 2006 census fine Jim