It’s Census time again, that means that all 300 million or so Americans get to fill out a survey. The research geek in me loves it (even when the first two questions on the form are poorly designed enough to confuse me briefly). That being said, the New York Times City Room blog had an interesting post highlighting the trivia that is played if you call the Census Bureau and are put on hold.

Try it out, if you call 301-763-4636 you can hear bits on information such as how many Americans have dogs or cats, how many shelled peanuts we eat each year, a 152 year old patent for pencil erasers, etc.

The Times article has some of the scripts and recordings for those of you who don’t want to call and have to ask to be put on hold (or you an call the line dedicated to playing the messages without prompts or talking to people (301) 763 2222).

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