april 1 is national census day

Forget April Fools' Day—today is also National Census Day, the day by which the Census Bureau would like everyone to return their forms, please. This is exciting stuff.

Ways to celebrate National Census Day (in addition to mailing back the survey, of course):

• Listen to the hold messages on the Census Bureau help line to hear all sorts of interesting facts and figures about this zany country in which we live. Just call (301) 763-2222. It's a dedicated phone line that simply recites all of the month's scripts, so you don't have to worry about going through automated prompts or talking to the feds. I just called earlier today and it still works. (My favorite fun fact: "Usually associated with fruit, Vitamin C is also found in potatoes—which is good, because while Americans on average consume 18 pounds of fresh citrus a year, they eat 39 pounds of potatoes." I wonder how much of that is in French fry form.)

• Check out this really, really cool interactive map that shows how well various communities around the nation are doing in returning their census forms. Interestingly, all of the top five states are in the upper Midwest. Our state is currently showing a 55% participation rate. Come on, people of Kentucky! Are we going to let Wisconsin beat us? We can surely do better than that.

• Watch Season 1 Episode 6 of The West Wing, "Mr. Willis of Ohio." Sam Seaborn taught me everything I know about census-taking methodology. (Though I suppose being married to a stats person helped in that area, too.)

Happy National Census Day, everyone.