Letters: C-Sections, Census
Robert Siegel and Melissa Block read from listeners' e-mails.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
Now to your letters.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
On yesterday's program, we heard about the government's campaign to get more Americans to send in their census forms early. But that story left many of our listeners with a nagging question.
SIEGEL: For a form that the government wants now, why does it ask for the size of your household on April 1st, 2010, which is definitely not now but next week?
BLOCK: My husband and I worry that we would be carted off to jail for answering questions in March about who lives at our home on April 1st, 2010. What if one of us dies before then?
A hypothetical question from Roberta Sideman(ph) of Stony Brook, New York.
SIEGEL: Well, we turned to the census blog where Director Robert Groves advises that while the government expects most households to remain stable in the next week, you can wait to send in your census form if your household status changes before the first.
But he adds, for all the rest of us, if you're like me with this disease of procrastination, fill it out and mail it back when you get it.
BLOCK: And finally, yesterday I spoke with Museum of Modern Art curator Paola Antonelli about her museum's acquisition of the at-symbol, as in @AOL.com, for its design collection.
SIEGEL: Well, thats struck Matt Ficktinbaum(ph) of Chelmsford, Massachusetts as an apt decision. He writes: I was amused to hear that New York's Museum of Modern Art has acquired the at-sign, but it's not a new concept. Here in New England, we've been calling it the Museum of Modern At for as long as I can remember.
(Soundbite of laughter)
BLOCK: As always, thanks for your quips and your comments. Write to us at NPR.org. Click on Contact Us at the bottom of the page.
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