XIAM007 - Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World: 02/03/10

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Taxpayers to Fork Out $2.5 Million for Single 30-second Census Ad During Super Bowl -

Reading - Taxpayers to Fork Out $2.5 Million for Single 30-second Census Ad During Super Bowl -

Taxpayers might want to pay close attention to this Sunday's Super Bowl broadcast or they'll miss Uncle Sam's 30-second, $2.5-million reminder to stand up and be counted.

That's what the Census Bureau paid CBS to get their message notched somewhere between a National Lampoon reprisal, a weird dude with big glasses, a beer-can house and men without pants.

And, that's just a fraction of what the bureau plans to spend this year to get Americans to answer a simple, 10-question survey.

The bureau is spending $133 million between January and May -- or, more than $13 million for each of 10 questions, one of which reads: What is your telephone number? -- to publicize the national head-count. Part of that effort is the Super Bowl ad, which Kendall Johnson, a spokeswoman for the bureau, confirmed Wednesday to FoxNews.com cost $2.5 million to air. The ad, produced by actor and director Christopher Guest, also will appear in other media, Johnson said.

"We have rotations across all kinds of cable properties on network and cable TV," she said, adding that the bureau plans to advertise in 28 languages, including some as obscure as Hmong, a southeast Asian dialect.

SLIDESHOW: $132M Census Ad Campaign in 28 Languages

"What an absolute colossal waste of money," said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste, a government watchdog group based in Washington.

"That's a lot of money to spend on a glorified public service announcement," Williams said. "While they're counting people, we're going to be counting the dollars that they're spending."

Shannon Jacobs, a spokeswoman for CBS, which airs the Super Bowl, told FoxNews.com Wednesday that advertisements for this year's game have topped $3 million.

CBS sold some ads "north of $3 million," she said, adding that there's a range in price depending on the advertisement's placement during the game.

The census, conducted every 10 years, is an official count of the nation's population mandated by the Constitution. The results are used to determine distribution of taxpayer money and the apportionment of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Every U.S. household, including those occupied by non-citizens and illegal immigrants, must be counted.

The census questionnaire -- touted by the bureau as one of the shortest forms in history -- consists of 10 questions and is intended to take no longer than 10 minutes to complete, according to the bureau's Web site.

Amazing UFO has left scientists baffled — after scientists claimed it was NOT a comet streaking through space -

Reading - Amazing UFO has left scientists baffled — after scientists claimed it was NOT a comet streaking through space -

It was first spotted early last month so astronomers turned the Hubble telescope on it last week to get these close up images.

The object — named P/2010 A2 — is of a type never before seen by stargazers and orbits in a satellite belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Despite its tail they have ruled out it being a comet, as there is no gas in its trail.

The object, known as P/2010 A2, was circling about 90 million miles (144 million km) from Earth in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

Mystery ... pictures taken by Hubble telescope

The 140-metre nucleus is also offset from the centre of the tail and its structure is very unusual.

The most likely theory is that it is debris from a collision between two asteroids which were likely to have smashed together at a speed of 15,000 kilometres an hour, five times the speed of a rifle bullet.

The resulting collision would have released more energy than a nuclear bomb.

Tail

It is believed that pressure from sunlight then spread the debris out into a trail.

Dr Robert J Nemiroff, astrophysicist at Michigan Technological University and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, said: "Future study of P/2010 A2 may better indicate the nature of the original collision and may help humanity better understand the early years of our Solar System, when many similar collisions occurred."

He added: "What is this strange object? First discovered on ground based LINEAR images on January 6, the object appeared unusual enough to investigate further with the Hubble Space Telescope last week.

"What Hubble saw indicates that P/2010 A2 is unlike any object ever seen before. At first glance, the object appears to have the tail of a comet.

"Close inspection, however, shows a 140-metre nucleus offset from the tail centre, very unusual structure near the nucleus, and no discernable gas in the tail.

"Knowing that the object orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, a preliminary hypothesis that appears to explain all of the known clues is that P/2010 A2 is the debris left over from a recent collision between two small asteroids.

"If true, the collision likely occurred at over 15,000 kilometres per hour, five times the speed of a rifle bullet, and liberated energy in excess of a nuclear bomb.

"Pressure from sunlight would then spread out the debris into a trailing tail."

The mysterious object was circling about 90million miles (144million km) away from Earth when it was spotted.