As the Obama administration makes headlines with cost cutting measures like stopping public tours of the White House, and releasing thousands of detainees, other administrative offices are busy spending the public’s money on gadgets and games.
The Census Bureau wants the public to “Get in on the madness of March and test your knowledge of the U.S. population.”
This week the U.S. Census Bureau released “Population Bracketology,” described as “an interactive data visualization allowing you to fill out your own bracket based on comparisons of state and metro area populations. The objective is to pick the larger population between two metro areas or states.”
Visitors can click on the name in each matchup that they think has the larger population, and see how close they can come to a perfect score of 63. At the end, visitors can mouse over their choices to see the actual population estimates or view the data table.
The population statistics used in the matchups come from the 2012 population estimates released last week.
The GAO (U.S. Government Accountability Office), after releasing a mobile application for iPhones last year, announced it has developed and released a new application for users of Android devices this month.
According to the GAO “Android traffic to GAO.gov has increased 27% over the past two quarters. The release of this app is part of GAO’s continuing effort to meet users where they are—on whatever device they’re using—and to disseminate its work through a broad range of channels. The free Android app provides direct, simple, mobile access to new reports, testimonies, videos, and podcasts.”
The public can also view the Youtube videos of the exploits of GSA employees on their mobile devices. The videos of their infamously lavish conferences have been the subject of much public outcry.
GAO says that the Android application “helps us further meet the needs of those who access our reports, podcasts, and videos on mobile devices,” said Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO.
Users can download the Android application from the Google Play store.