2010-11 NYS County, Municipal Payrolls Posted on Revamped SeeThroughNY

The Empire Center for New York State Policy has posted updated municipal salaries on the newly revamped SeeThroughNY.net, the Center's transparency website. The data include the names and earnings of the 168,748 people who worked for New York's city, county, town and village governments in 2010-11.

The Center also paired the data with its annual report on these salaries, which summarizes average wages on a regional basis for each of the local governments (outside of New York City) contained in the database.

National Center for Educational Statistics

Beginning Teacher Attrition & Mobility: Results From the First Through Third Waves of the 2007–08 Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study" [PDF]
Dropout Prevention Services and Programs in Public School Districts: 2010-11 [PDF]
Military Service Members and Veterans: A Profile of Those Enrolled in Undergraduate & Graduate Education in 2007–08 [PDF]
Postsecondary Institutions and Price of Attendance in the United States: 2010–11, Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 2009–10, & 12-Month Enrollment: 2009–10[PDF]
Projections of Education Statistics to 2019[PDF]

Credit card statistics, industry facts, debt statistics

This page contains credit card statistics -- including statistics on credit card debt, credit card delinquencies, credit scores, credit card interest rates, bankruptcies, average credit card debt and more -- compiled by the CreditCards.com staff.

Steve Jobs, from his 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."

Read more about Steve Jobs HERE.

Census Bureau Releases

Estimates of Same-Sex Married Couples
Federal Aid to States for Fiscal Year 2010 [PDF]
Intercensal Population Estimates: 2000 - 2010
Race, Ethnicity, & Education (REE) Data Release

Crime and Arrrest

From the Bureau of Justice Statistics:

Arrest in the United States, 1980-2009 [PDF]
Bureau of Justice Statistics - Criminal Victimization, 2010 [PDF]

Stack Exchange

There is a popular programmers Q&A site, Stack Overflow. It is part of a larger network of Q&A sites on a range of topics, Stack Exchange. While it is tech-heavy, there are several decidedly non-technical ones – cooking, photography, bicycles among others.

Notably, there is answers.onstartups.com, described as "Q&A for entrepreneurs looking to start or run a new business."

(Thanks, Al!)

Bureau of Labor Statistics recent statistics

Consumer Expenditures 2010 [PDF]
Multifactor Productivity Trends for Detailed Industries, 2009

How to Enroll in the U.S. Visa Lottery

There are many ways to legally immigrate to the United States, but only one of them depends completely on luck: the congressionally mandated visa lottery, which offers 50,000 green cards to people from certain countries.

Registration for the 2013 visa lottery will be open from October 4 to November 5, 2011. Participation is only available through the State Department’s website at www.dvlottery.state.gov. It's free to enter the lottery so watch out for fraudulent websites that pretend to be government sites.

Learn how to participate in the lottery, how to avoid being disqualified, and how to avoid scams.

Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality: recent statistics

Coverage in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance for the Private Sector, 2000 and 2010 [PDF]

Trends in the Pharmaceutical Treatment of Children's Asthma, 1997 - 2008 [PDF]]


Readmissions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, 2008 [PDF]

Also, from the Census Bureau: Health Insurance Coverage of Workers Aged 18 to 64, by Work Experience: 2008 and 2010 [PDF]

NCES releases The Condition of Education 2011

The Condition of Education 2011 summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The report presents 50 indicators on the status and condition of education and provides a closer look at postsecondary education by institutional level and control. The indicators represent a consensus of professional judgment on the most significant national measures of the condition and progress of education for which accurate data are available. The 2011 print edition includes indicators in five main areas: (1) participation in education; (2) learner outcomes; (3) student effort and educational progress; (4) the contexts of elementary and secondary education; and (5) the contexts of postsecondary education.

Consolidated Federal Funds Report

The Consolidated Federal Funds Report is proposed to reach its end run this year. This could well be the last report of this kind issued! Be a part of history, read it, and maybe print a copy and keep it for your records.

The 2012 Statistical Abstract

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.

Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web.

Sources of data include the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations.

Quarterly Summary of State & Local Tax Revenue

2nd Quarter Summary of State and Local Government Tax Revenue — This summary shows quarterly tax revenue statistics on property, sales, license, income and other taxes. Statistics are shown for individual state governments as well as national estimates of total state and local taxes, including 12-month calculations. This quarterly survey has been conducted continuously since 1962.

How small errors can have a big impact on small populations

When you checked the boxes on your census form, you probably did not pay much attention to the form design. But it is something the Census Bureau researches and gives a lot of attention. Something as simple as using vertical instead of horizontal boxes can have a big impact on how you read the form and the data we gather.

If one person’s eye misreads the form and checks the wrong box, it may not change percentages of statistics very much. But if even 1 percent of a large population checks the wrong box on a question, it could lead to an inaccurate picture of a smaller population.

More HERE.

Find Government Forms Online

You can quickly find the federal form you need by searching or browsing by name, type, or agency. Find tax forms, postal service forms, and more.

Find government forms now.

My Big Fat Planet, Climate Change Chronicles from NASA

NASA currently has more than a dozen Earth science spacecraft and instruments in orbit studying the oceans, land, and atmosphere. With these tools they measure several key climate change indicators like carbon dioxide concentration, global surface temperature, Arctic sea ice, land ice, and sea levels.
Visit my big fat planet, a blog hosted by Dr. Amber Jenkins, as she explores fantastic images of our changing Earth.

Intercensal estimates now available

The Census Bureau put the intercensal estimates online today.

The intercensal estimates are a time series of annual population estimates that start with population counts on April 1, 2000 (Census counts adjusted for geographic changes and such) and are consistent with findings from Census 2010. The series end with estimates for July 1, 2010.

These series are being used to control the ACS.

Finding Medicare doctors

Medicare can help you locate and compare doctors and other healthcare professionals by specialty, location, and more. You can even look for providers who accept the Medicare-approved amount as payment in full.

Find and compare doctors.

The World's Religious Composition

In the world today, there are over 10,000 distinct religious groups, each advocating a particular way of life, preaching a path to achieve lasting happiness. Many of these groups are connected to a larger central religious belief system, such as Catholicism is connected to Christianity, or Sunnism is connected to Islam. However regardless of any such connection their differences are large enough to warrant a separation from other groups in the overall group.


More HERE.