Nutty Survey

A research company conducting a survey called the house last night...

Being such a model citizen, and interested in how the public retains information from the news, I agreed to participate. The voice on the other end of the telephone, began to read me questions from her computer screen (The parallels between her job and canvassing are eerie- if for no other reason, one should participate to make sure the surveyor can get a "hot night" and not be fired for surveying too few people)...

...How closely did you pay attention to coverage about the following stories from the news this week? (Very closely, somewhat closely, not very closely, not at all)
Sup Ct Nominee Sonya Sotomayor hearings
Healthcare reform
Bombing in Indonesia
Michael Jackson

What do you think about the amount of news coverage for each of these stories? (Way too much, somewhat too much, the right amount, somewhat too little, way too little)

With regards to healthcare reform, do you think the issue is:
Important?
Interesting?
Difficult to understand?

...and then all of the sudden...

...Do you eat a lot of nuts?

Quite obviously, I froze up. Do I eat a lot of nuts? Where the hell did that come from?

"Uhhh...yes", I responded, ready to hear a friend's voice to barge in on the other end of the telephone and start laughing. But the surveyor just kept on plowing through the questions on her computer screen...

Do you think some nuts are healthier than others?

How often do you eat nuts?

Do you consider nuts a special treat?

Do you eat pistachios? walnuts? cashews? pecans?

After a few minutes, she asked me some demographic questions and then ended the call. I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation about that survey, and I cannot wait to see the results of someone's study linking political receptiveness to consumption of nuts. But I couldn't help but think that it was a fairly awkward transition.

-Dave