Iz magazina Harper's.
January 2008
HARPER'S INDEX
Ratio of the number of Latinos in Iowa to the number of full-rirne farmers: 7:4
Percentage change since 2000 in the estimated number of Hispanic voters in the United States: + 122
Percentage of Republicans today who say that free trade is bad for the U.S. economy: 59
Percentage of Americans who say they trust the Democrats and the Republicans, respectively, to ensure prosperity: 54, 34
Last year that the gap was so far in the Democrats' favor: 1992
Number of states John Kerry would have won in 2004 if votes by poor Americans were the only ones counted: 40
Number if votes by rich Americans were the only ones counted: 4
Percentage of NYU students who say they would, "permanently forfeit" their vote for $1 million: 50
Portion of the U.S. population that has lived only under presidents named Bush and Clinton: 1/4
Estimated portion eight years from now, if Hillary Clinton were to win two terms: 1/3
Number of the 194 nations in the world that have had one or more female heads of state since 1900 : 30
Number of nations where more than 30 percent of the legislature is currently composed of women: 20
Number where more than 40 percent is : 3
Chance that a red lipstick tested by a Washington advocacy group last fall contained dangerous levels of lead: 1 in 3
Percentage of U.S. women today who dye their hair: 55
Chances that a new immigrant to the United States moves directly to the suburbs: 2 in 5
Percentage of New Jersey residents who say they would like to move out of the state: 49
Percentage who aren't sure whether they would or not : 7
Number of states where a majority of public-school students were poor enough to qualify for subsidized lunches in 1989 : 1
Number today: 14
Minimum number of U.s. deaths from food allergies each year, according to the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network: ISO
Number recorded by the CDC : 12 (see page 64)
Average amount of meat, in pounds, consumed by a wealthy U.S. child each week: 1.7
Average consumed by a poor U.S. child: 2.1
Percentage of people worldwide who lack access to a toilet or an outhouse: 41
Portion of U.S. men who failed to wash their hands after using the bathroom, in a 2005 study: 1/4
Portion who failed to do so when the same study was repeated in 2007 : 1/3
Percentage of U.S. adults who are victims of fraud each year, according to an FTC study: 14
Number of credit-card disputes in California resolved since 2003 by one of the nation's largest arbitration firms: 19,300
Percentage of the disputes that were resolved in favor of the credit-card company: 94
Estimated number of D.C. residents who are paid to stand in line for lobbyists hoping to attend congressional hearings: 380
Average amount each line-stander is paid per hour: $20
Chance that the office computer of an FBIemployee has Internet access: 1 in 3
Percentage of Americans who say they are willing to have an Internet-access device implanted in their brains: 10
Number of British soccer fans who have given £35 each to a website in order to collectively purchase a pro team: 25,000
Percentage ownership in the team Ebbsfleet United that the site agreed to purchase in November: 51
Price, from a U.K. company, for a can of "ashtray" fragrance, to be used by pubs after a recent smoking ban: £8.50
Estimated number of tons of C02 released on New Year's Eve from all the champagne bottles uncorked by Americans: 8
Number of minutes it takes all 13,000 New York City cabs to release this much: 7
Harper's Index
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omar little
- Posts: 17846
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#2 Re: Harper's Index
February 2008
Projected total cost of medical care for U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars: $500,000,000,000
Ratio of this to the total military spending on both wars so far: 1:1
Chance that an Iraq war veteran who has served two or more tours now has post-traumatic stress disorder: 1 in 4
Percentage change since 1997 in the number of Vietnam-era veterans seeking treatment for PTSD : +108
Number of confirmed suicides in the U.S. Army in 2006 : 102
Number of years since accurate record-keeping began in 1981 that the rate was as high: °
Percentage of Democrats in 2006 who said they supported the Iraq war when it began: 21
Percentage of Democrats in March 2003 who said they supported the war: 46
Number of the three Israeli-Palestinian peace summits since 1979 that were held in the last two years of a U.S. presidency: 3
Chances that an Israeli settlement in the West Bank has built beyond its official borders: 9 in 10
Number of checkpoints and barriers in the West Bank that were removed between April and October oflast year: 80
Number of new checkpoints and barriers that were added: 115
Number of suspected living Nazis still being hunted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center's "Operation Last Chance" : 488
Length, in feet, of a prehistoric sea scorpion whose fossil was first reported last November: 8.2
Number of votes tallied in an online Greenpeace poll last fall to name a humpback whale in the South Pacific: 152,000
Percentage that favored the name "Mr. Splashy Pants" : 79
Number of the 195 accredited U.S. law schools that offer courses in animal law : 90
Number of states where a court has held that women must return engagement rings if the wedding doesn't happen: ·18
Total liability for copyright infringement that one Utah professor estimates he amasses in a typical day: $12,450,000
Ratio of the total square footage of the world's Wal-Marts to that of Manhattan: 9:7
Percentage of Americans who said they were among the "have-nets" in 1988 and last year, respectively: 17,34
Percentage change since 1999 in the number of Americans on Medicaid: +34
Portion of U.S. doctors who now say they limit or no longer accept new Medicaid patients: 1/2
Portion of the $1. 7 billion in federal Hurricane Katrina relief spent by Mississippi that has benefited poor residents : 1/10
Percentage of post-Katrina recovery contracts that were awarded without full and open competition: 70
Amount that D.C. city officials were found last fall to have embezzled through a dummy firm called Bilkemor LLC : $346,700
Government salary at which Bernard Kerik in 1999 said that he felt like he was on "welfare" : $150,500
Percentage of likely Republican voters last October who knew that Rudolph Giuliani was pro-choice: 37
Minimum number of 9/11 memorials constructed so far in New York. City: 700
Minimum number of U.S. Boy Scout or Cub Scout troops that are sponsored by Islamic organizations: 97
Year by which an Iranian automaker plans to build the first "Islamic car" : 2011
Size in acres of the world's largest handmade carpet, completed in Iran last summer: 1.4
Percentage of U.S. consumers of kosher food who buy it because they lack halal options: 16
Number of different skin tones that members of the South Asian matchmaking site Shaadi.com can register as having: 6
Number of different "castes" to which they can register as belonging: 275
Number of members of The Atlasphere, an Objectivist klix site: 7,125
Amount that prostitutes at Nevada's BunnyRanch have contributed to Ron Paul, according to the brothel's owner: $15,000
Number of customers who have gotten the two-for-one special by saying "I'm pimp in' for Paul" : 58
Average percentage by which a woman's left breast is larger than her right: 4
Projected total cost of medical care for U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars: $500,000,000,000
Ratio of this to the total military spending on both wars so far: 1:1
Chance that an Iraq war veteran who has served two or more tours now has post-traumatic stress disorder: 1 in 4
Percentage change since 1997 in the number of Vietnam-era veterans seeking treatment for PTSD : +108
Number of confirmed suicides in the U.S. Army in 2006 : 102
Number of years since accurate record-keeping began in 1981 that the rate was as high: °
Percentage of Democrats in 2006 who said they supported the Iraq war when it began: 21
Percentage of Democrats in March 2003 who said they supported the war: 46
Number of the three Israeli-Palestinian peace summits since 1979 that were held in the last two years of a U.S. presidency: 3
Chances that an Israeli settlement in the West Bank has built beyond its official borders: 9 in 10
Number of checkpoints and barriers in the West Bank that were removed between April and October oflast year: 80
Number of new checkpoints and barriers that were added: 115
Number of suspected living Nazis still being hunted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center's "Operation Last Chance" : 488
Length, in feet, of a prehistoric sea scorpion whose fossil was first reported last November: 8.2
Number of votes tallied in an online Greenpeace poll last fall to name a humpback whale in the South Pacific: 152,000
Percentage that favored the name "Mr. Splashy Pants" : 79
Number of the 195 accredited U.S. law schools that offer courses in animal law : 90
Number of states where a court has held that women must return engagement rings if the wedding doesn't happen: ·18
Total liability for copyright infringement that one Utah professor estimates he amasses in a typical day: $12,450,000
Ratio of the total square footage of the world's Wal-Marts to that of Manhattan: 9:7
Percentage of Americans who said they were among the "have-nets" in 1988 and last year, respectively: 17,34
Percentage change since 1999 in the number of Americans on Medicaid: +34
Portion of U.S. doctors who now say they limit or no longer accept new Medicaid patients: 1/2
Portion of the $1. 7 billion in federal Hurricane Katrina relief spent by Mississippi that has benefited poor residents : 1/10
Percentage of post-Katrina recovery contracts that were awarded without full and open competition: 70
Amount that D.C. city officials were found last fall to have embezzled through a dummy firm called Bilkemor LLC : $346,700
Government salary at which Bernard Kerik in 1999 said that he felt like he was on "welfare" : $150,500
Percentage of likely Republican voters last October who knew that Rudolph Giuliani was pro-choice: 37
Minimum number of 9/11 memorials constructed so far in New York. City: 700
Minimum number of U.S. Boy Scout or Cub Scout troops that are sponsored by Islamic organizations: 97
Year by which an Iranian automaker plans to build the first "Islamic car" : 2011
Size in acres of the world's largest handmade carpet, completed in Iran last summer: 1.4
Percentage of U.S. consumers of kosher food who buy it because they lack halal options: 16
Number of different skin tones that members of the South Asian matchmaking site Shaadi.com can register as having: 6
Number of different "castes" to which they can register as belonging: 275
Number of members of The Atlasphere, an Objectivist klix site: 7,125
Amount that prostitutes at Nevada's BunnyRanch have contributed to Ron Paul, according to the brothel's owner: $15,000
Number of customers who have gotten the two-for-one special by saying "I'm pimp in' for Paul" : 58
Average percentage by which a woman's left breast is larger than her right: 4
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omar little
- Posts: 17846
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#3 Re: Harper's Index
March 2008
Portion of U.S. GDP that is accounted for by consumer spending: 7/10
Portion of China's GDP : 1/3
Percentage change since 2005 in the worldwide price of food, as tracked by The Economist: +77
Factor by which the price of wheat has increased in the past year alone: 2
Ratio in 1980 of U.S. spending in grocery stores to that in restaurants: 2:1
Ratio today: 1:1
Projected number of enclosed shopping malls that will be built in the United States this year: 0
Estimated total value of mortgages on which U.S. borrowers will default this year: $316,000,000,000
Rank of Ted Turner among the nation's largest individual landowners, according to Turner: 1
Estimated amount that Ike Turner spent on cocaine during his lifetime, according to Turner: $11,000,000
Number of pink Tasers purchased in the past year: 2,560
Number of women who have made the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list since its inception in 1950 : 8
Percentage of single U.S. women in their twenties who are "very" or "extremely" willing to marry for money: 61
Percentage of women in their thirties who are : 74
Chance that a British man admits to fantasizing about his favorite sports team during sex : 1 in 9
Number of the baseball players implicated in last year's steroid scandal who were caught because they had paid by check: 16
Percentage of male U.S. steroid users who are not involved in competitive sports: 89
Chance that a University of New Hampshire student has taken Ritalin illegally: 1 in 6
Percentage of full-time university faculty in 1992 who taught less than four hours per week: 15
Percentage today : 30
Average compensation of the ten highest-salaried presidents of US. public universities: $533,000
Number of them who earn more than the school's football coach: 2
Amount that Louisiana State University has raised since 2001 to care for its live tiger mascot: $3,750,000
Number of Hurricane Katrina-relief claims filed by individuals to the U.S. government that have exceeded $1 billion: 232
Dollar value of the largest claim: $3,000,000,000,000,000
Percentage of Democrats who rate their mental health as "excellent" : 38
Percentage of Republicans who do: 58
Chances that a rejected application for Social Security disability benefits is approved if appealed: 3 in 5
Average number of days before an appeal is heard by a judge: 497
Percentage of U.S. doctors who say they have a responsibility to report another doctor's malpractice: 95
Percentage of these doctors who have witnessed malpractice in the past three years and failed to report it : 46
Percentage increase since 2001 in the amount the U.S. government has spent on paper shredding: +587
Minimum number of US. personal-data records compromised in security breaches last year: 126,000,000
Number of cases of alleged fraud in virtual worlds that South Korean courts have heard: 730
Number of South Koreans who work as on-call "replacement drivers" for customers too drunk to drive home: 83,000
Estimated number of customers they serve each day: 700,000
Weekly fee an Italian company charges to send three images of saints to a customer's cell phone: $4.38
Range, in miles, of a Russian interceptor missile blessed by an Orthodox priest last August: 250
Rank of "god" and "satan" among the top Google searches beginning with "who is" : 1, 10
Rank of "buckethead" : 6
Portion of U.S. GDP that is accounted for by consumer spending: 7/10
Portion of China's GDP : 1/3
Percentage change since 2005 in the worldwide price of food, as tracked by The Economist: +77
Factor by which the price of wheat has increased in the past year alone: 2
Ratio in 1980 of U.S. spending in grocery stores to that in restaurants: 2:1
Ratio today: 1:1
Projected number of enclosed shopping malls that will be built in the United States this year: 0
Estimated total value of mortgages on which U.S. borrowers will default this year: $316,000,000,000
Rank of Ted Turner among the nation's largest individual landowners, according to Turner: 1
Estimated amount that Ike Turner spent on cocaine during his lifetime, according to Turner: $11,000,000
Number of pink Tasers purchased in the past year: 2,560
Number of women who have made the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list since its inception in 1950 : 8
Percentage of single U.S. women in their twenties who are "very" or "extremely" willing to marry for money: 61
Percentage of women in their thirties who are : 74
Chance that a British man admits to fantasizing about his favorite sports team during sex : 1 in 9
Number of the baseball players implicated in last year's steroid scandal who were caught because they had paid by check: 16
Percentage of male U.S. steroid users who are not involved in competitive sports: 89
Chance that a University of New Hampshire student has taken Ritalin illegally: 1 in 6
Percentage of full-time university faculty in 1992 who taught less than four hours per week: 15
Percentage today : 30
Average compensation of the ten highest-salaried presidents of US. public universities: $533,000
Number of them who earn more than the school's football coach: 2
Amount that Louisiana State University has raised since 2001 to care for its live tiger mascot: $3,750,000
Number of Hurricane Katrina-relief claims filed by individuals to the U.S. government that have exceeded $1 billion: 232
Dollar value of the largest claim: $3,000,000,000,000,000
Percentage of Democrats who rate their mental health as "excellent" : 38
Percentage of Republicans who do: 58
Chances that a rejected application for Social Security disability benefits is approved if appealed: 3 in 5
Average number of days before an appeal is heard by a judge: 497
Percentage of U.S. doctors who say they have a responsibility to report another doctor's malpractice: 95
Percentage of these doctors who have witnessed malpractice in the past three years and failed to report it : 46
Percentage increase since 2001 in the amount the U.S. government has spent on paper shredding: +587
Minimum number of US. personal-data records compromised in security breaches last year: 126,000,000
Number of cases of alleged fraud in virtual worlds that South Korean courts have heard: 730
Number of South Koreans who work as on-call "replacement drivers" for customers too drunk to drive home: 83,000
Estimated number of customers they serve each day: 700,000
Weekly fee an Italian company charges to send three images of saints to a customer's cell phone: $4.38
Range, in miles, of a Russian interceptor missile blessed by an Orthodox priest last August: 250
Rank of "god" and "satan" among the top Google searches beginning with "who is" : 1, 10
Rank of "buckethead" : 6
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omar little
- Posts: 17846
- Joined: 14/03/2008 21:14
#4 Re: Harper's Index
April 2008
Chances that an American believes the economy is in a recession: 3 in 5
Percentage change since July in the number of U.S. newspaper articles each month using the word "recession": + 1,300
Percentage change last year in the number of Americans declaring personal bankruptcy: +40
Percentage of Americans who believe that their home is still gaining in value: 55
Chances that a U.S. county has seen its population decline since 2000 : 2 in 5
Last year that the population of the Nebraska Panhandle was as low as it is today: 1930
Number of Ohio's five voting-machine systems that had "critical security failures" in a state-commissioned study: 5
Number of the systems that have been removed from operation: 0
Total amount that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have given to the campaigns of Democratic "superdelegates": $1,601,925
Number of times that U.S. media have called John McCain a "maverick" since 1995 : 6,757
Percentage change between 2001 and 2007 in the number of instances per year: +76
Rank of john McCain among the most conservative-voting senators in 2001 and 2007, respectively: 45, 8
Number of copies sold of Barack Obarna's two books since January: 94,000
Factor by which this exceeds the total sales of the seventeen books by Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee: 4
Number of Grammys won to date by Barack Obama and Radiohead, respectively: 2, 2
Rank that the sales of 200Ts top album nationwide would have given it on the 2000 list: 14
Number of the five top-grossing U.S. films last year that were the third or higher installment in a series: 4
Minimum number of homicides committed in the last full seasons of the three Law & Order TV shows: 83
Number of klix homicides last year in Manhattan: 69
Average number of pounds of waste produced by a pigeon each year: 26
Estimated number of wild New York City pigeons illegally caught and sold to shooting clubs each year: 144,000
Amount that Rudy Giuliani's campaign spent to win a single Republican delegate: $48,000,000
Amount it would have cost him to win the nomination at this rate, expressed as a percentage of Bill Gates's net worth: 97
Rank that next year's giving goal of Bill Gates's foundation would hold on the Forbes 400 if it were a person: 91
Minutes it took the IPO of an Indian power company in January to become oversubscribed with investors: 1
Estimated amount that Americans spend on yoga each year: $6,000,000,000
Chance that a Silicon Valley technology company started since 1995 was founded by Indian or Chinese immigrants: 1 in 3
Estimated portion of worldwide immigration that is into Second or Third World nations: 2/5
Factor by which the increase in income inequality in developed nations since 1981 has exceeded that in developing nations: 2
Percentage of its taco shells that Taco Bell Mexico imports from the United Stat~s : 100
Number of consecutive months that sales at McDonald's franchises have increased: 57
Chances that a U.S. public school accepts advertising from corporations that sell junk food: 2 in 3
Chances that these schools wind up receiving no income from the advertisements: 3 in 4
Shelf life, in years, of a German company's "Cheeseburger in a Can" : 1
Estimated number of bacteria transferred to a dip via "double-dipping," according to a 'Clemson University study: 2,750
Prize that a British scientist is offering to anyone who breeds and raises a "Methuselah mouse" that lives five years: $660
Membership price for Scientificlvlatch.corn, a klix site that recommends mates based on genetic compatibility: $1,995
Minimum number of [Date.com members whose accounts were paid for by their rabbis: 40
Average percentage by which the income of an attractive American man differs from the mean: +4
Average by which the income of an ugly American man does: -13
Chances that an American believes the economy is in a recession: 3 in 5
Percentage change since July in the number of U.S. newspaper articles each month using the word "recession": + 1,300
Percentage change last year in the number of Americans declaring personal bankruptcy: +40
Percentage of Americans who believe that their home is still gaining in value: 55
Chances that a U.S. county has seen its population decline since 2000 : 2 in 5
Last year that the population of the Nebraska Panhandle was as low as it is today: 1930
Number of Ohio's five voting-machine systems that had "critical security failures" in a state-commissioned study: 5
Number of the systems that have been removed from operation: 0
Total amount that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have given to the campaigns of Democratic "superdelegates": $1,601,925
Number of times that U.S. media have called John McCain a "maverick" since 1995 : 6,757
Percentage change between 2001 and 2007 in the number of instances per year: +76
Rank of john McCain among the most conservative-voting senators in 2001 and 2007, respectively: 45, 8
Number of copies sold of Barack Obarna's two books since January: 94,000
Factor by which this exceeds the total sales of the seventeen books by Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Mike Huckabee: 4
Number of Grammys won to date by Barack Obama and Radiohead, respectively: 2, 2
Rank that the sales of 200Ts top album nationwide would have given it on the 2000 list: 14
Number of the five top-grossing U.S. films last year that were the third or higher installment in a series: 4
Minimum number of homicides committed in the last full seasons of the three Law & Order TV shows: 83
Number of klix homicides last year in Manhattan: 69
Average number of pounds of waste produced by a pigeon each year: 26
Estimated number of wild New York City pigeons illegally caught and sold to shooting clubs each year: 144,000
Amount that Rudy Giuliani's campaign spent to win a single Republican delegate: $48,000,000
Amount it would have cost him to win the nomination at this rate, expressed as a percentage of Bill Gates's net worth: 97
Rank that next year's giving goal of Bill Gates's foundation would hold on the Forbes 400 if it were a person: 91
Minutes it took the IPO of an Indian power company in January to become oversubscribed with investors: 1
Estimated amount that Americans spend on yoga each year: $6,000,000,000
Chance that a Silicon Valley technology company started since 1995 was founded by Indian or Chinese immigrants: 1 in 3
Estimated portion of worldwide immigration that is into Second or Third World nations: 2/5
Factor by which the increase in income inequality in developed nations since 1981 has exceeded that in developing nations: 2
Percentage of its taco shells that Taco Bell Mexico imports from the United Stat~s : 100
Number of consecutive months that sales at McDonald's franchises have increased: 57
Chances that a U.S. public school accepts advertising from corporations that sell junk food: 2 in 3
Chances that these schools wind up receiving no income from the advertisements: 3 in 4
Shelf life, in years, of a German company's "Cheeseburger in a Can" : 1
Estimated number of bacteria transferred to a dip via "double-dipping," according to a 'Clemson University study: 2,750
Prize that a British scientist is offering to anyone who breeds and raises a "Methuselah mouse" that lives five years: $660
Membership price for Scientificlvlatch.corn, a klix site that recommends mates based on genetic compatibility: $1,995
Minimum number of [Date.com members whose accounts were paid for by their rabbis: 40
Average percentage by which the income of an attractive American man differs from the mean: +4
Average by which the income of an ugly American man does: -13
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omar little
- Posts: 17846
- Joined: 14/03/2008 21:14
#5 Re: Harper's Index
June 2008
Portion of Barack Obama supporters who said in April they would not vote for Hillary Clinton if she became the nominee: 1/5
Portion of Clinton supporters who said this about Obama : 1/4
Percentage ofJohn McCain supporters in March 2000 who said they would not vote for George W. Bush: 51
Percentage who still said this in October 2000 : 39
Number of the last four general elections in which the nominee who served in an overseas war lost to the one who didn't: 4
Number of these elections in which the loser was a decorated war hero: 3
Minimum number of U.S. Army generals fired or replaced for cause during World War II: 23
Number during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined: 1
Portion of Afghanistan now controlled by its government, according to the U.S. national-intelligence director: 3/10
Number of Iraqis who receive regular payments from the US. government in exchange for not fighting: 91,600
Number of US. senators who have paid campaign funds to family members since 2000: 16
Pages of ads that a company must buy each year in Good Housekeeping in order to win its seal of approval: 1
Average number of $1 million stock gifts made each year by U.S. CEOs and chairmen to foundations they control: 60
Average percentage change in the company's stock price in the month after the gifts:-3
Average number of cases handled each year by the U.S. government's Mutilated Currency Division: 20,000
Estimated percentage of the 143 million tons of US. beef recalled in February that had already been eaten: 50
Minimum percentage that had been consumed by children in school lunches : 23
Number of US. public schools whose entire student body remains in classes year-round: 2,764
Chance that an assault on a homeless American is perpetrated by a minor: l' in 2
Number of assaults on the homeless in 2005 and last year, respectively: 86, 160
Percentage change since last year in the number of people receiving assistance from U.S. food banks: +20
Percentage change since then in the amount of food that the federal government has donated to the banks: -9
Percentage change since Katrina in the number of New Orleans residents on food stamps and welfare, respectively: -51, -73
Number of poor Oregonians who have entered the state's health-care lottery system: 91,675
Chance that each entrant has of winning insurance this year: 1 in 9
Number of men in Madhya Pradesh, India, who have undergone vasectomies this year in exchange for gun licenses: 191
Estimated portion of global births that go undocumented: 2/5
Estimated portion of global deaths: 2/3
Number of couples married in absentia in Montana last year: 285
Number of nations that do not legally guarantee women any paid maternity leave: 4
Average annual per-capita income in the three other than the United States: $1,226
Average number of inches by which entrepreneurs in China are taller than normal for their demographic: 0.3
Chance that a French man aged 18 to 24 is "uninterested in sex," according to a government study: 1 in 5
Minimum number of Italian parliamentarians from Silvio Berlusconi's party who are former TV showgirls : 3
Percentage of American men with a net worth of at least $20 million who admit to having paid for sex: 34
Percentage of similarly wealthy women who do : 20
Factor by which spanked children are more likely to enjoy masochistic sex as adults: 2
Percentage of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, who believe in Hell: 69,52
Percentage of independents who do : 45
Portion of Barack Obama supporters who said in April they would not vote for Hillary Clinton if she became the nominee: 1/5
Portion of Clinton supporters who said this about Obama : 1/4
Percentage ofJohn McCain supporters in March 2000 who said they would not vote for George W. Bush: 51
Percentage who still said this in October 2000 : 39
Number of the last four general elections in which the nominee who served in an overseas war lost to the one who didn't: 4
Number of these elections in which the loser was a decorated war hero: 3
Minimum number of U.S. Army generals fired or replaced for cause during World War II: 23
Number during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined: 1
Portion of Afghanistan now controlled by its government, according to the U.S. national-intelligence director: 3/10
Number of Iraqis who receive regular payments from the US. government in exchange for not fighting: 91,600
Number of US. senators who have paid campaign funds to family members since 2000: 16
Pages of ads that a company must buy each year in Good Housekeeping in order to win its seal of approval: 1
Average number of $1 million stock gifts made each year by U.S. CEOs and chairmen to foundations they control: 60
Average percentage change in the company's stock price in the month after the gifts:-3
Average number of cases handled each year by the U.S. government's Mutilated Currency Division: 20,000
Estimated percentage of the 143 million tons of US. beef recalled in February that had already been eaten: 50
Minimum percentage that had been consumed by children in school lunches : 23
Number of US. public schools whose entire student body remains in classes year-round: 2,764
Chance that an assault on a homeless American is perpetrated by a minor: l' in 2
Number of assaults on the homeless in 2005 and last year, respectively: 86, 160
Percentage change since last year in the number of people receiving assistance from U.S. food banks: +20
Percentage change since then in the amount of food that the federal government has donated to the banks: -9
Percentage change since Katrina in the number of New Orleans residents on food stamps and welfare, respectively: -51, -73
Number of poor Oregonians who have entered the state's health-care lottery system: 91,675
Chance that each entrant has of winning insurance this year: 1 in 9
Number of men in Madhya Pradesh, India, who have undergone vasectomies this year in exchange for gun licenses: 191
Estimated portion of global births that go undocumented: 2/5
Estimated portion of global deaths: 2/3
Number of couples married in absentia in Montana last year: 285
Number of nations that do not legally guarantee women any paid maternity leave: 4
Average annual per-capita income in the three other than the United States: $1,226
Average number of inches by which entrepreneurs in China are taller than normal for their demographic: 0.3
Chance that a French man aged 18 to 24 is "uninterested in sex," according to a government study: 1 in 5
Minimum number of Italian parliamentarians from Silvio Berlusconi's party who are former TV showgirls : 3
Percentage of American men with a net worth of at least $20 million who admit to having paid for sex: 34
Percentage of similarly wealthy women who do : 20
Factor by which spanked children are more likely to enjoy masochistic sex as adults: 2
Percentage of Republicans and Democrats, respectively, who believe in Hell: 69,52
Percentage of independents who do : 45
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omar little
- Posts: 17846
- Joined: 14/03/2008 21:14
#6 Re: Harper's Index
July 2008
Average amount spent lobbying Congress last year each day it was in session: $16,279,069
Estimated total value of investments in major U.S. military contractors owned by members of Congress: $150,000,000
Amount of the federal budget that John McCain says he could cut in a "New York minute" : $100,000,000,000
Minimum number of times since 2000 that McCain has voted against increased funding for Veterans Affairs: 10
Price for which a McCain donor could enter a contest last winter to win a day on the Straight Talk Express: $50
Number of John McCain's 507 donation "bundlers" who are registered lobbyists: 70
Number of Barack Obama's 361 bundlers who are: 14
Number of Americans who gave the maximum legal donation to both McCain and Obama in the primaries: 359
Percentage of registered voters who said in March that they would "seriously consider" voting for Ralph Nader: 14
Rank of Ross Perot and Bill Clinton, respectively, in Gallup's general-election poll on June 26, 1992 : 1,3
Date on which George W. Bush appeared on the game show Deal or No Deal: 4/21/08
Percentage by which the ratings of that night's show lagged the average: 19
Number of the forty-three national elections held worldwide since December 2007 whose results were contested: 7
Number of Kenya's 210 members of parliament who have been given cabinet positions in the new administration: 93·
Projected annual budget of the enlarged cabinet, as a portion of Kenya's total government revenues: 1/8
Number of Somali government officials assassinated since February 2007 : 30
Ratio last year of the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces to the number killed in infighting: 1:1
Ratio so far this year: 115: 1
Number of official corporate-sponsored events in this year's Palestinian motor-racing season: 5
Number of racetracks in Palestinian territory: 0
Minimum number of U.S. cities that have shortened the yellow light on traffic signals to under the legal limit : 6
Average percentage by which a bar-smoking ban in a U.S. county increases the rate of drunk-driving fatalities: 13
Chance that a result on an Internet search relating to suicide will be an anti-suicide website: 1 in 8
Chance it will be a site offering pro-suicide advice or suggesting methods: 1 in 5
Percentage change in applications for Virginia concealed-handgun permits in the year of the Virginia Tech shootings: +61
Chance that a Michigan state employee works for the corrections department: 1 in 3
Amount that the IRS has spent since 2006 on an outsourced program to collect unpaid taxes: $87,000,000
Amount the contractors have collected during that time: $50,000,000
Ratio in 1980 of the number of NIH grants given scientists under age 30 to the number given those over age 70 : 17:1
Ratio in 2006 : 1:13
Percentage of EPA scientists who say they have experienced political interference with their work: 60
Change since 2001 in the percentage of Americans who believe that humans are causing climate change: -4
Factor by which the average length of a heat wave in Western Europe has increased during the past century: 2
Estimated percentage of Africa's elephants poached each year before the 1989 ban on ivory trade: 7
Estimated percentage today, under the ban: 8
Radius in feet within which a bee can smell a flower in unpolluted air: 3,281
Radius in air downwind from a city : 650
Hours each day that house cats must engage in social "activities," according to new Swedish regulations: 2
Length, in inches, of a "living coat" made of mouse stem-cells that was exhibited in March at the Museum of Modem Art: 1.5
Months into the exhibition that a feeding malfunction forced the artists to euthanize the work: 1
Average amount spent lobbying Congress last year each day it was in session: $16,279,069
Estimated total value of investments in major U.S. military contractors owned by members of Congress: $150,000,000
Amount of the federal budget that John McCain says he could cut in a "New York minute" : $100,000,000,000
Minimum number of times since 2000 that McCain has voted against increased funding for Veterans Affairs: 10
Price for which a McCain donor could enter a contest last winter to win a day on the Straight Talk Express: $50
Number of John McCain's 507 donation "bundlers" who are registered lobbyists: 70
Number of Barack Obama's 361 bundlers who are: 14
Number of Americans who gave the maximum legal donation to both McCain and Obama in the primaries: 359
Percentage of registered voters who said in March that they would "seriously consider" voting for Ralph Nader: 14
Rank of Ross Perot and Bill Clinton, respectively, in Gallup's general-election poll on June 26, 1992 : 1,3
Date on which George W. Bush appeared on the game show Deal or No Deal: 4/21/08
Percentage by which the ratings of that night's show lagged the average: 19
Number of the forty-three national elections held worldwide since December 2007 whose results were contested: 7
Number of Kenya's 210 members of parliament who have been given cabinet positions in the new administration: 93·
Projected annual budget of the enlarged cabinet, as a portion of Kenya's total government revenues: 1/8
Number of Somali government officials assassinated since February 2007 : 30
Ratio last year of the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces to the number killed in infighting: 1:1
Ratio so far this year: 115: 1
Number of official corporate-sponsored events in this year's Palestinian motor-racing season: 5
Number of racetracks in Palestinian territory: 0
Minimum number of U.S. cities that have shortened the yellow light on traffic signals to under the legal limit : 6
Average percentage by which a bar-smoking ban in a U.S. county increases the rate of drunk-driving fatalities: 13
Chance that a result on an Internet search relating to suicide will be an anti-suicide website: 1 in 8
Chance it will be a site offering pro-suicide advice or suggesting methods: 1 in 5
Percentage change in applications for Virginia concealed-handgun permits in the year of the Virginia Tech shootings: +61
Chance that a Michigan state employee works for the corrections department: 1 in 3
Amount that the IRS has spent since 2006 on an outsourced program to collect unpaid taxes: $87,000,000
Amount the contractors have collected during that time: $50,000,000
Ratio in 1980 of the number of NIH grants given scientists under age 30 to the number given those over age 70 : 17:1
Ratio in 2006 : 1:13
Percentage of EPA scientists who say they have experienced political interference with their work: 60
Change since 2001 in the percentage of Americans who believe that humans are causing climate change: -4
Factor by which the average length of a heat wave in Western Europe has increased during the past century: 2
Estimated percentage of Africa's elephants poached each year before the 1989 ban on ivory trade: 7
Estimated percentage today, under the ban: 8
Radius in feet within which a bee can smell a flower in unpolluted air: 3,281
Radius in air downwind from a city : 650
Hours each day that house cats must engage in social "activities," according to new Swedish regulations: 2
Length, in inches, of a "living coat" made of mouse stem-cells that was exhibited in March at the Museum of Modem Art: 1.5
Months into the exhibition that a feeding malfunction forced the artists to euthanize the work: 1
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omar little
- Posts: 17846
- Joined: 14/03/2008 21:14
#7 Re: Harper's Index
August 2008
Number of corporations that have publicly committed to sponsoring the Democratic National Convention, as of June: 75
Number for the Republican National Convention: 50
Percentage change by 2012 in the after-tax income of the top 0.1 percent of U.S. earners, under Barack Obama's tax plan:-5
Percentage change under John McCain's tax plan: +12
Percentage of all income gains during the Bush Administration that have gone to the top 1 percent of earners: 75
Percentage of Americans who say that they or someone in their family has married in order to get health insurance: 7
Chance that a U.S. home is currently vacant: 1 in 35
Rank of this among the highest recorded vacancy rates in U.S. history: 1
Percentage change between 1989 and 2007 in the median price of an American single-family home: +130
Percentage change in the median down payment: +3.7
Percentage of U.S. homeowners who reported last year that they had bought a car using a home-equity loan: 27
Estimated amount by which per-gallon gas prices would change if the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were drilled: -4¢
Number of U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003 after being deemed medically "non-deployable" : 43,000
Square footage of new jail space slated for construction at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan: 1,742,400
Minimum number of extraordinary renditions that the United States has made since 2006 : 200
Estimated number of juveniles whom the United States has detained as enemy combatants since 2002 : 2,500
Number of skateboards being sent to Iraq for the "Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience," now under construction: 2,000
Number of Texas school districts that keep track of truants with electronic monitoring devices: 3
Percentage of U.S. children who think kids who wear glasses are smarter than those who do not: 66
Percentage of U.S. students aged 12 to 17 who say they use text-message slangin their written school assignments: 38
Average word count of top-ten songs during the 1960s : 176
Average last year: 436
Number of times per year that Canada's defense ministry requires a think tank it funds to be mentioned in the press: 29
Number of op-ed pieces the think tank's staff must publish, including letters: 15
Tons offoreign rice that Japan must buy each year, according to WTO agreements : 751,776
Portion of it that Japan allows to be sold for human consumption: 1/7
Maximum per-day purchase of rice, in pounds, that Sam's Club has limited each customer to since April: 80
"Year of the Potato," according to the United Nations: 2008
Percentage change since 2006 in the price of used cooking oil, which can be recycled to make biodiesel fuel: +240
Percentage of all worldwide carbon emissions attributable to tourism: 5
Number of American cities where all regularly scheduled airplane service has been eliminated during the past year: 38
Number of new U.S. airports built since 1993 : 1
Additional cost to U.S. airlines this year due to increases in the price of fuel: $20,000,000,000
Total earnings for the U.S. airline industry in 1999, its most profitable year to date: $5,300,000,000
Years that the E.U. kept a secret list of items banned from air travel, b~fore it agreed to publish the list this year: 5
Social Security number of Todd Davis, CEO of the identity-protection firm LifeLock : 457-55-5462
Months after he published the number as a dare to thieves that his identity was, in fact, stolen: 13
Weeks apart that a pair of twins in India were born this year: 6
Number of circumcisions that Kotabaru, Indonesia, paid for this year to celebrate the city's anniversary: 1,050
Number of condoms shipped to Antarctica's McMurdo Station in January, just before winter began: 12,132
Number of corporations that have publicly committed to sponsoring the Democratic National Convention, as of June: 75
Number for the Republican National Convention: 50
Percentage change by 2012 in the after-tax income of the top 0.1 percent of U.S. earners, under Barack Obama's tax plan:-5
Percentage change under John McCain's tax plan: +12
Percentage of all income gains during the Bush Administration that have gone to the top 1 percent of earners: 75
Percentage of Americans who say that they or someone in their family has married in order to get health insurance: 7
Chance that a U.S. home is currently vacant: 1 in 35
Rank of this among the highest recorded vacancy rates in U.S. history: 1
Percentage change between 1989 and 2007 in the median price of an American single-family home: +130
Percentage change in the median down payment: +3.7
Percentage of U.S. homeowners who reported last year that they had bought a car using a home-equity loan: 27
Estimated amount by which per-gallon gas prices would change if the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge were drilled: -4¢
Number of U.S. troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003 after being deemed medically "non-deployable" : 43,000
Square footage of new jail space slated for construction at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan: 1,742,400
Minimum number of extraordinary renditions that the United States has made since 2006 : 200
Estimated number of juveniles whom the United States has detained as enemy combatants since 2002 : 2,500
Number of skateboards being sent to Iraq for the "Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience," now under construction: 2,000
Number of Texas school districts that keep track of truants with electronic monitoring devices: 3
Percentage of U.S. children who think kids who wear glasses are smarter than those who do not: 66
Percentage of U.S. students aged 12 to 17 who say they use text-message slangin their written school assignments: 38
Average word count of top-ten songs during the 1960s : 176
Average last year: 436
Number of times per year that Canada's defense ministry requires a think tank it funds to be mentioned in the press: 29
Number of op-ed pieces the think tank's staff must publish, including letters: 15
Tons offoreign rice that Japan must buy each year, according to WTO agreements : 751,776
Portion of it that Japan allows to be sold for human consumption: 1/7
Maximum per-day purchase of rice, in pounds, that Sam's Club has limited each customer to since April: 80
"Year of the Potato," according to the United Nations: 2008
Percentage change since 2006 in the price of used cooking oil, which can be recycled to make biodiesel fuel: +240
Percentage of all worldwide carbon emissions attributable to tourism: 5
Number of American cities where all regularly scheduled airplane service has been eliminated during the past year: 38
Number of new U.S. airports built since 1993 : 1
Additional cost to U.S. airlines this year due to increases in the price of fuel: $20,000,000,000
Total earnings for the U.S. airline industry in 1999, its most profitable year to date: $5,300,000,000
Years that the E.U. kept a secret list of items banned from air travel, b~fore it agreed to publish the list this year: 5
Social Security number of Todd Davis, CEO of the identity-protection firm LifeLock : 457-55-5462
Months after he published the number as a dare to thieves that his identity was, in fact, stolen: 13
Weeks apart that a pair of twins in India were born this year: 6
Number of circumcisions that Kotabaru, Indonesia, paid for this year to celebrate the city's anniversary: 1,050
Number of condoms shipped to Antarctica's McMurdo Station in January, just before winter began: 12,132
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omar little
- Posts: 17846
- Joined: 14/03/2008 21:14
#8 Re: Harper's Index
September 2008
The fair price of a barrel of oil, according to Osama bin Laden in 1998 : $144
Date on which oil reached $144 per barrel : 7/2/08
Rank of this year’s economic crisis among the “largest financial shocks since the Great Depression,” according to the IMF : 1
Estimated number of FDIC-insured banks currently in danger of failing : 90
Number that failed during the past three years : 3
Percentage change since 2003 in the number of U.S. workers making “hardship withdrawals” from retirement accounts : +61
Death benefits that Lockheed Martin paid its current CEO in March, despite his being alive : $1,000,000
Chance that an American says his or her workplace is a “dictatorship” : 1 in 4
Percentage of Britons and Canadians, respectively, who say the United States is a “force for evil” : 35, 34
Number of John McCain’s Vietnamese torturers who have publicly endorsed his candidacy : 1
Rank of McCain among the most frequent guests on Sunday-morning network TV news shows since 1997 : 1
Percentage of primary-season TV ads for McCain and Obama, respectively, that included images of the American flag : 60, 30
Percentage of U.S. Muslims who believe that “you can get ahead with hard work in America” : 71
Percentage of Americans as a whole who believe this : 64
Chances that an American, asked to estimate what percentage of Americans are black, will guess too high : 3 in 4
Chance that an American believes that the majority of Americans are black : 1 in 11
Chance that a U.S. black believes the country has “gone too far in pushing equal rights” : 1 in 4
Projected amount that same-sex weddings will add to California’s economy during the next three years : $684,000,000
Estimated annual sales-tax revenue that California receives each year from medical-marijuana sales : $100,000,000
Number of deaths in Florida last year caused by illegal drugs : 946
Number caused by prescription drugs : 2,002
Portion of U.S. troops in Iraq who are on psychiatric medications : 1/8
Portion of troops in Afghanistan who are : 1/7
Number of full-time correspondents that U.S. TV networks have posted in Afghanistan : 0
Total minutes of network TV coverage devoted to the war in Iraq between January and June 2008 : 300
Total during the same period last year : 1,229
Minimum number of times that journalists and politicians on TV have referred to Barack Obama as “Osama” : 8
Times they have referred to Osama bin Laden as “Obama” : 8
Ratio of Obama’s total campaign donations from the financial sector to McCain’s total from that sector : 3:2
Months after his death that actor Roy Scheider is listed as having donated to Obama’s campaign : 1
Number of the twelve original members of Sha Na Na who hold advanced academic degrees : 8
Number of H-1B visas, for workers with a “body of highly specialized knowledge,” granted to fashion models last year : 349
Number of celebrities to whom Burger King has given a lifetime supply of free hamburgers : 11
Estimated percentage change since last year in U.S. sales of golf carts for purposes other than golf : +215
Percentage change since 1990 in serious golf-cart-related injuries : +132
Days in jail that Canton, Ohio, now imposes on repeat offenders of the city’s lawn-mowing requirement : 30
Minutes that Minneapolis drivers can legally idle while not in traffic, per a new city ordinance : 3
Surcharge that Holly Springs, Georgia, has added to speeding tickets to pay for its officers’ gasoline : $12
Number of North Carolina license plates issued last year that begin with the letters “WTF” : 8,999
Number of drivers who have asked for a replacement plate : 92
The fair price of a barrel of oil, according to Osama bin Laden in 1998 : $144
Date on which oil reached $144 per barrel : 7/2/08
Rank of this year’s economic crisis among the “largest financial shocks since the Great Depression,” according to the IMF : 1
Estimated number of FDIC-insured banks currently in danger of failing : 90
Number that failed during the past three years : 3
Percentage change since 2003 in the number of U.S. workers making “hardship withdrawals” from retirement accounts : +61
Death benefits that Lockheed Martin paid its current CEO in March, despite his being alive : $1,000,000
Chance that an American says his or her workplace is a “dictatorship” : 1 in 4
Percentage of Britons and Canadians, respectively, who say the United States is a “force for evil” : 35, 34
Number of John McCain’s Vietnamese torturers who have publicly endorsed his candidacy : 1
Rank of McCain among the most frequent guests on Sunday-morning network TV news shows since 1997 : 1
Percentage of primary-season TV ads for McCain and Obama, respectively, that included images of the American flag : 60, 30
Percentage of U.S. Muslims who believe that “you can get ahead with hard work in America” : 71
Percentage of Americans as a whole who believe this : 64
Chances that an American, asked to estimate what percentage of Americans are black, will guess too high : 3 in 4
Chance that an American believes that the majority of Americans are black : 1 in 11
Chance that a U.S. black believes the country has “gone too far in pushing equal rights” : 1 in 4
Projected amount that same-sex weddings will add to California’s economy during the next three years : $684,000,000
Estimated annual sales-tax revenue that California receives each year from medical-marijuana sales : $100,000,000
Number of deaths in Florida last year caused by illegal drugs : 946
Number caused by prescription drugs : 2,002
Portion of U.S. troops in Iraq who are on psychiatric medications : 1/8
Portion of troops in Afghanistan who are : 1/7
Number of full-time correspondents that U.S. TV networks have posted in Afghanistan : 0
Total minutes of network TV coverage devoted to the war in Iraq between January and June 2008 : 300
Total during the same period last year : 1,229
Minimum number of times that journalists and politicians on TV have referred to Barack Obama as “Osama” : 8
Times they have referred to Osama bin Laden as “Obama” : 8
Ratio of Obama’s total campaign donations from the financial sector to McCain’s total from that sector : 3:2
Months after his death that actor Roy Scheider is listed as having donated to Obama’s campaign : 1
Number of the twelve original members of Sha Na Na who hold advanced academic degrees : 8
Number of H-1B visas, for workers with a “body of highly specialized knowledge,” granted to fashion models last year : 349
Number of celebrities to whom Burger King has given a lifetime supply of free hamburgers : 11
Estimated percentage change since last year in U.S. sales of golf carts for purposes other than golf : +215
Percentage change since 1990 in serious golf-cart-related injuries : +132
Days in jail that Canton, Ohio, now imposes on repeat offenders of the city’s lawn-mowing requirement : 30
Minutes that Minneapolis drivers can legally idle while not in traffic, per a new city ordinance : 3
Surcharge that Holly Springs, Georgia, has added to speeding tickets to pay for its officers’ gasoline : $12
Number of North Carolina license plates issued last year that begin with the letters “WTF” : 8,999
Number of drivers who have asked for a replacement plate : 92