Harper’s Index

Decibels of sound pressure employed by a new “thermoacoustic” [Refrigerator|refrigerator]

Percentage in import duties on [Vietnam|Vietnamese] [Fish|catfish] sought from the [CommerceDepartment|Commerce Department] last year by U.S. catfish [Agriculture|farmers]

Percentage of [California|California’s] [Economics|economy] that is accounted for by [Agriculture|agriculture]

Percentage of the state’s water that is used for [Agriculture|agriculture]

Estimated percentage change since 2000 in acres of [Texas|Texas] recognized as [Nature|wetlands] by [Army|the Army] Corps of Engineers

Amount budgeted last year for the [EPA|EPA’s] Leaking Underground Storage Tank Program

Ratio of the annual budget of the [EPA|EPA] to that of [NASA|NASA]

Minimum number of open-source [Technology|software] applications now in use at the [Pentagon|Pentagon]

Number of the 158 used [Technology|hard drives] purchased for an MIT study this year that contained recoverable data

Minimum number of [CreditCards|credit-card] numbers the hard drives contained

Pounds of [Food|grits and other grains] to be donated to fill this year’s food-budget gap at the [SouthCarolina|South Carolina] governor’s mansion

Decibels of sound pressure sufficient to ignite a person’s [Hair|hair]

Chance that a [Student|student] at [Indiana|Indiana] University reports having used a tanning lamp in the past year

Percentage of applications from alumni’s [Child|children] accepted by Middlebury College in [1990s|1990] and 2002

Percentage of applications from non-alumni [AfricanAmerican|African Americans] accepted in those years

Chances that a [DemocraticParty|Democrat] believes that “most”[RepublicanParty|Republicans] are prejudiced against [Race|African] Americans

Number of [DemocraticParty|Democratic] supporters that qualifies a [Congress|congressional] vote as “bipartisan,” according to Ari Fleischer

Ratio of the U.S. median income in 2001 to what [DickCheney|Dick Cheney] would have saved that year with the new dividend-[Taxes|tax] cut

Ratio of the number of [Language|words] in the U.S. income-[Taxes|tax] code today to the number in [1950s|1955]

Number of pharmaceutical drugs approved by the [FDA|FDA] since [1990s|1998] whose names begin with V, W, X, Y, or Z

Total fines U.S. investment [Banking|banks] will pay to end investigations into their stock recommendations

Rank of [KimJongIl|Kim Jong Il] and the [SaudiArabia|Saudi royal family] among the world’s worst [Fascism|dictators], according to Parade [Magazine|magazine]

Months after the fall of the [Taliban|Taliban] that the [UnitedStates|United States] began on-site assessment of [Afghanistan|Afghanistan’s] natural resources

Percentage of Americans who say that other countries’ interests are considered in making U.S. foreign policy

Average percentage of the 30 other [Polling|surveyed] nationalities who say this

Number of current and former national leaders slated for war-[Crime|crimes] prosecution by [Belgium|Belgium’s] high court

Number of current officeholders left on the list after the court granted [Israel|Israel’s] [ArielSharon|Ariel Sharon] immunity in [January|January]

Chance that a delegate to [Pakistan|Pakistan’s] National Assembly is a member of an [Islam|Islamist] party

Chance in [1990s|1997]

Fine levied on three [Norway|Norwegians] in 2001 for throwing paper [AirTravel|airplanes] at the U.S. embassy

Chance that the [UnitedStates|United States] bombed [Iraq|Iraq] on any given day last year

Chance that a member of a U.S. firm’s executive-compensation committee has financial or familial [Mendacity|ties] to its [CEO|CEO]

Percentage change since [1990s|1998] in the total promotional spending of U.S. pharmaceutical companies

Percentage change since then in such companies’ average profit per dollar spent on promotion

Amount for which Dow Chemical is suing [India|Indian] [Democracy|protesters] over a two-hour demonstration held in Bhopal last year

Amount of import-[Taxes|tax] revenue that [Israel|Israel] is withholding from the [Palestine|Palestinian] Authority

Amount the U.S. withheld from the [UnitedNations|U.N.] Population Fund last year, citing links to forced [Abortion|abortions] in [China|China]

Months after the [StateDepartment|State Department] had cleared the U.N. of such connections that the funds were withheld nonetheless

Percentage of [China|Chinese] who say they have [Ignorance|never heard of] [AIDS|AIDS]

Minimum number of U.S. [College|college] [Student|students] who [Science|developed] scurvy from [Poverty|poor] [Diet|eating] habits last year