Harper’s Index

Last period in which the [Finance|Dow] declined for four consecutive years

Percentage change since [1960s|1968] in the real value of the U.S. federal [Labor|minimum wage]

Factor by which Americans’ total [Finance|debt] to private lenders for [Education|college] tuition has increased since [1990s|1995]

Factor by which industry funding for university biomedical [Science|research] has increased since [1980s|1980]

Percentage change since [1980s|1988] in the average subscription price of a U.S. [Science|scientific], [Medicine|medical], or technical journal

Number of [Language|words] that the [NewYorkTimes|New York Times] has devoted to [February|February’s] shuttle accident per resulting [Death|death]

Last calendar year in which the [DowJones|Dow Jones Industrial Average] gained in value

Average number of industrial compounds and [Pollution|pollutants] that can be found in an American’s blood and [Excretion|urine]

Projected duration in months of the piece’s opening three-note arpeggio

Average factor by which levels of [Uranium|uranium] in the [Excretion|urine] of [Afghanistan|Afghan] test subjects last [Fall|fall] exceeded normal

Pounds of steel discovered to have been eaten away from the head of an [Ohio|Ohio] [Nuclear|nuclear] reactor in [February|February] 2002

Thickness in inches of the warped stainless steel that remained to prevent the reactor from rupturing into the air

Grant that the Department of [Energy|Energy] gave a U.S. company last [November|November] to create a new living [Science|organism]

Percentage, respectively, of the U.S. [Fatherhood|fathers] and [Motherhood|mothers] responsible for [Child|child] support who do not pay it

Percentage of [Jobs|employed] U.S. [Motherhood|mothers] who think full-time [Motherhood|mothers] look down on them

Percentage of full-time [Motherhood|mothers] who think [Jobs|employed] [Motherhood|mothers] look down on them

Number of [Japan|Japanese] [Child|children] who refused to attend [Education|school] last year, according to Japan’s government

Fine that [Britain|Britain’s] [Education|education] minister has proposed levying on [Parenting|parents] whose [Child|children] are chronic truants

Chance that a [Britain|British] military reservist called up since [January|January] has asked to be excused from duty

Number of [Army|U.S. soldiers] who faced disciplinary action between [1990s|1998] and 2000 for refusing an [Anthrax|anthrax] vaccine

Number of U.S. [Medicine|doctors] per pharmaceutical-sales representative in [1990s|1995] and last year, respectively

Estimated number of audience cell-[Telephone|phone] calls that constituted a “telesymphony” performed last year in [Austria|Austria]

Projected duration in years of John Cage’s “As Slow as Possible,” whose [Entertainment|performance] began last [February|February] in [Germany|Germany]

Percentage of [Mexico|Mexicans] who believe that the U.S. Southwest rightfully belongs to Mexico

Number of [Language|words] that the Times devoted to [1990s|1998’s] U.S. Embassy bombings in [Africa|Africa] per resulting [Death|death]

Percentage of Americans [Ignorance|who believed] in early [March|March] that [SaddamHussein|Saddam Hussein] was involved in the [September11|September 11] [SuicideBombing|attacks]

Weeks before this poll was taken that [GeorgeWBush|President Bush] said that he “can’t make [the] claim” of such a link

Ratio of the price of a barrel of [Oil|oil] in [March|March] to the price of a body bag from the [USMilitary|U.S. military’s] supplier

Estimated percentage by which the average U.S. [Gasoline|gasoline] price would rise if costs of securing [Oil|oil] were recouped with a [Taxes|tax]

Minimum number of [Energy|hydrogen-car] fueling stations currently under construction in [Tokyo|Tokyo]

Ratio of the number of Volkswagens [Business|sold] in [China|China] last year to the number sold in the [UnitedStates|United States]

Ratio of the average garment-worker wage in [China|China] to that in [Mexico|Mexico]

Average number of [Days|days] an [Oil|oiled] [Bird|seabird] survives in the wild after cleaning and release

Number of new [Indonesia|Indonesian] islands discovered by [Technology|satellite] analysis in [February|February]

Chance that a [Men|male] human worldwide is a direct patrilineal descendant of [Mongols|Genghis Khan]

Chances that a [HorseRacing|thoroughbred stallion] is a patrilineal descendant of the Darley [Arab|Arabian], a seventeenth-century [Horse|horse]

Price for a fifteen-[Child|child] sleepover in the [Bronx|Bronx] Zoo’s [Congo|Congo] [Gorilla|Gorilla Forest] exhibit

Per capita [GDP|GDP] of the [Congo|Republic of Congo]

Estimated number of [Bird|bird] [LivingOrganism|species] that have declined because of [Oregon|Oregon] [GlobalWarming|logging] since [1960s|1968]

Estimated number that have increased because of [GlobalWarming|logging]