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Last Month’s Index
[ June 2004 ]

Harper’s Index

Last Month’s Index
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Number of the ten [Corruption|missile-defense] components to be deployed this [Fall|fall] that have been field-tested as a system

: 0
June 2004 • Source: General Accounting Office (Washington)/Council for a Livable World (Washington)

Number of [Africa|African] countries in which the average life expectancy has [Death|declined] since [1970s|1978]

: 22
June 2004 • Source: World Health Organization (Geneva)

Number of countries in which the average [Death|life expectancy] was less than 40 in 2002

: 6
June 2004 • Source: World Health Organization (Geneva)

Percentage who are at risk of losing regular access to [Food|food] if conditions there persist or deteriorate

: 31
June 2004 • Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Rome)

Percentage of [Palestine|Palestinians] in the West [Banking|Bank] and Gaza Strip who lack regular access to [Food|food]

: 40
June 2004 • Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Rome)

Average number of people who die every day in [Mumbai|Bombay] [Train|commuter-train] accidents

: 10
June 2004 • Source: Manavta Railway Accident Response Centre (Bombay, India)

Estimated percentage of [Women|women] in [Pakistan|Pakistani] [Prison|prisons] whose [Crime|crime] was [Sex|fornication]

: 80
June 2004 • Source: National Commission on the Status of Women (Islamabad, Pakistan)

Minimum number of times a [Houston|Houston] [Women|woman] stabbed her [Marriage|husband] last year

: 193
June 2004 • Source: Harris County Medical Examiner's Office (Houston)

Estimated revenue lost by an [Oregon|Oregon] county since it suspended granting heterosexuals [Marriage|marriage] licenses last [March|March]

: $2,000
June 2004 • Source: Benton County Records Office (Corvallis, Oreg.)/Harper's research

Ratio of the average number of [Entertainment|television] sets to the number of [Child|children]

: 7:2
June 2004 • Source: U.S. Census Bureau (Washington)

Ratio of the average number of [Transportation|vehicles] to the number of [Child|children] per U.S. household

: 5:2
June 2004 • Source: U.S. Census Bureau (Washington)

Number of accidents on [Florida|Florida] [Driving|highways] in 2002 caused by [Transportation|cars] parked on the side of the road

: 4,220
June 2004 • Source: Florida Highway Patrol (Jacksonville)

Number of Americans who died in 2002 from infections they [HealthCare|contracted] while [Medicine|hospitalized] for other ailments

: 90,000
June 2004 • Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta)

Minimum number of U.S. surgical patients sewn up each year with [HealthCare|sponges], clamps, or other tools left inside them

: 1,500
June 2004 • Source: The New England Journal of Medicine (Boston)

Year in which the [Medicare|Medicare] [Medicine|hospital] trust fund will be “completely exhausted,” according to the trustees

: 2019
June 2004 • Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Baltimore)

Year in which trustees [Mendacity|predicted] in [1990s|1991] that the fund would be exhausted

: 2005
June 2004 • Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Baltimore)

Minimum U.S. spending on [Corruption|missile defense] each year since President [RonaldReagan|Reagan’s] [1980s|1983] “[StarWars|Star Wars]” speech

: $2,700,000,000
June 2004 • Source: Office of Sen. Jack Reed (Washington)

Amount that next year’s [Pentagon|Defense Department] budget proposal requests for researching [Mendacity|low-yield] [WMD|nuclear weapons]

: $9,000,000
June 2004 • Source: Arms Control Association (Washington)

Number of years that [WMD|such research] was illegal before [Congress|Congress] repealed the ban last [November|November]

: 10
June 2004 • Source: Arms Control Association (Washington)

Number of countries given [Weapons|weapons]-grade [Uranium|uranium] since the [1950s|1950s] under the U.S. [Mendacity|Atoms for Peace] program

: 51
June 2004 • Source: Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Washington)

Minimum amount, per kilogram, that the U.S. charges “high income” countries to return spent [WMD|nuclear] fuel

: $3,500
June 2004 • Source: U.S. Department of Energy

Number of actors, musicians, and clowns in a [UnitedNations|U.N.] troupe touring [Liberia|Liberia] to convince citizens to disarm

: 101
June 2004 • Source: United Nations Mission in Liberia (Monrovia)

Number of members of the [Iraq|Iraqi] Communist Party who belong to the Governing Council

: 1
June 2004 • Source: Iraqi Governing Council (Baghdad)

Number of times that [Democracy|none-of-the-above] won a Duma seat last [Winter|winter] in Ulyanovsk, [Russia|Russia], [Communism|Lenin’s] birthplace

: 2
June 2004 • Source: Embassy of the Russian Federation (Washington)/ITAR-TASS News Agency (Moscow)

Chance that a Western [Europe|European] has a positive opinion of [GeorgeWBush|George W. Bush]

: 1 in 10
June 2004 • Source: Harris Interactive Europe (London)

Average price per gallon Americans would have paid for [Gasoline|gasoline] in [March|March] if U.S. [Oil|gas] [Taxes|taxes] were as high as [Europe|Europe’s]

: $2.31
June 2004 • Source: Energy Information Administration (Washington)/International Energy Agency (Paris)

Amount by which total [SocialSecurity|Social Security] contributions since [1980s|1983] exceed total benefit payments since then

: $999,059,000,000
June 2004 • Source: Social Security Administration (Baltimore)/Harper's research

Street value of a rock of [Drugs|crack cocaine] the size of the [Sun|sun]

: $5.6 x 10^34
June 2004 • Source: U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (N.Y.C.)/Harper's research

Weight in carats of the 2,500-mile-diameter diamond resulting from the crystallization of the [Space|star] BPM 37093

: 1 x 1034
June 2004 • Source: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (Cambridge, Mass.)

Chances that [God|God] exists, according to a [Britain|British] physicist working as a risk analyst in [Ohio|Ohio]

: 2 in 3
June 2004 • Source: Stephen D. Unwin (Columbus, Ohio)

Decimal places to which [Japan|Japanese] [Science|scientists] have estimated [Mathematics|pi]

: 1,241,100,000,000
June 2004 • Source: Yasumasa Kanada, University of Tokyo

Chance that a [Britain|British] [Child|infantry] recruit’s reading and writing [Education|skills] are no better than the average 11-year-old’s

: 1 in 2
June 2004 • Source: Sean Rayment, Sunday Telegraph (London)

Chances that a sixth-grader at one [OklahomaCity|Oklahoma City] school was suspended for being [Education|disruptive] during [Lunch|lunch] last [March|March] 24

: 4 in 5
June 2004 • Source: Oklahoma City School Board

Number of Library of [Congress|Congress] [Literature|book] collections it would take to hold the data created worldwide in 2002

: 36,764
June 2004 • Source: School of Information Management & Systems, University of California (Berkeley)

Number of the brand holders that are sponsoring [Dublin|Dublin’s] centennial [Literature|Bloomsday] celebration this month

: 2
June 2004 • Source: Fleishman-Hillard Saunders International Communications (Dublin)

Minimum number of the brand names [Men|mentioned] in [Ireland|James Joyce’s] [Literature|Ulysses] that are still extant

: 28
June 2004 • Source: The James Joyce Centre (Dublin)

Value of the [Corruption|solid-gold] model of a [SaudiArabia|Saudi] fortress on display in his [GeorgeHWBush|father’s] [Democracy|presidential] library

: $1,000,000
June 2004 • Source: George Bush Presidential Library and Museum (College Station, Tex.)

Estimated value of a painting that the [SaudiArabia|Saudi] ambassador has [Corruption|given] [GeorgeWBush|George W. Bush] for his future [Democracy|presidential] library

: $1,000,000
June 2004 • Source: National Archives & Records Administration (Washington)

Rank of [Venice|Venice] and [Kuwait|Kuwait] City among cities where hotels generate the most revenue per room

: 1,2
June 2004 • Source: Deloitte (N.Y.C.)

Estimated percentage change since [1970s|1970] in sub-Saharan [Africa|Africa’s] share of world [Economics|trade]

: ???57
June 2004 • Source: The World Bank (Washington)
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