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Last Month’s Index
[ July 2008 ]

Harper’s Index

Last Month’s Index
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Percentage of [EPA|EPA] [Science|scientists] who say they have experienced political interference with their work

: 60
July 2008 • Source: Union of Concerned Scientists (Cambridge, Mass.)

Average percentage by which a bar-[Tobacco|smoking] ban in a U.S. county increases the rate of drunk-[Driving|driving] fatalities

: 13
July 2008 • Source: Scott Adams, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Chance that a result on an [Internet|Internet] search relating to [Suicide|suicide] will be an anti-suicide website

: 1 in 8
July 2008 • Source: David Gunnell, University of Bristol (Bristol, U.K.)

Chance it will be a site offering pro-[Suicide|suicide] advice or suggesting methods

: 1 in 5
July 2008 • Source: David Gunnell, University of Bristol (Bristol, U.K.)

Percentage change in applications for [Virginia|Virginia] concealed-handgun permits in the year of the Virginia Tech shootings

: +61
July 2008 • Source: Supreme Court of Virginia (Richmond)

Chance that a [Michigan|Michigan] state [Jobs|employee] works for the corrections department

: 1 in 3
July 2008 • Source: Michigan Civil Service Commission (Lansing)

Amount that the [IRS|IRS] has spent since 2006 on an outsourced program to collect unpaid [Taxes|taxes]

: $87,000,000
July 2008 • Source: National Taxpayer Advocate (Washington)

Amount the [Corruption|contractors] have collected during that time

: $50,000,000
July 2008 • Source: National Taxpayer Advocate (Washington)

Ratio in [1980s|1980] of the number of NIH grants given [Science|scientists] under age 30 to the number given those over age 70

: 17:1
July 2008 • Source: National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, Md.)

Ratio in 2006

: 1:13
July 2008 • Source: National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, Md.)

Minimum number of U.S. cities that have shortened the [Color|yellow] light on traffic signals to under the legal limit

: 6
July 2008 • Source: National Motorists Association (Waunakee, Wisc.)

Change since 2001 in the percentage of Americans who believe that humans are causing [GlobalWarming|climate change]

: -4
July 2008 • Source: Harris Interactive (Rochester, N.Y.)

Factor by which the average length of a heat wave in Western [Europe|Europe] has increased during the past century

: 2
July 2008 • Source: MeteoSwiss (Zurich)

Estimated percentage of [Africa|Africa]’s [Elephant|elephants] poached each year before the [1980s|1989] ban on ivory trade

: 7
July 2008 • Source: Samuel Wasser, University of Washington (Seattle)

Estimated percentage today, under the ban

: 8
July 2008 • Source: Samuel Wasser, University of Washington (Seattle)

Radius in feet within which a [Insect|bee] can smell a [Flowers|flower] in unpolluted air

: 3,281
July 2008 • Source: Jose Fuentes, University of Virginia (Charlottesville)

Radius in air downwind from a city

: 650
July 2008 • Source: Jose Fuentes, University of Virginia (Charlottesville)

[Hours|Hours] each day that house [Cat|cats] must engage in social “activities,‚” according to new [Sweden|Swedish] regulations

: 2
July 2008 • Source: Swedish Board of Agriculture (J?nk?ping)

Length, in inches, of a “living coat‚” made of mouse stem-cells that was exhibited in [March|March] at the Museum of Modern Art

: 1.5
July 2008 • Source: The Museum of Modern Art (N.Y.C.)

Months into the exhibition that a feeding malfunction forced the artists to euthanize the work

: 1
July 2008 • Source: The Museum of Modern Art (N.Y.C.)

Date on which George W. [GeorgeWBush|Bush] appeared on the game show Deal or No Deal

: 4/21/08
July 2008 • Source: The Nielsen Company (N.Y.C.)

Estimated total value of investments in major [USMilitary|U.S. military] [Corruption|contractors] owned by members of [Congress|Congress]

: $150,000,000
July 2008 • Source: Center for Responsive Politics (Washington)

Amount of the federal budget that [JohnMcCain|John McCain] says he could cut in a “New York minute‚”

: $100,000,000,000
July 2008 • Source: Bloomberg Television (N.Y.C.)

Minimum number of times since 2000 that [JohnMcCain|McCain] has voted against increased funding for [Veterans|Veterans] Affairs

: 10
July 2008 • Source: Disabled American Veterans (Cold Spring, Ky.)

Price for which a [JohnMcCain|McCain] donor could enter a contest last [Winter|winter] to win a day on the [Mendacity|Straight Talk Express]

: $50
July 2008 • Source: John McCain 2008 (Arlington, Va.)

Number of [JohnMcCain|John McCain]’s 507 donation “bundlers‚” who are registered [Corruption|lobbyists]

: 70
July 2008 • Source: Public Citizen (Washington)

Number of [BarackObama|Barack Obama]’s 361 bundlers who are

: 14
July 2008 • Source: Public Citizen (Washington)

Number of Americans who gave the maximum legal donation to both [JohnMcCain|McCain] and [BarackObama|Obama] in the primaries

: 359
July 2008 • Source: Center for Responsive Politics (Washington)

Percentage of registered voters who said in [March|March] that they would “seriously consider‚” [Democracy|voting] for Ralph Nader

: 14
July 2008 • Source: Fox News (N.Y.C.)

Rank of Ross Perot and [BillClinton|Bill Clinton], respectively, in Gallup’s general-[Democracy|election] poll on [June|June] 26, [1990s|1992]

: 1, 3
July 2008 • Source: Gallup Poll (Washington)

Average amount spent lobbying [Congress|Congress] last year each day it was in session

: $16,279,069
July 2008 • Source: Center for Responsive Politics (Washington)

Percentage by which the ratings of that night’s show lagged the average

: 19
July 2008 • Source: The Nielsen Company (N.Y.C.)

Number of the forty-three national elections held worldwide since December 2007 whose results were contested

: 7
July 2008 • Source: Harper's research

Number of [Kenya|Kenya]’s 210 members of parliament who have been given cabinet positions in the new administration

: 93
July 2008 • Source: Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (Nairobi)

Projected annual budget of the enlarged cabinet, as a portion of [Kenya|Kenya]’s total government revenues

: 1/8
July 2008 • Source: Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (Nairobi)

Number of [Somalia|Somali] government officials assassinated since [February|February] 2007

: 30
July 2008 • Source: International Crisis Group (Washington)

Ratio last year of the number of [Palestine|Palestinians] [Death|killed] by [Israel|Israeli] security forces to the number killed in infighting

: 1:1
July 2008 • Source: B'Tselem (Jerusalem)

Ratio so far this year

: 115:1
July 2008 • Source: B'Tselem (Jerusalem)

Number of official corporate-sponsored events in this year’s [Palestine|Palestinian] motor-racing season

: 5
July 2008 • Source: Wataniya Telecom (Ramallah)

Number of racetracks in [Palestine|Palestinian] territory

: 0
July 2008 • Source: Palestinian Motor Sport & Motorcycle Federation (Ramallah)
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