Harper’s Index

Percentage of Americans living in hurricane-prone areas who had [Folly|done nothing] by [May|May] to prepare for this year’s storms

Vote by which its [SupremeCourt|Supreme Court] upheld the law this [May|May]

Average amount [Israel|Israel] has paid to relocate each settler from the [Palestine|Gaza Strip]

Amount appropriated by the governor of [Texas|Texas] in [June|June] to set up border-watching [Telecommunications|webcams]

Amount that a randomly chosen [Arizona|Arizona] voter will receive after each [Democracy|election], if a [November|November] referendum passes

Amount of [Gambling|casino] profits that the Pechanga, a [California|California] tribe, paid out last year to each of its adults

Portion of the tribe that is being expelled or has been expelled since 2004 over allegations of insufficient heritage

Years that [Missouri|Missouri] has allowed [Gambling|gambling] addicts to bar themselves for life from riverboat casinos

Number who have signed up so far

Last two-year term whose House met for fewer [Days|days]

Number of single-[Family|family] [Housing|homes] [Business|sold] in the [NewOrleans|New Orleans] area during the first quarter of 2006

Percentage by which this exceeds the number [Business|sold] during the first quarter of 2005

Average percentage by which the price of these [Housing|homes] has increased

Number of giant inflatable [Animal|rats] that U.S. [Labor|unions] have purchased to protest non-union projects

[Hours|Hours] it takes four [Labor|non-union] laborers to make each rat

Number of [Africa|African] giant pouched [Rats|rats] that Belgian researchers have trained to sniff out explosives

Number of wasps that a [Georgia|Georgia] engineering professor says he has trained to do this

Chance that a [Caucasian|white] member of a racially mixed jury does

Total number of [Days|days] that the 2005–6 [Congress|House of Representatives] is scheduled to have met by the end of its term

Number of [Days|days] that [1940s|1947–8’s] famous “Do-Nothing [Congress|Congress] ‚” met

Minimum value of free, privately sponsored trips taken since 2000 by members of [Congress|Congress] and their staffs

Ratio of the estimated U.S. cost of ratifying the [Pollution|Kyoto Protocol] to the cost of the [Iraq|Iraq] war so far

Portion of all [Oil|fuel] consumed by the U.S. government that is used by the [AirForce|Air Force]

Estimated amount the [Pentagon|U.S. military] has spent since [1990s|1994] to replace service members discharged for being [Homosexuality|gay]

Number of officers whose resignations the [Army|U.S. Army] Reserve has refused since [December|December] 2004

Number of [AK-47|AK-47s] that have gone missing after being sent by the [Pentagon|Pentagon] to [Iraq|Iraq] last [Summer|summer]

Percentage of Americans in [May|May] [Ignorance|who believed] that [Democracy|democracy] would take hold in [Iraq|Iraq]

Number of the fourteen other nations [Polling|surveyed] where a majority believed this

Percentage change since [1990s|1990] in the annual number of [Cheerleading|cheerleading]-related injuries among U.S. youth

Percentage by which [Race|white women] who often spend time in the [Sun|sun] are less at risk of [Breast|breast] [Cancer|cancer] than those who do not

Number of new [Race|skin-whitening] products that have been introduced to [Asia|Asian] and [PacificOcean|Pacific] markets since 2002

Number of [Entertainment|films] since [1960s|1960] that feature an [Evil|evil] [Genetics|albino]

Chance that a member of an [Race|all-white] jury decides a [AfricanAmerican|black] defendant’s [Justice|guilt] before deliberating, in a recent study

Year that [Israel|Israel] passed a “temporary‚” law barring [Palestine|Palestinians] who marry Israelis from gaining citizenship

[Seconds|Seconds] he says it takes to train each wasp

Price, from a [Colombia|Colombian] [Labor|manufacturer], for a custom-made bulletproof sports coat

Price for a stab-proof [Fashion|T-shirt]

Price, from a [NorthCarolina|North Carolina] company, for a charcoal-filled seat cushion that absorbs the odor of [Excretion|flatulence]

Percentage of the odor that the cushion absorbs, according to an outside study

Percentage absorbed by the company’s $64.99 carbon-fiber [Underwear|underwear]