Harper’s Index

Months after the first manned [Transportation|flight] that Wilbur Wright identified “[War|war]” as a potential use for [AirTravel|airplanes]

Cost of [Disease|vaccinating] the 745,000 [Child|children] who died from the disease in 2001

Estimated number of [Soccer|soccer balls] the U.S. government sent [Iraq|Iraq] this [Summer|summer] to help “bring life back to normal”

Percentage of [Iraq|Basra’s] [Vice|liquor stores] that have closed since [March|March]

Amount [NewZealand|New Zealand’s] [Fire|Fire] Service spent this year on a [Television|TV campaign] against [Food|cooking] while [Alcohol|drunk]

Estimated acres of forest [Literature|Henry David Thoreau] burned down in 1844 [Ignorance|trying] to [Food|cook] [Fish|fish] he had caught for [Dinner|dinner]

Number of [Language|paragraphs] devoted to [GlobalWarming|global warming] in the [EPA|EPA’s] 600-page “Draft Report on the Environment” of 2003

Number of paragraphs removed by the White House before publication

Maximum number of miles that [Ford|Ford’s] most [Pollution|fuel-efficient] 2003 [Driving|car] can drive on a gallon of [Gasoline|gas]

Maximum number its [1910s|1912] Model T could

Rank of [Measles|measles] among diseases that [Death|kill] the most [Child|children] worldwide each year and can be prevented by vaccine

Price a [SanDiego|San Diego] physicist paid at auction in [June|June] for mechanisms used to drop the [Nuclear|atomic bomb] on [Hiroshima|Hiroshima]

Percentage of Americans in [June|June] who favored [USMilitary|U.S. military] action to prevent [Iran|Iran] from developing [Nuclear|nuclear weapons]

Percentage in [July|July] who disapproved of the United States waging preemptive attacks on any country

Percentage of the bombs dropped on [Iraq|Iraq] this year that were not precision-guided

Ratio of [Army|U.S. soldiers] [Death|killed] in the [1990s|1991] [GulfWar|Gulf War] to those killed in [Iraq|Iraq] this year

Chance that an American believes that “[Suicide|suicide] is an acceptable solution in certain circumstances”

Number of the three drugs used for U.S. executions that are banned for animal euthanasia

Number of [Canada|Canadian] [Prison|prison] inmates who overdosed in [March|March] on fellow prisoners’ [Drugs|methadone-laced vomit]

Number of inmates charged with drug trafficking for providing the vomit

Percentage who said that [GeorgeWBush|George Bush] would

Percentage refund that [GeorgeWBush|Laura Bush’s] office sought in [June|June] for a $15.95 [Literature|children’s book] that it bought for a [Television|TV] reading

Percentage of the first month of [Britain|British] sales of the new [HarryPotter|Harry Potter] [Literature|book] accounted for by “adult” editions

Average age at which an American believes that adulthood begins

Ratio of [StromThurmond|Strom Thurmond’s] age at his death in [June|June] to the average U.S. life expectancy in the year he was born

Age at which Katharine Hepburn made her [Entertainment|acting debut], as the beast in a charity production of Beauty and the Beast

Number of [Feminism|females] on the American [Cinema|Film] Institute’s list of the [Entertainment|fifty greatest movie villains], [Aliens|aliens] included

Number on its list of the [Entertainment|fifty greatest movie heroes], [Dog|Lassie] included

Percentage of [India|Indian] [College|college] [Student|students] who cite [Gandhi|Gandhi] and [AdolfHitler|Hitler], respectively, as models for leaders of India

Percentage of [Palestine|Palestinians] who said in [May|May] that [OsamaBinLaden|Osama bin Laden] would “do the right thing” regarding world affairs

[Mendacity|Change] since last year in federal spending to implement the [Education|No Child Left Behind] Act

Amount of evidence, according to the [NewYorkTimes|New York Times] in [June|June], that [GeorgeWBush|Bush] “did not believe” his own statements on [Iraq|Iraq]

Number of officials who ever suggested that [Iraq|Iraq] had [Nuclear|nuclear] [Weapons|weapons], according to [DonaldRumsfeld|Donald Rumsfeld] in [June|June]

Number of times [DemocraticParty|Democrat] [HowardDean|Howard Dean] mentioned [Iraq|Iraq] in announcing his candidacy for president this year

Year in which [DickCheney|Dick Cheney] said that his [Mendacity|policy] as [CEO|CEO] of [Halliburton|Halliburton] was that “we wouldn’t do anything in [Iraq|Iraq]”

Price of the [Oil|oil-field] supplies [Business|sold] to [Iraq|Iraq] by two [Halliburton|Halliburton] subsidiaries during [DickCheney|Cheney’s] tenure

Amount [PatRobertson|Pat Robertson] has invested in [Liberia|Liberian] [Gold|gold] mining

Number of times he cited the country’s leaders as wronged [JesusChrist|Christians] on his [Television|TV] show while [GeorgeWBush|President Bush] was in [Africa|Africa]

Ratio of the number of [Ethiopia|Ethiopians] at risk from famine today to those who died in [1980s|1984’s] record famine

Amount [Thailand|Thailand] has promised to pay survivors of anyone who dies of [Disease|SARS] contracted there