Harper’s Index

Number of additional [Driving|road] [Death|deaths] that would have been caused by a “gas-[Taxes|tax] holiday‚” this [Summer|summer]

Percentage of Americans today who support [Homosexuality|gays] serving openly in the military

Average percentage change in median [Housing|home values] when the proportion of [Homosexuality|same-sex] couples nearby goes up by 1 percent

Number of the sixteen lots in The Shire, a “place of enchantment‚” in [Oregon|Oregon], that [Business|sold] before the project failed in [July|July]

Year in which the U.S. [Housing|housing] market will hit bottom, based on current futures-market trading

Chance that he or she lives within ten miles of one

Chance that an American lives within four miles of an [EPA|EPA] Superfund site

Amount that the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae loan companies have spent on lobbying since [1990s|1998]

Percentage last year

Percentage of [Corruption|Citigroup] profits in 2006 that came from [CreditCards|credit cards]

Amount of loose change recovered at U.S. [AirTravel|airport]-security checkpoints since 2005

Annual salary of the [GeorgeWBush|Bush] Administration’s director of fact checking

Date on which [NelsonMandela|Nelson Mandela’s] name was removed

Average number of names added to the U.S. terrorist watch list each month

Number of [Palestine|Palestinian] [Women|women] who gave [Child|birth] while detained at [Israel|Israeli] checkpoints last year

Number of graves [Iran|Iran]’s army claims it is digging at the nation’s borders, for the burial of invading [Business|soldiers]

Average annualized percentage return since then in the [Christianity|Christian] and [Islam|Muslim] funds, respectively

Estimated number of U.S. lives saved per month by $4 [Gasoline|gasoline], through reduced [Driving|driving] nationwide

Number of U.S. [Gasoline|gas] stations where the group Pray at the Pump has gathered to ask God to lower the price

Amount by which the per-gallon price declined the day they prayed at one [Alabama|Alabama] station

Total donations that [JohnMcCain|John McCain] received from the [Oil|oil] and [Gasoline|gas] industry in [June|June]

Portion of this that came after he endorsed new offshore drilling on [June|June] 16

Estimated total cost, over ten years, of the official [Taxes|tax] policies laid out by [JohnMcCain|McCain]’s campaign

Estimated total cost of the [Taxes|tax] policies proposed by [JohnMcCain|McCain] in his public speeches

Number of [Senate|Senate] votes [JohnMcCain|McCain] has cast since [May|May]

Number cast by Ted Kennedy since he was diagnosed with brain [Cancer|cancer] that month

Portion of the laws passed by the current [Congress|Congress] that have involved the renaming of post offices

Rank of [BarackObama|Obama]’s primary victory among the greatest events in U.S. history, according to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in [May|May]

Number of extra [Literature|books] of the [Bible|Bible] he said could be written to “chronicle its significance‚”

Percentage change since 2003 in the amount of [Money|money] invested in U.S. faith-based mutual funds

Number of [MiddleEast|Middle Eastern] nations that have announced plans to pursue [Nuclear|nuclear] power since [January|January] 2007

Number of U.S. states that have refused to accept federal grants for pro-[Folly|abstinence] [Sex|sex] education this year

Estimated number of prostatectomies that will be performed by [Robot|robots] this year

Estimated revenue from [Corn|ethanol] that a quarter acre of [Iowa|Iowa] [Agriculture|farmland] can earn per year

Amount it could earn each year with a [GreenEnergy|wind turbine] on it

Estimated number of different chemical compounds that could be used as the basis of a more efficient battery

Number that have been “virtually tested‚” by [Computer|computer] models so far

Percentage change since 2005, due to helium costs, in the price to rent a floating twenty-foot [Halloween|Halloween] “scary [Pumpkin|pumpkin]‚”

Percentage change since last year in the prices of [Eggs|eggs] and [ToiletPaper|toilet paper], respectively