Harper’s Index

Total [MilitaryIndustrialComplex|U.S. military spending] the [GeorgeWBush|Bush] Administration projects it will have spent by the end of 2008

Last year in which a quarterly rise in [MilitaryIndustrialComplex|U.S. military spending] was greater than the one last [Spring|spring]

Percentage of the White House’s proposed [Afghanistan|Afghanistan] spending in 2004 devoted to reconstruction

Square feet of roads under construction in the [Palestine|occupied territories] in the [1990s|1990s] per settler

Square feet of [Israel|Israeli] [Transportation|roads] under construction in the [1990s|1990s] per Israeli

Average percentage since then

Average percentage of the [Judaism|Jewish] vote won by the [DemocraticParty|Democratic] [Democracy|presidential] candidate in the [1980s|1980s]

Number of [DemocraticParty|Democrats] among the 10 largest political donors since [1990s|1991]

[Democracy|Campaign contributions] that one voting-[Technology|technology] [CEO|CEO] raised to become a [GeorgeWBush|Bush] “Pioneer‚” this year

Percentage of [Democracy|votes] cast in U.S. elections last year that were counted by the largest [Technology|voting]-technology firm

Number of [Florida|Florida] [Education|high school] [Student|students] who take physical-education courses [Internet|online]

Percentage change since 2000 in the number of U.S. [Medicine|surgeries] performed each year to treat morbid [Diet|obesity]

Grams by which the amount of [Diet|fat] in [McDonalds|McDonald’s] fattiest salad exceeds that in its fattiest burger

First year in which the [Language|definition] of [Holiday|“turkey‚”] in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary went beyond fowl

Ratio of the institute’s budget to the estimated price of [Entertainment|Jennifer Lopez’s] engagement ring

Percentage by which the [Pentagon|Defense Department] proposed cutting its budget this year by closing its Peacekeeping Institute

Number of [Banking|banks] and suppliers that [GulfWar|Gulf War] [Veterans|veterans] are suing for aiding [Iraq|Iraq]’s purchases of [Weapons|weapons] and chemicals

Total U.S. [MilitaryIndustrialComplex|military spending] between [1940s|1941] and 1948

Minimum number of facts and rules with which a [Technology|computer] must be programmed to have common sense

Number of [Animal|tortoises] that died of [GlobalWarming|heat exhaustion] at the Glasgow Zoo in one day last [August|August]

Age in years of a [California|California] bristlecone pine that is the [Age|oldest] [Trees|tree] on earth

Age in years of a [Nevada|Nevada] bristlecone when the U.S. Forest Service let a graduate [Student|student] cut it down in [1960s|1964]

Rank of the [WorldWildlifeFund|World Wildlife Fund] among organizations most trusted by [Europe|Europeans] and Americans, respectively

Rank of [CocaCola|Coca-Cola]

Number of sequels to The Gods Must Be Crazy in which its star N!xau appeared before his death last [July|July]

Amount that a [Louisiana|Louisiana] [BaptistFaith|preacher] paid [Caucasian|white] people to [Race|integrate] his [Sunday|Sunday] [Religion|services] last [August|August], per person

Price of admission to the World’s Fair of [Money|Money] held last [August|August] in [Baltimore|Baltimore]

Attendance at last year’s largest annual conference on “establishing the truth behind‚” [JohnFKennedy|JFK’s] assassination

Minimum number of such conferences held worldwide each year

Number of people per sauna in [Finland|Finland]

Number of people per [Technology|mobile-phone] line in the United States

Last year in which visits to U.S. [NationalPark|national parks] increased

Years of study it took the [EPA|EPA] to conclude in [August|August] that it is not responsible for regulating CO2 emissions

[Days|Days] after announcing this conclusion last [July|July] that the Geological [Polling|Survey] issued a memo discounting it

Years it took the U.S. Geological [Polling|Survey] to conclude that [Environment|Arctic] refuge [Oil|drilling] would substantially reduce [Animal|caribou]

Amount [California|California] has received per capita in energy-company settlements since then

Amount that [Energy|energy] companies’ market [Mendacity|manipulation] cost [California|California] consumers between 2000 and 2001 per capita

Amount by which federal subsidies to U.S. [Agriculture|cotton farmers] last crop-year exceeded 2001’s U.S. cotton sales

Cotton-subsidy reparations proposed by four [Africa|African] countries at the WTO’s [Mexico|Cancún] meeting this [Fall|fall]