posted 11-26-2002 09:58 AM            

November 2002 Amazing facts.
http://www.harpers.org/harpers-index/listing.php3

Ratio of Japanese killed in 1945's U.S. atomic-bomb attacks to Iraqi children killed due to U.N. sanctions : 1:3 (see page 43)

Number of reports that President Bush referred to on September 7 as evidence of Iraq's nuclear threat : 2

Last year in which the agency Bush cited as the reports' author had new information on Iraq's nuclear program : 1998

Number of "indications" the agency had then of "any physical capability" to produce weapons-grade nuclear material : 0

Chances an American believes the government should restrict professors from criticizing U.S. policy during war : 2 in 5

Estimated number of U.S. high school graduates who will forgo college this year solely for financial reasons : 168,000

Percentage of U.S. college students who believe the "next Bill Gates" is among today's generation of college students : 50

Percentage who say they are the next Bill Gates : 24

Number of colleges that have organizations to elect John Cusack as U.S. president in 2004 : 172

Percentage by which the new campaign-finance-reform law will raise the cap on hard-money contributions : +100

Year in which the Washington Post's executive editor gave up voting, in order "to be as unbiased as possible" : 1984

Year in which Disney's Mickey Mouse copyright will expire if the Supreme Court reverses a 1998 extension this winter : 2003

Number of federal trademark cases dismissed since July with opinions stating that the plaintiff is "advised to chill" : 2

Percentage of the $3.1 billion owed by securities-law violators between 1995 and 2001 that the SEC has recouped : 13.6

Percentage of their assets that Zimbabwe's private pension funds are required to invest in government treasury bills : 45

Number of Latin American nations where the percentage of people calling themselves "leftist" has increased since 1996 : 2

Number of Latin American nations where the percentage of people calling themselves "rightist" has increased : 13

Percentage of Latin Americans who said in 1998 that their nation's privatization of state industries had been beneficial : 46

Percentage who say this today : 35

Percentage of Argentineans who say they have "no" or "little" confidence in their nation's political parties : 95

Percentage of Americans who say they believe "almost nothing" Al Gore says : 26

Percentage who say this about Bill Clinton : 44

Average number of tons of manure produced by U.S. cattle, pig, and chicken feedlots each minute : 100,000

Average number of tons of meat recalled by U.S. producers each year since 1994 : 8,500

Percentage change since 1965 in the number of hog and pig farms in the United States : –92

Percentage change since then in the number of hogs and pigs on U.S. farms : +18

Ratio of the total number of U.S. forest fires during the 1970s to the number during the last ten years : 3:2

Ratio of acres burned in U.S. forest fires during the 1970s to those burned in the last ten years : 2:3

Factor by which estimated homeowners'-insurance losses owing to mold have increased since 1999 : 540

Average number of hours that the calories consumed in an American's Thanksgiving Day meal could power a 27" TV : 49

Ratio of the number of pardons George W. Bush has issued turkeys to those he has issued human beings : 2:1

Ratio of the average life span of a commercially bred turkey to that of a wild one : 1:7

Ratio of the average age of those executed in Texas under Bush to the average U.S. life expectancy : 1:2

Maximum milligrams of speed prescribed to U.S. pilots by military doctors during the Persian Gulf War : 5

Maximum milligrams prescribed during the Afghan intervention : 10

Number of Australians who listed "Jedi" as their religious affiliation on the country's 2001 census : 70,509

Years after inventing the Kalashnikov that its namesake said in July that he wished he had made a lawn mower instead : 55

Places by which Russia's ranking in the U.N.'s Human Development Index of living standards has fallen since 1990 : 31

Rank of the United States and Britain among nations whose residents are most likely to be obese : 1, 2

Rank of Hungary : 3