Harper’s Index

Number of names on the State Department's list of "suspected terrorists": 70,000¹

Number of times George W. Bush has said Osama bin Laden's name in public since July 8: 0²

Hours after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld learned Bin Laden was a suspect that he sought reasons to "hit" Iraq: 2.5³

Percentage by which the Pentagon's September order for sunblock exceeded its last largest such order: 70⁴

Rank of Israel and Turkey among nations in violation of the largest number of U.N. Security Council resolutions: 1, 2⁵

Number of Kurdish members of Turkey's parliament jailed in 1994 when their party was declared illegal there: 7⁶

Number still in prison: 4⁷

Number of Turkish college students detained in the last year for requesting Kurdish-language classes: 1,146⁸

Organizers' estimated attendance at this fall's largest peace rallies in London and New York, respectively: 400,000, 25,000⁹

Estimated attendance according to police in each city: 150,000, 12,000¹⁰

Number of estimates cited in each rally's coverage in the London Times and the New York Times, respectively: 2, 0¹¹

Minutes that service on two New York subway lines was halted this fall after a Sikh worker was seen emerging from a hatch: 92¹²

Amount Colombia paid civilians for informing on rebels in its first five weeks of recruiting this year: $340,000¹³

Percentage of the 223 trade unionists reported murdered or missing worldwide last year who worked in Colombia: 88¹⁴

Number of "sub-harm" suicide "gestures" made this year by detainees held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay: 30¹⁵

Minimum number of times the United States has deployed troops abroad in its 226-year history: 277¹⁶

Number of days that the CIA's museum is open to the public each year: 0¹⁷

Number of countries that use the U.S. dollar as currency: 10¹⁸

Number of other countries whose currency is effectively pegged to the dollar: 34¹⁹

Ratio of the annual tariffs that developed nations impose on one another to those they impose on developing nations: 1:4²⁰

Minimum percentage change since last year in Afghanistan's opium production: +1,000²¹

Pounds of weapons-grade uranium reported to have been seized in September from a taxi in Turkey: 33²²

Ounces of black sand that the container-labeled "primarily youranuom"-actually contained: 0.2²³

Factor by which the cruising speed of NASA's new hypersonic cruise-missile engine exceeds that of previous missiles: 9.5²⁴

Percentage by which the speed of light has decreased in the last 20 billion years, according to Australian scientists: 0.0007²⁵

Average number of miles by which the magnetic North Pole moves each year: 25²⁶

Year in which the ozone hole over Antarctica is expected to close as a result of reduced chlorofluorocarbon use: 2050²⁷

Percentage change since 1980 in the per-watt cost of solar energy in the United States: -87²⁸

Days it takes an adult in Los Angeles to breathe in more air pollution than EPA guidelines recommend for a lifetime: 25²⁹

Average number of people killed per week by a sniper operating in suburban Maryland and Virginia this fall: 3³⁰

Average number of homicides per week during the same period in Washington, D.C.: 7³¹

Percentage of Americans surveyed who say they refused to participate in a survey during the past year: 44³²

Percentage of those contacted for this survey who refused to participate in it: 60³³

Fee that Sprint PCS charges its "credit-challenged" customers each time they speak with a live representative: $3³⁴

Chances of getting a hotel room in Bethlehem on Christmas in 2000 and 2001, respectively: 0, 9 in 10³⁵

Chance that a Bethlehem hotel expects to be open this Christmas: 1 in 5³⁶

Rank of a burning Yule-log video loop among the top-rated 8-10 a.m. TV shows in New York City last Christmas: 1³⁷

Price of a child's personal ATM from FAO Schwarz last year: $20,000³⁸

Chances that a child fed "booger"-flavored jelly beans at a trade show this fall said they tasted like the real thing: 4 in 5³⁹

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