Harper’s Index

Number of U.S. counties where more than a fifth of “residents” are prison inmates: 21

Number of these that are in Texas: 10

Portion of New York Senate districts that would not meet the minimum population level without their inmates: 1/9

Percentage of U.S. House contests in 2004 that were decided by fewer than 10 percentage points: 5

Percentage of districts in 1972 that chose one party for President and another for the House: 44

Percentage that did in 2004: 14

Percentage of Democrats and Republicans, respectively, who say the Iraq war was “worth fighting”: 4, 84

Total projected cost of the war per U.S. household, based on a January estimate: $19,600

Amount that one of Saddam Hussein’s military uniforms sold for at auction in December: $16,000

Monthly fee that Court TV is charging for live Internet coverage of his trial: $5.95

Number of suicide bombings known to have been carried out by Iranians: 0

Minimum number of times that Frederick Douglass was beaten in what is now Donald Rumsfeld’s vacation home: 25

Chance that the family of an African-American child is too poor to qualify for the full U.S. child tax credit: 1 in 2

Percentage change in the amount of housework done by women after they marry for the first time: +17

Percentage change in the amount done by men: ‒33

Rank of 2004 among years when the most U.S. babies were born out of wedlock: 1

Number of half-siblings who have found each other on a website for children of anonymous sperm donors: 1,316

Greatest number of them who have the same father: 21

Minimum number of registered sex offenders who evacuated during Hurricane Katrina and cannot be accounted for: 2,000

Miles from Berlin’s World Cup stadium that a four-story brothel has recently opened: 2

Percentage change since 1992 in the number of civil wars worldwide claiming more than a thousand lives: ‒80

Chance that a nation lacking resource wealth will have a civil war in any given five-year span: 1 in 100

Chance that a nation with resource wealth will: 1 in 5

Number of weapons that have been turned into tools for African farmers by a British nonprofit since 2001: 2,200

Average percentage decline in U.K. child injuries during weekends when a new Harry Potter book is released: ‒46

Number of books published in Britain since 2004 that have “shit,” “shite,” or “crap” in their titles: 23

Percentage change since 1995 in the number of U.S. fantasy books about dragons: +91

Percentage of Americans who believe that China will be stronger than the U.S. in a decade: 42

Number of copies sold in Japan since last summer of a comic book about the worthlessness of China: 180,000

Number of copies sold of a similar comic book about Korea: 370,000

Chances that a Japanese person will make eye contact during conversation with another Japanese person: 2 in 5

Chances that he or she will make eye contact during conversation with a robot: 3 in 5

Amount paid in January for one of William Shatner’s kidney stones: $25,000

Amount paid last fall for a Ford Escort driven by Pope John Paul II: $680,000

Number of U.S. states whose constitutions require that public officials believe in a supreme being: 4

Number of the 193 “laughing episodes” during Supreme Court arguments last term that were caused by Antonin Scalia: 77

Number caused by Clarence Thomas: 0

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