Harper’s Index

Number of new U.S. soldiers the Army would need in 2006 to replenish ranks abroad : 80,000¹

Percentage of this goal it expects to meet : 9.9²

Percentage change since 1996 in the average recruitment cost per new U.S. soldier : +84³

Number of killed or captured suspects reported so far by U.S. media to be Al Qaeda’s “number 3” man : 4⁴

Minimum number of people convicted on “terrorism-related charges” since 2001, according to Alberto Gonzales in April : 200⁵

Actual number convicted on charges related to terrorism or national security : 39 (see page 48)⁶

Number of Iraqi troops that have been “trained and equipped,” according to President Bush in April : 150,000⁷

Number that the U.S. military considers ready to deploy independently : 1,500⁸

Number of members of the Iraqi parliament who worship not only Muhammad but a fallen angel named Lucifer : 3⁹

Acres in Israel to which a born-again Christian from Texas bought oil-exploration rights in 2000 : 96,000¹⁰

Chapter and verse of Deuteronomy that he says predicts his success, because of the phrase, “let him dip his foot in oil” : 33:24¹¹

Number of Palestinian communities that will be surrounded by the new Israel security fence on at least three sides : 53¹²

Chance that a German says Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is the same “in principle” as how Nazis treated Jews : 1 in 2¹³

Factor by which the unemployment rate among Jewish immigrants to Germany exceeds the national average : 3.5¹⁴

Percentage of Germans who say, about the Nazi era, that “one should not always poke around in old wounds” : 60¹⁵

Selling price in June for a bar of soap allegedly made from the liposuctioned fat of Silvio Berlusconi : $18,000¹⁶

Number of Pepsi products plainly visible in a May TV ad for Arnold Schwarzenegger : 5¹⁷

Ratio of the projected U.S. ad revenue of Google and Yahoo! this year to that of NBC, CBS, and ABC in primetime : 1:1¹⁸

Amount that the Catholic Church spent in Britain this summer advertising for new priests on bar coasters : $1,100¹⁹

Number of New Orleans bars visited this spring by an undercover team investigating racial discrimination : 40²⁰

Percentage of the bars that charged black customers more than white customers : 40²¹

Amount recouped by the U.S. government in institutional fraud cases since 1986 : $8,000,000,000²²

Amount that whistleblowers received as a cut of this : $1,300,000,000²³

Chance that a U.S. company monitors the emails of at least some employees : 1 in 3²⁴

Chance that it has fired an employee for violation of email policies : 1 in 4²⁵

Factor by which the expulsion rate in U.S. preschools last year exceeded the rate in grades K‒12 : 3²⁶

Average amount of sugar consumed each year by a U.S. preschooler, expressed as a percentage of body weight : 149²⁷

Estimated total number of tons by which American adults are overweight : 1,180,000²⁸

Total weight, in tons, of the population of the Los Angeles metropolitan area : 883,000²⁹

Number of U.S. cities that have agreed to meet the Kyoto Protocols on global warming : 166³⁰

Average number of times each day that aircrafts intrude into D.C.-area restricted flight zones : 2³¹

Days it took a Nepali Sherpa in May to crawl the length of Manhattan : 6³²

Fine levied last year on a restaurant in southwest China for serving sushi atop naked women : $242³³

Percentage of the world’s cell phone users who say they have interrupted sex to answer a call : 14³⁴

Percentage of newlywed couples who report having had a physically violent fight in the year before marriage : 37³⁵

Number of Viagra users who have reported becoming blind from the drug : 38³⁶

Number of corpses shipped on Delta Air Lines last year : 42,175³⁷

Amount that Northwest Airlines expects to save each year by eliminating free magazines on flights : $565,000³⁸

Amount by eliminating free pretzels : $2,000,000³⁹

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