Harper’s Index

Total number of days that the 2005‒6 House of Representatives is scheduled to have met by the end of its term: 241¹

Last two-year term whose House met for fewer days: 1955‒56²

Number of days that 1947‒8’s famous “Do-Nothing Congress” met: 254³

Minimum value of free, privately sponsored trips taken since 2000 by members of Congress and their staffs: $49,000,000⁴

Ratio of the estimated U.S. cost of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol to the cost of the Iraq war so far: 1:1⁵

Portion of all fuel consumed by the U.S. government that is used by the Air Force: 1/2⁶

Estimated amount the U.S. military has spent since 1994 to replace service members discharged for being gay: $364,000,000⁷

Number of officers whose resignations the U.S. Army Reserve has refused since December 2004: 426⁸

Number of AK-47s that have gone missing after being sent by the Pentagon to Iraq last summer: 26,000⁹

Percentage of Americans in May who believed that democracy would take hold in Iraq: 54¹⁰

Number of the fourteen other nations surveyed where a majority believed this: 3¹¹

Percentage change since 1990 in the annual number of cheerleading-related injuries among U.S. youth: +110¹²

Percentage by which white women who often spend time in the sun are less at risk of breast cancer than those who do not: 34¹³

Number of new skin-whitening products that have been introduced to Asian and Pacific markets since 2002: 189¹⁴

Number of films since 1960 that feature an evil albino: 55¹⁵

Chance that a member of an all-white jury decides a black defendant’s guilt before deliberating, in a recent study: 1 in 2 ¹⁶

Chance that a white member of a racially mixed jury does: 1 in 3¹⁷

Year that Israel passed a “temporary” law barring Palestinians who marry Israelis from gaining citizenship: 2003¹⁸

Vote by which its Supreme Court upheld the law this May: 6‒5¹⁹

Average amount Israel has paid to relocate each settler from the Gaza Strip: $250,000²⁰

Amount appropriated by the governor of Texas in June to set up border-watching webcams: $5,000,000²¹

Amount that a randomly chosen Arizona voter will receive after each election, if a November referendum passes: $1,000,000²²

Amount of casino profits that the Pechanga, a California tribe, paid out last year to each of its adults: $290,000 (see page 74)²³

Portion of the tribe that is being expelled or has been expelled since 2004 over allegations of insufficient heritage: 1/4²⁴

Years that Missouri has allowed gambling addicts to bar themselves for life from riverboat casinos: 10²⁵

Number who have signed up so far: 10,119²⁶

Percentage of Americans living in hurricane-prone areas who had done nothing by May to prepare for this year’s storms: 73²⁷

Number of single-family homes sold in the New Orleans area during the first quarter of 2006: 3,659²⁸

Percentage by which this exceeds the number sold during the first quarter of 2005: 28²⁹

Average percentage by which the price of these homes has increased: 20³⁰

Number of giant inflatable rats that U.S. unions have purchased to protest non-union projects: 285³¹

Hours it takes four non-union laborers to make each rat: 50³²

Number of African giant pouched rats that Belgian researchers have trained to sniff out explosives: 36³³

Number of wasps that a Georgia engineering professor says he has trained to do this: 3,000³⁴

Seconds he says it takes to train each wasp: 30³⁵

Price, from a Colombian manufacturer, for a custom-made bulletproof sports coat: $1,020³⁶

Price for a stab-proof T-shirt: $500³⁷

Price, from a North Carolina company, for a charcoal-filled seat cushion that absorbs the odor of flatulence: $21.95³⁸

Percentage of the odor that the cushion absorbs, according to an outside study: 20³⁹

Percentage absorbed by the company’s $64.99 carbon-fiber underwear: 99⁴⁰

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