5/96Ratio of Americans applying to the Peace Corps last year to those applying to be on MTV’s The Real World: 1:2
9/96Chance that an American believes a diploma from the local public high school guarantees basic math and reading skills: 1 in 2
12/96Chance that a country to which the U.S. sells arms is cited by Amnesty International for torturing its citizens: 1 in 2
3/97Ratio of the maximum number of seats in the new Oldsmobile Silhouette minivan to the number of drink holders: 1:2
12/08Estimated portion of all freshwater drawn from U.S. sources each year that is used to cool power plants: 1/2
2/86Portion of Fortune 1000 companies that employed undercover security agents in 1974: 1/10
3/87Portion of 1982 medical school graduates specializing in obstetrics and gynecology who were women: 1/3
9/87Portion of residential telephone numbers in Los Angeles that are unlisted: 1/2
6/89Chances that an American woman will have an abortion in her lifetime: 1 in 2
2/90Portion of the Justice Department’s public-information staff laid off by Richard Thornburgh since January 1989: 1/2
4/90Chances that an American who was overlooked in the 1980 census was black, according to the Census Bureau: 1 in 2
5/90Portion of all nuclear-plant waste that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers “below regulatory concern”: 1/2
7/90Chances that a piece of solar-energy equipment manufactured in the United States last year was exported: 1 in 2
7/90Portion of all references to Dan Quayle in the Washington Post last year that were in the Style section: 1/2
9/90Portion of network news coverage of the 1988 presidential campaign that focused on the role of television imagery: 1/2
9/90Chances that a private-sector work-related illness reported in 1988 was caused by repetitive motion disorder: 1 in 2
1/91Chances of a Shuttle crash in the next 4 years, assuming all systems are 98 percent reliable, according to NASA: 1 in 2
2/91Estimated portion of all pregnancies ending in abortion that are the result of contraceptive failure: 1/2
7/91Chances that an electronic scanner in a New York City supermarket will overcharge on a sale item: 1 in 2
7/91Chances that an American’s credit record contains errors: 1 in 2
8/91Depth of the tank treadmarks left on Pennsylvania Avenue after the Gulf war victory parade in June, in inches: 1/2
1/92Chances that a vote cast in the 1960 presidential election was cast by a suburbanite: 1 in 4
Chances that a vote cast in the 1992 presidential election will be cast by a suburbanite: 1 in 2
1/92Portion of his adult life George Bush has spent working inside the Washington Beltway: 1/2
6/92Chances that a member of an American public school’s staff is a classroom teacher: 1 in 2
8/92Ratio of the number of homebuyers in Orange County, California, last year named Smith to those named Nguyen: 1:2
9/92Chances that an American under the age of 21 voted in the 1972 presidential election: 1 in 2
Chances that an American under the age of 21 voted in the 1988 presidential election: 1 in 3
10/92Portion of all homeowner tax-deduction benefits that went to households earning more than $75,000 last year: 1/2
Portion that went to households earning less than $40,000: 1/10
11/92Chances that a sock manufactured in the United States is an athletic sock: 1 in 2
11/92Chances that a shoplifter in Washington, D.C., has been to college: 1 in 2
12/92Chances that a visit to a psychiatrist will end with a drug prescription: 1 in 2
5/93Average pension provided by a private U.S. company last year, expressed as a portion of the average military pension: 1/2
6/93Estimated portion of the 1994 Pentagon budget that is devoted to defending against the former Soviet Union: 1/2
6/93Chances that an inmate’s suicide in a local U.S. jail will occur within one hour of incarceration: 1 in 2
7/93Chances that an Ivy League college student cannot name both of his or her U.S. senators: 1 in 2
7/93Chances that an American adult under the age of 30 has begun saving for retirement: 1 in 2
8/93Chances that an emergency-room patient in a U.S. hospital does not require emergency care: 1 in 2
8/93Portion of all foreign direct investment in developing countries last year that went to Asia: 1/2
9/93Ratio of the number of Canadians who favor a U.S.-style health-care system to those who believe Elvis is alive: 1:2
11/93Chances that an unemployed European has not worked in more than a year: 1 in 2
Chances that an unemployed American has not worked in more than a year: 1 in 9
1/94Chances that a Korean-owned business damaged during the L.A. riots in 1992 has not re-opened: 1 in 2
2/94Ratio of the murder rate in states without a death penalty to the rate in states that impose it: 1:2
7/94Chances that an employee of a U.S. physician in private practice receives employer-provided health insurance: 1 in 2
7/94Ratio of the number of Americans who cite physicians as their primary source of medical information to those citing TV: 1:2
6/95Chances that a Russian medical-school graduate in 1990 could not read an electrocardiogram: 1 in 2
6/95Chances that the bedroom of an American child between the ages of ten and sixteen contains a TV set: 1 in 2
Chances today: 1 in 18
10/95Chances that a Republican House member voted last June against a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration: 1 in 20
10/95Chances that a federal job-training program keeps records of its clients’ placement rates: 1 in 2
12/95Chances that an applicant to a U.S. police force in 1992 was found to be “overly aggressive” on psychological tests: 1 in 2
3/96Ratio of aerospace jobs lost in California last year to the number of new jobs in the film industry: 1:2
5/96Estimated portion of major U.S. companies downsized since 1989 whose profits have increased: 1/2
5/96Chances that a witness deposed by the Senate’s Whitewater committee took the Fifth: 0
Chances that a witness deposed by a 1991 Senate ethics panel investigating Alfonse D’Amato did: 1 in 2
5/96Chances an American woman believes “a good night’s sleep is better than sex”: 1 in 2
6/96Chances an American who voted for Ross Perot in 1992 can no longer recall having done so: 1 in 2
7/96Chances an American believes “the next generation will enjoy less personal freedom”: 1 in 2
9/96Chance that a campaign story about Boris Yeltsin aired on prime-time Russian TV last spring was positive: 1 in 2
Chance that a campaign story about any other Russian presidential candidate was positive: 1 in 12
1/97Portion of U.N. peacekeeping missions ever undertaken that have occurred in the last four years: 1/2
2/97Chances that a public-high-school student is taught physical sciences by a teacher without a science background: 1 in 2
4/97Chance that a U.S. oncologist has recommended marijuana use to combat nausea caused by chemotherapy: 1 in 2
6/97Portion of the combined funds in the Senate’s five largest campaign chests that belongs to Alfonse D’Amato: 1/2
6/97Portion of California’s revenue between 1852 and 1870 that came from taxes paid by Chinese laborers: 1/2
6/97Chance that a Florida rape victim’s account will be believed by hospital medical personnel: 1 in 2
6/97Chance that a romance cited by People magazine last year as among the century’s “greatest love stories” was adulterous: 1 in 2
7/97Estimated portion of all medicinal drugs invented since 1980 that are unavailable in Cuba due to the U.S. embargo: 1/2
10/97Portion of McDonald’s 1995 revenue that came from overseas: 1/2
12/97Portion of Canada’s 105 daily newspapers that are owned by Conrad Black: 1/2
4/98Portion of fines levied and underpayments cited by the IRS each year for which large corporations are responsible: 1/2
8/98Estimated portion of the value of the currency circulating in Russia that is in U.S. dollars: 1/2
9/98Ratio of the average price of a gallon of gas last year to the average price of a gallon of milk: 1:2
10/98Chance that a U.S. newspaper publisher believes that coverage of important news is often “shallow and inadequate”: 1 in 2
10/98Chance that a president of one of the nation’s 50 top-ranked universities serves on at least one corporate board: 1 in 2
12/98Chance that a House member voted last June in favor of a constitutional amendment allowing school prayer: 1 in 2
Chance that a member attended Congress’s opening daily prayer on any of the three days preceding the vote: 1 in 29
3/99Chance that an IBM-compatible personal computer made since 1997 has Y2K flaws: 1 in 2
3/99Ratio of the number of doctors per capita in the U.S. to the number of doctors per capita in Cuba: 1:2
4/99Chance that an American believes a manmade disaster will destroy civilization in the next century: 1 in 2
4/99Chance that a Mexican gray wolf released into the Arizona wilderness last spring has been shot: 1 in 2
5/99Chance that a day since December 28 has passed without U.S. or British forces bombing Iraq: 1 in 2
6/99Chance that a legal antidepressant will alleviate severe depression: 1 in 2
8/99Ratio of U.S. students killed in or near schools since last August to those killed in the 1992 school year: 1:2
9/99Chance that a Wyoming inmate under the age of 18 has used crystal meth more than once: 1 in 2
9/99Portion of all U.S. arms sales abroad between 1993 and 1997 that were brokered by the Pentagon: 1/2
11/99Estimated portion of annual spending on the treatment of gunshot wounds that comes from the federal government: 1/2
12/99Chance that an ethnic Albanian left Kosovo while Serbian troops controlled the region last spring: 1 in 2
Percentage of Muslims who were Shiites in 1000 and percentage who are Shiites today, respectively: 5, 14
2/00Chance that an African American believes that blacks will never obtain equality in the U.S.: 1 in 2
4/00Chance that an American without health insurance would be covered under Al Gore’s proposed health-care plan: 1 in 2
4/00Portion of Texas industrial plants operating under “grandfathered” emissions rules that predate 1971’s Clean Air Act: 1/2
4/00Estimated portion of whale, dolphin, and porpoise meat consumed in Japan last year whose pollution levels were toxic: 1/2
5/00Chance that a college student expects to be a millionaire by the age of 40: 1 in 2
6/00Portion of California’s revenue between 1852 and 1870 composed of taxes paid by Chinese laborers: 1/2
1/01Chance that an American who visited an emergency room for a shuffleboard injury that year was a senior citizen: 1 in 2
3/01Chance that Vice President Cheney will have a “cardiac event” by 2005, according to Duke University cardiologists: 1 in 2
5/01Ratio of the number of pardons granted by President Clinton to the number granted by President Reagan: 1:2
Ratio of the number granted by President Reagan to the number granted by President Eisenhower: 1:3
6/01Chance that a Catholic saint named in the last 400 years was canonized by Pope John Paul II: 1 in 2
7/01Chance that a processed food in a U.S. grocery store contains genetically modified ingredients: 1 in 2
3/02Chance that a U.S. case of HIV is resistant to at least one of the 16 anti-AIDS drugs in use: 1 in 2
7/02Chance an American believes that peace in the Middle East will require a military victory: 1 in 2
8/02Chance that an American filing for bankruptcy last year did so because of medical expenses: 1 in 2
11/02Ratio of the average age of those executed in Texas under Bush to the average U.S. life expectancy: 1:2
3/03Chance that an ACLU member has joined the group since George W. Bush became president: 1 in 2
4/03Chance that a student at Indiana University reports having used a tanning lamp in the past year: 1 in 2
6/03Chance that a billionaire today is self-made: 1 in 2
10/03Chance on any given day that the only “vegetables” served in a U.S. public school are potatoes: 1 in 2
6/04Chance that a British infantry recruit’s reading and writing skills are no better than the average 11-year-old’s: 1 in 2
9/04Chance that a U.S. man says that threatening “to shoot” detainees is sometimes an acceptable way to get information: 1 in 2
10/04Chance that a new light vehicle bought in the United States last year was a truck or SUV: 1 in 2
11/04Ratio of hours of live U.S.-convention coverage per U.S. network this year to hours of live coverage on Al Jazeera: 1:2
11/04Estimated chance that a classified document is “over-classified,” according to a Pentagon official this year: 1 in 2
12/04Ratio of U.S. arms dealers’ campaign contributions made since January 2001 to Democrats to those made to Republicans: 1:2
1/05Chance that a Japanese grade-school student reports never having seen a sunrise or sunset: 1 in 2
7/05Portion of the German Catholic Church’s income that derives from a government tax on members: 1/2
7/05Chance that a woman in one of the U.S. military’s three service academies claims to have been sexually harassed: 1 in 2
8/05Chance that a German says Israel’s treatment of Palestinians is the same “in principle” as how Nazis treated Jews: 1 in 2
3/06Chance that the family of an African-American child is too poor to qualify for the full U.S. child tax credit: 1 in 2
8/06Chance that a member of an all-white jury decides a black defendant’s guilt before deliberating, in a recent study: 1 in 2
10/06Portion of U.S. banking assets in 1996 that were controlled by the ten largest U.S. banks : 1/4 Portion today: 1/2
Portion today: 1/2
11/06Chance that an African-American woman says that she worries about becoming a “bag lady”: 1 in 3
Chance that a white American woman does: 1 in 2
6/07Chance that a watt of U.S. nuclear energy is generated in part by material from former Soviet warheads: 1 in 2
8/07Portion of Indian companies that maintain gas-run generators and stores of gasoline to use during power outages: 1/2
Number of assaults on the homeless in 2005 and last year, respectively: 86, 160
Chance that he or she lives within ten miles of one: 1 in 2
5/08Chances that an African American thinks his or her “life will improve” in the future: 9 in 20
Chances that a white American thinks conditions will improve for African Americans in the future: 11 in 20
8/02Ratio of words the New York Times devoted to Stephen Jay Gould’s obituary to those it spent on John Gotti’s: 4:7
1/87Chances that a firefighter’s meal will be interrupted: 3 in 5
9/87Chances that a bride or fiancée whose picture appeared in the Sunday New York Times in June wore pearls: 3 in 5
7/89Portion of all illegal drugs produced worldwide that are consumed in the United States: 3/5
4/90Portion of thirtysomething’s advertising that was pulled from an episode last fall that showed two homosexuals in bed: 3/5
8/91Chances that the CEO of a savings and loan received a raise last year: 3 in 5
4/92Amount President Bush proposes to spend on construction of new public housing in 1993: 0
Percentage of all spending the President proposes for the next five years that will come from Pentagon budget cuts: 0.6
6/93Chances that a dollar of Federal Emergency Management Agency aid distributed in the last year went to Florida: 3 in 5
3/95Ratio of American adults under 35 who believe Social Security will exist when they retire to those who believe in UFOs: 3:5
7/99Chances that a Pepsi drinker has been sexually unfaithful: 3 in 5
1/00Factor by which the Constitution allowed a state to count its slaves when allocating House seats and electoral votes: 3/5
4/01Chances that the taxes of a low-income working American family will not be reduced by the Bush tax plan: 3 in 5
6/02Ratio of the number of Americans killed by terrorists last year to the estimated number who died from food poisoning: 3:5