Fun_People Archive
17 Sep
Harper's Index - June, 1996

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 96 08:22:30 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: Harper's Index - June, 1996

Amount the Pentagon will spend this year to equip Andrews Air Force Base  
with a third golf course : $5,100,000

Number of La-Z-Boy recliners delivered to the CIA in January : 50

Rank of Italy among the countries most often visited in a professional  
capacity by House members last year : 1

Portion of her staff Michigan representative Barbara Collins fired last  
December for refusing to take a lie-detector test : 3/8

Chances an American corporate executive admits to spying on employees'  
e-mail : 1 in 3

Number of Baltimore city blocks under 24-hour video surveillance by local  
police : 16

Chances a Californian lives or works in a prison : 1 in 200

Percentage change since 1965 in federal spending on infrastructure : - 42

Percentage of all Shell oil spills between 1982 and 1992 that took place in  
Nigeria : 37

Rank of Africa among the continents of origin of the most highly educated  
immigrants to the U.S. last year : 1

Rank of Asia among continents with the highest number of newly diagnosed HIV  
carriers : 1

Average number of dog bites sustained by Americans each day : 12,877

Average daily amount U.S. insurers pay to cover them : $2,739,726

Average amount by which the use of seat belts decreases an auto-accident  
victim's hospital bills : $5,000

Number of contestants in the Championship Race for Riding Lawn Mowers, held  
in Rockford, Illinois, last June : 50

Price of Forecast for Victory, a Weather Channel video exploring weather's  
"intriguing role" in World War II : $19.95

Percentage of Americans who believe that "most of us buy and consume far  
more than we need" : 82

Change since 1970 in tons of clothing and footwear disposed of each year in  
U.S. landfills or incinerators : +293,000,000

Percentage of the U.S. retail price of a pair of Pocahontas pajamas that is  
paid to the Haitian who sewed them : 0.06

Chances a U.S. Econo-Lodge franchise is owned by an Indian-American : 1 in 2

Average number of Americans who emigrate each day : 608

Average number of Americans killed each year by private citizens using guns  
in self-defense : 350

Average number who use guns each year to commit suicide : 20,000

Percentage change since 1994 in U.S. sales of genetically engineered lab  
mice : +400

Estimated chances that an American boy between the ages of 5 and 14 is on  
Ritalin : 1 in 20

Average amount Americans spend on legal drugs per second : $2,000

Annual donation to the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco that will reserve  
a place in one of their nun's daily prayers : $100

Number of black southern churches attacked by arsonists in the last 24 months : 25

Percentage of racial epithets published in the New York Times last year that  
consisted of the word "nigger" : 57

Percentage in 1985 : 30

Number of last year's newsweekly magazine covers featuring women who are not  
princesses, murderers, or models : 0

Number of U.S. news stories published since 1991 containing the words  
"princess" and "colonic irrigation" : 162

Number of cows in Britain for every unexploded land mine in Cambodia : 1.3

Number of pounds John Candy's Canadian Bacon body double has lost in the two  
years since Candy's death : 243

Ratio of the number of biographies of Quentin Tarantino to the number of  
films he has directed : 3:2.25

Chances an American who voted for Ross Perot in 1992 can no longer recall  
having done so : 1 in 2

Votes cast last February in the Tennessee State Senate against a bill urging  
businesses to post the Ten Commandments : 1

Change since 1994 in the number of Americans contributing at least $15 to  
the Christian Coalition : -43,407

Rank of "You'll Never Walk Alone" among Bob Dole's favorite songs : 1
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