Harper's Index
Nov. 12th, 2003 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mattlistenerI would like to take a moment to say, Harper's Index is insanely great.
I was reminded by a copy of Harper's Magazine recetly how much I enjoy and admire this particular venue for amusing, horrifying, and educational facts. Back in college I once went to the library and photocopied every Harper's Index I could find (four years' worth), and posted them on the wall outside my dorm room for general perousal.
I just posted some highlights from October's HI in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
nikkinewsnet, and intend to make it a monthly routine there. Two prior months of HI are available online as well, for which I'm posting the highlights below.
August Harper's Index highlights
o Amount the Defense Department has lost track of, according to a 2000 report by its inspector general : $1,100,000,000,000
o Ratio of this amount to the rest of the world's military budgets combined : 2:1
o Approximate number of accounting systems in use at the Defense Department : 2,300
o Number of candy-bar wrappers that Cadbury's new anti-obesity campaign offers to exchange for a basketball : 90
o Minimum hours of basketball required for an 85-pound child to burn off the calories from that many candy bars : 100
o Rank of California governor Gray Davis's approval rating in May among the lowest in the 55-year history of the state poll : 1
o Number of U.S. commercial sites besides Disneyland and Disney World that have been granted no-fly-zone protection : 0
o Percentage change since last year in the number of U.S. Christian adults who tithe at least 10 percent of their income : -62
o Rank of Detroit among major U.S. cities whose residents give the largest portion of their income to charity : 1
o Number of countries to which the U.S. sent troops between 1900 and 1993 for the purpose of establishing democracy : 14
o Number that were democracies ten years after the withdrawal of U.S. forces : 4
o Ratio of Kosovo residents to Western peacekeepers there in 1999 : 40:1
o Ratio of Afghanistan residents to Western peacekeepers there now : 5,000:1
September Harper's Index Highlights
o Change since last year in federal spending to implement the No Child Left Behind Act : -$1,200,000,000
o Year in which Dick Cheney said that his policy as CEO of Halliburton was that "we wouldn't do anything in Iraq" : 2000
o Price of the oil-field supplies sold to Iraq by two Halliburton subsidiaries during Cheney's tenure : $73,000,000
o Rank of measles among diseases that kill the most children worldwide each year and can be prevented by vaccine : 1
o Cost of vaccinating the 745,000 children who died from the disease in 2001 : $558,750
o Estimated number of soccer balls the U.S. government sent Iraq this summer to help "bring life back to normal" : 60,000
o Number of paragraphs devoted to global warming in the EPA's 600-page "Draft Report on the Environment" of 2003 : 1
o Number of paragraphs removed by the White House before publication : 5
o Maximum number of miles that Ford's most fuel-efficient 2003 car can drive on a gallon of gas : 36
o Maximum number its 1912 Model T could : 35
I was reminded by a copy of Harper's Magazine recetly how much I enjoy and admire this particular venue for amusing, horrifying, and educational facts. Back in college I once went to the library and photocopied every Harper's Index I could find (four years' worth), and posted them on the wall outside my dorm room for general perousal.
I just posted some highlights from October's HI in
nikkinewsnet, and intend to make it a monthly routine there. Two prior months of HI are available online as well, for which I'm posting the highlights below.August Harper's Index highlights
o Amount the Defense Department has lost track of, according to a 2000 report by its inspector general : $1,100,000,000,000
o Ratio of this amount to the rest of the world's military budgets combined : 2:1
o Approximate number of accounting systems in use at the Defense Department : 2,300
o Number of candy-bar wrappers that Cadbury's new anti-obesity campaign offers to exchange for a basketball : 90
o Minimum hours of basketball required for an 85-pound child to burn off the calories from that many candy bars : 100
o Rank of California governor Gray Davis's approval rating in May among the lowest in the 55-year history of the state poll : 1
o Number of U.S. commercial sites besides Disneyland and Disney World that have been granted no-fly-zone protection : 0
o Percentage change since last year in the number of U.S. Christian adults who tithe at least 10 percent of their income : -62
o Rank of Detroit among major U.S. cities whose residents give the largest portion of their income to charity : 1
o Number of countries to which the U.S. sent troops between 1900 and 1993 for the purpose of establishing democracy : 14
o Number that were democracies ten years after the withdrawal of U.S. forces : 4
o Ratio of Kosovo residents to Western peacekeepers there in 1999 : 40:1
o Ratio of Afghanistan residents to Western peacekeepers there now : 5,000:1
September Harper's Index Highlights
o Change since last year in federal spending to implement the No Child Left Behind Act : -$1,200,000,000
o Year in which Dick Cheney said that his policy as CEO of Halliburton was that "we wouldn't do anything in Iraq" : 2000
o Price of the oil-field supplies sold to Iraq by two Halliburton subsidiaries during Cheney's tenure : $73,000,000
o Rank of measles among diseases that kill the most children worldwide each year and can be prevented by vaccine : 1
o Cost of vaccinating the 745,000 children who died from the disease in 2001 : $558,750
o Estimated number of soccer balls the U.S. government sent Iraq this summer to help "bring life back to normal" : 60,000
o Number of paragraphs devoted to global warming in the EPA's 600-page "Draft Report on the Environment" of 2003 : 1
o Number of paragraphs removed by the White House before publication : 5
o Maximum number of miles that Ford's most fuel-efficient 2003 car can drive on a gallon of gas : 36
o Maximum number its 1912 Model T could : 35
