Harper’s Index

Year in which the CIA predicted a “violent conflagration” in Yugoslavia: 1990¹

Year in which former Secretary of State Warren Christopher said that “Serbian influence” in Kosovo must be limited: 1993²

Hours before NATO began bombing Kosovo in March that NPR aired its last e-mail from a 16-year-old Albanian girl there: 6³

Chance that a Kosovar refugee crossing the Serbian border last April was a child: 1 in 2⁴

Chance that a U.N. peacekeeper killed on the job since 1948 died as a result of combat or other hostilities: 1 in 3⁵

Percentage change since 1991 in the number of armed pirate attacks worldwide: +122⁶

Estimated portion of the $4.8 billion that the IMF loaned Russia last July that has been lost or stolen: 1/5⁷

Number of years after the Soviet national anthem was retired that Russia's Duma voted last March to reinstate its tune: 7⁸

Number of Kiss concerts that the band has postponed in Russia due to the country's instability and anti-American mood: 3⁹

Ratio of attendance at Mother Teresa's last Oxford University talk to attendance at Jerry Springer's: 1:1¹⁰

Number of men ticketed for indecent exposure in Opelousas, Louisiana, last year for wearing low-riding pants: 14¹¹

Amount New York's Department of Corrections spent last year on estrogen for 61 inmates who want a sex change: $9,000¹²

Percentage change since 1991 in the number of U.S. inmates who were illegal-drug users at the time of their arrest: +68¹³

Percentage change since then in the number of such inmates who receive drug abusetreatment: -32¹⁴

Chance that a legal antidepressant will alleviate severe depression: 1 in 2¹⁵

Chance that a placebo will: 1 in 3¹⁶

Fee charged by a Pennsylvania cyberpsychologist for online treatment of Internet addiction, per minute: $1.50¹⁷

Price an Indiana historical museum charges visitors to spend 90 minutes as a runaway slave: $15¹⁸

Estimated ratio of white to black runaways in the museum's re-enactments this year: 2:1¹⁹

Number of months after the Civil War ended that slaves in Texas were told of their emancipation: 2²⁰

Number of years that Texas has observed a “Juneteenth” state holiday to commemorate the day its slaves were told: 19²¹

Miles of U.S. highway that the Ku Klux Klan has applied to sponsor under state adopt-a-highway programs: 16.5²²

Miles that the group has been granted: 1 ²³

Length, in feet, of a transparent bridge Israel is building just under the surface of the Sea of Galilee: 328²⁴

Estimated number of inches by which the bridge's footpath will be submerged so that visitors will appear to walk on water: 3²⁵

Number of spare parts that NASA retrieved from an Alabama museum last March to use on a space shuttle: 2²⁶

Estimated average number of Martian rocks that land on Earth each month: 4²⁷

Percentage change since 1990 in the number of U.S. traffic disputes in which one driver kills or injures another: +59²⁸

Average number of rural acres lost to “urban sprawl” in the United States each year since 1970: 1,000,000²⁹

Rank of Atlanta among U.S. cities in the number of miles driven per capita: 1³⁰

Percentage of Alabamans who oppose removing the state's constitutional ban on interracial marriage: 26³¹

Ratio of husbands who say they fell in love with their spouse at first sight to wives who say this: 2:1³²

Percentage of newlyweds who say they consummated their relationship on the first date: 17³³

Estimated maximum number of hours that a male june bug will cling to its partner after copulation: 2³⁴

Number of pups that Bob Dole's dog Leader has sired with Strom Thurmond's dog Chelsea Marie: 8³⁵

Last year in which neither a Dole nor a Bush has appeared on the Republican presidential ticket: 1972³⁶

Last date on which it was legal in Utah for 14-year-olds to marry: 5/2/99³⁷

Rank of people on their third marriage among spouses who say “I love you” most often: 1³⁸

Strokes by which O. J. Simpson reports that his golf handicap has improved since the murder of his wife: 4³⁹

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