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Harper’s Index

Number of pages of documents related to the Iran-Contra investigation that are still sealed: 4,630,000¹

Estimated number of Americans who listen to Oliver North's weekly radio show: 2,000,000²

Ratio of the number of pardons granted by President Clinton to the number granted by President Reagan: 1:2³

Ratio of the number granted by President Reagan to the number granted by President Eisenhower: 1:3⁴

Years before being nominated as South Carolina's U.S. attorney in January that Strom Thurmond's son graduated law school: 3⁵

Average years of legal experience that a current state's U.S. attorney acquired before taking the job: 18⁶

Number of search warrants filed to discover AOL subscribers' identities in 1998 and 2000, respectively: 171, 390⁷

Average percentage by which a Wall Street analyst's high-tech-earnings forecast in early 1999 was incorrect: 44⁸

Average percentage by which an amateur stock website's forecast was incorrect: 21⁹

Chance that a page in the middle-school textbook Science Insights contains a serious factual error: 1 in 10¹⁰

Percentage of Americans who believe that "following your own conscience" is a mark of a strong character: 97¹¹

Percentage who believe that "obeying those in positions of authority" is: 92¹²

Percentage of TV investigative reporters and editors who say that an advertiser has tried to kill one of their stories: 60¹³

Chance that a page in this year's February/March issue of Bride's magazine had editorial content on it: 1 in 7¹⁴

Estimated percentage of Maxim readers who live with their parents: 22¹⁵

Average age at which an American believes his or her physical attractiveness peaks: 38¹⁶

Percentage of U.S. adults who say they are at least "somewhat satisfied" with their physical appearance: 88¹⁷

Percentage of U.S. adults who have undergone cosmetic surgery who say this: 70¹⁸

Length, in millimeters, of an I.D. microchip that Singapore now implants in the necks of all imported dogs: 13¹⁹

Minimum number of Las Vegas casinos that use face-recognition technology to identify known card cheats: 25²⁰

Percentage of total U.S. electrical consumption accounted for by commercial lighting: 11²¹

Percentage of a U.S. home's electrical consumption accounted for by appliances that are switched off: 5²²

Projected percentage by which the amount of electricity produced by U.S. wind turbines will change this year: +100²³

Factor by which the cost of China's Three Gorges Dam is expected to exceed its original $4.5 billion budget: 16²⁴

Estimated number of people who will be displaced by the dam's construction: 1,900,000²⁵

Percentage of the victims of politically motivated murders in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, last year who were civilians: 90²⁶

Number of politically motivated murders there last year, per 100,000 residents: 270²⁷

Number of murders in New York City last year, per 100,000 residents: 9²⁸

Percentage of local U.S. police departments that maintain a SWAT team: 77²⁹

Amount Houston reimbursed its mayor in January for a course he took in public speaking: $2,900³⁰

Compensation awarded a 30-year-old Australian in February for corporal punishment he suffered in high school: $1,500,000³¹

Fine that Israel imposed on a Jewish settler in January for clubbing an 11-year-old Palestinian boy to death: $17,500³²

Months of community service to which he was also sentenced: 6³³

Distance from Auschwitz, in miles, of a camp tannery in which an investor group proposed opening a disco in 1999: 2³⁴

Months after the plan was shelved due to protest that another was approved, allowing a disco to open there last August: 4³⁵

Number of visitors since 1999 to a Lithuanian theme park depicting life in a Stalinist gulag: 100,000³⁶

Number of pairs of Imelda Marcos's shoes on display in the Philippines' new shoe museum: 200³⁷

Estimated number of "crush films" involving live rodents and high-heeled women seized from a New York man in 1999: 70³⁸

Hours of community service at an animal shelter to which he was sentenced last December: 280³⁹

Days after a rare turtle died in Miami last spring that a local aquarium staff member made it into a soup: 1⁴⁰

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SEE ALSO: Animal; Australia; Clinton, Bill; China; Colombia; Dogs; Education; Energy; Entertainment; Fascism; Finance; Florida; Iran; Israel; Judaism; Forms of Justice; Law; Lithuania; The Media; Nevada; New York City; Palestine; Philippines; Policing; Reagan, Ronald; Science; Sex; Singapore; South Carolina; Thurmond, Strom; Technology; Television; Texas; Vanity

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