Harper’s Index

Number of "weapons of mass destruction" allowed in space, according to a 1967 treaty ratified by the United States: 0¹

Number of abstentions to reaffirming the treaty last year besides those of the United States, Israel, and Micronesia: 0²

Number of "kills" a U.S. Air Force report anticipates achieving with space-based lasers in the future: "very many"³

Percentage of Americans who say Israel and the Arab nations will never "be able to settle their differences and live in peace": 64⁴

Percentage of Russian nuclear scientists who say they are willing to work on another country's missile-defense program: 21⁵

Minimum number of nations currently targeted by the United States' integrated nuclear-war plan: 5⁶

Percentage change in the incidence of worker contamination at Los Alamos labs between 1993 and 1995: +76⁷

Chances that an accident there in 1994 resulted in a "loss of control of radioactive material": 2 in 3⁸

Chance that an accident resulted in a "loss of control of classified matter": 1 in 20⁹

Number of staff members fired from New York's nonprofit WBAI-FM since December and banned from its premises: 12¹⁰

Number of surveillance cameras installed at WBAI's studios in May to monitor remaining employees: 8¹¹

Number of network-TV dramas scheduled this fall whose protagonists are employed in law enforcement or the legal system: 17¹²

Chances that an American believes that the First Amendment "goes too far" in guaranteeing rights: 2 in 5¹³

Chance that an American believed this last year: 1 in 5¹⁴

Number of people arrested at last year's Republican National Convention: 390¹⁵

Number arrested at July's G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy: 298¹⁶

Number of "useless laws" that Italy's new prime minister promised to eliminate if elected: 60,000¹⁷

Chances that a state execution carried out last year took place in China: 7 in 10¹⁸

Chance that the death of a pregnant Nepalese is the result of an unsafe abortion: 1 in 2¹⁹

Ratio of the death rate among pregnant women in Nepal to the rate for pregnant women worldwide: 2:1²⁰

Number of "trouser accidents" requiring hospital treatment in Britain in 1999: 5,945 ²¹

Minimum number of garden gnomes relocated to the forest since 1996 by France's Garden Gnome Liberation Front: 6,000²²

Estimated number of mink released from a Spanish fur farm in July by unidentified activists: 13,000²³

Minimum number of plant species that can be found only in Colombia: 15,000²⁴

Ratio of acres of Colombia sprayed with defoliants last year to acres of Vietnam sprayed with Agent Orange in 1964: 3:2²⁵

Ratio of Oregon rainfall in April 2000 to rainfall last April after a Native American tribe held a rain ceremony there: 2:3²⁶

Amount the tribe subsequently billed an Oregon power company for costs associated with the ceremony: $32,000²⁷

Percentage of his presidency that George W. Bush has spent at or en route to vacation spots: 42²⁸

Amount of campaign contributions that Sen. James Jeffords has returned since leaving the Republican Party in May: $17,470²⁹

Estimated amount of new contributions he has received since then: $45,000³⁰

Amount the Treasury Department will borrow this year to pay for the tax refund: $51,000,000,000³¹

Amount it had projected spending to service U.S. debt this year, before the tax bill passed: $57,000,000,000³²

Maximum domestic damages at which a U.S. law caps U.S. liability for a nuclear accident in space: $9,500,000,000³³

Maximum total foreign damages at which the same law caps U.S. liability for such an accident: $100,000,000³⁴

Maximum reparation per survivor of Nazi slave-labor camps won in a class-action lawsuit settled last May: $7,038³⁵

Average amount in legal fees each of the winning lawyers will receive: $1,089,325³⁶

Spending money that Slobodan Milosevic can earn per day for laundry duty at the U.N. prison at The Hague: $2³⁷

Amount Romania plans to spend by 2003 to build a Count Dracula theme park: $20,000,000³⁸

Number of George W. Bush Halloween masks sold nationwide last year by a New York distributor: 15,811³⁹

Number of Al Gore masks sold: 15,739⁴⁰

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