7/85Percentage of Supreme Court cases in which civil liberties claims were made and upheld in 1963: 86

“October Term 1983 and the Era of Aggressive Majoritarianism: A Court in Transition,” by Geoffrey R. Stone, in the Georgia Law Review (Athens, Ga.)

    In 1983: 19

“October Term 1983 and the Era of Aggressive Majoritarianism: A Court in Transition,” by Geoffrey R. Stone, in the Georgia Law Review (Athens, Ga.)

7/85Percentage of high school students who believe the president can declare a law unconstitutional: 49

National Assessment for Educational Progress (Princeton, N.J.)

7/85Suicides per 100,000 Americans between the ages of 15 and 24: 12.1

National Center for Health Statistics (Hyattsville, Md.)

    Per 100,000 Americans between the ages of 75 and 84: 20.3

National Center for Health Statistics (Hyattsville, Md.)

7/85Percentage of Americans who die in health-care institutions: 80

“Deciding to Forgo Life-Sustaining Treatment: President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine” (Government Printing Office)

7/85Percentage of teenagers who lose their virginity in their own or their partner’s home: 54

Sex and the American Teenager, by Robert Coles and Geoffrey Stokes (Harper & Row)

    In a parked car: 12

Sex and the American Teenager, by Robert Coles and Geoffrey Stokes (Harper & Row)

7/85Percentage of land in the average American city taken up by roads and parking spaces: 40

Metropolis magazine (New York City)

7/85Rank of Main among the most common street names in America: 32

The Book of Lists #2, by Irving Wallace et al. (William Morrow)

7/85Average number of homes a buyer looks at before making a purchase: 13.6

Chicago Title Insurance Company

7/85Federal tax revenues lost as a result of homeowner deductions in 1984: $43,600,000,000

National League of Cities (Washington, D.C.)

7/85Amount spent for federal housing programs in 1984: $11,300,000,000

National League of Cities (Washington, D.C.)

7/85Foreign aid budget of the Soviet Union in 1978: $3,500,000,000

U.S. News and World Report

    In 1985: $2,500,000,000

U.S. News and World Report

7/85Percentage by which China plans to reduce the size of its army by 1987: 25

Embassy of the People’s Republic of China (Washington, D.C.)

7/85Chances that an American will be murdered: 1 in 133

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics

    Chances that a black American male will be murdered: 1 in 21

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics

7/85Percentage increase since 1980 in political contributions by the top 20 defense contractors: 100

Associated Press

7/85Number of U.S. military officers who have retired since 1980 and taken jobs with defense contractors: 1,900

The Los Angeles Times

7/85Average bank robbery take: $3,000

Esquire

7/85Number of the 10 largest international banks that are Japanese: 5

Business Week

7/85Amount the average American spends annually on foreign goods: $980

U.S. Department of Commerce

    Amount the average Japanese spends: $328

Japanese consulate (New York City)

7/85Percentage of the U.S. pencil market supplied by domestic manufacturers: 93

Pencil Makers Association (Moorestown, N.J.)

7/85Percentage of the workers laid off in the last recession who now have jobs: 55.8

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

    Percentage of those whose new job is lower paying or part-time: 45.7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

7/85Percentage of all money spent by American tourists in Britain in 1984 that was spent at Harrods: 6

British Business magazine (London)

7/85Percentage of all snapshots taken in America in 1984 that were snapped at the three Disney theme parks: 3.6

Eastman Kodak (Rochester, N.Y.)

7/85Mickey Mouse products sold every day: 5,000,000

In One Day, by Tom Parker (Houghton Mifflin)

7/85Number of children’s TV shows based on toys in 1983: 14

Action for Children’s Television (Newton, Mass.)

    Today: 40

Action for Children’s Television (Newton, Mass.)

7/85Cost of a week at summer camp in Maine for a Cabbage Patch doll: $150

Camp Doll-Me (Machias, Me.)

7/85Cost of first-class passage on a 14-day South Pacific cruise to see Halley’s comet with Carl Sagan: $10,220

Royal Viking Line (San Francisco)

7/85Chances that a Seattleite has had CPR training: 1 in 2.5

Medic II program (Seattle Fire Department)

7/85Percentage of health articles in Cosmopolitan rated inaccurate by the American Council on Science and Health: 53

American Council on Science and Health (New York City)

    Of health articles in Prevention: 69

American Council on Science and Health (New York City)

7/85Percentage of Americans who say they don’t know how they could get along without Scotch tape: 46

The Roper Report (New York City)

7/85Percentage of Americans who don’t recognize Mr. Clean: 7

Procter & Gamble (Cincinnati)

    Who don’t recognize George Bush: 44

People magazine