1/87Percentage change, since 1981, in the amount the Pentagon spends on classified projects: +300

David C. Morrison/National Journal (Washington, D.C.)

    Percentage change, in 1985, in the number of federal employees with security clearances: -21

U.S. Government Accounting Office

1/87Number of federal employees who have agreed to submit all future writing to the government for clearance: 290,000

U.S. Government Accounting Office

1/87Pages in the published transcripts of Congressional hearings on the 1986 defense budget: 11,246

National Journal

1/87Jobs California has gained since 1981 as a result of increases in defense spending: 607,250

“The Empty Pork Barrel” (Employment Research Associates, Lansing, Mich.)

1/87Number of times since 1979 Britain has “refined” its method of counting the unemployed: 19

The Unemployment Unit (London)

    Number of those refinements that resulted in a lower unemployment rate: 18

The Unemployment Unit (London)

1/87Number of crossbows manufactured in Britain in 1985: 110,000

Spectator (London)

1/87Portion of violent crimes in the United States in which the victim knows the attacker: 2/5

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics

1/87Rank of AIDS among the causes of death for women aged 25 to 29 in New York City: 1

New York City Department of Health

1/87Percentage of Americans who believe AIDS can be contracted by handling money: 10

Los Angeles Times poll

1/87Percentage of Americans who believe inheritance is the way people get rich: 20

Gallup and London Weekend Television Poll

    Who believe hard work is the way: 43

Gallup and London Weekend Television Poll

1/87Percentage of the richest 400 Americans who inherited their wealth: 41

Forbes (New York City)

1/87Price of renting the Queen Elizabeth II for an overnight “cruise to nowhere” for 600 guests: $500,000

Cunard Line (New York City)

1/87Price of a 90-minute children’s birthday party for 30 guests at Jeremy’s Place in New York City: $500

Jeremy Sage (New York City)

1/87Percentage change in the birth rate for single black women since 1976: -9

National Center for Health Statistics (Hyattsville, Md.)

1/87In the birth rate for single white women: +62

National Center for Health Statistics (Hyattsville, Md.)

1/87Average number of minutes per weekday the child of a working mother watches television: 111

Professor Jacqueline Eccles, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (Ann Arbor)

    Average number of minutes per weekday the child of a nonworking mother watches television: 139

Professor Jacqueline Eccles, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (Ann Arbor)

1/87Rank of Doctors Welby, Pierce, and Westphall among TV physicians Americans would go to if they existed: 1,2,3

P.M. Magazine (San Francisco)

1/87Number of times Bill Cosby’s name is listed in the credits for The Cosby Show: 5

Spy magazine (New York City)

1/87Number of entries under “journalistic ethics” in the 1961 Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature: 0

Columbia Journalism Review (New York City)

    In the 1985 edition: 23

Columbia Journalism Review (New York City)

1/87Number of newspapers sold each day, per 1,000 people, in the United States: 282

1986 Information Please Almanac (Houghton Mifflin)

    In Japan: 569

1986 Information Please Almanac (Houghton Mifflin)

1/87Percentage change in U.S. oil imports in the first 9 months of 1986: +35

U.S. Department of Energy

1/87Percentage increase in U.S. sales of Mexican beer in 1985: 60

Advertising Age (New York City)

1/87Percentage of Japan’s red-pepper-sauce market held by Tabasco: 99

Newsweek

1/87Chances that a firefighter’s meal will be interrupted: 3 in 5

John Sineno, author of The Firefighter’s Cookbook (Vintage Books)

1/87Percentage of American adults who went on a diet in 1981: 32

MRCA Information Services (Northbrook, Ill.)

    In 1986: 25

MRCA Information Services (Northbrook, Ill.)

1/87Average earnings per acre of farmland in Massachusetts: $1,613

U.S. Department of Agriculture

    In Iowa: $177

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1/87Portion of the U.S. marijuana crop that is grown indoors: 1/4

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Washington, D.C.)

1/87Percentage of the fish and shellfish harvested in the United States in 1975 that came from farms: 3

National Marine Fisheries Service (Washington, D.C.)

    In 1984: 14

National Marine Fisheries Service (Washington, D.C.)

1/87Cost of making a cubic foot of snow: 3¢

National Ski Areas Association (Springfield, Mass.)

1/87Percentage of the parsley served in the United States that is thrown out: 90

Rodale’s Organic Gardening magazine (Emmaus, Pa.)