33 matches

6/88Portion of the defense budget it would take to lift every American family over the poverty line for one year: 1/9

6/88Percentage of Americans who say that military expenditures are hurting the nation’s economy: 62

    Percentage who say that the United States should maintain its military strength no matter what it costs: 67

6/88Portion of America’s 575,607 bridges that are structurally deficient, obsolete, or closed: 2/5

6/88Percentage of American ammunition storage sites in Europe that lack a working alarm system: 78

6/88Portion of the Pentagon’s 1986 budget for weapons and R&D that was classified: 1/7

    Portion of the 1989 budget that is classified: 1/5

6/88Estimated value of the arms the Reagan administration has shipped to Afghan rebels since January: $500,000,000

    Estimated number of mules it has shipped to Afghan rebels since last September: 700

6/88Ratio of unexploded grenades, artillery shells, and land mines to sheep in the Falkland Islands: 1:4

6/88Percentage of British citizens who say that Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom: 27

    Percentage of political deaths in Northern Ireland, since 1969, that have been caused by the IRA: 40

6/88Percentage of all those killed or injured in terrorist bombings worldwide last year who were Pakistani: 45

6/88Acres of wilderness Bolivia will preserve in exchange for a $650,000 reduction in its foreign debt: 3,000,000

6/88Chances that a pharmaceutical is derived from a plant: 1 in 4

6/88Chances that an American surgeon will be sued for malpractice this year: 1 in 6

6/88Percentage of all sitting federal judges who were appointed by Ronald Reagan: 47

6/88Number of presidential elections since 1964 in which the Democratic candidate won a majority of the white vote: 0

6/88Average increase in an NBA team’s season attendance when a black player is replaced by a comparable white: 10,000

6/88Percentage of black college students who belong to a fraternity or sorority: 20

6/88Number of universities that have a Barbra Streisand Professor of Women and Men in Society: 1

6/88Estimated number of American children who are currently schooled at home: 250,000

6/88Percentage of all ties sold last year that were bought for Father’s Day: 17

6/88Number of clothes vending machines in Paris: 9

6/88Number of deaths in America, since 1981, caused by vending machines having fallen on people who shook them: 8

6/88Percentage of American coffee drinkers who consume at least 10 cups a day: 27

6/88Percentage of Americans who say they suffer heartburn at least once a month: 44

6/88Number of years it takes the average American car to produce its own weight in carbon: 1

6/88Price of Video Dog, a tape offering the “experience of owning a pet without the mess and inconvenience”: $19.95

6/88Chances that an American adult will report having had a ”great” night last night: 1 in 7

6/88Rank of “night,” “girl,” and “street” among the nouns most often used in Bruce Springsteen’s songs: 1,2,3

tweet this  ·  bookmark or share