8/89Estimated net amount the savings-and-loan bailout will cost the Northeastern states: $18,000,000,000

Edward W. Hill, Cleveland State University

    Estimated net amount the Sunbelt states will receive as a result of the bailout: $42,000,000,000

Edward W. Hill, Cleveland State University

8/89Estimated percentage change in Exxon’s quarterly profits since the Valdez oil spill: +8.7

Salomon Brothers (N.Y.C.)

8/89Portion of all U.S. coastal waters that are too polluted for commercial shellfishing: 1/3

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Silver Spring, Md.)

8/89Estimated increase, since 1982, in the temperature of the world’s oceans: 1.2° F

Alan E. Strong, NOAA

8/89Number of abandoned nuclear reactors in the world’s oceans: 9

Institute for Policy Studies (Washington)-Greenpeace (Washington)

8/89Pounds of toxic chemicals released during each space-shuttle launch: 77,000

Kennedy Space Center (Fla.)

8/89Estimated percentage of all the scientists who ever lived who are alive today: 85

Larry Spruch, New York University (N.Y.C.)

8/89Estimated amount Americans spent last year to kill household roaches: $124,000,000

S.C. Johnson Wax (Racine, Wis.)

8/89Amount the Pentagon spent last year to develop defenses against biological weapons: $58,800,000

U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (Frederick, Md.)

8/89Amount the federal government spent last year to develop a vaccine for AIDS: $53,925,000

U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services

8/89Percentage change, from 1987 to 1988, in the number of new AIDS cases: +8

Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta)

    Percentage change, from 1987 to 1988, in the number of newspaper and magazine articles about AIDS: -36

Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta)

8/89Pages of ads in Vanity Fair this year bought by advertisers who have been written about in the magazine: 103

Daniel Lazare, Columbia Journalism Review (N.Y.C.)/Harper’s research

8/89Number of bulletproof vests the Washington Post has bought for its reporters and photographers this year: 15

Washington Post

8/89Rank of the prison system, among the fastest-growing sectors of government employment: 1

U.S. Bureau of the Census

8/89Percentage increase, since 1986, in the number of boys under 13 arrested for rape in New York City: 333

State Division of Criminal Justice Services (N.Y.C.)

8/89Chances that an American woman will be the victim of a rape or an attempted rape in her lifetime: 1 in 12

U.S. Dept. of Justice

8/89Percentage of men earning more than $50,000 a year who say they have had at least six affairs with co-workers: 20

Glamour (N.Y.C.)

8/89Ratio of the number of divorces filed by women to the number filed by men: 2:1

National Center for Health Statistics (Hyattsville, Md.)

8/89Percentage of mammal species that are monogamous: 3

Devra Kleiman, National Zoological Park (Washington)

    Percentage of bird species that are: 90

Devra Kleiman, National Zoological Park (Washington)

8/89Number of bald eagles that have died as a result of the Exxon oil spill: 57

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Anchorage)

8/89Percentage of tropical fish owners in Iowa who say they would like their pets to be more affectionate: 40

Des Moines Register Iowa Poll

8/89Ratio of American children to American cats and dogs: 1:2

U.S. Bureau of the Census/Pet Food Institute (Washington)

8/89Number of hugs in the final episode of Family Ties: 20

Harper’s research

    Number of shootings in the final episode of Miami Vice: 40

Harper’s research

8/89Price of a two-hour Scandal Tour of Washington, D.C.: $24

Scandal Tours (Washington)

8/89Number of candidates who have declined the job of under secretary for acquisition at the Pentagon this year: 47

Time (Washington)

8/89Average age of a member of the U.S. House of Representatives: 52

Congressional Quarterly research (Washington)

    Average age of an American voter: 47

U.S. Bureau of the Census

    Average age of a member of the Rolling Stones: 46

Columbia Records (N.Y.C.)

8/89Amount an unemployed graduate is seeking in a consumer-fraud suit against Goddard College: $61,500

Stephen Craddock (Plainfield, Vt.)

8/89Amount a Florida mother is seeking in a suit against a teenager who stood up her daughter for a prom date: $49.53

West Palm Beach County Courthouse (West Palm Beach, Fla.)

8/89Price of a one-day seminar on manners taught by Letitia Baldrige: $8,000

Letitia Baldrige Enterprises (Washington)

8/89Rank of the works of the Disney Company and V. I. Lenin, among those most widely translated: 1,2

UNESCO Sources (Paris)

8/89Estimated number of haiku written by Japanese Prime Minister Sousuke Uno: 2,000

New York Times (Tokyo)

8/89Portion of the sentences uttered by George Bush during his June 8 press conference that were ungrammatical: 1/5

New York Times/Harper’s research

8/89Number of times that Dan Quayle has accidentally hit the Secret Service emergency button under his desk: 3

National Journal (Washington)