4/90Portion of all major domestic military bases that President Bush has proposed closing: 1/44
Portion of those the President has proposed closing that are in Democratic congresspersons’ districts: 9/10
8/90Chances that the level of pollution in a U.S. river has gotten worse or not improved since 1970: 9 in 10
12/90Portion of the 115 armed conflicts worldwide that are civil wars: 9/10
5/99Portion of the domestic oil-refining market that Standard Oil controlled prior to being broken up in 1911: 9/10
10/99Percentage change in domestic discretionary spending required through 2002 to fund Congress’s proposed tax cuts: -18
Portion of these tax cuts that will go to corporations: 9/10
10/99Chances that one of the ten bishop-approved Catholic exorcists practicing in the U.S. was approved since 1993: 9 in 10
1/00Chances that one of the 49 armed conflicts fought worldwide since 1990 relied exclusively on small arms: 9 in 10
3/02Chances that a movie released in the U.S. last year was pornographic: 9 in 10
1/03Chances that a U.S. House or Senate race last year was won by the candidate whose campaign spent the most: 9 in 10
4/05Chances that the divorce of a born-again Christian happened after he or she accepted Christ: 9 in 10
12/05Chances that one of the 126 Wal-Marts shut down by Hurricane Katrina reopened within ten days: 9 in 10
5/06Chances that an unprotected PC will become infected with a virus within an hour of being on the Internet: 9 in 10
4/07Chances that a U.S. institutional investor thinks that corporate executives are “dramatically overpaid”: 9 in 10
Chances that a director of a U.S. corporation does: 3 in 5
2/08Chances that an Israeli settlement in the West Bank has built beyond its official borders: 9 in 10
8/01Ratio of the starting salary of an Oklahoma prison guard to the federal poverty level for a family of four: 10:11
9/00Average number of new homes built each day in New York’s East Hampton last year: 0.93
12/98Chances that a U.S. film with male Arab or Muslim characters depicts them as greedy, violent, or dishonest: 19 in 20
5/03Chances that a thoroughbred stallion is a patrilineal descendant of the Darley Arabian, a seventeenth-century horse: 19 in 20
8/07Chances that a European industrial plant emitted less CO2 last year than its new EU quota allowed: 19 in 20
9/02Ratio of the number of acts of Congress overturned by the Warren Court to those overturned by the Rehnquist Court: 25:26
7/04Ratio of U.S. and Canadian spending on pharmaceuticals last year to the amount the rest of the world spent: 31:32
6/01Concentration of over-the-counter painkillers, in parts per billion, detected in Missouri’s Blue River last February: 0.98
9/05Chances that college students select as “most desirable” the same face chosen by the chickens: 49 in 50
4/89Chances that a deep breath inhaled today will contain a molecule from Julius Caesar’s dying breath: 99 in 100
3/84The District of Columbia’s rank (with states) in per capita alcohol consumption: 1
5/84Rank of Mother’s Day among all days in the number of long-distance calls placed: 1
5/84Number of armed robberies in the history of Iceland: 1
10/84Number of general elections Walter Mondale has won when not running as an incumbent: 1
2/85Rank of watching television among activities people look forward to during the day: 1
3/85Rank of sterilization among methods of birth control used in the United States: 1
4/85Rank of cruise control among options new car buyers desire most: 1
5/85Rank of Mother’s Day among all holidays in the number of Americans eating out: 1
8/85Rank of the grapevine among employees’ leading sources of information about their company: 1
10/85Rank of national and local Miss America pageants among all sources of college scholarship money for women: 1
11/85Rank of Richard Nixon masks among the best-selling Halloween masks bought by adults: 1
12/85Rank of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” among all Christmas singles, in sales last year: 1
8/87Record-store clerks arrested this year on obscenity charges for selling certain albums to minors: 1
4/88Rank of Richard Gephardt, among all candidates, in the percentage of his contributions that come from PACs: 1
12/88Rank of longest paper-clip chain, among the entries most often rejected by the Guinness Book of World Records: 1
9/89Number of U.S. universities that have a Taco Bell Distinguished Professorship of Fast Service: 1
3/91Rank of U.S. Health and Human Services secretary Louis Sullivan, among the most often sued people in the world: 1
9/91Number of reported cases of epileptic seizure brought on by the voice of Entertainment Tonight co-host Mary Hart: 1
12/94Rank of “bad communication” among the most common reasons cited by the LAPD for “errors in shooting” by its officers: 1
7/07Rank of Nevaeh, “heaven” spelled backward, among the fastest growing names given to American newborns since 2000: 1
11/07Average percentage decrease in a home’s value for each foreclosure that takes place within a one-eighth-mile radius: 1
1/09Rank of Nevaeh, “heaven” spelled backward, among the fastest growing names given to American newborns since 2000: 1
4/86Rank of The Cosby Show in popularity among all programs on South African television: 1
7/86Rank of Ronald Reagan, among all foreign leaders, in popularity among the French: 1
10/86Rank of Los Angeles, among all U.S. cities, in the number of homeless people: 1
11/86Rank of Mississippi, among all states, in the number of professional football players produced per capita: 1
12/86Rank of drugs among the most pressing city problems cited by Washington, D.C., blacks: 1
Rank of traffic among the problems cited by Washington, D.C., whites: 1
1/87Rank of AIDS among the causes of death for women aged 25 to 29 in New York City: 1
11/87Black-market price of ten pounds of lean meat in Romania (in cartons of Kent cigarettes): 1
12/87World rank of the Soviet Union’s annual cabbage crop: 1
12/87Rank of China’s annual cauliflower crop: 1
2/88Rank of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue among the items most often stolen from U.S. libraries: 1
2/88Geiger counters Christie Brinkley carried with her on her recent trip to the Soviet Union: 1
5/88Number of years, since 1953, in which a president lost more congressional votes than he won: 1
6/88Number of universities that have a Barbra Streisand Professor of Women and Men in Society: 1
6/88Number of years it takes the average American car to produce its own weight in carbon: 1
7/88Ratio of tourists to scientists and researchers visiting Antarctica last year: 1:1
9/88Number of Democratic National Committee staffers whose job title is Press Office Liaison to Celebrities: 1
9/88Average number of years that an American spends looking for misplaced objects, in the course of a lifetime: 1
10/88Number of blind dates former Education Secretary William Bennett had with Janis Joplin: 1
10/88Number of women appointed Official Salem Witch by Governor Michael Dukakis: 1
11/88Rank of “freedom” among the words that the Japanese associate most strongly with the United States: 1
12/88Tons of hazardous waste produced by the United States each year, per capita: 1
12/88Rank of photos of Presley with President Nixon, among those most requested from the National Archives: 1
5/89Rank of Venezuela, among Latin American nations, in the amount of foreign debt it has retired since 1983: 1
5/89Rank of Salt Lake City, among all U.S. cities, in per capita consumption of Cracker Jack: 1
5/89Number of artists-in-residence at the New York City Department of Sanitation: 1
6/89Rank of the Miami Federal Reserve, among all Reserve branches, in the size of its cash surplus in 1988: 1
7/89Estimated change in the distance between the Hawaiian Islands and the Soviet Union each year, in inches: -4
8/89Rank of the prison system, among the fastest-growing sectors of government employment: 1
10/89Rank of AIDS, among the leading causes of death of children between the ages of 1 and 4 in New York City: 1
10/89Percentage of New Yorkers who say they have no opinion of Mayor Ed Koch: 1
11/89Rank of drugs, among the “gravest domestic threats facing our nation,” according to President Bush: 1
New antidrug funds proposed by the Bush administration, expressed as a percentage of the federal budget: .065
11/89Percentage of Pittsburgh residents who work in the steel industry: 1
11/89Rank of the Tobacco Institute, among the groups that paid members of Congress the most in honoraria last year: 1
12/89Rank of the day after the San Francisco earthquake, among days with the most long-distance calls ever made: 1
12/89Ratio of U. S. households that have real Christmas trees to those that have artificial Christmas trees: 1:1
1/90Rank of Jim and Tammy Bakker’s appearance on Nightline on May 27, 1987, among the show’s most highly rated broadcasts: 1
2/90Rank of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, among Dan Quayle’s favorite movies: 1
2/90Rank of Washington, D.C., among U. S. cities with the highest per capita viewership of TV evangelists: 1
3/90Number of the 43 contestants in the annual Rotten Sneaker Contest held in Vermont last March who were women: 1
3/90Fine proposed by a Tennessee state representative for assaulting anyone desecrating a U.S. or state flag: $1
4/90Rank of Washington, D.C., among U.S. cities with the highest rate of tax delinquency: 1
6/90Price of a wedding ceremony at the coin-operated, 24-hour Church of Elvis in Portland, Oregon: $1
7/90Ratio of Japan’s investment in Latin America to its investment in Asia: 1:1
8/90Rank of Hong Kong, among localities with the most Rolls-Royces per capita: 1
10/90Number of law review articles Supreme Court nominee David Souter has ever published: 1
11/90Number of Democratic presidential candidates since 1932 who received the majority of U.S. newspaper endorsements: 1
2/91Rank of Mr. Rogers, among preschoolers’ first choices for president of the United States: 1
2/91Rank of Richard Gephardt, among Iowans’ first choices for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination: 1
2/91Rank of Abraham Lincoln, among the U.S. presidents most often portrayed in films: 1
2/91Rank of “honey,” among Americans’ favorite terms of endearment: 1
5/91Rank of 1991, among years in which the U.S. State Department has warned Americans to avoid the most countries: 1
5/91Rank of Fords, among the cars most often bought by Asian-Americans: 1
5/91Fee a Norwood, Massachusetts, bank requires from depositors before they can ask a question about their account: $1
6/91Rank of Jose, among the names most often given male babies born in Los Angeles County this year: 1
6/91Number of Kuwaiti roller coasters Iraq dismantled and moved to Baghdad after last August’s invasion: 1
8/91Number of times Nixon stopped to autograph food-ration cards during his trip to the Soviet Union last March: 1
8/91Rank of nuclear power, among energy sources that Americans believe the country should rely on more in the future: 1
9/91Rank of Washington, D.C., high school students, among students with the lowest mathematics scores nationwide: 1
Rank of Washington, D.C., high school students, among those most likely to say they are “good in math”: 1
9/91Number of vasectomies given away on Mother’s Day last year by WKQQ, a Lexington, Kentucky, radio station: 1
11/91Number of deodorants on the market that are targeted at preteens: 1
11/91Rank of murder, among the most common causes of on-the-job death for female workers in the United States: 1
3/91Ratio of the number of unemployed white-collar workers to the number of unemployed blue-collar workers: 1:1
4/92Ratio of the average number of children an American mother has to the number an American welfare mother has: 1:1
4/92Rank of the Vietnamese, among U.S. minorities with the largest percentage increase in business ownership since 1982: 1
8/92Rank of Hispanics, among those arrested during the Los Angeles riots: 1
8/92Rank of Bill Clinton, among all Democratic presidential nominees since 1956, in percentage of primary votes won: 1
9/92Rank of the South, among regions with the lowest voter turnout in presidential elections: 1
9/92Number of this year’s presidential candidates who have a child named after a Joni Mitchell song: 1
11/92Number of notches below child molesters that politicians are, according to Woody Allen in Annie Hall: 1
11/92Rank of The Rich Also Cry, a Mexican soap opera, among the most popular TV programs in Russia: 1
12/92Rank of the United States, among the world’s largest manufacturers of photovoltaic cells in 1980: 1
Rank of Japan, among the world’s largest manufacturers of photovoltaic cells today: 1
12/92Number of bull castrations Mississippi State’s football coach made his team watch last fall as a “motivational” experience: 1
1/93Number of the four cats who have lived in the White House since 1933 that were owned by Republicans: 1
2/93Tons of Rocky Mountain oysters consumed each year at Montana’s Rock Creek Lodge Testicle Festival: 1
3/93Ratio of the number of Americans employed by government to those employed by manufacturers: 1:1
3/93Ratio of the amount the Ford Motor Company spent last year on health care to the amount it spent on steel: 1:1
3/93Rank of basketball among sports contributing to the largest number of fatalities among players each year: 1
4/93Ratio of the number of millionaires in Bill Clinton’s Cabinet to the number in George Bush’s: 1:1
4/93Number of times actress Drew Barrymore says she has been “to hell and back”: 1
5/93Rank of May among months in which the greatest number of flowers at New York’s Botanical Garden are in full bloom: 1
5/93Number of registered dogs in Los Angeles named Aaron Spelling: 1
6/93Ratio of the emissions produced by a car driven 50 miles to those produced by a lawn mower in one hour: 1:1
6/93Rank of “Virtual Valerie” among best-selling pornographic CD-ROMs: 1
6/93Rank of June among months in which an American is most likely to have lost his or her virginity: 1
7/93Ratio of liver transplants performed per capita in Canada last year to those performed in the U.S.: 1:1
7/93Rank of the Dallas yellow pages among directories listing the largest number of tanning salons: 1
8/93Rank of Bill Clinton’s shoes, among the largest of any president since Woodrow Wilson: 1
9/93Ratio of Sudanese, per 100,000, displaced since 1989 to the number of former Yugoslavians displaced: 1:1
10/93Rank of High Noon, among Bill Clinton’s favorite movies: 1
11/93Number of the finance ministers of the Group of Seven countries who have a degree in economics: 1