3/89Percentage of Pittsburghers who named family members when asked which household pests they fear most: 1.3
1/97Miles the average sixth-grader doodles during the school year: 1.3
4/97Ratio of last year’s federal budget to what Americans would earn if paid the minimum wage for watching TV: 1.3:1
8/98Acres of blue netting with which the Washington Monument will be draped for renovation this summer: 1.3
8/97Factor by which a circumcised heterosexual man is more likely to receive oral sex than an uncircumcised one: 1.33
4/92Ratio of federal spending on prison construction to federal spending on public-housing construction since 1990: 4:3
6/96Ratio of the number of biographies of Quentin Tarantino to the number of films he has directed: 3:2.25
9/98Ratio of political contributions made last year by the consumer-credit industry to those made by tobacco companies: 4:3
3/00Ratio of the combined value of AOL and Time Warner last January 11 to the annual budget of France: 4:3
2/03Ratio of the amount the U.S. will spend on missile defense this year to the amount it spent in 1988 under Reagan: 4:3
5/03Ratio of the number of Volkswagens sold in China last year to the number sold in the United States: 4:3
6/07Ratio in 1985 of the number of new homes with two or fewer bedrooms to the number with four or more: 4:3
Ratio today: 1:3
5/98Ratio of U.S. spending on the Gulf War to estimated cost of maintaining a U.S. military presence in the region since then: 7:5
8/98Ratio of average worldwide military spending per conflict during the 1980s to spending per conflict in the 1990s: 7:5
10/02Average number of U.S. print-media references to “our new reality” each week since September 11, 2001: 1.4
4/87Price of an hour of valet parking at the Beverly Hills post office: $1.50
7/89Ratio in 1988 of New York State residents who bought lottery tickets to those who voted: 3:2
2/91Price of one Homeboy Condom, from Custom Condoms of Somerville, Massachusetts: $1.50
8/92Ratio of the average number of political jokes in a Jay Leno Tonight Show monolog to those in a Carson monolog: 3:2
1/93Ratio of the number of health-care lobbying groups in Washington to members of Congress: 3:2
11/93Ratio of the U.N.’s 1993 peacekeeping budget in Somalia to its 1993 peacekeeping budget in the former Yugoslavia: 3:2
1/94Ratio of January sales of health-club memberships to average monthly sales during the rest of the year: 3:2
2/94Ratio of 1993 sales of Hillary: Her True Story to sales of The Life and Career of Bill Clinton: 3:2
3/94Ratio of funds sent home by migrant workers worldwide last year to total foreign aid distributed by governments: 3:2
12/94Ratio of the rate of missing inventory at the Pentagon’s gift shop last year to the average rate at an American gift shop: 3:2
8/95Ratio of compensation paid AlliedSignal’s CEO last year to wages the firm paid its 3,810 Mexican maquiladora workers: 3:2
1/98Ratio of miles of groomed snowmobile trails in Minnesota to miles of state highway: 3:2
4/98Ratio of the average volume of a breast implant inserted in the U.S. to that of one inserted in Europe: 3:2
6/99Fee charged by a Pennsylvania cyberpsychologist for online treatment of Internet addiction, per minute: $1.50
6/00Estimated ratio of immigrants arriving in the U.S. in the 1890s to the number returning home during that period: 3:2
10/01Ratio of acres of Colombia sprayed with defoliants last year to acres of Vietnam sprayed with Agent Orange in 1964: 3:2
8/02Years that a Nigerian woman appealing a sentence of death by stoning in March will be allowed to live to wean her baby: 1.5
11/02Ratio of the total number of U.S. forest fires during the 1970s to the number during the last ten years: 3:2
Ratio of acres burned in U.S. forest fires during the 1970s to those burned in the last ten years: 2:3
4/04Factor by which Florida’s white defendants are more likely than blacks to get a plea bargain blocking felony conviction: 1.5
6/05Percentage of Iceland residents who took out an ad this winter apologizing for Icelandic support of the Iraq war: 1.5
11/05Percentage margin by which an MTV awards-show poll for best-dressed male attendee was decided this fall: 1
7/08Length, in inches, of a “living coat” made of mouse stem-cells that was exhibited in March at the Museum of Modern Art: 1.5
Months into the exhibition that a feeding malfunction forced the artists to euthanize the work: 1
9/08Ratio of Obama’s total campaign donations from the financial sector to McCain’s total from that sector: 3:2
10/86Percentage of the U.S. population that is Asian-American: 1.6
2/98Average amount a man spends on Valentine’s Day for every dollar a woman spends: $1.60
9/84Ronald Reagan’s blood pressure: 120/80
7/93Ratio of the value of the marijuana crop destroyed in Kentucky last year to the value of the tobacco harvested: 5:3
9/93Ratio of the average number of vehicles per mile of road in Europe to the number in the United States: 5:3
11/93Ratio of the number of jobs created to jobs lost in U.S. communities where military bases have closed since 1961: 5:3
9/00Ratio of the number of copies of The Great Gatsby sold each month in the U.S. to the number sold in the author’s lifetime: 5:3
3/03Ratio of the combined annual revenue of Native American casinos to that of Las Vegas casinos: 5:3
12/06Ratio of the number of people worldwide who are overweight to the number who are undernourished: 5:3
4/86Amount the average household spends on fresh vegetables each week: $1.74
12/92Price of a box of pina colada-flavored candy canes from the Spangler Candy Company of Bryan, Ohio: $1.89
5/04Factor by which the unemployment rate of African-American college graduates exceeds that of white graduates: 1.9
12/05Percentage of British adults who are members of any of their country’s three major political parties: 1.2
7/96Cost per minute to hear the Bill of Rights read over the phone “in a provocative manner” by a woman named Bambi: $1.98
7/84Percentage of Americans who believe foreign relations is the most important problem facing the country today: 2
12/84Rank, among children’s most common fears, of being home alone: 1
9/85Number of the 48 commanders of the main contra force, the FDN, who did not serve in Somoza’s National Guard: 2
9/99Factor by which “a cynical view” and an “aggressive” personality may increase arterial calcium deposits: 2
8/07Ratio of the amount of water used to make the containers to the amount of bottled water consumed: 2:1
1/09Years before becoming energy secretary that Spencer Abraham cosponsored a bill to abolish the Department of Energy: 2
2/86Number of the three best-selling automobiles in 1985 that were pickup trucks: 2
6/87Number of states that fly the Confederate flag over their capitol: 2
6/87Rank of martinis among all drinks sold in bars and restaurants today: 2
8/87Percentage of Republican Party donors who say they could not support George Bush for the presidency: 2
9/87Number of the 161 players in baseball’s Hall of Fame who wore glasses while on the field: 2
10/87Number of times Michael Dukakis has cried in public since announcing his candidacy: 2
12/87Percentage reduction in South Africa’s exports in 1986 attributable to Western sanctions: 2
12/87Rank of entertainment, among all U.S. industries, in export earnings: 2
12/88Number of the 2,869 U.S. Customs Service employees screened for drugs since 1986 who tested positive: 2
12/88Number of inquiries about John Dillinger’s penis received by the Smithsonian Institution each month: 2
4/89Number of office plants a member of Congress is allowed to borrow from the U.S. Botanic Garden: 2
4/89Ratio of the average salary of a morning radio personality to that of an afternoon radio personality: 2:1
7/89Number of the 698 people who have died in U.S. national parks since 1984 who were killed by animals: 2
11/89Number of pages of his newspaper a Filipino editor says military personnel forced him to eat at gunpoint in May: 2
12/89Number of the 3 highest-grossing foreign films shown in the Soviet Union last year that starred Steve Guttenberg: 2
1/90Number of days after a truck bomb killed 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut that the United States invaded Grenada: 2
3/90Number of days after the invasion of Panama that an Oregon software company introduced the game Find Noriega!: 2
5/90Total amount of network TV airtime devoted to the national elections in Chile and Brazil last December, in minutes: 2
8/90Ratio of the average office rent in Moscow’s business district to the rent in midtown Manhattan, per square foot: 2:1
9/90Minimum amount of saturated fat that Julia Child says she makes an effort to consume each day, in tablespoons: 2
10/90Number of years George Bush has been citing Bonfire of the Vanities as an example of his pleasure reading: 2
11/90Ratio of hazardous waste produced by the Pentagon to that produced by the top 3 industrial-waste producers: 2:1
1/91Number of members of Congress who have sons or daughters serving in the Persian Gulf: 2
4/91Ratio of the size of the female spider monkey’s clitoris to the size of the male monkey’s penis: 2:1
10/91Number of hours Linda Judson of Cobb County, Georgia, spent in jail last May for failing to return a rented videotape: 2
10/91Ratio of the production cost of a Coca-Cola can to the production cost of the Coca-Cola it contains: 2:1
5/92Number of times a candidate other than Jerry Brown has brought up the S&L crisis during the national debates: 0
Number of times any candidate has mentioned homelessness during the debates: 2
5/92Percentage by which the likelihood of a child becoming obese increases for every hour of TV watched per day: 2
8/92Number of subscribers to Surfer Magazine who live in Saudi Arabia: 2
8/92Rank of Pat Paulsen, among candidates winning the most votes in North Dakota’s Republican primary in June: 2
8/92Number of the 3 items looted from the Frederick’s of Hollywood Museum in L.A. last April that have been returned: 2
9/92Ratio of the number of Republican Party staffers engaged in negative research to Democratic staffers who are: 2:1
10/92Ratio of the number of times President Bush has had his hair cut this year to the number of times Bill Clinton has: 2:1
11/92Chances that a director of a failed S&L has been sued by the Resolution Trust Corporation: 1 in 30
12/92Ratio of American marriages between black men and white women to those between black women and white men: 2:1
2/93Ratio of rats to people in Washington, D.C.: 2:1
6/93Number of Baghdad’s eight daily newspapers that are controlled by Saddam Hussein’s son: 2
7/93Ratio of Japanese schools playing the national anthem on the first day of classes in 1992 to those that did in 1985: 2:1
11/93Ratio of the number of wild turkeys in the United States to the number of wild-turkey hunters: 2:1
12/93Ratio of Americans who say health care is the nation’s most important problem to those who say crime and violence are: 2:1
4/94Number of the four most highly paid sports figures worldwide last year who are race-car drivers: 2
4/94Number of Married … with Children scripts about TV violence rejected by the Fox network last year: 2
7/94Factor by which the likelihood that a U.S. heart-attack victim will receive surgery exceeds that of a Canadian: 2
9/94Number of paramedics on duty last fall for the speed-eating contest at the Artichoke Festival in Castroville, California: 2
Number of contestants who have ever required the Heimlich maneuver: 1
1/95Ratio of the number of U.S. police officers who commit suicide each year to the number killed in the line of duty: 2:1
1/95Number of oceanographers conducting a study of the ducks’ dispersion as a measure of ocean currents: 2
1/95Distance between the Speaker of the House and the U.S. presidency, in heartbeats: 2
2/95Number of times Walter Cronkite has attended a Grateful Dead concert: 2
4/95Ratio of this year’s federal budget to the average annual budget during World War 11, in 1995 dollars: 2:1
4/95Ratio of Palestinians to Israelis killed in political violence since the signing of the self-rule accord in 1993: 2:1
5/95Rank of Georgia among states with the largest percentage of residents in prison, on parole, or on probation: 2
8/95Ratio of the price of the Los Angeles Times in South Central L.A. to the price in Orange County: 2:1
10/95Ratio of the number of doctors currently employed by the Pentagon to the maximum number required during wartime: 2:1
11/95Number of international human rights treaties the U.S. violated this year by allowing Alabama to reinstate chain gangs: 2
1/96Number of homemade sex videos in Penthouse magazine’s “Amateur” series: 2
1/96Ratio of the infant-mortality rate in Washington, D.C., to the rate in Havana: 2:1
4/96Ratio of the number of ob-gyns over the age of 64 who perform abortions to those under the age of 40 who do: 2:1
8/96Rank California dentists assign the trustworthiness of Bill Clinton’s smile as compared with that of Bob Dole’s: 2
9/96Rank of the elderly among age groups most likely to believe Bob Dole’s age would make him a “less able” president: 1
Days after Dole’s daughter was laid off from work last year that she began campaigning for her father: 2
1/97Years after Naomi Campbell said “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” that she posed for a 10-page fur spread in W magazine: 2
2/97Ratio of U.S. defense spending to the combined total spent by Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, and Libya: 2:1
2/97Number of times that the mother-in-law of Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry has run for president: 2
4/97Hours that 3 miles of Nebraska’s Route 83 were closed last fall when a truck carrying two nuclear bombs overturned: 2
4/97Number of Planet Hollywood franchises to be opened in the Middle East this year: 2
5/97Number of times Kermit the Frog has delivered a college graduation commencement address: 2
7/97Number of the four best-selling classical music albums of all time that are collections put out by Victoria’s Secret: 2
7/97Number of years British Prime Minister Tony Blair served as lead singer of the rock band Ugly Rumours: 2
12/97Number of years federal law limited congressional campaign spending before this was ruled unconstitutional in 1976: 2
4/98Months after Martin Luther King Jr. publicly called the U.S. the “world’s greatest purveyor of violence ” that he was killed: 2
4/98Ratio of the net worth of the richest 1 percent of U.S. households to the size of the national debt: 2:1
5/98Price a San Francisco hotel charges guests per one-minute phone session with its on-call psychotherapist: $2
5/98Factor by which the average suicide rate in a city where gambling is legal exceeds that in a city where it is not: 2
5/98Factor by which having an overweight parent increases a child’s chances of becoming obese: 2
8/98Ratio of highway spending Congress passed last May to the cost of gold-plating one lane of the U.S. interstate system: 2:1
8/98Factor by which the 1915 birth weight of Frank Sinatra exceeds the average weight of a baby born in New Jersey today: 2
10/98Minimum amount of salsa that USDA regulations allow a public school to offer as a serving of vegetables, in tablespoons: 2
11/98Number of days that an unauthorized visitor spent at a NASA mission control console during a launch last year: 2
12/98Ratio of U.N. back dues owed by the U.S. to total back dues owed by all other member countries combined: 2:1
12/98Number of Harvard fellowships endowed by members of Osama bin Laden’s family since 1992: 2
12/98Number of years it took before Disney ‘s planned community of Celebration, Florida, experienced its first violent crime: 2
12/98Percentage of Russians who say they have confidence that Boris Yeltsin can run the country: 2
12/98Rank of “office too hot” among white-collar employees’ most common workplace complaints: 2
Rank of “office too cold”: 1
1/99Months after boxing promoter Don King was acquitted of fraud last year that he took his jurors to the Bahamas: 2
2/99Average number of daily deaths per 10,000 that constitutes an internationally recognized “emergency”: 2
4/99Ratio of Americans who say they trust TV news magazines to those who say they trust print news magazines: 2:1
5/99Number of the 25 species seriously affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez Alaskan oil spill that have fully recovered: 2
5/99Number of independent-counsel investigations since 1978 whose prosecutors and targets have not been made public: 2
6/99Number of spare parts that NASA retrieved from an Alabama museum last March to use on a space shuttle: 2
6/99Ratio of husbands who say they fell in love with their spouse at first sight to wives who say this: 2:1
6/99Estimated maximum number of hours that a male june bug will cling to its partner after copulation: 2
7/99Percentage by which the incidence of skin cancer rises for every 1 percent decrease in the size of the ozone layer: 2
9/99Points by which the national Nielsen rating of the 1999 Women’s World Cup exceeded that of the NBA Finals: 2
10/99Number of times CBS’s press release for Jesus, the miniseries, mentions the “billions” of Christians He inspired: 2
11/99Margin by which the ten-member Kansas Board of Education voted to drop human evolution from the curriculum this year: 2
Number of presidential candidates besides Bill Bradley who have publicly criticized the Kansas board’s decision: 0