12/87Average amount of time a child spends in Santa Claus’s lap at Macy’s (in seconds): 37
12/87Number of U.S. cities and towns named Santa Claus: 3
1/99Chance that a Jewish Jerusalemite agrees that sovereignty over the city’s holy sites “ultimately belongs to God ”: 1 in 3
Chances that a Palestinian Jerusalemite believes this: 2 in 3
12/00Rank of Bill Clinton among the “most important people in the world today,” according to U.S. schoolchildren: 1
Rank of the Pope, J. K. Rowling, and God, respectively: 2, 13, 19
Rank of “myself”: 11
10/02Size in acres of a billboard that a Chinese town is constructing next to its ancient giant Buddha: 10
6/04Chances that God exists, according to a British physicist working as a risk analyst in Ohio: 2 in 3
12/06Number of worldwide incidents last Christmas of “Santarchy,” which involves roving mobs of unruly Santas: 29