Get Access to Print and Digital for $23.99 per year.
Subscribe for Full Access

Chance that an [Race|African American] who is a [NewYork|New York State] resident today lives below the [Poverty|poverty] level

: 1 in 4

Number of World War I battleships said to have been built from the steel donated by U.S. [Women|women] from their [Fashion|corsets]

: 2

Year in which Marie Antoinette convinced [France|France’s] King Louis XVI to declare that all [Fashion|handkerchiefs] be square

: 1785

Percentage of the [France|French] government’s 1788 expenditures that went to support the court at Versailles

: 6

Percentage that went to finance [War|war] [Finance|debt] resulting from [France|France’s] support of the [Imperialism|colonies] in the [FoundingFathers|American Revolution]

: 50

Votes by which 18th-century U.S. lawmakers rejected [Crime|outlawing] [Slavery|slavery] in all future states beyond the original thirteen

: 1

Estimated number of [Slavery|anti-slavery] petitions sent to [Congress|Congress] between 1835 and 1836

: 500

Factor by which the [Constitution|Constitution] allowed a state to count its [Slavery|slaves] when allocating House seats and electoral votes

: 3/5

Chance that a [NewYork|New York State] resident in [FoundingFathers|1776] was a [Slavery|slave]

: 1 in 7

Amount by which it had changed by the year 1700

: +$31

Number of [Africa|African] languages added to the Census Bureau Language Program since [1990s|1990]

: 5

Year in which [SouthAfrica|South Africa’s] Natal Law Society apologized for trying to thwart [Gandhi|Mohandas K. Gandhi’s] law practice there

: 1999

Approximate year in which [Asia|Asia] had its first recorded trade [Economics|deficit] with [Europe|Europe]

: 1835

Percentage change in the value of [India|India’s] cotton exports between 1815 and 1832

: ???92

Percentage change in the amount of [Britain|British] cotton products [India|India] imported during the same period

: +1,500

Estimated number of pairs of [Fashion|gloves] owned by [RoyalFamily|Elizabeth I]

: 2,000

Estimated gross [Economics|global product per capita] in the year 1000

: $133

Number of [Banking|U.S. banks] in [1920s|1921], [1930s|1933], and [1990s|1999], respectively

: 30,456, 14,207, 8,675

Percentage change in the average amount of cloth required to [Fashion|clothe] a U.S. [Women|woman] between [1910s|1913] and [1920s|1928]

: ???64

Estimated number of people today who live on [Poverty|less than $30 per month]

: 1,300,000,000

Rank of the [Africa|African] king of [Mali|Mali] among 14th-century rulers most noted for their [Wealth|riches] by a [Majorca|Majorcan] mapmaker

: 1

Estimated number of years by which the earliest known [Africa|African] ironwork predates [Europe|Europe’s] Iron Age

: 1,800

Number of ships that sailed in the first expedition of Cheng Ho, the 15th-century [China|Chinese] explorer

: 287

Minimum number of countries Cheng Ho visited over the course of his seven voyages

: 30

Years by which new evidence suggests that the age of the first human migration to the [NorthAmerica|Americas] should be increased

: 20,000

Percentage of the world’s land that was claimed by centralized sovereign governments in 1500

: 21

Number of years after [Religion|Jews] settled in [China|China] that they were first allowed to live in [Russia|Russian] territory

: 1,045

Months after publishing _ [Labor|The Communist Manifesto] _ that [Communism|Karl Marx] became editor of a [Media|newspaper] funded by [Business|industrialists]

: 2

Months’ worth of salary lost by [Entertainment|Groucho Marx] in [1920s|1929’s] stock [Business|market] crash

: 28

Miles that Leif Eriksson [Transportation|sailed] from his [Fatherhood|father’s] home in [Greenland|Greenland] before “[Mendacity|discovering]‚” [NorthAmerica|North America] in 985

: 230

Chances that a person who has died of [AIDS|AIDS] since then has died in sub-Saharan [Africa|Africa]

: 4 in 5

Year in which the [NewYorkTimes|New York Times] first reported a “Rare [AIDS|Cancer] Seen in 41 [Homosexuality|Homosexuals]‚”

: 1981

Year in which a [Medicine|medical] dictionary defined heterosexuality as an “[Sex|abnormal or perverted appetite]‚” for the opposite sex

: 1901

Chance that a [Women|woman] under the age of 40 did

: 1 in 12

Number of dodo heads successfully preserved since the [Bird|birds] ‘ extinction in [1600s|1638]

: 1

Chance that a U.S. [Women|woman] over the age of 40 [Sex|made love] in her [Fashion|clothes] in the [1940s|1940s]

: 1 in 3

Rank of “crush[ing] your enemies … and hear[ing] the lamentations of the [Women|women]‚” among [ArnoldSchwarzenegger|Conan the Barbarian’s]

: 1

Rank of “shed[ding] my enemies’ blood and wring[ing] tears from their [Women|women]‚” among [Mongols|Genghis Khan’s] greatest joys

: 1

Number of U.S. [Nuclear|nuclear bombs] currently on “high alert‚”

: 2,380

Number of false alarms of [Nuclear|nuclear missile attacks] generated by the U.S. early warning system between [1970s|1977] and [1980s|1984]

: 20,784

Number of [NewYorkCity|New York City] [Child|children] issued Civil Defense [Dog|dog] tags by [1950s|1952] to identify them after a [Nuclear|nuclear] attack

: 2,500,000

[Hours|Hours] required to assemble a prefabricated [Folly|nuclear-bomb shelter], according to a [1960s|1961] Life [Magazine|magazine] cover story

: 4

Chances that one of the 49 armed conflicts fought worldwide since [1990s|1990] relied exclusively on [Firearms|small arms]

: 9 in 10

Chance that a 16th-century Aztec was [Death|killed] by [Smallpox|smallpox]

: 1 in 2

Chance that a 14th-century [Europe|European] was [Death|killed] by [Disease|bubonic plague]

: 1 in 4

Number of pharmacies in the [Cambodia|Cambodian] city of Angkor Thom in the 13th century

: 102

Number of [China|Chinese] engineers who accompanied the [Mongols|Mongol] Khan Hul?gu on his siege of [Iraq|Baghdad] in 1257

: 1,000

Year in which [China|China] introduced the first paper [Money|currency]

: 1022

Years after [Portugal|Portuguese] adventurers brought [Gun|guns] to [Japan|Japan] in 1543 that Japan owned more [Gun|guns] than any other country

: 57

Estimated number of [Japan|Japanese] peasant uprisings in the following 268 years under the Tokugawa regime

: 3,000

Number of major [Europe|European] peasant revolutions begun between 1809 and 1848

: 8

Number of these that were begun in the name of the [CatholicFaith|Catholic Church] or to reinstate a deposed monarch

: 7

Number of [Religion|popes] stabbed, strangled, or poisoned to [Death|death] in the last three decades of the 10th century

: 5

Percentage of the 14,000 [Bulgaria|Bulgar] survivors of the 1014 [War|battle at Kleidion] who were blinded by the victorious Byzantines

: 99

Ratio of the number of [Army|U.S. soldiers] who died from [Disease|disease] during World War I to those who died in combat

: 1:1

Chance that a [Business|soldier] who died in [War|combat] in the 20th century was American

: 1 in 72

Chance that a civilian who died in a 20th-century [War|war] was American

: 1 in 62,000

Estimated percentage increase since then in the number of [Buddhism|Buddhists]

: 4,275

Estimated number of [Slavery|serfs] Catherine the Great gave away as gifts

: 45,000

Number of Americans now [Jobs|employed] as “ [Slavery|serfs] ‚” or “[Prostitute|wenches]‚” at Medieval Times [Entertainment|entertainment] complexes in the U.S.

: 1,400

Number of people who have been to [Space|space]

: 390

Number of the [Space|universe’s] spatial dimensions of which [Science|physicists] now believe we are unaware

: 7

Age at which [Science|Albert Einstein] spoke his first words

: 3

Estimated amount lost by [Science|Isaac] Newton in South Sea [Finance|stock] speculation in the 1720s

: $2,000,000

[Days|Days] of imprisonment and [Torture|torture] undergone by Niccol? Machiavelli after falling out of favor with the Medicis in 1513

: 28

Number of years later that his [Literature|book] The Prince was published, with a dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici

: 19

Factor by which [Microsoft|Microsoft’s] average monthly [Democracy|campaign contribution] in [1990s|1999] exceeded its monthly contribution in 1995

: 8

Number of the ten largest multinational [Business|corporations] that produce [Transportation|automobiles] or [Gasoline|gasoline]

: 9

Percentage change since [1990s|1990] in the number of [Prison|prison] beds in privately owned or managed U.S. prisons

: +856

Year in which the word “homesick‚” was coined

: 1798

Number of years between the invention of the first [Technology|photocopier technology] in [1930s|1938] and the first commercial-copier sale

: 21

Pounds of armor worn by a [War|European] knight in the 11th and 13th centuries, respectively

: 71, 90

Estimated percentage increase since 1000 in the number of [Christianity|Christians], [Islam|Muslims], and [Hinduism|Hindus], respectively

: 2,450, 2,300, 1,025

Percentage of [Islam|Muslims] who were Shiites in 1000 and percentage who are Shiites today, respectively

: 5, 14

Portion of the [Islam|Islamic] world that was controlled by Shiites in 1000

: 1/2

Percentage change in enrollment in [College|college]-level [Arab|Arabic] and [Religion|Biblical] Hebrew courses

: +44.7

Percentage change in enrollment in [Education|U.S. college-level] [France|French] and [Germany|German] courses since [1990s|1995]

: ???4.5

Number of the world’s 6,000 living languages that are indigenous to [PapuaNewGuinea|Papua New Guinea]

: 1,000

Percentage who believe that the teaching of [Evolution|evolution] should be required

: 28

Percentage of Americans who believe that [Sex|sex] [Education|education] should be a required school subject

: 60

Number of pages accumulated in the [FBI|FBI’s] [Sex|Sex Deviates] file by the time the program was abandoned in [1970s|1977]

: 330,000

Average annual number of copies produced per American six years later

: 52

Factor by which the estimated size of the [Science|universe] has been increased since [1900s|1900]

: 1,000,000

Estimated number that can [Dance|dance] in a row across a pinhead’s diameter, “Rockettes-style‚”

: 1032

Estimated number of [Religion|angels] that can [Dance|dance] on the head of a pin, according to the American Institute of [Physics|Physics]

: 1064

[Days|Days] of peace the emir claimed to have known in his lifetime

: 14

Number of [Women|women] in his [Prostitute|harem]

: 6,300

Pounds of [Cookery|meat] consumed daily by the household of the 10th-century emir of Cordova

: 13,000

Estimated [GeorgeWBush|bushels] of [Economics|maize] paid annually to the Aztec rulers of the city of Tenochtitl?n by their subjects

: 210,000

Inches by which today’s largest [Agriculture|corncobs] exceed the length of those grown in [Mexico|Mexico] in 1500

: 12

Estimated number of non-native [Animal|species] that have entered the [NorthAmerica|North American] ecosystem since 1500

: 50,000

Acres of [Marijuana|hemp] grown by “patriotic‚” U.S. [Agriculture|farmers] in [1940s|1942] at the behest of the U.S. government

: 36,000

Estimated number of years that [Virginia|Virginia] used [Vice|tobacco] as a [Currency|currency]

: 200

Percentage change since then in the U.S. [Death|death] rate for all [Disease|cancers] except that of the lung

: ???20

Percentage change since [1930s|1930] in the annual U.S. [Death|death] rate for [Cancer|cancer]

: +11

Projected rank of [Heart|heart] [Disease|disease] and severe [Sadness|depression] among the leading causes of [Death|death] and disability in 2020

: 1,2
Close
“An unexpectedly excellent magazine that stands out amid a homogenized media landscape.” —the New York Times
Subscribe now

Debug