Sharper’s Index

Gazette columnist B. Bea Sharper Ferrets Out the Facts that Harper’s Misses

B. Bee’s Third Series of Miscellaneous Number Wisdom

 

 

Amount that Americans spend annually on lawn equipment: $40, 000, 000, 000.

Number of chemicals estimated to be in use in the United States: 75.000.

Number of chemicals currently monitored under U.S. drinking water standards: 75.

Rank of cancer among the killers of children in the United States: #2.

Rank of automobile accidents among the killers of children in the United States: #1.

Estimated number of leaking underground gasoline storage tanks in Texas: 21,000.

Percentage of the 2,700 most widely used chemicals for which human health effects data exists: 7%.

Estimated percentage of violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act that are not reported: 90%.

Number of plastic bottles sold daily by the Coca Cola Company,  sponsor of national America Recycles Day: 20,000,000.

Number of these bottles that are made from recycled plastic: 0.

Year in which the United States Congress granted citizenship to Native North American Indians: 1924.

Number of the top ten U.S. counties for per capita marijuana arrests that are in Texas: 5.

Your chances of being arrested for a marijuana offense if you live in Hudspeth, Texas (population 3,079): 1 in 15.

Number of people killed worldwide each day by waterborne diseases: 25,000.

Amount of money pharmaceuticals companies have contributed to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) between 1993 and 2000: $26, 400,000.

Percentage of Americans over 12 who have Herpes: 21%.

Fraction of America’s prisoners at the turn of the century who were incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses: 1/4.

Approximate annual cost of incarcerating these non-violent drug prisoners: $9,400,000.000.

Number of words in Archimedes’ Principle: 6

Number of words in the Pythagorean theorem: 24.

Number of words in the Lord’s Prayer: 66.

Number of words in the Ten Commandments: 179.

Number of words in the Gettysburg Address: 286.

Number of words in the Declaration of Independence: 1,300.

Number of words in the U. S Government’s regulations on the sale of cabbage: 26,911.

Amount spent in 1999 by the National Institutes of Health on clinical research: $18.000.000.000.

Amount spent on clinical research during the same period by the top ten pharmaceuticals companies: $23.000.000.000.

Amount that Colin Powell was paid to give a mediocre address to the 1999 American Librarian Association Convention about “volunteerism:”: $70,000.

Annual earnings of General Motors for pay-per-view sex films aired through its DirectTV subsidiary: $200,000,000.

Percentage of Black men in the United States who are not allowed to vote because they are in jail or have a felony conviction: 13%.

Fraction of the world’s prisoner’s that are now behind bars in “the land of the free”: 1/4.

Day in January which should be made a national holiday because on that day in 2001 “Drug Czar” Barry McCaffrey’s resignation became effective: 6.

Total number of  U.S. marijuana arrests in 1999: 704,812.

Percentage of these arrests that were for simple possession: 88%.

Total number of marijuana arrests (a record for any U. S. presidency) made during the Clinton Administration: 4,175,357.

Number of families who, together, own 95% of the wealth of Mexico: 14.

Number of the poorest people in the world who now own almost as much wealth as the richest 350: 350,000,000.

Number of children made homeless by wars during the last 10 years: 30,000,000.

Number of people estimated to be slaves in the year 2,000: 27,000,000.

Year by which Time magazine predicted,  in 1966,  that production by  machines would in effect make everyone in the United States independently wealthy: 2000.

The hottest year ever recorded: 1998.

Second hottest year ever recorded: 2001.