25 October 2020

Harper's Index #8

Some of these date back to the magazine issues of the 1990s.

Rank of Father’s Day among days on which the largest number of collect calls are made:  1

Rank of flowers, perfume, and fire extinguishers among Mother’s Day gifts Americans consider “v. appropriate”:  1-3


Percentage of Americans who say that women “sometimes deserve to be hit by their husbands or boyfriends: 12

Percentage who say that men “sometimes deserve to be hit by their wives or girlfriends”: 29


Number of students enrolled in “The Films of Keanu Reeves,” a course offered at a Pasadena arts college:  15

Percentage of all magazines on US newsstands last year that went unsold:  57

Ratio of the average speed of growth of human hair to the average speed of growth of Kentucky bluegrass:  1:7

Maximum flying speed of a dragonfly, in miles per hour:  30

Number of federal workers employed full-time to manage national-security documents: 32,397

Estimated number of standard-sized helium balloons required to lift a ten-year old off the ground:  2,450

Number of the world’s 20 most populous cities that meet WHO clean-air standards:  0

Number of IUDs on display at Toronto’s new Museum on the History of Contraception:  319

Number of phrases spoken by Mattel’s new Super Talk Barbie:  100,000

Pounds of tomatoes used in the “battle” at the Festival de la Tomatina, in Spain:  880,000

Amount for which a woman is suing the Pennsylvania lottery commission because she has never won:  $1,500,000


Number of major league baseball players since 1876 who hit a home run the first time at bat:  69

Number of the 55 no longer playing who never hit another:  11


Price of a 4 1/2 - pound steak dinner at Amarillo’s Big Texan Steak Ranch, if consumed within an hour:  $0

Number of the 22,000 customers attempting this since 1960 who were successful:  4,200


Number of paramedics on duty last fall for the speed-eating contest at the Artichoke Festival in California:  2

Number of contestants who have ever required the Heimlich maneuver:  1


Number of months of government-paid leave allowed Swedish parents:  12

Pounds of feed forced down a duck’s throat each day in the last month of its life to produce foie gras:  6

Tons of carbon dioxide produced by one US automobile in its lifetime:  42

Age, in years, of two sweet potatoes on display at the Potato Museum in Albuquerque, NM:  3,794

Gallons of hamburger grease sold by McDonald’s since 1955:  281,250,000

Height, in feet, of a West Virginia prison wall scaled by an escaping inmate using a cord made of dental floss:  18

Number of “offensive” words to be dropped from the 1995 Official Scrabble Dictionary:  100


Number of stories a New York City cat fell last June without sustaining serious injury:  46

Number of stories a cat must fall before reaching its maximum falling velocity of 60 mph:  5


Sheets of uncut dollar bills bought from the Treasury Dept for use as wrapping paper by a Japanese florist:  500
Rank of the local, state, and federal governments among the top three employers in Indianapolis:  1,2,3
Chances that a Santa Claus appearing in a mall this month has a college degree:  2 in 3
Price paid at auction this year for Elvis Presley’s American Express card:  $41,500
Estimated percentage of the $6.7 billion spent on Superfund cleanups since 1980 that has gone to lawyers:  85
Rank of Missouri among states with the greatest number of deaths [per capita]each year caused by hot weather:  1
Membership of the British Sausage Appreciation Society:  10,000
Number of women asked to leave an exhibit of Rubens nudes on Ohio because they were breast-feeding:  1
Pentagon spending 1992 on unnecessary items due to inventory errors, according to GAO:  $40,000,000,000
Percentage of female congressional staffers who say they have been sexually harassed by a congressman:  11
Chances that an American over the age of 45 is taking a prescription drug:  2 in 3
Membership of Philadelphia’s Silent Meeting Club, at whose gatherings talking is forbidden:  80
Number of Donahue shows broadcast since 1967 devoted to transsexualism and cross-dressing:  16
Estimated number of Egyptians who are living in Cairo’s mausoleums:  500,000

Amount the federal government spent each day last year on “intelligence”:  $79,000,000
Percentage of US spies in E. Germany since 1948 who proved to be double agents, according to the CIA:  100

Hip measurement, in inches, of a size-eight dress sold in the United States last year:  38
Hip measurement of a size-eight dress sold sixty years ago:  33.5

Percentage of American colleges that do not require an American history course for graduation:  80
Number of US universities that have a Taco Bell Distinguished Professorship of Fast Service:  1
Number of abandoned nuclear reactors in the world’s oceans:  9
Pounds of toxic chemicals released during each space-shuttle launch:  77,000

p.s. - I'm working with a new platform for the blog and have no idea why it sometimes chooses to double-space after a carriage return.  It's maddening...

10 comments:

  1. > Average amount left by the tooth fairy in 1969, per tooth: 25c
    > Average amount left today: $3.30

    Inflation makes money worth roughly 7x less over that time period, so $0.25 would be worth $1.75 today, further evidence that the cost of healthcare is out of hand.

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  2. I find it advantageous to have double spacing after the carriage returns, leaves room for grooming and ... well, room to clear up other things left by the horses.

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  3. One of the numbers seemed off.. Missouri dues have heat-related deaths, but I don't think it could be near as many as some more southern states. Here is what I found:

    "Although Arizona, California, and Texas account for only approximately 23% of the U.S. population, these three states accounted for approximately one third (3,852; 37%) of heat-related deaths among U.S. residents."

    Source:
    https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6924a1.htm

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    Replies
    1. I created the post from my old typed notes, not from a link, so to look for an answer to your question I Googled the phrase in quotes and tracked it to the Harper's issue of May 1994. That sent me to a list of sources on page 83 of the issue, where the source is described as "Stephen Podewell and Susan Huizinga, Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo)." That was not linked, so I'm not going to chase it further. I would bet money that Missouri's #1 ranking is based on per-capita data.

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    2. Per-capita would make some sense.

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    3. In the 80s and summer heat routinely claimed 100+ lives every year in St Louis.
      I wasn't surprised to see that statistic at all

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  4. LOL @ "collect calls"

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  5. How can this possibly be true:

    "Percentage of the 15,500 US soldiers killed since 1979 whose deaths were combat-related: 3" ?

    Is the quote from before 2001?

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    Replies
    1. Good eye. That data was from 1994. I've taken it out, and will limit future listings to current or same-year issues.

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  6. I used to look forward to these and enjoyed them then as now.
    I just don't remember where I regularly read them and I didn't miss them until now.
    Thanks

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