---More Statistics---
Number of pages of documents related to the Iran-Contra investigation that are still sealed : 4,630,000
Source: National Archives and Records Administration (College Park, Md.)
Estimated number of Americans who listen to Oliver North's weekly radio show : 2,000,000
Source: Radio America (Washington)
Ratio of the number of pardons granted by President Clinton to the number granted by President Reagan : 1:2 Ratio of the number granted by President Reagan to the number granted by President Eisenhower : 1:3
Source: Office of the Pardon Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice
Years before being nominated as South Carolina's U.S. attorney in January that Strom Thurmond's son graduated law school : 3
Source: University of South Carolina Law School (Columbia)
Average years of legal experience that a current state's U.S. attorney acquired before taking the job : 18
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
Number of search warrants filed to discover AOL subscribers' identities in 1998 and 2000, respectively : 171, 390
Source: Clerk of the County Court, Loudoun County (Leesburg, Va.)
Average percentage by which a Wall Street analyst's high-tech-earnings forecast in early 1999 was incorrect : 44 Average percentage by which an amateur stock website's forecast was incorrect : 21
Source: Bloomberg News (N.Y.C.)
Chance that a page in the middle-school textbook Science Insights contains a serious factual error : 1 in 10
Source: David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Los Altos, Calif.)
Percentage of Americans who believe that "following your own conscience" is a mark of a strong character : 97 Percentage who believe that "obeying those in positions of authority" is : 92
Source: Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
Percentage of TV investigative reporters and editors who say that an advertiser has tried to kill one of their stories : 60
Source: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (N.Y.C.)
Chance that a page in this year's February/March issue of Bride's magazine had editorial content on it : 1 in 7
Source: Harper's research
Estimated percentage of Maxim readers who live with their parents : 22
Source: Mediamark Research (N.Y.C.)
Average age at which an American believes his or her physical attractiveness peaks : 38 Percentage of U.S. adults who say they are at least "somewhat satisfied" with their physical appearance : 88 Percentage of U.S. adults who have undergone cosmetic surgery who say this : 70
Source: AARP (Washington)
Length, in millimeters, of an I.D. microchip that Singapore now implants in the necks of all imported dogs : 13
Source: Efre Far East (Singapore)
Minimum number of Las Vegas casinos that use face-recognition technology to identify known card cheats : 25
Source: Viisage Technology (Littleton, Mass.)
Percentage of total U.S. electrical consumption accounted for by commercial lighting : 11 Percentage of a U.S. home's electrical consumption accounted for by appliances that are switched off : 5
Source: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.)
Projected percentage by which the amount of electricity produced by U.S. wind turbines will change this year : +100
Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Golden, Colo.)
Factor by which the cost of China's Three Gorges Dam is expected to exceed its original $4.5 billion budget : 16 Estimated number of people who will be displaced by the dam's construction : 1,900,000
Source: International Rivers Network (Berkeley, Calif.)
Percentage of the victims of politically motivated murders in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, last year who were civilians : 90 Number of politically motivated murders there last year, per 100,000 residents : 270
Source: Center for International Policy (Washington) / Harper's research
Number of murders in New York City last year, per 100,000 residents : 9
Source: Harper's research
Percentage of local U.S. police departments that maintain a SWAT team : 77
Source: Dr. Peter B. Kraska, Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond)
Amount Houston reimbursed its mayor in January for a course he took in public speaking : $2,900
Source: Office of the Mayor, City of Houston (Houston, Tex.)
Compensation awarded a 30-year-old Australian in February for corporal punishment he suffered in high school : $1,500,000
Source: Supreme Court of New South Wales (Sydney)
Fine that Israel imposed on a Jewish settler in January for clubbing an 11-year-old Palestinian boy to death : $17,500 Months of community service to which he was also sentenced : 6
Source: Consulate-General of Israel (N.Y.C.)
Distance from Auschwitz, in miles, of a camp tannery in which an investor group proposed opening a disco in 1999 : 2 Months after the plan was shelved due to protest that another was approved, allowing a disco to open there last August : 4
Source: Simon Wiesenthal Center (Paris)
Number of visitors since 1999 to a Lithuanian theme park depicting life in a Stalinist gulag : 100,000
Source: Hesona Club (Druskininkai, Lithuania)
Number of pairs of Imelda Marcos's shoes on display in the Philippines' new shoe museum : 200
Source: Office of Tourism and Cultural Affairs (Marikina, Philippines)
Estimated number of "crush films" involving live rodents and high-heeled women seized from a New York man in 1999 : 70 Hours of community service at an animal shelter to which he was sentenced last December : 280
Source: Suffolk County Probation Office (Yaphank, N.Y.)
Days after a rare turtle died in Miami last spring that a local aquarium staff member made it into a soup : 1
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (Palm Beach)
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