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| Illustrations by Rod Clement |
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The chance that a human being alive today is a refugee: 1 in 318
Source: United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (Geneva)
Estimated number of human-rights violators in foreign nations now living in the United States: 1,000
Source: Amnesty International (New York City)
Rank of measles among diseases that kill the most children worldwide each year and can be prevented by vaccine: 1
Cost of vaccinating the 745,000 children who died from the disease in 2001: $558,750
Source: World Health Organization (Geneva)
Number of terrorism indictments brought between September 2001 and August 2003 by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey: 62
Number of indictments brought against Middle Eastern students for paying others to take their English proficiency tests: 60
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office (Newark, N.J.)
Percentage of cases of communicable diseases that California medical professionals are required to report that go unreported: 80
Source: California HealthCare Foundation (Oakland)
Minimum number of chronic medical disorders linked to exposure to industrial chemicals: 110
Source: Natural Resources Defense Council (San Francisco)
Number of different strains of tuberculosis whose DNA has been catalogued by a New Jersey microbiologist: 17,000
Source: Public Health Research Institute Tuberculosis Center (Newark, New Jersey)
Average quality-of-life rating researchers assign to U.S. children with cancer, on a scale of 1 to 100: 69
Average quality-of-life rating assigned to U.S. children with obesity: 67
Source: Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, University of California, San Diego
Number of candy-bar wrappers that Cadbury's anti-obesity campaign offers to exchange for a basketball: 90
Source: Cadbury (Birmingham, United Kingdom)
Minimum hours of playing basketball required for an 40 kg child to burn off the calories from that many candy bars: 100
Source: Samantha Heller, New York University Medical Center (New York City)
Percentage of male U.S. drivers who 'often' or 'sometimes' steer with their legs: 12
Source: Maritz Research Inc. (Fenton, Missouri)
Percentage change in central London's average rush-hour car speed since a GBP5 toll was imposed there in February: +111
Source: Transport for London (London)
Number of U.S. state of Wisconsin accounting students given take-home tests to accommodate an Enron whistle-blower's April 2003 speech: 78
Number of those students later found to have cheated: 40
Source: Prof. John Eichenseher, University of Wisconsin (Madison)
Number of paragraphs devoted to global warming in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 600-page 'Draft Report on the Environment' for 2003: 1
Number of paragraphs removed by the White House before publication: 5
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Washington, D.C.)
Estimated amount spent on lap dances in Las Vegas in 2003: $25,000,000
Source: Las Vegas Dancers Alliance
Total child support that went unpaid in Clark County, Nevada (where Las Vegas is located) in 2003: $63,100,000
Source: Nevada Child Support Enforcement Program (Carson City, Nevada)
Number of U.S. states that have revoked helmet requirements for adult motorcycle riders since 1975: 30
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Washington, D.C.)
The number of U.S. states where it is legal to drive while drinking: 3
Source: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (Irving, Texas)
Percentage of pedestrian fatalities on U.S. roadways last year in which the driver was drunk: 18
Percentage in which the pedestrian was drunk: 37
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Washington, D.C.)
Ratio of the estimated number of people killed worldwide by war last year to the number killed by traffic: 1:4
Source: World Health Organization (Geneva)
Number of countries to which the U.S. sent troops between 1900 and 1993 for the purpose of establishing democracy: 14
Number that were democracies ten years after the withdrawal of U.S. forces: 4
Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (Washington, D.C.)
Ratio of Kosovo residents to Western peacekeepers there in 1999: 40:1
Ratio of Afghanistan residents to Western peacekeepers there now: 5,000:1
Source: United Nations (New York City/NATO Integrated Data Service (Brussels)
Average age at which United Kingdom residents believe that adulthood begins: 20
Source: Mayfair Research (London)
Average age at which Australian residents believe that adulthood begins: 20
Source: O'Rourke Research (Sydney)
Average age at which American residents believe that adulthood begins: 26
Source: National Opinion Research Center (Chicago)
Chance that an American believes that 'suicide is an acceptable solution in certain circumstances': 1 in 4
Source: Harris Interactive (Rochester, New York)
Chance that an Australian believes that 'suicide is an acceptable solution in certain circumstances': 1 in 2
Source: O'Rourke Research (Sydney)
Number of the three drugs used for U.S. executions that are banned from use in animal euthanasia: 1
Source: Amnesty International (Washington, D.C./U.S. Federal Drug Administration (Rockville, Maryland)
The number of Canadian prison inmates who overdosed in March 2003 on the methadone-laced vomit of fellow prisoners: 2
The number of prison inmates charged with drug trafficking for providing the vomit: 3
Source: Saskatchewan Department of Corrections (Regina, Saskatchewan)The last year in which no film, screenplay, or performance relating to mental illness was nominated for an Academy Award: 1953
Source: Harper's Magazine, June 2003
The ratio of the top weekly fee paid to a Munchkin in 1939's 'The Wizard of Oz' compared to the weekly fee paid for Dorothy's dog Toto: 4:5
Source: Turner Classic Movies (Atlanta)
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