Tuesday, January 23

Humorous or poignant statistics for january from Harper's (via Robot Wisdom). I particularly enjoyed:

Number of last year's top ten soft-money donors that contributed to both major parties : 6
Ratio of public housing units built in Jewish communities in Israel since 1975 to those built in Arab communities : 337:1
Number of land mines per square mile left behind in southern Lebanon by Israeli forces when they withdrew last May : 376
Number of studies showing that the death penalty is a deterrent, according to Attorney General Janet Reno : 0
Percentage of the U.S. budget devoted to foreign developmental aid in 1962 and 2000, respectively : 3, 0.5
Ratio of Zambia's foreign-debt payments in 1999 to what it is projected to pay this year under proposed debt relief : 2:3
Percentage of the G-8 countries' combined military budgets it would take to halve the world's TB cases by 2010 : 0.4

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