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2003-08-23 - 8:20 p.m.

Harper's Index July 2003

Hours Alexander Hamilton spent in 1787 arguing at the Constitutional Convention that America should have a king : 5

Source: Prof. P. S. Ruckman, Rock Valley College (Rockford, Ill.)

Percentage by which a British flag maker's sales of U.S. flags in March exceeded those a year earlier : 25

Percentage by which its sales of Iraqi flags did : 10,000

Source: United Flag Traders (Swansea, U.K.)

Chance that an American lives full-time in an RV : 1 in 290

Source: Recreation Vehicle Industry Association (Reston, Va.)

Percentage of Americans who said at the end of April that their nation commanded less respect abroad than a year ago : 41

Percentage who said that the Iraq war will have been worthwhile even if Saddam Hussein is never captured or killed : 53

Source: CBS News poll (N.Y.C.)

Percentage who said it will have been worthwhile even if weapons of mass destruction are never found : 60

Source: CBS News poll (N.Y.C.)

Minimum number of Latin American residents whose personal data the U.S. government has bought since 2001 : 100,000,000

Source: ChoicePoint (Atlanta)

Number of presidents Argentina has had in the past two years : 6

Source: Embassy of Argentina (Washington)

Amount by which the number of government jobs in the U.S. exceeds the number of manufacturing jobs : 5,129,000

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Amount of the $106,185 price of a Hummer H1 that businesses may deduct under the proposed Bush tax plan : $88,722

Source: The White House (Washington)/ Harper's research

Number of Wisconsin accounting students given take-home tests to accommodate an Enron whistle-blower's April speech : 78

Number later found to have cheated : 40

Source: Prof. John Eichenseher, University of Wisconsin (Madison)

Year in which Washington, D.C., neighbors of a WWI-era chemical-weapons test site were told it was cleaned up : 1995

Tons of toxic soil that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has removed from the site since 2001 : 10,660

Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Baltimore)

Gallons of water that Boulder, Colorado, saved last year through a water-conservation program : 1,000,000,000

Source: City of Boulder Planning and Public Works (Boulder, Colo.)

Estimated percentage by which the sun's radiation has increased since 1980 : 0.1

Source: Richard Wilson, Columbia University (N.Y.C.)

Years by which the 1831 invention of the electric dynamo preceded the first documented use of the word "boredom" : 21

Source: Harper's research/Prof. Patricia M. Spacks, University of Virginia (Charlottesville)

Weekly wage above which new federal regulations forbid the payment of overtime in jobs requiring "talent" : $425

Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Estimated amount spent on lap dances in Las Vegas each year : $25,000,000

Source: Las Vegas Dancers Alliance

Number of years Neil Bush was married before asking his wife for a divorce via email last summer : 22

Source: Elite Model Management (N.Y.C.)/ Harper's research

Percentage of married U.S. couples that are raising children : 46

Percentage of unmarried, cohabiting U.S. couples that are : 41

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Vote in April by which the North Dakota Senate upheld the state's 1890 ban on cohabitation by unmarried couples : 26�21

Source: North Dakota Legislative Council Library (Bismarck)

Number of American states that have revoked helmet requirements for adult motorcycle riders since 1975 : 30

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (Washington)

Ratio of New York City's minimum fine for smoking tobacco in a bar to its minimum fine for possessing marijuana : 2:1

Source: Office of the Mayor (N.Y.C.)/New York County District Attorney's Office (N.Y.C.)

Number of Grateful Dead concerts attended by columnist Ann Coulter : 67

Source: William Morris Agency (N.Y.C)

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