December 2002

Number of names on the State Department's list of "suspected terrorists" : 70,000

Number of times George W. Bush has said Osama bin Laden's name in public since July 8 : 0

Hours after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld learned Bin Laden was a suspect that he sought reasons to "hit" Iraq : 2.5

Percentage by which the Pentagon's September order for sunblock exceeded its last largest such order : 70

Rank of Israel and Turkey among nations in violation of the largest number of U.N. Security Council resolutions : 1, 2

Number of Kurdish members of Turkey's parliament jailed in 1994 when their party was declared illegal there : 7

Number still in prison : 4

Number of Turkish college students detained in the last year for requesting Kurdish-language classes : 1,146

Organizers' estimated attendance at this fall's largest peace rallies in London and New York, respectively : 400,000, 25,000

Estimated attendance according to police in each city : 150,000, 12,000

Number of estimates cited in each rally's coverage in the London Times and the New York Times, respectively : 2, 0

Minutes that service on two New York subway lines was halted this fall after a Sikh worker was seen emerging from a hatch : 92

Amount Colombia paid civilians for informing on rebels in its first five weeks of recruiting this year : $340,000

Percentage of the 223 trade unionists reported murdered or missing worldwide last year who worked in Colombia : 88

Number of "sub-harm" suicide "gestures" made this year by detainees held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay : 30

Minimum number of times the United States has deployed troops abroad in its 226-year history : 277

Number of days that the CIA's museum is open to the public each year : 0

Number of countries that use the U.S. dollar as currency : 10

Number of other countries whose currency is effectively pegged to the dollar : 34

Ratio of the annual tariffs that developed nations impose on one another to those they impose on developing nations : 1:4

Minimum percentage change since last year in Afghanistan's opium production : +1,000

Pounds of weapons-grade uranium reported to have been seized in September from a taxi in Turkey : 33

Ounces of black sand that the container--labeled "primarily youranuom"--actually contained : 0.2

Factor by which the cruising speed of NASA's new hypersonic cruise-missile engine exceeds that of previous missiles : 9.5

Percentage by which the speed of light has decreased in the last 20 billion years, according to Australian scientists : 0.0007

Average number of miles by which the magnetic North Pole moves each year : 25

Year in which the ozone hole over Antarctica is expected to close as a result of reduced chlorofluorocarbon use : 2050

Percentage change since 1980 in the per-watt cost of solar energy in the United States : �87

Days it takes an adult in Los Angeles to breathe in more air pollution than EPA guidelines recommend for a lifetime : 25

Average number of people killed per week by a sniper operating in suburban Maryland and Virginia this fall : 3

Average number of homicides per week during the same period in Washington, D.C. : 7

Percentage of Americans surveyed who say they refused to participate in a survey during the past year : 44

Percentage of those contacted for this survey who refused to participate in it : 60

Fee that Sprint PCS charges its "credit-challenged" customers each time they speak with a live representative : $3

Chances of getting a hotel room in Bethlehem on Christmas in 2000 and 2001, respectively : 0, 9 in 10

Chance that a Bethlehem hotel expects to be open this Christmas : 1 in 5

Rank of a burning Yule-log video loop among the top-rated 8-10 a.m. TV shows in New York City last Christmas : 1

Price of a child's personal ATM from FAO Schwarz last year : $20,000

Chances that a child fed "booger"-flavored jelly beans at a trade show this fall said they tasted like the real thing : 4 in 5