Number of U.S. presidents since 1860 whose party controlled both houses of Congress by the third year of their first term : 12

Number of these presidents whose party already controlled both houses : 10

Number whose bid for reelection failed : 1

Chances that a U.S. House or Senate race last year was won by the candidate whose campaign spent the most : 9 in 10

Number of "third" parties whose candidates won state legislative seats last year : 5

Portion of the eight seats they won accounted for by Progressive Party candidates in Vermont : 1/2

Number of states that use nonpartisan commissions to draw new congressional districts : 6

Number of Louisiana's last three elected insurance commissioners convicted of corruption : 3

Percentage change since 1998 in the number of federal convictions for health-care fraud : +43

Chance that a drug dose prescribed to a U.S. hospital patient is either administered improperly or forgotten : 1 in 5

Chances that a Rwandan woman raped during the 1994 genocide is now HIV-positive : 2 in 3

Estimated number of women killed as witches in Tanzania each year : 500

Ratio of Americans killed by Timothy McVeigh and the D.C. snipers to those killed in Gulf War combat : 5:4

Ratio of kilotonnage of U.S. bombs dropped during the Gulf War to that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima : 7:1

Number of countries that supplied both sides during the Iran-Iraq war : 10

Number of these that are among the world's five largest arms-manufacturing countries : 4

Percentage of federal discretionary spending in 2001 devoted to "homeland security" or the Department of Defense : 51

Percentage of the $1.1 trillion in Iraqi oil contracts that are held by French or Russian companies : 69

Price charged by a Ukrainian company for a half-day tour of the Chernobyl nuclear-plant site : $460

Number of years that a former Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India, has been leaking toxic chemicals : 18

Estimated number of people who have died there since then as a result : 20,000

Years since criminal charges were filed against him in 1991 that Union Carbide's former CEO has been in hiding : 11

Ratio of net profit earned by U.S. airlines since 1970 to federal subsidies given the industry since September 2001 : 1:1

Minimum number of box cutters taken from U.S. airline passengers since last February : 34,777

Minutes that a Massachusetts surgeon left a patient with an open incision in July while he went to deposit a check : 35

Chance that a doctor laughs along with a patient's laughter : 1 in 10

Chances that a doctor shows no response : 7 in 10

Percentage of Gulf War veterans reporting chronic postwar symptoms who share a single bacterial infection : 40

Minimum number of locals hired to act as Arabs heckling U.S. troops during an army war game in California last year : 15

Number of Arabic linguists fired by the U.S. Army since August for being gay : 7

Retail price Mattel suggests that toy stores assign its Lingerie Barbie, dressed in "merry widow" or "peek-a-boo" style : $45

Percentage change since 1990 in the number of U.S. schoolchildren labeled "disabled" : +37

Percentage of U.S. high schools receiving federal aid whose students' contact information the army sought last fall : 100

Average amount of aid each school district stands to lose if its schools do not supply the information : $762,083

Page of the No Child Left Behind education law passed last year on which this new requirement is noted : 559

Rank of Michael Moore's Stupid White Men among the New York Times's top "business" bestsellers in September : 1

Years after rapper Chuck D called Elvis Presley "straight-out racist" that he claimed "a great deal of respect" for him : 14

Factor by which the number of Americans who have "tried to impersonate Elvis" exceeds the population of Tennessee : 3

Rank of Mom, Dad, and Rudolph Giuliani among those whom recent college graduates say they most wish to emulate : 1, 2, 3

Chances that a U.S. adult does not want to live to be 120 under any circumstances : 2 in 3