Tuesday Trivia

These are some things I learned from Harper's (Sept. 2005):

Number of anti-globalization protesters who were tortured last year by Mexican officials: 19

In New York State, 79 percent of students graduate from high school in four years in districts that are majority-white; in districts in which the majority of students are black or Latino, only 40 percent of students graduate in four years.

Hedgehogs do not like tidy gardens.

Amount the U.S. spent last year on mosquito nets to fight malaria in Africa: $4 million.
Amount the U.S. paid a consultant to conduct "social marketing" of mosquito nets: $7.6 million

A physicist calculated that mass worldwide conversion to a vegetarian diet would do more to slow global warming than cutting back on oil and gas use.

Women are most likely to be unfaithful when they are ovulating.

A study of umbilical-cord blood from ten babies found an average of 200 industrial chemicals in each child.

Postwar Kosovo has received 23 times the amount of international reconstruction aid that postwar Afghanistan has received. Kosovo has 24 times the number of peacekeeping troops as Afghanistan. According to the CIA World Factbook, Afghanistan has more than 6 times the land mass and nearly 3 times the population of Kosovo (Serbia and Montenegro). In Kosovo, at least 70 percent of the population is Christian; in Afghanistan, at least 99 percent of the population is not.