The Page That Counts :: Winter 2001

Decrease in the average working vocabulary of a 14-year-old over the last 50 years: 10,000 words
Fraction of the roughly 6,000 languages now spoken that linguists predict
will survive to the year 2050: less than half 1

Recorded number of edible insect species: 1,4622

Percentage of magazines printed in the US that are never sold: 50 3

Number of unsolicited offers sent out by the US credit card industry in 1997: 3.1 billion
Number of solicitations per US household this equals: 30
Percentage of total revenue that credit card issuers earn from interest paid by borrowers who do not pay in full each month: 75 4

Number of visits to the mall consumers made per month in 1998: 3
Amount of money the typical shopper spent per trip: $65
Percentage of last year's consumers who reported foregoing the mall
to shop at their local neighborhood store: 21 3

Percentage of teens wearing clothes with the Eminem logo who say they obey their parents' curfew: 81
Percentage of teens wearing clothes with the Christina Aguilera logo
who say they obey their parents' curfew: 34 5

Diameter of the holes in Grade A Swiss cheese permitted by the Department of Agriculture: 3/8 inch 6

    Number of e-mail messages that cross international borders each day: 1,500,000,0007
    Number of airline passengers who cross international borders each day: 500,0007
    Number of communications technologies in history that have been associated with a net reduction of travel: 0 8

    Fraction of  US residents who live where they can see the estimated 2,500 stars visible under normal nighttime conditions: 1/103

    Fraction of new jobs that are in the temporary employment category: 2/3
    Percentage of full-time wages these jobs pay on average: 75 8

    Number of calories you burn in a one-minute kiss: 262
    Number of calories per hour burned by banging your head against a wall: 1509

1 “Like, Whatever ... ,” Utne Reader, July-August, 2000 2,3 Wall, Edward, A Matter of Fact, Vol. 31 (July-December), Ann Arbor, MI: Pierian Press, 1999 4 Wall, Edward, A Matter of Fact, Vol. 30 (January-June), Ann Arbor, MI: Pierian Press, 1999 5Iswag, www.iswag.com, 8/7/00 6Reason Online, http://www.reason.com/ (citing S. Smith at the Progressive Review)7 Tomlinson, Phillip, and Kevin Walter, “A  By-the-Number-Look at Our New Global Village,” State of the World Index, State of the World, Inc., 2000 8Collins, Chuck and Felice Yeskel, Economic Apartheid in America, New York: New York Press, 2000  9Spray, http//:www.spray.se