The Page That Counts :: Spring 2010

The average American’s debt on credit cards, auto loans, and other fixed payments in 2008: $16,600 [1]

Amount of gross federal, state, and local debt per capita in the United States for the 2009 Fiscal Year: $51,548.30 [2]

Amount owed by Corey Taylor of Chicago in 2007, when he faked his own death to avoid paying his Verizon phone bill: $175 [3]

 

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Internal temperature, in degrees Celsius, a popcorn kernel must reach before it pops: 180 [4]

 

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Estimated number of reported U.S. home structure fires involving clothes dryers or washing machines in 2006: 17,700

Amount of direct property damage that ensued from those fires: $194 million [5]

Percentage of Australian and New Zealand population that air-dries its laundry: 90 [6]

 

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Total minutes spent on Facebook in the U.S. in April 2008: 1.7 billion

In April 2009: 13.9 billion [7]

 

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Estimated number of TVs sent to U.S. recyclers following the June 2009 conversion to digital broadcasting: 27,790,564

Estimated tons of lead from those TVs that will be dumped in developing countries by purported U.S. “recyclers”: 56,000 [8]

 

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Percentage of regional GDP spent on transportation in car-based cities: 12–15

Percentage of regional GDP spent on transportation in mass transit-based cities: 5–8 [9]

Federal government transportation expenditures on highways in fiscal year 2006: $2.3 billion

Federal government transportation expenditures on mass transit in fiscal year 2006 : $0.1 billion [10]

 

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As of 2008, number of Emmy Awards won by Sesame Street: 122 [11]

 

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Number of individuals who self-identified as living with a committed same-sex partner in the 2000 U.S. Census: 594,391

Percentage of same-sex couples between the ages of 22 and 55 raising children in the U.S.: 39 [12]

Number of significant differences identified in peer-group relationships, sexual identity, or relationships with fathers or other males in a study comparing the children of lesbian mothers to those of straight mothers: 0 [13]

 

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Percentage of U.S. seniors who take five or more prescription drugs daily: 51

Percentage of those who do not feel knowledgeable enough about the drugs they’re prescribed or their potential side effects: 34 [14]

 

 

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More Page That Counts
		Fall 2009 Percentage of land protected worldwide as parks:  12.1 Percentage of ocean designated as marine protected areas:  0.7  Read more...				Winter 2010 Number of Boeing 747 jets that could be built with the aluminum cans thrown away by airlines in a year: 58 ... Read more...

 

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SOURCES

1. “Credit Card Debt: The Average American's Debt, Fraud, Credit Companies.” Brown, Jamie, Associated Content: Business and Finance, January 6, 2009.  www.associatedcontent.com/article/1303282/credit_card_debt_the_average_americans.html?cat=3

2. “Time Series Chart of U.S Government Spending,” Chantrill, Christopher, October 2009. usgovernmentspending.com

3. “Cellphone Contracts: Hard to Get off the Hook,” Kim Hart, The Washington Post, August 18, 2007. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/17/AR2007081702365.html

4. NationMaster.com, 2003-05. www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Popcorn

5. Clothes Dryer and Washing Machine Fact Sheet, National Fire Protection Association, Hall Jr., John R., March 2009. www.nfpa.org/categoryList.asp?categoryID=283&URL=Safety%20Information/For%20consumers/Appliances/Dryers%20&%20washing%20machines&cookie_test=1&cookie_test=1

6. Marblehead Reporter, June 22, 2009. www.wickedlocal.com/marblehead/news/lifestyle/health/x135721392/Recycling-tip-Consider-line-drying-clothes

7. “Time Spent on Facebook up 700 Percent, but MySpace.com Still Tops for Video, According to Nielsen,” Nielsen Online, June 2, 2009. http://en-us.nielsen.com/main/news/news_releases/2009/june/time_on_facebook

8. Basel Action Network, June 12, 2009

9. Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence, P. Newman and J. Kenworthy, Washington, D.C., Island Press, 1999.

10. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Transportation Statistics Annual Report, United States Department of Transportation, 2008.

11. Sesame Workshop, 2009. www.sesameworkshop.org/newsandevents/sesameupdates/lifetime_emmy

12. "Same-sex Couples and Same-sex Couples Raising Children in the United States,” The Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, UCLA School of Law, September 2005.

13. Gay and Lesbian Parents, Praeger Paperback, 1987.

14. Medco Health Solutions, Inc., Dec. 29, 2009. http://insurancenewsnet.com/article.aspx?id=150173&type=financial