Harper’s Bizarre

The best of Harper’s Magazine over a period of 4 months. For those who have not read Harper’s, it is that dry, stuffy-looking magazine, the source of an occasional howler or two. It is also a source of factoids and weird/random statistics on weird/random things. Almost all of these factoids and “statistic-oids” are re-stated or paraphrased from a pile of recent Harper’s magazines hanging around the house.

• 380 people are hired off the street in Washington DC and are paid on average $20.00 per hour to stand in line for lobbyists hoping to attend congressional hearings.
• Ratio of the total area of the world’s Wal-Mart stores to the total area of Manhattan island: 9:7
• A 18-foot (5.4 metre) 12-ton minke whale ran aground in fresh water, 810 miles (1300 km) upstream, on the Amazon River in Brazil.
• In the same week in Brazil, a freshwater alligator had wandered on to a beach situated along the Atlantic Ocean.
• A hole in the universe, 1 billion light years in diameter, is probably the projection of another universe on ours.
• All possible universes exist.
• James Watson, no friend to the Negro population, and co-discoverer of DNA, found that a genetic analysis of his cells revealed that more than 16% of his genes are of Negro origin. Soon after, he resigns from his chairmanship at Cold Spring Harbour after 40 years at the helm.
• A molecular geneticist has sequenced the genome of dandruff.
• A salmon gave birth to a trout.
• A mutant race of vicious lab mice were returned to docility through gene therapy.
• Neuroscientists have found the part of our brains that gives us a sense of uncertainty.
• They have also found the part of our brains that filters out bullshit.
• Human brains are hard-wired for optimism even though they know things may not turn out well.
• % change since 1990 of the number of pawn shops in New York City: +523
• A lap dancer receives 92% more tips than while she is having her period.
• Women swing their hips in order to reduce the risk of being impregnated by unworthy men.
• Scientists have confirmed without a doubt that old people still have sex.
• Other scientists have shown that increased ethnic diversity leads to higher levels of social distrust.
• More African-Americans than whites say that immigrants take American jobs.
• 27% of Americans have not read a book in the past year.
• Live-in boyfriends do more housework than married men.
• For each a foreclosure that takes place within 1/8 mile from your house, your property value decreases by 1%.
• The British Ministry of Defense unveiled an invisible tank.
• 1 in 10 Americans say they would like an Internet access device implanted directly into their brains.
• 1/4 of the population have lived only under presidents named Bush or Clinton.