Relax, Everything Is Deeply Intertwingled

Clothing and Bullets

Harper's Index for December 2004 has not been posted yet, but here's some numbers I liked.

Average number of clothing items an adult American acquired in 2002: 52
Estimated average amount of textiles thrown out by each U.S. household in 2001, in pounds: 66

Number of overseas bullet suppliers the Army contracted with last year and this year, respectively: 1, 5
Minimum number of bullets the U.S. military purchased for use this year: 1.5 billion
Average number of bullets per Iraqi this represents: 58
Number of major weapons systems the Pentagonhas under development: 77

Unhealthy

NYT: "The number of people without health insurance shot up last year by 2.4 million, the largest increase in a decade, raising the total to 43.6 million." This problem appears to be getting worse. I wonder what it's going to take to get the attention of someone who can do something about this on a macro level.

From Swagger To Stagger

Maureen Dowd: "The more you do, the more you need to do. That's the Mideast quicksand, which is why it is so important to know how you're going to get out before you get sucked in. Dick Cheney's dark idea that a show of brutal force would scare off terrorists has ended up creating more terrorists... W. has always presented himself as the heir of Reagan, and dissed his father's presidency, using it as a template of what not to do. But as he tries to dig himself out tonight, he may wish he had emulated the old man, at least when it comes to slicing the deficit and playing nice with the allies."

More Gasoline-Dependent Than Ever

New York Times: "There are now more cars in American households than drivers, according to a report released today by the Transportation Department. ... The average household now has 1.75 drivers but 1.90 'personal vehicles.' By comparison, the average household has 0.86 adult-size bicycles. ... When people, not just drivers, are counted, one-person households have an average of 1.01 cars; two-person households have 1.98 cars; three-person households have an average of 2.31 cars; and four-person households have an average of 2.39 cars. The main use of cars is not long trips, but short ones. A 2001 survey found that 91.2 percent of people used cars to get to work, 4.9 percent used public transit, 2.8 percent walk and 1.1 percent used some other means. ... Year-round, alcohol is involved in about 40 percent of fatal crashes, but on Labor Day weekend in 2001, the last year for which full statistics are available, the number was more than 50 percent."