Part 34 (1/2)

47.

number of senators who voted against it in 1991

77.

number of U.S. senators who voted in 2002 to authorize military action against Iraq

23.

number of senators who voted against it in 2002 192.

number of Member States in United Nations as of June 2006, with admission of Montenegro 537.

number of votes by which Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush won the 2000 election in Florida over Democratic candidate Al Gore, thus winning the U.S. presidency 2,195.

cost, in dollars ($3,878 in 2006 dollars) of an Apple McIntosh computer in 1984. It comes with 128 kilobytes of RAM.

1,999.

cost, in dollars ($1,999 in 2006 dollars) of an Apple notebook computer in 2006. It comes with 512 megabytes of RAM, about 400 times more powerful than the 1984 model.

5,000.

number of people estimated to be starving to death in Somalia in July 1992 40,000.

number of children estimated by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund to be dying each day in 1984 10,000,000.

number of refugees estimated by the United Nations to be scattered throughout the world 560,000,000.

number, in dollars, pledged for refugee aid by 99 nations at a UN conference in 1981 5,600,000,000.

estimated number, in dollars, spent on arms and military by the world's nations in 1981

APPENDIX:.

OH YEA, CANADA.

They haven't gotten much of a mention so far, but even a super-condensed version of history should include the plucky, sensible Canadians. For one thing, there's the sheer size of the place: at 3.8 million square miles, it's the largest country in the world after Russia (100,000 square miles larger than the United States). And this vast expanse holds untold treasures of oil, gold, silver, diamonds, and industrial metals, as well as some of the most fertile land on the planet.

But, darn it, it's cold up there. So over the last four hundred years, this treasure trove and cornucopia has attracted just a fraction of the settlers who came to the United States. Today Canada has a population of less than 33.5 million, about a tenth the size of the U.S., at 300 million, and smaller, in fact, than California, with roughly 36.5 million; what's more, 90 percent of its small population is concentrated in a narrow band, one hundred miles wide, hugging the U.S. border.

Despite the size difference, Canada enjoys an unprecedented degree of security, especially compared to other countries with small populations next to big neighbors (think: Belgium). This security is symbolized by the ”longest unfortified border in the world,” 3,145 miles long from the Atlantic to the Pacific, policed only by customs officials-and rather casually at that. It's also cited as proof that democracies usually pursue pacifist policies toward other democracies.

It wasn't always this way, however. In its infancy, the United States looked on Canada with deep suspicion, fearing it could be a launching pad for the British to regain control of its wayward colonies.