Hobson's Choice

Number of goes at fusing an adult nuclei with an egg before Dolly the sheep:

277

Chances that a birth will result in monozygotic or identical twins:

1 in 270

Chances that an American resident, children included, was behind bars last year: 1 in 150

Number in American prisons for drug offences - more than the combined prison populations, for all crimes in Germany, UK, France and Japan: 400,000

Difference between numbers using illegal drugs in USA in 1987 (14m) and numbers doing so in 1997:

0

If the 1997 Nuclear Waste Policy Act is implemented, tons of nuclear waste moving across the USA every year to dump site near Yucca mountain in Nevada:

3,000

Number of hours between nuclear waste shipments passing through St Louis, every day for the next 30 years, if Act is implemented:

8

Earthquakes greater than 2.5 on the Richter scale within a 50-mile radius of Yucca mountain from 1976 to 1996:

600

Number of minutes between dreams for a mouse:

9

Number of food-poisoning incidents investigated by UK environmental health officers in 1997:

93,901

Number of deaths arising from food poisoning in UK in 1997 - 182 more than during 1996:

200

Number of official grievances filed daily against the New York police with the Civilian Complaint Review Board:

19

Number of frisks performed by the NYPD Street Crimes Unit in the past two years: 45,084

Number of people working at any hour of the night in UK:

300,000

Workers that would be needed today - working 16-hour days for 4 years at a cost of $1 billion - to build the Great Pyramid of Cheops:

8,000

Percentage increase in British Telecom calls at 2am since 1989:

250

Miles travelled by those visiting at least five stores on average clothes shopping:

41/2

SOURCES: THE GENETIC REVOLUTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS, THE ECONOMIST, NEW YORKER, COLORS, NATION, BIG ISSUE, COLORS, THE 24 HOUR SOCIETY/LEON KREITZMAN,THE FUTURE OF SHOPPING, NEW YORKER.

Compiled by Will Hobson.

willhobson@hotmail.com