From the Desk 05.12

Xpat Magazine December, 2005

Speed of winds from hurricane Katrina (mph): 160

Speed of winds from Supertyphoon Haitang (mph): 145

Proportion of New Orleans underwater at the time of writing: 80%

Largest case of genocide in history: the destruction of the Native American community -- between 2 and 100 million people exterminated

Number of people killed in 9/11 attacks: 2992

Number of dollars that George W. spent tracking down the evildoers who exterminated the United States original inhabitants: 0

amount per citizen the US Government spends on the War in Iraq: $766

amount per citizen the US Government spends on Tsunami Relief: $1.18

minimum count of civilians who have died in the Iraq War: 23,645

Number of Iraqis who have crashed airliners into American buildings: 0

Number of civilians that died due to the Vietnam War according to Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor: nearly 2 million

Tallest wave (m) of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami: 30

Height from which the 1958 tsunami in Lituya Bay, Alaska washed trees from the mountainside: 500 meters

Height (km) of the column of ash released when Vesuvius erupted: 32

Gruesome reason that many Vesuvius victims were found with the tops of their skulls missing: heat caused their brains to explode

Temperature in F? at the center of the explosion of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 7000

Estimated number of people who died as result of the nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: 200,000

Estimated number of people who died from the Black Plague: 200 million

Number of people scientists estimate that the Avian Flu could kill worldwide if it “acts similarly” to the Spanish Flu: 180 to 360 million

Number of people who died in the 1997 Hong Kong Avian flu scare: 6

Number of poultry subsequently destroyed: 1.5 million

Number of hours it took to kill the birds: 72

Number of disasters appearing in Wikipedia’s Top Ten Natural Disasters List that occurred in China: 7

Percent of women who “have experienced attempted or completed forced sex by an intimate partner or ex-partner”: 12 to 25

The female to male ratio of HIV infection in Africa: 6:1

Length in hours of Britney Spears’ first marriage: 55

Days between the annulment of Britney’s first marriage and her second wedding: 256

Number of children Britney should have by the time you read this issue of Xpat: 1