Is This Healthy?
IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH
39.2% of Americans avoided the dentist altogether in 1993.
In 1995, 15.6 per 1,000 males under 45 suffered from ingrown toenails; women in the same age category suffered at a slightly lower rate of 15.0 per 1,000.
APPLES AND ORANGES
Bananas are the most frequently consumed fruit in the country (28 lbs. per capita in 1996), followed by apples (19.3). The potato is the most popular vegetable (48.8 lbs. per capita in 1996 — think french fries); lettuce is in second place (23.3).
Asparagus is surprisingly unpopular at 0.6 lbs., a paltry figure that has remained unchanged in more than fifteen years.
IT'S SATURDAY AFTERNOON. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?
There were 30,353 skateboard accidents and 20,422 injuries involving BB guns in 1995.
STATISTICS FOR STATISTICS' SAKE
From this modest sampling it should be obvious that hours of tantalizing amusement lie ahead for those who know the real truth about the Statistical Abstract. While the vast majority of Americans may dismiss it as a necessarily tedious record of the disbursement of highway funds and number of "Employees in Nonfarm Establishments," those of us with inquiring minds can feast on a cornucopia of information with little or no redeeming social value. Just wait until you see what it has to say about anchovies, barber shops, costume jewelry, dehumidifiers, gambling arrests, water polo teams, leprosy, garden activities, and swordfish.
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