Today I'm introducing a new type of post that I call "nontrivia". These facts may be surprising, maddening or thought-provoking, but there's nothing trivial about them.
- The fraction of the U.S. population employed by the government increased from 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 75 in the last 150 years.
- Most of the members of the Forbes 400 pay a lower percentage of their income, counting Social Security, than the receptionist who works in their office.
- Years of tracking political elections have revealed that the single most reliable predictor of who will win an election is the candidate who is the most physically attractive.
- "In God We Trust" wasn't added to U.S. money until 1956.
- Based on a recent survey, only 40% of the U.S. believes in evolution, placing it 33rd out of 34 countries surveyed.
- The fraction of the U.S. population employed by the government increased from 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 75 in the last 150 years.
- Most of the members of the Forbes 400 pay a lower percentage of their income, counting Social Security, than the receptionist who works in their office.
- Years of tracking political elections have revealed that the single most reliable predictor of who will win an election is the candidate who is the most physically attractive.
- "In God We Trust" wasn't added to U.S. money until 1956.
- Based on a recent survey, only 40% of the U.S. believes in evolution, placing it 33rd out of 34 countries surveyed.
posted by howtolive.org at
8:10 AM
4 Comments:
I wonder if the % who believe in evolution has increased or decreased over the years. There seems to be a lower tolerance towards darwinism than there was even ten to fifteen years ago in my opinion. There seems to be, in fact, more intolerance towards much free thought than used to be the case.
By
Anonymous, at 7:37 PM
Is the reason the Forbes 400 are paying such low income taxes because of the high philanthropic donations they make? Should we expect Bill Gates to contribute large amounts for taxes if he is personally dedicating humongous sums of his personal finances for charitable causes?
By
David Mackey, at 10:47 PM
Hi there,
Just some general questions regarding your overall aim - do you think you will settle on a set of principles or approaches to how to live, and that this will remain static for the remainder of your life? How do you understand the kind of changes that we all go through while we are alive (due to aging, changed relationships, changed roles, etc)and how will this impact upon the kinds of questions you ask?
Cheers
MF
By
Anonymous, at 7:55 PM
anonymous - Based on the studies I've seen, the percent who believe in evolution has gradually increased in every country except the U.S., where it's slightly decreased from decade to decade. It's tricky to compare different studies because so much depends on how the question is phrased, but the long-term trend does seem clear.
david - Interesting theory, I hadn't considered that. While philanthropy may be part of the explanation, I think the main reason is that social security taxes (7.65%) are only paid on the first $89,000 of income (for 2006).
MF - These are excellent questions. I don't have the answers yet, but I have some tentative theories and plan to discuss them in future posts. Stay tuned...
By
howtolive.org, at 8:24 AM
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