Numbers: Sep. 27, 1999

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54: Percentage of Americans who could not name Al Gore when asked who is running for the Democratic nomination for President

46: Percentage who could not name George W. Bush as a Republican candidate

$100 billion: Estimated yearly cost of providing worldwide access to safe water, adequate nutrition and basic education, according to the International Council on Social Welfare

$289 billion: Year 2000 Pentagon budget passed last week by the House of Representatives

76 million: Number of Americans who get food poisoning annually

1 million: Number of Americans who become vegetarians each year

1: Rank, in a survey of college freshmen, of "losing my virginity" when asked what was the biggest event in their lives

2: Rank of the fall of the Berlin Wall

Sources: Pew Research Center, AAP Newsfeed, Washington Post, N.Y. Times, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, CampusCruiser.com