Harper’s Magazine has put out their yearly Index and some of the numbers are… interesting. The subjects range from government numbers to Girl Scouts to, yes, climate change and demonic possession. So let’s take a little trip through numberland and see the way the wind is blowing.

Starting with the number of people who believe in climate change, we can note that Canadians are pretty on-the-ball when it comes to this: 98% of them accept the overwhelming evidence. The percentage of Americans who do is 70, while only 48% of Republicans attach any weight to the problem. On the other hand, Republicans accept demonic possession at a rate of 68%. Apparently evidence means nothing to some people.

The number of girls who are currently Girl Scouts is only 8% — I thought it would be higher than that. But the number of women in Congress who were in the Girl Scouts is 70%. Maybe some of those Girl Scout ethics made these ladies go into public service. Or, in some cases, maybe not (Michele Bachmann, anyone?).