Numbers #22

If you ever take the time to pick up a reference book, the one I would choose would be the Time Almanac. The one that I have is a two thousand and three and was given to me for Christmas of two thousand and four. Notice that I said "Christmas" and not " holiday" I do not see how people take a word like Christmas and turn it in to a word that you do not have to capitalize. If you want to protest, protest around some thing that is not a grammatical error.In the Time almanac they have information pertaining to the last years events be them good or be them bad. They also have world information like the total rain fall for countries in Africa and the natural happenings around the world, to major news event. It always stands to be a good source of quotable information although it is old facts that compiled over the last year. Their Editorial office is in Boston Massachusetts on park plaza while their customer service is Attention: Time Almanac PO Box eleven thousand and sixteen Des Monies Iowa fifty-thousand three-hundred and thirty-six. On the First page with all the copyright information and where it says that they are a part of the Learning Network book publisher it goes on to say, " The Time Almanac welcomes comments and suggestion from readers. Although the editors carefully consider each suggestion, because of the volume of correspondence we receive we cannot correspond personally to each writer. The Time Almanac does not rule on bets or wagers. I wonder how many letters they got asking to settle an argument over a horse race of a football game before they added the clause that states that they do not settle wagers or bets.One section that has captivated me is the section on Law Enforcement and Crime. The actually have the breakdown for all the crime that the nation experiences through the year. All this information is broken up into different categories like violent, property, drug, and public-order offenses. The numbers for federal prison inmates are eleven point nine percent of inmates are in for violent crimes, eight point four percent and in for property crimes, nineteen point seven percent are in for public crimes these include immigration, income tax, escape, flight to avoid prosecution, and national security laws. Ninety three point seven percent of the people incarcerated in America are male leaving only six point three percent woman. While the numbers for different races are closer with thirty-three point three percent being white followed closely by blacks that make up forty-six point five percent, Hispanics only make up seventeen percent, while in the other category, that includes but not limited to Asian, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and other racial groups.The murder rate for America topped out in '99 with 12,658 people dieing from murder. There were more white people murdered that year than black the numbers were six-thousand three hundred and ten for whites and five thousand eight-hundred and fifty five, while the group for others was only three-hundred and sixty-nine that is only two point nine percent. The murder rates are broken down even more and are listed by the category weapons used. In nineteen-ninety-nine the total murder victims was 12,658 with sixty-five point two percent coming from firearms, that is 8,259 victims, knives and cutting instruments totaled 1,667 I am guessing that it includes chainsaws, axes, pruning sheers, swords, and maybe weed eaters. The numbers for blunt objects (clubs, hammers ect.) and Personal weapons ( hands, feet, fists, head butts, ect.) were close with 736 for blunt objects and 855 for personal weapons. The explosive section had lines through it so that means no one in America died from Explosions. The strangulation deaths were 190 followed closely by asphyxiation deaths was 103. Now some would say there is no difference between strangulation and asphyxiation but there is strangulation is that act of forcibly cutting off circulation and air supply by means of hands or some form of a grout. While asphyxiation can be someone holding a pillow over someone face or hold their head under water. Murder rates for deaths from fire was 125 that is right at one percent of the total. Narcotics deaths was only twenty three people that is not a reflection of overdose death but from forcibly making some one to consume a lethal amount of drugs. Last was Other Weapons the numbers for them was 689 and I cannot fathom what those weapons would be since we have touched on every type of weapon imaginable.I should say that because of rounding that the percentages may not equal 100.