RANT: (Mostly) Shameful Numbers

As this is my 100th post of 2012 (and the first time I have hit the 100-post mark in a given year with this blog), I thought it only fitting that I mark the occasion by looking at some important numbers:

Here are some important numbers at this moment in time - shameful numbers at that:

455: the number of rhinos killed in South Africa this year to the end of October:

 
    Courtesy of Eye Witness News, South Africa


729:   The international barcode number designated for products from Israel:


   Courtesy of Zazzle UK


918: The number of days Bradley Manning has been imprisoned without trial:


   Courtesy of The Bean Blog


150: The number of acres of rainforest burnt every minute of every day:



 Courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory

37: Number of Palestinian children killed by Israeli attacks in 2012:



18-month-old Eyad Abu Khosa, killed in the November Israeli airstrikes - photo by Mahmud Hams, courtesy of Russia Today


0: Number of Israeli children killed by Palestinian attacks in 2012:



 Courtesy of Al-Jazeera

They are in no particular order, as they all carry their own gravitas, and there are many, many other important numbers out there. The above were just a few numbers that have caught my attention thus far this year.


But there was a good number that came out of New York City last night:

138: The number of countries who voted in favour of Palestine being granted observer status (like the Holy See has) at the UN - 41 nations abstained and only 9 were opposed (I am proud to say that South Africa, Italy and Portugal all voted in favour)


   
    Courtesy of Mondoweiss
  
There are indeed statistics, statistics and more statistics, but sometimes a number can tell the story.

Do you get my point?