Numbers: Mar. 7, 2005

9,488 Number of U.S. military service members discharged for being gay, lesbian or bisexual since the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was implemented in 1993; 322 were foreign-language specialists

$200 MILLION Estimated cost for the military to replace those service members

$3.6 TRILLION Predicted U.S. health-care spending in 2014. That would be 19% of the U.S. economy, up from 15.4% in 2003

49% Percentage of U.S. health- care costs in 2014 that would be borne by public programs like Medicare and Medicaid, up from 45.6% in 2003

30% Proportion of Americans who identify themselves as overweight or obese

64% Proportion of Americans who are overweight or obese, according to the Health and Human Services Department

2,000 TONS Amount of cow manure that caught fire in a feedlot near Lincoln, Neb. The blaze was attributed to heat pent up inside the pile

4 MONTHS Time it took to extinguish the fire by pulling apart the pile, which had grown to 100 ft. long by 30 ft. high by 50 ft. wide

Sources: Boston Globe (2); USA Today (2); Destiny Health (2); Associated Press (2)