Running Numbers

A scholarly look at the digits that matter.

by Nick Norlen

The Nonpartisan Guide to the Issues calls it down the middle.

4 Number of female comedians who'll be attempting to swing "the swing states back to blue" during the "Obama Girls of Comedy" event, featuring Susannah "The Goddess" Perlman from Last Comic Standing, on Oct. 16, 8 p.m. at North By Northwest, 7165 Germantown Ave. Call 215-248-1000 for tickets, which are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Proceeds go to the Obama campaign. Here's a little-known fact: Condoleezza Rice got her cabinet position by stumping with standup.

6 Number of times The Nation columnist Katha Pollitt mentions John McCain in her piece, "Sarah Palin, Affirmative Action Babe," in the Oct. 13 issue — compared to just one mention for Obama. Shameful. Hopefully she'll be more fair and balanced when she presents the Alice Paul Lecture in Women's Studies, "Women, Gender and the 2008 Presidential Election," on Oct. 16, 5 p.m. at Penn's Houston Hall Class of '49 Auditorium, which — as Pollitt will probably go on and on about — was donated when McCain was 13.

6 Number of Monday classes in the Wagner Free Institute of Science's free anthropology series, "Surviving 'Surviving': The Making of an Exhibit on Human Evolution," an exploration of evolution as examined by "Surviving: The Body of Evidence," an exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 33rd and Spruce. The course begins at the museum on Oct. 20, 6:30 p.m., with an exhibit tour and "evolution test." No registration required. Evolution test? Is that really something we want to take?

90 Total number of programs that will be held throughout the city during DesignPhiladelphia 2008 (see the cover story here) as part of National Design Week, starting Oct. 16. Visit designphiladelphia.org for the full event schedule. See? I included just one event about evolution and 90 about design, which I assume will all be intelligent.

100 Percent of people of either political persuasion that should be able to agree on attending the Friends of Schuylkill River Park Fall Festival on Oct. 18, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Markwand Playground on 26th and Pine, featuring food, music, prizes and "fun for kids and pets." For fun, I'm secretly inviting both Republicans and Democrats, and then watching them resolve all their differences on the moon bounce.

Hey ... can I get your digits? I want to hear about the numerals you need to see. Let a number-runner know at runningnumbers@gmail.com.