Fifteen Minutes' Minutes

Mikhail Kalashnikov, 83, the inventor of the AK-47 or Kalashnikov rifle, recently announced a deal with a German manufacturer to begin producing umbrellas under the Kalashnikov brand name as a way of distancing his name from his more infamous eponymous invention. Time since the AK-47 first debuted in combat:

24,177,600 Minutes

Time required for an AK-47 to fire 650 rounds of ammunition:

1 Minute

Last month, the people of North Korea honored their leader, Kim Jong Il, for his many lifetime accomplishments, including purportedly shooting 11 holes-in-one in his first ever game of golf, in recognition of his birthday. The North Korean president turned 61, or:

32,061,600 Minutes

To thank his compatriots for their celebrations in his honor, Kim Jong II turned on the electricity at government farms and allowed it to remain on without interruption for:

1,440 Minutes

Time it took Paul West of Winsted, Conn., to cover his entire house with 3,500 meters of plastic sheeting to guard against radiological, biological and chemical attack in light of recent increases in the national terror alert system:

1,260 Minutes

The time on average that a family of four could survive in a home that had been sealed air-tight:

3,600 Minutes

In January, Boston City Councillor Felix Arroyo, who opposes war in Iraq, announced that he would remain on a hunger strike until the nation’s aggressive policies against Iraq were reversed. By now, Arroyo’s promise to subsist on an all liquid diet should have lasted:

115,200 Minutes

Arroyo, however, later amended his pledge so as to include only daylight hours (thus allowing himself a dinner and an early breakfast). According to this plan, Arroyo should now have gone hungry for:

48,000 Minutes

Still later, Arroyo again restricted his hunger strike to the second and fourth Fridays of each month. In protest of the war, Arroyo’s self sacrifice should have lasted:

2,400 Minutes

Time since Harry R. Lewis ’68 first assumed the role of dean of the College:

4,204,800 Minutes

Time that Lewis’ tenure unceremoniously ended short of his “expected” retirement in 2036:

17.344,800 Minutes