I hand out badges kind of like candy. I have no idea how many I have to hand out at a given time but when I need one, it's always there. When I press the "!" button I hold my breath for a second. When will the day come? When will the time be that a post deserves a badge, but I cannot yet badge it? There will be such a day, I am sure. Sometimes I go on badge-power-sprees. I hand out three or five in a day. This is a great post, I'm glad you put it up, glad you called me out, and glad I read it. It fully deserves a badge. And today, I still had one to give.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the "x #" next to the hubski wheel to the right of your username at the top of the page tells you the number of badges you've got on tap. Sorry if you already knew that. :)