You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
3 arrests
Three people were arrested this week after allegedly planning to kill soldiers involved in the Jade Helm military exercises, the FBI said. Authorities said the three had stockpiled weapons and the components of an explosive, with a plan to booby trap some land in South Carolina. [MySanAntonio]
$9.99
Hoping to copy Netflix’s success with subscription streaming, prurient empire Pornhub announced plans for a premium streaming pornography service. Convincing people to pay for pornography on the Internet? I’ve heard a lot of crazy business models in this bold new age of startups, but color me skeptical here. [Venturebeat]
10 percent
Early reviews are not looking great for “Fantastic Four,” which opens this weekend and has a 10 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The director, Josh Trank, sent out a since-deleted tweet acknowledging the disappointing reviews and hinting that somewhere a cut of the movie exists that is indeed fantastic but that we will probably never see. Perhaps there was too much meddling from the Interdimensional Council of Reeds. Maybe this movie actually stars a bunch of Skrull impersonators of the Four. Or maybe we have somehow made Franklin Richards angry. Who can say? Here’s a little nugget from the room of 100 ideas: Stop making movies where Dr. Doom sucks — seriously, how do you screw up a character that rad? All hope lies in Doom. [The Daily Beast]
10 questions
30 minutes
North Korea is creating its own timezone by dropping clocks back 30 minutes in what will be called “Pyongyang time,” effective Aug. 15. So if you do a lot of business in North Korea, be sure to make a note. [The New York Times]
35 years
A Stradivarius violin stolen 35 years ago from Roman Totenberg, the father of NPR reporter Nina Totenberg, has been recovered. It’s worth millions. [Paste Magazine]
58 percent
At last night’s Republican debate, Chris Christie pushed to raise the retirement age for Social Security. This proposal is kind of a non-starter among the party’s base, though, as 58 percent of Republicans older than 50 oppose raising the retirement age. [FiveThirtyEight]
84 percent
SeaWorld is still reeling from “Blackfish,” the documentary that raised questions about its treatment of animals, with an 84 percent drop in profits in the second quarter compared to the year before. Attendance dropped by 100,000 people, about 1.5 percent. [The Guardian]
1 million gallons
A million gallons of mine waste contaminated a river in Colorado. At this point the universe is just trying to spite California. [Time]
$181 million
The Coast Guard captured a Sheen’s-worth of cocaine — roughly 12,000 pounds — in the Pacific Ocean that was being transported in a homemade submarine. The cocaine is worth about $181 million. [CNN]
I’m going to the Joint Statistical Meetings (along with @andrewflowers and @cragcrest) in Seattle this weekend through Tuesday. Hit us up if you’re going to be be there!
Have a great weekend, and if you see a significant digit in the wild, be sure to tweet it to me @WaltHickey.
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