You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
0.3 percentage points
The results of the Census Bureau’s 2014 voter supplement are out, and turnout in 2014 midterms were not a whole lot different, demographically speaking, than the 2008 election. All of the racial demographic categories were within 0.3 percentage points of their 2008 turnouts. That’s significant because the elections had such different outcomes — a Democratic sweep in 2008 and a Republican victory in 2014. Looks like demographics aren’t destiny. [FiveThirtyEight]
23 percent
Greek diners are facing a new restaurant tax of 23 percent after the country’s bailout deal with the European Union. I’d make a joke about that breaking the bank, but it maybe hits a little too close to home for Greeks. [FiveThirtyEight]
24 nominations
“Game of Thrones” garnered 24 Emmy nominations, the most of any television show. “Mad Men,” which finished its run this year, is another top contender. [The Washington Post]
46 years
After 46 years of publication, National Journal will cease printing its magazine at the end of the year. [Poynter]
77 percent
When men’s masculinity is threatened, they become hilariously bad liars about their own sexual prowess. University of Washington researchers recently asked men how many sexual relationships they had had, but did so after lying to one group about how strong their grip was and about the results of their personality tests. The men with threatened masculinity claimed 3.12 sexual relationships in their life, while the control group only claimed 1.76, a 77 percent increase. [Seattle Times]
165 counts
James Holmes, who killed 12 people and injured 70 others in a Colorado movie theater, was found guilty on each of 165 counts against him. [CNN]
1930
Assuming current projections are accurate, in 2025 America will have the demographics that New York does now, and by 2060 America will most look like California, Texas and New Mexico do now. Iowa, Montana, and North Dakota today most accurately reflect the demographics of what the U.S. looked like in 1930. [Time]
$51 million
In January, rapper Lil Wayne sued rapper Birdman and his label, Cash Money Records, for $51 million. In April, shots were fired at Wayne’s tour bus. Thursday, Birdman and affiliate Young Thug were indicted as conspirators in that shooting. [Pitchfork]
$720 million
That’s how much money it cost to get the New Horizons probe to Pluto, which if you’ve read Significant Digits long enough you may realize is pretty damn cheap, all things considered. [The Week]
$13.8 billion
How much the top 3 U.S. airlines collected from add-on charges last year. Ancillary charges grew 21 percent across carriers worldwide. [The Economist]
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If you see a significant digit in the wild, tweet it to me, @WaltHickey.