You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
-0.44 strokes gained
Golf’s second major of the season, the U.S. Open, is underway in Southampton, New York. One might expect that Jordan Spieth, the 24-year-old superstar who won three majors in a soaring period from 2015 to 2017, would be an odds-on favorite. But he forgot how to putt. This year, he’s nearly a half-stroke worse than the field per round with the flat stick. [FiveThirtyEight]
0 admissions exams
The University of Chicago is making its admissions process test-optional, beginning with the class of 2023. It’s the “first top-ranked college” to do so, according to a spokesperson for the school. In other words, U.S. students applying to the university will not need to submit SAT or ACT scores. The news sent a shudder through the No.-2 pencil industry. [The Chicago Maroon]
3 votes
The man thought to be North Dakota’s oldest mayor won re-election in North Dakota’s smallest incorporated city. Turnout in Ruso was 100 percent, and Bruce Lorenz, 86, won 3 votes to zero. He’d forgotten that it was election day. “I’ll still do it,” he said. He estimates that he’s been mayor for 30 years or more. [Minot Daily News]
More than 900 new entries
The Oxford English Dictionary, that great and weighty stressor of library shelves, has added over 900 entries in its latest quarterly update. They include Bechdel test, binge-watch, broccoli rabe, microaggression and (spoiler alert) spoiler alert. [Oxford English Dictionary]
1,000-mile car trip
In 2016, cremation overtook entombment as the most common method of “body disposal” in the U.S. And death is environmentally costly: Millions of gallons of toxic fluids and tens of millions of feet of wood are put in the ground each year. One cremation emits as much carbon dioxide as a 1,000-mile car trip. [The New Republic]
$10,000 portrait
The New York State attorney general is suing President Trump and his children Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric. The lawsuit aims to dissolve the Trump Foundation and ban the family from serving on nonprofit organizations. The Trump Foundation was meant to be devoted to charitable activities, but, the suit alleges, it was used to settle other lawsuits and to purchase a $10,000 painting of the president that was hung in one of his golf clubs. [The New York Times]
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