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Significant Digits For Monday, Aug. 1, 2016

You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.


2 restaurants

Two branches of Byron, a burger chain in the U.K., were targeted by activists angered by the company’s cooperation with an immigration raid on its staff. The protesters released hundreds of crickets and cockroaches into two Byron restaurants in London. [The Guardian]


6 potential heirs

Prince, who died earlier this year, did not leave behind a will and had no known children. So, naturally, a whole bunch of people have come out of the woodwork claiming to be related to him. A judge overseeing Prince’s estate has thrown out nearly 30 such claims but is moving forward with DNA testing for six purported relatives. [The New Zealand Herald]


39 years

The Air Force has raised its maximum age of enlistment from 27 to 39 years. This puts it at the high end of America’s armed forces, as the Army’s max age of enlistment is 35, the Navy’s is 34 and the Marines’ is 28. [Stars And Stripes]


62 percent

The probability that Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election on Nov. 8, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polls-plus model. Historically, polls conducted during and around the conventions have not been very predictive, but the polls-plus model attempts to account for each candidate’s convention bounce. [FiveThirtyEight]


25,000 feet

A 42-year-old insane person jumped out of a plane 25,000 feet off the ground without a parachute. Luke Aikins fell into a 10,000-square-foot net. [NPR]


85,000 security personnel

Expected number of security personnel who will be present when the Rio Olympics kick off this week. [Yahoo Sports]


CORRECTION (Aug. 3, 11:54 a.m.): A previous version of this article misidentified the vehicle from which Luke Aikins jumped. It was a plane, not a helicopter.


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Walt Hickey was FiveThirtyEight’s chief culture writer.

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