You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
19.5 million “likes”
In further proof that I have no idea what’s going on, a photograph of an egg, posted on Jan. 5, has become Instagram’s most-liked post of all time with, as I write, some 19.5 million likes. This vaults the egg, that is, a photograph of an egg, ahead of a photo of Kylie Jenner’s newborn daughter to claim the record. Congratulations? [CNET]
1 year in jail, $1,000 fine
The people who make meat are concerned, amid the proliferation of veggie burgers and tofu dogs, about the misuse of the word “meat.” In Nebraska, for example, the country’s largest commercial red meat producer, lawmakers are considering a bill that would define meat as “any edible portion of any livestock or poultry, carcass, or part thereof” (sounds right), and punish any misuser with a misdemeanor and up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. [Associated Press]
17 new lawyers
The new White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, has in recent weeks hired 17 new lawyers. The staffing spree is in anticipation of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report and impending investigations by the newly elected Democratic House. Ah, job creation. [The Washington Post]
6-hour standoff
A man in Novato, California, in the Bay Area, splashed gasoline on the floor, threatening to burn a convenience store down. That didn’t work, so he then fled to and holed himself up in another gas station, where he was followed by police, and demanded cigarettes in exchange for his surrender. Instead, after a six-hour standoff, the police dispatched a robot that delivered the man a vape pen, thereby ending the standoff. [The Sacramento Bee]
$1,500 studio
Elsewhere in California, in San Jose in Silicon Valley to be precise, a man rented a $1,500-a-month studio to two cats. That’s really all there is to this story, to be honest. Ah, capitalism. [The Mercury News]
27-pound tub of mac and cheese
Costco, God bless it and keep it, is selling a 27-pound tub of mac and cheese, with a 20-year shelf life, that goes for $89.99. In what will come as a surprise to no one, it is currently sold out. [CNBC]
Love digits? Find even more in FiveThirtyEight’s book of math and logic puzzles, “The Riddler.” It’s in stores now! I hope you dig it.
If you see a significant digit in the wild, please send it to @ollie.