You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
More than 150 ballot measures
We’ve reached the point where the amount of time until the midterms is best described in song: one day more. And it’s not just people on the ballot tomorrow — it’s also stuff. Like ballot measures. Over 150 of them, my colleague Nathaniel Rakich writes. They have to do with redistricting, voter ID, renewable energy, marijuana and Medicaid, to name just a few. [FiveThirtyEight]
14 million trees
Heavy rains and flooding have been devastating parts of Italy — at least 17 people have died not including 12 fatalities in Sicily. Thousands of acres of forest have also been demolished, destroying some 14 million trees. [The Independent]
$1 cocktails
The financial fortunes of Applebee’s, the casual eatery chain, are sizzling, much like its “Signature Bourbon Street Steak.” The company’s same-store sales were up 7.7 percent for the quarter compared to 1.2 percent for the industry overall — its fourth consecutive quarter of growth. This success has been driven, in part, by $1 margaritas, called Dollaritas (I get it), and a Halloween-themed $1 Zombie drink, “garnished with a gummy brain.” This is the first I’m hearing about any of this, so please excuse me while I google what time Applebee’s opens. [CNBC]
1 in 5 childhood scald burns
Speaking of food, 1 in 5 childhood scald burns are caused by instant soup and ramen, according to pediatric research to be presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference. That fraction translates to an estimate of some 10,000 pediatric burns a year. [CNN]
2 hours 5 minutes 59 seconds
On my way to get a coffee and steak-and-egg breakfast yesterday, I stopped and watched a stream of thousands of runners charging through Brooklyn in the New York City Marathon. I was moved by the support of the fellow city dwellers lining the route, and felt guilty about my own dietary and cardiovascular habits. One man I did not see, because he had passed by that place long before, was Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia who won the men’s race in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 59 seconds. Nor did I see Mary Keitany, who won the women’s race in 2 hours, 22 minutes, 48 seconds, or slightly longer than it took my to eat my breakfast and enjoy my coffee. [The New York Times]
$2.5 million donation
The billionaire founder and chair emeritus of Nike, Phil Knight, has donated $2.5 million toward electing Knute Buehler, the Republican candidate for governor in Oregon, an amount “far exceeding” any other individual’s donations in the state. “The mystery around Nike’s political leanings has deepened,” Quartz writes, contrasting the donation with the ostensibly progressive ads the company ran earlier this fall featuring Colin Kaepernick. [Quartz]
Love digits? Find even more in FiveThirtyEight’s new book of math and logic puzzles, “The Riddler.” It’s in stores now! I hope you dig it.
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