You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news. For even more facts, figures and discussion, check out our live FiveThirtyEight Politics podcasts in Texas in May.
640 new words
The English language exists to be changed, and Merriam-Webster is adding 640 new words to its dictionary. They include buzzy, bottle episode, stan, screen time, on-brand, gig economy, vulture capitalism and EGOT. [CNN]
80 percent of tweets
Eighty percent of all tweets from American adults come from just 10 percent of the American adult Twitter users, according to Pew Research Center — a fact that is surprising to 0 percent of anyone who has ever used Twitter. [Pew Research Center]
More than $1 billion
After two fatal crashes of its 737 Max airplane, which has since been grounded by regulators around the world, Boeing said it was taking a financial hit of more than $1 billion as it scaled back production. Nevertheless, Boeing stock is up 3.7 percent from its low in March after the second crash, which The Wall Street Journal said “demonstrated the resilience of Boeing’s broader portfolio.” [The Wall Street Journal]
12,254 Boy Scouts
According to an expert working with the Boy Scouts of America, there may have been as many as 7,819 sexually abusive troop leaders and volunteers in the organization. Those perpetrators are believed to have abused 12,254 victims. According to court testimony, these figures were the result of a contracted analysis to evaluate the Boy Scouts’ handling of sexual abuse in the organization between 1944 and 2016. [ABC News]
91 percent correct
James Holzhauer, a sports bettor from Las Vegas, is in the midst of a miraculous, million-dollar run on “Jeopardy!” thanks in part to his Daily Double strategy. Not only does he hop around the game show’s board to find them quickly, but when he does find one, he bets huge, wagering an average of $9,879 — compared with an overall “Jeopardy!” average of less than $2,500. Oh, yeah, and he gets them right more than 91 percent of the time. [FiveThirtyEight]
From ABC News:
It’s Morning, America: Thursday, April 25, 2019
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