You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
109 times
James Bond, the fictional spy with a taste for martinis, had a “severe” and “chronic” drinking problem, according to public health experts at the University of Otago in New Zealand. I don’t know that it required experts to come to that determination, but the facts are as follows: Bond was seen drinking alcohol 109 times in his two dozen movies. Cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis. [The Washington Post]
$307.60 to $841.64 per hour
A federal judge has ordered Stormy Daniels to pay some $293,000 to President Trump for legal fees and sanctions after the dismissal of her defamation lawsuit against the president. According to the Trump team’s claims in court documents, five lawyers worked on the case, charging between $307.60 to $841.64 an hour. It’s those 64 cents that get you. Also, maybe I should’ve gone to law school … [The New York Times]
Down 38 percent
Shares of Superdry, the British clothing company with a specialty in coats, plummeted 38 percent on Wednesday. The company’s CEO blamed unseasonably mild temperatures and heavy discounting by rivals. [The Guardian]
Magnitude 4.4 temblor
A magnitude 4.4 temblor (fancy name for earthquake) rumbled the American Southeast on Wednesday — centered about 150 miles southeast of Nashville. According to a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist, it was just the sixth earthquake greater than magnitude 4.0 to strike this particular seismic zone in the past 45 years. [NPR]
3 million copies
In a banner year (is “banner” the right word?) for political books, sales of Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” have topped 3 million, according to its publisher, Crown. That makes it one of the best-selling nonfiction books ever. Michelle and Barack Obama reportedly agreed in 2017 to a joint book deal worth $65 million. [USA Today]
16,000 prisoners
Two warring groups in Yemen have agreed to an enormous prisoner swap involving about 16,000 detainees. The Yemeni government submitted 8,576 names, while the Houthis submitted the names of 7,487 others. [Al Jazeera English]
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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