You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
7 percent
Percentage of power cables in central Tokyo that are underground, a low number compared to other major cities. Tokyo is hosting the 2020 Olympics, and wants to bury many of those cables underground ahead of the event for aesthetic reasons. But there are practical reasons, too: The country is often rocked by earthquakes, many of them large, and having so many cables above ground poses a potential safety risk. [Bloomberg]
13 years
An urban legend has been confirmed: Yes, there is a vigilante roaming the streets of Bristol, England correcting apostrophe errors in the dead of night. He considers himself on the side of good and has been doing this for 13 years. [The Guardian]
71-65
UNC beat Gonzaga to win the March Madness men’s NCAA basketball tournament. It sure wasn’t pretty, but a win’s a win. [FiveThirtyEight]
3,814
Number of non-U.S. citizens who graduated from foreign schools and obtained medical residencies in the United States. A program to provide them the necessary visas was suspended Monday, throwing into question whether all of those doctors can get into and remain in the country. [Stat News]
$13 million
Both Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz have pulled advertising from “The O’Reilly Factor” on the heels of an expose that reported Fox News paid over $13 million to five women claiming they were verbally abused or sexually harassed by Bill O’Reilly. [The Hollywood Reporter]
34 million
As part of the Affordable Care Act, restaurants with 20 or more locations will soon have to post signs indicating calorie counts for every item and every variation of an item on the menu. If you are Domino’s Pizza, this regulation could get onerous. There are something like 34 million possible ways to order a pizza at Domino’s, according to Domino’s. An executive estimated the signage would set back franchisees several thousand dollars per establishment. [National Review]
If you see a significant digit in the wild, send it to @WaltHickey.