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5th place
Thomas Jefferson would be the first to get dynamited off Mount Rushmore if we ever get around to throwing Franklin D. Roosevelt up there. Historians, according to an average of three recent surveys, rank FDR as the No. 1 president. Jefferson is fifth, behind FDR, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt. [FiveThirtyEight]
10 inches
The Washington Monument just got 10 inches shorter, thrilling people who are inherently skeptical of tour guides. The obelisk — originally recorded as a stalwart 555 feet, 5.125 inches — is instead a puny and utterly laughable 554 feet, 7.344 inches. The monument hasn’t actually shrunk, though. The measurers just started the tape measure in a different place. [Chicago Tribune]
30 percent
Sierra Leone did not properly account for how it spent $5.7 million in Ebola aid, about 30 percent of overall funds, according to a new report. [BBC]
37 years in prison
South Carolina prison officials have doled out hundreds of disciplinary actions against inmates for using social media, primarily Facebook. One inmate got 37 years in isolation. [Electronic Frontier Foundation]
100 people
Mars One, which accepted more than 200,000 applications for a one-way trip to Mars, has selected 100 “lucky” people who are still in the running for a doomed flight toward that barren red hellscape populated entirely by robots. [Washington Post]
170,000 counts
A 93-year old German man who allegedly worked at Auschwitz has been charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder. [Associated Press]
$10 million
An arbitration panel decided Lance Armstrong owes $10 million to SCA Promotions, which sued Armstrong after the cyclist was found to have used PEDs. [Los Angeles Times]
$81.7 million
“Fifty Shades of Grey” won the box office this weekend with an $81.7 million haul, beating analyst expectations and putting it only behind “The Passion of the Christ” when it comes to February opening weekends. [Business Insider]
$300 million
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — a potential 2016 presidential candidate — has submitted a budget proposal to shave $300 million from the state’s university system in 2 years, a 13 percent cut. [Washington Post]
$350 million
Jon Stewart’s announcement that he’s leaving “The Daily Show” cost parent company Viacom $350 million in value as its stock dropped 1.5 percent. [The Wrap]
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Walt Hickey was FiveThirtyEight’s chief culture writer. @WaltHickey
