You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
5.9 percent
The flu epidemic is getting worse, with 43 states reporting “high or widespread flu activity.” This year’s flu vaccine has not been as effective as in earlier years, but authorities have stressed people should get vaccinated nonetheless. Hospitalizations from flu-like symptoms are now at 5.9 percent. [ABC 7]
10 percent of clients
98.7 percent of growth
The homes and communities built around cities during the postwar housing boom have hit the point where they’re beginning to deteriorate, becoming undesirable housing stock. This is threatening inner ring suburbs: 98.7 percent of U.S. population growth between 2000 and 2010 took place beyond a two-mile radius of a downtown center. Roughly 70 percent of the growth took place 15 miles or more away from downtown centers. [Belt Magazine]
$1,200
Sony is out with a new version of the Walkman. This iteration has 128 GB of storage, a touchscreen, high-resolution audio and costs $1,200. I am willing to sell my old Walkman for a tenth of that, but be forewarned that the “No Strings Attached” CD by NSYNC has been stuck in there since 2001. [Gizmodo]
1,364 busted rumors
Gossip Cop, a rumor site with a high bar for whispers, kept track of each busted, debunked and corrected story published in gossip outlets in 2014. The site’s tally of 1,364 false rumors includes details about Robin Williams’s final hours, an alleged relationship of the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman and the marriage of Channing Tatum. And yet, Gossip Cop has yet to debunk slanderous rumors about a FiveThirtyEight lifestyle writer’s relationship with Bat Boy. [Gossip Cop]
3,000 feet
Two climbers are attempting to complete what is considered the most difficult ascent in the world: the smooth, sheer face of the El Capitan peak in Yosemite National Park. [New York Times]
$15,000
Kyle Craven, who inspired the internet meme Bad Luck Brian, estimated that he has earned between $15,000 and $20,000 over three years from licensing deals and T-shirts. [Washington Post]
$5.2 million
Software in half of New York City taxi cabs caused riders to pay an additional $5.2 million in tips. Bloomberg Businessweek analyzed the distribution of tipping in cabs, and Ben Wellington noticed that tips of 21, 26 and 31 percent were oddly frequent. It turns out the cabs running payment software from Creative Mobile Technologies included tolls and taxes in the pre-tip amount, while the cabs running Verfone tech don’t. In fairness, getting ripped off by a cab at least once is practically a city institution. [I Quant NY]
345,169,134 links
Google was asked to remove 345,169,134 links from its search engine in 2014 by copyright holders with Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices, a 75 percent increase over 2013. This is the worst thing to happen to pirates since Parliament enacted the Offences at Sea Act of 1799. [TorrentFreak]
$2 billion
The Islamic State claimed it has an annual budget of $2 billion for 2015, and will enjoy a $250 million surplus. The group pays its fighters $400 per month. [International Business Times]
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