You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
1 teaspoon
New York City became the first city in the country to mandate that chain restaurants label dishes that contain more than one teaspoon of salt, the recommended daily allowance. Given that I learned the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon only a few months ago (weird batch of brownies, for more than one reason) today, for the very first time, I am now in favor of the metric system, because the equivalent 2.3 grams of salt is something I can wrap my head around. [The Telegraph]
5 minutes, 31 seconds, 22 frames
Have you watched the trailers for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”? If all the footage in those trailers actually appears in the film, fans have seen just more than 5 minutes, 31 seconds of the movie, or roughly 4 percent should the advertised 2 hour, 16 minute run time hold. [Eleven-ThirtyEight]
Full disclosure: Disney owns Star Wars and also owns ESPN, ESPN owns FiveThirtyEight, FiveThirtyEight pays Walter, I am Walter.
5.7 percent
The future of polling comes down to one man: Donald Trump. I mean, kind of. The level of support for Trump in live-interview polls — the kind we’ve relied on for decades — is averaging 23.4 percent, while the support for Trump in online polls — arguably the future of the field, provided those who run them can match the accuracy of their landline predecessors — is at 29.1 percent. That’s a 5.7-point difference, which is a pretty big deal. When we get a chance to see how these different methodologies play out, depending on Trump’s actual degree of support, we could get a good look at the future of polling. [FiveThirtyEight]
16 measures
Number of abortion and family planning measures John Kasich has signed since becoming governor of Ohio in 2011. Abortions in Ohio have fallen 25 percent during his tenure. While he hasn’t yet bragged about it on the campaign trail, Kasich has one of the most demonstrable anti-abortion records of anyone in the GOP field. [FiveThirtyEight]
10.3 percent
Percentage of U.S. women who used an IUD in 2012, up from 2 percent in 2002. Intra-uterine devices, which prevent pregnancy, are the new focus of a legal campaign against the Affordable Care Act from from anti-abortion groups, which argue that in rare cases IUDs could prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. [Reuters]
19 percent
Estimated percentage of donors to the 2003 gubernatorial campaign of now-Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, an Indian-American, who were South Asian-Americans. That number declined over the course of Jindal’s subsequent campaigns. In his recently ended national bid for the presidency, Jindal presented a particularly notable case where, after a certain point, minority candidates fail to garner support among fellow minorities. [FiveThirtyEight]
42 percent
People might be naming their offspring after Instagram filters. “Ludwig” as a name was up 42 percent last year according to BabyCenter, a parenting website, while “Juno” was up 30 percent and “Amaro” was up 26 percent. All right, all of a sudden I understand what that friend with the kid named Lo-fi Jenkins was going for. [Re/code]
51 turtles
A man who attempted to cross the border to Canada with 51 turtles taped to his body pleaded guilty to smuggling charges. Let he among us who hasn’t been there throw the first stone. [Associated Press]
4,200 hours
Photographer Alan McFadyen spent 4,200 hours — roughly 175 full days — over six years trying to get the perfect picture of a kingfisher diving for a fish just as its pointy beak broke the water. Needless to say, he totally nailed it. [Geekologie]
1.8 billion streams
Drake was the most-streamed artist of 2015 on Spotify, according to the company, with 1.8 billion streams. This was a good year for Canadian musicians, as Justin Bieber took the record for the most streams in a single day, with 36 million on Nov. 13. [Spotify News]
If you haven’t already, you really need to sign up for the Significant Digits newsletter — be the first to learn about the numbers behind the news.