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2 speeches
President Trump is reportedly preparing two State of the Union speeches: one a traditional address to Congress and the other a rally style speech to be delivered outside of D.C. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, had proposed that the address be delayed because of the partial government shutdown. [ABC News]
15 nominations
Netflix earned 15 Oscar nominations yesterday, 10 of which were for Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” including its nomination for Best Picture, Netflix’s first such recognition. Not only that, “Roma” currently leads the field of eight Best Picture nominees according to the betting markets, where it is an even-money pick or better. “Vice” is the longest shot, at about 40-to-1. [Deadline]
1.29 percent yearly decrease
According to a study by University of Kentucky researchers, whenever Uber and Lyft enter a city, yearly rail ridership decreases by 1.29 percent and bus ridership by 1.7 percent. Moreover, it’s apparently an effect that accumulates over time: In San Francisco, where Uber and Lyft have been since 2010, bus ridership has decreased 12.7 percent. [Streetsblog]
More than 8,000 people
Speaking of mass transit, Tokyo is trying to solve overcrowding in its system with free tempura and soba noodles. People who take the train before rush hour for 10 straight days are eligible for a voucher from the metro system. If 2,000 people signed up the voucher would be good for tempura, 2,500 people for noodles, and 3,000 people for tempura and noodles. More than 8,000 people signed up. [NPR]
$100 million vs. $6 million
The federal government response to Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Irma in Florida was “faster and more generous” than its response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, according to new research out of the University of Michigan. “The variation in the responses was not commensurate with storm severity and need after landfall in the case of Puerto Rico compared with Texas and Florida,” the researchers wrote. Specifically, survivors in Texas and Florida received about $100 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds over a nine-day period; Maria survivors received about $6 million in that time. [CBS News]
83 percent to 90 percent
The world tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic, who’s played in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open early this morning, had plummeted from the heights of the sport after the 2016. He recovered by changing his serve. He ditched an old technique and went back to his serving roots, FiveThirtyEight contributor Tom Perrotta writes. The data tells the tale: Djokovic went from winning 83 percent of his service games, before Wimbledon, to 90 percent after. And he went from winning 71 percent of his first-serve points to 77 percent. [FiveThirtyEight]
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