You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the telling numbers tucked inside the news.
0.12
An attorney who wrote a book called “The Drinker’s Guide to Driving: The Secrets of DUI from One of America’s Top DUI Lawyers” was arrested for drunk driving Sunday, with a blood alcohol level of 0.12. Yes, it did happen in Florida — excellent guess. [The Herald Tribune]
2nd-longest
After his team trailed all night against the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a 61-yard game-ending Hail Mary pass for a touchdown with no time on the clock. The pass was the second-longest come-from-behind game-ending touchdown ever, and from a distance where such passes have a terrible completion rate. It was the worst thing to happen to the city of Detroit since globalization and systemic mismanagement. [ESPN Stats & Info, Brian Burke]
20:24
Elvira Montes, an 81-year-old grandmother, was the oldest finisher in this year’s Beer Mile World Championships, finishing four beers and running 1 mile in 20 minutes, 24 seconds. She is what we in the business call a “role model.” We should all be so lucky reach age 81, let alone sustain a reliable competitive drinking habit. [Runner’s World]
44.9 percent
Percentage of U.S. adults who worked for an employer at least 30 hours per week in November, as measured by Gallup’s Good Jobs rate. [Gallup]
92 counts
The other shoe has dropped, people, and it is feigning catastrophic injury in order to procure a yellow card as we speak. U.S. prosecutors announced a 92-count indictment against 16 FIFA officials yesterday, following up on a raid of a Swiss hotel where several officials were staying. [CNN]
95.7 degrees Fahrenheit
A spokesperson for the upcoming Olympic Games said that organizers did not consider it critical to pay for air conditioning in athletes’ quarters in Rio de Janeiro and that someone else will have to handle the costs. Keep in mind that this year, Aug. 19, which would be towards the end of the events this coming year, hit 95.7 degrees in Rio. [ESPN]
589 reporters
In 2014, the number of reporters from niche outlets accredited by the U.S. Senate press gallery exceeded the number of reporters from daily newspapers. As someone from a niche outlet, I guess this is cool? Go niche outlets! [Pew Research Center]
220,000 jobs
Ashton Carter, whose name makes him sound like he is a member of One Direction but who is actually America’s secretary of defense, announced yesterday that the U.S. military will open all combat jobs to women. About 220,000 such jobs within the armed forces had been closed to women. [The Washington Post]
$5 million
That’s the amount brilliant negotiator and world-renowned dealmaker Donald Trump wanted CNN to donate to charity to ensure his participation in an upcoming presidential debate. CNN declined, but the legendary businessman and genius arbitrator, who as we all know could strike an absolutely flawless deal with anyone, especially the Chinese, relented and decided to participate in the debate anyway, because the negotiating strategy of “giving up when your primary request isn’t met” is just a tactic from page one of “The Art of the Deal,” a book Trump definitely wrote all by himself. [The Washington Post]
$117 million
Amount raised on Giving Tuesday, another manufactured holiday trying to chew the crumbs left over by the capitalist orgy that is Black Friday, albeit for charity. This is frankly encouraging, because I personally had a lot of trouble getting into the Small Business Saturday spirit this year. [NBC News]
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