You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
1 mummified monkey
The renovation of an old Dayton’s department store in Minneapolis went awry when workers found a mummified monkey in an air duct on the seventh floor of the building. It turns out that, according to someone who knew someone who worked in the building, there was a rumor that a monkey escaped from a pet store on the eighth floor in the 1960s. It’s a bit odd that nobody bothered to follow up on that lead back in the day, right? That certainly seems like the kind of thing worth investigating — you know, before conceding the air quality of part of your establishment to a slowly deteriorating ape? [The Associated Press]
112 years old
Masazo Nonaka of Japan, a former farmer and lumberjack, has officially taken the title of world’s oldest man. The previous man to hold that title, Francisco Nunez Olivera of Spain, died at 113 earlier this year. Nonaka likes spas and cake, just like I do, which I assume means I am effectively immortal. [Reuters]
About 125 employees
Theranos, the blood testing company that turned out to be the medical version of that Simpsons episode with the monorail, will reduce its head count from around 125 employees to less than two dozen. [Reuters]
$5.85 million
It’s been a tough week for former presidents of South Korea. On Monday, former President Lee Myung-bak was accused of taking $5.85 million in bribes from Samsung. Days earlier, former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison on convictions of bribery, coercion and abuse of power. [The Wall Street Journal]
$250 million
Cost to reduce New York City subway and bus fares to half price for residents who make below the poverty line. The proposal, which is being pushed by the speaker of the New York City Council, would help and estimated 800,000 people per year. [Bloomberg]
$25 billion
A group of investors offered FIFA $25 billion to expand the FIFA Club World Cup and buy the rights to a global league for national soccer teams. On the one hand, such a move would be nigh unprecedented and an enormous undertaking. On the other hand, someone offered money to FIFA officials, so if history is any guide … this is going to happen. [The New York Times]
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