Welcome to the first “Thursday Numbers” column in February! Welcome to the first “Thursday Numbers” column in February!
(That was my salute to Groundhog Day – the movie).
If you are dropping by for the first time, Thursday Numbers is where I take a look at the numbers in the news and provide some commentary with them. The information can be used to astonish and you just might overwhelm your friends, family, and co-workers with the knowledge you obtained from this column! You may even be cooler to your children…
Today I take a look at the numbers behind Facebook, Romney and the poor, unemployment, Jesus comments, a no-fly list, Groundhog Day, Christie’s birthday, leap year, and a couple of Super Bowl quarterbacks!
845,000,000
Facebook contends they have 845 million active monthly users.
It all started in a dorm room…
200,000,000
GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney says his net worth is about $200 million.
With that much money, no wonder Romney said he is “not concerned about the very poor” because they have an “ample safety net.”
367,000
That’s how many new claims for unemployment were filed last week.
While some reports in the news are telling us “fewer people file” one has to think that with several years of the new claims being around 350-400 thousand per week, we may be running out of jobs and/or many people have just given up.
95,000
According to this story, the Forest Service received about 95,000 comments from the public about the Jesus statue on Whitefish Mountain in Montana. The Forest Service recently decided to allow the statue to stay for 10 more years.
The staff here at The Western Word believes in Jesus…
21,000
The Associated Press reports that the U.S. no-fly list “has more than doubled in the past year” “to about 21,000.”
I wonder what Senator Rand Paul thinks about this…
20,000
Osi Umenyiora is a defensive end for the New York Giants. According to this story he “was fined $20,000 by the NFL on Wednesday, a few hours after he missed a mandatory morning media session.”
1887
That’s the first year that Punxatawney Phil (Groundhog Day) made a prediction.
90
Legendary boxing trainer Angelo Dundee died yesterday. He was 90 years old. RIP.
75
According to this story, “75 percent of people have texted, emailed, used apps or surfed the web while nature calls.”
Guilty…
71
According to this story, “Animal rescuers in Massachusetts said a woman who bought two rats to save them from being snake food soon found herself with 71 rodents.”
58
Christie Brinkley turns 58 today. Happy Birthday!
You know you want to see the clip from National Lampoon’s Vacation, don’t you? Click HERE.
46
The heck with the Roman numerals, it’s Super Bowl 46 on Sunday!
39
According to this website, Punxatawney Phil has only been correct 39% of the time.
Phil is probably about as accurate as most weather forecasters…
34
Super Bowl quarterback Tom Brady (New England Patriots) is 34 years old.
31
Super Bowl quarterback Eli Manning (New York Giants) is 31 years old.
29
There are 29 days in February this year (leap year).
27
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is 27 years old.
He is rich…
10
Fox News has been number one in cable news ratings for 10 straight years.
6
Punxatawney Phil predicted this morning that we’ll have six more weeks of winter.
1
Since it’s a leap year that means there will be one more day of politics this year…
H/T to Bob Englehart and his “Leap Year Blues” cartoon.
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Follow Jack on Twitter @TheWesternWord.
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