Yawn! Wednesday night seemed so short after staying up late to watch fireworks and then hearing them throughout the night and not getting enough sleep. Let’s all give a big thank you to the firefighters and other emergency personnel who kept us safe yesterday!
If this is your first time visiting The Western Word (TWW), “Thursday Numbers” is my weekly column where I take a look at the numbers mentioned in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary (sometimes with a little sarcasm).
NOTICE: By reading this column you will probably gain a great deal of knowledge not found on other websites! You can use this information to impress your family, friends and co-workers, and it might even be life changing – so consider yourself warned…
This week I write about poker, storms, unemployment, fundraising, malware, summer camp, a big flag, the bikini, hot dogs, cell phones, a bus tour, and much more!
18,300,000
Antonio Esfandiari (33 years old) beat 47 other players and took home $18.3 million in the poker tournament called, “Big One for One Drop” held recently in Las Vegas.
And they say it does not pay to gamble…
1,000,000
“More than 1 million homes and businesses in a swath from Indiana to Virginia remained without power on Wednesday, five days after deadly storms tore through the region” according to this story from Reuters.
It’s pretty amazing that it is taking this long…
374,000
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 374,000 people filed new claims for unemployment last week.
That is down from the week before – we need to hope the trend continues…
100,000
The Jon Tester Campaign sent me an e-mail on July 3 with the subject, “Fireworks” and Tester said he was excited they “made it to our $100,000 goal” in fundraising.
They said they needed money to fight those pesky special interests…
64,000
Watch out – The Associated Press reports that, “tens of thousands of Americans may still lose their Internet service Monday unless they do a quick check of their computers for malware.” The FBI believes that about 64,000 computers in the United States are infected.
Maybe people should just “go to the store and get a new one.”
32,000
“A man has been ordered to pay more than $32,000 in back child support after being lured back to Pennsylvania with the promise of a bogus role in a Jennifer Aniston movie,” according to the Associated Press.
Sucker…
11,400
Summer camp costs about $11,400 (for the basics) at this one location…
Heck yes…must be a 1% type of place…
1946
According to the Associated Press on this day in history, “The bikini made its debut during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris.”
Today I suggest that we all take a moment to pause and say thanks…
530
According to this story, “The world’s largest free-flying American flag, weighing 530 pounds and measuring 53 by 78 feet, is being flown in honor of Independence Day and the upcoming 30th annual NJ Festival of Ballooning in Hoboken, NJ.”
Salute…
236
We celebrated 236 years of independence yesterday.
Here’s to the next 200 years….
74
According to Rasmussen Reports, “74% of American Adults say the Fourth of July celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence.”
I imagine some of the remaining 26% thought it was a day set aside to drink beer, to blow stuff up, get sunburned, and be idiots…
68
Joey Chestnut “tied his own world record, devouring 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes to capture his sixth consecutive Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Wednesday afternoon on Brooklyn’s Coney Island,” according to this story from ESPN.
I watched it live on ESPN – I was not hungry for about an hour afterwards…and that is saying a lot…
18
A Utah mayor is letting the voters decide if he should keep his 18 inch mustache…
Some cities have big problems…
15
People watching the fireworks show in San Diego watched the whole 18 minute show in about 15 seconds due to a malfunction that set all the fireworks off at once, according to this story.
Maybe it was like speed dating…
12
According to this story, “Spending during the (Independence Day) holiday is expected to drop 12% compared to last year, to about $191 per person.”
My spending was a lot less than that…
4
The Great Falls (Montana) City Commission passed a cellphone ban Tuesday night by a vote of 4-1.
It was a total waste of time…but it was amusing to watch!
2
President Barack Obama will take to the campaign trail today and visit two states (Ohio and Pennsylvania) via bus to talk about the economy.
Campaign bus tours are fun…I bet Mitt Romney knows people who own bus companies…
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