Can you feel it? It’s here! Welcome to another pretty exciting edition of “Thursday Numbers!”

“Thursday Numbers” is the weekly column where I take a look at the numbers that are in the news (in descending order) and provide commentary (sometimes spiked with sarcasm) just to make you smile, shake your head, or make you send me nasty e-mails or Tweets.

This week I write about a scratch ticket, Deputy Joe Dunn, missing money, journalists, The Simpsons, campaign donations, John Lewis, Jon Tester, Ryan Zinke, Steve Daines, Amanda Curtis, U.S. Navy, unemployment, Hawaii, Ice Bucket Challenge, NFL, breast implants and much more!

Your free dose of knowledge awaits…

500,000

A Whitefish (MT) man won $500,000 from a scratch ticket purchased through the Montana lottery. (Source)

298,000

That’s how many new claims for unemployment were filed last week (Source)

27,225

As of this morning, that’s how much money has been raised through the GoFundMe site to help the family of a Cascade County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Dunn who was recently killed in the line of duty. (Source)

Today is Deputy Dunn’s funeral in Great Falls (MT). RIP.

21,000

That’s how much money was left on the roof of armored truck when it left a casino in Atlantic City. The money is missing. (Source)

Jackpot…

741

According the Reuters, “Since 2000, 741 journalists have been killed and another 2,012 have been imprisoned for doing their jobs.” (Source)

552

That’s how many episodes there are of “The Simpsons” and they are playing on FXX Network starting today through Labor Day. (Source)

D’oh…

71

That’s the percentage of money U.S. House candidate John Lewis (D) received that came from Montanans, while 29 percent came from out-of-state contributors. (Source)

Lewis has amassed a pretty good war chest for the last two and a half months of the campaign

58

Happy birthday to U.S. Senator Jon Tester who turns 58 today (Aug. 21)!

I received an e-mail from Tester’s wife (Sharla) yesterday saying, “Jon’s 58th birthday is tomorrow which means we only have few hours left to reach our $5,800 grassroots birthday surprise.”

55

Just 55 years ago today Hawaii became our 50th state. (Source)

52

Happy birthday to Montana Congressman Steve Daines who turned 52 yesterday (Aug. 20)!

I received an e-mail from Daines’ wife (Cindy) who wants “to make sure Steve’s birthday this year is extra special.” That can happen if I donate $10 or more to this campaign. Plus, it “will motivate Steve to work even harder to win this race.”

34

That’s how many sailors the U.S. Navy is kicking out for being part of a cheating ring at a nuclear training site. (Source)

Officials in the U.S. Air Force, especially at Malmstrom AFB, are probably saying, “Thanks!”

32

According to Lee Newspapers, “about $1.6 million of (Steve) Daines’ $5 million in campaign receipts, through June 30, have come from individual Montanans, or 32 percent.” They also report, “Out-of-state individuals contributed about $2.1 million, or 42 percent, and the bulk of the remainder, $1.3 million, came from political-action committees, whose offices are almost always in another state.” (Source)

Pro-Tip: The money spends the same whether it’s from Manhattan, Montana, or Manhattan, New York.

28

That’s the percentage of Montanans who donated to the campaign of U.S. House candidate Ryan Zinke (R) while “about 72 percent of Zinke’s individual donations came from out-of-state givers.” (Source)

Pro-Tip: The money spends the same whether it’s from Lewistown, Montana, or Lewistown, Pennsylvania.

20

According to a new Rasmussen Reports survey of 750 Likely Voters in Montana (conducted August 18-19, 2014) Republican Steve Daines leads Democrat Amanda Curtis by 20 points (55% to 35%).  (Source)

Curtis was nominated on Saturday and this poll was done on Monday/Tuesday. Curtis getting 35% is pretty good – her numbers will go up.

9

Here are “Nine Must-Watch Ice Bucket Challenge Completions” courtesy of NBC.

7

NFL preseason games for week three start tonight (Thursday) and are being played through Sunday. There are seven games during that time that are being televised on the NFL Network, Fox, CBS, and NBC. (Source)

1.7

A Venezuelan woman was arrested at an airport in Madrid after it was discovered she had 1.7 kilos (about 4 pounds) of cocaine hidden in her breast implants. (Source)

 

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