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STATS and FACTS for Thursday, October 17, 2013

Eye Catchers of the Day

• Washington Post Video: Key moments from the last day before the financial default deadline, when the Senate and House came together to pass a deal to reopen the government.

http://is.gd/9U0Eyd

• U.S. Default by the Numbers: Who Owns the Debt? Bloomberg TV

http://is.gd/sdSxgc

• New York Times World: Free digital and mobile access this week, in honor of the launch of The International New York Times  http://is.gd/2pINjV

• Blogger, author, and strategist Jeff Bullas took a dip into the 800 page filing for the Twitter IPO and came up with some remarkable data about the online social networking and microblogging service, including reporting Twitter generates 135,000 registered accounts every day, 58 million tweets a day, with 2.1 billion searches conducted on Twitter every 24 hours. This and a boat load of other data and fast facts about Twitter can be found at Bullas’ fact filled statistically rich article ``60 Sensational Social Media Facts and Statistics on Twitter in 2013’’

http://is.gd/RTWZ3R

• NBC News: Ohio lawmakers have given initial approval to a bill that would provide Ariel Castro's three kidnapping victims up to $25,000 for each year they were held captive, plus other benefits. http://is.gd/Im174Z

 

• Russia Preparing Property Restrictions for Foreigners ¬ Paper

MOSCOW, October 16 (RIA Novosti) ¬ Russia is drafting changes to the law that will bar foreigners from owning or renting real estate in the country without official permission, a state-owned newspaper said Wednesday. The law could come into force by 2015, officials told the paper.

 

STATS OF THE DAY

1.)    Despite the ALCS tied at 2-2, the Boston Red Sox have held the lead for just 4 of 36 total innings played.

2.)    MLB Stat of the Day: Since the ALCS expanded to 7 games (1985), the winner of Game 4 in 2-2 series has gone on to win twice (Indians in 1995, Yankees in ‘98).

 

• The average literacy score for Americans ages 16 to 65 places the U.S. 18th out of 22 participating countries. In numeracy, the U.S. ranks 20th out of 22. In “problem-solving in technology-rich environments” -- a measure of the capacity to interact productively with computers -- the U.S. comes in 14th out of 19th, according to The Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development which evaluates the skills of adults in 24 countries. http://is.gd/bfQQhK  .
• Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt in the U.S. which stands at about $798 billion.
• The S &P estimates the 16 day government shutdown took at least $24 billion out of the U.S. economy.
• Forbes Magazine lists American business magnate, investor and philanthropist, Mark Cuban net wealth at $2.5 billion.  Cuban was acquitted Wednesday of insider-trading charges when he sold his shares in an Internet company in 2004.
• According to a  GAO report, interest on the national debt plus entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare –– will absorb approximately 92 cents of every single dollar of federal revenue before the end of this decade.
• In the 2012 presidential election, 47% of Americans used the internet as a main campaign news source surpassing newspapers (27%), radio (20%) and magazines (3%), but still trailing television (67%); just one of 12 trends shaping digital news as compiled by the Pew Research Center. http://is.gd/pWpGGG
• Benchmark crude for November delivery gained $1.08, or 1.1 percent, to close at $102.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of oil rose 1 percent Wednesday as the U.S. Senate announced a deal that avoided defaulting on its debt. The average price for a gallon of gasoline at the pumps rose 1 cent to $3.36, 16 cents cheaper than a month ago and 41 cents less than at this time last year.
• Russia is set to overtake Germany to become the largest car market in Europe by 2020 and the fifth largest market in the world by then, according to Boston Consulting Group.
• In 2013, 795,000 people in the United States will have a first or recurrent stroke; 1 in six people worldwide will have a stroke in their lifetime-American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

 

Polls/Surveys

• The Conservative Intelligence Briefing: New Jersey Poll: N. J. Gov Chris Christie (56% ) is more popular than Bruce Springsteen, ``The Boss’’ (46%) in the Garden State.

http://is.gd/EtsaIb

 

• ``Gimme Shelter'' is listed as the greatest Rolling Stones' song of all-time by Rolling Stone Magazine

http://is.gd/EeByJm

 

Today in History

October 17, 1931, Chicago gangster Al Capone is found guilty in federal court on five of the 23 charges brought against him. He was found guilty of three counts of federal tax evasion for the years, 1925, 1926, and 1927. ``Scarface’’ as he was known, was additionally found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of ``willing failure’’ to file a tax return for 1928 and 1929. A week later, on October 24th, he was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. In addition to his prison term, he was slapped with a $50,000 fine and $30,000 in court cost fees. Capone first started serving his sentence in Cook County Jail. On May 4, 1932, he was transferred to Atlanta at one of the toughest penitentiaries in the country. Once authorities learned he was receiving the comforts of prison life denied to other prisoners, he was transferred again, this time to Alcatraz (located on an island in San Francisco Bay) on August 18, 1934, where he was assigned to cell 181 and was given the prison number 85. After his mental capacity increasingly deteriorated at Alcatraz, he was released in November, 1939, after serving six years and five months at which point he entered the Baltimore State Mental Institution.

 

Word Origin

Galvanize, meaning to spur to action, according to William Morris'`` Dictionary of Word and Phrases’’, comes from an 18th century Italian physiologist, Luigi Galvani, who discovered quite by accident that he could ``galvanize’’ frogs and other animals he was working with, by subjecting them to electric shock.

               

Looking For a Good Quote?

``Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.’’

-          Albert Einstein

 

-          Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 17, 2013

STATS and FACTS for Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Eye-Catchers of the Day:

• The Top Ten Reasons The Government Shutdown Isn't All Bad (Posted by a group of Republican Senators)

 http://is.gd/cJZ7xj

• What happens in a US debt default?

Q & A: BBC http://is.gd/gxpHEW

• Vote for the 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees: Rolling Stone Magazine http://is.gd/u2PACz

 

• ESPN Picture Graph: 21 countries have qualified for the 2014 World Cup. 11 more will do so in Nov. playoffs

http://is.gd/7RssZP

 

 

STATS  OF THE DAY

• By 2020, an estimated one-fourth of American workers will be 55 or older, up from 19 percent in 2010.
• The most calories for a single item at McDonald's is the chocolate McCafe shake with whipped cream and cherry-700 calories;  the lowest caloric burger or sandwich is theircheeseburger-300 calories.
• The St. Louis Cardinals flame thrower Trevor Rosenthal has not allowed a run in 11 career post-season appearances.
• The Dodger’s Yasiel Puig is batting .600 (9-for-15) through four home postseason games, the highest home average in MLB.
• ESPN: ``Justin Verlander is the first pitcher in postseason history to be the starter in two games in which his team lost 1-0 in a single postseason.’’
• Just 45 % of Americans were vaccinated during last year's flu season, according the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
• According to the Washington Post, stretching back to 1980, the debt ceiling has been raised 42 times. It was raised 17 times under Ronald Reagan, 4 times under Bill Clinton and 7 times under George W. Bush.
• According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (2012) Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tie for first place as being the least corrupt countries, based in part on their strong access to information systems and rules governing the behavior of those in public positions, while Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia are the most corrupt countries based predominantly on their lack of accountable leadership and effective public institutions.
• Former Fox News commentator Liz Cheney has raised $1.027 million since she announced in July her intention to challenge Mike Enzi (R-WY) for his senate seat.  Enzi, by contrast, has earned $847,646 during that same time period.

 

 

Polls/Surveys

• Harris Interactive Poll:  Dallas Cowboys are the favorite team of adults who follow professional football. The Green Bay Packers move up one spot to number 2 and the Denver Broncos make one of the largest moves on the list, going up 14 spots to 3^rd from a tie for 17th in 2011. Rounding out the top five favorite football teams are the New York Giants, up three spots from 7th to 4th, and the New England Patriots, who drop from number 4 to number 5.

http://is.gd/UVamUD

• Esquire-NBC News survey: just 1 in 4 support immigration reforms that would provide a path to citizenship for those who came here illegally.

http://is.gd/qaWL2Q

• The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll: An all-time high 74 percent of Americans disapprove of the way the Republicans in Congress are handling Washington’s budget crisis; 53 percent, by contrast, disapprove of Obama’s work on the issue-21 points lower than disapproval of the Republicans.

http://is.gd/1HZSsh

• The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: Among Americans ages 50 and older who currently have jobs, 82% expect to work in some form during retirement.

http://is.gd/guicRK

 

• Pew Internet & American Life Project: As of May 2013, some 15% of American adults ages 18 and older do not use the internet or email. Another 85% of U.S. adults do go online.

http://is.gd/Pe0v0I

 

Today in History:

October 16, 1997: The first page one color photo appears in The New York Times.

A Footnote: The first color photo believed to have appeared on page one of a major newspaper was on October 21, 1959, when the Minneapolis Star ran an Associated Press color photo of the funeral of General C. Marshall. On June 8, 1939, AP transmitted a half-tone color picture of President Roosevelt and King George VI from the nation's capital.

 

Word Origin:

Cushy: The word ``cushy'' as in ``cushy job'', comes from a Hindi word khushi, meaning ``pleasant'' --a slang expression used by the British in India.

 

Looking For a Good Quote?

``             The boisterous sea of liberty indeed is never without a wave.''

-Thomas Jefferson

 

 

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 16, 2013

STATS and FACTS for Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Eye-Catchers of the Day

• Washington Post http://is.gd/YC7hCd: ``During a single day last year, the NSA’s Special Source Operations branch collected 444,743 e-mail address books from Yahoo, 105,068 from Hotmail, 82,857 from Facebook, 33,697 from Gmail and 22,881 from unspecified other providers, according to an internal NSA PowerPoint presentation.’’

 

• AP INTERACTIVE: The clock is ticking: U.S. debt ceiling primer:

http://is.gd/WZKjCJ

Without a hike in the legal limit by Oct. 17, the Treasury Department will have to choose who gets paid on time and who gets paid late, which could trigger a default on U.S. obligations — something many experts describe as catastrophic.

 

• The New York Times: http://is.gd/erMX5J

Turning the Page (Historic Graphic)

On Tuesday, The International Herald Tribune will become The International New York Times.

****

 

STATS OF THE DAY:

• ESPN STATS: ``The 9 points by the Colts [in their 19-9 loss to the Chargers Monday night] matches their fewest in a game with Andrew Luck as starting QB.’’
• Peyton Manning, Phillip Rivers, Andrew Luck top 3 ranked quarterbacks in the NFL this season: ESPN http://is.gd/CVI16G
• According to Focus (a German weekly news magazine published in Munich) 68% of Germans believe their country's mission in Afghanistan was a failure; only 23% say it was a success.
• Tech Crunch http://is.gd/HwAQ3i  ``In September, Yahoo reported 350 million monthly active mobile users, up from 300 million reported for February 2013 in its 2012 annual report. ‘’
• According to The Federal Bureau of Investigation preliminary findings of its annual Uniform Crime Report for 2012, The South has been responsible for 82% of executions; the Midwest 12%; and the West 6%. The number of people on death row in the U.S. dropped to 3,082, marking the eleventh consecutive year in which the size of death row decreased. Florida, California, Texas, and Arizona accounted for half of all inmates sentenced to death. The report noted that in 2011 Illinois became the latest state to abolish the death penalty.
• The percentage of insured workers with a deductible of $1,000 or more for single coverage jumped to 34 percent in 2012 from 12 percent in 2007, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. http://is.gd/NeMbLK
• According to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, if the debt limit is not raised, preventing the Treasury Department from borrowing, the government will only be able to pay bills with the cash it has on hand, which is about $30 billion per day.
• A statistical analysis by Moody’s Analytics, Inc. shows that increased political uncertainty since the recession hit in 2008 has lowered real GDP by close to $150 billion, reduced employment by 1.1 million jobs, and increased unemployment by 0.7 percentage point.
• Most recent data shows the U.S. GDP growing at an annual rate of 1.3 %

 

Findings from the Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) Wealth Report: 2013 http://is.gd/gwFyC6

• Wealth-X has identified 2,170 billionaires globally, with a total net worth of $6.5 trillion (U.S. dollars), equal to 23 percent of the world’s UHNW total wealth.
• Although the United States and Europe grew faster than Asia in the past 12 months, Wealth-X forecasts that Asia will generate more UHNW individuals and wealth than both regions in the next five years.
• At the current growth rates, Asia’s UHNW population and wealth will eclipse that of Europe in 2021 and 2017 respectively.
• The global UHNW population continues to be dominated by men, who form 88 percent of the total population, as well as self-made individuals, who form 65 percent of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
• Latin America was the only region to suffer a decline, with both its UHNW population and total wealth falling by 600 individuals and $75 billion respectively.
• As Europe’s growth weakens, Asia’s economies will continue to strengthen. The region’s wealth is expected to overtake Europe by 2017.
• 32 percent of US UHNW individuals’ net worth is held in liquid assets, the highest percentage out of all focus countries.
• UHNW women hold $1.2 trillion (U.S. dollars) in wealth in the US, more in dollar terms than any other country.
• Massachusetts was the fastest growing state in the past 12 months, increasing by over 35 percent to become the 10th most populous state in the country, up from a ranking of 17 last year.
• Pennsylvania was the state with the biggest absolute loss of UHNW individuals, with 50 fewer than the year before.

 

Blessed are the peacemakers; so why was Vladimir Putin overlooked?

Interfax

October 11, 2013

Russian commentators have largely criticized the Nobel Committee's decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Prominent pro-Putin commentator Sergey Markov said that the Nobel Committee was unable to give Russian President Vladimir Putin the award because of "Russophobia" and "anti-Russian hysteria". Others called the award "unfair", a "stupid action" and a "politically clever choice". 

He noted, however, that, ``despite the fact that the Nobel Committee did not decide to award the peace prize to Putin, it is precisely Putin who is the real winner "in the eyes of public opinion.’’

"The prize for the OPCW is a politically clever choice but looks like a cunning move and a way not to give the prize to those who averted a war in Syria.’’

Explaining his critical stance towards the Nobel Committee's decision, [United Russia MP Iosif] Kobzon said: "Precisely Putin launched the mechanism for chemical disarmament in Syria, precisely the Russian leader convinced Syrian President Bashar al-Asad to join the convention on banning this type of weapon."

"Putin launched this mechanism, the mechanism was awarded the peace prize but the author of the idea was not," Kobzon said.

Head of the Russian State Duma's International Affairs Committee Aleksey Pushkov said that the prize is being given in advance. tweeted: "They have started giving the Nobel Prize in advance: first to Obama for fine speeches but not for actions, and now the OPCW which has just started working in Syria.’’

 

***

Today in History

October 15, 2005, The Iraqi constitution was approved by voters in a referendum. It was drafted by members of the Iraqi Constitutional Committee to replace the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), the law of administration for Iraq prepared by the Coalition Provisional Authority during the transitional period. More than 78 percent of 9.8 million voters approved the document. 63 percent of eligible voters turned out to vote.

 

Word Origin

Crocodile Tears: The word crocodile comes from ancient Greek and Egyptian folklore. Specifically, it comes from the Greek krokodeilos. According to legend, a giant lizard attracted its victims by loud moaning, including the shedding of tears while it devoured them.

 

Looking For a Good Quote?

``Politics is the study of who gets what, when, and how.’’

-Harold D. Lasswell, U.S. political scientist

 

 

-Bill Lucey

[email protected]

October 15, 2013