Inches of Rainfall
4.36 – The average rainfall, in inches, for the contiguous United States in May, the country’s wettest month since record keeping began in 1895.
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China: Destination For Immigrants
China has surpassed Mexico as the largest source of new U.S. immigrants. China was the country of origin for 147,000 immigrants in 2013, compared with Mexico at 125,000, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau study.
Read moreThe Cost of Dementia
As the population ages and lives longer, dementia has become one of the country’s most expensive medical conditions, with $109 billion in direct medical costs in 2010, a new RAND study found. The medical cost of dementia exceeds that of both heart disease, at $102 billion, and cancer, at $72 billion.
Read moreTrying anything to find water
A growing numbers of drought-afflicted California farmers began hiring dowsers to locate underground water. “Scientists don’t believe in it,” said vintner Marc Mondavi, “but I do and most of the farmers in the [Napa] Valley do.”
Read moreBritish Businessmen and Their Teddy Bears
Percentage of British businessmen who travel with their teddy bears: 25 Percentage of British men who say they share “all their secrets” with their teddy bears: 15
Read moreThe Man Who Removed His Own Appendix
Leonid Ivanovich Rogozov was a Soviet general practitioner who took part in the sixth Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1960–1961. He was the only doctor stationed at the Novolazarevskaya Station and, while there, developed appendicitis, which meant he had to perform an appendectomy on himself, a famous case of self-surgery. Leonid Rogozov was born in Dauriya Station, Chita Oblast, a remote […]
Read moreThe two deadliest drugs in America are both legal
The two deadliest drugs in America are both legal. Tobacco kills more than 500,000 Americans a year. Alcohol is linked to 88,000 deaths a year (including those caused by drunk driving and violent behavior) and more than 4.6 million emergency room visits.
Read moreHackers In China
A cybersecurity firm has traced scores of attacks on U.S. corporate and government computers to a single building in Shanghai. The security firm, Mandiant, found that the attacks originated in a 12-story building known as the headquarters of People’s Liberation Army Unit 61398. Intelligence analysts say that the unit has about 2,000 employees and 1,000 servers, and is the most […]
Read moreAdvertising Revenue
From 2000 to 2013, advertising revenue for America’s newspapers fell $40 billion—from $63.5 billion to $23 billion, according to a new report by the Brookings Foundation. At the same time, Google’s ad revenue has soared to $57.9 billion.
Read moreSorry, Wrong Number
Florida Gov. Rick Scott, thought he was announcing the phone number of a meningitis hotline, but provided the number of a phone sex line. Callers heard a woman say, “Hello, boys….”
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