On May 23rd, a 22-year-old man went on a shooting and stabbing rampage in Santa Barbara, CA that left six people dead and 13 others wounded
Total incidents of gun violence in the U.S. since January 1st, 2014. [1]
Number of gun deaths in the U.S. in 2007. [2]
Combined number of gun deaths in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the U.K., Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and Spain in 2007. [2]
The Calabria region of Italy approved a bill to reduce the sentences of Italian prisoners for every book they read while in jail.
Number of days Italian prisoners’ sentences will be reduced for every book read.
Minimum number of pages the books need to be to qualify for sentence reduction.
Percentage of American adults who did not read a single book in 2013. [3]
Landon Donovan, one of the most famous and celebrated American soccer players of the 21st century, has been left out of the US’ 2014 World Cup roster.
The US team’s FIFA world ranking heading into the World Cup (WC), putting them ahead of both France and the Netherlands. [4]
The betting odds that the US will win the WC. [5]
The percent of Brazilians who will root against their national team in the WC. [6]
Activist, historian, and Civil Rights leader Vincent Harding passed away this month at the age of 82. He drafted Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous Vietnam Speech, ‘A Time To Break Silence’, delivered on April 4, 1967. Three days later, the New York Times published an op-ed about the speech titled, “Dr. King’s Error,” in which King’s efforts to draw links between racism and militarism were labeled “wasteful and self-defeating.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s age when he was assassinated in 1968G
Median net worth for Black families in US.
Median net worth for White families
in US. [7]
In Paul Ryan’s budget proposal for 2014, Pell Grants, federal grants for college students with financial aid, are slated to be frozen. Currently, 5.4 million college students benefit from the grants.
Collective amount of American student debt. [8]
Tuition for year of law school at University of Pennsylvania in 1950. [9]
Tuition for year of law school at University of Pennsylvania in
2014. [10]
Subcomandante Marcos, the namesake of the enigmatic leader of the Zapatistas, has apparently stepped down. In his last public statement, he announced “Subcomadante Marcos no longer exists.” It is still unclear whether this means the person, or the persona, will no longer take part in the Mexican resistance movement which went public after the signing of NAFTA.
Net worth of Carlos Slim, who, post-NAFTA, gained personal control over 80% of Mexican landlines. [11]
Percent of Mexicans aged 25-64 who have earned the equivalent of a high school degree. [12]
Estimated number of ex-felons of working age in the United States.
Annual cost to US economic output caused by the unemployed ex-offender population. [13]
Fast food workers protested in 33 countries on May 15th, demanding a wage of fifteen dollars per hour.
Percent of fast food employees who receive health care through their job. [14]
Hourly compensation of McDonalds CEO
Donald Thompson. [15]
The CIA set up fake vaccination centers as a tactic to gain identifying information on Taliban members, setting off a polio crisis in Pakistan.
Number of new polio cases in the world in 2014.
Number of new polio cases in Pakistan in 2014. [16]
Last month the White House issued a “National Climate Assessment,” which details how carbon emissions have already had a severe effect on our climate, and calls for immediate action to fight climate change.
Amount in degrees Fahrenheit U.S. temperatures have risen since record keeping began in 1895. Most of this increase has occurred since about 1970.
Amount in inches the global sea level has risen since reliable record keeping began in 1880. It is projected to rise another 1 to 4 feet by 2100. [17]
After the $45 billion merger of Comcast and Time Warner, the two largest cable companies in the country, in February, federal regulators unveiled new rules that would allow online companies to pay service providers, such as Comcast, for faster service, effectively abandoning net neutrality.
Monthly cost of fastest US internet service on the market, Comcast’s offering of 305 megabits per second (mbps).
Monthly cost of Hong Kong’s top service, 500 mbps. [18]
Sources:
[1] http://www.gunviolencearchive.org
[2] http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list
[3] http://www.pewinternet.org/files/old-media//Files/Reports/2014/PIP_E-reading_011614.pdf
[4] http://www.fifa.com/worldranking/rankingtable/
[5] http://www.skybet.com/football/world-cup
[6] http://www.edgeofsports.com/2014-05-19-928/
[7] http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/27/news/economy/wealth-whites-blacks/
[8] http://www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/student-debt-swells-federal-loans-now-top-a-trillion/
[9] https://www.law.upenn.edu/admissions/grad/tuition-fees.php
[10] http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/tuition/1950.html
[11] http://www.npr.org/2014/01/01/258668414/how-nafta-helped-the-mexican-billionaires-club
[12] http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/mexico/
[13] http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/ex-offenders-2010-11.pdf
[14] http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/10/15/low-wage-fast-food-jobs-leave-hefty-tax-bill-report-says/
[15] http://www.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-and-starbucks-ceos-make-more-than-9200-an-hour-2013-12
[16] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/multimedia/polio-transcript.pdf?ua=1
[17] http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/overview/climate-trends
[18] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/24/us-internet-speed_n_3645927.html