Jamie Fox, a 22-year-old from Great Britain with a degree in music, was given a job as a human scarecrow on a farm. Fox will make $400 a week scaring off partridges by playing an accordion, ukulele, and cowbell.
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25%: Share of the world’s population that the U.S. is legally bound to defend thanks to pacts and treaties signed with over 60 countries, according to a report from the Harvard Belfer Center.
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$6 trillion – Upper estimate of the cost to the U.S. of conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan
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Reporters Without Borders ranked 180 countries on the basis of conditions for press freedom. A sampling:
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44%: Percentage of U.S. firms since 2008 that have reduced their head counts in part because of automation.
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Colony collapse disorder, the mysterious scourge that has been killing off honeybees since 2005, has suddenly become a lot more deadly. This past winter, as many as half of all hives succumbed to the disorder—up from one third annually in recent years, and between 5 and 10 percent when hives were healthy. “It is a catastrophe in progress,” beekeeper Steve […]
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For every deceased person who is buried, four are now cremated.
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Women accounted for a record 22% of legislators worldwide last year, according to the Interparliamentary Union.
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The almost-bankrupt Italian city of Naples began DNA-testing dog feces on its poop-covered sidewalks, so it can prosecute residents who don’t pick up. “I know some people find it funny that with all the problems the city has, we would focus on dog poop,” said an official.
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Italy and Switzerland have agreed to redraw their border because global warming is melting the Alpine glaciers that mark their respective boundaries. The border had been fixed since 1861.
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