The average American’s income declined almost 1 percent in 2014, to $64,432.The income of the poorest fifth of the population fell by 3.5 percent, to $9,818, while the income of the wealthiest fifth rose by nearly 1 percent, to $166,048.
Read more
88: Number of executions carried out in Saudi Arabia so far this year, already surpassing the total number in 2014; Amnesty International called the increase under Saudi’s new King Salman a “macabre spike”.
Read more
Knowing your limits, after Molly Schuyler, a 120-pound mother of four, won a Texas eating competition by wolfing down 13 pounds of steak in four minutes, 18 seconds. Schuyler said she had room for more steak but got sick of the taste.
Read more
Four U.S. Army soldiers stockpiled $87,000 in guns and bomb components, which they planned to use to kill President Obama and overthrow the federal government, prosecutors said this week. The anarchist militia group of active duty and former soldiers then allegedly murdered a comrade and his teenage girlfriend to protect the secrecy of its plots. The gang drew up plans […]
Read more
The five most popular names for baby girls in 2014 were (in order) Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Isabella, and Ava, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration. For boys, the most popular were Noah, Liam, Mason, Jacob, and William.
Read more
Police arrested a New Hampshire man who posted 35 videos on YouTube explaining how to grow marijuana at home. Kyle Berry didn’t appear in the videos, but authorities said his reflection could be seen in one of the tutorials. “He’s not the brightest person in the world,” said a sheriff.
Read more
The Department of Defense has 562,000 military bases and facilities located around the world, which collectively cover 24.7 million acres—nearly the size of Virginia. Much of that space is now unused, but Congress has barred the Pentagon from conducting a detailed assessment out of fear that bases in home districts would be closed.
Read more
Neopagans in Iceland are erecting a temple dedicated to the Norse gods Thor, Odin, and Frigg for the first time in over 1,000 years. The temple will be built by the Asatru movement, which was founded in the 1970s to revive the ancient religion and now has more than 2,000 followers ina coutnry with just 320,000 people. Hilmar Orn Flilmarsson, Asatru’s […]
Read more
A Polish prisoner triggered a crackdown on other inmates after he posted a photo of a large Cannabis plant that he’d grown in his cell. To boast about his green thumb, Dozy Zendarski took a selfie with the plant using a smuggled smartphone and posted it to Facebook. When it went viral, prison officials searched the entire jail and seized numerous phones and other banned items from […]
Read more
The typical worker is three times more likely to die during leisure time than on the job.
Read more