141: The number of seasonal former IRS employees rehired by the agency between 2010 and 2013 despite having botched or failed to file their own tax returns, according to a February report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. 8.8 Million: The number of tons of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every year, according to a study in the journal […]
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“Throw a few chairmen of the board in jail for polluting the air and water, and you’ll see pollution disappear quite rapidly. You would also probably see some pretty drastic prison reforms.” – Fortney H. “Pete” Stark
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Homeowners in Centennial, Colo., woke up to a pleasant surprise last Sunday morning: a group of teens who went around shoveling their neighbors’ sidewalks and driveways free of charge. “They did everything: the whole driveway, the stoop, the whole sidewalk,” said one thankful recipient. “You just don’t see that in this day and age.”The high schoolers refused any money that […]
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16.0% Percentage of total military forces who are female 71.9% Percentage of military forces who are Caucasian 2.2% Percentage of military forces who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual
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Number of U.S. States that allow the death penalty: 31 Proportion of U.S. police departments that are using body cameras: 1 in 3
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15,654 – Total known land area, in square miles (40,544 sq km), of U.S. nuclear-weapon bases and facilities 2 – Minimum number of people required to authorize a U.S. nuclear attack
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A Pew survey found that one in five Americans is not affiliated with any religion. “Nones” are growing faster than any religious group in America.
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Americans drink far less today than our predecessors did. In 1830, the average American drank the equivalent of 7.1 gallons of pure alcohol per year. In 2013, by comparison, the average American drank the equivalent of 2.34 gallons of pure alcohol.
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Estimated minimum gallons of water used annually to produce Coca Cola products: 8,000,000,000,000 Portion of the world’s population that amount would supply with drinking water each year: 1/4
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Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum is already home to an artist’s rendition of da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” made from burned toast, and now comes a recent version by Laura Bell of Roscommon, MI — da Vinci’s masterpiece made with clothes-dryer lint. Bell said she did about 800 hours of laundry of various-colored towels to obtain lint of the […]
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