In most lists of numbers, the leading digit 1 occurs about 30 percent of the time.
That’s Benford’s Law, named for the American physicist Frank Benford. It’s surprising, but it’s true, and it applies to most statistics relating to society and the natural world, from street addresses to the lengths of rivers.
It can even be used to detect fraud. When people make up lists of numbers, they tend to use too few leading 1s.
Writers who committed suicide:
“The real reason for not committing suicide,” wrote Hemingway, “is because you always know how swell life gets again after the hell is over.” He killed himself in 1961.
A young boy who drowned on the Titanic. Despite the frightful loss of life, the evacuating passengers generally behaved honorably — giving women first place in the lifeboats, for instance, regardless of their class. 55 percent of third-class women survived, compared to 33 percent of first-class men.
The only common English word that has five vowels in a row is queueing.
Famous bachelors:
Bill Gates has not missed a day of work since 1975.
Who says Americans are uncultured? Every year on the last Sunday in April, Dedham, Mass., sponsors the James Joyce Ramble, a 10K road race in which each mile is dedicated to a different work by Joyce.
Professional actors dress up in period costume and read from the books as the athletes run by, making this the only theatrical performance where the performers stand still and the audience moves.
In 1964-65, a mysterious killer murdered six prostitutes around London, leaving their nude bodies in various locations around the city or dumping them in the Thames.
His identity has never been determined, but he’s known as Jack the Stripper.
Rejected dwarf names considered for Disney’s Snow White (1937):
Only about 3 people in 100 can name the seven dwarfs that were finally used.
“Genius is eternal patience.” — Michelangelo Buonarroti