97%
of federal criminal convictions never even went to trial; they were the result of guilty pleas.
"PACOM (CDW)-STATE ONLY"
is the confusing shorthand phrase in a computer program drop-down menu that an emergency worker in Hawaii accidentally selected, sending out the chilling message "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL" and panicking people for 38 minutes. The correct selection would have been "DRILL-PACOM (DEMO)," where PACOM refers to the United States Pacific Command based in Hawaii. Got that?
1.7 million
people are killed by tuberculosis each year, according to the World Health Organization; that's more than die from AIDS.
A pizzly bear
is the name of the cub that results from the mating of grizzly and polar bears, species that occasionally interbreed.
6 minutes
is how much sunshine was recorded in Moscow in December, thanks to unrelenting cloud cover that created a record dark even in this bleak winter month of short days there.