You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
2 holdouts
With Nicaragua reportedly set to join the Paris climate accords — they held out in 2015 because the nation believed the deal didn’t go far enough — there are now only two holdouts from the landmark deal: Syria and the United States, which President Trump said would pull out of the agreement. [Bloomberg]
AB 485
A California bill awaiting the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown would outlaw puppy mills, banning pet stores from selling cats, dogs and bunnies that did not come from a shelter or rescue. [The New York Times]
1,772 episodes
This is easily the most staggering statistic I have come across while writing this column: There have been 1,772 individual episodes of HGTV’s “House Hunters” since it debuted in 1999. I could watch an episode of “House Hunters” every day for nearly five years without seeing a single repeat. When we’re just a radioactive cinder in the gaze of an expanding sun, whomever or whatever succeeds us will be able to say, “damn … they were good at finding and obtaining houses.” [Vulture]
80,000 311 calls
Hurricane Sandy left an indelible mark on New York City, and the effects of the storm can still be seen and felt years later. More than 36 million calls were placed to NYC’s 311 service from just before Sandy hit in late 2012 through earlier this week. Nearly 80,000 of them were related to the storm. And the tail is super long — 142 such calls were made in 2017 (as of Monday). [FiveThirtyEight]
3.5 million people
Hurricane Maria has left the entire island of Puerto Rico and its 3.5 million residents without power. That’s to say nothing of flooding and other destruction. Maria, now a Category 3 storm, is currently hitting the Dominican Republic. [BBC]
$31.4 million
Russian trade with North Korea more doubled to $31.4 million in the first quarter of 2017. Reuters found eight North Korean fuel ships that left Russia ostensibly en route to China or South Korea only to change their final destination to North Korea. [Reuters]
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