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By The Numbers

Identifying the next Silicon Valley

Tony Wagner Mar 10, 2015
$48,840

That’s the maximum worker’s compensation for a lost arm in Alabama, less than a third of the national average. Most states assign these types of values to lost limbs, eyes, fingers, even testicles, and a ProPublica/NPR investigation found the benefits vary wildly across the country. The story follows two workers who live not far across the Alabama/Georgia line from each other and lost their arms in similar accidents. One man got $45,000 and says he lost nearly everything, while the other could receive more than $700,000 in his lifetime and has managed to stay afloat.

20,000

That’s how many people have signed a petition against the French extramarital-affair-dating-site Gleeden, as reported by the NY Times. Recently, a bus company in Versailles removed Gleeden ads from its vehicles following some 500 complaints filed in a single week  the company says they generally receive 900 complaints in a year.

2 out of 73

The portion of venture-funded companies with values over $2 billion that call Provo, Utah home. The city was also a leader in tech job creation outside the Bay area from 2009 to 2013, the Upshot reported. That puts Provo well ahead of the many cities jockying to be “the next Silicon Valley.”

7

The demand for wild turtle meat between 1987 to 2013 increased 7 fold, according to a story in USA Today about a recent drop in the wild turtle population in Des Moines, Iowa. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is now recommending a suspension of turtle hunting during egg laying season.

$17,000

The new Apple Watch could cost as much as $17,000, depending on whether you want aluminum and glass, stainless steel or rose gold. But some say you’re better off waiting for Apple Watch’s next iteration, as the company often uses the first generation of products to create a culture of cool, and then turns out a much more sophisticated version later on.

500,000

The number of iTunes downloads from tribute band Led Zepagain from their first album release in 2005 to when Led Zepplin’s music first appeared on the service in 2007. Cuepoint explored the way soundalikes and tribute bands are doing better than ever thanks to digital streaming and the complexities of music licensing.

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