19: How many times the word “acai” appeared as an answer to a New York Times crossword clue in 2021. That’s a lot, given that the average word appears 1.86x per year. You can learn more about the rise and fall of various crossword answers in this delightful read.
31 years and 165 days: Perhaps not the age of the world’s oldest dog. Guinness World Records previously bestowed the honor upon Bobi, a Rafeiro do Alentejo from Portugal who purportedly died at that age in October 2023. However, a review found no conclusive evidence showing Bobi — whose breed typically lives 12-14 years — was really that old. Microchipping did not become mandatory for dogs in Portugal until 2008.
$800m: Cost of the Atlanta, Georgia, studio expansion filmmaker Tyler Perry put on hold after seeing OpenAI’s text-to-video generator, Sora. Perry told The Hollywood Reporter that the tool’s capabilities shocked him, and made him worry for those currently employed in film and TV production: “There’s got to be some sort of regulations in order to protect us. If not, I just don’t see how we survive.” Grim news for an industry already reeling from a pandemic, strikes, and layoffs.
~$1.8m: How much the estranged husband of a BP manager made off insider trading. Tyler Loudon pleaded guilty to eavesdropping on his wife’s phone calls as they both worked from home, then using what he overheard to strategically buy shares in TravelCenters of America, a truck stop service BP planned to acquire. When news of the acquisition dropped, shares shot up a whopping 71%. He now faces a $250k fine and five years in prison — and his wife divorced him.