Things I Learned - November 2023

💡 This is November’s issue of “Things I Learned”.¹

1. Taylor Swift is the first ever billionaire to have music as the primary source of income. (cite)

2. In South Korea, roughly 2% of GDP is spent on private tutoring. (cite)

3. The high-speed Acela train from New York to Washington DC takes 20 minutes longer than the corresponding Amtrak passenger train from 1969, the Metroliner (cite)

4. The word “gauze” (i.e., the loose open weave fabric) derives from the place name Gaza, where it was first woven. (cite)

5. The US has the highest rate of children living in single-parent households of any country in the world. (cite).

6. Carlos Alcaraz is the first and only player born after 1987 to win the Australian Open, French Open, or Wimbledon. He was born in 2003. (cite)

7. The US stock market represents 60% of global stock market value. (cite)

8. “Guinea” — as in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Papua New Guinea etc — was a generic Portuguese term for dark foreigners. When the Portuguese explored the West African coast in the 15th century, they named the whole region “Guinea.” There was also a lot of gold mining in the region, hence the British naming one of their gold coins the “guinea.” However, we do not know why guinea pigs are called that (either guinea or pig). (cite)

9. Osama bin Laden is one of 50 siblings (cite)

10. Post 1930, one fifth of US college graduates have received their degree after the age of 30 (cite)

11. Spain’s share of world olive oil production is larger than Saudi Arabia’s share of crude oil production (cite).

12. If OnlyFans’s creator earnings were taken as a whole, the company would rank around No. 90 on biggest private companies in America by revenue, ahead of Twitter, Neiman Marcus, New Balance, Hard Rock International, and Hallmark. (cite).

13. A three legged table cannot wobble. (cite)

14. 8% of inheritances in America are from aunts and uncles. (cite)

15. There are more airports in the US than there are McDonalds (cite and cite).

16. All income from federal government bonds is immune from state taxes (cite).

17. NBA players who did not go to college consistently outperform the level predicted by their draft pick (cite)

18. The domestic production of beer is nearly three thousand years older than the production of coins. (cite and cite)

19. GDP per capita in sub-Saharan Africa fell 10% from 2014-2023. (cite)

20. There are more UCLA students than there are coal miners in the US. (cite)

21. Turkeys are only found in North America (cite)

22. Japan (not China) is the top holder of U.S. sovereign debt (cite)

23. The busiest day for air travel in the history of the US — November 26, 2023 — saw about 100,000 fewer passengers than the average weekday subway ridership in New York City. (cite and cite).

24. The share of the US stock market held by (passive) index funds doubled from 8% to 16% between 2012 and 2021 (cite).

Graphs I liked (just 2 this month)

• Largest public companies at the start of each decade:

  

• Adoption of Household Necessities in the US:

  

1. Today’s blog post also happens to fall on my birthday 🥳🎂.