As the world was preparing to ring in 2014, a gang of intrepid revolutionaries set out to overthrow Gambia’s dictator. They failed. Javier Blas wrote about how much it cost:

• The group trying to launch the coup d’état consisted of just 20 people.
• The budget for the operations was a measly $220,798.
• This included $2,000 for each of two sniper rifles, and a $4,000 expense account for each of the revolutionaries.
• The operation was bankrolled by an American of Gambian descent who made his fortune in Texas. In return for his investment he was expected to be installed as President.
• This isn’t the first time a few brave souls have tried to take a state. In 2004 the son of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was given a suspended sentence for trying to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.
• A French soldier launched four coup attempts in the Comoros Island between 1975 and 1995. A couple were even successful.

Read about the attempt, details of the master plan, the group’s motives, and more over here.

Source: Financial Times

Via: Marginal Revolution

In 2009 a hacker leaked a database of passwords. Researchers have been studying it since, and in a fascinating article about society’s relationship with passwords Ian Urbina wrote about the kinds of keys we choose:

• Around 10% of passwords are a name followed by a year.
• The word ‘password’ makes up 0.2% of all passwords.
• The most common verb is “love” – it is 12 times as common as conjugations of the word “hate”.
• The most popular adjectives are “sexy”, “hot”, and “pink”.
• In passwords that begin with “I love” a man’s name is four times more likely to appear at the end than a woman’s.
• The word “team” is surprisingly popular in passwords – but because versions of the Spanish “te amo” (I love you) are often used in passwords.
• 14344 is also a popular password – the numbers represent the number of letters in each of the words of the phrase “I love you very much”.

The full article provides an in depth look about what passwords mean to us, the meaning that we imbue them with, and much more. It is well written and you should read it here.

Source: The New York Times

Max Fisher wrote about how best to overthrow a government:

• Research indicates that about 50% of peaceful uprisings succeed in their objectives while violent ones are only half as successful.
  
• The success of peaceful protests is a recent phenomenon. Up until about the 1950s it was violent ones that were more successful.
  
• The data suggests that once 3.5% of a country’s population becomes involved in an uprising, the rate of success shoots up to 100%.
  
• No violent campaign has managed to achieve participation by 3.5% of the country thus the strategy’s relative lack of success.
  
• Part of the reason why violence is unsuccessful is because violent protests legitimize the use of force by the regime, allowing them to crush the revolution.
  
• They can also unite what may have previously been a divided regime on the brink of collapse.
  
• And violent protesters may lose the sympathy of the wider populace thus failing to spark a broader revolution.
  
• Peaceful revolutions have other benefits. They are 15% less likely to relapse into civil war than violent ones.
  

Read more about the benefits of non-violence, and see some fascinating charts over here.

Source: The Washington Post

Play-Doh was originally meant for a very different purpose, according to Daven Hiskey:

• In 1933 people used coal to heat their homes which generated a lot of soot that clung to the walls.
• Play-Doh was invented to remove the soot. It could be rolled against the walls to pick up the grime.
• Coal started to be replaced by oil and gas, and vinyl wallpapers that could be cleaned with water and soap became more popular causing sales of Play-Doh to crash.
• After removing the cleaning agents and adding some scents the material was repurposed into a toy.
• Moreover, while as wallpaper cleaner it sold for $0.34 a can, as a toy they could sell the same amount for $1.50.
• The makers soon had close to ten years’ worth of orders to fill.

Read more about Play-Doh’s history, how the person who came up with the name, and the idea to use it as a children’s toy, was given no credit, and how Captain Kangaroo helped make it a hit over here.

Source: Today I Found Out

Via: Huffington Post

The jewelry industry isn’t doing so hot these days and Beejoli Shah thinks she knows why:

• Dating couples used to express their affection through gifts of jewelry. Now they do it through gifts of technology such as the latest smartphone.
• Technology, they reason, is just as pricey as jewelry, but is also functional.
• While diamonds are forever, millennials aren’t ready to make that kind of commitment. They would rather buy a tablet knowing that they will upgrade to a different one in a couple years.
• At the same time the quality of costume jewelry is increasing, and because it’s cheap, buyers can purchase baubles as fashions come and go.

See some eye opening statistics, find out the role that the internet played, and read more details about why the jewelry business is struggling over here.

Source: Pacific Standard

Pensions in Brazil put old people in the mood wrote Samantha Pearson:

• Until recently spouses of deceased workers received their partner’s pensions for the rest of their life.
• This made marriage to older men attractive to younger women who could live off the pension for several decades – even if they married someone else after the death of their beloved.
• However recent macroeconomic problems have forced the government to announce reforms.
• Now the partners of the deceased will only get 50% of the original pension.
• Newly single individuals under the age of 44 will only have rights to the pension for as little as three years.

Read about how Brazil got into this mess, what the government is doing to perk up the economy, and more over here.

Source: Financial Times

Via: Quartz

Eric Chemi and Ariana Giorgi analyzed some statistics about credit card tipping for taxi drivers in New York City:

• By default passengers are presented with buttons with the option to tip 20%, 25%, 30% or other.
• Unsurprisingly 20%, 25%, and 30% are among the most popular tipping amounts, with 20% being the most common.
• The seventh most common tipping amount is 0%. Credit cards make it easier for passengers to tip nothing and then dash without awkward conversation.
• The overall average tip is 19% but this increases to 20% during rush hour, in part because of travelers using corporate credit cards.
• In the early am hours the average tip drops to 18% suggesting that alcohol and generous tipping don’t mix.

See excellent charts, and read more details about the numbers here.

Source: Bloomberg

Via: I Quant NY

The Economist put together insights from Beth Berman, Kieran Healy, and internet commentators to present a story of inequality in the sky:

• Before the creation of economy plus, domestic flights in the US had a two class system. Economy class passengers made up 93% of the passengers but only got 85% of the cabin space.
• This means planes had a Gini index of 8. The higher the Gini index the greater the inequality.
• With the advent of a third class, economy plus, the Gini index approximately doubled to be around 16.
• On transatlantic flights where First Class passengers are increasingly pampered the Gini index shoots up to 25.
• Just as in the real world inequality is rising in the skies. But it still has a ways to go – the Gini index of the US economy is 48.
• If a plane had the same Gini index as the United States then on a typical jet there would be about 8 First Class passengers, making up 3.5% of those onboard but using 35% of the cabin space.

Read about why the rising Gini index actually shows that air travel is becoming more egalitarian, details about the calculations, and more over here.

Source: The Economist

Having pioneered the use of ambulances as taxis, the Russians are at it again with the taxi tank:

• A company in Russia is using former military vehicles as taxis.
• The vehicles are painted pink to seem less intimidating.
• Since St. Petersburg has various rivers and channels that can only be circumvented through traffic clogged bridges, the amphibious taxi can be timesavers.
• The company’s slogan is “a safer taxi” since passengers won’t have to worry about getting injured in a traffic accident (unless there’s an RPG involved).

Read more about the taxis, and see some incredible photos here.

Source: English Russia