Facebook Twitter Tumblr Close Skip to main content
A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

January 7, 2010

The macaroni penguin is the most numerous of the 17 species of penguins in the world.
Source: International Penguin Conservation Work Group

January 6, 2010

Jazz musician and composer Dizzy Gillespie died on this day in 1993 in Englewood, N.J.

Source: Library of Congress

FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Dec. 29-Jan. 4

This week, readers sent us comments on our Whoppers story, our mailbag, our bias and Climategate (but it’s not what you think!).
In the FactCheck Mailbag we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.

January 5, 2010

Risk for fractures from osteoporosis or low bone mass will affect one in two Americans aged 50 and older by 2020. 
Source: CDC

January 4, 2010

The Census Bureau projects that this month net international migration will add one person every 37 seconds to the U.S. population.
Source: Census Bureau

January 3, 2010

The mathematical formula for determining which college teams will play in the Bowl Championship Series was first created in 1997.
Source: Bowl Championship Series

January 2, 2010

This month, the Census Bureau projects that one birth will occur every eight seconds and one death every 12 seconds in the U.S.
Source: Census Bureau

January 1, 2010

The Census Bureau has projected that the U.S. population on Jan. 1, 2010, will be 308,400,408, an increase of 0.9 percent from New Year’s Day 2009.

Source: Census Bureau

December 31, 2009

As of 2008, the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball has been a 12-foot geodesic sphere (twice the size of the old New Year’s Eve Ball), weighing 11,875 pounds. It is covered in 2,668 Waterford Crystals.
Source: Times Square Alliance

December 30, 2009

In 1904, the first subway line in New York City opened, and the city’s first New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square took place.

Source: Times Square Alliance