What in the world

30

The number of hours the “double sunrise” qantas flight took, flying from australia to sri lanka in 1943-45.

2016

The current year in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian year usually starts on 11 September (on the Gregorian calendar) and is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian year.

2300

The estimated number of years that the pre-Islamic urban centre of Djenné, in Mali, has been inhabited. The “Old Towns of Djenné” are now a Unesco World Heritage Site.

8

The percentage by which you are made happier by planning a vacation — almost as happy as actually taking the vacation, according to a 2010 study.

2027

The year when the first hotel in orbit around earth — Voyager Station — is scheduled to open its hatches to paying guests.

2011

The year in which Russia finally classified beer as an alcoholic drink.

320 000

The number of people learning Klingon on Duolingo in 2020. (Klingons are somewhat anti-social aliens encountered on Star Trek.)

2155

The number of colony-forming units (micro-organisms, or bacteria) per square inch on tray tables in airplanes. Second up are the drinking-fountain buttons, followed by overhead air vents, lavatory flush buttons, and seatbelt buckles.

500

The approxi-mate number of languages spoken in Nigeria, one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world.

1

 Cairo’s spot on Deutsche Bank Research’s 2019 list of the cheapest cities to go on a date. Five dates in Cairo, at US$42 for dinner, drinks, and a movie, cost as much as one in Zurich, the world’s most expensive city for dating.