Top Ten Jury Verdicts of 2008

After steadily declining for years, the size of the Top Ten Jury Verdicts rose dramatically in 2008.

The top verdict in 2008 was $388 million, a significant increase over 2007’s top award of $109 million. The average award increased dramatically as well, driven by three verdicts of well over $100 million – including one of nearly $400 million. The average award for 2007 was just shy of $51 million, while the average award for 2008 more than doubled, to $112 million.

The year’s top verdict was awarded to a 70-year-old inventor who claims he was hounded by California tax authorities for the past 15 years. And five of the Top Ten Verdicts stemmed from personal injury cases, including $85 million for a medical school student who was badly injured after falling into a manhole and $84 million for an elderly man struck by a U-Haul with a faulty parking brake. Interestingly, there were no medical malpractice cases in the Top Ten.

Source: Lawyers USA

Direct to Lists

Source: Amazon.com

From the news release, methodology and set of rankings:

Eventful…today released its second annual ‘Most Eventful Cities’ report, which ranks U.S. cities according to the number and diversity of local events for residents and visitors. Eventful derives the rankings from its database of local events, which contains the world’s largest selection of information on what’s happening in cities throughout the world. The report provides a unique insight into the character of U.S. cities and the interests and activities of their residents, with some interesting and unexpected results.

Rankings Include:

+ Top cities for Wheelers & Dealers (The most conferences)

+ Top cities for Night Crawlers (The most bar and club events)

+ Top cities for Music Lovers (The most music events)

+ Top cities for Pet Lovers (The most pet-related events)

+ Top cities for Bookworms (The most literary events)

+ Top Cities for the Outdoors

+ Top Cities for the Performing Arts

+ Top Cities for Singles

+ Top Cities for Sports

Complete rankings also available here.

Source: Eventful.com Database

Fred Shapiro is the editor of The Yale Book of Quotations.

The list contains the top ten quotations. Here are the top three from the list. Review the complete list here.

1. “I can see Russia from my house!” — Sarah Palin on her foreign-policy credentials, as satirized by Tina Fey, NBC “Saturday Night Live” broadcast, Sept. 13, 2008

2. “All of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years.” — Sarah Palin responding to Katie Couric’s asking her to specifically name newspapers or magazines she reads, CBS News interview, Oct. 1, 2008

3. “We have sort of become a nation of whiners.” — Phil Gramm on Americans concerned about the economy, quoted in Washington Times, July 10, 2008

Source: Yale University Press

The Best and Worst of Everything 2008

As economies imploded, unemployment soared, companies went bust, and so-called experts threw up their hands and admitted they hadn’t a clue, one could be forgiven for thinking that 2008 was unremittingly bleak. Not so. Though it’s ending on a sour note, the year had plenty of highs that round out the lows. For a reminder, kick back with this BusinessWeek list of the best and worst in just about everything—from global economics and sports to design and entertainment, from advertising and food to medicine and efforts to go green.

Source: BusinessWeek

The Top 10 Everything of 2008
* Albums
* Animal Stories
* Awkward Moments
* Best Biz Deals
* Best Performances
* Breakups
* Buzzwords
* Campaign Gaffes
* Campaign Video Moments
* Children’s Books
* Crime Stories
* Editorial Cartoons
* Election Photos
* Fashion Moments
* Fashion Faux Pas
* Fiction Books
* Financial Collapses
* Fleeting Celebrities
* Food Trends
* Gadgets
* Green Ideas
* iPhone Apps
* Late Night Jokes
* Magazine Covers
* Medical Breakthroughs
* Movies
* Museum Exhibits
* News Stories
* Non-fiction Books
* Oddball News Stories
* Olympic Moments
* Open Mic Moments
* Outrageous Earmarks
* Photos
* Plays and Musicals
* Political Lines
* Quotes
* Religion Stories
* Scandals
* Scientific Discoveries
* Songs
* Sports Moments
* T-shirt Worthy Slogans
* TV Ads
* TV Episodes
* TV Series
* Underreported Stories
* Video Games
* Viral Videos
* Worst Biz Deals

Source: Time

The 10 Best Books of 2008

The editors of the Book Review have selected these titles from the list of 100 Notable Books of 2008.

Fiction
1. Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories (Steven Millhauser)
2. A Mercy (Toni Morrison)
3. Netherland (Joseph O’Neill)
4. 2666 (Roberto Bolaño)
5. Unaccustomed Earth (Jhumpa Lahiri)

Nonfiction
1. The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals (Jane Mayer)
2. The Forever War (Dexter Filkins)
3. Nothing to be Frightened of (Julian Barnes)
4. The Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Drew Gilpin Faust)
5. The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul (Patrick French)

Source: The New York Times

No escaping Britney Spears: 2008’s top searches

Maybe all our refined, enlightened interests are lost in the long tail, because Britney Spears once again was the most popular search subject in 2008 on Yahoo.

For Yahoo, Spears wasn’t the only pop-culture icon in Yahoo’s top 10 searches. Also on the list were Miley Cyrus at No. 4, Jessica Alba at No. 6, Lindsay Lohan at No. 7, and Angelina Jolie at No. 9.

Apparently a lot of people are curious about World Wrestling Entertainment, because WWE was No. 2. The online game RuneScape was No. 5, anime series Naruto was No. 7, and American Idol finished in 10th place on Yahoo’s list.

Yahoo also broke down searches for various other subjects. For economic searches, the top 10 list started with IRS stimulus checks, then followed with oil prices, gold prices, gas prices, Dow Jones, Sallie Mae, stock market, AIG, foreclosures, and debt consolidation. The list reveals that people use general-purpose searches for everything ranging from how-to advice to the latest news.

In the people of politics, President-elect Barack Obama led the list. Next came Sarah Palin, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, George Bush, Ron Paul, John Edwards, Mike Huckabee, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Mitt Romney.

See also: AOL Search - 2008 Year End Hot Searches
See also: Ask Top 2008 Searches

Source: CNET News

Book Sales Increase at Year’s End

Book sales tracked by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for the month of December saw a slight decrease of 1.8 percent for the month; however yearly sales were up with an increase of 7.4 percent.

The Adult Hardcover category was down by 19.5 percent in December with sales of $128.1 million; year-to-date sales were up by 7.8 percent. Adult Paperback sales rose 10.1 percent for the month ($116.1 million); sales were up by 0.2 percent for the year. The Adult Mass Market category rose by 46.8 percent for December with sales totaling $81.2 million; sales were down by 2.0 percent year-to-date. The Children’s/YA Hardcover category saw an increase of 16.7 percent for the month with sales of $52.6 million; sales year-to-date were also up by 46.4 percent. The Children’s/YA Paperback category was up by 10.0 percent in December with sales totaling $39.6 million; sales were up by 6.5 percent for the year.

Audio Book sales posted a decrease of 13.1 percent for December compared to last year’s figures, with sales totaling $11.9 million; sales for the whole year were up by 19.8 percent. E-books sales rose by 2.4 percent for the month ($3.0 million); the category also posted an increase of 23.6 percent for the year. Religious Books saw a decrease of 7.5 percent for the month with sales of $45.8 million; sales were up by 5.2 percent for the year.

Source: American Association of Publishers

2007 was Tenth Warmest for U.S., Fifth Warmest Worldwide

The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. in 2007 is officially the tenth warmest on record, according to data from scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The agency also determined the global surface temperature last year was the fifth warmest on record.

Source: NOAA

Globility Global Traveler
The Best in Travel

This year’s survey of Global Traveler readers was conducted from Feb. 1 to Aug. 31, 2007. The open-ended questionnaires appeared in subscriber copies of the magazine and online at www.globaltravelerusa.com/survey, and were also distributed by direct mail and email to GT readers. Counting only those questionnaires in which more than 50 percent of the questions were answered, we received a record 15,828 individual questionnaires. The tabulated results of those questionnaires determined the rankings in each category.

Categories include:
+ Best Aircraft Type
+ Best Frequent Flyer Program
+ Best International Hotel Chain
+ Best Hotel Chain in Asia
+ Best Domestic Business City
+ Best International Golf Resort
+ Best Transatlantic Airline
+ Best Airline in North America
+ Best Airline for Business Class
and MANY more categories.

Source: Global Traveler
+

Source: GT

Lists and Rankings: Hoover’s IPO Scorecard Reveals Only Slight Growth in 2007
From the news release and summary:
Two hundred and nine companies went public on the major U.S. stock exchanges in 2007, a 2% increase in the number of IPOs over 2006, as reported today by Hoover’s IPO Scorecard (www.hoovers.com/ipo/scorecard). The 209 IPOs offered on the NYSE, NASDAQ and AMEX in 2006 raised $48.6 billion, compared to 205 IPOs in 2006, which raised $41.1 billion.

+ Direct to Scorecard

Source: Hoover’s

Fast Facts: 2007 Year in Review from Infoplease

We’ve posted a number of year end lists and rankings on ResourceShelf. You can find them listed here.

Source: Infoplease.com

+ World: Significant Climate Anomalies and Events in 2007
1 page; PDF; Color.
Source: NOAA

Lake Superior State University 2008 List of Banished Words

The wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University are giving back to English speakers everywhere with their 33rd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.

On Dec. 31, 1975, former LSSU Public Relations Director Bill Rabe and his colleagues cooked up an idea to banish overused words and phrases and issue a list on New Year’s Day. Much to the delight of language enthusiasts everywhere, the list has stayed the course into a fourth decade.

This year’s list derives from more than 2,000 nominations received through the university’s website, www.lssu.edu/banished. Word-watchers target pet peeves from everyday speech, as well as from the news, education, technology, advertising, politics, sports and more. A committee makes a final cut in late December. The list is released on New Year’s Day.

Current list:

• Perfect storm
• Webinar
• Waterboarding
• Organic
• Wordsmith/Wordsmithing
• Author/Authored
• Post 9/11
• Surge
• Give Back
• ‘BLANK’ is the new ‘BLANK’ or ‘X’ is the new ‘Y’
• Black Friday
• Back in the day
• Random
• Sweet
• Decimate
• Emotional
• Pop
• It is what it is
• Under the bus

Source: Lake Superior State University