Source: Amazon.com
Archive for the ‘Lists and Rankings’ Category
Amazon.com Announces “Best of 2008″ Lists
Friday, January 2nd, 2009Lists and Rankings: Lake Superior State University 2009 List of Banished Words
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008“It’s that time of year again!”
Lake Superior State University “maverick” word-watchers, fresh from the holiday “staycation” but without an economic “bailout” even after a “desperate search,” have issued their 34th annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. This year’s list may be more “green” than any of the previous lists and includes words and phrases that people from “Wall Street to Main Street” say they love “not so much” and wish to have erased from their “carbon footprint.”
Source: Lake Superior State
Full Text Report: America’s Most Literate Cities 2008
Thursday, December 25th, 2008Minneapolis and Seattle have tied for the title of America’s most literate city in 2008, according to a recent survey.
Minneapolis moves down from its No. 1 ranking last year to tie with Seattle, last year’s number two city, according to a survey taken by Jack Miller, president of Central Connecticut State University. Washington D.C. took third in the rankings while St. Paul slipped a notch in the annual ranking, moving down from third in 2007 to fourth place this year.
The study uses six key indicators of literacy: number of bookstores, educational attainment, Internet resources, library resources, newspaper circulation and periodical publishing resources.
Minneapolis was ranked No. 4 in the bookstore category, with criteria including: number of retail bookstores per 10,000 population; number of rare and used bookstores per 10,000 population; and number of members of the American Booksellers Association per 10,000 population. St. Paul tied for sixth with Pittsburgh in this category.
Direct to Full Text Report: America’s Most Literate Cities 2008
See Also: Library Section of Report
See Also: Methodology
Sources: Minneapolis Business Journal and Central Connecticut State College
Preliminary Swiss Re sigma estimates that over 238 000 people were killed by catastrophes in 2008, insured losses soar to USD 50 billion
Sunday, December 21st, 2008According to initial estimates from the forthcoming Swiss Re sigma study on catastrophes, more than 238 000 people lost their lives to natural catastrophes and man-made disasters in 2008 – the fourth largest number of deaths since 1970. While the total cost to society was USD 225 billion, USD 50 billion was covered by property insurance, making 2008 the second costliest year ever in terms of insured losses.
In 2008, large loss events tragically claimed over 238 000 lives. In early May, tropical cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, killing 138 400 people, setting off one of the largest humanitarian crises in recent memory. Later in May, a devastating earthquake measuring 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale shook China’s Sichuan region, killing 87 400 people and leaving over 10 million homeless. Most of the losses from these two events were not insured.
Includes charts, tables, graphs:
- The most costly insured losses in 2008
- Catastrophes with the most fatalities in 2008
- The worst catastrophe years since 1970
- Insured claims 1970-2008
Source: Swiss Re
Year End Rankings: The Most Eventful Cities of 2008
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008From 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’s Most Notable Quotations of 2008
Monday, December 15th, 2008Fred 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
Fast Facts/Lists & Rankings — The Great American Shopping List
Sunday, December 14th, 2008The Great American Shopping List
Consumer spending is falling at a 3.1 percent annual rate, according to the latest statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Many of the nation’s retailers reported double-digit declines in October sales, with the New York Times calling it a “collapse” in spending. Since consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of our economy, the belt tightening hurts all of us. To weather what looks like a prolonged economic downturn, businesses large and small need to brush up on consumer spending patterns. There is no better place to start than with The Great American Shopping List.
You can learn most of what you need to know about consumer spending by taking a look at the list–the inventory of every product and service purchased by American households, ranked by how much the average household spends on each item. The federal government collects the information by surveying thousands of households each month, asking them how much they spend on everything from cookies and crackers to video games and recreational vehicles. The Consumer Expenditure Survey data are used to create the all-important Consumer Price Index. Although the list is long, with more than 350 products and services, just 10 items consume more than half of the $50,000 spent by the average household each year.
1. Social Security payroll taxes
2. Mortgage payments
3. Car payments
4. Groceries
5. Restaurant meals
6. Gasoline
7. Federal taxes
8. Property taxes
9. Health insurance
10. Electricity
Source: DemoMemo
The Best and Worst of Everything 2008
Sunday, December 14th, 2008The 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
Small Business Survival Index — Ranking the States
Friday, December 12th, 2008Small Business Survival Index — Ranking the States
The “Small Business Survival Index” serves as the most comprehensive measure of the states in terms of which ones offer the most conducive environment for small businesses, and those that make it more difficult for entrepreneurs from a government-cost perspective. The factors included in the Index – taxes, various regulatory costs, government spending, property rights, health care and energy costs, and much more – matter a great deal to the competitiveness of each state and to the well being of small business.
The 2008 Index has been expanded to cover 34 major government-imposed or government-related costs affecting small businesses and entrepreneurs. The measures are added together for an overall rating.
In terms of their policy environments, the most entrepreneur-friendly states under the “Small Business Survival Index 2008″ are: 1) South Dakota, 2) Nevada, 3) Wyoming, 4) Florida, 5) Washington, 6) Texas, 7) South Carolina, 8 ) Alabama, 9) Virginia, and 10) Colorado. The more difficult state policy environments for entrepreneurs include: 40) West Virginia, 41) Hawaii, 42) Iowa, 43) Vermont, 44) Massachusetts, 45) New York, 46) Minnesota, 47) Rhode Island, 48) Maine, 49) California, 50) New Jersey and 51) District of Columbia.
+ Small Business Survival Index (PDF; 174 KB)
Source: Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
Lists & Rankings — The world’s top ten airport web sites
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008The world’s top ten airport web sites
When they travel by air, many people look for the best fare online, book their tickets, and then blithely set off on their trips without thinking about doing any web research on the airports they are leaving from and the airports they are flying to.
Until recently, yours truly was one of these great non-researchers. On the few times in the distant past that I’d bothered to look at airport web sites, they always appeared clunky to me and not very useful. But airport Web sites, if they’re good ones, should be your first stop before leaving for the airport. Is the long term parking lot under construction? Might public transportation be a better option than driving? Have they plowed the runways? How far is the walk to the gate? And where’s the nearest coffee stop?
Across the board, in the United States and throughout the rest of the world, most leading airports now have web sites that are founts of useful information flight schedules and flight delays, services, shopping and dining, parking and ground transportation options and other services. They usually show you the latest local weather conditions, too.
We’ve looked at dozens of airport web sites in the last few weeks and we’ve selected ten favorites– five in the US and five internationally –based on ease of navigation, design quality, and richness of content. But it’s only fair to say there are many more airports out there that have good web sites.
Top five US web sites
- Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport
- Chicago O’Hare International Airport
- Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
- Denver International Airport
- San Francisco International Airport
Top five international airport sites
- Copenhagen Airports
- Frankfurt Airport City
- London Heathrow International Airport
- Singapore Changi Airport
- Tokyo Narita International Airport
Source: The Airfarewatchdog Blog
The Top 10 Everything of 2008
Monday, December 8th, 2008The 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
National List of Beaches — 2008
Monday, December 8th, 2008National List of Beaches — 2008 (PDF; 4.26 MB)
The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) requires EPA to develop and publish a list of discrete coastal recreation waters adjacent to beaches or similar points of access that are used by the public that specifies whether the waters are subject to a monitoring and notification program consistent with the National Beach Guidance and Required Performance Criteria for Grants (July 2002). This document, the National List of Beaches, fulfills this requirement. This list is primarily organized by state and county. For some territories and Hawaii, the beaches are listed by island. Alaska’s beaches are reported by community. Beach names are listed with their monitoring status for the 2007 swimming season. We include only coastal and Great Lakes beaches in these lists. The list does not include beaches on inland waters because they are not subject to the BEACH Act.
This document gives both EPA and the public a national picture of the extent of monitoring of beach waters, and it will help EPA determine how to better implement the BEACH Act.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Lists & Rankings — Primacy Relocation and Worldwide ERC® Rank 2008 Best Cities for Relocating Singles
Sunday, December 7th, 2008Primacy Relocation and Worldwide ERC® Rank 2008 Best Cities for Relocating Singles
Relocation industry group Worldwide ERC® and Primacy Relocation today announced at ERC’s Global Workforce Symposium that Boston/Quincy, MA; Nassau/Suffolk, NY; New Haven, CT; New York/White Plains/Wayne, NY/NJ; and Edison, NJ are 2008’s Best Cities for Relocating Singles among U.S. metropolitan areas.
In this fifth and final annual survey, the two organizations once again partnered with Bert Sperling’s BestPlaces to identify the cities with the most to offer relocating singles. Using statistical profiles of the largest 100 U.S. metro areas, the survey focused on the criteria most relevant to singles, with the rankings reflecting the ease of transition during a relocation.
Unlike other “best” surveys, the ERC/Primacy Best Cities for Relocating Singles survey measures the issues impacting a newcomer’s experience in the weeks and months immediately following a transfer. This year’s survey placed an increased emphasis on those economic factors most affecting singles, including an area’s unemployment rate, percentage of recent job growth and availability of affordable rental housing. New data was also incorporated this year, measuring an area’s arts and recreation opportunities and the overall population growth.
+ Full Survey (PDF; 2.7 MB)
Source: ERC/Primacy
10 Top Tips: A Consumer’s Guide to Id Theft Awareness and Avoidance
Sunday, December 7th, 200810 Top Tips: A Consumer’s Guide to Id Theft Awareness and Avoidance
The FTC estimates that as many as nine million Americans have their identities stolen each year, so chances are high that you or someone you know has fallen victim to what has become one of America’s fastest-growing crimes. While there are no guarantees as far as prevention, there are certain steps every consumer can and should be taking – before and after the fact – to greatly reduce their potential risk.
ID theft expert Brian Lapidus, chief operating officer of Kroll’s Fraud Solutions, has unique frontline experience helping today’s businesses and consumers safeguard against and respond to data breaches. Below he offers some important advice that every consumer should know about protecting themselves from the damages of fraud. At Kroll, Lapidus oversees a highly-skilled team that includes veteran licensed investigators specializing in supporting breach victims and restoring individuals’ identities to pre-theft status.
See also: Top 10 Tips for Businesses: A Guide to Data Breach Prevention and Response
Source: Kroll Fraud Solutions
Lists & Rankings — NYT: The 10 Best Books of 2008
Thursday, December 4th, 2008The 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
Lists & Rankings — Areas with Highest Rates of Deadly Teen Crashes from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008With the holiday season a dangerous time for drivers to be on the road, Allstate Insurance Company today released a study identifying three Florida metropolitan areas as the top “hotspots” for fatal teen driving crashes during the holidays. The study includes data for metropolitan areas around the country, and helps to kick off the company’s national Home for the Holidays teen safe driving campaign.
The Allstate Holiday Teen Driving Hotspots Study found that the 10 deadliest hotspots for fatal teen crashes among the nation’s 50 largest metro areas (a central city and its surrounding counties) from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day are:
1. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
2. Jacksonville, FL
3. Orlando-Kissimmee, FL
4. Kansas City, MO-KS
5. Birmingham-Hoover, AL
6. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
7. Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
8. Oklahoma City, OK
9. Louisville, KY-IN
10. Richmond, VA
+ Holiday_Teen_Driving_Stats.xls (152 KB)
+ Holiday_Teen_Driving_Study.pdf (154 KB)
Source: Allstate
Lists & Rankings — No escaping Britney Spears: 2008’s top searches
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008No 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
Lists & Rankings — Top 100 DoD Contractors (Updated)
Sunday, November 30th, 2008Top 100 DoD Contractors FY 2007 (preliminary) (PDF; 12 KB)
This interim report summarizes data on the 100 companies, including their subsidiaries, which were awarded the largest total dollar volume of Department of Defense prime contract awards during fiscal year 2007.
1 LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
2 THE BOEING COMPANY
3 NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION
4 GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION
5 RAYTHEON COMPANY
6 BAE SYSTEMS PLC
7 L-3 COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS, INC.
8 UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
9 KBR, INC.
10 SAIC, INC.
See also: Contractors with Contracts Exceeding $25,000 (PDF; 954 KB)
Source: DoD Standards of Conduct Office
City Crime Rankings 2008-2009
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008City Crime Rankings 2008-2009
From press release (PDF; 132 KB):
With the annual publication that brings the discussion of crime in U.S. cities and metropolitan areas into the national spotlight, CQ Press has released City Crime Rankings 2008-2009: Crime in Metropolitan America.
Ramapo, New York tops the list for the first time with the lowest city crime rate ranking in the United States, while at the opposite end, New Orleans, Louisiana has the highest. The new edition of City Crime Rankings features a significantly expanded introduction by criminologist Rachel Boba (Florida Atlantic University) that explains the formula used to compile the rankings and offers new insight into the methodology used by the editors. Dr. Boba also offers statistical analysis of the rankings, a comparative analysis of cities and metropolitan areas, and additional information and caveats regarding the analyzed data.
Ramapo earned the lowest city crime rate ranking with only 688 incidences of reported crime and no murders in 2007. Joining Ramapo among the lowest rankings are Mission Viejo California, which had the lowest ranking last year; Lake Forest, Chino Hills, and Thousand Oaks, California; and Newton, Massachusetts. New Orleans has the highest crime rate ranking, with 19,034 incidences of reported crime, 209 murders, and a percent change in violent crime rate of 199.1% across the past year. Behind New Orleans with the highest crime rate ranking are Camden, New Jersey; Detroit, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; and Oakland, California. The Logan region of Utah and Idaho tops the list for lowest crime rate ranking among U.S. metropolitan areas, while the Pine Bluff, Arkansas region has the nation’s highest crime rate ranking for metropolitan areas.
Crime rankings by city, metro area. Full publication available for purchase.
Source: CQ Press
Resources of the Week — A Few Unusual Lists & Rankings
Monday, November 24th, 2008Resources of the Week — A Few Unusual Lists & Rankings
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor
If you follow this feature regularly, you might remember that we’ve offered up collections of “niche” resources before — niche information, niche statistics, etc. This week, we offer up some unusual sources of lists & rankings — e.g., not from the fishing holes you already know about, such as Forbes.com or USNews.com.
+ TicketNews.com: Sellers Rankings and Events Rankings
TicketNews is a comprehensive resource for news, market analysis, event announcements, and information relating to the ticket industry. TicketNews keeps industry professionals and fans informed about tour dates, current and pending ticket resale legislation, rankings, ticket “steals and deals”, and more! TicketNews developed the algorithm for the exclusive weekly rankings of the industry’s top events and ticket sellers. The content is updated daily, with original articles from TicketNews reporters and an aggregation of 3rd party sources.
Here you can see lists — updated weekly — of the top primary ticket sales outlets (e.g., TicketMaster.com), top secondary ticket sales outlets (e.g., StubHub), and the top selling concert and sports events.
TMR’s exclusive Fan Cost Index (TM) survey, now in its sixteenth year, tracks the cost of attendance for a family of four.
The FCI includes:
- Two adult average price tickets
- Two child average price tickets
- Four small soft drinks
- Two small beers
- Four hot dogs
- Two programs
- Parking
- Two adult-size caps.
Rankings are available for the MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL.
+ U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base, Country Rankings
Find the largest countries and areas for any year, 1950 to 2050.
Data, including projections, was last updated in June. See Population Estimates and Projections Methodology to see how the data is calculated.
+ Foundation Center: Top 100 U.S. Foundations by Asset Size
The list below includes the 100 largest U.S. grantmaking foundations ranked by the market value of their assets, based on the most current audited financial data in the Foundation Center’s database as of September 11, 2008. Fiscal records will be updated when more recent audited financial information is obtained.
Number one? The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Nearly 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2007, according to statistics released today by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. The Aesthetic Society, which has been collecting multi-specialty procedural statistics since 1997 says the overall number of cosmetic procedures has increased 457 percent since the collection of the statistics first began. The most frequently performed procedure was Botox injections and the most popular surgical procedure was liposuction.
This is actually a press release — dated February 25, 2008 — offering trends and demographic data for 2007. It also includes frequency of cosmetic procedures by age group.
+ High Value Domain Name Sales – Full List 10/18/08
So what are domain names worth? The answer is that it depends. Like a lot of intellectual property, the vast majority of domain name sales bring prices in 3, 4, 5, or 6 figure range. Nevertheless, there have been roughly sixty seven transactions of a million dollars or more.
This year (2008) Fund.com at just under $10 Million tops the list so far. Pizza.com went for $2,605,000 while DataRecovery.com reportedly sold for $1,659,000. Domain Name Journal reports that Invest.com has sold for $1,015,000.
Assembled from Domain Name Journal, Namebio.com, Domain Name News, MSNBC, Forbes, and Reuters, here in descending order is the list (believed to be reasonably accurate)…
Of course, we always like to mention Gary’s venerable List of Lists — “a database of ranked listings of companies, people and resources freely available on the Internet” — hosted by Special Issues. If you’re not familiar with this resource, it’s well worth a good browse.
