(based on the number of reader comments)
1. Who’s the Most Famous Person Ever to Commit Murder?
2. Muslim Students Sue Catholic University of America for Surrounding Them With Catholic Symbols Which are Incongruous to Their Religion (the accompanying poll had the greatest number of responses by almost a 2-to-1 margin over the poll with the second-greatest number)
3. Should Failing to Report Serious Child Abuse Be a Crime?
4. Boy Sues After Fall From New York City’s High Line Park
5. Clinging To Their Guns and Multiple Wives
6. 666
7. Actress Sues IMDb For Revealing Her Age (most pageviews in 2011)
10. (tie) What Happens When a Defendant’s Attorney Gives Him Really Bad Advice?
10. (tie) No Muslims Need Apply — Nor Anybody Who Voted For Obama
At first, I chose “Both,” but then I realised that they really don’t save much time: the writer probably has to spend as much time reviewing the year as researching a fresh idea.
I think it has more to do with our personal penchants for closing the books and starting fresh with the new year, for remembering what’s been good, for comfort, and what’s been bad, for change.
Along that line, today’s Morning Edition included a commentary noting that a new baby was included in a Nativity scene. The reporter wondered, “Will 2011 be remembered as the year that baby was born?”
2001? I think Bill’s living in the wrong decade.
Whoops.
No, Bill isn’t living in the wrong decade. He is fully aware his readers are prolific clairvoyants who are able to tell ten years in advance what they prefer to read ten years ahead.
I like year end lists and I always read them. My problem with them is twofold: they come before the end of the year and there is usually too much going on when they appear. I wish the lists would come at the beginning of January after all the holiday hoopla has quieted down. I would be interested in reading them then and I always have to bookmark them and remember to go back and read them. Also I feel sorry for the poor people who die at the end of December. They never make the list and they are forgotten by the next year.
The reason “best of the year” lists come out around the holidays is that they can be prepared in advance, and run while the compiler(s) of such list(s) are away on vacation.