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Love Lists? We've Got 'Em, For Better & Worse

For those inclined toward nostalgia, forgetfulness or with a fondness for accounting, it's the season of The Lists: The excellent and execrable, winners and losers, scoundrels and heroes, the hot and the not.

We've searched through such lists so that, as they say, you don't have to. Here are 21, in no particular order, that touch on some of the outliers and prognostications of our times.

-- "100 Things We Didn't Know Last Year," . No. 54: "It takes more energy to sit through a 15-minute meeting than it takes Usain Bolt to run three Olympic 100m races." ( )

-- "2012: The Best And Worst 'Trend' Stories," . "People are wearing pantyhose! Teens have messy bedrooms! ! The Internet is terrible! And on and on."

-- "2012's Top 5 Craziest World °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ Stories," . And, of course, into thinking that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is the world's sexiest man is on that list.

-- "The 13 Greatest End Of The World Prophecy FAILs," . The Mayans are not on the list, but preacher is.

-- "Top 10 Medieval °µºÚ±¬ÁÏ Stories Of 2012," . No mystery about No. 1: ?

-- "10 Of The Biggest Lies In History," . "Nazi propaganda" gets the dishonor of being No. 1.

-- "The Top 10 Political Gaffes This Election," . Remember "legitimate rape" and pregnancies that "God intended"? They share the top spot.

David Petraeus, while he was the top commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, and Paula Broadwell in July 2011. He resigned from his post as CIA director because of an extramarital affair they had.
ISAF / Reuters /Landov
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Reuters /Landov
David Petraeus, while he was the top commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, and Paula Broadwell in July 2011. He resigned from his post as CIA director because of an extramarital affair they had.

-- 2012's "Top Six International Scandals," . Former CIA Director is edged out for the top spot by Chinese politician .

-- "The Best (And Worst) Media Errors And Corrections Of 2012," . We're not on the list!

-- "The Worst Product Flops of 2012," in . Apple Maps somehow found its way to No. 1.

-- "Possibly in need of Exorcist" is among the listings.

-- "11 Foods You Can't Buy Anywhere Anymore," . They're not just Twinkies.

-- "The Top 10 Brain Science And Psychology Stories Of 2012," . Who knew that apes can have midlife crises?

-- "How Memory Works: 10 Things Most People Get Wrong." about all that before the year ended.

-- "Happiest Countries In The World 2012," . Costa Rica stands out.

-- Wired's "." Think "top secret janitor" sounds cool?

-- "The 10 Most Popular Google Doodles Of 2012," . "Soccer Doodle" scored the No. 1 spot.

-- The List Of "Best of 2012" Books Lists, . It's a long read.

-- "In Pictures: Art Of List Making," .

-- Time's "." We weren't important enough to make it on this list, but point guard Jeremy Lin was.

-- "10 Things That Will Disappear in the Next 110 Years," . No more keys jingling in our pockets!

What did we miss? Feel free to point to your favorite (or least-favorite) lists in the comments.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
Anita Huslin
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