Numbers

148,000 Number of U.S. troops in Iraq at year's end

$15,000 Re-enlistment bonus offered to recruits of the National Guard, which accounts for 40% of the troops in Iraq but has fallen nearly 30% behind in its recruitment goals in the past two months

9.1% Percentage of people who said they were low-carb dieting in January

3.6% Percentage who said they were doing so in November

$125 million Box- office total for Madonna's Re-invention tour, the year's top-grossing rock tour

$437 million U.S. ticket sales for Shrek 2, the year's top-grossing movie

4 Rank of 2004 among the hottest years on record

$35 billion Cost to the insurance industry of hurricanes and other natural disasters worldwide for the first 10 months of the year, the industry's most expensive ever

Sources: New York Times (2); USA Today (2); Billboard; Variety; NOAA; United Nations Environment Program