Numbers

17.5% Increase in the cost of Medicare premiums in 2005, the largest rise in 15 years

2.7% Increase in Social Security benefits in 2005

20% Percentage of elderly people who rely on Social Security as their sole means of income

$10 Price per day to watch a webcast of the Disney trial brought by shareholders angry over Michael Ovitz's severance

$55 Price of a one-day pass to Disney World

100,000 2001 estimate of the total number of genes in the human genome

20,000 Revised estimate of the total number of genes in the human genome

13,600 Estimated number of genes in the fruit-fly genome

$360,000 Winning bid of cabdriver Mohammed Shah for a taxi medallion, the highest amount ever paid for an individual cab license in New York City

$10 Cost of a New York City taxi medallion in 1937, the year the licenses were introduced

Sources: Washington Post (3); USA Today (2); N.Y. Times (2); Nature; New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission (2)