Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

Numbers

SPACE

$60 million Estimated cost of launching an antimissile missile that the U.S. Navy plans to use to shoot down a potentially hazardous satellite

200 Number of industry experts and scientists working since January to modify the sea-based Aegis missile-defense system so it can shoot down a satellite in low orbit

SUICIDE

19.4% Increase in the suicide rate among Americans ages 45 to 54 from 1999 to 2004. Among women in that age bracket, the increase was 31%

2% Increase in the suicide rate for 15-to-24-year-olds during the same five-year period. The rate decreased among those 65 and older

COLLECTIBLES

$10.7 million Amount earned at auction for 301 rare pennies sold by a coin collector in Burbank, Calif.

1793 Year that one of the coins in the collection was minted. The penny was in circulation for just two weeks before Congress concluded that Lady Liberty looked too frightening. That coin and a similar 1794 penny (above) brought in $632,500 each

COOKING

$50 million Amount Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will pay for the rights to chef Emeril Lagasse's cookbooks, TV shows and kitchen products

85 million Number of homes that Lagasse's cable-television cooking programs reach daily

Sources: CNN (2); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2); AP (2); Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia; Emerils.com