Market Capitalization

So which US companies are worth the most?

Exxon Mobil (XOM) has held the title for a long time. As of today’s stock market close, Exxon Mobil is worth $326 billion. At a distant second place is WalMart (WMT) at $190 billion, followed by Microsoft (MSFT) at $181 billion. Then we drop to $149 billion for AT&T (T) and Proctor & Gamble (PG) rounds out the top 5 at $146 billion.

The list doesn’t change very much. For example, at the end of October, 2008, near the beginning of the recent crash, four of the top five remained the same. Exxon Mobil was first, followed by WalMart, Microsoft and Proctor & Gamble. GE was 5th, and AT&T was 7th. GE has dropped due to its exposure to the banking industry. GE is now 9th.

Here’s a daily-updated list of the Market Capitalization of the top 50 US companies.

Gary Sheffield’s 500th Home Run

Gary Sheffield just hit his 500th career Home Run. He holds the 25th place among career home run hitters.

Barry Bonds is first with 762, followed by Hank Aaron at 755 and Babe Ruth at 714. Willie Mays is 4th with 660, and Ken Griffey is 5th with 613.

Here’s a link to the career home run leaders and here are more baseball records.

Longest-Serving Senators

I read frequently that Ted Stevens had been the longest continuously serving Republican Senator in history. So for now, who is the oldest and longest running of each party?

Stevens served from 12/24/68 to 1/3/09, for a total of just over 40 years.

At this point, there are three Democratic Senators that have served longer than that. Robert Byrd of West Virginia has served longest, since 1959. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts has served since 1962 and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii has served since 1963. The longest-serving Republican Senator currently in office is Dick Lugar from Indiana, who has served since 1977.

The oldest Senator is Robert Byrd, born in 1917, over 90 years old. The oldest Republican is the fifth oldest Senator. That’s Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, born in 1930.

Here’s a link to more information about the current Senate. And here’s a link for other useful lists on a variety of topics.

Hockey Record – Goalie Wins

Last week, Martin Brodeur, goalie for the New Jersey Devils, broke the record for career wins, with 552. Patrick Roy is #2, with 551 wins. Roy last played with the Colorado Avalance in the 2002-2003 season.

Brodeur is also currently in second place for career shutouts, with 101, behind Terry Sawchuk, with 103. Sawchuk spent most of his career with the Detroit Red Wings, and played his last season in 1969-1970 with the New York Rangers.

Here is a list of NHL Hockey records, and here is a list of Goalie Career Wins.

Multiple Oscar Winners

18 women have won multiple Oscars for Best Actress and/or Best Supporting Actress. Katharine Hepburn has won four. All were for Best Actress: Morning Glory in 1932/33; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in 1967, The Lion in Winter in 1968; and On Golden Pond in 1981.  Ingrid Bergman has won three. The other 16 women have each won two: Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Helen Hayes, Glenda Jackson, Jessica Lange, Vivien Leigh, Luise Rainer, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank, Elizabeth Taylor, Dianne Wiest and Shelley Winters.

Only two men have won more than two Oscars for acting, but 19 have won at least two. Walter Brennan and Jack Nicholson have each won three Oscars. The others who have won two Academy Awards are: Marlon Brando, Michael Caine, Gary Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert De Niro, Melvyn Douglas, Gene Hackman, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman,  Jack Lemmon, Sean Penn, Anthony Quinn, Jason Robards, Kevin Spacey, Spencer Tracy, Peter Ustinov and Denzel Washington.

Here’s more information on Academy Awards for Actors and Actresses and Academy Awards for Supporting Actors and Actresses.

House of Representatives – By State

There are 54 new Congresspeople in the House of Representatives. The following 20 states didn’t have any changes in their representatives:

• Alaska (1 representative)
• Arkansas (4)
• Delaware (1)
• Georgia (13)
• Hawaii (2)
• Indiana (9)
• Iowa (5)
• Massachusetts (10) (All Democrats)
• Montana (1)
• Nebraska (3)
• New Hampshire (2)
• North Dakota (1)
• Oklahoma (5)
• Rhode Island (2)
• South Carolina (6)
• South Dakota (1)
• Vermont (1)
• Washington (9)
• West Virginia (3)
• Wisconsin (8 )

California’s 4th district had two changes, though the party was the same, and other than that, the remaining 52 districts reelected the incumbent.

In addition to California, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming had new people, but the parties remained the same. So that means that 29 of 50 states look exactly the same by party.

Of the 54 new representatives, 33 are Democrats and 21 are Republicans:

• 26 switched from Republican to Democrat
• 5 switched from Democrat to Republican
• 17 stayed Republican
• 6 stayed Democrat

New Mexico has three seats, and all of them are newly elected, with two seats changed from Republican to Democrat.

Here’s a list of the 2009-2010 House of Representatives.

Election Facts

Of the 50 states plus The District of Columbia, only two states split their electoral votes: Nebraska and Maine. All other states are winner-take all. Nebraska this year awarded one vote to Obama and four to McCain.  This is the first year in 44 years that Nebraska has awarded an electoral vote to a Democrat.  It is also the first year Nebraska’s votes were actually split. Electoral Votes per State are here.

President-Elect Obama will be facing difficult odds in 2012. The last time that voters re-elected three consecutive presidents to a second term was all the way back in 1820, when James Monroe was elected to a second term after two terms for Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

John McCain had the odds against him in this election. The last time a President left office and was succeeded by a member of his own party was when Ronald Reagan was succeeded by George H. W. Bush. Before that, we go all the way back to the 1928 election, when Herbert Hoover succeeded Calvin Coolidge.

More Presidential facts.

Supreme Court Appointments

Now that a Democrat is going to be President for at least four years, the issue of Supreme Court appointments changes. So which Supreme Court Justices may retire over the course of the next four years?

The oldest Supreme Court Justice is John Paul Stevens, born in 1920. Even though he was appointed by President Ford, he’s one of the more liberal Justices on the court. Second oldest is Ruth Bader Ginsburg, born in 1933 and appointed by President Clinton. Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia were both born in 1936.

The longest-serving Justice is John Paul Stevens, at 33 years, followed by Antonin Scalia at 22 years and Anthony Kennedy at 20 years.

More information about the current Supreme Court and Justices throughout history.

World Series facts

Since 1922, the World Series has been a “best of seven” event. In that time, there have been 17 4-0 shutouts, 17 4-1 series, 17 4-2 series and 33 4-3 series. Of the 102 World Series, 60 have been won by the American League team and 42 have been won by the National League team.

The Yankees have won 26 World Series, followed by the Cardinals with 10 and the Red Sox with 7. Combined, the Oakland Athletics and Philadelphia Athletics have won 9 times. The Phillies have won once (1980) and lost four times, and the Rays have never been in the series.

iWeblists has a sortable list of World Series Games and also of World Series winning teams.

Expelled Senators

With Senator Ted Stevens’ conviction yesterday, and that fact that he continues to run to keep his Senate seat, the question arises: How many Senators have been expelled from the Senate? It takes a two thirds vote of the Senate to expel a Senator. This has been done 15 times, but not a single Senator has been expelled since 1862. 14 of the 15 were expelled for supported the Confederates. William Blount was the 15th, expelled in 1797 for treason.

Since 1862, expulsion proceedings were begun for 13 Senators, the most recent being Harrison Williams, Democrat of New Jersey in 1982 for involvement with Abscam, and Robert Packwood, Republican of Oregon in 1995, for sexual misconduct. Both resigned.

Here is more information about the current Senate and Senators.