1.   For the most part they will have a full complement of spines but this year there seems to have been an increase in hedgehog baldness.

2.   It gets worse every year, but this year seems worse than ever.

3.   And yet a year seems almost like a lifetime.

4.   And this year there seems to be an even bigger epidemic than usual of cliffhangers, shocking revelations and dramatic wrap-ups.

5.   And yet the tumultuous year does seem to yield at least five lessons about the Internet industry and the stocks associated with it.

6.   And yet this centennial year has often seemed more like a wake than an anniversary party.

7.   Barely a trace of his earlier self remains in a man whose most formative years seem to have been lived at Angola.

8.   A great year seems close at hand.

9.   A record year now seems all but inevitable, he and others said.

10.   A year can seem an eternity on the Internet.