  We present a simple, pedagogical introduction to the statistics of extreme
values. Motivated by a string of record high temperatures in December 1998, we
consider the distribution, averages and lifetimes for a simplified model of
such ``records.'' Our ``data'' are sequences of independent random numbers all
of which are generated from the same probability distribution. A remarkable
universality emerges: a number of results, including the lifetime histogram,
are universal, that is, independent of the underlying distribution.
