LAL Newsletter: Twenty Tens Don't Make Two-Thousand

It's 2010. And whether you call it twenty-ten or two-thousand ten the decade is over.

A lot has happened in the last ten years. And though we don't yet have a name for it - 2000s? Aughties? Double-Zeros? 2-Ks? - it was a memorable and historically significant period of time.

Do you realize that social networks just popped up around 6 years ago, and that was Friendster, which barely exists anymore. Ten years ago Facebook and Twitter didn't even exist. In 2000, most people weren't carrying around cell phones - let alone iPhones and smartphones. Laptops were the smartphones of today. And do you realize it was ten full years ago, on January 1, 2000, that we were worried about Y2K?!

Then in 2001, the world changed forever with terrorist attacks on 9/11.

In 2002, I was just graduating high school! And slightly less culturally significant, Kelly Clarkson won the first ever season of American Idol. But even more shocking, do you realize that McDonald's first launched its Dollar Menu in October of 2002?!

In 2003, Halle Berry became the first African-American woman to take home the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Monster's Ball.

In 2004, the first licensed gay marriage occurred in the United States. Followed by the release of Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of the Christ" which portrayed the God-born-flesh more as man than many were comfortable with.

It was all the way back in 2005 that Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

On May 27, 2006, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt was born. And her highly-sought-after first photos were sold for a reported $4.1 million.

It was in 2007, that baseball's Mitchell Report was released, souring the names of many of the sport's biggest stars, including Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. Later that year Bonds would break Hank Aaron's all-time home-run record. Sports in general had a rough year, with the Tim Donaghy scandal in the NBA, Tour de France and Lance Armstrong doping rumors, the Patriots spygate reports, and Michael Vick's dog-fighting suspension from the NFL.

In 2008, already 2 full years ago, the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and the first African-American became the President of our country.

And it was just last year, in 2009, a cultural icon for nearly 5 decades, Michael Jackson, died, and in doing so, took down one of the world's most relied on, and trusted sources, Google.


Lists Hidden in This Newsletter
"It was the Best of Times, it was the Worst of Times" and Other Quotes From "A Tale of Two Cities"
10 Animals That Might Be Extinct in 10 Years
Best Reasons to Join a Social Network
How to Extend Your Laptop Battery Life
Some Common Myths about 9-11
List of "American Idol" Winners
Ten Actresses to Win an Oscar for Playing a Hooker
Most Controversial Video Games Ever
Costliest Hurricanes of All-Time
Most Expensive Celebrity Photos
Top 10+ Nicknames for Steroids?
Michael Vick's List of Screw-ups
Top 10 QBs in Madden 10
Who is the Worst U.S. President Ever?
List of Famous Last Words