Milestones

  • Born

    WIKIPEDIA

    JAN. 15, 2001

    Supposedly, Wikipedia came into existence in early 2001, but we're not exactly sure, mostly because we checked that fact on Wikipedia.

    IPOD

    OCT. 23, 2001

    The ability to carry 1,000 songs in your pocket--while still listening to the same 30 on shuffle.

    THE EURO

    JAN. 1, 2002

    Now gone: francs, guilders, marks, lire, pesetas, drachmas, markkas, escudos.

    INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

    JULY 1, 2002

    A place for the world's supervillains, like alleged warlords Thomas Lubanga and Germain Katanga, to go on trial.

    CROCS

    FALL 2002

    This was the shoe that said, "No need to respect me today."

    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

    NOV. 25, 2002

    Twenty-two agencies (including the Secret Service, TSA and FEMA) gathered under the wing of this new Cabinet-level department in a massive reworking of the federal government's org chart.

    HUMAN GENOME PROJECT

    COMPLETED APRIL 14, 2003

    This map of our genes contains the secrets to what makes us tick as well as what can make us ill. But it's up to us to decipher its coded messages to improve our health.

    COLOR REVOLUTIONS 2003-2005

    A series of peaceful (and colorfully named) revolutions in former Soviet states: Georgia, Rose; Ukraine, Orange; Kyrgyzstan, Tulip.

    FACEBOOK

    FEB. 4, 2004

    Sometime around 2032, pictures of this weekend's kegger will be a key issue in the presidential election.

    YOUTUBE

    APRIL 23, 2005

    America's id was revealed, and it was shaped like kittens.

    EMBRYO-FREE STEM CELLS

    NOVEMBER 2007

    Potentially tons of scientific and medical benefits without the murky moral dilemmas.

    G-20 SUMMITS

    NOV. 15, 2008

    This meeting of leaders of the world's most influential economies has become as vital as any summit at the U.N.

    TEA PARTY

    FEBRUARY 2009

    The most powerful populist movement since the Progressives.

    Died

    MIR SPACE STATION

    MARCH 23, 2001

    After 15 years in orbit, Mir had to come out of the blue to get Russia's space program into the black. The space station plunged into the Pacific after a fiery re-entry.

    THE CONCORDE

    OCT. 23, 2003

    The day British Airways and Air France announced they were grounding the supersonic plane was a sad day for anyone who needed the ability to get from Europe to America very quickly--namely, very wealthy people. Things just never work out for them.

    THE OLDSMOBILE

    APRIL 29, 2004

    By the late 1990s, American drivers had abandoned the staid Oldsmobile brand. So in 2000, GM announced it was halting production of the line following its 2004 models.

    TELEGRAMS

    JAN. 27, 2006

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