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.
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