The Past 10 Years — Abridged

Anthrax, hanging chads and a wardrobe malfunction: not quite sure what they all have in common? Here’s a clue — they all happened in this decade.

As 2009 almost comes to a close, we are starting to see the inevitable recaps of the past decade. Even though we still don’t have an adequate moniker for the past 10 years (The aughts? Too Homer Simpson. The 2000s? kind of lacks that je ne sais quoi), Newsweek.com has unveiled an entertaining seven-minute video appropriately titled The Decade in Seven Minutes.

The video is simple, but it breaks down an eventful decade that included everything from 9/11 to American Idol. Watching it reminds us just how much happened in the past 10 years.

The decade started out with bang, as the world worried that Y2K would spark a global meltdown. People stocked up on sundries, but as the ball dropped, the world waited ... and nothing happened. Politically, the decade began with a nail-biting 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, which ultimately placed the eyes of the world on Florida. The next year, the earth (or at least lower Manhattan) literally shook when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center towers, sparking terrorism on a scale never before seen in this country and leading to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that we are still fighting today.

In pop culture, we are reminded of those hugely annoying yet oft-mimicked Budweiser commercials featuring folks shouting "whaaatttss uppppp," Martha Stewart’s stay in "Camp Cupcake" and William Hung’s 15 minutes of fame.

There’s lots more, but we don’t want to give away everything that happened in the past decade. So watch the video for yourself. Enjoy.

Illustration courtesy of XDanielx via Wikimedia Commons.