Prior to starting this contest, I thought it might encourage me to better follow current events. To acheive this same goal I took the time to look back at some of the top news in 2008 and came up with the following list. It may be debatable if they were the absolute top stories or not.
How many of these could you have predicted?
1. The top selling electronic device of 2008 was the Kindle Reader but the most “cutting edge” device was something called an Optoma Pico PK-101. This little contraption is basically a pocket projector. You hook it up to your Ipod and it will project your movies or photos on the wall.
I read about it in a Time magazine article found at http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/article/0,30583,1855948_1863825,00.html
2. The top national news story was Obama’s election.
3. Cellular reprogramming was the top medical breakthrough of 2008. From the article that I read at http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/dec/18/top-10-scientific-breakthroughs-2008 this seems to say that we won’t need stem cells because scientists have figured out how to make skin cells act like stem cells.
4. Worst political scandal: Possible tie between Gov Rod Blagojevich’s arrest for trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat or the Gov. Ted Stevens arrest for prostitution ring. I think Blagojevich’s crime is a little worse, plus at least Stevens had the good sense to resign.
5. Despite serious flooding in the Midwest and an extended power outage in the East,the most serious natural disasters were the Burmese cyclone which claimed 22,000 lives and the Chinese earthquake which killed 15,000. Both occurred in May of 2008 and were striking contrasts of how their respective governments dealt with offers of assistance.
6. Two of the top international stories were the terrorist attacks at Mumbai or the piracy off Somalia.
7. Most obvious contender for the top economic news is the stock market collapse October.
Please chime in with your opinions
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You say the "pocket projector" was seeming the most cutting edge electronic device, yet I've never heard of it until now. I know I come from a small town in the Midwest--but still, shouldn't I have heard about these sooner, rather than later? While the "pocket projector" sounds wonderful and quite nifty, I'm a little miffed as to why everything technological has to relate back to IPODS? Isn't it enough that the less fortunate of us(those who own an MP3 player or nothing) have to suffer the wrath of incompatible technology, why every other company is pushing out IPOD gear (I-home, etc). And anyways, wasn't the MP3 player first out on the market for portable music players, after cell phones and walkmens? I'm just angered that IPODs, which play music, videos, games, etc are so much more expensive then MP3 players, which have the same features. I guess this really defines the "material world" we all live in.
ReplyDeleteyo, don't kill the messanger
ReplyDeleteI'm not killing the "messanger". Nice spelling job by the way...hate to say it....proofread.
ReplyDelete