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January 12, 2010For no particular reason, I present to you a list of things that were true on August 27, 2001:
- The iPod, XBox, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Ubuntu, and Blu-Ray did not exist.
- IBM was still in the PC business, Handspring was still around, and Blackberries were data-only devices with no telephone capabilities.
- The Euro had not yet entered circulation, currencies like the Franc, Mark and Lira were still legal tender.
- George Harrison, The Queen Mother, Gregory Peck, Barry White, Johnny Cash, Ronald Reagan, Ray Charles, Julia Child, Pope John Paul II, Johnny Carson, Steve Irwin, Gerald Ford and Michael Jackson were still alive.
- SARS, Avian Flu, H1N1 were not in the common vernacular.
- Enron and WorldCom were still in business.
- Oil was $24/barrel, gold was $276/ounce, NASDAQ was at 1912.41, and the DOW was at 10,382.35.
- The Concorde still flew.
- The Petronas Towers were the tallest skyscrapers in the world. (They’ve been surpassed twice since.)
- Lost and 24 had never aired, there were only four books in the Harry Potter series, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was still making movies.
- Lance Armstrong had only won the Tour de France 3 times. (He went on to win 4 more.)
- The most recent Boston Red Sox World Series win had been 1918 (which remained true until 2004).
- The Netherlands was the only country in the world that legally recognized same sex marriages. (That stands at 7 now).
- Charley, Ivan, Jeanne, Katrina, Dean, and Ike were not names associated with weather.
- 61 Extrasolar planets had been discovered. (Currently that’s up to 424).
- Pioneer 10 signals were still being received on Earth.
Up 363 extrasolar planets, down one intrasolar (2006).
Interesting!
… which reminds me: Mezzoblue does not render correctly on my Visor. Please fix.
Maybe version 9 will not be used by 10% of the web users in 2020.
The web was 1.0.
Also, the WTC twin towers still stood in New York
I’m sure Arnie is still making moves.
@Vole: Arnie is Governor of California. It would present legal challenges for him to make commercial movies, as they would count as campaign advertising.
Ahh, the world before web standards. Everything else has gone to hell in a hand basket but at least the web is getting more polish, bit by bit.
I agree with @mika. You need to add to your list “Pluto was still a planet”
A few top recording artists of Summer 2001:
Christina Aguilera
Lil’ Kim
Gwen Stefani
Pink
Coldplay
Nelly
Destiny’s Child
Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott
Arnold is in a movie this summer, alongside Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Mickey Rourke, and wait for it … Brittany Murphy.
The Expendables: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320253/
Xbox came out Christmas 1999. Unless you meant Xbox 360?
@tyler - from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox:
“The Xbox was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe.”
Not sure where you’re getting 1999 from?
Now that IS old! Great list
August 2009: There was no war on terrorism…
Genial post! I wonder where you gathered the informations, expecially oil, gold and share prices.
Probably you could also add some extincted animal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction).
Joe Strummer was also still alive.
@vole: Yeah, on the dance floor ;-D
Also Mac OS X was brand new at version 10.0.
Don’t forget that 9/11 had yet to occur (two weeks away). Also, the word “terrorism” was not associated with Islam, Muslims, or the Middle East, at least not here in the US.
@Tyler and Dave S.
The Dreamcast was in 1999, that might be what you were thinking of. I remember the North American commercials - 9/9/99 was the release date.
“Also, the word “terrorism” was not associated with Islam, Muslims, or the Middle East, at least not here in the US.”
I can only wonder what you’re talking about. They’d been associated for decades in the US. The bombings and hijackings in the ’80s (“We don’t negotiate with terrorists” is actually part of an executive order issued by Reagan), Qaddafi, Lockerbie, the Beirut bombing. The first, unsuccessful WTC attack. Everyone initially suspected an Arab was behind McVeigh’s attack. Not to mention the attack on the Cole less than a year before August 27, 2001.
Bob Hope was still alive as well!
Farrah Fawcett was also alive.
Gaga was more likely to be associated with a baby than a Lady.
American Idol had not yet debuted.
Clever! The Concorde :’(
- The date 9/11 was still a normal date.
- MS-DOS is still sold offically by Microsoft (until end of 2001).
- Switzerland is still not part of the United Nations.
- Mother Teresa (1910-1997) still isnt´t beatifed by the catholic church.
- Still alive: Jassir Arafat, Heath Ledger, Paul Newman
Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander had not yet married Máxima Zorreguieta –that happened on 02-02-02…