One thing that’s interesting about the arrival of a new year is
the list-making that comes with reflection on the past 12
months.
A cursory Internet search for “2010 lists” returned hundreds of
pages to wade through. From Syracuse, New York’s Hancock Field Air
National Guard Base list of accomplishments to what the Arizona
Diamondbacks baseball team could have done differently, it appears
everyone and every organization is looking back at 2010.
Time magazine makes it a bit easier with its “Top 10 of
Everything.” One list is their Top 10 Quotes of 2010 with Vice
President Joe Biden’s enthusiastic use of the “f-word” over a live
microphone at a White House press conference as number two (but
number one on the Top 10 political gaffes list), and BP’s CEO Tony
Hayward, speaking about his company’s Gulf oil spill, “I’d like my
life back” next on the list. At number 9 is Bus Cook, NFL agent for
Brett Favre, who said, “Play, don’t play. $%*. People are
getting sick of it. I’m getting sick of it.”
Other political gaffes on Time’s list include Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid’s assessment of a jobs report last February.
“Today is a big day in America,” Reid said. “Only 36,000 people
lost their jobs today.” Also on the list was White House Press
Secretary Robert Gibbs’s portrayal of the so-called “professional
left” calling them implacable ideologues who, judging by their
obliviousness to political realities, “ought to be drug
tested.”
As a news magazine, Time not only had its Top 10 Stories, but its
Top 10 Over-reported Stories, too. On that list are Sarah Palin,
Chelsea Clinton’s wedding, LeBron James’s decision to leave the
Cleveland Cavaliers, teen singing sensation Justin Bieber, and
bedbugs.
Aside from the usual Top 10 Songs, Top 10 Headlines, Top Movies,
and 2010’s Best-dressed Lists, there were many more Top 10s from my
Internet search. The Top 10 Baby Names for 2010 included Aiden,
Liam, Noah, and Jackson for boys, and Sophia, Charlotte, Ava and
Addyson for girls. Trip Advisor listed its Top 10 Worst Hotels with
San Francisco’s Heritage Marina Hotel topping the list because of –
you guessed it – bedbugs.
Arizona State University’s International Institute for Species
Exploration produces a register called the Top 10 New Species, and
this year the Attenborough’s Pitcher leads the list. It’s an
insect-eating plant endemic to only a small locality in the
Philippines.
I also found a number of Top 10 lists about YouTube, the
do-it-yourself video web site that allows darned near anyone to
upload content. Remember that, according to YouTube itself, more
than 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute to the site – the
equivalent of more than 150,000 full-length movies each week. In
fact, more video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than the three
major television networks created in 60 years.
The Internet newspaper Huffington Post shared YouTube’s Top 10
cooking videos of 2010 – including bunny cakes, pizza dough, and an
apple pie tutorial. Techie-buzz.com listed YouTube’s Top 10 videos
of the year complete with a Yosemite double-rainbow and an
ingenious mechanism that fires paint-balls at human targets.
Toptenz.net takes researching Top Tens to a whole new level with
its “Life on a short list” site that has hundreds of Top 10 lists.
Its holiday-related content includes Top 10 Scary Santas, Top 10
Santa Legends, and Top 10 Bizarre Christmas traditions.
Along with a look back at 2010 are predictions and trend forecasts
for 2011. I’ll pass along some of those next week.
In the meantime add this from my list to your list: Happy New Year,
everyone.