2020: The Good, The Bad and the Downright Absurd

Now that we are finally done with 2020, isn’t it easier to mark the whole year as a collective fever dream, forget all the stuff that happened, and move on? Here is a list of possible reasons why you should look back at least once: 1. So you don't keep falling for the this happened in 2020 memes’ 2. To have a laugh about all the totally absurd things that happened this year that you probably forgot. Our memories of 2020 have been largely dominated by the worry and trauma 3. that the coronavirus and other disasters that occurred has caused. Here is our chance to look back at all the good and the bad that happened this year The old adage by the spanish philosopher George Santayana that has been countlessly paraphrased, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"

While this list is far from complete, I have tried to cover as many major events as I can.

By Shafaq Nami Source: Mashable.com

January:

Just a couple days into 2020, World War 3 was trending on Twitter. 2021 already seems better in comparison. Australia was on fire, the fires burnt through more land than any other blazes in the past 25 years and did severe damage to Australian wildlife. Extreme rain doused the fires but ended up causing a flood. The pope slapped a woman's hand on New Year's Eve and apologized for it.

Megan Markle and Prince Harry announced they were leaving the royal family. A Ukrainian flight crashed in Tehran, Iran, killing all 176 passengers on board, including some faculty and students from McGill University. Trump's impeachment trial began. The first coronavirus death occurred. First known COVID cases outside Asia were also detected. Wuhan went into lockdown and the virus was labelled an international concern by WHO. Locust swarms covered Africa, and other natural disasters occurred in several countries. New bone-eating life form was discovered in footage of alligator bones captured by a camera on a diving robot. In a strange publicity stunt, Source: @racheladawson on instagram

Planters announced that Mr. Peanut, the mascot for the nut brand, had died. Kobe and Gigi Bryant died in a helicopter crash. Brexit finally happened on 31st January.

February:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi infamously tore up a copy of Trump's speech during the president's State of the Union. A submarine carrying 5 tons of drugs was seized off the coast of Panama. "Parasite" won the Academy Award for best picture. Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison. Awkwafina made history as the first Asian to win in the lead actress category at the Golden Globes. The 2020 stock market crash also known as the coronavirus crash began. Coronavirus was officially named COVID-19 Antarctica hit record high temperatures. Locust swarms in east Africa reached South Sudan, threatening a food crisis. Iran and Italy emerged as coronavirus hotspots.

March:

Italy becomes the first country to implement a nationwide lockdown, with the rest of the world soon following suit. People began regularly tracking COVID-19 worldwide numbers as Italy and Spain recorded a high number of daily deaths. Summer Olympics postponed to 2021 as well as other big sports and entertainment events. People started stockpiling toilet paper leading to a shortage. Introverts discovered their daily lifestyle is called quarantine. Everyone became obsessed with Tiger King and it was the first major cultural sensation of 2020. Jared Leto and Big Brother contestants found out about the pandemic weeks after everyone else did. Animals began appearing in now empty cities including a footage of monkeys swarming and taking over a city in Thailand Crude oil prices dipped to negative Moscow, Russia reported the

hottest winter in 140 years and virtually no snow, with several places around the world experiencing climate change effects.

April:

Officials in Wuhan, China, lift the city-wide lockdown after 76 days. Rumors swirled that Kim Jong Un died and the internet became a fan of his sister. It was later found that he was still alive amid many theories including one about him having a body double. Theories that 5G technology causes coronavirus theory spread with many people in developed countries attempting to destroy 5G towers by setting fires. Quibi a streaming service launched but did not gain popularity despite everyone being at home. It shut down only six months and $1.75 billion dollars later. Armed protesters mad about haircuts and masks stormed Michigan's state capitol The Pentagon released UFO videos, and no one cared, with the news not being as widely reported as one would have thought. Nadia, a tiger at the Bronx Zoo, tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the first known case of humanto-cat transmission. Trump suggested injecting disinfectant as a defense against the coronavirus A man allegedly dressed as a police officer in Nova Scotia killed 16 people, making it one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history. In response in May, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau announced a ban on 1,500 types of assault-style weapons. A 2km wide asteroid flew past Earth, with fears that it would collide.

May:

A horrific attack took place in a Kabul maternity hospital, killing newborn babies, nurses, and young mothers. Murder hornets" were spotted in the US, with a nest found in Washington in October. Then, they seemingly just disappeared from social media. However a quick Google search suggests otherwise, with several news channels reporting on them frequently with the last article dated this week. George Floyd's murder sparked the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement sparking several months of protests calling for an end to systemic racism and discrimination. A Bolivian orchestra was trapped in a castle by wolves. Elon Musk and Grimes named their kid X Æ A-12. Elon Musk was quite problematic this year including insisting COVID-19 is fake and being mad at people for using pronouns A bunch of monkeys attacked a lab technician and stole some COVID positive blood samples in Uttar Pradesh. Former NASA and Apple engineer Mark Rober built a genius obstacle course to deter his backyard squirrels from stealing his birdseed. Bob Dylan released a 17-minute song about the JFK assassination.

Source: @racheladawson on instagram

Tabloid headlines declared that NASA researchers working in Antarctica had detected "evidence" of a parallel universe. The news was based on puzzling cosmic rays that had been discovered by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) and a subsequent research paper that argued such discoveries were proof that "our universe could be the mirror image of an antimatter universe extending backwards in time before the Big Bang.

June:

Trump teargassed peaceful protesters, journalists, priests, and bystanders for a photo op with a bible in front of a church to divert attention from the Black Lives Matter Movement. There was a threat of war between India and China erupting as tensions escalated. US Astronauts were launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on the first private rocket. President Putin called a state of emergency in Norilsk after 20,000 tons of fuel spilled into a river. CNN reported the crisis that continued to ravage Yemen. Along with its civil war, Yemen is currently facing three pandemics. Aside from the coronavirus, the country is also facing a mosquito virus (Chikungunya virus) and a cholera outbreak. With famine threatening the country, Yemen still faces an increasingly dangerous humanitarian crisis. The United Nations (UN) found eight mass graves in Libya. Twitter accounts belonging to Joe Biden, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Kanye West and other prominent personalities were hacked as part of a bitcoin scam. Kanye West not only ran for president, but was endorsed by Chance the Rapper and Elon Musk. A conspiracy theory spread on Instagram about Wayfair trafficking children through cabinets. Everything is cake began trending with videos of objects being cut to reveal that it was a cake. A new Ebola outbreak was detected in the Congo. A star 2.5 million times brighter than the sun mysteriously disappeared. Lockdown restrictions began to ease in many countries with social distancing rules still in place as people became used to the new normal’.

August:

A port explosion in Beirut left more than 178 people dead, over 6,500 injured, and 300,000 people homeless Deadly wildfires caused by a gender reveal party burned more than 4 million acres in California. A fire tornado also ripped through California. The movie Tenet’ was released to cinema and largely ignored, but once it became available for streaming in December it quickly became the best film of 2020’ ac-

cording to critics. Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman died after secretly battling colon cancer for 4 years Lori Loughlin went to prison for the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal. A waterfall went backwards in Australia. As a wind gust reached 70km/h, several waterfalls in the Royal National Park near Sydney started to be blown backwards creating a reverse waterfall NASA issued a warning for an asteroid that was supposedly heading directly for Earth. The New Scientist reported that traveling through a wormhole without dying may actually be possible. This is sure to be a relief for anyone who was planning to do that.

September:

Discovery of phosphine on Venus led researchers to conclude the existence of at least some form of life on the planet. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away at the age of 86. The Rock pulled the gates off to his house, explaining in an Instagram post that he needed to get to work but the electric gates won't open due to a power outage. An Australian airline offered people a 'flight to nowhere' and it sold out in just 10 minutes. The first covid-19 vaccine was developed. "Among Us," an online game developed by studio InnerSloth, became one of the biggest games of 2020 two years • after its 2018 release once Twitch streamers started playing it. Tensions rose between Armenia and Azerbaijan. • total landscaping parking lot instead of the Four Seasons hotel. Rumors of Putin's resignation spread on social media. October: • After a monolith in Utah caught media attention, sever• Scientists found evidence of possible microbial life on Mars and the presence of water on the Moon. al monoliths started appearing around the world and then began to disappear just as mysteriously. • Home Depot sold a gigantic skeleton that measured 12 feet December: • tall, and quickly transformed from a Halloween decoration to the internet's latest obsession. The star of the 2020 Vice Presidential debate between was a fly that landed on top of Mike Pence’s head. For a night, The Fly was Twitter's main character, with countless memes popping up on other platforms • • • The first coronavirus vaccine began to roll out, and became an internet trend with debates about its safety. SpaceX's Starship SN8 exploded while trying to land. A new strain of coronavirus was detected in the UK and South Africa. Europe shut its borders to the UK. • • as well. Second lockdowns began in many countries. President Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. While 2020 was truly horrible for a lot of people, there were a few silver linings too such as getting more time to spend discovering new passions, with loved ones or November: a break from busy daily life. Hopefully 2021 is a better and relatively • Ethiopian government forcuneventful year for all of us! ♦ es began fighting a powerful regional government in the country's northern Tigray region, displacing thousands. • The US election dragged on for days as the world watched in anticipation. • Trump's presidency ended in a Four Seasons Source: https://www.contactcenterpipeline.

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