Quick, what comes to mind when you think about what’s happened in the world since 2000? We’re at the end of the first decade of the 21st century (okay, pedants, I know the new decade doesn’t technically start until 2011, but roll with me here), and the inevitable looking-back lists are starting to appear.

One of the first retrospectives out is a video called “The Decade in Seven Minutes,” posted below. I haven’t watched it yet, but here’s a quick list, off the top of my head, of what I remember most from the Aughties. I’ll watch the video afterward to see what I left out. Here’s my list:

Hanging chads… Gore conceding to Bush… Sept. 11… Anthrax… Afghanistan invasion… Iraq invasion… Hmm. Those are the big ones. What happened after that? It gets a little fuzzier. What a start to the century, eh?

Color-coded terrorist alerts… Madonna moving to England?… Tsunami in Thailand, though that didn’t come until 2004… yikes, what am I forgetting? OK, straight to 2004, then: Kerry losing to Bush… Um, Dick Cheney shooting his hunting partner in the face? Ellen Degeneres dumping her girlfriend for Portia DeRossi…? Sheesh…

Hurricane Katrina… Avian flu… this is harder than I thought. Michael Jordan retires… Roger Federer rules tennis (until he doesn’t)… earthquakes in Asia… typhoons in Asia… China gets richer… Steve Fossett’s plane disappears… Um…

Sarah Palin struts into public life… Obama wins!… Prop 8 passes (boo!)… and Michael Jackson dies. Oh, yeah, and there’s a really big recession.

OK, a pretty sub-par list, I admit. Basically, unless an event involved a major US political event or public health threat, I probably don’t remember it. Here’s the video, which I’m going to watch right now:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfhTPaqKEAE[/youtube]

Whoa! Looks like I left some pretty major stuff out! And who knew the iPod was invented in this decade?

How’d you do?