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Saying goodbye to a decade: 2000-2009

1 January, 2020 by Expat Living 4 Min Read

https://expatliving.hk/saying-goodbye-to-a-decade-2010s-trivia/

A new decade is upon us … What will the “twenty-twenties” hold for all of us and for the planet? Great things, we hope! Rather than try to gaze into a crystal ball, though, we’re going reflect on the ten years that have just passed. Back on 1 January 2010, workers in Dubai were putting the finishing touches on the Burj Khalifa, in time for the building’s grand opening on 4 January. A decade down the track, “the Burj” is still the tallest man-made structure on the planet (828 metres). But a lot of other stuff has changed! Enjoy a look back with our list of facts, trivia, highlights and lowlights of the years 2010 to 2019.

2010's trivia: Burj Khalifa built

Notable social media launches

  • Instagram (2010)
  • Pinterest (2010)
  • Snapchat (2011)
  • Tinder (2012)
  • TikTok (2017)

Web browsers we used

  • Start of 2010: Internet Explorer 55%, Firefox 31%, Chrome 6%, Safari 4%
  • End of 2019: Chrome 71%, Firefox 9%, Safari 5%, Internet Explorer 5%

Notable natural/non-natural disasters and incidents

  • 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill
  • 2010 Eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
  • 2011 Christchurch earthquake
  • 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami / Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
  • 2012 Hurricane Sandy
  • 2014 Disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370
  • 2015 Nepal earthquakes
  • 2017 Grenfell Tower fire
  • 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue
  • 2019 Australian bushfires

Songs we listened to

  • “Gangnam Style”, Psy
  • “Somebody That I Used to Know”, Gotye featuring Kimbra
  • “Uptown Funk”, Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars
  • “Hello”, Adele
  • “Shape of You”, Ed Sheeran

10 new dictionary words

  • Noob
  • Schmoozefest
  • Twittersphere
  • YOLO
  • Gaydar
  • Emoji
  • Twerk
  • Glamping
  • Hangry
  • Binge-watch

Gadgets we (or our kids) used

  • Fidget spinners
  • Selfie sticks
  • Smartwatches
  • Electric scooters
  • Drones

iPhone updates

  • Latest Apple iPhone version available at the start of 2010: iPhone 3GS
  • Latest Apple iPhone version available at the end of 2019: iPhone 11 Pro Max

Biggest developments in health

  • AIDS became a treatable condition
  • Africa was struck by two Ebola epidemics
  • 3D-printed body parts became a reality
  • Healthcare apps and online communities became commonplace
  • Self-powered pacemakers were trialled in animals

5 world leaders remaining in power the entire decade

  • Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
  • Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
  • Lee Hsien Long, Prime Minister of Singapore
  • Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
  • Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria

2010's trivia - Vladimir Putin leader through the decade

Video games we (or our kids) played

  • Pokemon Go
  • Candy Crush (okay, that was mostly us, not our kids…)
  • Minecraft
  • Breath of the Wild
  • Fortnite

10 pieces of sporting trivia

  • Usain Bolt becomes the world’s most successful sprinter of all time in terms of world records, world championship titles and Olympic gold medals.
  • Leicester City goes from the 5,000-to-1 underdog to win a miraculous English Premier League title in the 2015-16 season.
  • John Isner defeats Nicolas Mahut in a marathon tennis match at Wimbledon 2010 Wimbledon; it takes three days to finish and ends 70-68 in the last set.
  • London hosts the Olympic Games for the third time in 2012, becoming the first city to do so.
  • Lance Armstrong is stripped of all his Tour de France titles in 2012 after being found to have used performance-enhancing drugs throughout his career.
  • In 2019, Tiger Woods completes an amazing comeback to win his first major title since 2008.
  • “Deflategate” hits the 2014-15 NFL Playoffs, with quarterback Tom Brady accused of deliberately letting air out footballs.
  • Michael Phelps wins his 23rd Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Games in Rio.
  • Spain becomes the first international football team to win three consecutive major tournaments, including the 2010 World Cup.
  • In October 2019, following threats from governing body Fifa, Iran overturns a 40-year ban on female spectators watching football and other sports in its stadiums.

2010's trivia: Usain bolt becomes the world's most successful sprinter

10 fashion trends that came and went (or stayed)

  • Wedge sneakers
  • Hipster fashion
  • Naked dresses
  • Athleisure
  • Mom jeans
  • Festival wear / Coachella style
  • White sneakers
  • High-waisted pants
  • Slow fashion
  • VSCO girls

Films we watched

  • Marvel films (21 released in the decade, starting with Iron Man 2 in May 2010, and ending in Spider-Man: Far From Home in July 2019)
  • Star Wars films (5 released in the decade, including 3 “main” films, and 2 “anthology” films)
  • Frozen
  • Harry Potter films (the final 2 films in the series were released in 2010 and 2011)
  • Furious 7

Films we might have missed that were critically acclaimed

  • The Social Network
  • Boyhood
  • Interstellar
  • Mad Max: Fury Road
  • Moonlight

Prominent political events

  • Ongoing: Arab Spring / Syrian civil war
  • 2011: Occupy Wall Street movement
  • 2013: Death of Nelson Mandela
  • 2015: Adoption of the Paris Agreement on global warming
  • 2016: Brexit referendum (51.9% vote to leave)
  • 2016: Election of Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States
  • 2019: Hong Kong protests

10 bizarre world records set

  • 2010: Most naked riders on a theme park ride (102, set in Somerset, England)
  • 2012: Longest time to spin a basketball on a toothbrush while holding the toothbrush in the mouth (22.41 seconds)
  • 2012: Most number of bees on a human body (331,000, by a Chinese beekeeper)
  • 2013: Most number of facial masks applied simultaneously by a group of people for 10 minutes (1,213, in Taipei)
  • 2015: Most balloons blown up by an individual in one hour (910)
  • 2016: Most eggs cracked with a whip in 30 seconds (17, by a 17-year-old girl in Illinois)
  • 2016: Most apples crushed with the bicep in one minute (14, by former Australian rugby star Drew Mitchell)
  • 2018: Longest jump by a cat (2.13 metres, by Waffles the Warrior Cat)
  • 2018: Most toothpicks placed in a human beard (3,500)
  • 2019: Most people lying on top of each other in a multi-layered bed-of-nails “sandwich” (9)

Growth of Netflix

  • Number of countries Netflix was available in at the start of 2010: 1
  • Number of countries Netflix is available in at the end of 2019: 190

TV shows we watched

  • Mad Men
  • Breaking Bad
  • House of Cards
  • Game of Thrones
  • The Crown

2010's trivia - shows we watched

10 food buzzwords

  • Gluten-free
  • Acai bowl
  • Craft beer
  • Veganism
  • Cronut
  • Avocado toast
  • Chipotle
  • Clean meat
  • Almond milk
  • Kombucha

 

See more in our Living in Hong Kong section

26 ways to enjoy Hong Kong’s waters
Where to live in Hong Kong

Categories: Living Here Living In Hong Kong Tags: 2010 decade New Year twenty-tens world records

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