2010: 5 Things You Didn't Know

[BABY1]

TweetWith the dawn of a new year and a new decade right around the corner, the debate is underway over one of the most important issues facing us, the future denizens of 2010: No, it's not global warming, not over-population, it's not even terrorism; it's how in the hell should we pronounce it? Should we say: "2,000-10" or "20-10?" Robert Siegel recently asked this question on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered," and the issue kicked up more dust than one might imagine, considering the other more serious problems we face.

While you decide which option you think sounds better (in our opinion "20-10" has an undeniable cache), we present five things you didn't know about 2010.

1- Scotland eyes independence in 2010

The first thing you didn't know about 2010 is what it might mean to the good people of Scotland.

About 90 years ago, the sun never set on the United Kingdom of Great Britain; it represented the largest kingdom by land mass in world history -- well, not anymore. Things can only get worse for the Crown in 2010. After over 300 years, it seems Scotland has finally grown tired of toiling under the iron yoke of its English overlords: A voter referendum tentatively scheduled for late 2010 will place the idea of full independence from the Crown before the Scottish people.

The Scottish government doesn't actually have the constitutional authority to declare its own independence from the British Parliament. Yet, while a simple referendum favoring independence carries no legal weight, it could bear significant political influence and give Scottish leaders a necessary opening volley.

2- Oktoberfest turns 200 in 2010

Two hundred years ago in October of 1810, the people of Bavaria got together for an extended celebration of the marriage of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The party lasted about five days.

Two centuries on, and Bavaria still celebrates; but, these days Oktoberfest begins in late September, the royal connection is all but ignored and, instead of just attracting the locals, the party attracts crowds from across the world. Nowadays, as many as six million people attend Oktoberfest every year, eating over 521,000 chickens, 58,000 pork knuckles, and washing it all down with the equivalent of over 14 million hearty pints of the best beer Germany has to offer.

3- U.S. roads get a Volt in 2010

Another thing you didn't know about 2010 is that it may be the year you say goodbye to the gas pump forever.

General Motors, which infamously "killed the electric car" when it squashed its own EV1 program just over a decade ago, hopes to lead Detroit into a new electric era with the fall launch of the Chevrolet Volt, one of the most anticipated, criticized and generally speculated upon cars in recent memory. The Volt is not a dedicated electric vehicle (EV); rather, it promises an all-electric range of 40 miles on a single battery charge, which it presumes will satisfy the daily needs of most consumers. If traveling a longer distance, a gas engine kicks in to extend the range some 250 miles (thus, the Volt's tag as an EREV, or Extended-Range EV). The Volt's exact sticker price remains unknown, but most estimates put it at just under $40,000 before stimulus rebates.

Meanwhile, other major automakers including Nissan and Mitsubishi, along with a host of modest start-ups, are hoping to have their own mass-produced all-electric vehicles on the market in 2010 as well.

4- Pro football in the U.S. gets crowded in 2010

Three new pro football leagues in the U.S. are eyeing a 2010 launch (the "New" United States Football League [USFL] had intended to be the fourth, but is now looking at 2011), but the most interesting -- strike that, the most telling aspect of the 2010 pro-football atmosphere is just where in their philosophies two of the proposed leagues differ.

On one end, you have the All American Football League (AAFL), which stresses that "in order to play in the AAFL, athletes will have earned their four-year college degree." On the other end, you have the United National Gridiron League (UNGL) that boasts no such requirement, even asserting that "many young athletes who aspire to play professional football are subject to college discrimination." In the battle between education (AAFL) and raw talent (UNGL), which league will win?

Well, consider that week after week inept NFL franchises (i.e., Detroit, Oakland, Cleveland) prove that there is plenty of room (and money) in the elite league for untalented players, while individual NFL players routinely prove that a college education is no guarantee of intelligent or even marginally civilized behavior.

Answer: The NFL will win. It always (XFL, USFL, WFL, etc.) does.

5- Residents move into the world's tallest man-made structure in 2010

The last thing you didn't know about 2010 is that some people will boast the tallest address in human history.

Standing at just under 2,700-feet high, the sky-scraping Burj Dubai in the city (and emirate) of Dubai is already the tallest building in the world, and the tallest man-made structure ever known. In early 2010, after less than six years of construction, the Armani Hotel will open and occupants of the 144 ultra-luxurious suites known as the Armani Residences will move in.

However, those lucky folks may only have a year or two before a far cooler building goes up nearby. The so-called Dynamic Tower won't be as tall as the Burj Dubai, but its 80 floors will do something no other building could even dream of doing: They will rotate a full 360-degrees independently of each other, meaning that every day this massive tower could have a new and unusual shape, a notion that by itself thaws the frozen fundamentals of architecture and hints at the stunning human ingenuity that awaits us at the dawn of a new decade.

[FUZO]

Tweet#5 THOSE BUILDINGS WILL GET STUCK AND BREAK DOWN. THATS FUNNY IF THAT HAPPENS

[deepsouth]

TweetThink I'll stick to living at ground level thank you very much!

[jipped genes]

Tweetoktoberfest. i love it!!!!! go every year to a festival and drink too much beer!