50 THINGS THAT WE KNOW NOW
It’s been a year so outlandishly unpredictable that even the seers threw out their crystal balls. Here, in no particular order, are 50 things we know now that we didn’t last year, from murder hornets to second gentlemen, lives lost and whimsy found, “Tiger King,” “Hamilton” and sourdough boules.
1 That the devastating Australian wildland fires, which started burning in December 2019 and continued to rage into the new year, burning 47 million acres, displacing thousands of people and killing at least 34, would not be the very worst thing to happen in 2020.
2 The world would be thrown into crisis over a fastspreading and deadly virus that shut down the global economy, killed hundreds of thousands, threw millions into unemployment and instead of uniting us, created a deeper divide.
3 Pharmaceutical companies would break speed records to find a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by a virus we had never even heard of in 2019. We’re entering 2021 with two vaccines and more to follow.
4 That takeout cocktails would become a thing. And, depending where you live, that winemakers would personally deliver cabernet to your door.
5 That both the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants would play to stands filled with cardboard cutouts and gulls. The NBA would play in a Disney World “bubble” and still manage to pull off some electrifying playoff games. And that injuries would take football’s San Francisco 49ers and basketball’s Golden State Warriors from championship caliber teams to merely average.
6 We would finally get used to the phrase “Las Vegas Raiders.” Sort of.
7 That “Tiger K ing” would become a national obsession. Just days into the mandatory lockdown in March, everyone would be binge-watching the Netflix series and debating whether Carole Baskin really fed her missing husband to the big cats.
8 That Netflix and Hulu would suddenly have a lot of streaming competition — and we could watch “Hamilton” on TV.
9 The word “unprecedented” would become the most commonly used word in the English language, used an unprecedented number of times to describe just about everything that happened this year.
10 That product shortages would have customers in fisticuffs over toilet paper and hand sanitizer (and then sidewalk chalk, bicycles, camping gear, wading pools and outdoor heaters). Or that fights would break out over face masks.
11 We’d mostly forget about fashion except for one thing — matching our face masks to our outfits. But high heels? No. Way.
12 After unwise visits from Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Francisco Mayor London Breed, the French Laundry would make headlines for something other than foie gras.
13 That we would become Electoral College experts.
14 We would elect the first woman, first Asian woman and first black woman to high office — and they would all be the same person for the same office, vice president of the United States. And we’d see our first “second gentleman.”
15 We would return to our roots, almost literally, by planting victory gardens in a sign of defiance against COVID-19. Plus, you know, all the tasty vegetables.
16 The killing of 46-year- old George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the almost 9-minute video of his agonizing death would unleash a movement unseen since the 1960s civil rights marches.
17 That “Black lives matter” and “Defund the police” would become the most misunderstood phrases of the year.
18 That we would lose legendary Los Angeles Lakers player Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna, in a Calabasas helicopter crash that killed nine people.
19 The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who had seemed immortal, would send the country into mourning and set off another contentious battle over a replacement.
20 That we would lose more: “Black Panther” actor Chadwick Boseman at age 43 after a private four-year battle with colon cancer; iconic guitarist and legendary rocker Eddie Van Halen, 65, after a long battle with cancer; country legend Charley Pride, 86, of COVID-19; and iconic TV hosts Regis Philbin, 88, of natural causes, and Alex Trebek, 80, of pancreatic cancer.
21 That the U. S. COVID-19 death rate would crest the 300,000 mark — and that a Supreme Court celebration in the White House Rose Garden would become a superspreader event. And that President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump would be diagnosed with COVID-19 within the week, although both would quickly recover.
22 We would believe, for a while, that North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un was either gravely ill or dead — until he reemerged among the living.
23 That ever yone would learn how to Zoom, although not everyone would figure out the mute button or how to turn off the video camera. (Embarrassing!)
24 We’d learn how to turn corners of our homes into Zoom backdrops. Ring light? Check! Credibility bookcase? Check! Dirty laundry? Doh!
25 That sidelined chefs and hurting restaurants would teach us how to cook by offering Zoom classes, meal kits and groceries.
26 Culture lovers would spend the year “going to concerts” and “seeing shows” on their computers.
27 We would miss hugs so very much (although we wouldn’t miss those awkward handshakes).
28 That we would learn the magic of nurturing good sourdough starter and then bake enough bread to feed the neighborhood, if only we had been visiting our neighbors. That we would cherish stretchy pants.
29 This would become the year of the “Karen,” as self-entitled individuals were videotaped demanding to speak to the manager — or vastly worse, calling the cops on Black people for doing perfectly normal things, like birdwatching.
30 Today’s teens would be the first in generations to go without beloved rites of passage: proms, graduations, championship games, high school musicals and year- end concerts.
31 Parent s would get a taste of what teachers have to go through.
32 That everything would go remote, from work to school to happy hour, but that our pets would get tired of having us home all the time.
33 That some celebrity efforts to boost morale would do the opposite. Yes, we’re looking at you A-listers trying to perform John Lennon’s “Imagine” on Zoom.
34 Jigsaw puzzles would make a comeback, the more pieces the better.
35 We’d watch “The Last Dance” and marvel at how great a player Michael Jordan was — like we needed proof.
36 That Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, would shock both sides of the pond in early January when they announced they were stepping down as “senior” royals. They would eventually move to California.
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That the Democratic-held House of Representatives would impeach President Trump in December, and the Republicanled Senate would acquit him in February.
38 After years of accusations and rumors, Hollywood kingmaker Harvey Weinstein would be convicted of rape and sexual abuse in what many would see as a watershed moment for the #Metoo movement.
39 That the late Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, would finally be arrested on sex-trafficking charges after authorities found her holed up in a New Hampshire mansion.
40 We would fret over murder hornets, as the Asian giant hornet was spotted on U.S. land, and the first hornet nest would be found this fall.
41 That California and the Pacific Northwest would see the worst wildfires in history, burning millions of acres and displacing thousands of residents in the middle of a pandemic.
42 That we would replace our sky-blue crayons with “apocalyptic orange.”
43 The Summer Olympics would be postponed until late summer 2021.
44 Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would become the first person with a net worth of more than $200 billion.
45 That Hurricane Laura would rank as the strongest storm to make landfall since 1856, registering wind speeds of 150 miles per hour — and we would run out of hurricane names.
46 We would be flummoxed by the mysterious monoliths that started popping up, first in Utah, then in California, Colorado, Nevada, the Netherlands, Colombia, Romania, England and France.
47 The New York Times would post DIY tips on monolith making.
48 Elon Musk would pick up his Tesla toys and move to Texas, and Larry Ellison would do likewise, sending Oracle to Houston, although he decamped to Lanai, because all bets are off when you own your own Hawaiian island.
49 That a wild turkey named Gerald would stalk the streets and sidewalks of an Oakland neighborhood, attacking at will — until he was outfoxed, captured and released far away, we hope, from potential victims.
50 We would become pros at online shopping, all- day eating, home haircuts and turning out the vote, but probably not monolith making.