'Tis the season for Top Ten Lists

As we prepare to exit the aughts and enter the tens, the blogosphere and all who come with it are scrambling to make their top ten lists. Top ten events of the decade, top ten songs, top ten movies, top ten karaoke songs. On par with them, and far more in line with the Fourth Corner's mantra, are the top ten oddest news stories of the decade.

From the Newsweek vaults: stoned kangaroos, impaled ninjas, zombie assaults, the bridal bouquet that caused a plane crash, and of course "Grandma Fights Off Bear with Pillow" ("I heard the door open, and I thought, 'It's got to be Yoo-Hoo, the dog.'") all made it into this line-up.

The IgNobel Prize: While not a decade-in-review, this list highlights the goofiest, yet oftentimes most practical inventions of the past year. Highlights include the bra that doubles as a gas mask, the discovery that named cows produce more milk than those without names, and a 50 year study that shows knuckle-cracking does not lead to arthritis.

With a quick look back:

• Y2K. The World was scheduled to end at the beginning of the decade. It did not.
  
• The Beatles were the top selling artist of the first decade of the 21st century. They haven't written a song in 39 years.
  
• We started the aughts with nine planets. We are down to eight.
  
• Passengers could be greeted at their arrival gates. Shoes could stay on.
  
• We started the aughts with four Star Wars movies. We are up to six, seven including Clone Wars. We've also added a fourth Indiana Jones, an entire Harry Potter series, rounded out the Matrix trilogy, put the Lord of the Rings on the silver screen, increased Ocean's gang from eleven to thirteen, and have remade more movies than in any other decade for reasons that remain unclear, but are often attributed to profitability.
  
• Stop-Loss was an unknown term. So was sub-prime. So were hanging chads.
  
• A woman vice-president was just something grown-ups said. Same with a black president.
• Reality TV did not exist on the networks. Survivor aired in 2000.
• There was a hurricane. There were no iPods. There was a tsunami. There was Michael Jackson.
  
• There were Chia Pets. There were no Snuggies. There will always be Chia Pets.
  

For the non-readers: the decade in seven minutes.