Best Inventions of the 2000's

Hard to believe we're about to see this decade come to a close. It seems like only last night we were at Joanna Curry's house on Wilmington Island counting down to Y2k. Here are the top 6 (weird number, I know) inventions of the last ten years:

6. Wireless Internet: We all take this for granted now but it wasn't too long ago you had to deal with a million different cords and connections and still pay $40 per month to hobble back and forth between the TV screen and your computer to look up lines, place bets, listen to the BC sports network, watch naked girls do unspeakable things to each another, etc.

5. Fox News: FNC actually debuted in '96 but did not reach its full prominence until around 2001-2002. For the first time ever, a non-liberal TV news organization. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe for a second that Fox is fair and balanced, but neither are any of the other bazillion media outlets/newspapers/universities that liberals have dominated for the last half-century. Finally we get to have a voice.

4. The Self-Scan at Grocery Stores: These came about a good while back but we can't leave them out. If you're like me and you've worked at a grocery store and/or you hate dealing with people (both apply here), the self-scan is definitely for you. The wait is usually a fraction of what it takes to get checked out at a normal register, you don't have to talk to anybody, and it helps the economy by allowing grocery stores to become productive with less employees, which means lower prices for the consumer.

3. The Ipod: Like most people on here, I was skeptical of MP3 players when they first arrived on the scene at the beginning of the decade, and remained so until a couple years ago. Nothing aggravated me more walking around campus in Athens seeing metro-ATL douches with their earplugs and their "I'm in my own world right now because I don't have people skills" attitude. Which is why you'd never see me with one of these things outside. But for driving purposes and especially long road trips through areas that do not have oldies stations, the ipod is now a must.

2. Carey Hilliard's Wing Zings: but only when they're half price (during the entire month of September!!).

1. Coke Zero: Our #1 product debuted in the fall of 2005. I never drink any non-Coke soft-drinks (except Dr. Pepper because it is from Texas, the greatest state in the union), so I was happy when Coke Zero arrived. Don't get me wrong, Coke tastes great and remains my favorite all-around soft-drink, but after you drink it you sometimes get that sugary feeling that coats your teeth and it's real annoying. The only alternative pre-2005 was Diet Coke, which isn't all bad but certainly doesn't live up to its prototype. Enter Coke Zero, which tastes just like Coke but isn't bad for you.

Honorable mentions: Hi-definition TV's, GPS, the yellow line first-down marker, blogs, Carabba's.