2006 History, Fun Facts and Trivia

2006 History, Fun Facts and Trivia

Quick Facts from 2006:

  • World Changing Events: Facebook became open to any over age 13
  • Twitter.com was launched
  • The Top Song was Irreplaceable by Beyonce
  • The Movies to Watch include Dreamgirls, Mission: Impossible III, The da Vinci Code, and Happy Feet
  • The Most Famous Person in America was probably
  • Notable books include: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and Wisdom of Our Fathers by Tim Russert
  • Price of Hershey Kisses, 14 oz in 2006: $2.50
    I Can’t Believe It’s not butter, 15 oz, $2.29
  • The Funny Guys were: Jim Gaffigan & Demetri Martin
    The Controversial Funny Guy: Stephen Colbert
  • The Chicken Noodle Soup dance was popular during late 2006, Crank That (Soulja Boy) by Soulja Boy Tell’em outlasted it.
  • #TBT: Throwback Thursday is the trend of posting older, nostalgic photos on Thursdays under the hashtag #ThrowbackThursday or #TBT. An old concept, it reached mainstream Pop Culture this year.
  • Created in 2000, Blu-Ray discs were made available in 2006. They can contain up to 5 times more information than a DVD.
  • The Message: Founded in 1856, Western Union didn’t stop sending telegrams until 2006.
Top Ten Baby Names of 2006:
Emily, Emma, Madison, Isabella, Ava, Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Ethan, Matthew
Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols:
Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, Christina Milian, Keira Knightly, Katherine Heigl, Gisele Bündchen, Stacy Keibler, Eva Longoria, Lindsay Lohan, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Kristen Bell
Hollywood Hunks and Leading Men:
Channing Tatum, Hugh Laurie, David Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Johnny Depp
Time Magazine’s Man of the Year:
‘You’ (all worldwide web users)
Miss America:
Jennifer Berry (Tulsa, OK)
Miss USA:
Tara Conner (Kentucky)

The Scandals:
Mark Foley, Republican from Florida, was a member of the United States Congress who sent sexually explicit emails to an underage page.

Duke University lacrosse team scandal took place when some members allegedly took advantage of a dancer/stripper. The stripper, we found out later, made up the story.

Terrell Owens supposedly tried to kill himself by taking 35 painkillers.

Zinedine Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi during the World Cup Final

Celebrity Death:
Steve Irwin, TV’s Crocodile Hunter, was killed by a freak stingray accident. He was a hero to millions of children. Stingray injuries are almost never fatal. When Steve Irwin died from a stingray attack in 2006, it was only the second recorded stingray-related death in Australia since 1945.

Pop Culture Facts & History:
Russ Heller set a record for listening to Starship’s We Built This City. Russ listened to the song consecutively for 24 hours, reaching 324 listens.

M&Ms created an ad campaign offering 2 million dark chocolate M&Ms for the one who returns “The Scream”, a painting that was stolen in 2004, in Norway. Just days after the campaign, the painting was found by the Norwegian Police.

NASCAR’s Allstate 400 had 36 cars start the race, a NASCAR record.

Skiing is one of the fastest non-motorized sports on land. Skiers can ski faster than a car and this was proven by Simone Origone in 2006 that set a world speed skiing record at 156.2 miles per hour compared to the speed of road cars at 120 miles per hour.

The song Year 3000 was originally released in 2003 by the English pop-punk band Busted, and was covered by the Jonas Brothers in 2006 for their first album.

The first Youtuber was Peter Oakley, known as Geriatric1927, he was the most subscribed youtube account in 2006. On his channel, he talked about his life experiences, such as growing up in the UK during WW2 and experiencing the British inter-war school system. He passed away in 2014 at the age of 86.

In 2006, Katie Melua gave a concert at 303 meters below sea level in one of the legs of the “Troll A” oil rig, earning a Guinness record for “deepest underwater concert”.

After the sale of Pixar to Disney in 2006 Steve Jobs became the largest individual shareholder of Disney with 7% ownership.

The US Senate was one vote away from passing a constitutional amendment banning flag burning. 66 senators, Democrat and Republican alike, voted in favor of the resolution.

iTunes billionth song was downloaded in February 2006. It was Speed of Sound by Coldplay.

We only have 8 planets in the solar system instead of 9, because in 2006 a panel of 424 astronomers in a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague has demoted and reclassified Pluto as a dwarf planet.

Russian cosmonaut hit a golf ball in space for an estimated 2.2 billion yard drive, during a spacewalk.

Corn Pops debuted in 1950 as ‘Corn Pops’. Name changed twice in 1951 to ‘Sugar Corn Pops’ then ‘Sugar Pops’. In 1978 it changed back to ‘Sugar Corn Pops’ then finally back to original ‘Corn Pops’ in 1984. In 2006 it became to ‘Pops’ and then back to ‘Corn Pops’ a few months later.

Western Union sent their last telegram in 2006.

Bambi and Bambi II hold the record for the longest gap in between movie sequels, the first being released in 1942, the second being released 64 years later in 2006.

Disney quietly cut ties with McDonald’s in 2006 so as not to be associated with childhood obesity. The last Kid’s Meal toys were Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Earning just $462 million at the box office, the 2006 movie Cars earned $10 billion in merchandise sales over the next 5 years.

There is controversy over the first words of Neil Armstrong on the moon: Armstrong said:
“That’s one small step for a man…”.
“It’s just that people just didn’t hear the ‘a’,” he told the press.  In 2006, Peter Shann Ford found evidence that the missing “a” had been spoken after all. #goodluckmrgorsky

William Shatner auctioned off a kidney stone. The $25,000 it fetched was given to Habitat For Humanity.

The first female space tourist was Iranian Anousheh Ansari. She paid $20,000,000 to get onto the International Space Station.

Lambda Lambda Lambda, the fictional fraternity from Revenge of the Nerds, ended up being formed as a real fraternity at the University of Connecticut in 2006

Kongō Gumi was a Japanese construction company that was the world’s oldest continuously ongoing independent company, operating for 1,441 years. In 2005 it had 100 employees and annual revenue of $70m USD. In 2006 they fell on hard times and were absorbed into a larger company.

On Domino Day, November 13, 2009, a total of 4,491,863 dominos were toppled – the record as of this writing…

In October 2000, Heinz introduced colored ketchup products called EZ Squirt, which eventually included green (2000), purple (2001), mystery (pink, orange, or teal, 2002), and blue (2003). The products were discontinued in 2006.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 2006: $2,500,000

The Strange:
In 1867, a jar was found in Paris containing a human rib among other artifacts, and a label claiming that they belonged to Joan of Arc. Tests conducted in 2006 revealed that they came not from Joan of Arc, but an Egyptian mummy.

In 2006, Disney traded sports broadcaster, Al Michaels, to NBC in return for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character Universal took from Walt Disney in 1927.

Napoleon signed the Louisiana Purchase in his bathtub at the Tuileries Palace. An American hotelier in Louisiana bought the tub in 2006 and put it in a hotel in New Orleans for guests to bathe in.

Dick Cheney accidentally shot his (now ex?) friend Harry Whittington in the face. Love Mr. Cheney, or hate him, you don’t mess with this ex-Vice-President.

The Break Ups:
Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards
Britney Spears and Kevin Federline
Paul McCartney and Heather Mills
Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown

The Habits:
Facebook opened to anyone over 13, with a valid e-mail address. YouTube, MySpace
2006 Toys inducted to the National Toy Hall of Fame:
Easy-Bake Oven, Lionel Trains
1st Appearances & 2006’s Most Popular Christmas Gifts, Toys and Presents:
Wii, Elmo TMX, Dora the Explorer Dolls, Apples to Apples
East End Show :
The 39 Steps (Play) Opened on September 14, 2006, and closed on September 5, 2015.
 Wicked (Musical) Opened on September 27, 2006
Broadway Show :
Mary Poppins (Musical) Opened on November 16, 2006, and closed on March 3, 2013
Best Film Oscar Winner:
Crash (Presented in 2007)
2006 Entries to The National Film Registry:
Applause (released in 1929)
The Big Trail (released in 1930)
Blazing Saddles (released in 1974)
The Curse of Quon Gwon (released in 1916/1917)
Daughter of Shanghai (released in 1937)
Drums of Winter (aka Uksuum Cauyai) (released in 1988)
Early Abstractions (released in 1939/1956)
Fargo (released in 1996)
Flesh and the Devil (released in 1927)
Groundhog Day (released in 1993)
Halloween (released in 1978)
In the Street (released in 1948)
The Last Command (released in 1928)
Notorious (released in 1946)
Red Dust (released in 1932)
Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (released in 1971/1972)
Rocky (released in 1976)
sex, lies, and videotape (released in 1989)
Siege (released in 1940)
St. Louis Blues (released in 1929)
The T.A.M.I. Show (released in 1964)
Tess of the Storm Country (released in 1914)
Think of Me First as a Person (released in 1960/1975)
A Time Out of War (released in 1954)
Traffic in Souls (released in 1913)
The Big Movies: (according to boxofficemojo)
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
2. Night at the Museum
3. Cars
4. X-Men: The Last Stand
5. The Da Vinci Code
6. Superman Returns
7. Happy Feet
8. Ice Age: The Meltdown
9. Casino Royale
10. The Pursuit of Happiness
2006 Most Popular TV shows:
1. American Idol Results (Fox)
2. Dancing With the Stars (Fall, ABC)
3. CSI (CBS)
4. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
5. House (Fox)
6. Sunday Night Football (NBC)
7. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
8. CSI: Miami (CBS)
9. Deal or No Deal (NBC)
10. Survivor: Cook Islands (CBS)

2006 Billboard Number One Songs:
December 30, 2005 – January 13, 2006:
Don’t Forget About Us – Mariah Carey

January 14 – January 20:
Laffy Taffy – D4L

January 21February 3:
Grillz – Nelly Featuring Paul Wall, Ali, and Gipp

February 4March 10:
Check on It – Beyoncé featuring Slim Thug

March 11March 17:
You’re Beautiful – James Blunt

March 18March 31:
So Sick – Ne-Yo

April 1 – April 7:
Temperature – Sean Paul

April 8May 12:
Bad Day – Daniel Powter

May 13June 2:
SOS – Rihanna

June 3June 16:
Ridin’ – Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone

June 17June 30:
Hips Don’t Lie – Shakira Featuring Wyclef Jean

July 1 – July 7:
Do I Make You Proud – Taylor Hicks

July 8 -August 19:
Promiscuous – Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland

August 19 – September 8:
London Bridge – Fergie

September 9 – October 27th:
SexyBack – Justin Timberlake

October 28 – November 10th:
Money Maker – Ludacris Featuring Pharrell

December 2 – December 15:
I Wanna Love You – Akon Featuring Snoop Dogg

December 30, 2006 – February 23, 2007:
Irreplaceable – Beyonce

Sports:
World Series Champions: St. Louis Cardinals
Superbowl XL Champions: Pittsburgh Steelers
NBA Champions: Miami Heat
Stanley Cup Champs: Carolina Hurricanes
U.S. Open Golf Geoff Ogilvy
U.S. Tennis: (Men/Ladies) Roger Federer/ Maria Sharapova
Wimbledon (Men/Women): Roger Federer/Amelie Mauresmo
NCAA Football Champions: Florida
NCAA Basketball Champions: Florida
Kentucky Derby: Barbaro
World Cup (Soccer): Italy
Sports Honorable Mention: Shaun White, snowboarder