Each week I highlight a handful of stories that I run across during the course of my work. I try and pick stories that might have been missed, ones that celebrate our quirky nature as fallible human beings. It’s a labor of love that distracts me from the breathless grind of the daily headlines and helps to mark the passage of time.
If you’re a regular reader, thank you! If not, you can always read The Week That Was on this site or subscribe to the newsletter for something to read as you start your weekend.
This week is a year-end run down of the most popular stories that readers clicked on in 2020. You picked some real doozies and it’s fun to go back pull them up. I’ve adjusted the rankings a bit because the number of subscribers to the TWTW newsletter grew over the year so more recent posts got more airtime and thus more clicks.
On to the countdown:
10 The caper of the small town in Wales that kept losing its internet at the same time every day and the delightful resolution.
9 The man who blew up part of his house while chasing a fly.
8 The hapless Frenchman who pulled the wrong lever while riding along in a jet fighter.
7 The weather reporter who inadvertently activated Facebook filters while broadcasting.
6 The San Francisco thug that made the mistake of attacking a portrait artist with a photographic memory.
5 The story of the Walla Walla onions that tripped off Facebook’s porn filter.
4 The story of the “weird-ass” Soviet propaganda-themed cookie monster mural in Peoria.
3 The robot guard dogs working at the Air Force base in Nevada. BTW, if you liked that one, you should really check out what their siblings are doing.
2 Y’all loved Oreo’s tear-jerker mini-movie posted on Twitter, #proudparent.
1 But the most popular link of the year? The thing you came back to and watched multiple times? I think this says something about 2020 and the year it’s been? Maybe it indicates our collective yearning for simpler times. Here it is, a video of popcorn popping in ultra-slow motion.
Have a wonderful and peaceful (as in the contemplative, 108-tolls on the buddhist temple bell) New Year’s Eve. It’s been a tough year, I’m happy to pass it by and leave it behind. Let’s now turn and face forward and collectively squint at the faint sliver of a sunrise on the horizon.
See you next year.
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