Instead of a list of ten things that happened in the year 2013, here's my pick for some highlights of the past 2,013 years:

10. The founding of New York City. This almost missed the list due to its rocky start, including the marginalization of the Lenape people, slavery, and the annihilation of the beaver population, but it's really been trying to turn things around in the last hundred years or so.

9.  Search engines. Runner up, Wikipedia. Honorable mention: Cat in shark outfit riding a Roomba.

8. The invention of photography. Because otherwise we'd still be making selfies the old way. (Though the selfie itself wouldn't make the 2,013-year cut, as one of first self-portraits was made in ancient Egypt by the Pharaoh's chief sculptor, Bak, in 1365 BCE.)

7. Air travel. The earliest aviation attempts date back to kite flying in 200 BCE, but since it took another 2,100 years to figure out planes, it safely fits with in the margin of error. Tied with Train travel. That's pretty good, too.

6. Comedians taking on serious dramatic roles. While I have no empirical evidence this did not occur BCE, I'm willing to take that gamble, and even up the ante and credit Shakespeare with the idea while I'm at it.

5. Creation of 16-year Lagavulin. Runner up, Laphroig. Because they taste like my photographs. 

4. Modern medicine. Duh. (But please don't rest on your laurels. And speaking of laurel, the idiom "resting on ones laurels" came from Laurus nobilis victory wreaths worn in ancient Greece. ) 

3. Someone figuring out coffee. Also, duh.

2. The founding of UNESCO, with the mission "to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information." Keep at it. We need all the help we can get.

1. Curiosity rover successfully landing on Mars (Tied with CERN/Higgs-Boson discovery.) I mean, these really make the Top Ten of All Time. Because what is the universe made of, and how did we get here, and is there life on Mars? 

HAPPY 4,500,002,014!