10 things never heard of until 2014

 

Plane disappears

On March 8, 2014, the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing. The plane made its last contact when it crossed the Malay Peninsula. Search is still on for the plane, its crew and 227 persons on board.

Death by a bouncer

When Australian players Sean Abbott and Phil Hughes played the game on November 25, 2014, noone would have imagined a bouncer can take life. Australia Test batsman Phil Hughes, who got hit by Abbott’s bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and NSW, succumbed to injuries two days later.

Pepper spray in Parliament

The Indian parliament has witnessed terror attack some years back. But pepper spray attack is probably new to every parliament in the world. The Lok Sabha witnessed an unprecedented low on February 13, 2014 when Congress MP from Vijayawada L. Rajagopal used a can of pepper spray to protest against the tabling of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill.

A year of social challenges

The year saw a new way of social interaction that too for a cause. It all began with Ice Bucket Challenge, a novel way to raise awareness on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disorder. A person pours a bucket of ice water poured on his/her head and nominates others. Following the success, rice bucket challenge, My Tree Challenge, mud bucket challenge followed. Even our Prime Minister got inspired by the idea and launched Swachch Bharat Abhiyan on the same lines.

Landing on a comet

On November 12, this year, the European Space Agency successfully landed a spacecraft on a speeding comet for the first time in history.

Conviction

On September 27, 2014, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa earned the dubious distinction of the first-ever sitting chief minister to be convicted in a disproportionate assets case. As the judge sentenced her to four years imprisonment, ending the 18-year-old trial, she is now barred from contesting from elections for a period of 10 years.

Photobomb, selfies

These two terms, now added to dictionaries, is in use for sometime now. But a Queen photobombing a player’s selfie, is definitely new.

Mineral gets name

American geologists named the earth’s most abundant mineral as Bridgmanite. It had hitherto remained nameless as a large enough sample of the mineral, found in the earth’s lower mantle, had not been recovered.

Phones do bend

In September, when Apple loyalists, who bought the newly-launched iPhone 6, realised their phone bends when kept in their pockets. This was not a latest innovation from Apple’s stable, but a design flaw.

Monkey doctor

Do you know how to save a person using cardiac massage? Well, this monkey seems to know it. A monkey gave life to another one that fell unconscious after apparently touching the high-tension wires at Kanpur railway station.