Courtesy of New York Times writer James Barron, and his account of brain-injured firefighter Donald Herbert's remarkable recuperation from his decade-long comatose state, we're treated to this handy, pocket-sized, sentence-length compendium of the events of the past ten years in American History (After Sudden Lucidity, Firefighter Is Less Animated, May 5, 2005):

Dr. Ahmed said Mr. Herbert thought that it had been only a couple of months since the accident, not a decade - in which a president was tried for impeachment; e-mail and cellphones became popular; and his hometown football team, the Buffalo Bills, made the playoffs four times.

Clinton's impeachment, technology's growth and proliferation, etc...This seems to cover all the bases, for the most part.

Shit...Wait, wait, something's missing, right? What the fuck else has happened in the past ten years? Maybe George Pataki can help us out here:

"We will never forget the individual lives that were lost, the tremendous personal sacrifices and the countless acts of heroism that will forever mark September 11, 2001 as a day the world changed forever," Governor Pataki said. "Those heroes will be forever in the hearts and minds of people throughout New York State and around the world."

There you have it: Bills quarterback Doug Flutie, forever in our hearts and minds.