What a year it has been. Personally, 2016 was pretty good. Our child is now walking and talking constantly, mostly about Thomas the Tank Engine¹. Some of my brothers got married (one literal, two figurative). I developed a fairly consistent note-taking habit, first with Workflowy and then with some Field Notes. Probably worth its own post at a later date.

Having a toddler means I don’t get out as much as I used to, so my Official Dad Best-Of–2016 awards go to Deadpool, the new Ghostbusters, and the newest season of The Venture Brothers. Rogue One was also pretty good.

The Rest Of The World

Professionally, and for the world in general, it has been a goddamn nightmare.

Here’s my list of (mostly terrible) things that happened, month by month, with some good tweets for flavor. I’ll try to avoid the elephant in the room.²

• January
  • these jamokes
  • RIP Bowie
  • Michael Bay made a goddamn Benghazi movie

  • This is like watching the crew of the Nostromo debate the alien that's going to eat them. #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/lDLLZ1guJN

    — Gerry Duggan (@GerryDuggan) January 15, 2016

• February
  • Disney panhandles to its own employees for PAC money
  • FBI messes up investigation, tries to force Apple to bail them out. See: my encryption take

  • "okay ted, do some standing"
    "got it. normal human standing" pic.twitter.com/wwORslEUdb

    — matt 💀 lubchansky (@Lubchansky) February 3, 2016

• March
  • The NSA panopticon begins formally spilling over into other law enforcement (I see you NSA angel)
  • Lawmaker hubris tested by legalizing raw milk, receiving foodborne illness from said milk
  • SinbadPix

  • Can't argue with facts pic.twitter.com/xrBXnQcGyl

    — Jacy Catlin (@ieatanddrink) March 14, 2016

• April
  • RIP Prince
  • Found out cops took more than robbers did last year
  • The average webpage is now the size of DOOM. We passed SimCity 2000 a while ago

  • This barred list from the Half Moon pub in Herne Hill is incredible, it's like a Guy Ritchie casting call pic.twitter.com/249PZqclwv

    — Santero (@djsantero) April 12, 2016

• May
  • Parody pundit does better than Nate Silver at primary predictions
  • Another parody account is hacked by ISIS
• June
  • RIP Ali

  • Wise words, child. pic.twitter.com/BcKMXlcGpr

    — Dick King-Smith HQ (@DickKingSmith) June 3, 2016

• July
  • Pokemon Go begins corrupting our youth
  • There is no good way to say all lives matter

  • A really sharp cartoon about true inclusion. pic.twitter.com/zYTllR0Erh

    — Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) July 28, 2016

• August
  • https://twitter.com/VicBergerIV/status/764484467037790208
• September

  • this is the best screensaver cos whenever i get a notification, Kanye holds it up for me pic.twitter.com/W3bpDt82MA

    — mb (@michaellbutlerr) September 29, 2016

• October

  • am i horseback riding or am i tripping balls pic.twitter.com/I0CYTwer32

    — Lisa Hanawalt (@lisadraws) October 15, 2016

• November
  • RIP Leonard Cohen
  • RIP Democracy, probably

  • did you guys see this??? pic.twitter.com/FGd4nYgHPT

    — Avery Monsen (@averymonsen) November 16, 2016

• December
  • What it looks like when hate gets rebranded
  • RIP George Michael
  • RIP Carrie Fisher & Debbie Reynolds

  • Can't help but feel we're playing with fire here. pic.twitter.com/dqbYSmwLkx

    — Niall Gooch (@niall_gooch) December 19, 2016

And I’m pretty sure nothing else happened. May we all take these lessons into the next year, lest history repeats.

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