July 1, 2006

A Big Mac cost $3.10 that summer of 2006, and the Dow Jones sat at 12,463 — the Israeli military had launched a major ground offensive into southern Lebanon, opening a conflict that would dominate international headlines for weeks. On screens and radio stations across the country, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" was the runaway hit at the box office that summer, while Nelly Furtado and Timbaland kept "Promiscuous" locked at the top of the charts for weeks on end. On August 24, astronomers at the International Astronomical Union's general assembly voted to formally strip Pluto of its planetary status, reclassifying it as a dwarf planet 76 years after its discovery — a decision that rewrote every science textbook in the country and sparked debates in living rooms and classrooms alike.