2016

We lost a lot of beloved cultural figures in 2016. It felt like every time our phones lit up, our hearts would sink, thinking about the elderly and not-so elderly heroes we could lose in an instant. Let’s hope next year is better.

But while we look to the future, an updated version of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover has been making the rounds on the internet. From Bowie to Prince, and Brexit to Toblerone, Sgt. Pepper’s Class of 2016 is stark reminder of the past year.

The piece was designed by artist Chris Barker, who first posted the image to Tumblr over Thanksgiving, but has since updated it to include the George Michael, among others. You can read more about Barker’s process and the experience of going viral over on his Tumblr. For now, sit and think about this absolutely bonkers and terribly sad year that passed.

This is too much now. #ripgeorgemicheal #LastChristmas #sgtpepper2016 #sgtpepper2016 massive thanks to @Carl_Price pic.twitter.com/Gj1bl1MTMM

— christhebarker (@christhebarker) December 26, 2016

via Ultimate Classic Rock

2016 was not great. And almost as some sort of sadistic joke, rather than just making a video pugs taking a bath and looking all relaxed, Google decided to remind us with another Year in Search video.

The Year in Search compiles clips from the most googled terms in one video, allowing us to relive the horror that was 2016, the year when we all realized that things were bad and could get much, much worse.

via Niner's Nation

Set to Grace VanderWaal’s song “Light the Sky,” Google tried it’s best to put a positive spin on this year by being nice enough to remind us of the deaths of David Bowie, Gene Wilder, Prince, and democracies all over the world. They also reminded us of deaths we might have forgotten, like Alan Rickman and Muhammad Ali (Yeesh, this year was awful). There’s only one clip of President-elect Donald Trump, that billionaire reality game show host who won the presidency last month, so no mentions of Making America Great Again. Oh, they also had some Olympic footage. Remember the Olympics? That was a fun distraction.

Anyway, if you have the stomach for it, check out Google’s Year In Search video. It has the Lin-Manuel Miranda Tony acceptance speech, which was really nice, Pokémon Go, and Beyonce. Try and let those things inspire you as we trudge into 2017 cautiously optimistic, which feels a too optimistic of a description.

via GIPHY

A medal like no other! These Paralympic winners are listening to their medals! For the first time ever, the Paralympic Games have placed a device inside the medals that use tiny steel balls to make a sound when they are shaken, allowing visually impaired athletes to identify which type they are. The bronze medals have 16 steel balls and make the lowest sound. The silver ones have 20 balls and the golds have 28, producing the loudest noise. All of the medals also have the words 'Rio 2016 Paralympic Games' written on them in Braille. Awesome! @rio2016 @paralympics

A photo posted by The Olympic Games (@olympics) on Sep 13, 2016 at 8:10am PDT

Two Dudes Rushed Lying Olympian Ryan Lochte on Dancing With the Stars Wearing Anti-Lochte Shirts

This crap is getting old! I love u @ryanlochte and respect you putting yourself out there, you are one of a kind!! ... #respect

A video posted by Ed Moses (@eddiemoses) on Sep 12, 2016 at 7:14pm PDT

The Debate Over Lochte Is in Full Swing

Where Many Had Excellent Points

Like this....



...and this:



And also this:

Some People Didn't Buy His Comeback AT ALL...

Wanting him to get more punishment...



Tying it into Black Lives Matter



...and reminding Lochte to genuinely apologize for LYING, which he still hasn't done yet:




Frankly, after all of this, I'm just left wondering where I can buy one of these t-shirts.... anyone?




#APOLOGIZERYAN

Wimbledon & Australian Open Champion Gordon Reid shared his view from center court as he got into the Quarter Finals playing Wheelchair Tennis Men's Doubles with Alfie Hewett at the 2016 Rio Paralympics:

Incredible atmosphere on centre court tonight! Good win with @alfiehewett6. Into the QF tomorrow. Thank you Rio 🇬🇧🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/j2b0NBQL5U

— Gordon Reid (@GordonReid91) September 11, 2016

The pair won the Wimbledon Wheelchair Men's Doubles earlier this summer:



...so they are used to kicking ass and taking names.



Go get 'em boys!

Ryan Lochte finally got his punishment for pissing on the wall of a locked service station and pulling a framed poster from the wall in Rio during the Olympics and lying about it saying someone robbed him.



CNN reports that The Liar will serve a 10-month suspension and will be banned from the 2017 World Championships, in addition to monetary losses that are still being determined.

Ryan Lochte gets 10-month ban, misses 2017 worlds. Other 3 to get several months each. My @USATODAYsports column: https://t.co/0HfI9h1FDx

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) September 8, 2016

The MTV Video Music Awards were yesterday and here's all the hottest stuff that went down you need to know about today:

1. Drake Didn't Propose

Drake presented his actual girlfriend Rihanna with the Michael Jackson Vanguard award, but everyone thought he was gonna propose too.



Watch the whole sweet thing here.

2. She's back, bitch

Britney, that is. And she came out in full effect.

Her first time performing at the @vmas since '07, @britneyspears returns to the biggest stage of them all w/ @G_Eazy pic.twitter.com/azJftox5HR

— MSG (@TheGarden) August 29, 2016

Everyone agreed that she killed it.

3. Kanye debuted a decent piece of music and HOT video in "Fade"

After an incoherent, motivational, rambling introduction, Kanye shocked the room with a HOT Flash Dance-themed video starring the uber-hot Teyana Taylor.

Check it for yourself here:

Teyana Taylor's VMAs video https://t.co/XH9yt8xbh6

— [J]ayJChillin (@JayJazzi) August 29, 2016

4. Beyonce.

She swept the awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation."

For those who missed it. @Beyonce #VMAs https://t.co/t1sVov2jnF

— Black Girl Culture (@blkgirlculture) August 29, 2016

5. All the Winners

For a full winners list go here, and for video clips of the most awesome moments of a better-than-average VMA's, check it here:

...we still miss Prince and Bowie though.

In a pretty-much universally offensive Photoshop FAIL, Vogue Brazil decided to superimpose disabilities on their own able-bodied models in a promotion for the Paralymics instead of using ACTUAL Paralympians.

The Paralympians were okay with it...



...but we're still not. We'd rather see more barrier-breaking pics of these AMAZING athletes:

Read more about it here.

So Tinder has revealed the top six sports by gender that were most-swiped in Rio, but they didn't get specific about which athletes may have been the chosen ones. That leaves us left guessing which athletes they might not be mentioning...

For Women's Sports they listed:

Table Tennis, Field Hockey, Rowing, Weightlifting...



...and Rugby and Swimming.





For Men's sports they listed:

Tennis, Weightlifting, Gymnastics, Sport Shooting, Judo...



...and Boxing.



Wait, let's take a look at that Judo guy again...



Okay, yeah, we get it.



#Olympics!

Ever wonder how your Grandpa would compare with an Olympian at their own sport?



Well, some scientists did, and they set up an experiment with seniors doing the same activities as Olympians and then measured the difference between the Olympian's record and the centenarian's. Specifically, Usain Bolt, who ran the 100-metre in 9.58 seconds...



...with, say, Donald Pellman, a competitor in the 100 to 104 age-group, who did the same event in 26.99 seconds, which was only a 64.5 percent decrease in performance compared with Bolt.

The centenarian athlete who showed the lowest percent decrease in performance between an Olympian and himself was Robert Marchand, a Frenchman, who holds the world record for his age group in 1-hour track cycling. He cycled only 50.6 percent slower than Bradly Wiggin's record.



After 40, our performance decreases by about 10 to 15 per cent per decade usually, so you'd better start running now if you want to catch these Grandpas.

Australian Badminton player Sawan Serasinghe drowned his Rio loss sorrows like only an Olympian can: with an 8,000-calorie gorgefest at Mickey D's.



His fans don't seem too upset about it yet...



...but just wait until that 8,000 calories hits his thighs

RAWR, those Olympic bodies!



Rio athletes have been allocated 450,000 condoms, and it seems they intend to use them all.



Tinder use has been up, with an increase in matches of 129% in the Olympic Village over the weekend.

But with bodies like these...









...all we can be is jealous.

Read the full AP article here.

Rio was crazy busy over the weekend! Here are the highlights of what you missed:

1. You missed the torch lighting by Vanderlei de Lima, an athlete from the 2004 Athens Olympics who had been attacked during the 2004 games during his event. No one stabbed him this time though.
   
   
2. Giselle did a stupid walk across the stage in a shiny dress. Was it cool? No. Was it meaningful? Debatable. Was it pointless? DEFINITELY.
   
   
3. There was a hot guy in the opening ceremonies from Tonga and he was really really shiny for no apparent reason. We are all better people for it.
   
   
4. A French gymnast suffered the worst break during a qualifier. Ouch. JEEEEZ. Almost TOO graphic. You won't unsee this.
   
   
   
   Oh, wait, yeah, let's just see that one more time...
   
   
   
   So shiny!
   
   
   
   

Every year Pantone chooses a "Color of the Year" to symbolize their prediction of the state of the world in the coming new year.


via Pantone

If you're wondering why the COLOR of the year is actually two colors, apparently the blending of the shades is the color. This is what they had to say for themselves:

The prevalent combination of Rose Quartz and Serenity also challenges traditional perceptions of color association.
In many parts of the world we are experiencing a gender blur as it relates to fashion, which has in turn impacted color trends throughout all other areas of design. This more unilateral approach to color is coinciding with societal movements toward gender equality and fluidity, the consumer's increased comfort with using color as a form of expression, a generation that has less concern about being typecast or judged and an open exchange of digital information that has opened our eyes to different approaches to color usage.

Remember the Hyperloop? Elon Musk's idea for vacuum tube-based land travel, capable of reaching speeds over 500 miles per hour? Of course you do. Well, it's coming.

In 2013, Musk released a concept for high-speed, public travel. Saying that he just didn't have time to see it to fruition, he made it public domain so other enterprising people could make it happen.

As Tech Insider reported Aug. 20, it's a little closer to actually happening.

On Thursday, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), a California-based company developing Hyperloop technology, said it would break ground on the futuristic railway in May 2016.

The company also announced that its team has grown to more than 400 members, and it has secured three key partnerships to assist with development of the Hyperloop.

...Earlier this year, HTT announced it had secured the land to build a 5-mile Hyperloop test track just north of Los Angeles in Quay Valley. But it didn't give a clear timeline of when they would begin construction. The company said it plans to have passengers using the system by 2018.

That's right, it's only going to be a test track, to provide a proof of concept for the future of travel. But each step points to an evolution in the field that has not been seen since the dawn of commercial flight.

Here's a rendering of what the track will look like:

The vision for the Hyperloop, of course, is to drastically reduce travel in between cities. Instead of the six-hour car ride it would take to drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco, a conceivable vacuum tube could take a passenger from city to city in 30 minutes.

So. Cool.

Ongoing work inside of our 1st hyperloop development tube section. pic.twitter.com/q0tkNf9vJQ

— HyperloopTech (@HyperloopTech) August 5, 2015

Hurry up, guys. While we're young.