News has moved so quickly for so many years now that it's sometimes hard to remember what happened a week ago, let alone back in January.
From the rise and burnout of Flappy Bird to North Korea's first marathon open to foreigners, a lot happened this past year. Dredging up some of these (not so) old stories is our way of jogging your memory.
Get out of the moment for a second and come take a brief journey back in time with us.
1. Bridgegate
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was the undisputed favorite to nab the 2016 Republican presidential nomination until the news that members of his office had orchestrated a days-long traffic jam as political payback against a mayor who had refused to endorse the governor's reelection campaign.
After that, the scandalous stories kept on coming. Another New Jersey mayor alleged that Christie had withheld Hurricane Sandy relief funds until she approved a construction project he wanted, and federal officials were soon investigating him for allegedly misusing those relief funds to produce state tourism ads that prominently featured the governor and his family.
None of the investigations have come to fruition yet.
2. Facebook buys Oculus Rift
Oculus VR began as a Kickstarter project set on building virtual reality headsets for customers and, around two years later, sold to Facebook for $2 billion. As Mashable's Christina Warren said at the time of the purchase in March, for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, "it's all about the future. If mobile is the current computing platform, vision and virtual reality could be platforms of the future. Zuckerberg described buying Oculus as 'a longterm bet on the future of computing.'"
3. The insane popularity of Flappy Bird
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Flappy-Bird.jpg" caption="The Flappy Bird "Ready" screen. " credit="BagoGames" alt="Flappy Bird"]
Flappy Bird debuted in Apple's app store in May, 2013 and by this past February it was the most-downloaded free game in 53 countries. The game became so successful, in fact, that creator Dong Nguyen was inundated with questions from press, fans and haters on a daily basis, to the point that he took it down on Feb. 9. It had been downloaded around 50 million times.
4. Nigeria's kidnapped girls
More than 200 Nigerian girls and women are still missing after being abducted by the radical Nigerian group known as Boko Haram this past April. Though some have escaped, the majority are still believed to be held. The Nigerian government has been criticized for what many feel has been a lackluster effort to bring the women and girls back to their families, though reports have now surfaced that the government is negotiating a prisoner swap.
5. Tragedy on Mount Everest
An April avalanche on Mount Everest killed 16 Nepalese guides, the deadliest incident in the mountain's history. Climbing groups canceled their summit attempts for the season, many out of respect for the guides who lost their lives, and the accident sparked the biggest debate in some time over whether climbing the world's tallest peak is worth the risk.
6. You can now text 911
Select areas of the United States could text their emergencies to 911 starting this past May. The Federal Communications Commission service is designed for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, have a speech impediment or who find themselves in a situation where calling in their emergency could threaten their life.
7. Death of Maya Angelou
With the loss of Maya Angelou in May, America lost one of its greatest poets, authors and voices. Angelou, author of many books including her famous memoir "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," was the nation's first black female director in Hollywood, and winner of awards such as the National Medal of Arts, the Lincoln Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
8. The net neutrality debate
The Federal Communications Commission voted in May to advance a proposal that may allow companies to pay to prioritize select Internet traffic over the Internet traffic of others. Any deal that these companies agreed upon would theoretically be looked at by the FCC, but many detractors say that it will allow big companies to claim a larger stake in the online world. The FCC opened a public comment period on the issue that closed earlier this month, and there are no concrete plans yet for how those comments will be implemented in future decisions about the proposal.
9. The Heartbleed bug
An encryption bug called Heartbleed that was discovered this past April allowed hackers to capture user passwords to dozens of popular websites such as Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo and many more. Though the bug was deemed one of the greatest threats to Internet security the world had seen, companies didn't recognize the gaping hole in their cyber defenses, and many had to rush to repair the damage. It's unclear how many passwords were stolen.
10. Scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs
Former Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned this past May after allegations that 40 veterans had died while on a secret appointment waiting list at the department's branch in Phoenix, Arizona that was designed to hide how long it took for veterans to be seen by a medical professional. After both Republican and Democratic politicians called on Shinseki to step down, he bowed to the political pressure.
11. North Korea opens a marathon to foreigners
The Mangyongdae Prize Marathon was nothing new this year. In fact, it had been run 26 times. But 2014 marked the first year that North Korea's April marathon in Pyongyang was open to foreigners, something of a rarity for one of the most closed-off nations on Earth.
Surprised at how much you'd forgotten? Check out last year's forgotten news events, too.