The Spice Girl kidnapping

The news this week is positively and literally astronomical, with scientists announcing the discovery of 90377 Sedna, a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt. We break down the selection criteria for a planet vs a dwarf planet and find out why Pluto was downgraded.

Terror in Taiwan this week in 2004 with Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot the day before the country's presidential election. Conspiracy theories exist to this day.

Wrestlemania XX returns to Madison Square Garden in New York. We talk about what went down then and compare it to what is happening now for Wrestlemania 40! 

In music DJ Casper introduces a new dance called the ‘Cha Cha Slide’ and while it’s a hit at the time, it’s doesn’t quite have the same impact as ‘The Nutbush’ at weddings.

Plus we’ve got new albums from George Michael, the Soul Train Musoc Awards and Prince steals the show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony with a blistering guitar solo that pays homage to George Harrison.

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Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of The Christ” makes its debut this time 20 years ago and the overwhelming response was that people were overwhelmed! 

And that is just one story in what was a massive week!

The United Nations came clean saying they could not find any evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. UN weapon inspector David Kay simply said “We were almost all wrong”, which sent the media into a frenzy.

We also had Russians on ice with the dramatic rescue of 12 scientists trapped in the arctic circle doing what they claimed was, errr, research, yes research on climate change.

Martha Stewart was charged for insider trading while Britney Spears launched her Onyx Hotel tour. 

We had new albums from The Living End, singles from Guy Sebastian and we got to put Chingy to the test with “will it nursery rhyme” as “One Call Away” entered the US Billboard charts.

And just when you thought that was all we had the 76th Annual Academy Awards with all the Oscars going to The Lord of The  Rings! Pimp my Ride made its debut on MTV. John Grisham’s “The Last Juror” became the latest book we didn’t read to top the NY Times bestseller list.

And somewhere, somehow Peter Andre’s “Mysterious Girl” found its way back to the top of the UK singles chart…

We’re exhausted just thinking about it!

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In what is one of many unexpected moves, Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted the afternoon programmes on the telly to inform his countrymen that he had just sacked the entire Russian Parliament mere weeks after he was elected for a second term as President! 

In Australia Qantas launched it's budget airline, Jetstar with fares from Sydney to Melbourne as low as 60 bucks! Who cares about legroom and checked baggage with those 2004 prices?!?!?

Sadly there were more terror attacks taking place this time 20 years ago, this time in the Phillipines, where lots of cultures and beliefs co-exist. Superferry 14 was bombed en route form Manilla to Bacolod City resulting in the deaths of 116 people and many others injutred or missing as they leapt from the burning ship into the ocean.

We have some terrible music this week thanks to the band Busted who's commit a crime agains music with their UK number one song 'Who's David?'. Thankfully JC Chasez from NSync releases his surprisingly good and diverse solo album to make up for it. 

In the middle of all that we had Kids Bop 5, a roundup of pop hits performed with kids released... Let's just say the son choices are questionable at best and at their worst, down right inappropriate. 

In entertainment Julia Roberts stars in Mona Lisa Smile with Kirsten Dunst and Julia Stiles and Ben Affleck picks up the Golden Raspberry for his flop with Jennifer Lopez, Gigli. Plus we had the final episode of Sex and The City airing on HBO...

There's a little bit more too if you care to listen! Please and thank you!

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This week in the news residents the Sydney suburb of Redfern clashed with police over the death of Aboriginal teenager TJ Hickey. TJ was allegedly clipped by a police car while being pursued on his bicycle. He hit the gutter and fell. His injuries were fatal and the local Indigenous community erupted with grief and outrage. We look at the incident and the media coverage from the time, and wonder if anything has really changed since that fateful day.

We celebrate the knighthood of renowned Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal, survivor of Janowska, Krakow, Plazow, Gross Rosen, Chemnitz, Buchenwald and Mauthhausen. His story is extraordinary and his legacy of bringing Nazis to justice long after the war is extremely far reaching.

In tech news, the Netsky computer worm has us all being woken up at ungodly hours by our PCs and Google announces that it is expanding its index to over 6 billion items (these days it’s somewhere over 400 billion!).

In music we were exposed to around 34 instances of profanity when Eamon unleashed his single “F**k It (I don’t want you back)” on the world. Radio stations had no idea what to do with him.

At the movies Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore went on “50 First Dates” while the Farrelly Brothers turned Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear into conjoined twins with the film “Stuck On You”. Plus over on Australian television the Hot House was giving away the biggest ever prize in the history of Aussie TV.

What more could you ask for? Download us and have a listen!

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In response to a very conservative State of The Union address, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome gives the directive to issue same sex marriage licenses. This would be seen by many as the spark that lit a fire under conservatives right across the nation. Poor old Gavin just wanted to do the right thing by his constituents.

Out in space the largest diamond ever discovered was spotted by the Harvard Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics telescope some 50 light years away from Earth. A white dwarf star named Lucy had fizzled out only to become 5 billion, trillion pounds of diamond!

In music Kanye Wes debuts with ‘The College Dropout’, Shannon Noll with ‘That’s What I’m Talking About’ and Usher enters the charts with ‘Yeah’.

At the cinema Ice Cube is back with ‘Barbershop 2’, Tim Burton releases ‘Big Fish’ and in TV land Lizzie McGuire calls it a day.

Those stories and more, this week on T minus 20!

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It's the biggest story of 2004 so far, the moment when the world was seemingly more shocked by Justin Timberlake exposing Janet Jackson's nipple at the Superbowl Halftime Show than anything a little old war in the middle east could deliver. We take a look at it from all sides 20 years later. 

Meanwhile over at Harvard University as student by the name of Mark Zuckerberg took his first step to world domination when the Facebook launched. 

In music we've got songs from the Scissor Sisters and Shannon Noll cries out from second place in Australian Idol "What about me?" It really isn't fair.

And if that isn't enough adrenaline for one episode we discuss the delights of rail travel as the Ghan makes its inaugural trip across Australia. 

And whole bunch more! 
 

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It really is a mixed bag this week, Spirit's twin probe Opportunity touches down on Mars and instantly goes to work proving that there was once water on the red planet. 

In Taiwan a massive explosion rips through the city centre of Tainan, but it's not what you think. A dead whale being transported through the city becomes so bloated with rotten gas in the heat that it bursts, leaving everyone in the vicinity covered in stinky blood, guts and blubber! 

In sport the ladies are sweltering at the Australian Open. Justine Henin beats Kim Clijsters 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to win her only Australian title.

In tech news the MyDoom worm becomes the most destructive worm in history when it starts infecting computers across North America and eventually the globe, causing around $38 billion in damages.

Du Hast Mein Herz Gerbrochen is dominating the German charts this week, and we have the usual music news.

In entertainment Ashton Kutcher gets his emo time travel on with the Butterfly Effect and the Golden Globes see's Charlize Theron win a best actor award for her role playing serial killer Aileen Wournos in the film Monster. 

Plus books we didn't read makes a triumphant return when we break down Pete Rose's, My Prison Without Bars.

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It's a sad and shocking start to the week this week with the death of cricket legend David Hookes as the result of an altercation with a bouncer at a nightclub. 

In scientific news NASA lost contact with the Spirit rover as it's flash memory subsystem overloaded. Thanksfully they were able to try turning it off an on again to get things working. 

In tech Nintendo announce the release of the DS console in a sexy campaign that seemed very off brand for them.

In music news Twista releases Slow Jamz, with a little help from Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, Sia releases her third album, 'Colour the Small One' and The Darkness steal the show at the 2004 Big Day Out, which was headlined by Metallica. 

In movies, Ben Stiller releases his romantic comedy Along Came Polly starring Jennifer Anniston and in TV land 'THe L Word' debuts along with 'Carmen and Dave, Til Death Do us Part'.

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It's the wedding of the year already, Britney Spears goes on a bender in Vegas, get's married and divorced all in the same weekend! It really is the perfect start to 2004! 

Over in the Middle East construction begins on the world's tallest building, The Burj Khalifa. While it still remains a spectacular feat of engineering it has one terrible flaw that has to do with poop. 

While we're on the subject of big things, the world's largest ocean liner RMS Queen Mary 2 makes it's maiden voyage. 

On a more sombre note over in the UK the corner's inquest into the death of Proncess Diana finally gets underway. 

In music we don;t know Alicia Key's name over on the Billboard charts, the Black Eyed Peas tell us to Shut Up and pop Idol Michelle tops the UK with All This Time. In music news, American Top 40 Legend Kasey Kasem signs off on his last episode after over 30 years on raido around the world. 

In TV Donald Trump debut's on Mark Burnett's 'The Apprentice' which ends up being one of the most popular reality TV shows of all time.

And Mel shaves her mouse mat, among other things. 

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