It's that Time of Year

Here's the question to ask if you want to add a little fun at a Christmas party. So, who do you think will be TIME magazine's Person of the Year?

Works everytime. I learned this little trick many years ago. You go to a gathering and you work your way through the pleasantries, and then BAM...drop this little question and the dynamics of the conversation change...quickly.

For the record, I tested this theory in the office yesterday, and received fairly predictable results. However, I'll admit that I did not anticipate that People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive would work its way into the conversation.

Before you get too far into this, let's back-up and look at the history of the "award". According to TIME, "TIME's Person of the Year is the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or for ill, and embodied what was important about the year. "

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh was the first person to be selected as the TIME Magazine's Person (at that time "man" of the year). Over the years TIME has selected "groups" or "things". For example, in 1960, scientists were selected men of the year, 1975 was the year influential women were selected, in 1982 the computer was selected as machine of the year, in 1988 Earth was selected as the planet of the year. My personal opinion is that TIME is at a loss for candidates if they are choosing planets.

Last year's winners were Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono ("three people on a global mission to end poverty, disease—and indifference").

So, the question stands, who will be TIME's person of the year? Will it be Warren Buffet who transfered billions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? For the record, that's $30 billion.

Will it be Al Gore who suprised folks with his movie "Inconvenient Truth"? Or Condoleezza Rice for her role in the Bush Administration. How about Britney Spears for clogging up the news shows with her more than public marital problems?

For more information, you may click here: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2006/time.poty/

You will find past covers, a poll of who you think should be Person of the Year, and a variety of cool resources.

See all the honorees from 1927 to 2005

So, who deserves the recognition for 2006? It's just a matter of "TIME" before we find out.