Why a modern day Rip Winkle would get a real surprise

Imagine what Rip Van Winkle might make of the world today.

You wouldn't need to sleep 20 years, like the title character in Washington Irving's 1819 short story, to wake up and be shocked by events. How about just one year?

Say you checked out of the world 12 months ago, maybe on an Indonesian beach, or at a Thai monastery or in the Malaysian rainforest. No phones, no newspapers, no television, no Internet - a total news vacuum. Think how disorienting current events like these 10 would be.