My found look back of 2012: Mayan dooms day, 21 Dec 2012 and more.....
Person of the Year 2012
Barack Obama is both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this
new America. In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned
weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a
more perfect union.
Top 10 International News Stories
- 10. India’s Corruption Woes
- 9. Afghanistan: Escaping the Quagmire
- 8. Asia’s Troubled Waters
- 7. Latin America Seeks Reforms on Drugs
- 6. Communist Leadership Changes
- 5. Mali’s Crisis
- 4. Netanyahu’s Year of Living Dangerously
- 3. The Eurozone Crisis
- 2. An Arab Winter?
- 1. Syria’s Bloody Stalemate
Top 10 Religion Stories
- 10. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Pat Robertson.
- 9. The War on (the Date of) Christmas: The Pope Weighs In
- 8. Who Do Burma’s Buddhist Monks Hate? Muslim Migrants
- 7. The Conquest of Jerusalem by Ultra-Orthodox Jews
- 6. The Church of England’s Woman Problem
- 5. The Revolt of the Nuns
- 4. Pussy Riot vs. the Russian Orthodox Church
- 3. Syria’s Alawites: A Sect Under Siege
- 2. The Pope’s Butler Did It
- 1. Innocence of Muslims
The World’s Best and Worst Places to Live
Best of Quality of Living
Vienna, Austria
Zurich, Switzerland
Auckland, New Zealand
Munich, Germany
Vancouver, Canada
Dusseldorf, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Geneva, Switzerland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Bern, Switzerland
Best Infrastructure
Singapore
Frankfurt, Germany
Munich, Germany
Copenhagen, Denmark
Dusseldorf, Germany
Hong Kong
London, United Kingdom
Sydney, Australia
Vancouver, Canada (tied with Hamburg, Germany)
Worst Infrastructure
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Baghdad, Iraq
Sana’a, Yemen
Brazzaville, Congo
Kigali, Rwanda
Conakry, Guinea
Abuja, Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria
Bangui, Central African Republic
Antananarivo, Madagascar
Worst Quality of Living
Baghdad, Iraq
Bangui, Central African Republic
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
N’Djamena, Chad
Khartoum, Sudan
Sana’a, Yemen
Brazzaville, Congo
Tbilisi, Georgia
Nouakchott, Mauritania
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
According to Mercer, Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s quake-ravaged capital, has the world’s worst infrastructure when judged by metrics including the availability of electricity, fresh water and public transportation; it also has the world’s third-worst quality of life. Thing aren’t getting much better for Haiti either: Since Sandy wiped out 70% of food crops and left another 21,000 people homeless, the U.N. cautions that as many as 1.5 million Haitians might face hunger.Baghdad, Iraq, ranks worst for quality of life and second to worst for infrastructure. Peace has been slow to arrive in Iraq following the withdrawal of U.S. troops last December, with violence among Shia, Sunni and Kurdish factions prompting deadly attacks on a monthly basis. Just today, the Associated Press reported that unidentified gunmen killed a family of six in Baghdad. In less than a year, almost 2,000 people have died as a result of the ongoing conflict, according to the Guardian.
- Vienna tops Mercer’s list of cities with the best quality of life for a second year in a row, followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich and Vancouver. As usual, European cities represent 60% of the world’s top 25 cities for quality of living, according to the survey. No U.S. cities made the top 25, with Honolulu at 28th.When it comes to best infrastructure, Singapore emerges as the top winner, followed by European cities Frankurt, Munich, Copenhagen and Dusseldorf. Another Asian city, Hong Kong, placed sixth.
Top 10 Diet Discoveries
- 10. Healthy Restaurant Seal of Approval
- 9. The Feeding-Tube Diet
- 8. The Best Diet
- 7. Big Brother at the Soda Fountain
- 6. Organic Doesn’t Mean More Nutritious
- 5. Salt, Salt Everywhere
- 4. Two New Diet Drugs
- 3. Are Love Handles Lethal?
- 2. Have Pie with Your Eggs
- 1. Weight Watchers Works
Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- 10. Zit-Zapping Viruses
- 9. Man-Made Mouse Eggs
- 8. Decoding Childhood Tumors
- 7. Speeding DNA-Based Diagnosis for Newborns
- 6. Breaking Down Breast Cancer
- 5. Hope for Reversing Autism
- 4. Lab-Grown Body Parts
- 3. Do-It-All HIV Drug
- 2. What Are Bugs For?
- 1. Junk No More
Top 10 Nonfiction Books
- 10. The Black Count, Tom Reiss
- 9. The First Four Notes: Beethoven’s Fifth and the Human Imagination, Matthew Guerrieri
- 8. People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo — and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up, Richard Lloyd Parry
- 7. Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, Bob Spitz
- 6. Wild, Cheryl Strayed
- 5. Are You My Mother?, Alison Bechdel
- 4. My Friend Dahmer, Derf Backderf
- 3. Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon
- 2. The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. Four, Robert A. Caro
- 1. Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–1956, Anne Applebaum
Top 10 Fiction Books
- 10. This Is How You Lose Her, Junot Diaz
- 9. Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple
- 8. NW, Zadie Smith
- 7. Building Stories, Chris Ware
- 6. The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling
- 5. The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catherynne Valente
- 4. At Last, Edward St. Aubyn
- 3. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain
- 2. Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel
- 1. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Top 10 Best Movies
Top 10 Worst Movies
- 10. One for the Money
- 9. The Odd Life of Timothy Green
- 8. What to Expect When You’re Expecting
- 7. Alex Cross
- 6. The Lorax
- 5. This Means War
- 4. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
- 3. Hyde Park on Hudson
- 2. John Carter
- 1. Cloud Atlas
Top 10 Green Stories
- 10. Superstorm Sandy Brings Climate Change Home
- 9. Offshore Oil Drilling Begins in the Arctic
- 8. Climate Change Goes Missing in the 2012 Election
- 7. 2012 on Track to Be the Warmest Year on Record
- 6. Arctic Sea Ice Melts to Record Low Levels
- 5. The Battle Over Keystone XL
- 4. The U.S. Oil Boom
- 3. California Puts a Cap on Carbon
- 2. The Battle to Label GM Foods
- 1. The Great Midwest Drought
Top 10 New Species
- 10. Prehistoric Crocodile
- 9. The Galapagos Deep-Sea Cat Shark
- 8. The Auburn Tiger Trapdoor Spider
- 7. Ancient Rodents in Chilean Grasslands
- 6. Peruvian Porcupine
- 5. Peruvian Small-Eared Shrew
- 4. The Congolese Cercopithecus Lomamiensis Monkey
- 3. Parrot-Headed, Big-Fanged Porcupine Dinosaur
- 2. Big-Fanged Jumping Spider
- 1. Peruvian Night Monkey
Top 10 Space Moments
- 10. The Moon Implicated in the Sinking of the Titanic
- 9. NASA Gets Two New Hubbles–For Free
- 8. Nanoparticles in the Moon’s Soil
- 7. North Korea’s Satellite Flop
- 6. Geysers on Mars
- 5. Ocean on Saturn’s Moon Enceladus
- 4. Discovery of Earthlike Planet Around Alpha Centauri
- 3. Dawn Spacecraft Geads Off to Ceres
- 2. Dragon Spacecraft Docks with International Space Station
- 1. Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars
Top 10 Gadgets
- 10. Simple.TV
- 9. Nest
- 8. Samsung Galaxy Note II
- 7. Microsoft Surface with Windows RT
- 6. Apple 15” MacBook Pro with Retina Display
- 5. Lytro
- 4. Raspberry Pi Model B
- 3. Sony Cyber-shot RX100
- 2. Nintendo Wii U
- 1. iPhone 5
Top 10 Apps
- 10. Figure (iPhone)
- 9. Current Caller ID (Android)
- 8. Burner (iPhone)
- 7. Instagram (Android)
- 6. Paper (iPad)
- 5. Chrome (iOS, Android)
- 4. iTranslate Voice (iPhone, iPad)
- 3. Flipboard (Android)
- 2. SwiftKey 3 (Android)
- 1. OnLive Desktop (iPad/Android Tablets)
