58 Things 2012 Was 'the Year of'

As 2012 draws to a close, it's very important to figure out what, exactly, 2012 was the year of. The dragon? The election? The Olympics? New practical thermoelectric power generators? To help figure it out we've assembled 58 articles explaining why 2012 was the year of...

• the election
• the recall elections
• banks behaving badly
• the fixed-income fund
• the cheater
• the vegetarian
• the Amphibian
• the slug
• the shark
• the rich man
• LeBron James
• Lionel Messi
• RG III
• the superteam
• the Falcons
• the dark horse
• the comeback in the NFL
• the fairytale
• synthetic drugs
• new practical thermoelectric power generators
• branded storytelling
• the cultural plan
• the half-hour TV show
• enlightenment
• the awkward
• bad fear
• the glitch
• the hacker
• the Super PAC
• stop and frisk
• drought and heat
• the backlash
• big data
• cycling
• antisocial gaming
• the storm, both weather-related and political
• the lone gunman
• the gun
• Leveson and "omnishambles"
• lost sparkle
• the layoff
• sorrow for Vietnamese businesses
• the dumb blockbuster
• #MBTAannoy
• horrible video game endings
• wonderful people and their wonderful stories
• fresh ideas and new talent in Bollywood
• what didn't happen in Latin America
• raids, arrest and hyperactive anti-graft agencies
• comedy, Citizens United, health care competition, and trolls
• the woman
• living with uncertainty
• resilience
• progress
• you
• Brad
• "meh"