2012 Snapshot
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The Vibe
Pop Culture
Gangnam Style
Slang
"YOLO"
Price Check
Gas: $3.60
Notable Deaths
Whitney Houston, Neil Armstrong, Ravi Shankar
Music & Style
Chamber Pop
World Affairs
Obama Re-elect
Syrian War
Year's Summary
- Global Events: The London Olympics showcase a global spirit of unity. The 'Mayan Apocalypse' date passes without incident. The Curiosity rover lands on Mars.
- Culture & Mood: 'Gangnam Style' becomes the first YouTube video to hit 1 billion views. The world is obsessed with The Hunger Games.
- Fashion & Slang: High-low skirts and Galaxy print. 'YOLO' (You Only Live Once) becomes the mantra of the year.
- Fun Fact: 2012 saw the discovery of the Higgs Boson (the 'God Particle') at CERN, confirming a fundamental piece of physics!
- 6 Feb 2012: Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II Commemorated Worldwide – Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, marking sixty years on the British throne. The milestone was commemorated with grand public festivities, naval pageants on the River Thames, and international celebrations across the Commonwealth.
- 11 Dec 2012: Discovery of the Higgs Boson Confirmed at CERN – Physicists operating the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva announced the groundbreaking discovery of a new subatomic particle consistent with the long-sought Higgs boson, providing the final missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics.
- 20 Jul 2012: Aurora Movie Theater Mass Shooting in Colorado – A heavily armed gunman opened fire during a midnight premiere of *The Dark Knight Rises* inside a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing twelve people and injuring seventy others in a horrific act of violence that renewed national debates over gun laws and mental health.
- 27 Jul 2012: London Hosts the XXX Summer Olympic Games – The 2012 Summer Olympics opened in London with a spectacular ceremony directed by Danny Boyle. The Games showcased historic athletic achievements, including Michael Phelps becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time and Usain Bolt defending his sprint titles.
- 6 Aug 2012: NASA's Curiosity Rover Lands Successfully in Gale Crater on Mars – NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission achieved a dramatic precision landing of the Curiosity rover using a pioneering "sky crane" maneuver. The rover immediately began exploring Mars' climate and geology to evaluate past environmental conditions for microbial life.
- 6 Nov 2012: Barack Obama Re-elected President of the United States – Democratic President Barack Obama secured a second term in office after defeating Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the United States presidential election, capturing 332 electoral votes amidst ongoing economic recovery efforts.