2012 History, Trivia and Fun Facts

• When NBC was broadcasting the 2012 London Olympic opening ceremony for the US, they skipped over the 7/7 London terror attack tribute and instead showed Ryan Seacrest interviewing Michael Phelps
• Crime: There were no reports of violent crime in all of New York City on November 26, 2012. This is the first time this was known to have happened.
• The Top Song was Royals by Lorde
• The Big Movies included The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises and The Hunger Games
• Price of iPad 2 in 2012: 4399.99
  Price of a Little Tykes Cozy Coup: $39.99
• The World Population was ~ 7,020,000,000
• There were 6500 US Veteran suicides in 2012, about 17.8 suicides a day.
• Between 2002 and 2012, college textbook prices rose 82% while overall consumer prices rose 28%.
• The Worst: Electronic Arts was voted "The Worst Company In America" by The Consumerist for 2 years in a row in 2012 and 2013
• Before 2012 the largest buyer of kale in the US was Pizza Hut, and they only used it as garnish around their salad bar.
• And... after the release of The Hunger Games and Brave in 2012, women's participation in archery rose over 100%.

Amy and Kate Elliot hold the world record for "longest interval between the birth of twins" at 87 days. Which only broke the previous record by 3 days.

Camille Paglia called the finale of "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" the greatest artwork of the modern era, citing its "overwhelming operatic power."

There were no reports of violent crime in all of New York City on November 26, 2012. #peace

Jay-Z released Glory on January 9, 2012, a song dedicated to his first child, Blue Ivy Carter. Because Blue's cries were included at the end of the song and she was officially credited on the song as B.I.C, at two days old, she became the youngest person ever to appear on a Billboard chart.

When the CERN team announced the Higgs boson findings, they presented their slides in Comic Sans.

Despite becoming a big hit in 2012, Ellie Goulding's first hit single "Lights" was recorded in 2008.

A CME (coronal mass ejection) missed earth by only nine days and would, if it had hit, caused global damage with recovery time, in the US alone, estimated at between four to ten years.

Before 2012 the largest buyer of kale in the US was Pizza Hut, and they only used it as garnish around their salad bar.

A broken humerus of a giant fossil sea turtle was found in New Jersey in 1849. In 2012, another broken humerus was discovered, which was found out to be the other half of the exact same bone found 163 years prior.

The Dutch East India Company was the most valuable company ever in world history. With a value of 78 million Dutch Guilders, adjusted to 2012 dollars it was worth $7.4 trillion.

Wladimir Klitschko auctioned off his 1996 Olympic gold medal in March 2012 for charity. The buyer payed $1 million but immediatly returned it because he wanted it to stay in the family.

Choi Gap-bok escaped from prison by squeezing his body through the food slot at the bottom of his cell door. The slot measured 5.9 inches tall and 17.7 inches wide. Choi, a yoga practitioner, applied skin ointment to his body and slipped out while 3 prison guards were sleeping.

M.I.A. was sued by NFL for showing Middle finger during 2012 Superbowl Show.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that competitive cheerleading is NOT a sport and thus, can not be used in place of another women's sport under Title IX.

In 2012 Mathematician Vi Hart sent an open letter to Nickelodeon proving Spongebob's Pineapple was geometrically impossible. Pineapple designer Kenny Pittenger responded by posting a new "mathematically correct" design. This new design is now used on the show.

On July 23, 2012, Earth had a near miss with a solar flare. Had it occurred a week earlier, it could've wiped out communication networks, GPS and electrical grids.

A Pit Bull named Lilly pulled her unconscious owner from the path of an oncoming freight train. The driver said he saw the dog frantically pulling at the woman, not giving up even though the train didn't stop in time. The dog saved the woman and survived impact injuries herself.

Rapper Drake graduated high school on October 2012 at the age of 25.

After Kirani James won Grenada's first-ever Olympic gold medal in 2012, the country was so proud that the government held a giant 3-hour celebratory rally attended by thousands, gave him $186,000, printed new stamps, named a new stadium after him, and built a museum/gym in his home town.

In deep Africa there are accounts of people seeing dinosaur-like creatures that resembles a Brachiosaurus or Apatosaurus. The locals call it Mokèlé-mbèmbé and there have been several documented expeditions to find it from as early as 1776 to as late as 2012.

Employees of Disney World and Disneyland were prohibited from having mustaches, beards and goatees for nearly 50 years until the ban was lifted in 2012. Soul patches are still banned.

BMW paid to name a cold snap weather event after its Mini Cooper car as a promo stunt. The stunt went sour after the snap killed 112 people in Eastern Europe.

Joe Flacco in 2012 was widely mocked after claiming that he was the best NFL quarterback, superior to Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Aaron Rodgers: "I don't think I'd be very successful at my job if I didn't feel that way". Flacco won the Super Bowl that year.

Between 2002 and 2012, college textbook prices rose 82% while overall consumer prices rose 28%.

In 2012, the Smithsonian officially recognized video games as an art form and had an exhibit to "comprehensively examine the evolution of video games as an artistic medium."

Cost of a 30 second Superbowl ad: 3.8 Million dollars

(according to boxofficemojo)
1. Marvel's The Avengers
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. The Hunger Games
4. Skyfall
5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
6. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
7. The Amazing Spider-Man
8. Brave
9. Ted
10. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Brave, The Dark Knight Returns, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hunger Games, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, Skyfall, Ted, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2