Google:

2012 was a year of big moments, from global games to historical elections and everything in between. With this site, we’ve analyzed over one trillion queries to showcase what the world searched for.

The top worldwide search was Whitney Houston.

If you are only interested in the U.S., check here.

George Musser, quoting Joe Polchinski, for Scientific American:

“I spent 20 years confused by this,” Polchinski said, “and now I’m as confused as ever.” It would be nice to answer the question, if only so that no one ever has to undertake the journey to answer the question.

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Jordan Shepherd, reporting for Elite Daily, on an innovative technique used by Mexican drug smugglers:

U.S. Border Patrol officers discovered 33 cans of pot on Friday in a field near where the Colorado River crosses the U.S.-Mexico border. 

They believe the cans were propelled about 500 feet into the U.S. from a pneumatic-powered cannon similar to the ones used to launch T-shirts.

I wonder if the adults who catch the cans beat the crap out of each other - much like NBA fans trying to grab cheap t-shirts?

Jason Scott on Wikipedia and the ease by which history is erased:

No, the solution is to stop thinking of Wikipedia as the Source, the Big Stage, the Final Arbiter. It will fail at this and it will always fail at this as long as people get to undo the work of many others merely by being a persistent keyboard-pushing douchebag.

Scott offers a particularly awesome rant.

NPR:

It may have something to do with all those Brontosaurus burgers everyone’s favorite modern stone-age family ate, but when you think of a giant dinosaur with a tiny head and long, swooping tail, the Brontosaurus is probably what you’re seeing in your mind.

Well hold on: Scientifically speaking, there’s no such thing as a Brontosaurus.

Interesting history.

In my opinion, Brontosaurus is a cooler name than Apatosaurus.

Annalee Newitz, io9, on being bullied in school:

… the strange thing is that I think they made me a better person. Here are six life lessons I learned from being bullied when I was a geeky kid.

Newitz offers great advice. Also important is the strong support from people - whether they be family, friends, or teachers - who encourage you to pursue your interests, who believe in you, and who pick you up when you feel down. Those people aren’t lessons to be learned, rather they are a blessing. I know I was fortunate to have such support growing up.

Michael Lopp describes his approach to iPhone photography:

My belief is that good photography involves the same process as good application and hardware design. You find the essence of what you are photographing, writing, or building and that means you need to be willing to strip away the unnecessary over and over again. In a world where we love to preserve our options, reduction feels limiting, but sensible reduction allows the consumers of the work to better tell their own story.

Josh Tyrangiel, Businessweek, snags a rare interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook:

Creativity is not a process, right? It’s people who care enough to keep thinking about something until they find the simplest way to do it. They keep thinking about something until they find the best way to do it.

Gary Ashwill with a fascinating bit of baseball history:

The idea of Walter Johnson being hired to pitch for a “colored team” (which, by the way, he doesn’t name) is fascinating. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of a similar situation—a famous white major league pitcher being picked up for a game by an otherwise all-black team, and to pitch against another black team. I really can’t think of one. This would amount to Walter Johnson (and his catcher, Gabby Street) “playing colored baseball,” as he put it to Povich.