2012 Predictions - And the winner is.....

A year ago, I offered some predictions on some events, trends and other things I selected at random, and I promised to revisit these to offer how clear my crystal ball was.  Well, the answers are in, and I passed.  Just.

In revisiting this post today, it's interesting to read where my own head was at, and what must have been the bubbling, pertinent issues at that time.  Twelve months later some things have changed, but clearly some haven't.

Here's how I did:

1. (Wrong). I suggested more and more self publishing would be evident.  While the trend is still out there, it hasn't gone mainstream yet.  It may still - but I think we'd "need an app for that" as it's too hard for the average person to get their head around in terms of what's involved.

2. (Correct). I suggested we'd hear big news form CERN and Mars.  And we did in both cases.  The Higgs Bosum was confirmed from CERN, and this "God Particle's" confirmation was validation of the smart work being done under Switzerland.  Likewise NASA successfully put a VW sized rover on Mars named Curiosity, confirming for us that there's rocks on the surface.  No water or Martians found yet.  The key learning here ?  Next time make separate predictions to get 2/2 instead of 1/1.

3. (Correct) Obama got re-elected. Although I'd suggest with the benefit of hindsight, the other guy actually lost, moreso than Obama won.  Full credit to his team though for clever play of the electoral college votes.

4. (Wrong) RIM survives independently, and will shortly be unveiling the BB10 for us all that still use their devices, which appears to be Joe in South Dakota and a bunch of Indonesians.  I have to say this one will make it onto the 2013 prediction list too.

5. (Wrong)  TV didn't get re-invented by Apple, they appear to have decided to play with Samsung in court all year instead.  Sony is shakier than ever however and we may see it crumble sooner than expected.

6. (Wrong)  Turmoil did continue throughout the year, but sadly the regime in Syria remains as the rest of the world appears unwilling to help those people out.  Here's what we should do instead  - let's assemble a strongly worded rebuke to the King, highlighting our displeasure. That's got to stop the slaughter of his citizenry, right ?

7. (Wrong & Correct)  While Kim Jong-un hasn't blown the place up yet, he does appear to be consolidating power inside his country and there's breaking news of a possible missile test before the end of the year.  I'm giving this prediction a pass, as while it's been quiet for this "Sexiest man alive", I think it wasn't overtly intended as that.

8.  (Correct) Indeed reality TV continues to bring us to new heights and depths. Honey Boo Boo - need I say more ?

9. (Correct)  In what was perhaps the 'gimme' on this list, the Cubs, Leafs and so on didn't win.  The odds were heavily in my favour on that one admittedly.

10. (Correct) Global Warming - is it real..?  Just today there are articles about this in Russia Today.  Many claims for and against Global Warming were made in relation to November's Hurricane Sandy, with no clear answers.  Two days ago, the National Sea & Ice Data Center published this though: November average sea ice extent was 9.93 million square kilometers (3.83 million square miles). This is 1.38 million square kilometers (533,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average for the month and is the third lowest November extent in the satellite record.  Seems debatable, doesn't it ?

So, a 5 score out of 9 with one abstention.  Not great.  I think I'll be shining my crystal ball a little for next week's 2013 predictions.