It’s been a great year for the Post, editorially speaking. We’ve covered a broad range of issues, from hot-button political topics like the wealth gap and social security to unique finds in our archives on mysterious crimes, the Titanic, and Rockwell paintings.

Amidst the trove of content we’ve provided our readers in the last 12 months, 10 stories had more traffic on our website and social media than all the rest. Here are the Post‘s top stories of 2012.

1. The Cholesterol Conundrum

Statin drugs benefit some people immensely but are taken by millions more. If you’re at low risk for heart disease, taking drugs to lower your cholesterol may be doing you no good. Is it time we took a second look at statins?

Sharon Begley examines the pros and cons of the statin pill push, and finds that many doctors are staunchly against their widespread use.
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2. The Boy in the Box: Still Unsolved after 55 Years

Despite a half-century of inquiry, the circumstances surrounding the death of an 8-year-old boy are still a mystery. What makes this case even more bizarre is that this boy, by all accounts, never existed. To this day his name, birthplace, and even his lineage are unknown.
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3. Classic Covers: Rockwell Kids of the ’40s

Thinking of taking the plunge? That’s exactly why director Steven Spielberg keeps this Rockwell painting in his office.

Historian and archivist Diana Denny divulges interesting facts about the models, the climate of the era, and Rockwell himself.
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4. From our Archives: How You Can Survive an A-Bomb Blast

This 1950 article claims that, in the event of an atomic bomb, “there are protective measures you can take—and proof that the blast is not always so fatal and frightful as you think.”
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5. The Organic Food Paradox

As consumers increasingly demand organic produce, and as massive industrial farms rise to meet their needs, will it spell the end of the family-run, lovingly tended, earth-friendly farm?

Barry Yeoman analyzes the challenges and pitfalls grocers and small organic farms alike face in the wake of the growing demand for healthier foods.
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6. Rockwell: The War Years

In honor of Memorial Day, we gathered some of Norman Rockwell’s most iconic art from both world wars.
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7. The Inevitable Tragedy of the Titanic

One hundred years after the Titanic sank, we explore the Post‘s 1912 editorial on the great tragedy. Were the British and American governments to blame for the 1,500 deaths? Our coverage explored the oversights, shortcomings, and outrage in the wake of the ocean liner’s horrific end.
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8. Social Security

You’ve heard the rumors. Here are the facts. The Post examines the timeline of social security from its advent, parsing why it was started, what it aimed to do, how it helped Americans, and why there’s such a fuss about it in the current political climate.
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9. America’s Painful Divide

The country is polarized and embattled to the point of dysfunction. What will it take to bring us back together?

A self-described “one-time liberal atheist,” Jonathan Haidt discusses the differences between conservative and liberal worldviews, how he came to understand the other side, and asks whether or not this country can find a tolerant middle ground.
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10. America’s Grand Hotels

Betsa Marsh took Post readers to the somewhat forgotten land of stately, grand hotels, where unlike today’s varieties, the opulence comes from the resort’s history and refined elegance, not its glitz and glamour. To stay at any of these lodgings is to venture back to another, more genteel time.
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A Year in Review: The Top 10 Stories of 2012 The Saturday Evening Post

The original Mother Shipton was a freelance oracle of the 16^th century, who became famous when a book of her prophecies appeared 80 years after her death. In 1873, she got famous all over again when a new book of her prophecies appeared, now written in rhyming couplets.

Skeptics thought these newly discovered prophecies fit the 1800s a little too well. There were obvious references to locomotives (“Carriages without horses shall go/ 
And accidents fill the world with woe”), steamships (“Iron in the water shall float/ As easily as a wooden boat”), the telegraph (“Around the world thoughts shall fly/
In the twinkling of an eye”), and the California gold rush (“Gold shall be found and shown/
In a land that’s now not known.”)

Of course, we shouldn’t think less of a prophecy just because it tells us what has already happened. All the best prophecies work this way. It’s how Nostradamus became such a reliable forecaster. But Nostradmus was a professional; he wrote his predictions in a poetic style that could fit several events. Mother Shipton was an amateur who made an unmistakable declaration:  ”The world to an end shall come/ 
In eighteen hundred and eighty one.”

It was just too clear to be credible. Her new book was greeted with blistering criticism and sarcasm. The publisher soon admitted he’d admitted writing the entire book himself. Despite his public admission, the prediction gained currency, particularly as the year 1881 began. In February, the Post observed,

There are lots of people who will tell you that they put no faith in Mother Shipton’s prophecy that the world will come to an end this year, and yet will jump and have a scared look in their eyes when they suddenly hear the noise caused by the dumping of a load of coal.

Over its 60 years of publishing, the Post had often reported end-of-the-world prophecies. The editors were not impressed with this latest prognostication.

Mother Shipton and her prophecies are still in authority in parts of Canada. In one county several farmers have neglected putting in their crops because of their firm belief that the world will come to an end this year.  [July 2]

A newspaper agent, being told by an old lady that it was no use to subscribe for the papers now, as Mother Shipton said the world was coming to an end this year, said, “But won’t you want to read an account of the whole affair as soon as it is over. ‘That I will,” answered the old lady; and she subscribed. [July 30]

Another visionary authority unites with Mother Shipton in pronouncing that the end of the world will take place in this year of grace, 1881. In the fourteenth century, Aretino, an Italian author, fixed in his writings the exact date of the end of the world. According to this distinguished authority, the destruction of the earth and its inhabitants will occupy fifteen days. The cataclysm will begin by an uprising of the water. The human race, before perishing, will lose the power of speech. All will be dead before the final day—the 15^th of November. These old authors, it would seem, were terrible jokers. [June 23]

Terrible jokers, indeed. Aretino was a notorious satirist and pornographer of 16^th century Rome who reportedly laughed himself to death.

A young lady, recently married, read Mother Shipton’s prophecy for the first time the other day. “Just my luck!” she exclaimed, throwing down the paper, “here I am newly married, and now the world’s coming to an end.”  [November 30]

All too soon, the year was over and, from all we can tell, the world didn’t end. But where Mother Shipton’s forecast of doom had fallen, several others stepped forward to takes its place.

Mother Shipton’s prophecy having failed to bring about the end of the world at the appointed time, another very old prediction is now brought forward. It is expressed in a French stanza, and clearly proves the end of the world in 1886.

Devout Moslems confidently predict the end of the world on November 8 [1886], the close of the Mohammedan thirteenth century. A proclamation has been issued from Mecca warning all true believers to prepare for the coming day [when] the sun shall rise in the West, the day of mercy and forgiveness shall cease, and that of judgment and retribution begin.

We now know that the world will end next year, thanks to the 2100-year-old Mayan calendar. Unfortunately, this prediction relies on the Western calendar, which has been continually revised over the past two millenia. Such fine points will make no difference, however, since the world will end on December 31, when our own calendars will run out of pages.

Mother Shipton Oldsmobile Ad

The World Comes To An End. Again. The Saturday Evening Post