December 31st and January 1st of every year are traditionally the days that we reflect upon the passing year and plan for the coming year. While the latter is enmeshed in resolutions and possibilities, the former is concretely secure in the passage of history and the year 2011 provided plenty of that.
My collage above (courtesy of Zuma Press, NBC, CNBC, the AP, UPI and others) represents just a sampling of the biggest stories carried by traditional "mainstream" media outlets as well as the "new" ways we get our news in this second decade of the 21st century (Facebook, Google+, Twittter, Digg, Pulse, etc.). Except for the killing of Osama bin Laden (depicted in the center frame) which I believe was the year's top news story, I did not rank any of the other activities/events of the past 12 months (clockwise from upper left):
