The year’s nearly over, and we’ve already done a few retrospectives, but here’s one y’all decided for us: the most-clicked stories of 2012.
10. Robert Plant Admits He Lives in Austin
8. Penguins on a Plane: Meet Southwest’s Feathered Frequent Flyers
7. Teen Forced to Make Public Apology After Cutting a Southwest Flight Line
6. How the World’s First Taco Cannon Was Developed
5. What if Texas Were to Actually Secede?
Not succeed, mind you–something Texas has already done in various ways–but secede. We answered the question that was on everyone’s mind. Proof? “What would happen if Texas seceded” was, word-for-word, one of the searches that ushered the most number of readers to TM Daily Post. Still don’t know the answer? Click to find out.
4. Feathery Friday: Giant Egg Laid in Abilene
Readers love our recurring feature Furry Friday, but this offshoot, Feathery Friday, proved to be our most popular animal story of 2012. Back in June, Cookie Smith of Abilene discovered that one of her hens had laid a 145-gram egg:
Curious about what it could contain, Smith cracked the egg, and discovered, in addition to the whites and yolk, that there was another fully-formed egg inside. The eggs didn’t make it into any batter, however, as Smith worried that something might be wrong with it.
The image of the “mutant super egg” sitting in a carton next to eleven regular-sized eggs is reason enough to click all over again.
3. Five Confirmed Trader Joe’s in Texas
Sometimes people go wild over a grocery list. Our coverage of the five Trader Joe’s confirmed to open in Texas was a top shared story of 2012.
2. Inside the Studio of Hermès’s Only American Designer
Kermit Oliver, the only American to design scarves for the French luxury house Hermès, is one of the greatest living enigmas in Texas. He resides in Waco, has been a postal worker for 38 years, and is the father of an executed son. But his primary identity is that of a reclusive artist with a striking vision. Jason Sheeler profiled him for the magazine in October, and while interviewing Oliver at his home in Waco, took several iPhone photos inside Oliver’s studio. They may just be cell phone pics, but the artist’s attention to detail is remarkably evident. What’s more, in the post we were able to reveal some top secret knowledge about upcoming Hermès’s scarf designs. Wanna know what’s in the works? Go ahead, click above.
1. Aggies Build Human Wall to Keep Westboro Baptist Church from Protesting Funeral
Forget cats: Aggies rule the Internet. The runaway hit from 2012 was the story of how more than 600 Aggies built a “human wall” around a College Station church, in order to block protestors from Westboro Baptist Church from disrupting a soldier’s funeral.
The story was liked nearly 1,938 times–maybe we can hit 2,000 today?–and prompted dozens of comments on Facebook. Almost as amazing as the wall was the fact that a number of Longhorn fans publicly applauded their football rivals in the comment thread on our story. Gig ’em!
