In order to get to where they are today, some people really had to beat the odds. 

These people weren't just poor — they were homeless.

They eventually turned their lives around and became an inspiration to anyone who dreams of a professional career despite starting from nothing.

Here are 15 inspiring stories of people who at some point in their lives had nowhere else to sleep but on the streets. 

Oscar winner Halle Berry once stayed in a homeless shelter in her early twenties.

When she first moved to Chicago to become an actress, Berry ran out of money and her mother decided the best thing would not be to send her daughter money. 

During these struggling times, the actress admits to staying in a homeless shelter.

In an interview with Star Pulse, the actress said:

"It taught me how to take care of myself and that I could live through any situation, even if it meant going to a shelter for a small stint, or living within my means, which were meager. I became a person who knows that I will always make my own way."

Chris Gardner inspired the movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" and was homeless with a young son while he was in a finance training program.

Aside from a movie based on his life starring Will Smith, Gardner also has two New York Times bestselling books under his belt: his autobiography "The Pursuit of Happyness" and "Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be."

But before his story was shared with the world, Gardner was living on the streets with his young son. At the time, he was trying to pursue a career in finance despite not having any experience in it, or even a college degree. He received a spot on the Dean Witter Reynolds training program, but couldn't afford to live off of the small salary, and his wife eventually left. 

He is also a motivational speaker and CEO of Gardner Rich LLC with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

According to his Web site, Gardner's childhood was "marked by poverty, domestic violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse and family illiteracy."

Hilary Swank grew up in a trailer park and lived in a car with her mother as a teenager.

Before she became an Oscar winner, Swank was a high school drop out and struggling actress.

When she was 15 years old, Swank and her mother left their home in Bellingham, Wash. and headed to California with "$75 and a Mobil card," reported Rebecca Leung at CBSNews.com.

After their arrival, the pair lived in a car for a couple of weeks.

Fortunately, Swank landed a role in her early twenties as Tina Brandon in the film "Boys Don't Cry"— a role for which she was paid $3,000 in total — which would eventually earn her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

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It's time for another countdown.

NASA's compiled 25 indelible images from 2012 in a Flickr gallery. 

Enjoy! 

An extremely long solar filament shoots out from the sun on Aug. 31, 2012. The coronal mass ejection traveled at over 900 miles per second. The image also shows an image of Earth in the lower-left hand corner that shows the size of the CME compared to the size of our planet. MASSIVE!

A 500,000-Mile Long Solar Flare Exploded From The Sun >

A few days later the coronal mass ejection created a beautiful aurora over Canada.

The extremely rare event when Venus passes directly between the Earth and the Sun, known as the transit of Venus, was captured by NASA on June 5-6. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.

Beautiful Time-Lapse Video Of Venus Crossing The Sun >

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A historic election in 2012 began with a Republican primary that offered never-ending drama and ended with the re-election of President Barack Obama to a second term.

Along the way, there were some pretty memorable moments — from the earliest days of the "War on Women" to Clint Eastwood's unforgettable speech at the Republican National Convention. 

Here, we've compiled the most memorable moments from this year's political rollercoaster. 

Mitt Romney Likes To Fire People

JAN. 9: Romney tells a New Hampshire audience "I like being able to fire people," kicking off a year of rich-guy gaffes. 

Newt Gingrich's Moon Colony

JAN. 25: Days before getting trounced in Florida's Republican primary, Gingrich throws up a Hail Mary and promises to establish the first permanent moon base by the end of his second term. His campaign never recovers. 

The Sandra Fluke 'Slut' Saga

FEB. 29: Conservative firebrand Rush Limbaugh calls Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" during his nationally syndicated talk radio show, launching the "War On Women" and turning Fluke into an overnight ubiquity. 

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Ah, science. Sure, it does plenty of amazing things for society: finding treatments for cancer, putting people in space.

But along the way, scientists also discover some truly bizarre things about the way the world works.

From DNA-devouring worms to M&M-crazed bees, here are some of the strangest science stories of the year.

1. Hold the sex, pass the DNA

Sure, birds do it, bees do it, but rotifer worms don't bother. Having sex is a key way for species to increase their genetic diversity and prevent the buildup of harmful genetic mutations. But an all-female worm called the bdelloid rotifer seems to have kept its kind alive for 80 million years without engaging in sex.

Instead of cozying up to a fellow rotifer, the creature devours fungi and bacteria and incorporates some of that DNA into its own genetic code. The DNA meals may provide a healthy dose of antioxidants, the researchers propose.

2. Colorful honey

Hives of sugar-crazed bees in France are turning chocolate M&Ms into colorful honey. The bees got hooked on the candy because a biogas plant in the region processed waste from a local Mars Chocolate Factory.

The bees collected the sugar in their storage stomachs and then transferred it to other bees in the colony. The artificial coloring in the candy dyed the honey striking shades of blue and green.

3. Mother-child brain meld

And you thought pregnancy hijacked the brain. New research revealed that fetal cells migrate to a woman's brain, where they can linger for decades. The scientists found traces of male sex chromosome DNA in the cadavers of women as old as 94.

While scientists don't understand exactly what these cells do, some theorize they may help the woman's body repair tissue and may even play a role in Alzheimer's disease.

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Being a renter can make you feel like a renter.

After a while, the cheap flooring and outdated kitchen can start to get to you, and you might find yourself wishing you just owned the place so you could fix it up.

But, renters can personalize their space too. In fact, you can make quite a few improvements to a rental without breaking your budget – or your lease.

Throw some paint on the walls

A coat of paint can completely transform a room. For example, my last rental was nearly perfect – except that the landlord had painted the walls the color of yellow snow.

After trying to live with the horrible color for a few months, I finally invested $50 in some light gray paint and covered the walls in a single weekend. It was like living in a brand-new apartment.

Swap out the light fixtures

Light fixtures in rentals are usually cheap, brassy, and ugly. Fortunately, if you’re handy with tools, you can swap out the ugly fixtures for ones you like – and then just pop the ugly ones back in when you move out.

And you can find cool, cheap light fixtures at resale stores. I purchased two wrought-iron chandeliers at the Habitat ReStore (http://www.habitat.org/restores/) for about $50.

Freshen up the light switches:

Replacing the light switches is a dirt-cheap and quick way to spruce up a room, especially since rentals always have the cheap plastic ones. You can find different styles at any hardware store. 

Etsy also has handmade light switches. You can buy if you want a funkier look.

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Every day, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screens about 1.8 million passengers, along with all of their luggage.

Those searches produce a lot of interesting results. Every week, dozens of firearms are found, along with inert grenades, cleverly-concealed knives, exotic animals, throwing stars, and a surprising number of swords hidden in canes.

The TSA blog posts a weekly roundup of various and interesting prohibited items its agents discover.

From a cannonball covered in coral to a gun hidden in a stuffed animal, here are the 21 craziest things the TSA found in 2012.

Here is one of many sword canes

This sword cane was found at Kahului airport, on Maui.

And an old rocket launcher

The week of December 7, agents at Latrobe Airport, near Pittsburgh, found an expended AT-4 rocket launcher.

It had been packed in a passenger's checked bag.

Canes conceal knives, too

That same week, an eight-inch knife was found in a cane, at Baltimore Washington International Airport.

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The NFL regular season is over.

Going into the playoffs, a handful of teams are coming on strong (Seahawks, Bengals), while others are sputtering (Texans, Ravens).

Here are the final power rankings for all 32 teams. For the playoff teams, we included one thing to watch in January. And for the non-playoff teams, we included one thing they can build on going into 2013.

Click here to see the rankings >

Once again, here's how we came up with them.

We took our rankings from last week and moved teams up and down based on the following criteria:

• A win: up 2 spots
• A loss: down 1 spot
• A loss by 10+ points: down 2 spots
• A win against a top-5 team from the week before: up 2 spots
• A win against a top-12 team from the week before (aka, a playoff team): up 1 spot
• Covering the point spread: up 1 spot

1. Denver Broncos (#1 last week): Beat the Chiefs

Record: 13-3

Thing to know going into the playoffs: They've only beaten two teams with winning records. So despite the fact that they're the #1 seed in the AFC, we still don't really know how good they are because they're untested.

2. New England Patriots (#4 last week): Beat the Dolphins

Record: 12-4

Thing to know going into the playoffs: It'll all come down to the defense, which is greatly improved from earlier this season. They've only given up 20 points or more once in their last six games after giving up 20+ in seven of their first 10 games.

3. Seattle Seahawks (#3 last week): Beat the Rams

Record: 11-5

Thing to know going into the playoffs: They're red-hot, but they're simply worse on the road than they are at home. They play away at Washington this week.

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When you think about Zumba, you imagine people wearing brightly colored cargo pants and pumping their fists.

You think about the dance fitness craze.

But Zumba isn't just about fitness — it's an entire franchise that turns dance instructors into entrepreneurs selling apparel and CDs.

A decade ago, Alberto Perlman decided to launch Zumba so that he could sell the classes as VHS tapes on late night infomercials. 

In 2012, Zumba was named "Company of the Year," by Inc.com and is currently the largest fitness brand in the world.

It all started when an aerobics instructor forgot his music at home...

In 1986, Alberto "Beto" Perez was teaching an aerobics class and forgot his music at home.  He had to use whatever he had, which happened to be a fun dance mix incorporating a variety of dance moves, including hip-hop, salsa, martial arts and even Bollywood style.

It was a huge hit with his students. 

In 2001, he moved from Colombia to the United States and continued to teach.

In 2001, soon-to-be Zumba founder Alberto Pullman heard about Beto's classes from his mother.

"I go to my mom's house for dinner and she was talking about her dancing class," Perlman told us. "She said it was the only thing she'd ever done that didn't feel like exercising."

Perlman became intrigued when his mother told him that the instructor had a way of integrating "the Saturday night feel" into an exercise class.

After his visit to the class, 25-year-old Perlman was convinced he needed to "take this to more people."

When Perlman visited his first Zumba class, it wasn't called Zumba yet and there were "120 people packed in like sardines," he told Leigh Buchanan at Inc.com.

The 25-year-old Perlman thought that he and his childhood friend Alberto Aghion could start a company that provided infomercials and that Zumba could be their first featured product.

"We never thought it was going to become what it did become," Perlman said.

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As 2012 comes to a close, here's a look back at the top stories of the year. 

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has identified the 15 most-followed news stories of 2012 according to their News Interest Index.

February 26: The shooting of Trayvon Martin

Rank: #11

35 percent of Americans followed very closely

March 2: Deadly tornadoes in the Midwest

Rank: #12

33 percent of Americans followed very closely

March 18: Rising gas prices

Rank: #4

52 percent of Americans followed very closely

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There has been no shortage of successful product launches in 2012. Think the iPhone 5 and “The Avengers.”

In order for companies to have successful launches, they must invest a great deal, ranging from thousands of development hours to millions in marketing costs.

Yet, sometimes, despite the best efforts and the large investments, the products fail. 24/7 Wall St. editors reviewed 2012 product launches to find which were the biggest flops.

Jump ahead to see the failed products >

To be considered a flop, the company that rolled out the product must have invested significant resources in its development and marketing. Once the product was released, the failure had to have happened quickly.

None of the products on our list were on the market much longer than a few months before they were regarded as a flop. Finally, once the products failed, the companies took a sizable hit to both their reputation and, in some cases, their bottom line. One company, Sony, has two products on this list.

These products failed for several reasons. Some of the flops were due to significant company errors that caused the product to be faulty. Apple Maps, one of the worst flops of the year by any measure, was riddled with egregious flaws such as mislabeled buildings, streets and even cities. Sony’s unusual clamshell shaped tablet sold so poorly the company stopped offering it on its American Website.

Competition from popular rivals also played a major role in these flops. ABC’s “Pan Am” initially started off with strong ratings, but the novelty quickly wore off, and the series did not have enough to offer to viewers over other popular shows or sports.

Sony’s PlayStation Vita had trouble competing with the popular Nintendo 3DS, never mind competition from smartphone and tablet gaming. The Nokia Lumia 900, which operates on Microsoft’s Windows operating platform, just did not stand a chance against the strong branding of app-heavy GoogleAndroid and Apple iOS-based phones.

The intense competition that many of these products faced made pricing difficult. AT&T, which carried the Lumia, had to cut the price of the already inexpensive phone due to lackluster demand. Intel’s Ultrabook was widely panned as too expensive, especially with more people taking advantage of cheaper mobile options.

These are the worst product flops of 2012.

1. Apple Maps

Company: Apple Inc.

When Apple upgraded its operating platform to the iOS6, the company decided to dump rival Google’s Maps system and replace it with its own product.

When the service debuted in September, though, a host of problems arose. Users quickly noticed incorrect information, such as confusing Greenland with the Indian Ocean. Some images were only in black and white, and some points on the map were obscured by clouds.

The fiasco was so bad that Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote a public letter apologizing for the mess. When Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software, Scott Forstall, refused to sign the letter, he was shown the door.

As the company tried to solve the problem, it recommended using its competitors services. This month, Google maps returned to the iPhone and became the most downloaded app in the iTunes store less than a day after its release.

2. Dodge Dart

Company: Chrysler

Chrysler placed much emphasis on the Dart, hoping it could compete with other compact cars such as the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus.

The company began its marketing campaign during the Major League Baseball All-Star game with a 90-second commercial featuring NFL quarterback Tom Brady.

Even though Chrysler aimed for the fences, the Dart appears to have struck out. Initial sales were as low as 200 units a month. And although Chrysler managed to sell 4,500 Darts in November, it was well below sales of the Civic and Corolla, which sold 30,075 and 22,255, respectively, during the same month.

Analysts at Edmunds.com tell 24/7 Wall St. that Chrysler did not have experience selling compact cars in the same manner it had selling Jeeps and trucks. Reviewers from Consumer Reports failed to give the Dart its “recommended” rating due to powertrain issues.

3. John Carter

Company: Walt Disney Co.

“John Carter” was widely touted by Disney, but the ingredients to make it a success were never there. The director, Andrew Stanton, had never directed a live-action movie before.

The executives producing the film had minimal experience running a movie production. The reviews were, to be generous, mixed. The science-fiction movie, which cost $250 million to make and another $100 million to promote, opened with a meager $30.6 million in U.S. ticket sales.

Foreign sales helped boost opening weekend to more than $100 million, but sales quickly fell. Disney said shortly after the release it would take a $200 million write-down on the movie, making it the biggest box-office dud ever.

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Champagne is one of France’s great bastions of wine tradition—change is no joking matter there—and pretty much everybody likes the final product it offers.

So when there is something new going on in that storied region, attention must be paid.

Jump ahead to see the bubbly beverages >

What is happening lately is that the greatest brands in bubbly are giving ever more attention to “recently disgorged” vintage Champagnes, which are generally among their most sought-after and expensive wines. Trying a couple of these rare bottles on New Year’s Eve is likely to make for a memorable tasting experience.

Veuve Clicquot, a name familiar to all because of its omnipresent non-vintage, yellow-label wine, has recently gotten into the game. Although it has made regular vintage-designated Champagnes for years—as with other brands, this is something not done every year but only in the best vintages—its new Cave Privée line marks the first time it has released a recently disgorged vintage. A 1990 brut and a 1989 brut rosé are available now.

The line is not intended for everyone. “Cave Privée is dedicated to the connoisseur and the sommelier,” says Dominique Demarville, Veuve Clicquot’s cellar master and one of the people who decides how the Champagne is made.

“Disgorged” is a strange-sounding word that describes one of the later stages in the Champagne-making process: The second, in-bottle fermentation that gives Champagne its bubbles is created by the addition of yeast and sugar. The yeast remnants gather at the bottom of the bottle, so once the wine is deemed ready to be bottled and corked, they must be expelled (otherwise you would be drinking chunky bubbly). That removal is called disgorging.

But those yeast remnants, called lees, are one of the contributing factors to a Champagne’s character, so the length of time they are left in a wine affects its taste. If you have two bottles of a 1990, one disgorged and bottled in 1995 and the other in 2010, they will taste very different from each other.

Lily Bollinger, of Champagne Bollinger, invented the category of recently disgorged wines in the 1950s, and the brand’s special cuvée of this type still bears the letters “RD.” Madame Bollinger’s idea, and the thinking behind the more recent examples, is that recently disgorged wines are both old and young at the same time.

“Like all old Champagne, there is a lot of complexity and richness,” says Demarville, referring particularly to a toasty, yeasty, bread-like quality that the lees impart over time. “But the recent disgorging gives a lot of freshness to the wine.”

The wine world is full of surprises, however, and the results of any change to the Champagne-making process are hard to predict. “It’s the last mystery left in Champagne, the whole question of disgorging dates,” says Serena Sutcliffe, author of a book on Champagne and head of Sotheby’s worldwide wine department. “It doesn’t always taste younger. There’s a lot more comparative tasting to be done.”

Sutcliffe believes that very cold storage temperatures (around 40 degrees) are actually the key to keeping Champagne vibrant, regardless of when it was bottled, and her advice is a good reminder for anyone who intends to collect this category.

But she certainly acknowledges the trend. “More people are doing this recent disgorging, looking through their cellars for older vintages,” she says. “Some of it is a marketing element—it gives you another line.”

Some houses have started listing the disgorgement dates on all their bottles, even non-vintage ones, in an effort to be more transparent about the traditionally secretive process of making Champagne. What follows are tasting notes of some of the top wines in this category.

The definition of “recent” is different for each, and not all of them have the disgorgement date listed on the label. But those details are ultimately secondary. Taste matters most, and these bubblies deliver.

See This Year's Best Champagnes >

More from Departures:

A Las Vegas New Year's Eve At Twist >

Malibu Wines Come Into Their Own >

Rosé Wine Renaissance >

Gift Of The Day: Ruinart Rosé Champagne >

Krug Collection 1989

Krug is known for its rich, unmistakably deep, yeasty taste, and this dark golden wine is in line with its robust forebears. Baked, spiced fruit is the dominant flavor, along with fresh cherry.

The bubbles are sedate, but this is by no means a sedate wine. It perfumes the room when you pour it. $549

Bollinger R.D. 1997

Stately and getting mature, this is a winning wine from the house that invented the R.D. (recently disgorged) category.

Apple, stone fruit and a hearty toast character, plus a solid frame of acidity, make it a strong match with foods such as roasted fowl.

Charles Heidsieck Blanc des Millenaires 1995

From its first fresh impact on the palate to its length and concentration, this is a wine of symmetrical beauty.

Focused citrus notes persist throughout, and it expertly balances acidity and sweetness. Great yellow-gold color, too. $185

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While the S&P is set to net investors a double-digit return, not all major stock indices have been positive on the year.

In fact, the worst performing stock market of 2012 fell by over 60 percent.

A few of these nations have banking sectors that are in terrible shape. Some exchanges have suffered due to low liquidity. Others have underperformed as foreign direct investment has plummeted. And an unlucky few have a combination of all of the above.

The list spans markets from all across the globe, though European laggards are the worst of the worst.

All year-to-date returns data is from Bloomberg through December 28..

10. Bahrain Bourse All Share Index: -7.0%

The BB All Share is off nearly two-thirds from its 2008 peak. This exchange has hemorrhaged funds, with its market capitalization decreasing from 7.73 billion to 5.8 billion dinars since January 2011. Aluminium Bahrain BSC has gotten crushed, as its shares are down over 28 percent on the year.

Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters via GulfBase

9. Sri Lanka Colombo Stock Exchange: -7.7%

After three decades of warfare, Sri Lanka's exchange enjoyed robust returns in 2009 and 2010, but the market has been in decline since 2011. Through September, foreign direct investment fell just under 10 percent year-over-year, and less than one percent of the nation's citizens invest in stocks. However, the exchange seems to be ending the year "on a relatively positive note."

Sources: Lanka Business Online, The Island, Sunday Times

8. Mauritius Stock Exchange: -8.5%

The World Bank ranked Mauritius the most competitive nation in Africa.  Nevertheless, it struggles in spite of the country's business-friendly attitude. After posting strong years in 2009 and 2010, the market has been on a near two-year decline.  The central bank is trying to get a handle on inflation, which hit a 2012 high of 4.2 percent in October and is forecasted to increase again next year.

Source: Bloomberg

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Happy New Year's Eve! Many of you will celebrate with champagne, dancing, and kissing your loved ones when the clock strikes midnight, but what about the rest of the world?

January 1st may be the de facto beginning of the New Year in the Western hemisphere thanks to the Gregorian calendar, but some cultures believe the New Year takes place at a different time altogether.

The Chinese New Year is in late January or early February, Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year — is in autumn, and some cultures follow the Julian lunar calendar and celebrate in mid-January.

How people start off a brand new year varies regionally from country to country — though most do tend to have the standard fireworks display.

In Spain, they eat 12 grapes for luck.

Spaniards eat a grape with each of the twelve chimes of the midnight countdown while making a wish. The tradition dates back to 1895 when some savvy vine farmers realized they had a surplus of grapes and started the tradition to get more customers.

Many then celebrate with a late-night family dinner before heading out to Spanish nightclubs after midnight until 6 AM.

In Belgium, children write New Year's letters to their parents.

In Belgium, New Year's Eve is called Sint Sylvester Vooranvond. Besides toasting with the customary champagne, Belgian children write New Year's letters to their parents or godparents on New Year's day.

They decorate the cards with fancy paper complete with cherubs, angels, and colored roses and then read them aloud.

In the Czech Republic, fireworks displays last all day long.

In Prague, huge fireworks displays begin before noon on the 31st and steadily increase until midnight in honor of the New Year.

Much like in the US, people congregate to celebrate the New Year in parties, pubs, clubs, and city squares to drink and celebrate across the country.

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Now that a tentative agreement has been reached on the tax issue of the fiscal cliff, lawmakers are now grappling with a deal to avert the $1.6 trillion in spending cuts that are set to kick in after the Jan. 1 deadline.

They are cuts that could have a significant effect on companies that make their lifeblood from government contracting.

If Congress fails to get a deal that stops this sequestration, the cuts will be carried out in an across-the-board, uniform way, meaning that every civilian program and every defense-related program will get cut by the same percentage.

For civilian programs, excluding Social Security and Medicare, this means an 8.2 percent across the board cut. For the military, a 9.2 percent cut for every non-exempt program will apply. 

To find out which companies have the most to lose from the cuts, we took a look at the eleven companies that made the most from government contracting in 2012, based on numbers from Washington Technology. 

11. Harris Corporation

Value of Government Contracts in 2012: $3 billion

Harris Corp. builds radio communications systems and integrated networks, working on IT for both civilian and government defense agencies. For example, the company builds air-traffic control systems for the FAA and designed a new database for the U.S. Census. 

CEO William Brown was just appointed by President Obama to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.

Source: Washington Technology 

10. DynCorp International

Value of Government Contracts in 2012: $3.3 billion

DynCorp is involved in law enforcement training and support, security, logistics support, and aviation services.

The company specializes in staffing and providing contractors for the military. For example, the military contracts DynCorp to provide security at its bases in the Persian Gulf. 

Source: Washington Technology

9. Computer Sciences Corp.

Value of Government Contracts in 2012: $3.6 billion 

A wide variety of government agencies, including the U.S. Navy, NASA, and the Department of the Interior, use CSC services for cloud computing, networks, management consulting and supply-chain management. 

Source: Washington Technology,

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After letting it languish on the market for four years, Kevin E. Parker, global head of Deutsche Asset Management (who stepped down from the bank's executive committee in May), has chopped the price on his Southampton estate from $30 million to $25.8 million, according to Curbed Hamptons.

It seems that Parker is really fed up, since he has also switched real estate agencies from Corcoran to Sotheby's International Realty.

The house has 10 bedrooms and sits on over three acres of prime Hamptons property. The 13,000-square-foot mansion also includes eight full bathrooms, a gym, a wine cellar, an all-weather tennis court, and both main and service driveways.

An aerial view of 385 Great Plains Road from above, including the tennis court, salt water pool, and manicured lawn.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

A view of the staggering main entrance and gravel driveway.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

The service entrance has its own separate driveway in the back of the house.

Source: Sotheby's International Realty

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While some sectors, like the homebuilders, really benefitted from macro trends in 2012, others were not so lucky.

Solar energy and for-profit education were two industries that got hit especially hard.

However, avoiding those two sectors wouldn't have completely shielded investors from some of the worst-performing stocks of the year. Accounting mishaps, secular decline, and suspension of dividends all contributed to some of the biggest share declines of 2012.

We took a look at the ten worst-performing stocks in the S&P 1500 (which includes mid and small-cap names) to see who got crushed this year.

For most of these stocks, it was a long slog all year.

NCI Inc (NCIT)

Return: -56 percent

Market cap: $67.0 million

Story: NCI, an IT services company that specializes in federal government contracts, got off to a rough start in January when it told investors it expected lower earnings and revenues in 2012, sending the stock tumbling 20 percent. Shares turned around after the company scored a big contract with the U.S. Army at the end of June. The stock plateaued in August and continued its decline through the end of the year.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)

Return: -58 percent

Market cap: $1.6 billion

Story: AMD shares peaked in mid-March before heading lower for the rest of the year. Although the company was able to regain a bit of market share from Intel in the final quarter of 2012, it's been nowhere near enough to ensure the sustainability of AMD's future as more and more tablet and personal computer devices feature Intel chips.

Diamond Foods (DMND)

Return: -58 percent

Market cap: $299.8 million

Story: DMND shares plunged in early February after auditors found material weakness in internal accounting controls at the company and told it to restate financial statements from 2010 and 2011, and the CEO and CFO were relieved of their duties. Following the announcement, the stock continued to grind steadily lower throughout the year.

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1. Being rich makes you more likely to lie, cheat, and steal.

A series of experiments conducted on volunteers with annual incomes ranging between $16,000 and $150,000 found that the wealthiest were most likely to cheat to win a $50 prize, take candy from children, and pocket extra change given to them by mistake.

Drivers of pricier cars were also four times more likely than those who drove cheaper models to cut off other drivers and pedestrians. Being wealthy seems to insulate you from the outside world and make you "less likely to perceive the impact" that your behavior has on others, says study author Paul Piff.

2. Sleeping in on the weekends can make you fat.

A German study found that a person's odds of being overweight increase 33 percent for every hour of difference between their weekday and weekend sleep schedules. Two out of three people effectively commute between two time zones each week, disrupting their circadian rhythms.

That "social jet lag" leads them "to eat at times when the body doesn't want to eat or isn't prepared for digesting food properly," thus leading to weight gain, says study author Till Roenneberg.

3. Too much exercise may hurt you more than it helps.

While being a runner lowers your risk of early death by nearly 20 percent over not running, running more than 20 miles per week appears to cancel out that benefit. Jogging slowly decreases mortality risk, whereas running at a pace faster than 8 minutes a mile has been found to put extra stress on the heart. Studies have shown that more than an hour of intense aerobic activity per day can cause serious heart problems — including scarring, an irregular heartbeat, and clogged arteries.

Many people wrongly assume that "if moderate exercise is good, then more is better," says study author James H. O'Keefe. But beyond an hour, "you reach a point of diminishing returns."

4. Playing youth soccer can permanently damage your brain, as can other sports that involve repeated blows to the head.

Mounting evidence shows that the routine hits young athletes take playing football, soccer, lacrosse, and even volleyball can cause cognitive problems. Girl soccer players have more concussions than any other young athletes except football players. "What's happening in this country is an epidemic of concussions," says sports physician Bob Cantu, who warns that brain injuries can affect some young people "for the rest of their lives."

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2012 wrapped up with several auction records, from a drawing by Raphael that sold for nearly $50 million to a very expensive antique clock.

There were also sky-high prices for movie props and a batch of love letters written by a rock star.

Let's take a look back at the most outrageous purchases people made in the month of December.

A drawing by Raphael sold for $47.9 million

An auction record for the Renaissance-era artist

A rare drawing by Raphael sold for $47.9 million at a Sotheby's auction in early December. The final sale price marked an auction record for the artist and doubled pre-sale expectations, according to Today Entertainment.

The work, called "Head of an Apostle," was from the collection at Chatsworth, the ancestral home of the 12th Duke of Devonshire. It was purchased by an anonymous collector.

James Bond's gun from "From Russia With Love" sold for $196,000

Expensive James Bond memorabilia

The Walther air gun used in promotional photos for the 1963 film "From Russia With Love" sold in December at a Sotheby's auction in London for $196,000, according to Paul Frasier Collectibles.

The air pistol had belonged to photographer David Hurn and was used as a last-minute replacement after the photographer realized that no one remembered to bring Bond's smaller Walther PPK to the shoot, according to PFC.

The buyer remained unnamed.

An ornate Breguet Sympathique clock sold for $6.8 million

The most expensive clock ever sold at auction

The Duc d’Orléans Breguet Sympathique clock sold for a record price at a Sotheby's auction this month, well above its presale estimate of $5 million.

It's not the first time the clock broke an auction record; it also held the previous record with a price of $5.77 million, which it achieved at a 1999 Sotheby's sale, according to Watchalyzer.

The tortoise-shell clock dates from 1835.

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Last week we took a look at some of the best GIFs of the year. Now we are back with some of the best of the rest.

There is some Pat Riley schadenfreude, some epic videobombs, a lot of awkward dancing, some incredible baseball slo-mos, and two unfortunate moments for Bobby Valentine.

Watch a bat hit the same ball three times

Pat Riley being mocked by Thunder fans

This poor guy just wanted to be part of the celebration and gets completely ignored in mid-air

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Only nine months ago, Zynga was worth $11.5 billion, pumping out new games every month at breakneck speed.

It seems so far away in time, given everything that's happened since.

Zynga's stock is stuck in the doldrums and it's shuttering 11 older games like PetVille and Indiana Jones Adventure World that failed to keep large audiences. It's just more bad news in a year full of bad news for Zynga.

2011 was a very good year. Zynga had just gone public. The paint had barely dried on its gleaming, brick-clad Dog House headquarters on the western edge of San Francisco's South of Market district—one of the hottest destinations for talent from within and without the video-game industry.

Since then, investors wiped $10 billion off Zynga's market cap. Executives and creative talent fled, as did players. New games were slow to come out. Acquisitions like OMGPOP soured. Zynga closed some of its offices and laid off employees. And Facebook and Zynga ripped up their special relationship, leaving Zynga as just one of many games makers on the social network's platform.

There were some bright spots. Zynga made progress on getting into real-money gaming—that is, gambling. It swiftly filled holes in its executive lineup with new leaders. It showed signs of a creative renaissance with new games. And it remains far and away the largest player in social games.

But it's left with a sense of wasted time and lost promise, with Wall Street setting a clock on CEO Mark Pincus's time at the top of the company.

January started off with a whiff of optimism about real-money gaming

Rumors spread that Zynga would get into online gambling, a billion-dollar revenue opportunity, though sources within the company batted those down.

It launched Hidden Chronicles, a new, more sophisticated social game, and Scramble With Friends

Hidden Chronicles ended up disappointing. It peaked at 33 million monthly active users and has since dropped to 5 million. Scramble With Friends, an extension of the Words With Friends franchise, has struggled, too, barely staying in the top 50 on Apple's ranking of mobile games.

And Zynga seemed to have the talent momentum, too

Zynga hired away Barry Cottle, a top online-games executive, from Electronic Arts. This hire stuck: After some shakeups, Cottle is now chief revenue officer.

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