Like many of you, I’m still trying to find my way in 2016. The stock market is running scared. (Thanks, China.) Trump is headed for the GOP nomination. Gun show sales are…
holidays
Tuesday 6:25am: I slept in. In the days between Christmas and New Year’s, who doesn’t? Accordingly, it’s quiet out. REAL quiet. I’m just hoping I make gate today on ‘ol Citizen’s Cab…
It’s my last day driving before heading back east for Christmas. And I’m not feeling very well. (Cough! Cough!) Digression: Can someone help me with this “back east” thing? Are we talking…
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. By Marguerite Johnson, University of Newcastle In the movie The Life of Brian (1979), Reg, played by John Cleese, asks…
Have you noticed you can’t go far this Christmas season without seeing the krampus, a devil-like consort to Saint Nicholas? All of the sudden, the devilish fellow seems to be everywhere. But it…
Mental Floss on Anna Jarvis, founder of Mothers’ Day, who later tried have the holiday destroyed: Jarvis soon soured on the commercial interests associated with the day. She wanted Mother’s Day “to…
Slate writes that vindictive Valentine’s cards, mailed anonymously, were once as popular as romantic ones. Is it time to bring back the tradition? These “vinegar valentines” were produced between the middle of…
Via Verso Books, McKenzie Wark defends Christmas in fantastic fashion: Xmas is pagan, and this is what places it outside of Jewish and Christian understandings, of gifts, of aesthetics, of time. Christians…
One of my favorite sites, io9, had some great recommendations for whatever geeky holiday you may celebrate (Saturnalia, Festivus… Wookie Life Day) for just about every variety of nerd there is. They left…
For all the Aussie disinfonauts, Happy Beefgiving Day!
Here’s wishing all the disinfomoms in America (it’s not Mothers’ Day in most other countries) a happy day, but of course you’ll want to know the alternative scoop, provided by Laura Kacere…
It’s nice to remember that people around the world celebrate Christmas in different ways. Check out last year’s edition of the annual Christmas parade (“Krampuslauf”) in Graz, Austria, filled with local color as Krampuses (German Santa Clauses) go on parade:
Did you know that for decades, jolly old St. Nick was a heavy, couple-packs-a-day smoker? According to prominent advertising of the twentieth century, at least. How to be a Retronaut has an…