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Today is the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and had the Civil Rights movement leader not been assassinated when he was only 39 years old, today he would be celebrating his 81st b-day. That said, the good doctor lives on, both in the legacy of his actions and the enduring power of [...]

Today, according to trusty Wikipedia, is St. Knut’s Day in Sweden and Finland, which is named for Canute IV, who ruled Denmark from 1080 to 1086 and decreed that Christmas should be celebrated for 20 days. This means that the celebration ends on the 13th of January, when all the little kids gather and take [...]

Merry Christmas
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(if you’re into that), we’re honored that you’re reading this when you could be tearing into presents or drinking an eggnog eye-opener. At any rate, thanks for being here. We’ll take your presence as a sign that you’re not terribly excited by your Christmas offerings (unless, again, X-mas just isn’t your [...]

Once, during a long road trip around the Pacific Northwest the summer after high school, we stopped at a gas station somewhere near the Idaho-Montana state line, and there he was, ringing up our pump: Jesus. The flowing beard, the stunning eyes, the calm, warm voice, the Arco name tag reading “Jesus”: he had it [...]

Today is Underdog Day, which actually has nothing to do with dogs overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds, but refers to a very obscure ship-building colloquialism whereby one builder had to take apart construction planks from below, becoming covered in sawdust in the process. He was the original underdog. We prefer the literal interpretation of the term, [...]

We’ve often been told that the two most recognizable fictional characters in the world are the Camel cigarettes Camel and Mickey Mouse, but we bet that the third is Santa Claus. And while we sort of doubt that Mickey ever hawked cigarettes, we’ve got proof that Santa has done some work with big tobacco during [...]

Given how stressful Christmas-time is for most people–what with the traveling, shopping, spending time with family, etc.–it should come as no surprise that under their surface of Yuletide cheer, most Christmas songs are actually somewhere between melancholic and downright depressive. BuzzFeed demonstrates as much with their listicle of The 10 Most Depressing Christmas Songs, although [...]

Normally, by this time of year, when the global warming isn’t quite so pronounced, we’ve already crafted entire armies and cities out of snow, filling vacant lots and parks with entire new communities of snow people. Alas, this year it would appear that our beloved snow visitors are staying close to home, so we haven’t [...]

We figured we ought to remind you that it’s the holidays, and you should probably be out shopping, caroling, setting up an eggnog stand or sabotaging a neighbor’s annoyingly bright light display. If you’re all bundled up at home because it’s freezing cold out, though, you should put a costume on something or someone, because [...]

Today, or rather tonight, is the beginning of Hanukkah, and a friend of ours recently asked for advice about what sort of Menorah to get this year: a conventional, slightly drab and humble model, or something fun and playful that might offend more strict sensibilities? Being that we’re all for overthrowing convention and having a [...]