Month: December 2016
The traditional nativity scene in Catalonia — you know, the usual suspects of Mary, Joseph and the shepherds gathered around the baby Jesus in his manger — includes a …
There is a charming old bit of folklore from Iceland about a giant Christmas cat that will eat anyone who doesn’t get new clothes for Christmas. The lesson? Work …
Zwarte Piet is usually a blacked-up white man or woman with big, rouged lips, a tight curly wig and dressed in bright pantaloons, a big ruff and gold earrings. …
This duet is (I think) called “Funny Cat’s Duet” or “Duetto Buffo di due Gatti” in Italian, and was probably written by Rossini. Love how the boy in the …
European Christmas cards in the 1800s featured kids being whisked away to hell by the Christmas Demon, Krampus. The cards cheerily passed on Gruß vom Krampus (Greetings from the Krampus). Krampus …
JK Rowling was impressed by the discovery of a Sorting Hat-shaped spider. It’s been named ‘Eriovixia gryffindori’, after Godric Gryffindor, the character who originally owned the Sorting Hat. .@curiocritters …
This owl and little kitten built an unlikely friendship in a Japanese coffee shop. The Chinese have a great name for the owl. Mao-Tou-Ying literally translates to: “Cat Head …
So, people on Reddit were faced with the title “..Pope Francis was a nightclub bouncer before he was Pope”. They couldn’t help but notice that it sounded like the …
31 people in Melbourne, Australia agreed to wear the same pair of jeans for three months without washing them. They were helping doctoral student Tullia Jack research alternative laundering …
The helmet was discovered in a vast ship buried underground in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk. The ship and its contents remained hidden for more than 1000 years. In 1939, Mrs …
In its July 5, 1943, issue, Time magazine noted the marriage in Pryor, Montana of Owen Smells and Mary Knows. The marriage only lasted three years, but in that …
If you’re feline sad about the end of Season 1 of Westworld, you might enjoy curling up with Westpurrld. The Seattle artist and writer Cassie Murphy (a.k.a. “KittyCassandra“) has …
