In Great Britain, they do things a little differently. For instance, if a UK broadcaster wants to air an episode of a television series that includes swearing before 9 p.m. GMT, it has to lock the episode with a passcode, lest young ears be exposed to potty words. Viewers can then enter the passcode to watch the show.
So when Sky Atlantic aired a rerun of Game of Thrones at 7:35 a.m. with no password protection, it was in for trouble.
According to Deadline, UK regulator Ofcom formally censured Sky over the airing of the episode, which it said “contained multiple use of offensive language including ‘c***’, ‘f***,’ and ‘s***.’”
Apparently, the oversight was the result of a technical glitch. Ofcom reassured people that “measures have been put in place to prevent a reoccurrence.” Sky, for its part, was contrite. It said that it “fully [accepts] strong content should not be broadcast before the watershed without the necessary mandatory PIN protection. It is never our intention to offend or upset our viewers.”
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are going deeper into Deep Voodoo. The creators of “South Park” have secured a $20 million investment for their AI entertainment startup Deep Voodoo. The funding was led by Connect Ventures, an investment partnership between CAA and venture-capital firm New Enterprise…
On October 17, 2015, Sasha Samsudean safely returned home after a night out in Orlando, Florida — only to be murdered by Stephen Duxbury, the security guard in her building.
TwitterSasha Samsudean was murdered in her own apartment in October 2015, and police were shocked to find that the building security guard was to blame.
In October 2015, well-liked Orlando, Florida, professional Sasha Samsudean returned to her apartment building after a night out with friends. Intoxicated and confused trying to find her apartment, Samsudean was assisted by the building’s seemingly helpful, 24/7 security guard.
When Samsudean was found strangled in her bed a few hours later, dedicated homicide investigators followed the trail of video evidence which led directly to the building security guard: a disturbed man named Stephen Duxbury.
This is the disturbing story of Sasha Samsudean’s murder.
The Final Hours Of Sasha Samsudean
Sasha Samsudean was born in New York on July 4, 1988. Growing up in Orlando, Florida, Samsudean went on to graduate from the University of Florida, working for a real estate company specializing in Orlando apartment rentals, 407 Apartments.com The apartment company still contains a past contributor profile of Samsudean where she is listed as a local expert, describing herself as the “cupid of apartment hunting.”
In 2015, Samsudean was living at Uptown Place Condominiums, in Orlando’s downtown entertainment district, a secure and modern building with 24/7 security video cameras, and digital key codes for each unit. Tragically for Samsudean, these security measures didn’t prevent a horrifying threat that came from within.
In the early morning hours of Oct. 17, 2015, Samsudean left Orlandos’ Attic Nightclub alone having been out with a group of friends. Despite not seeing Samsudean again that night, a friend of hers, Anthony Roper knew he was meeting her for breakfast later that morning.
Roper thought it strange later that morning when Samsudean didn’t show up for breakfast. Samsudean was an active social media user but hadn’t responded to any form of messaging or phone calls. Later that day, after their repeated calls and messages went unanswered, Roper and two other friends headed over to Samsudean’s address.
They grew increasingly concerned when they noticed a present sitting in her car that she was supposed to have taken to a baby shower that day. When Samsudean, who lived alone, didn’t answer her door, Roper called the police requesting a welfare check that evening according to Click Orlando.
Police officers encountered a strong smell of bleach as soon as they walked in, and found Samsudean dead lying in her bed wrapped up in her comforter — partially clothed. Samsudean’s shirt and bra had been ripped open, with her pants and underwear missing, yet her apartment had shown no signs of forced entry. Samsudean had been strangled, with the medical examiner confirming blunt trauma to her head, and upper and lower abrasions consistent with somebody forcefully restraining her.
But try as he might to completely remove evidence using bleach, a male had left traces of himself in Samsudean’s apartment. For a start, the toilet seat was up: “That was something I would never expect in any apartment or home where only a woman lives,” William Jay, the prosecutor for the State’s Attorney’s Office would later say according to Oxygen.
Fingerprints were found underneath the toilet seat lid, and partial shoe prints were located on the floor. When swabs were taken from Samsudean’s chest and neck area, they revealed the presence of foreign DNA.
Investigators Strongly Suspect Stephen Duxbury
With the building’s security footage not readily available, homicide investigators spoke with the security guard on duty that night, Stephen Duxbury. The security guard told investigators that he had interacted with Samsudean and two other women at the entrance of the building, but Samsudean didn’t produce ID or a key card, so he couldn’t grant her access. When another resident had arrived, Samsudean followed him inside, and Duxbury claimed to have last seen Samsudean fumbling with the security code outside her apartment.
The two women who brought Samsudean home were tracked down, telling investigators they were in an Uber that night when they stopped for an intoxicated Samsudean walking along the street. Concerned for her safety, they had Samsudean get in the car and brought her back to her building. After Samsudean had gained access, the women left, rightly assuming Samsudean should have been safe with an overnight security guard present.
The man who Samsudean followed in that night was identified through the building’s digital key logs, and he was cleared through a DNA swab, telling investigators that Samsudean appeared “pretty drunk.”
An upstairs neighbor then came forward saying she had seen Samsudean in the hallway that night, and she was being followed by the security guard. When investigators reviewed the building’s security footage, they observed Duxbury’s suspicious behavior — which completely conflicted with his original account.
Samsudean’s Protector Becomes Predator
Law enforcement/public domainOn Oct. 30, 2015, security guard Stepen Duxbury was charged with first-degree murder, attempted sexual battery, and burglary.
The security footage from 1:46 a.m. shows Samsudean spending her last morning on earth wandering the exterior floors and stairways of the building, both trailed, and at times accompanied, by her murderer. Duxbury stalks the floors and staircases close to Samsudean for almost 40 minutes, using his own key through several sealed access doors.
Under the veneer of a professional security guard, Duxbury senses opportunity with an intoxicated and vulnerable Samsudean, while well aware that the buildings common-area hallways are not covered by surveillance cameras.
At 6:36 a.m. Duxbury is captured in uniform carrying white refuse bags with red handles out of a doorway leading to the second-floor garage where his car was parked according to court documents. A minute or two later, Duxbury is seen walking back into the building without the bags, having originally told investigators he left work at 6 a.m. Garbage collection was not part of security guards’ duties at Uptown Place — and the same bags were found in Samsudean’s apartment.
The digital and physical evidence started implicating Duxbury, as investigators obtained a search warrant for his home and phone. On October 17 at around 5 a.m., technicians found that Duxbury used his smartphone’s browser seeking information on how to override a Kwikset digital — exactly the type of lock on Samsudean’s front door.
This coincided with a 90-minute time period where Duxbury was absent from any security video or any other security-related patrol data. Duxbury’s fingerprints — provided as a requirement for his employment as a security guard, matched the print on the rim of Samsudean’s toilet seat, and a thumbprint on her nightstand.
DNA found on Samsudean’s breast then came back conclusively as Duxbury’s, and the soles of some boots Duxbury wore, appeared to be a match for shoeprints in the apartment. Agreeing to a polygraph, Duxbury’s answers about Samsudean’s murder were bald lies, claiming to have never entered or ever been inside Samsudean’s apartment.
Justice For Sasha Samsudean
YouTubeA homicide investigator interviews Stephen Duxbury.
On Oct. 30, 2015, Stephen Duxbury was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted sexual battery, and burglary. After a six-day trial, Duxbury was found guilty of all charges on Nov. 21, 2017, receiving two life sentences without parole for the first-degree murder of Samsudean, and an additional 15 years for the burglary conviction.
Samsudean’s parents then filed a lawsuit against the building, the security company, and the lock manufacturer. Duxbury had been hired by Vital Security in 2015, and despite passing the state level FBI background check, was soon the subject of numerous resident complaints from Uptown Place.
Chillingly, in May 2015, a young female resident had reported that Duxbury was “acting sketchy” after he followed her back to her apartment reported Click Orlando. The lawsuit laid responsibility with the lack of surveillance video cameras monitoring the common-area hallways, “this failure created the opportunity for Duxbury to break into Samsudean’s apartment while she was asleep without detection or interference.”
In-person dining was back in full force this year, but that didn’t stop homebodies from ordering takeout and delivery. According to a new report from Grubhub, tens of millions of dishes were purchased through the app from January through November 2022. To see which food items dominated the platform, read the list below.
Unsurprisingly, the No.1 takeout dish is famous for its portability. More than 4 million burrito orders were placed through Grubhub this year, putting it at the top of the list. That number includes traditional burritos wrapped in tortillas, as well as meals served in bowls. It’s a significant jump from last year, when burritos ranked eighth in the same report.
Arriving in the No. 2 slot is the all-American cheeseburger (a dish The New York Times declared to be a weird new food fad in 1938). Cheese pizza—one of the most famous to-go dishes of all time—comes in at third place, followed by pad thai in fourth and chicken quesadillas in fifth. Check out the full list to see how closely your tastes align with the rest of America’s.
If you want to get out of the house but aren’t quite up to eating your breakfast burrito around other people, a drive-thru visit is a happy medium. Here are the fastest drive-thru restaurants of 2022.
Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Wrapped Bitcoin are associated with Bitcoin The cryptocurrencies move alongside Bitcoin LTC, BCH, and WBTC can become bullish in 2023 or when the bull market returns Bitcoin (BTC/USD) is the largest cryptocurrency and the most popular. As a result, any cryptocurrency…
Given the harsh economic landscape of the 2020s, financial advice that was once sound now seems almost quaint. Case in point: the notion one should spend three months’ salary on an engagement ring. Who came up with this, and is it rooted in any kind of logic?
According to wedding advice hub The Knot, you can credit (or blame) the De Beers diamond dynasty for the tradition. In the 1930s, De Beers ramped up their marketing to instill the idea that true love meant a diamond engagement ring, and that committing a month’s salary to it was wise. As inflation rose, so did the math, eventually ending up at three months.
For people who may not have been up on their jewelry intel and didn’t want to wind up giving their loved one a cheap hunk of zirconia, stating that three months’ worth of paychecks—in other words, a sizable chunk of money—helped some people recognize that it should be an expensive proposition. But in reality, there’s probably not much correlation between your take-home pay and the type of engagement ring you purchase.
For most people, that amount is going to be a balance between what you want, what your loved one wants, and what you can afford. Spending 25 percent of your annual salary may not fit that criteria.
Knowing that everyone’s situation is different, we can still point to an average. Pre-2020, the typical cost for a ring was roughly $6000 to $8000. In 2020, that average dropped to $3756, as per a survey of 1400 newlyweds conducted by Brides.com.
Rather than consider what you should spend on a ring—largely based on an old-timey marketing campaign—it might be better to determine what you’re comfortable spending and then work with a jeweler who can match your budget to what you’re looking for. Many people find that taking an open-minded approach to clarity, cut, color, and carat (the four Cs) can provide savings; others look into antique rings. Diamonds may be forever, but you don’t want the same to hold true of debt.
Have you got a Big Question you’d like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at bigquestions@mentalfloss.com.
You’ll never cut your grass again without thinking of this weird fact – grass cries for help when it’s mowed. No, you can’t hear it, but scientists have discovered grass screams when cut.
How does grass scream when cut?
We’re only just beginning to understand how plants communicate with one another and the rest of the world around them (including insects).
Dr. Michael Kolomiets, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathologist, published an article in 2014 in The Plant Journal noting that the aroma of cut grass is the plant’s way of both signaling distress and attracting beneficial insects that will help it heal.
According to ScienceDaily (cited below): “When there is need for protection, the plant signals the environment via the emission of volatile organic compounds, which are recognized as a feeding queue for parasitic wasps to come to the plant that is being eaten and lay eggs in the pest insect,” Kolomiets said.
Plant communication
Grass produces a “defensive” protein when damaged. Of course, that doesn’t stop the lawnmower or insects from destroying the blades. But it appears to produce a compound that repels insects that are feeding on the damaged grass.
This compound, or one related to it, also appears to attract organisms like parasitic wasps that feed on insects like caterpillars that are destroying the grass.
Or to put it in science-speak:
“We have proven that when you delete these volatiles, parasitic wasps are no longer attracted to that plant,even when an insect chews on the leaf. So this volatile is required to attract parasitoids. We have provided genetic evidence that green leafy volatiles have this dual function — in the plant they activate production of insecticidal compounds, but also they have indirect defense capability because they send an SOS-type signal that results in attraction of parasitic wasps.”
So, maybe it’s not so much that grass screams when cut so much as it cries for help. Either way, freshly cut grass emits a compound that repels damaging insects and attracts insects with a protective function.
It’s just one of the many ways that plants are far more complex than we had ever previously imagined. — WTF fun facts
If you watch a lot of wildlife documentaries during the holiday season, you may notice that reindeer bear a close resemblance to one of North America’s largest herbivores: the caribou. The distinction between these animals is part cultural and part scientific. And lately, taxonomists have been reconsidering their relationship.
A caribou in Denali National Park, Alaska / Stan Tekiela Author / Naturalist / Wildlife Photographer/Moment/Getty Images
Reindeer and caribou are in the family Cervidae, along with white-tailed deer, moose, and elk. Like cows and pigs, cervids are hoofed animals with an even number of toes on each foot. They roam every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Members of this family are largely herbivorous, relying on grasses, shrubs, or other plants for nutrition. Anecdotal evidence claims reindeer have been known to gobble up the occasional lemming as well.
One feature that sets cervids apart is their antlers, comprised of bone as well as nerves, tissues, and blood vessels. In most species, only the males grow them; among reindeer and caribou, both sexes sport antlers. Males’ antlers can measure up to 51 inches long, while females’ are smaller. Caribou and reindeer shed and replace their antlers every year: males start growing a new pair in February and discard in November, and females won’t start developing fresh antlers until May or June.
A reindeer herd in Svalbard, Norway / Paul Souders/Moment/Getty Images
Caribou and reindeer belong to the same genus, Rangifer. They’re found acrossa wide geographic range, including parts of Russia, Mongolia, Norway, Finland, Canada, and Alaska.
For decades, taxonomists identified only one living species in this genus, Rangifer tarandus. Depending on where you lived, you would call this species caribou or reindeer. “In Europe, they are called reindeer. In North America, the animals are called caribou if they are wild and reindeer if they are domesticated,” the FDA explains.
As genomic technology grew more advanced, new analyses of R. tarandus populations in Canada and Europe suggested that the species was split into several distinct subspecies. Individuals of these subspecies bore meaningful physical, behavioral, and geographic differences.
Then, a 2022 study in the journal ZooKeys by Dr. Lee Harding, a Canadian mammologist, argued that these subspecies are so different from each other that they actually deserve their own species designation.
A caribou herd in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska / Mint Images/ Art Wolfe/Mint Images RF/Getty Images
Harding looked at the differences in genetics, anatomy, and behavior among wild Rangifer populations. For example, naturalists have known that “woodland caribou,” a subset of North American caribou, have darker hair than their cousins, “Arctic caribou.” These populations “almost never breed with one another, even where their rutting ranges overlap; or if they do, their calves do not survive,” he wrote in Canadian Geographic.
He suggested splitting the Rangifer genus into five species: Arctic caribou (R. arcticus), woodland caribou (R. caribou), Greenland caribou (R. groenlandicus), Svalbard reindeer (R. platyrhynchus), and Eurasian tundra reindeer (R. tarandus). Not all taxonomic organizations have signed on to the reclassification, however; some still consider these groups subspecies of R. tarandus.
Harding wrote that proper classification of the reindeer/caribou species would aid their conservation. Russia’s overall reindeer population fell by 21 percent between 1990 and 2015, while the last population in the contiguous United States became functionally extinct in the late 2010s. Endangered woodland caribou in British Columbia and Alberta are protected under Canada’s Species at Risk Act.
One of the first mistakes many people make in the new year is wasting perfectly good champagne. After popping the cork and pouring the bubbly at midnight, they leave the half-empty bottle out all night until it’s too flat for mimosas the next day. Considering the beverage’s premium price tag, it’s worth pausing the festivities on January 1 to preserve it.
Champagne owes its signature bubbles to carbon dioxide in the liquid. From the moment the cork pops, the gas gradually escapes into the atmosphere and the drink loses its effervescence. Opened champagne will never be as bubbly as the night you uncork it, but storing it in the fridge is an easy way to extend its lifespan.
According to Scientific American, the carbon dioxide in champagne is more soluble at lower temperatures. That means the dissolved gasses in your sparkling wine are less likely to escape when the liquid is cold. Covering the opening with a fancy stopper will help minimize the beverage’s contact with the air, but don’t sweat it if you don’t own one. Refrigeration can preserve the bubbles in your champagne for days, even when the bottle is fully exposed.
One thing that won’t save your bubbly from going bad is sticking a spoon in the bottleneck. According to this myth, the silver in a spoon has some magical effect on the bubbles in champagne that prevents them from escaping. The belief is so widespread that it’s been tested by wine researchers and the television show Mythbusters. Every experiment has concluded that the addition of a spoon to an open bottle of champagne has no effect on its longevity.
Another way to ensure your Dom Pérignon doesn’t go to waste is to finish the bottle the night you open it. Even when sparkling wine is freshly uncorked, there are some steps you can take to improve its quality. If you’re wondering what temperature to chill your champagne to this New Year’s Eve, this guide should help.
A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link. A surprise announcement from the Bank of Japan sent investors spinning and global…
History is rife with predictions about the end of the world. In modern times, however, few have been taken as seriously as the Y2K fiasco. As the 1990s drew to a close, technology experts and doomsayers expressed varying levels of concern about computers getting confused by the year 2000. Two digits were used to denote the year, which meant some software might interpret “00” as 1900. Would that glitch cause civilization’s collapse?
Thankfully, it turned out to be not such a big deal: Tech experts made the necessary updates and world’s end was postponed. But that didn’t stop a number of experts (both accredited and not) from making some dire predictions about what was about to happen on New Year’s Day 2000.
Many Y2K fears revolved around the collapse of banking institutions and a resulting loss of access to monetary resources. But for the truly paranoid, it was the idea of prisons experiencing hiccups that kept them up at night. According to a 1998 WIRED article, the thinking was that because prison doors are often electronically monitored and operated, any computer dysfunction could conceivably cause them to remain open, thereby letting violent offenders loose on the population.
“You couldn’t build a modern prison today without computers … it makes them very vulnerable [to Y2K],” information technology manager Dr. Michael Harden told the outlet in 1998. “The more modern the prison, the more likely it is to be reliant on computer chips or computer systems for control of all their security functions.”
One even more bizarre theory: That normal citizens cut off from basic resources as well as the electric grid might actually lay siege to the nearest prison to take advantage of their food and amenities.
Naturally, none of this transpired. As a precaution, state prison systems like the one in Colorado obtained back-up generators and invited staffers to celebrate with non-alcoholic beverages in case they were needed.
A personal computer registering the year 2000 as the year 1900 might cause games to crash or programs to sputter. But in a worst case scenario, a computer getting confused with passengers 30,000 feet in the air seemed catastrophic. Even a fleeting glitch in air traffic control operations or cockpits could spell disaster. People wondered whether planes would crash as a result of the turnover to the new millennium.
So did airlines: American Airlines vice president of information technology Scott Nathan told press that “I don’t believe everything will work perfectly” and that he was unsure whether the computer problem would be “a nuisance or something more serious.” Airbus, meanwhile, flew a test flight in early 1999 where pilots set the clocks ahead to see what might happen. (Since you’ve never heard of the “Airbus Y2K disaster,” the answer was, thankfully, nothing.)
The issue with planes was of sufficient importance that then-president Bill Clinton’s Y2K “czar,” John Koskinen, made a point to board a plane headed for New York City that would have him in the air when the clock struck midnight. The idea was to reassure an anxious public that everything was fine, and sure enough, Koskinen made a safe landing.
Imagine: It’s January 1, 2000 and your toaster has caught fire because—well, because of Y2K. You try to put it out and burn yourself in the process. Then your house catches fire. You call 911. You get a busy signal.
Incapacitated emergency lines were one scenario floated by experts, as 911 call centers run on computer switchboards. Digital databases also bring up information about the caller, which is then forwarded to personal radios of emergency responders. Even one interruption along the chain could delay or prevent urgent intervention.
All of it seemed like a recipe for disaster, as per a Bell Atlantic spokesperson who spoke to the FCC about possible Y2K problems in November 1998. Local governments were urged to address any problems with systems, while radio hardware companies like Ericsson were forced to provide reassurance their equipment would still work.
Still, by August 1999, only an estimated 37 percent of 911 call centers were Y2K-compliant, as reported by the President’s Council on the Year 2000 Conversion. Some smaller municipalities urged residents to call fire departments or police directly.
While it’s possible there were isolated issues, by December virtually all call centers proclaimed they were Y2K-ready. Any issues on New Year’s, public safety officials said, would likely be the result of too many people test-dialing 911 to make sure the system was working.
One of the biggest fears surrounding Y2K was a collapse of infrastructure: utilities, stores, and ATMs might go offline, making transactions difficult. Y2K futurist Gary North recommended people stockpile toilet paper—not only in case of personal need, but on the chance they could use it as a barter item. No reports of any toilet paper-related transactions occurred.
Before smartphones were commonplace, consumers used GPS devices in cars, boats, and in portable form to navigate. The U.S. Department of the Interior warned that GPS satellites might malfunction, rendering the receivers useless—and campers lost in the woods.
“If you’re out on the desert and you’re not paying too much attention to nautical navigation, there could be a problem,” Interior Department spokesperson Steve King told The Deseret News. “If we lose just one person it’s one person too many.”
The agency urged people to check with their device’s manufacturer to make sure it was Y2K ready.
One place Y2K-phobes didn’t want to be on New Year’s Eve: in an elevator. Across New York City, several building managers ceased elevator operations out of concern that blackouts might prompt them to stop working. Residential buildings stopped the elevators at roughly 11:50 p.m. and held them, open, on the ground floors for about 30 minutes.
Like a scene out ofThe Day After (or Threads, for British viewers), some Y2K forecasters worried that computer problems might influence nuclear defense systems, leading to the accidental launch of weapons and mutually assured destruction. Thankfully, this was taken extremely seriously by nuclear superpowers the U.S. and Russia, who agreed to set up a joint effort to quell any nuclear misunderstandings.
“We are less than optimistic that Russian early warning systems will function [properly],” Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre said in a House subcommittee hearing in 1999. “It is possible that Russian computer screens could go blank.”
It wasn’t quite what you’d like to hear from a reputable source. But thanks to DoD efforts, there was little opportunity for things to go haywire … mostly: There was a reported but unspecified glitch at a nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, then the nation’s main uranium storage site.
According to a new study, out of the estimated 55.3 million cryptocurrency holders that are spread among 33 African countries, three countries — Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya — account for approximately 36.14 million or nearly two-thirds of this total. In contrast, the study found that…
Fox Business host Kennedy reacted to a widely-mocked list of terms deemed “harmful language” by Stanford University’s Council of People of Color in Technology. The bizarre list includes seemingly unobjectionable terms and phrases such as “American,” “grandfather,” “brave,” “homeless,” “long time…
Each year, malls across America set up displays for children to take their picture with “Santa” — but sometimes these mall Santas are a far cry from jolly old St. Nick.
We have a weird tradition in America of taking children to the mall, letting them sit on a stranger’s lap, and paying money to have a photo taken of the moment. Of course, the stranger in question is Santa Claus — but not the real Santa. No, instead, children are taken to see creepy mall Santas.
That’s not to say every mall Santa is creepy or, inversely, that every creepy old man works as Santa at a mall.
In fact, the very first mall Santa — who was actually a department store Santa — put the red suit on because he wanted to spread Christmas cheer to all of the children who came into his store.
But that was back in 1890, and in the nearly century-and-a-half since then, the idea of Santa has become highly commodified.
Nearly every mall in America has a photo booth with a Santa and a long line of anxious children waiting to tell him what they want for Christmas. Fortunately for the malls, what the children want often happens to be up an escalator and to the left.
And because there are so many malls across the U.S., the job is sometimes given to people who might not be up to the task. Still, photos must be taken, and thankfully some of those captured moments feature laughably bizarre-looking Santas that now live on forever on the internet.
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Original Caption: “Christmas 1985. Every time I see this photo, I wonder how on Earth I sat there calmly? I mean, look at the dude on the left.”Awkward Family Photos
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Original Caption: “Me and my twin sister getting traumatized in Middlesbrough, 1981 by Santa and his devil doll clowns.”Awkward Family Photos
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Santa is giving some serious side-eye here, but the hand-in-the-shape-of-a-claw really solidifies the threatening nature. Facebook
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Original Caption: “Santa smelled like cigarettes, B.O. and whiskey. My sister was NOT into it, and I was super excited that she was throwing a fit.”Awkward Family Photos
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We can’t expect Santa’s makeup to look perfect every day, but this is some truly horrendous work. Facebook
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Perhaps the only thing worse than a grown man in a Santa suit is a terrifying doll in a Santa suit. Facebook
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It is not 100 percent clear whether this is an old photo of a woman standing next to someone dressed as Santa Claus, or if she has accidentally summoned a demon. Facebook
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Original Caption: “Mom, there’s a reason there wasn’t a line to see this Santa…”Awkward Family Photos
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A good rule of thumb for any Santa is to not look like you’ve just actively engaged in a drunken pub brawl. Or, at the very least, smile for the photo.Facebook
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Original Caption: “My little girl in 2012 with a very sauced looking Santa.”Awkward Family Photos
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There is absolutely nothing jolly about this Santa. Facebook
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Half of Santa’s lasting charm is that he brings children presents on Christmas. The other half is that he’s a jolly, old, bearded man with a twinkle in his eye, which is conspicuously absent in this absolute monstrosity of a mask. Facebook
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Christmastime, 1912. Santa was apparently much more Slenderman-like before the 1940s.Facebook
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Original Caption: “I don’t remember having this photo taken, but every time I look at it as an adult, I am horrified that I was planted on Santa’s lap. He couldn’t look any less excited about his job… I’m looking a little uncertain about the whole thing as well! Bet there wasn’t a ‘ho, ho, ho’ greeting involved here!”Awkward Family Photos
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December 1963, Garden Grove, California. Awkward Family Photos
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Original Caption: “In Yugoslavia, we had very scary Santas in the 1980s.”Awkward Family Photos
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There’s nothing inherently creepy about anything Santa is doing, he’s just unsettlingly ecstatic.Facebook
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Original Caption: “Me and the creepiest Santa ever. 1977.”Awkward Family Photos
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There is a feeling of murderous rage to Santa’s smile here.Facebook
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Original Caption: “The memories around this pic are fuzzy, I suspect that I have blocked out Santa trying to lift my shirt and/or pinch my nipple. If I had to guess, I was probably around four years old (1979). Clearly, I am horrified by the look on my face.”Awkward Family Photos
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Another good rule for Santas is to try your best not to look as if you’re about to abduct a child. Facebook
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There are a few things wrong here, but chiefly is that it’s difficult to tell if this man is supposed to be Santa, or if he was just an old man who happened to be passing by. Facebook
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Santa masks. No. Facebook
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Original Caption: “This is me in 1970 when I was 5 and meeting a Santa who had face-boobs.”Awkward Family Photos
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Santa Claus showing off his Santa claws. Facebook
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Original Caption: “Posing with (a creepy, lol) Santa Claus and reindeer at Kresge’s Department Store in Lafayette, Indiana, USA – 1947”Facebook
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As far as Santas go, this one at least looks the part. The problem is that Santa really shouldn’t be laughing maniacally as a child cries on his lap. Facebook
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Original Caption: “This photo was taken in 1972 when I was almost 2. Not sure why I was scared but looking at the picture 40 years later, the deadly grip Santa had on me…”Awkward Family Photos
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As a tradition, visiting Santa at the mall is a bit strange. As a marketing tool, it’s genius. As a child, it’s traumatizing. Facebook
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Either a very angry Santa or a man photographed in a moment of panic as he tries to catch a falling child while maintaining his photo smile. Facebook
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Original Caption: “We dug this gem up recently. None of us realized how creepy the Santa was except our baby sister. We still aren’t sure where the camera actually was.”Awkward Family Photos
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Well, someone made the naughty list. Facebook
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Original Caption: “My memories of meeting Santa are fond ones. I came across this pic, however, and was startled by the look on this particular Santa’s face. He looks a little less interested in what I want for Christmas, and a little more interested in how I’d taste in a stew.”Awkward Family Photos
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It could be the beard that doesn’t quite cover the face, the hunched over posture, or the lack of any attempt at smiling or looking at the camera — but something about this Santa screams hangover. Facebook
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Santa Claus is, technically, a home invader. Facebook
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If eyes are the windows to the soul, then this Santa has no soul.
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Original Caption: “Me and my sister, Christmas in Chile 1996. Apparently the Santa we visited had a second job and was also a clown on the same day (there was full clown makeup under the beard).”Awkward Family Photos
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Disco Santa. Facebook
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This Santa is either a wise old wizard or threatening someone off-camera. Facebook
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Actually, Santa is fine. It’s the velvet chair she hates. Facebook
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Santa is allegedly immortal, but he does evidently age. Facebook
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Original Caption: “That’s me in the lap of a suburban D.C. mall Santa circa Christmas, 1976 when I was 4. I would love to know why Santa’s face matches his suit.”Awkward Family Photos
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1925. Posted with the title, “My mom’s uncle and aunts with a creepy Santa.”Reddit
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Original Caption: “The day I stopped believing in Santa Claus.”Awkward Family Photos
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44 Creepy Mall Santas From Decades Past That Spread Christmas Fear
And if you’re wondering how this whole “Mall Santa” thing got started, you have an enterprising capitalist named James Edgar of Brockton, Massachusetts to thank.
The First ‘Mall Santa’
It was Christmastime, 1890 when James “Colonel Jim” Edgar, a Scottish immigrant and dry goods store owner, decided to introduce the world to the idea of having Santa make an appearance at local shopping spots.
According to Vale, Colonel Jim had always been fond of dressing up his store to make his customers happy. On more than one occasion, he dressed himself as a clown to entertain the children.
Then, one day, it occurred to him that “[Santa] is so far away… only able to see the children one day a year. He should live closer to them.”
Inspired by images that he saw in editions of Harper’s Weekly, Edgar ordered a custom-tailored Santa suit and traveled via train to Boston in order to pick it up.
New-York Historical SocietyHarper’s Weekly, December 29, 1865.
When he returned and donned the suit, his customers were elated.
One customer later recalled the experience fondly, saying, “I remember walking down an aisle, and all of a sudden, right in front of me, I saw Santa Claus. I couldn’t believe my eyes. And then Santa came up and started talking to me. It was a dream come true.”
Edgar’s Santa getup was such a hit, in fact, that children began traveling to his little store from New York, Boston, Providence, and Worcester to see the jolly old man.
The next year, several major department stores had their own Santas — and this pretty much became the expectation by 1900.
However, taking your photo with Santa didn’t really kick off for another few decades.
Santa Sells: How A Beloved Christmas Icon Became A Commercial Asset
As writer Eliza Thompson reports in an article with Shutterstock, the trend of getting a souvenir photo with Santa Claus well and truly began in 1943 when a Seattle Post-Intelligencer photographer named Arthur French noticed a line of children outside a nearby Frederick & Nelson department store.
The next year, he took some time off from the paper and set up a small shop inside the department store, snapping candid photos of children with Santa and selling them to the kids’ parents.
Public DomainA family with Santa at the R.H. Macy and Company department store.
He was so successful, he did the same thing again in 1945 — and made $10,000 doing it, three times more than his annual salary.
In 1946, he quit the newspaper game for good and made his living snapping and selling photos of kids with Santa Claus, and later, the Easter Bunny.
Some of the oldest Santa photos feature different interpretations of Santa Claus, however. While we now associate Mr. Claus with a big belly, rosy cheeks, and a twinkle in his eye, prior to 1931, Santa ran the gamut from bald priest to pipe-smoking, portly old man.
What changed in 1931? Well, as it turns out, that was the first year that the Coca-Cola company featured Santa Claus in an advertisement. The ad was so popular and successful that it helped solidify the classic Santa appearance we still know today.
Coca-ColaIn 1931, Coca-Cola hired artist Haddon Sundblom to design advertisements featuring Santa taking inspiration from Clement Clark Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas.”
Then, in 1947, the film A Miracle on 34th Street released, and mall Santas were cemented as a permanent piece of cultural lore. Meanwhile, children across America eagerly visited mall Santa, possibly with the secret hope that their local mall had been blessed by the one true Santa Claus.
Even now, with American mall culture well past its 1980s peak, mall Santa lives on.
After this look into the history of mall Santas — and some of the creepy photos that have resulted — check out these vintage Christmas advertisements, many of which are offensive, sexist, or just plain weird. Or, learn about 15 bizarre Santa Claus legends from around the world.
The Kansas City Chiefs playing the Houston Texans in an NFL game in Houston, Texas, on Sunday. The National Football League is in advanced talks to give Google’s YouTube, part of Alphabet Inc., exclusive rights to “Sunday Ticket,” a subscription-only package that allows football fans to watch most…
In an effort to show up Soviet Russia in the Space Race, the United States considered exploding an H-bomb on the moon so that the mushroom cloud be seen around the world.
Armour Research FoundationUnder the name, “A Study of Lunar Research Flights,” the Air Force secretly considered shooting nuclear missiles at the Moon.
In 2015, Elon Musk suggested nuking Mars as part of his plan to terraform the planet. Shockingly, it wasn’t the first time someone suggested space nukes – in 1958, the U.S. Air Force concocted a top-secret plan to shoot a nuclear bomb at the Moon.
But why? To outpace the Soviet Union in the space race following Russia’s successful launch of Sputnik. It sounds made up, but Project A119 was real, and declassified in 2000 in startling detail.
The Space Race That Instigated Moon Nukes
In the 1950s, the Cold War showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union played out on several battlefields.
Both global superpowers were flexing their nuclear power. In 1945, the U.S. detonated the first nuclear bombs in history. It didn’t take long for the Soviets to catch up: they tested their first nuclear weapon in 1949.
By the early 1950s, nuclear technology had advanced. In 1952, the U.S. tested its first hydrogen bomb, also known as a thermonuclear bomb. Compared to the earlier atomic bombs, these hydrogen bombs were hundreds of times more powerful.
In 1955, the Soviets caught up once again, detonating their first thermonuclear weapon.
For the first decade of the nuclear arms race, the Soviets trailed behind the U.S. But that would change with the space race.
US MilitaryThroughout the 1950s, the U.S. and Soviet Union tested nuclear bombs, including this 1958 underwater test.
In 1957, the Soviets sent the first satellite into orbit. Known as Sputnik, the satellite sent a shockwave around the world, and the United States shuddered at how far behind it had gotten in the race.
And so, they launched an audacious, top-secret plan from 1958 that would put them back in the lead.
The Planning Behind Project A119
In the months after Sputnik, the U.S. Air Force opened a new project. Given the vague name of “A Study of Lunar Research Flights,” Project A119 was actually about detonating a nuclear bomb on the lunar surface.
Many of the top nuclear scientists in the world worked for the Armour Research Foundation in Chicago. Leonard Reiffel was one of those scientists. Just before launching Project A119, the Air Force reached out to leading scientists to ask what would happen if a nuclear bomb exploded on the Moon.
It wasn’t merely a hypothetical. The Air Force wanted to make sure a nuclear blast on the Moon would be visible from Earth. The entire point of Project A119 was to show the world that the U.S. was ahead of the Soviet Union.
The team working on Project A119 decided to aim the bomb for the terminator – the line between the dark and light sides of the Moon.
NASAHitting the terminator, or line between the light and dark sides of the Moon, was the goal. The Air Force believed they could land a nuke within two miles of their target zone.
“The explosion would obviously be best on the dark side of the Moon and the theory was that if the bomb exploded on the edge of the Moon, the mushroom cloud would be illuminated by the sun,” explained Reiffel.
Reiffel’s research team also included a graduate student at the University of Chicago: Carl Sagan, the famous astronomer and planetary scientist. Sagan crunched the numbers on the size of the mushroom cloud.
The Pros And Cons Of Nuking The Moon
Obviously there were some major downsides to blasting the Moon with thermonuclear weapons. For one, the blast would leave a massive crater that would forever alter the Moon’s surface. And for another, the detonation might trigger a massive public backlash.
When Project A119 became public in 2000, British nuclear historian David Lowry heavily criticized the plan.
“It is obscene. To think that the first contact human beings would have had with another world would have been to explode a nuclear bomb,” Lowry said.
But scientists also saw a possible upside. The bombing might reveal something about lunar chemistry or the Moon’s internal structure.
US ArmyMissiles like this one, used in a 1958 nuclear test, could potentially reach the Moon with Project A119.
Reiffel explained that the plan included placing instruments on the Moon’s surface to measure the effects. But he cautioned the Air Force about Project A119’s unintended fallout.
“I made it clear at the time there would be a huge cost to science of destroying a pristine lunar environment, but the US Air Force were mainly concerned about how the nuclear explosion would play on earth,” said Reiffel.
But Project A119 was all about the public reaction, anyway.
If a nuclear bomb had detonated on the lunar surface, billions of people back on Earth would have seen the mushroom cloud. And the Soviets would know the Americans had beaten them to the Moon.
“It was clear the main aim of the proposed detonation was a PR exercise and a show of one-upmanship,” Reiffel told the Guardian in 2000. “The Air Force wanted a mushroom cloud so large it would be visible on earth.”
Armour Research FoundationThe 200-page classified document laid out the Air Force plan to nuke the Moon.
What would have happened if the Air Force carried out Project A119? It almost certainly would have sent the space race in a very different direction. Instead of racing to put a man on the Moon, the Cold War rivals would have continued their nuclear competition.
“I am horrified that such a gesture to sway public opinion was ever considered,” Reiffel said in 2000. “Had the project been made public there would have been an outcry.”
Putting Project A119 In Context
Ultimately, Project A119 didn’t happen. And today, the plan to nuke the Moon sounds downright insane. But in the fervor of the Cold War, Project A119 had many supporters.
Days before launching Sputnik into orbit and taking the lead in the space race, the Soviets tested their first intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM.
The new missile technology made it possible for the Soviets to rain nuclear bombs down on U.S. territory. And an ICBM carried Sputnik to space, showing the technology’s reach.
With the Soviets launching satellites on ICBMs, the Air Force saw sending nuclear weapons to space as the next logical step.
“The West was given a shock with the launch of Sputnik and very quickly the US Government flew into action and said we need to do something very spectacular,” explains historian Vince Houghton.
“We need to do something so big that the whole world will know that this was just an anomaly, that Sputnik was just a blip, that the United States was still the big kid on the block.”
Fortunately, the U.S. ultimately decided to focus on manned space travel rather than blasting the Moon with nukes.
Project A119 wasn’t even the craziest Cold War Plan – next, read about Project Blue Peacock, the secret plan to hide nukes across Germany. Then, learn about the massive Tsar Bomba, the bomb that was too big to use in war.
The mountain lion named P-22 achieved unexpected fame after images of him stalking around Los Angeles of him went viral.
Steve Winter/National Park ServiceWildlife officials announced P-22’s death during a tearful press conference.
For about a decade, a solitary mountain lion in Los Angeles named P-22 has famously stalked the city’s Griffith Park. But the 12-year-old big cat was sadly euthanized on Dec. 17 after state wildlife officials discovered he’d been hit by a car and was suffering from numerous health problems.
“It’s been an incredibly difficult several days,” Charlton H. Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a tearful Zoom press conference announcing the news, according to the Washington Post.
Bonham added: “I made the decision that the right thing to do was to bring peace now, rather than have P-22 continue through what would not have been acceptable, from a compassionate level, in my mind.”
According to The Guardian, wildlife officials had been keeping an eye on P-22 for months. In May, they noted that his tail looked thin, possibly a sign of ill health. In November, P-22 killed a chihuahua and attacked other dogs, uncharacteristically venturing into people’s backyards in search of prey.
As CNN reports, wildlife officials used P-22’s GPS collar to track him down so that they could give him a health evaluation. During that evaluation, they found that the mountain lion was in worse condition than expected.
California Department of Fish and WildlifeP-22 being transported to a medical evaluation that revealed the mountain cat’s poor health.
Not only did the mountain lion have injuries consistent with a vehicle strike — including trauma to his head, right eye, and internal organs — but P-22 was suffering from other health issues as well. Wildlife officials found that he had “irreversible kidney disease, chronic weight loss, extensive parasitic skin infection over his entire body, and localized arthritis.”
Given P-22’s poor health, the medical team at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park “unanimously” voted to euthanize the mountain lion, according to CNN.
“We’re really going to miss following him,” Seth Riley, the National Park Service branch chief for the Santa Monica Mountains, tearfully said at the news briefing, per the Washington Post. “Already this week, we don’t get to go and look and see his points on the website and see what he’s doing.”
The mountain lion’s death marks a sad end to a curious story. For a decade, P-22 has been something of a Los Angeles celebrity.
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation/FlickrP-22 was carefully monitored by wildlife officials and images of the big cat delighted people living in L.A. and beyond.
According to a statement from the National Park Service, P-22 was likely born in the Santa Monica Mountains. He somehow made his way across two busy freeways to settle in Griffith Park, where P-22 lived an isolated existence within an unusually small area (he roamed about nine square miles there but mountain lions usually have home ranges of 150 miles).
Cut off from others of his species, P-22 spent his life alone and never found a mate, according to The Guardian. But he thrilled residents of Los Angeles, who treated glimpses of the mountain lion like a celebrity sighting. P-22 even delighted locals when he broke the rules, like when he scaled a nine-foot fence at the zoo and ate an elderly koala.
P-22 reached an even larger audience when a photo of him beneath the Hollywood sign went viral in 2013. But he also played an important role among wildlife researchers and inspired the creation of a wildlife bridge crossing over Highway 101 in the Santa Monica Mountains.
“Mountain lion P-22 was more than just a celebrity cat,” the National Park Services noted in their statement. “He was also a critical part of a long-term research study and a valuable ambassador for the cause of connectivity and for wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains and beyond.”
Indeed, Bonham hopes that P-22 will continue to inspire residents of Los Angeles to take care of the wildlife that shares their city.
“[P-22] brought us together,” Bonham said at the news conference, according to the Washington Post. “Let’s make a difference, so the rest of the large animals out there have a future that’s brighter.”
After reading about the euthanization of P-22, L.A.’s famous mountain lion, read about Hubert and Kalisa, the “inseparable” lions who were euthanized together. Or watch how a Utah hiker named Kyle Burgess narrowly avoided a mountain lion attack after getting too close to a mother and her cubs.
Scotland loves to celebrate Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve), and along with belting out the lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne,” many Scots participate in a tradition called first footing. The first person to cross the threshold of a house on January 1 is called the first footer. If you’re at a New Year’s Eve party in Scotland, don’t be surprised if a guest leaves the house a few minutes before midnight just so that they can re-enter as the first footer after the bells.
It’s customary for first footers to arrive with symbolic gifts for the year ahead. A coin is brought for wealth, and a lump of coal for warmth. Food and drink are often part of the ritual, too. Whisky is the beverage of choice, and a fruit cake wrapped in pastry, known as a black bun or Scotch bun, is the traditional food. Scots author Robert Louis Stevenson described the black bun as “a dense, black substance, inimical to life.” Unsurprisingly, these days many Scots eschew the stodgy cake.
There is also a superstition that a dark-haired first footer will bring good luck; conversely, a fair-haired first footer signifies bad luck. Historians believe this superstition comes from the Viking invasion of Scotland, when fair-haired strangers arriving at the door often meant trouble.
When exactly first footing began is unknown, but it likely developed from the practice of quaaltagh on the Isle of Man, off the west coast of Great Britain. Quaaltagh is a Manx word for the first person to enter a house on New Year’s Day. The custom involves a group going door-to-door and singing a verse that begins “Ollick ghennal erriu, as bleïn feer vie” (“A merry Christmas, and a very good year to you”). A recording of the song can be heard here.
So grab a lump of coal and a bottle of whisky—probably best to ignore the black bun—and head to your neighbor’s house to ring in the New Year in Scottish style.
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