There are only around 70,000 people of the Sami culture remaining in the arctic areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The Gaup family are some of the few who still herd reindeer for a living. National Geographic presents photos and a video by Erika Larsen, who spent three years living with the Sami reindeer herders. Link

(Image credit: Erika Larsen)

YouTube link.

Although it’s not as bizarre as yak skiing or horse boarding, residents in several Scandinavian countries race reindeer for fun.  The video above shows the Inari Reindeer Race in Lapland, Finland.

Previously in Neatorama:  Running of the Reindeers (in Alaska).

While studying a human brain, researchers at Newcastle University (UK) found a blood vessel that looks like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:

Claudia Racca, of the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University, who performed the experiment with colleague David Cox, said: “Biology can throw up things like this, but it was a nice surprise to find this image.

“We were looking at a section of the tissue and noticed this strange but familiar shape. “It was intriguing and we noticed the similarity to a reindeer.

“We then took an overexposed picture of it and the red blob for the nose and the white antlers showed up even better.

“We got distracted from the science at that point and had a bit of fun with the pictures of Rudolph instead.

Link via Geekologie | Photo: Newcastle University

Most folks know Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer from the 1964 Rankin-Bass TV special, or from the 1949 version of the song sung by Gene Autry. But Rudolph was born as a coloring book.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first appeared in 1939 when Montgomery Ward department store asked one of its copywriters, 34-year-old Robert L. May, to create a Christmas story the store could give away to shoppers as a promotional gimmick.

The retailer had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas every year; and it was decided that creating its own book would save money. In the first year of publication, 2.4 million copies of Rudolph’s story were distributed by Montgomery Ward.

Read the rest of the story at the Smithsonian Institution. Link

How different the classic Christmas tale of Rudolph would be if modern cosmetic surgery had been available to the reindeer of the North Pole! -via Gorilla Mask

Psst, misfits! We’ve just gotten a shipment of the Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer plushies at the Island of Misift Toys (AKA NeatoShop).

The plushies include Hermey the Misfit Elf (who’d rather become a dentist than working at Santa’s workshop), Bumble the Abominable Snow Monster of the North, the Spotted Elephant, and of course, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Link

Their main occupation is reindeer breeding and all they have are reindeer, because they build houses of reindeer skin and make their clothes of it. There are a few thousand of herdsmen on the peninsula who have more than 500,000 reindeer. But presently their traditional occupation is at stake owing to global warming and climate change.

See a collection of pictures of the Nenets people at English Russia. Link -via Mothertrip

Just the other day, the American Medical Association released a study showing Santa’s body mass index to be “dangerously high’’ at 30 percent, which makes him obese, which puts him at high risk for a heart attack, which means he should not be flying at high altitudes.

Not only that, but Lou Dobbs on his radio show recently suggested that Santa, because he lives in the North Pole, is not a US citizen and therefore should not be allowed to fly over our country, much less land on rooftops. He’s asked the Immigration and Naturalization Service to look into the matter. [...]

This just in: At the opening of the Copenhagen climate talks yesterday, a special session was called to discuss a newly discovered greenhouse gas. “It seems that reindeer droppings from the long flight give
off methane, adding to the monumental climate gas problem,’’said one noted scientist. A committee is studying whether to charge Santa a new carbon emissions tax, which will, of course, be passed along to consumers.

Speaking of reindeer, PETA is protesting the lengthy work hours of the reindeer, whose journey spans many time zones. The animal rights group is also looking into reports that Rudolph was targeted for bullying by the others not because of his red nose but because he is gay.

Meanwhile, Dasher has denied rumors that he tested positive for anabolic steroids, but he has refused to take a lie detector test.

More Santa shenanigans at the very funny Santa, NO! Tumblr blog (may be NSFW, you’ve been warned)

It’s been a while since I posted a Bizarro cartoon (sorry Dan!) – but I ran across this gem on Christmas and couldn’t resist despite the um, slightly political undertones.

For more Bizarro, be sure to check out Dan Piraro’s website and blog!

We don’t post a lot of politics on Neatorama, and even less of Sarah Palin (we only have 5 posts about her). But in for a penny, in for a pound in this case, I suppose. A while ago, I ran into this interesting photo of Alaska Governor Palin sitting on her ice throne at the 2007 World Ice Art Champsionships. It was -30° below, and she managed to look pretty comfy there! (Source)

For the record, I find Palin fascinating – and whether you agree with her politics or not, you can’t argue that she has captured the Republican
spotlight of the 2008 US Presidential Election and the hearts of many Americans.

PS: Of course, we know Santa really has a whole herd of reindeer.

The two-and-a-half-year-old reindeer lost his horns because of
raging hormones produced during the mating season this year.

They fell off three weeks ago, just before he was due to star in Christmas performances in front of thousands of excited children. But rather than disappoint the children with an odd-looking version of one of Santa’s pets, a bizarre new solution was found. [...]

Mr Hill revealed the festive animal had lost his confidence after he fist lost his antlers, where they are kept in Tenbury Wells, Herefordshire. He said: "People don’t even notice that it’s on there – the mark of a good toupee.

Link (Photo: Newsteam)