It's fun to look up what was "in" the year you were born, but in this list, the real fun is looking up what the hot gifts for kids were in the years you were, say, five to ten years old. Did you get the gift you wanted most? Did it end up on this list? It starts in 1955, when Silly Putty was all the rage, and it fit easily into a Christmas stocking. It was quickly eclipsed by Play-Doh, which came in colors and tasted better. As you go through the list, the toys will became less familiar in the years you were a teenager or young adult, and then the memories will be of the toys you bought for your children. Or at least what they asked for. The list ends at 1995, so it should cover most of us.

Some of these gifts were a bit head-scratching, both then and now. Pet Rocks were hot in 1975, but I can't imagine any child being excited about one. It was more for adults who were hard to buy for, or who were into the latest trend, even if it was a joke. However, the entry for 1957 is "water balloons," which are just balloons that you put water in. Did any child ever write Santa Claus asking for them? Maybe there was no historically hot toy that year. See the entire list at History Collection. -via Nag on the Lake

Have you ever been in a cave, admiring the stalactites, and thought they resembled a pipe organ? You're not the only one. In fact, Luray Caverns in Virginia has an instrument that can play those stalactites like an organ! The Great Stalacpipe Organ, technically a lithophone, is an electronic device that taps the stalactites with rubber mallets to produce musical notes. This otgan is the largest musical instrument in the world. The device brings the notes together, but it doesn't change the actual note- those comes from the striking of the stones themselves. They were cataloged and tuned more than 60 years ago, but considering the way stalactites are formed, they made have to be re-tuned in a few thousands years.  

Veritasium takes us on a tour of the history of Luray Caverns and the musical instrument it contains. There's a one-minute ad at 4:38.  -via The Awesomer

We know who invented basketball, but did you ever think about why? People often say gym teacher James Naismith developed the game to be a safer alternative to football. That was one factor in the game design, but the real reason for basketball was to have a physical game that could be played indoors when it was too cold for football or baseball. The first basketball game was played on this date, December 21st, in 1891 at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, using a soccer ball and two peach baskets.  

How Naismith developed the game is pretty interesting. He studied existing games and their pros and cons. Games involving a small ball often required more equipment, like a racquet, so that was out. Throwing the ball vertically was judged to lead to a game that was less rough than most. But there were a lot of kinks to be worked out. The initial rules had no dribbling, and no running at all. What kind of physical workout was that? And games were slow because each goal had to be retrieved from the basket using a ladder. Read about the early days of basketball 133 years ago at Smithsonian.   

(Image credit: D. Gordon E. Robertson)

When the I-75 shooting happened in my neck of the woods a couple of months ago, authorities sent thermal imaging drones over the Daniel Boone Forest to find the suspect. What they found were thousands upon thousands of deer, but no shooter, because he was already dead. But sometimes such search stories have a happy ending.

A golden retriever named Chibs went missing for more than two weeks. His family in Coventry, Rhode Island, frantically searched for him, and enlisted the help of a drone service. Four K Videos not only has drones, but thermal imaging capability as well. Watch as a thermal imaging drone leads the search party to Chibs, who was hiding in the forest after being hit by a car. He had been gone for 16 days by then, and was cold and frightened, but is now back in the arms of his loving family. This is only the last part of the search; you can see a 17-minute extended video of the thermal footage at Laughing Squid.

Dynamite was invented by Alfred Nobel (yes, that Nobel) in 1866 and was quickly adopted in the American West for railroad construction and for mining. Besides being a powerful explosive, it must be delicious as well, considering the many stories of animals eating sticks of dynamite. One particular cow in Birdseye, Wyoming, was used to roaming free and wandered into the vicinity of two prospectors conducting an assessment. They had 19 sticks of dynamite left, and discovered that the cow had eaten every one of them! One man threw a rock at the cow, which immediately exploded. The miners had to pay for the cow, minus the cost of the dynamite she ate.

The local paper thought the account was believable, and printed the story. But that wasn't the only tale of animals eating dynamite with disastrous results in the West. There were more than a hundred such newspaper stories, involving mostly cows and goats. And those were only the ones that exploded and made a good story! Of course, they probably aren't all true. Dynamite needs a blasting cap to initiate an explosion, and those are kept separate until time of use. However, cows and goats will eat those, too. Explosions can also occur if there is enough static electricity present, which would have to be massive to detonate livestock. Read up on several stories of cows and goats eating dynamite to no good end at Cowboy State Daily.  -Thanks, WTM!

As the year comes to a close, we'll see many lists of the best things of 2024. Movie fans always look forward to Sleepy Skunk's annual look back at the movies that grabbed us over the last twelve months. Louis Plamondon, better known as Sleepy Skunk, used clips from movie trailers to weave together a narrative of the stories we watched in 2024.

The first segment has bizarre and funny clips, whether they were typical of the film or not, gradually sliding into some violence and horror. The middle section has dramatic, emotional, and inspirational moments. Then it seamlessly segues into epic scenes for a big finish. The video as a whole will touch you even if you haven't seen these films. If you have, get ready to be emotionally wrung out as it takes you back to the theater experience. Contains NSFW language. -via Geeks Are Sexy

See also: Sleepy Skunk's year-end compilations from previous years.

Every year since 2014, the Stanley family (redditor kakalacky_guy) has been composing unique family Christmas cards that show the chaos of life with three kids, sometimes with dangerous or even supernatural elements. The kids have grown quite a bit! However, Dad is still wearing the same sweater for the 11th year now. If you've been following along, you'll recall that their dog Nala was present in every picture, and after she died they incorporated her into the 2023 Christmas card by placing her framed photo in the play structure.  

This year, they have a new dog! He's the main Christmas gift, but no one is paying him any attention at all. The boys are fighting over an Xbox, little sister is recording a video with her new halo light, Dad is busy assembling something, and Mom is spiking her coffee. You'll see on the TV roasting over the fireplace that it's not yet 5AM, and all the gifts are already unwrapped. It's not quite as kinetic as some previous year's cards, as you can imagine these parents must be really tired by now. See the full collection of Christmas cards at reddit, where you can click to enlarge. You can see the earlier years in a larger format here.

Sometimes it only takes one person to start something big. There was no ballet in Nigeria until Daniel Ajala watched an American movie. He was inspired to learn ballet, but without any teachers, he did it on his own by watching YouTube videos.

In America, successful ballet dancers start very young, have their choice of dance schools, and get opportunities to perform in front of audiences. In Nigeria, the public is rather unfamiliar with the art, and many think it's downright scandalous. But hard work, passion, and dedication win out over lack of resources. Ajala opened his own ballet school in Lagos, Leap of Dance Academy, which charges no tuition. His students are going to places all over the world. Meet a few of them in the award-winning documentary Then Comes The Body by Jacob Krupnick. Another student named Anthony Madu who went viral in 2020 is attending school in the UK and is the subject of a full-length documentary on Disney+.  -via kottke

How do you get a drink when you're stuck on a ship or at a remote base during wartime? In World War II, American sailors improvised and drank "torpedo juice." They got it from real torpedos, which were propelled by 180-proof ethyl alcohol. That's pretty powerful, even when mixed with fruit juice. It didn't taste good, but it was tolerable for sailors who had no other option. Sometimes it was taken directly from a torpedo, and sometimes a barrel of the fuel was "lost" between a supply depot and a ship. When the Navy began to add extra ingredients to torpedo fuel to discourage drinking it, innovative sailors would filter them out, or even re-distill it.

Still, some sailors died from consuming torpedo juice, either from alcohol poisoning or from the toxins used to adulterate it. In at least one instance, it saved a life when a ship's pharmacist had to perform emergency surgery. In 1943, electric torpedos were introduced, but the name torpedo juice stuck around to denote any contraband or manufactured alcohol in the military. Read about the use of torpedo juice in World War II at the Anchorage Daily News. -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: US Air Force)

The Weinermobile is an iconic lord of the American road--an iron steed craved by drivers for generations. Now you can drive it. MSN reports that Oscar Meyer is hiring drivers.

The salary is underwhelming at a mere $35,000 per year. But it comes with benefits and a travel allowance. And there is a lot of traveling involved; the driver is expected to bring the hot dog-shaped vehicle to over 200 promotional events around the United States.

The requirements are surprisingly demanding. Applicants should have a bachelor's degree, preferably in something like marketing and public relations. That's because this is an advertising position, so it's no place for an introvert. You've got to sell those hot dogs!

-via Dave Barry | Photo: Oscar Meyer

The first movie in the newly-created series called the DC Universe is titled simply Superman, but will be known in the future as James Gunn's Superman. The writer, director, and producer is also the co-CEO of DC Studios. The DCU is said to be intended as a "soft reboot" of the less-than-stellar movies in the DC Extended Universe like Man of Steel or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Superman will star David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor.

The trailer begins with a beat-up Superman, as if someone has thrown a chunk of kryptonite at him. But who's there to save the day? Krypto! Yes, this movie will have a dog, and that makes it a hit among other Superman films right out of the starting gate. While Superman will obviously battle Lex Luthor, the stated premise of the film is Clark Kent's journey in reconciling his alien origins with his Kansas upbringing. We will find out more when Superman opens in theaters on July 11, 2025. -via Metafilter

Traditional folklore in pagan Sweden was full of fairies, elves, sprites, sirens, and other supernatural creatures of the forest. Occasionally, humans would meet these fairies and be charmed into sex. Women who gave birth to babies with an unusual appearance were accused of such fornication, and there were cases of men who used seduction by fairy as an excuse for their absence from their military duties. No doubt some accounts were the result of dreams or mental illness, or cover for actual trysts with strangers. Or animals.

Things changed when Christianity spread to Sweden in the Middle Ages. Christian authorities maintained that there was no such thing as fairies, and those who experienced such sexual encounters were obviously cavorting with the devil, which was illegal. The question at a fairy sex trial would be whether the accused was guilty of sorcery for dealing with the devil, or a victim of the demon's crimes. The conclusion was usually guilt. Then eventually, the witch trial craze reached Sweden, and that country furiously executed around 300 people between 1668 and 1676.

Sweden in the 17th century was a clash between the mostly benign pagan belief in fairy folk, the medieval Christian stance on good vs. evil, and the emerging field of science. Read about Sweden's fairy sex trials at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: John Bauer)

Hanukkah doesn't start until the evening of December 25th, but we already have two a cappella holiday songs using the tunes from the Broadway musical turned hit movie Wicked. The movie is already the fourth biggest film of 2024 (expected to be third after this weekend) and has grossed more than any other Broadway musical adaptation, surpassing Grease. Above you have The Maccabeats (previously at Neatorama) singing about Hanukkah to the tune of "Defying Gravity." Their song is titled "Defying Gravity (We’ll Rise Above)."

The other Jewish a cappella group from New York City, Six13 (previously at Neatorama) also released their song for Hanukkah 2024. It's a medley of two songs from Wicked with new lyrics, beginning with "Defying Gravity," rewritten as "Defining Destiny," plus "Popular." If you want to sing along, the lyrics are here.



It's not the first time the two a cappella groups have latched onto the same pop culture phenomenon for Hanukkah. In 2016, both groups did song parodies using the musical Hamilton. Because everyone was singing songs from Hamilton.

The winter solstice has been marked as the starting point of a new year for thousands of years all over the globe. Even more commonly, it was seen as the turnaround point for the sun, when the darkness stops expanding and the days begin to get longer. That's something to celebrate! While December 21st is often called midwinter, we consider the beginning of winter, because the earth's temperatures lag behind the number of sunlight hours. In Japan, the solstice is celebrated by taking a hot bath with citrus fruit. In Peru, they read the coca leaves. In Iran, they stay up all night to welcome back the sun.

Most winter solstice celebrations around the world involve lighting up the long night, special rich foods, singing, dancing, and drinking, because those are things that just go with winter festivals. Read about ten traditional winter solstice celebrations from around the world at Mental Floss. They include a couple of festivals that are celebrated in June, because they are in the Southern Hemisphere.    

(Image credit: garethwiscombe)

For many New Yorkers, and tourists, too, Christmas just isn't Christmas without a trip to the Dyker Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn (previously at Neatorama). Practically every home is festooned with Christmas lights and decorations to the max. It's not an organized event, but a neighborhood custom that grew organically since Lucy Spata moved there in 1986 and decorated her home in a very festive way. Over time, her Christmas spirit spread from house to house. It's not a competition, either, but each neighbor wants to be a part of the Christmas cheer. The area's reputation grew until entrepreneurs now offer walking tours and bus tours through Dyker Heights between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Great Big Story went to Dyker Heights to talk to the people who live there and spend all year planning their Christmas displays. Their homes are well-decorated inside, too! They admit it's hectic during the season with all those people coming to see their houses, but it's a merry kind of hectic. -via Laughing Squid