A classic Christmas tradition my extended family had when I was younger was watching the Home Alone films during the holiday season. As a child, I was simply fascinated by the precocious main protagonist who outsmarted two adults basically pulling a Grinch on the neighborhood. Unfortunately for them, they came face-to-face with the McCalisters' cheeky youngest, Kevin. And we all know what happened.

Many people have had lingering questions about that film, and one particular question has just found an answer with the help of economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. That question is, "How rich were the McCalisters?". And apparently, extremely.

By the Fed's estimates, the house that the McCalisters resided in the film would have required at least $305,000 annually to maintain and be able to live comfortably. In 2022 terms, that would be around $665,000. In fact, the house shown in the film, or the exterior anyways, has been estimated to cost $2.3 or 2.4 million, according to real estate experts.

With these financial requirements, the McCalisters would easily be in the top 1% of Chicago residents. Apparently, Kevin's parents worked as a businessman and a fashion designer, so it would make sense how they could afford all that, and how Kevin was able to book a penthouse suite at The Plaza Hotel in the second film.

(Image credit: ProGummy/Home Alone Fandom)

We often try to shield children from the vulgarities of life, so we have euphemisms for the most common swear words to replace them when we have that irresistible urge to just utter an expletive but we stop ourselves midway and come up with a softer alternative because children are present.

Redditor Live_Wallaby9683 shared this map, created by Atlasova, of different euphemistic swear words that each European language has. It's not a complete list for each language. They only give one word for each country, but several redditors chimed in with some of their own.

Some examples include "mercredi" or Wednesday in French, and the Spanish equivalent "miércoles" which means the same thing, both a euphemism of the same expletive.

The Portuguese say "fogo" meaning fire, Danes say "for hulen" which translate to "by the cave", and the Germans say "Gopfridstutz" or Gottfried Stutz.

Many of the euphemisms have references to food like how Croatians say "piska" and the Polish say "kurcze" both meaning chicken. Italians say "cavolo" meaning cabbage, the Dutch say "chips" which are chips, and the Finns say "persikka" meaning peach.

Perhaps, the most interesting euphemism is that from Lithuania "kasyk sliekui pazastis" which roughly translates to "go scratch the armpits of an earthworm".

(Image credit: Live_Wallaby9683/Reddit)

Just as Nicolas Cage and Chuck Norris have become the quintessential celebrity memes in Western culture, Chinese Gen Zs have also found their celebrity memes in these two literary giants.

Yu Hua has recently grown in popularity online, along with his former classmate and fellow author, Mo Yan. Famous for his 1993 novel To Live, Yu has been considered one of China's forerunners of avant-garde fiction.

On the other hand, his peer Mo, has been dubbed the Chinese counterpart of Franz Kafka or Joseph Heller, and has also been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012. In particular, his 1986 novel Red Sorghum has received international critical acclaim, and was also adapted into a 1988 film of the same name, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

As to how these two Chinese authors became memes attest to their relevance in modern Chinese culture, in particular to China's youth. Although most of the memes feature the two in their most candid moments, what truly brought them so much internet attention was their empathy for young people. And so, the way their ideas and works resonate with the youth served as the fuel for the memes.

Further, a newspaper poll looking into the reasons for their rise in Chinese internet culture showed that 40% of people attribute this popularity to the writers' personal charisma while 27% believe it is because Chinese youth find solace in their works.

As a result of this, Mo has now accumulated more than 4 million followers on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. Meanwhile, Yu, though having no social media accounts, has seen a spike in search results of more than 50 times since 2021.

(Image credit: Weibo/Sixth Tone)

Dubbed astrocartography, this branch of astrology practice uses the locations of the sun, moon, and planets on your birth date to determine which would be your next best travel destinations. But not just that, it also tells you what kind of experiences you might expect in certain locations or which places are great for relocation, relationships, career goals, and other milestones or life events.

Apparently, according to the guidelines prescribed in astrocartography, there are various lines that traverse the globe based on the alignments of different planets on your birth date. Each planet gives off certain energies related to things like romance, communication, curiosity, discipline, luck, wealth, spirituality, and more.

By tracing where those lines cross and which places they pass through, you might feel a certain pull toward those locations. But it's not limited just to the desire to visit those places. It may explain why you feel a connection or have particular interest in the culture of that place.

Though some people may use their astrocartography chart as a means of finding the best place to relocate or travel, astrology experts add that it still depends on how you act on the energies emanating from such intersections.

It's not an all-encompassing motivating factor to make your decisions but it can help give an idea on what to expect on your next travel destination. For believers, this may provide direction toward the achievement of certain goals or objectives in life. For others, it may be a fun thing to try out.

(Image credit: A.n.n 654/Wikimedia Commons)

The image above shows us a star cluster officially designated NGC 2264, which is informally called the Christmas Tree Cluster. It's about 2,500 light years away, and features young stars between one and five million years old -give or take the 2,500 years it took the light to reach earth. The stars range from a tenth the size of our sun to seven times its size.

This is a composite picture, taken by three kinds of telescope cameras. The green is the gas among the nebula, taken by an optical camera from the National Science Foundation’s WIYN 0.9-meter telescope. Foreground and background stars in white were revealed by infrared data from the Two Micron All Sky Survey. The blue and white blinking lights are from X-rays detected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Did I say they blinked? They do, like twinkling tree lights, shown in an animation in the NASA article about the image. The twinkling effect was added for the video, but the stars really do twinkle, just not in sync with each other. That, and the choice to render the gas image in green, is NASA's Christmas gift to all of us. -via Bored Panda

(Image credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: T.A. Rector (NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) and B.A. Wolpa (NOIRLab/NSF/AURA); Infrared: NASA/NSF/IPAC/CalTech/Univ. of Massachusetts; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/L. Frattare & J.Major)

Christmas cards have only been around since 1843, and they didn't start out with cozy pictures of Christmas trees or wise men following a star. The greetings were nice, but the illustrations were designed to make you say, "Whaaaat?" and then maybe laugh at their sheer absurdity. A recurring theme was food taking revenge on people who cooked and ate it. Above, we have two turkeys wishing the cook a Merry Christmas as they shove him into the fire on a spit. Below, A piece of meat and a Christmas pudding do the same to a cook, with the help of some geese.

The gallery includes animals behaving badly, too. A flock of songbirds marches in single file (more or less) carrying torches. They look less festive and more like they are coming to burn your house down. Roaches drink your coffee, or maybe your hot cocoa. A monkey pulls a cat's tail. You get the idea. But what's this one all about?

Maybe they are on their way to terrorize another chef. See a gallery of 27 baffling vintage Christmas cards at Flashbak. -via Damn Interesting

"The Christmas Duck Song" suddenly lands, 14 years after "The Duck Song" by Bryant Oden captured the internet. "The Duck Song," with an animated video by Forrest Whaley, became an instant meme in 2009 and spawned three sequels, a children's book, and many parodies. The song is a riff on the old joke, set in a lemonade stand instead of a bar because it was written for children.

In the Christmas version, the duck annoys Santa Claus, who never has grapes because he lives at the North Pole. It ends with less annoyance and more joy and generosity than you would expect from a duck. Because it's Christmas.  

Christmas trees, originally a German custom, became popular when German immigrants came to America, and when Queen Victoria's German husband, Prince Albert, put up Christmas trees for the royal family. Over time, the fad led to a shortage of fresh trees in Germany, and people began making artificial trees out of feathers. In the US, the reason we started using artificial trees was that a real Christmas tree festooned with candles or hot incandescent lights was liable to burn the house down.

Quite a few people tried designing a Christmas tree that wouldn't catch fire, but they didn't look much like the real thing. And then a brush company that made everything from toothbrushes to toilet brushes got involved. The same technology that produced toilet brushes made artificial trees look fluffy enough. So we can thank toilet brushes for the look of our modern Christmas trees. Read how all this came about, including some odd failed patents, at Atlas Obscura.   

(Image credit: SeppVei)

With his series Lost in the Pond, Laurence Brown has made a career of comparing the place he grew up in, the UK, with the United States, where he has lived for the past fifteen years or so. Both places celebrate Christmas in a big way, but it turns out the most popular songs played on the radio over his lifetime are different, depending on the country he was in at the time. It never occurred to me to wonder whether the Christmas songs we've heard over and over for decades ever made it in Britain, but apparently a lot of them didn't. Brown highlights eight Christmas songs he never heard before coming to America, ranked in order  from best to worst, and gives us his initial impressions. I mostly agree with his rankings, but for different reasons.  

In colonial America, people drank way more alcohol than would be considered safe today. They rode horses instead of driving cars, the water wasn't all that safe, and alcohol eases pains that medical practices couldn't help. George Washington certainly drank his share, and distilled whiskey on his farm Mount Vernon.

Like many people, Washington enjoyed eggnog for the holidays. The president's eggnog recipe survives (although not written by Washington's own hand), and it's quite, let's say, hearty. The recipe calls for four kinds of booze: brandy, whiskey, rum, and sherry, in addition to milk, cream, and eggs. The finished product seems to be about 35% liquor, and would have preserved the milk and eggs for a long time. His kitchen would produce it by the gallon when guests were expected. A good time was had by all. Read about Washington's drinking habits and his eggnog recipe at Mental Floss. -via Strange Company 

Eun Seo-ran (pronounced OON-SAW-RAHN), 44, met her best friend, Lee Eo-rie (pronounced EE-AW-REE), 38, back in 2016 after they had both moved to the Jeolla region of South Korea, wanting to escape the stresses of city life. Soon after meeting, they found out how they had many things in common and they developed a deep friendship. Later, they decided to live together.

However, even though they were particularly close friends, had been accustomed to each other's lifestyles, and can practically be called 'family', they still weren't legally related. This was especially the case during medical emergencies.

Under South Korean law, only family members have the right to visit patients in the hospital or sign off on anything that the patient needed such as urgent surgical procedures or any other invasive treatments which requires some form of consent.

So, Seo-ran and Eo-rie thought about ways they could become legally considered a family. They thought about faking a romantic relationship but since same-sex marriages are still not legally recognized in South Korea, it wasn't plausible.

Fortunately, adult adoptions are possible in South Korea, and the process is surprisingly easy. Only three things are necessary for the process: Seo-ran had to prove she was older than Eo-rie, they had to get Eo-rie's mother's consent, and Eo-rie must not be Seo-ran's biological child.

After completing the paperwork, they started the process which finished within 24 hours. The story became viral so much so that Seo-ran wrote a book about it titled I Adopted a Friend.

(Video credit: Macau Business TV/Youtube)

Math can be fun, and there are some interesting bits of math trivia that we all can appreciate. Just like the one shared by Snehal Shekatkar, a reader of Futility Closet, which states that there are exactly 17 numbers whose prime factors add up to 17. Those numbers are enumerated above including their prime factors, which all do add up to 17.

(Image: Screenshot from Futility Closet)

Ed Emberley has been drawing and making art for children's picture books for six decades now. Some of his work include instructional drawing books, inspired by his belief that everyone can learn to draw.

In his drawing books, he illustrates step-by-step instructions on how to draw animals, insects, plants, people, faces, vehicles, structures, and even themed objects like those for Halloween and Christmas.

Here are a few samples from his Christmas drawing book, where he illustrates how to draw a Christmas tree, a ball of mistletoe, Santa's sleigh along with Santa and some elves, Santa's reindeer, and even a snowman.

Using very simple shapes and figures that younger children (and even adults who don't necessarily have the aptitude for sketching) can follow, Ed shares his love for drawing through these picture books. He has illustrated or contributed to 50 books in his career, and has written 24 drawing books. -via Everlasting Blort

(Image credit: Ed Emberley/Present & Correct)

Santa's sleigh and elves

Santa's reindeer

Born the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Alice should have lived a life of comfort and luxury. However, her life was anything but. From the moment she was born, she endured nothing but tragedy.

Her parents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, had raised their children in modesty and middle-class family values. No opulence, no fancy clothes, no luxurious dinner parties. They wore humble clothing and lived in a simple home without regular heating.

Despite her position in the family, she was very close to her elder siblings, Princess Victoria and Prince Edward, and she got along well with the rest. But at some point down the road, her strong-willed nature and stubornness caused her to clash often with her mother.

Things became particularly intense when her mother pushed her to marry at a young age. With help from Princess Victoria, they found her a couple of suitors who she disliked. Thankfully, she fell in love with her third suitor, Prince Louis of Hesse.

But then, the first among a series of tragedies struck. Her maternal grandmother, with whom she was particularly close, died. Not long after that, her father, Prince Albert, died as well, severely affecting Queen Victoria, so much so that even during Alice's wedding, the queen forced her to wear black.

Alice's relationship with her mother soured even more after that. Then, her second son and fifth child, Friedrich, inherited hemophilia passed down from the queen. He died at the age of two and a half after falling from a window 20 feet high.

As if that wasn't enough, in 1878, the household had been stricken with diphtheria which claimed the life of her youngest daughter Marie. Wanting to spare her other children from the grief, she kept Marie's death from the others, until she eventually told her son Ernest, who did not take the death of his sister well.

Alice, wanting to console her son, kissed him to ease the pain. However, she ended up contracting the disease, and after a few days, succumbed to it as well. If only things ended there for Princess Alice.

Alas, her daughter Princess Alexandra was married to Tsar Nicholas II. We all know how that ended. This is the forgotten story of Princess Alice, who may be the most tragic British royal in history.

(Image credit: Franz Backofen/Wikimedia Commons)

Though it was a great relief that the Allied Forces won WWII, the events that followed may be less so. The four leaders of the Allied Forces -Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Chiang Kai-Shek- each had a different idea of what the world would look like after the war.

Churchill wanted to rebuild France and Germany, forging an alliance between them and the UK. This pact would serve as the counterbalancing force to keep Stalin's Soviet Union in check and maintain peace and order in Europe.

However, Roosevelt's distrust for Germany and misgivings about Britain and France's imperialist history caused him to reject Churchill's vision of Europe. Instead, he came up with the idea of the Four Policemen.

Essentially, Roosevelt's idea entailed that all countries except for the four WWII victors to be disarmed and world order to be maintained by each superpower in their respective 'spheres': the UK in Western Europe and its territories, Russia in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, China in East Asia and the Western Pacific, and the US in the rest of the Western hemisphere.

However, Churchill's concerns over Stalin and the Soviet Union proved to be true, as they crept ever closer into central Europe. Not to mention, Churchill had his own political struggles at home. Meanwhile, Mao took over China and pushed Chiang and his faction to Taiwan.

All this left Roosevelt's vision in shambles. Churchill's plan of rebuilding France and Germany, however, proved to be a wise decision and they have since been strong allies helping maintain balance in Europe.

Roosevelt's Four Policemen idea might have seemed a good idea at the time, but perhaps his naivete over European politics caused him to think that peace could be maintained in such a system and that the other "allies" would agree to his proposed setup. If only things were that simple.

(Image credit: Mister Sheen/Alt History Fandom)