When you get too many Christmas gifts, or gifts you just don't care for, what do you do? Some people just keep them or regift them, but 20 to 30% of all merchandise these days is returned for money or store credit. What happens to all that returned merchandise? It was once up to each individual retailer to deal with returns, but the retail industry has now developed a complicated and centralized infrastructure to receive, sort, classify, and dispose of unwanted goods. And that system ramps into high gear after Christmas.

Inmar Intelligence is one of the larger third-party logistics companies that deals with half a billion returned items every year. Amanda Mull of The Atlantic visited their returns-processing center in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania, where each item is inspected by a materials handler who follows the standards set by the various companies they contract with. Returned items are inspected, judged, and then either repackaged for sale, sold to a resale company, donated, recycled, or destroyed. Find out how all this happens at The Atlantic. -via Nag on the Lake

Gmünd, Austria, has a church in two pieces, with a road between them. The minister preaches from the pulpit in one half of the church, while the congregation sits in the other half to listen. The two parts are open to the air, so that each party can see the other. It's called The Divided Church, for obvious reasons.

There's a story behind this church, although it's not a case of the government building a road and the church refusing to move, as you might expect. The road was there first, and it had a little roadside shrine where travelers could pray for safe travel over the mountain -or for mercy as they were led to execution. In 1748, the shrine was expanded into a chapel, with an open side so that the pastor could preach to people who gathered outside on the road. Eventually, the pastor arranged to have a room built for congregants to sit in out of the weather just across the street. Read how the shrine grew into a chapel and then a unique church, and see more pictures, at Amusing Planet.

(Image credit: Johann Jaritz)

On December 16, 1773, exactly 250 years ago today, protesters threw a shipment of tea into Boston Harbor. In elementary school, we learn that it was an illustration of the building frustration of the American colonists that eventually led to the American Revolution. That's where we learned the phrase "taxation without representation!" At the time, though, some of the man who became the Founding Fathers were horrified at such vandalism, and thought the perpetrators should be arrested or at least have to make restitution for the £10,000 in tea they destroyed.

The tax situation that led to the Boston Tea Party, as it later was called, was more complicated than just a tax on tea. It certainly wasn't the only protest, either, but it was more memorable and fun for elementary students than, say, the Boston Massacre. Colonists in New York and Philadelphia intercepted shipments of tea before they could reach land. In Boston, patriots surrounded ships in the harbor and prevented them from unloading for a couple of weeks before they seized the tea. On December 16, thousands of colonists witnessed the destruction, but told no one and left almost no written records, lest the British authorities find out who was responsible. Learn the real story of the Boston Tea Party, which was planned earlier and involved more people than you learned about in school, at Smithsonian. 

PS: They're doing it again tonight.

#LIVE Boston Tea Party 250th Anniversary 👀

Boston celebrates 250th anniversary of Tea Party with re-enactment of famous 1773 uprising against the British.

Live coverage over at: https://t.co/CBHJNC8gy9

Follow and keep updated. pic.twitter.com/wNkFqWo8O9

— HumanDilemma (@HumanDilemma_) December 17, 2023

Minnesota is choosing a new state flag, and thousands of designs were submitted. They've been winnowed down to three finalists, all with very simple designs, which do not include surfer Sasquatch. CGP Grey is very much into vexillology, and believes most of our state flags should be redesigned to get away from the "state seal on a blue background" theme. That's exactly what Minnesota is doing, even though their new seal is a vast improvement. When the Minnesota flag submissions were announced, Grey was quick to post a video about them, but it was limited to his Patreon members. Now he's eager to register his opinions on the three finalists.

Grey named the finalists Star Rise, Old Wavy, and Polaris Tricolor. He has a definite favorite, and gives us the many reasons why he approves. As much as you may like modern elements in a new flag, one of the most important considerations for a particular design is how it will hold up over the next 100 years. We will see if the Minnesota legislature takes Grey's points to heart when they select their new flag.

Update: Grey's pick is also the Minnesota commission's pick. The bad news is that they will probably change it.

Over the last couple of decades, American have been immersed in the phenomenon of the Christmas romance movie, which are all very much alike but people watch them like they are consuming comfort food. A similar but much older genre of Christmas entertainment can be found in the United Kingdom, where the Christmas murder mystery is a thing. Murder mystery novels rose in popularity in the early 20th century, as they put the reader into the role of detective, trying to figure out whodunnit. Anything that popular is bound to eventually have a Christmas version, and that happened in the 1930s, and again, and again.  

The Christmas mysteries are now known as "cozy crime" stories, because the elements are so familiar, and the plots follow a standard crime investigation that leads to the murderer's reveal at the end. While murder and Christmas aren't the most natural pairing, such novels have become beloved in the land that gave birth to them. Every year, mystery fans look forward to the Christmas stories they've become used to. Read how this strange but common genre of fiction came about at Atlas Obscura.

Many fantasy fans look at J.R.R. Tolkien as the grandaddy of the genre. He certainly put in the work, with years of world building and research behind each plot in his many works. His Magnum Opus was The Lord of the Rings, an epic adventure that comprised three volumes, plus the prequel book The Hobbit. Tolkien even manufactured languages for his characters. But Tolkien was not the first to use the elements of fantasy in his stories. Many ancient legends included elves, magical rings, dragons, swords, and wizards. Other parts of The Lord of the Rings incorporated historical characters and events. Although Tolkien did not invent these elements, he was a master at bringing them to life in his writing, weaving them together in a convoluted quest told in poetry and prose that enchanted millions, and continues to do so today. The author's lifetime of travel, study, experience, and keen observation all contributed to what The Lord of the Rings came to be. Weird History looks back at the sources of these elements that Tolkien used so well.

Eighteenth-century explorers in the Pacific Northwest, around the Salish Sea, observed that native people kept a certain breed of domestic dog and harvested its fur to spin and weave into cloth. The Salish woolly dog was a small and beloved pet, which produced a fibrous fur that proved to be much warmer than sheep's wool. The woolly dogs were an emblem of the Skokomish Nation and represented wealth.  

As Europeans settled in the PNW, the woolly dog went extinct in the late 1800s. We have blankets and fabric made from their fur, but only one example of the breed itself, in a pelt saved from a dog named Mutton, which was sent to a Smithsonian representative in 1859. In 2021, evolutionary molecular biologist Audrey Lin began a DNA study of Mutton's pelt. The DNA analysis revealed the woolly dog's genetic lineage, the Skokomish breeding traditions, and the fact that it had 28 genes controlling the production of its unique fur. Lin even found evidence of Mutton's diet, and how it varied from dogs raised by natives. You'll find the full science paper here. -via Metafilter

(Image credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History)

We've seen how well rock songs mesh with Christmas classics, like mashing up Brenda Lee with AC/DC and mixing "Deck the Halls" with Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." It doesn't stop there. DJ Cummerbund brings us a masterful mashup for Christmas, with Jose Feliciano singing his classic "Feliz Navidad" to the bangin' tune of "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol. He calls it "Rebel Navidad." But that's just the beginning. This song also incorporates recordings from Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Rob Zombie, Terrence Gene Bollea, Wham!, Martijn Brattinga, and Rush. The more, the merrier!

The winners of Netherlands' annual Worst Slogan of the Year contest might also be called the best slogans of the year, depending on your point of view. A slogan with a naughty pun is remembered, and that's what's most important. The top three in this year's poll are all English puns. The grand prize (a custom tile) goes to the bicycle rental company Tuut-Tuut in Castricum, North Holland, for "Put the Fun Between Your Legs." Makes plenty of sense. Second place went to sewing machine company Rijkers Naaimachinespecialist for "Have a naai’s day!" It's not naughty, just fun. You have to know that the Dutch word "naai" means "sew," but more than 90% of Netherlands residents know both languages. A pet store called 4cats took third place with "Everything for your pussy!"

There are more slogans and bad puns from the contest you can read at NL Times. -via Boing Boing

(Image credit: Google Maps)

Who is tough enough to survive in the dystopian world after a disaster has fractured civilization? A few random young people are left in the city, and they cling together for safety, even though they don't know each other. We don't know what caused this apocalypse, but after only three weeks, these folks are avoiding zombie bears, radioactive rabbits, and a band of leather-clad cannibals. Some people apparently give in to their baser instincts faster than others. Two people go out foraging for food, but the pickings are slim, and all they got was a little gas station food. Thank goodness for pop-top cans! Their haul leads to conflict. What happens when physical sensitivities and ethical diet choices clash with the breakdown of society and the usual supply chain? It's no wonder these folks are skinny. They'll get even skinnier unless they learn to consume things like dog food, snakes, and ten-year-old canned pudding.

In 1920, author J.R.R. Tolkien's oldest child, John, was three years old. He asked his father about Father Christmas, and Tolkien was glad to answer his questions. When John wrote a letter to Santa, Tolkien wrote a short reply in disguised handwriting. The next year, and for 23 years afterward, Tolkien's letter from Father Christmas arrived for his children, eventually four of them. The letters got longer and more involved, with Father Christmas telling stories about what happened at the North Pole that year that involved goblins, polar bears, elves, and world events. And they were illustrated with his drawings! Tolkien seemed to be testing stories and story elements that later became incorporated into his books.

The letters from Father Christmas continued until 1943, when his youngest child Priscilla was 14, at which time he wrote a farewell letter, promising not to forget them. Read about Tolkien's years of writing in the voice of Father Christmas and the tales he spun at Mental Floss.

(Image source: Amazon)

If you are in the armed forces and decide not to obey an order from a superior, you'd better be pretty darn sure you are right, or else are willing to pay the price for insubordination. In most cases, you'd be punished and if you are lucky, no one back home would ever know about it. But some famous cases of disregarding orders made a real difference in battle, or even for the survival of the planet. Those cases where disobedience turned out to be the right decision left the soldier a hero and the story might even be made into a movie. Sometime it led to disaster. And sometimes the soldier got away with it because the person issuing the order was on his last legs anyway. Weird History tells us eleven stories of disobedient members of their nation's military forces that left a mark on the world, in one way or another.

Every year for ten years now, redditor kakalacky_guy has designed and produced a Christmas card that shows us the chaos of celebrating Christmas as a family. His 2023 card shows he and his wife and three children attempting to ski even though they don't have snow and don't have a hill, either. What could possibly go wrong? He's been bringing us these funny and creative cards since 2014, when they only had two kids, although it seemed like a half-dozen at the time, as the card implied. Most of the cards put the children in dangerous situations that children would love to get themselves into if we let them. Continue reading to see the collection of cards through the years.

On December 1, 1958, "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" was released. It sold millions of copies and went to #1 that Christmas season, and proved to be popular every year since then. The success of the song was a triumph for Ross Bagdasarian, who not only write and produced the song, but sang all the parts, too. What's more, he owned the song, the publishing rights, and the master tapes, which was rare for musicians at the time. "The Chipmunk Song" led to more songs, and a TV series starring Bagdasarian as Dave Seville, the guardian of three talking chipmunks and their licensing rights. Bagdasarian also had three children, who inherited all that when Bagdasarian died in 1972 at only 53 years of age.

Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. also inherited his father's media instincts. He continued the legacy of the Chipmunks, and bought out his brother and sister in the 1990s. The senior Bagdasarian had relinquished the rights to the master recording of the Christmas song to his record company, but the family retained publishing and product licensing rights. Simon, Theodore, and Alvin have appeared in numerous TV series, comic books, and four live-action movies, not to mention the toys and other branded products. The Chipmunks have sold millions of records, and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" was streamed 10.4 million times in December of 2022 alone. This is all very lucrative for Ross Jr. and his wife Janice Karman, who run Bagdasarian Productions. But what does Ross think when he hears that song every Christmas?

Honestly, I am so thrilled every time, because it brings back my dad. I get to hear his voice.

Read about the empire that one Christmas song started at Billboard. -via Metafilter
 

Tattoos have been around for thousands of years, and are more popular today than ever. Tattoos done under standard sanitary conditions don't seem all that dangerous. But have you ever once thought about how your body reacts to the trauma of high speed needles and tattoo ink invading your dermis? Your immune system immediately rushes in to protect you from such foreign substances, but while the system works pretty well against biological invasions such as bacteria and viruses, it's a bit stumped by ink, which can't be killed because it was never alive. The macrophages that normally kill bacteria do the best they can, which ends up actually stabilizing the tattoo! Of course, nothing lasts forever, and that includes macrophages and tattoo ink, which will eventually succumb to your body's ever-renewing systems. But that takes so long that you should still consider a tattoo as permanent. This video from Kurzgesagt is only 7:20; the rest is an ad.