Have you ever seen a cast-iron dog? They were once quite popular, used to prop open doors or to keep doorknobs from damaging the wall behind them. Scott Thompson knows all about doggie doorstops, rabbit and fox doorstops, too, as he has collected hundreds of the antiques. Their value depends on age (which can sometimes be hard to determine), condition, and rarity.

Collectors also pay a premium for animals that face one way or another. “Boston terrier doorstops came in left-facing and right-facing models,” Thompson says. “Believe it or not, only 10 percent were made with their heads turned to the left, so the value of left-facing Boston terriers is like four times that of right-facing ones.” Thompson also has a couple of Boston terrier doorstops that are looking straight ahead. “You don’t see many of those,” he says. “As a collector, it’s rare to even come by one, but I’m fortunate enough to have two in my collection.”

As he learned more and more about antique and vintage cast-iron doorstops, Thompson’s collection multiplied, like Leporidae, you might say. “After I bought that Albany doorstop, that spurred me to buy another, and another, and another. At this point, I probably have 100 or so rabbits and hares.” For the record, there’s a difference.

For their part, the rabbits and hares got Thompson interested in dogs. The dogs, in turn, sent him down a rabbit hole filled with foxes, probably because Thompson has also always been intrigued by English fox hunting, a social ritual that happens to involve a lot of dogs. “Those are my favorites,” Thompson concludes, “rabbits, foxes, and dogs.” Foxes, it should be noted, are the rarest of these three animals, at least in doorstop form, which is why Thompson only has a dozen or more, including a boot scraper, another type of heavy object found near doors that Thompson collects.

Thompson took a winding path to collecting animal doorstops, involving top hats and antique trunks. Read about his unusual collection of cast-iron doorstops at Collectors Weekly.

AsapSCIENCE doesn’t really need eight minutes to tell a joke, but this one requires some setup, because it’s SCIENCE! First, we get an explanation of the origins of humor, then the basic structure of a joke and what makes it funny. However, there is some humor along the way to the statistically funniest joke. Besides, you’ve heard that joke before.  -via Digg

If you've got a funnier joke, let's hear it.

We've often said the easiest way to find happiness is to help others. Now we see evidence that helping others may extend your happy life as well!

Studies show, for instance, that volunteering correlates with a 24% lower risk of early death – about the same as eating six or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day, according to some studies. What’s more, volunteers have a lower risk of high blood glucose, and a lower risk of the inflammation levels connected to heart disease. They also spend 38% fewer nights in hospitals than people who shy from involvement in charities.

And these health-boosting impacts of volunteering appear to be found in all corners of the world, from Spain and Egypt to Uganda and Jamaica, according to one study based on the data from the Gallup World Poll.

But it's not just volunteering for charitable work that has health benefits. The same benefits can come from donating money to good causes, performing random acts of kindness, and even taking care of children. Read about the research into doing good for others at BBC Future. -via Damn Interesting

A dramatic action film in miniature! This little guy goes the extra mile, but the prop master deserves  credit for bringing this story to life. It's amazing what quarantine boredom can accomplish. See more of Mr. Hamster's adventures.  -via Nag on the Lake

Newspapers.com presents a roundup of letters to Santa Claus from as far back as 1901. Most are pretty straightforward: I've been a good boy/girl, please bring me a GI Joe/dolly/pony, etc. But there was a letter dropped in a mailbox in 1992 that was reprinted across the country because it was so sad.  

“Dear Santa Clas, Please help my mom and dad this Christmas. My dad is not working anymore. We don’t get many food now. My mom gives us the food she would eat. Please help my mom an dad. I want to go to Heven too be with the angels. Can you bring me to Heven? My mom an dad woud not have too by things for me no more. That would make them happy. Plese bring my dad a job an some food. I live in my house like last year. We got candils. A city man took the lights a way. It looks like we don’t live heer no more. We do. I will wate for you too come in my room. I will not slep. Wen you give my dad a job and some food too my mom I will go with you and the rain deer. Merry Christmas too you Mrs. Clas too the elfs too. Thad.”

Readers donated a total of $17,000 for Thad and his family. Despite the efforts of many who tried to investigate, Thad was never identified, and the money was eventually given to the United Way. Read more letters to Santa from over the years at Fishwrap.  -via Strange Company 

(Image source: The Library of Congress)

Once again, mathematician Kokichi Sugihara of Meiji University has won first place in the Best Illusion of the Year contest. His "3D Schröder Staircase" can break your mind until you see how it's done... and then it may still break your mind. Another finalist that caught my eye shows an illusion you probably never thought about before.



"Subtitles Illusion" is from high school teacher Masashi Atarashi. See the top ten illusions of 2020 in this gallery.

PSA: I don't think masks ruined our pictures at all. I'm excited to look back on them and see what an insane time in life we were having - but that we made it through anyway. from r/weddingplanning

Almost half a billion people use reddit each month, so the activity on the site is a snapshot of what the world was doing in 2020. The site's year-end review takes a look at the subreddits that stood out this year, for participation, virality, and influence. 

Here, moderators of r/coronavirus, r/blacklivesmatter, r/weddingplanning, r/frugal, r/applyingtocollege, and r/amitheasshole share firsthand how online communities faced some of 2020’s most unprecedented moments:

You can read the report on trends with examples of influential or representative posts at redditblog.

Find out what the top posts of the year were here.

The whole bridge is rockin’ when Data plays the Hammond organ! -via Metafilter

Through a large part of human history, a monarch had absolute power over all his/her subjects. Under England's Queen Elizabeth I, that authority included conscripting the best singers from every social strata for the royal children’s choir, which equated to kidnapping. This power was delegated to the Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal, who could take any child he pleased to become part of the choir. In 1600, the Master was Nathaniel Giles. It was in that year that he took possession of 13-year-old Thomas Clifton as he walked home from school. On the surface, there wasn't a thing his parents could do about it, as Giles had the power of the throne behind him, and it was his job to fill the choir with promising young singers.    

But they made a fatal error by selecting Thomas Clifton. His father was a nobleman, whose connections enabled him to bring the case before the Star Chamber Court. Plus, Thomas couldn’t sing, making it hard to argue that Giles and Evans had been acting in the interest of Her Majesty’s choir.

So why was Clifton snatched from his family? Read about Giles and how he took advantage of the legal authority he was given at Jstor Daily. -via Strange Company

There are lists of the best Christmas movies here and there, and all are arguable, not only about how "great" they really are, but whether they are Christmas movies at all. Must a Christmas movie be about Christmas, or merely take place during Christmastime? What if there's only one scene that takes place during the season? By now, we've pretty much settled on the fact that Die Hard is, in fact, a Christmas movie, but there are plenty of edge cases in various Christmas movie lists. Gabriella Paiella is of the opinion that The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the greatest Christmas movie, despite the fact that it's three movies, and she makes a point of watching all 12 hours every holiday season. Her first argument is that they were all released to theaters in December, during her childhood, so viewers of her generation will always have that connotation. But there are other reasons to see The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King as Christmas films.  

The most obvious is that there are elves. Yes, the elves are tall and lithe and have silky blonde extensions. And one of the main ones is now married to Katy Perry, one is Stephen Tyler’s daughter, one was in The Matrix, and the last one is angry and sexy Cate Blanchett. Sorry, where was I going with this? They’re still elves. But if you’re looking for the traditional Keebler cookie and Santa’s workshop variety short kings, there are hobbits. For more atmospheric holiday touches, the palantir are basically snow globes, Gandalf looks like Santa, and Saruman looks like the weird mall Santa you don’t want to let near your kids.

And there are more reasons that will cause you to squint your eyes and say, yeah, maybe you can see it, at GQ.

(Image credit: Flickr user Michael Matti)

The residents of Dyker Heights, a small neighborhood in Brooklyn, go all out with Christmas lights every year- so much so that there are companies that arrange bus tours for out-of-towners. The display is not coordinated, and there's no obligation to participate, but if you move to a house there, you'll catch the spirit sooner or later!



Some residents hire professional decorators to put up their lights. Others have been doing it so long that it's second nature. Some are tasteful and understated, while others go with the philosophy that nothing succeeds like excess. And since you aren't traveling for Christmas this year, you may as well enjoy Dyker Heights virtually. Continue reading for more.

An archaeological dig in Qubbet el-Hawa, Egypt, has unearthed ten mummies from a common burial chamber. One of those mummies belonged to a woman named Sattjeni A, as her coffin was labeled. She lived around 4,000 years ago.

Between her bandaged legs, in the lower part of the pelvis and beneath the linen wrappings, the researchers found a ceramic bowl with signs of use, containing charred organic remains. The analysis of the skeletal remains was carried out by a team of anthropologists from the UGR (coordinated by Professor Botella) and it confirmed that the woman had survived a serious fracture in her pelvis, perhaps caused by a fall, which must have caused severe pain.

It is highly likely that, to alleviate these pains, the woman was treated with fumigations, as described in medical papyri of the time describing solutions to gynaecological problems.

“The most interesting feature of the discovery made by the researchers from the University of Jaén is not only the documentation of a palliative gynaecological treatment, something that is quite unique in Egyptian archaeology, but also the fact that this type of treatment by fumigation was described in contemporary medical papyri. But, until now, there had been no evidence found to prove that such treatment was actually carried out,” explains the UJA’s Dr. Alejandro Jimenez, an expert in Egyptology and director of the Qubbet el-Hawa Project. This work has now been published by one of the most prestigious academic journals in Egyptology, Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Spracheund Altertumskunde.

The researchers did not say whether the broken pelvis contributed to Sattjeni A's death. It is touching to think that those who prepared her for burial wanted to continue her pain-relief treatment into the afterlife. Read more about this find at Universidad de Granada. -via Strange Company

Army ants are pretty scary. They are numerous, carnivorous, and relentless. But even army ants have enemies and parasites, those other bugs that are brave enough to infiltrate and even imitate army ants. Ze Frank describes what an army ant's day is like, and what enemies they may encounter. It's pure nightmare fuel.

Some years ago, we learned about snapdragon, a Christmas game that involves sticking your hand in a bowl of flaming brandy to snatch a raisin. While it sounds painful and dangerous, the game was a part of Christmas tradition for hundreds of years. The staff at Atlas Obscura got together on Zoom to find out why, by playing the game themselves.  

True, all of us hesitated before putting our hands into the fire. As the writer of this piece, I took it upon myself to snatch out the first almond. “It’s fine, no pain!” I shouted, showing off the burning nut before popping it in my mouth.

Soon, we were all grabbing at the raisins and almonds fearlessly. While brief bursts of heat did make us occasionally snatch our hands away, the sting faded quickly, and no one got burned. Some early accounts of snapdragon recommended throwing salt on the flames, without any explanation of what it would do. As it happens, pinches of salt tossed on the fire makes the flames pop and flare brilliant gold, for just a second.

While we started the game nervous about dipping our hands into literal fire, it soon became clear that snapdragon is really, really fun. So why does no one play it anymore?

A U.S. Forest Service fire scientist explains why the game works, and we get a recipe for proper snapdragon fire at Atlas Obscura.

(Image: public domain)

Aaron Gage noticed how the lyrics to "Deck the Halls" would fit into Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." Viewers at reddit clamored for the whole song, but he said he didn't want to wear out the welcome, and the rest of the song didn't fit quite a well as this part. I have to say that I agree- once you've heard the joke, there's no reason to drag it out to feature-length. But it's a good joke.