TRUE ANGEL IN BUFFALO 💯 A THREAD: A local woman received a call on Christmas Eve, “Hi, you don't know me but I have your brother.” The woman’s brother’s name is Joey. He is 64 years old and mentally disabled. pic.twitter.com/iAVQTsf2xH

— Kimberly LaRussa (@KimberlyLaRussa) December 26, 2022

The horrific winter storm last weekend brought nearly four feet of snow to parts of western New York state. The death toll in the Buffalo area stands at 27, but it would have been higher if people hadn't opened their doors to strangers. Among the many stories of rescue and hospitality, that of Sha'Kyra Aughtry stands out. She heard a man crying outside, and her boyfriend Trent brought him into their house. They believe he may have been trying to walk home from his workplace. Joey was suffering from frostbite. Besides taking care of him, Aughtry was able to contact Joey's family and eventually arranged transport to a hospital. She even accompanied him so he wouldn't be frightened. We don't know Joey's prognosis, but he is being cared for in the hospital's burn unit. You can read the story at the Twitter thread or the Threadreader version. -via Metafilter, where you'll find links to more stories about people stepping up to help those stranded by the weather.

Pioneers in 3D printing are always looking for ways that it can be used to make life better or easier for the rest of us. One innovation is to recreate a realistic but artificial human body, or a partial body, as an exact copy of a particular surgical patient. A medical scanner maps out the size, shape, and positions of organs, and then a copy is manufactured, as demonstrated here by the company Lazarus 3D. That's for surgeons to practice on, to avoid that moment when they cut a person open and find surprises. It's a sort of dress rehearsal for the actual surgery. The robotic surgery part is not really crucial to the rest of the story, but it's pretty neat anyway. Tom Scott volunteered his body for the demonstration, and the scan revealed he luckily didn't need surgery, so they added a cyst just so we could watch them remove it.

I made it. Merry Christmas. pic.twitter.com/NI85iDhDNw

— Gävlebocken (@Gavlebocken) December 25, 2022

The Gävle Goat (previously at Neatorama) is an annual tradition in the town of Gävle, Sweden. It is a giant sculpture of a goat made of straw, erected early in December every year since 1966. In 38 of those years, someone has burned it down which is a 67% arson rate! In some years, it burned almost immediately after the goat was erected. But this year's goat has beaten the odds and survived through Christmas. Protecting the goat is not easy- there are security guards and a live webcam, plus serious consequences for arsonists who are caught. Last year's arsonist was sentenced to six months in jail, although most perpetrators were never caught. While getting through Christmas without being roasted is a good sign, the Gävle Goat is not considered a historic "survivor" until December 31st. The Herald Scotland has the goat's story and a timeline of the goat's fate for each year so far. This story may be updated within a few days.

Update 1/1/23: The goat has survived!

We spend too much time being scared of dying in a plane crash or being eaten by a shark, when those things are exceedingly rare. It's prudent to be cautious of traffic accidents, which are a too-common way to die prematurely, but that's a relatively modern problem. Over the course of human history, most deaths come from the natural world. We've been pretty good at battling some of those causes of death, extending the average life span into an old age when death is inevitable, while other causes are maddeningly constant and present a long-term commitment that we just can't seem to agree on. Minute Earth details the most common causes of death in human history, one era at a time. Along the way, they tease us about "three other big killers," which are eventually revealed and may or may not surprise you. But they are the things we haven't been able to conquer yet.  

When nine kings get together for a photo opportunity, is it a summit meeting or a family reunion? It's a family reunion, of course, because kings send representatives to summit meetings. In this case, the occasion was the funeral for Britain's King Edward VII in May of 1910, to whom each of these monarchs was related. Standing, from left: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, King George I of Greece, and King Albert I of Belgium. Seated, from left, King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King-Emperor George V of the United Kingdom, and King Frederick VIII of Denmark. Many of them were first cousins of George V as his grandmother, Queen Victoria, married off most of her ten children to royalty across Europe, although some kings were only related to the British monarchy by marriage.

Tsar Nicholas II was also George's first cousin, but did not attend the funeral. Russia was represented at the funeral by the Tsar's brother, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, also a cousin, and their mother Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. However, you may recall another occasion we saw the British King and the Russian Tsar together. Only a few years after this picture was taken, most of Europe was at war, empires were shattered, and monarchies overthrown. Such a photo will never be possible again. That's not a bad thing. -via reddit

(Image credit: W. & D. Downey)

Imagine finding this under the Christmas tree! Redditor trevorda92 took this picture at his office Christmas party where they exchanged secret Santa gifts. The "body bag" contained a Christmas sweater. In this case, the joy of giving and/or receiving a gift is incidental to the drama of the gift wrap. Creative gift wrapping is an art form, as many people go above and beyond to make the concealment extra clever or even deceptive. Sometimes the presentation overshadows the gift itself.

Redditor mowa111 tells us about some gifts his friend wrapped for his wife. The "lamp" on the left is actually a bottle of perfume, and the "chair" hides a sweater. The joke is definitely worth the effort. See a roundup of the strange ways people have wrapped Christmas gifts at Bored Panda. The 30 projects might give you soime inspiration for next year.

I suppose it could have been worse. A group of men dressed as Santa Claus went on their annual pub crawl in Angarrack, Cornwall, UK, Thursday evening. They were riding around in an armored military vehicle somewhat resembling a tank. A complicating factor was that Angarrack is famous for its Christmas lights, and many people were parked along Marsh Lane entering the village, making the road even more narrow than usual. Too narrow for the armored vehicle? Apparently, as the jolly old elves drove into a hedge and became stuck. The entrance to the village was blocked for about two hours before the vehicle was moved. Police were present, but no one was arrested.  -via Metafilter

(screenshot via Ian Jepson)

Noah is a young antelope who dreams of being a truck driver just like his dad. Then he grows up and becomes one, yet it can be a grind at times. But a chance encounter brings those memories back. Luke Bouhuis (FattyDragonite) has been working on the cartoon "Horns" since last summer in his spare time. He says,

Doing this makes me happy. And that I get to share it with an audience that will remember it means more to me that you know.

Check out more of Bouhuis' animation work at YouTube.

The last soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev emerges out of a Soyuz capsule after spending time on the Mir Space Station, March 1992 pic.twitter.com/ISOCnlWGb5

— USSR Pictures (@PicturesUssr) June 20, 2022

There have been some horrible mishaps in space, but we aren't talking about those things right now. Rather, this is about small episodes that ended up funny, sometimes only in hindsight. Like the time cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Aleksandr Volkov manned the Mir Space Station for the glory of the Soviet Union, which collapsed while they were up there. The chaos meant mission control was suddenly in Kazakhstan instead of the USSR, with all the confusion that caused. Russia didn't have the money to bring them home. Well, they are no longer there, so you know that turned out okay eventually. Read that story and four others about goofy shenanigans in space, including two pranks that involved people who shouldn't even be up there. Yeah, there's one about farts, too.   

When the kids get excited about a Christmas visit from Santa Claus, they have a lot of questions. How can Santa visit the whole world in one night? Well, he's not everywhere at the same time. He starts at the International Date Line and works his way westward as the earth rotates. At least we assume as much. You can keep your kids busy today with several sites that track where Santa is at any time from now until he completes his rounds. Keep in mind that he won't visit until all the good little boys and girls in the house are asleep in their beds.

Google has a Santa Tracker online, as they have every Christmas Eve since 2004. The tracker also has links for kids to learn more about the places he visits. The screenshot above was taken in the early morning, so he's no doubt moved on quite a bit by now.

NORAD Tracks Santa was launched by the North American Aerospace Defense Command in 1955, when the agency issued hourly press releases about the unidentified flying object that was eventually identified as Santa Claus. They later had a hotline that kids could call and reports that were aired on radio. I well recall the dispatches, featuring a NORAD radio operator relaying Santa's current location every hour or so. It always ended with a clip of Santa saying "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" The origin story of the program is pretty wild, and keeps changing. Now you can follow Santa Claus online on a map, although it was glitching when I checked it this morning.  

Saint Nicholas was the bishop of Myra, a generous priest who came to figure prominently in the story of Santa Claus. He died in Myra in what is now Turkey in 343 AD. According to the Vatican, he was buried in Myra. So who is buried in the Tomb of St. Nicholas just outside the ruins of St Nicholas Church in Ireland? The church is now part of privately-owned Jerpoint Park near the town of Kilkenny, Ireland, and was a thriving village in the 12th century. Not only does local legend say that Nicholas is buried there, but a large gravestone with his image adorns that grave.   

It turns out that Nicholas is apparently buried in many places. Whether he was actually interred in Ireland or not matters little to the 10,000 or so annual visitors to Jerpoint Park. To determine the truth, the grave would need to be opened and DNA tests done to compare with that of known relatives of Nicholas, who was an orphan. That difficulty aside, the owners of the park aren't about to disturb the grave. Read about the mystery of St. Nicholas' Irish grave at BBC Travel.  -via Fark

(Image credit: Fiddawn)

It happens at this time every year, when you start to see lists of things that happened over the previous 12 months. As we say goodbye to 2022, it's tradition to look back and the best and the worst of everything of the year. The best of those lists give us a chance to laugh all over again.

If you are working on TV in the 21st century, no matter if it's live or not, there will be someone who records every mishap you encounter. If it's funny enough, those catastrophes will spread through the internet virally so that everyone can laugh. People who broadcast the news live every day have to be ready for what will eventually go wrong, and hope when it does they can recover and take it in stride. The compilation above brings back those funny moments when a news broadcast did not go as planned, and the result was comedy gold. Some of them you've seen on Neatorama and are well worth another look, but there are enough to guarantee you haven't seen them all! -via Digg

What your family eats for Christmas is always the right thing, because you've had the same celebratory meal for years and years, and you don't have those foods the rest of the year. For those same reasons, people around the world celebrate Christmas with foods that may be very different. In Texas, it's tamales. In Japan, It's Kentucky Fried Chicken. In eastern Europe, it's a fish that has been swimming in your bathtub for a few days. And the sweets that go along with the holiday vary, too. In Scandinavia, you have to placate a variety of mischievous legendary spirits, so children in Denmark leave out risengrød, a special rice pudding with cherry sauce, almonds, and whipped cream to please the nisse (elves) who may otherwise cause trouble for the household. Read about that and several other Christmas food traditions at Atlas Obscura.

(Image credit: cyclonebill)

Star Trek: The Next Generation aired from 1987 to 1994, with 187 episodes in all. The title of this compilation video is "3 Seconds of Every Star Trek: TNG Episode," which doesn't sound like much fun at all. But that is misleading. What Mason Grime (SentinelOfSomething) did was find the most outlandish line or scene in each episode, completely void of context. Alone, each one is pretty funny. Strung together, they are super weird and make you want to know how on earth they got to that point. Why does broccoli make Geordi nervous? What does Picard find romantic about horses? And while we aren't surprised to hear Worf make physical threats, it turns out that he is very often on the receiving end. -via Laughing Squid

A unique job opening for two people has been posted by East Brother Light Station in California. If you've dreamed about becoming a lighthouse keeper, this opportunity comes with living quarters overlooking both San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay, which is worth more than most jobs pay in itself. The salary is variable, but the last couple who held this position split $140,000 for a year. You also get health benefits and two weeks paid vacation. The downside is in the job description.

Innkeepers must assume the role of maid, boat captain, gift shop attendant, tour guide, host and chef with “high-quality culinary experience” to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner.

***

Additionally, at least one of the innkeepers must have a Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential boat operator’s license, in order to safely ferry guests

You see, East Brother Light Station became a bed & breakfast (with supper) in order to pay for its own maintenance and preservation. Guests pay $475 to $525 a night to stay in one of the tiny island's five guest rooms. So you can see that the job comes with none of the solitude that the title of lighthouse keeper normally implies. After all expenses are paid for both the lighthouse maintenance and the business, the two keepers split what is left. So if you thought board would come with the room, keep in mind yours will come out of the profits. The job application is online. The position is for a two-year term, so be sure you can get along with your partner that long before applying.  -via Fark