We consider a nutcracker shaped like a human to be a Christmas symbol because of Peter Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet The Nutcracker. That's about all that most of us know about nutcrackers. The wooden icon we recognize traces its beginnings to the German mining town of Seiffen.

By the mid 1800s many mines had played out and shut down, and the unemployed miners had to find another means of support. Their woodworking skills, and the increasing use of water-powered lathes, saved their schnitzel. The men began to produce items in quantity—tops and dolls, farm scenes with barns and livestock, Noah’s arks with lines of paired animals, angels and pyramids bearing candles, miners carrying lamps, and the nutcrackers that they had once created only for their own families. The finished pieces were transported by horse cart to markets in Dresden, Leipzig, and Nuremberg, where they sold well and gained a reputation for quality as well as charming simplicity.

According to local legend, Seiffen woodworker Friedrich Wilhelm Füchtner created the prototype of the modern nutcracker in about 1870—a king wearing cavalry dress and a crown reminiscent of a miner’s hat. This inspired other caricatures such as soldiers, forest rangers, and policemen. The nut-cracking function of these ersatz officials symbolized the unpleasantness with which real authority figures often treated the townspeople.

The popularity of those nutcrackers really took off during World War II. Read the rest of the story at Nat Geo Pop Omnivore Blog. Link -Thanks, Marilyn!

(Image credit: Flickr user Hugh Buzacott)

Who says a Christmas tree has to be a tree? Doctor Who fan Lindsey J. Testolin made this Christmas dalek for her tree a couple of years ago. You can see the lights flashing in a video if you like. Link -via Nag on the Lake

Engineers like to think big. Some plan extremely big in order to take on projects like unlimited energy, room for a growing population, or settlements in outer space. Take, for example, Larry Niven's concept called Ringworld.

The idea of rather simple: take most of the planets in the solar system, chew them up, and then turn them into a ring as long as Earth's orbit, as wide as the planet, with 1000 mile high edges to keep the air in. A Ringworld would certainly give you lots of extra space – something on the order of three million earths – and, like Globus Cassus, it would be spun to make fake gravity. You could even make parts of it higher off the surface if you like your air a bit thinner, and if missed days and nights then you could put a row of black squares in an inner orbit to cast shadows.

This is just one of the megastructures you'll see at Dark Roasted Blend. Link

(Image credit: Stephan Martiniere)

A kitten named Jack Tripper was born with no eyes at all. But he doesn't let that stop him from doing what he wants, As far as Jack knows, all cats are like him. Jamie adopted him from a colony of barn cats and Jack adapted to his permanent home just fine.

"He's growing like a weed and every day gets more daring and adventurous! He's comfortable with the entire house now, which means I have to go looking for him if I want him. You can take your eyes off of him for just a second and he's gone, climbing up onto something or grabbing at something he shouldn't be. But he's cute, so it's okay.When I take Jack outside to play in the yard he doesn't just walk around the garden now, he runs everywhere! I have never seen a cat run as fast as him. When he hits something, he just turns around and runs the other way." - Jamie

See more pictures of this handsome kitten at Love Meow. Link -via TYWKIWDBI

by Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Improbable Research staff (Image credit: Flickr user Patricia van Casteren)

Bulls care little about the redness of a matador’s cape. Psychologists have been pretty sure about that since 1923, when George M. Stratton of the University of California published a study called “The Color Red, and the Anger of Cattle.” The full citation is:

“The Color Red, and the Anger of Cattle,” George M. Stratton, Psychological Review, vol. 30, no. 4, July 1923, pp. 321–5.

“It is probable,” Professor Stratton opined, “that this popular belief arises from the fact that cattle, and particularly bulls, have attacked persons displaying red, when the cause of the attack lay in the behavior of the person, in his strangeness, or in other factors apart from the color itself. The human knowledge that red is the color of blood, and that blood is, or seemingly should be, exciting, doubtless has added its own support to this fallacy.”

Professor Stratton, aided by a Miss Morrison and a Mr. Blodgett, conducted an experiment on several small herds of cattle,forty head altogether: a mixture of bulls and bullocks (castrated bulls) and cows and calves, including some who were accustomed to wandering the range and others who lived in barns.

The researchers obtained white, black, red and green strips of cloth, each measuring two by six feet. These they attached “endwise to a line stretched high enough to let the animals go easily under it; from this line the colors hung their 6 feet of length free of the ground, well-separated, and ready to flutter in the breeze.” (Image credit: Flickr user inthesitymad)

The cattle showed indifference to the banners, except sometimes when a breeze made the cloth flutter. Males and females reacted the same way, as did “tame” and “wild” animals. Red did nothing for them.

Farmers seem to have already suspected this. Professor Stratton surveyed some. He reports that “Of 66 such persons who have favored me with their careful replies, I find that 38 believe that red never excites cattle to anger; 15 believe that red usually does not excite them to anger, although exceptionally it may; 8 believe that it usually so excites, though exceptionally it may not; and 3 believe that it always so excites.”

One of those three dissenters described her experience with red-hating cattle: “A lively little Jersey cow whom I had known all her six years of life, chased me through a barbed wire fence when I was wearing a red dress and sweater, and never did so before or after. I changed to a dull gray, and reentered the corral, and she paid no attention to me, and let me feed and water her as usual. Also a Durham bull whom I had raised from a calf, and was a perfect family pet, chased me till I fell from sight through some brush when I was wearing the same outfit of crimson.”

More typical, however, was the farmer who told Professor Stratton: “In referring to the saying, ‘Like waving a red rag before a bull,’ I have found that to wave anything before a bull is dangerous business.” (Image credit: Flickr user Multimaniaco)

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This article is republished with permission from the July-August 2008 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift!

Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

The following is an article from Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader.

You probably don't give Santa a second look when you see him in a department store or on a street corner every December ...but maybe you should.

SANTA COPS

By December 2001, Mafia fugitive Francesco Farina had been on the run from Sicilian police for more than five years. Holed up in what he thought was a great hideout -a flat in downtown Catania- Farina was able to look out his window and see whether the cops were closing in on him. But all he saw were the regular assortment of Christmas shoppers, schoolchildren, and a Santa Claus ho-ho-hoing on the street corner. A few days before Christmas, thinking that the coast was clear, Farina decided to go out on the town. Bad idea: the guy in the red suit wasn't Santa after all. A succession of surveillance cops dressed as Santa had kept their eyes on Farina, who ended up spending Christmas in jail.

SANTA'S FISTS OF FURY

An unidentified Santa was cruising down a LeHigh Acres, Florida street in his convertible when he was approached by 20-year-old Jonathan Danzey, who asked Santa for a present. Informed there was nothing for him in Santa';s sack, Danzey got angry. Words were exchanged, Santa got out of the car, and Danzey tried to punch him. According to Katherine Phillips, who witnessed the altercation, "Santa Claus whipped his butt." He ripped Danzey's shirt, knocked him to the ground, then drove away.  The cops soon arrived and arrested Danzey on drunk and disorderly charges. "He won, " Danzey conceded, "but he was stronger and more soberer."

SANTAS ON THE RUN




One of the oddest sights in the history of sports took place in Newtown, Wales, in December 2002. More than 1,000 runners -both male and female- participated in a four-mile race for charity ...all dressed in full Santa Claus garb: black boots, red pants, red coat, and a big white beard. Said one of the runners: "It's a lot easier to run in a Santa suit than to try to hold a normal conversation in one."

SANTA PROTESTORS

What if Santa were banned from Christmas? That's what they tried to do in the small town of Kensington, Maryland in 2001. Some of the townspeople complained that it made them feel uncomfortable having a "religious figure" participate in the annual tree-lighting ceremony, so the town fathers decided to ask Santa to stay home. Unfortunately, not everyone in town agreed with the decision. Result: 50 Santas showed up and marched on City Hall. Pro- and anti-Santa factions clashed; one Santa was arrested.

SANTA MELTDOWN

Shortly before Christmas in 1999, Kelley Fornatoro placed her 19-month-old son next to Santa for a holiday portrait in a Woodland Hills, California shopping mall. The baby immediately started crying. So Fornatoro suggested that Santa put his arm around the boy to calm him down. That's when Santa had a fit of his own. "I will not imprison your child!" he yelled at her. "Was it worth it for you to torture your child for a picture? You must be an evil person." As Fornatoro retrieved her baby, she said she'd be filing a formal complaint. "You can complain about me if you want, but I am Santa Claus. I am the best person in the world!" Then he got really mad. While parents rushed to cover their shocked children's eyes, Santa began undressing. He took off his hat, beard, wig, coat, and belt, and was down to his red, baggy pants and a tank top when security guards escorted him out of the building.

THE SANTA

In a quest to find Great Britain's ultimate Santa, organizers at Guinness World Records sponsored the first-ever "Santathon" in December 2001. The event included a field of eight top contenders donned in full beards, red suits, and black boots. Competitive events included sack-hauling, pie eating, chimney climbing, stocking filling, and ho-ho-hoing. First prize was awarded to David Broughton-Davis, 43, from Croydon, a professional department store Santa. "I'm not very proud to admit that my best event was eating three large mince pies," Broughton-David lamented after being awarded the Golden Boots trophy. "I just wish that event hadn't taken place before the chimney climb. It was hard on the stomach."

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The article above was reprinted with permission from Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader.

Since 1988, the Bathroom Reader Institute had published a series of popular books containing irresistible bits of trivia and obscure yet fascinating facts.

If you like Neatorama, you'll love the Bathroom Reader Institute's books - go ahead and check 'em out!

Isle of tune is a music sequencer that's as visual as it is aural. You build a virtual roadway and line it with objects that make sounds as your cars drive past them. It could be fun to build, but I never got past watching the landscapes that others have built. They can be quite hypnotic! Link -Thanks Jim Hall!

Use this handy chart from Randall Munroe of xkcd (or better yet, memorize it) to become a whiz at tic-tac-toe! The chart shown for "x" should be used when you have the first turn. The red x is your response for the various scenarios. At the site you'll find a second chart for "o" which is what you use if you have the the second turn. Link -via The Daily What

It's time for the Name That Weird Invention! contest. Steven M. Johnson comes up with all sorts of wacky inventions in his weekly Museum of Possibilities posts. Can you come up with a name for this one? I can't even figure out what it's for! The commenter suggesting the funniest and wittiest name will win a free T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Contest rules: one entry per comment, though you can enter as many as you like. Please make a selection of the T-shirt you want (may we suggest the Science T-shirt, Funny T-shirt, and Artist-designed T-shirt categories?) alongside your entry. If you don't select a shirt, then you forfeit the prize. Good luck!

Update: We have winners! A difficult selection, with many entries and many good entries, and ultimately Foosnark rose to the top with arBra, a clever palindrome. old_joe came in second with the Dance Enhancer. Both win t-shirts from the NeatoShop!

NPR's Robert Krulwich posted last week about comparing sizes. He was surprised to find out how small an area the Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wandered when they made the first moon landing in 1969.

Armstrong's longest, boldest walk took him about as far as Joe DiMaggio used to jog every inning — from home plate to about mid-center field. That's like walking about a block from your hotel's front door. Who knew?

Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong doesn't do many interviews, so it was a surprise when he wrote to Krulwich to respond.

It is true that we were cautious in our planning.   There were many uncertainties about how well our Lunar module systems and our Pressure suit and backpack would match the engineering predictions in the hostile lunar environment.   We were operating in a near perfect vacuum with the temperature well above 200 degrees Fahrenheit with the local gravity only one sixth that of Earth.  That combination cannot be duplicated here on Earth, but we tried as best we could to test our equipment for those conditions.

There's a lot more you can read at NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/12/08/131910930/neil-armstrong-talks-about-the-first-moon-walk -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!

Thomas Cane patented a device in 1996 that will alert children to the presence of Santa Claus. If someone trips the sensor disguised as a ribbon across the fireplace, lights in the stockings will be triggered, giving proof that Santa came through the hearth! One would think the appearance of candy in the previously-empty stockings might be proof enough. Link -via the Presurfer

Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal posted a series of methods your cat will use to get your attention while you are surfing the web. Cat owners will not be surprised by what finally works! Link -via Digg

(YouTube link)

Brian Kidd, also known as the Unipiper of Portland, Oregon was the very first entry in the GTFO contest earlier this year. He set the bar pretty high when we publicized the contest by showing the video where he played the Star Wars theme on pipes while riding a unicycle. He ended up winning second place in that contest.

Skip forward to December. The Unipiper planned and made a special Christmas greeting video for Neatorama! While in the process, he was spotted by SterlingBreed, who recorded Brian riding and playing in Portland on his phone and uploaded the video. In a bit less than 48 hours, that video went viral and racked up almost 100,000 views. Several people sent it to me, but I wanted to check out whether it was the same bagpiping unicyclist who entertained us back in the summer. I should have known, of course -how many could there be?

I asked if he wanted to add anything to this post, and Brian says he wants to thank everyone who supported him in the GTFO contest. Thanks, Brian, and Merry Christmas!

(YouTube link)

Simon's Cat discovers the wonderful Christmas tree with all the cat toys hanging from it. You knew this one was coming sooner or later. Link

College Humor has a collection of science fiction stories done up as children's books. I liked Goodnight Dune the best, but you really need to see Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Who. http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1811404 -via mental_floss