Category: Various

Christmas orange tradition

  The orange became part of Christmastime tradition in the 19th century, in concert with the rise of hanging stockings near the fire. According to Emily Spivack, who wrote about the origin of the...

The best Christmas destination in Europe

Tallinn, the beautiful, medieval capital of Estonia, on the Baltic Sea, has been chosen as the #1 European Christmas Destination 2019, by more than 208,000 global travelers from 106 countries who voted over the...

The legend of panettone

A slice of panettone and a flute of champagne (or prosecco)… there is no more Italian way to wish a happy holiday season. It’s a ritual in many homes where panettone is a welcomed...

Krampus exmplained

When listening to the radio in December, it’s unlikely to hear holiday songs singing the praises of Krampus: a half-goat, half-demon, horrific beast who literally beats people into being nice and not naughty. Krampus...

Alice Elizabeth Doherty

Alice Elizabeth Doherty was one of the most fantastic American freaks of all time, the only known person born in the United States with the exceedingly rare condition hypertrichosis lanuginosa or “dog-faced” hypertrichosis. Nevertheless...

Sam ate a slug, became paralyzed and died

In 2010, 19-year-old Sam, an avid rugby player, was drinking with Jimmy Galvin and several more of his Australian “mates” when a slug began crawling across Galvin’s concrete patio at his home in Sydney....

2018 Nikon Small World competition

Microphotography has come along way since Nikon staged the first Nikon Small World competition in 1974. Finalists in 2018 harnessed a dizzying array of photographic techniques to achieve the spectacular results displayed here. A full-colour calendar...