Unsure how much you spent during the last holiday season? If you don’t know definitively, there’s a good chance it was more than you bargained for. In fact, according to national polls, consumers spend an average of $750 on holiday gifts and entertainment each year. How do you budget for such a big one-time expense? Our good tidings to you are surefire tips to keep your celebratory spending in check.
1. BUDGET TIME JUST AS YOU DO MONEY.
It goes without saying that creating a spending budget is a key way to stay on top of your personal finances, but also scheduling when you plan to shop—and setting reasonable deadlines—will keep you on target. After all, the longer you wait, the higher the prices will rise and the more desperate you’ll be to buy products at a premium because you’re running out of time.
2. KEEP A RAINY DAY FUND.
It’s common financial sense to have an emergency fund for the unexpected, whether it’s a job layoff, a car repair, or a sudden medical procedure, but it’s also wise to have some funds tucked away for expected, but no less expensive, costs. When moving money into a savings account every month, consider also tucking additional cash away in an easily accessible account for annual birthdays and holidays.
3. CLEAR YOUR CACHE WHEN SEARCHING FOR FLIGHTS.
There are easily thousands of tips for scoring a cheap flight, but unless you want to wake up at 2:32 a.m. on a Tuesday, consider simply erasing your browser history before researching airfare. Many airlines track how many times you visit their sites, and in doing so, provide different offers and deals. The more they see you searching, the higher they’ll raise the prices.
4. CUT THE BOOZE.
It’s a lot less fun, sure, but consuming alcoholic beverages at restaurants and bars is a costly expense in general, never mind during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Not convinced? Consider this: By abstaining from just two glasses of wine or fancy cocktails, you’ll be able to afford one more substantial gift for a friend or loved one.
5. SET YOUR OWN PURCHASING WAITING PERIODS.
Instant gratification is one of the trickiest urges to overcome when trying to stay on budget. Just because it’s easy to find what you are looking for and order it right away doesn’t mean you should. Instead, mandate a waiting period for the bigger purchases on your list or at least double-check return policies.
6. APPLY THE SAME RULES TO YOUR GROCERY LIST.
Holiday spending isn’t just about gifts and decorations—it’s also about entertaining, and those costs add up just as quickly. If you’re baking or cooking for a family gathering, do your best to clip coupons or find other ways to save money on foods and beverages.
7. USE A CASH-BACK CREDIT CARD.
Although the benefits of a rewards card won’t benefit you immediately, it behooves you to shop with one. As long as you’re smart about paying off the balance so you aren’t faced with interest charges, you could save anywhere from 1 to 5 percent on each purchase in the form of either a rebate or a statement credit.
8. PAY WITH CASH.
If, however, you have a history of credit card debt, consider instilling a cash-only policy for all holiday expenses. When it comes time to shop, label envelopes with the name of the gift recipient and put the appropriate amount in each one. That way, there’s no possibility of going over your maximum, even by a few cents.
For the tools and resources you need to take control of your financial future this holiday season and beyond, head to Allstate.com.
Raymond Tomlinson, the man who invented email, died earlier this year. Tomlinson is the man who introduced the @ symbol into our electronic communications. Every time you give someone or something your email address, you are using his invention.
Tomlinson didn’t invent the @: That honor lies somewhere long before he was born. It’s unclear still how the circle found its way around the a, but during the Renaissance the symbol slowly crept into texts as a way to denote how much something cost per unit. So you might see something like: “10 loaves of bread @ 25 pence each.” For hundreds of years, the symbol was mostly used by merchants, and nobody else. Fast forward to 1971, and Tomlinson borrowed the symbol to mean “located at” in an email address. And that’s how we mainly use the symbol today.
If you’re reading this from the United States, you probably know the @ as the “at” symbol. But in other parts of the world, that’s not always how they refer to the little squiggly a. Here are some of the other ways of referring to our friendly email address signifier.
1. ITALIANS SEE A TINY SNAIL.
The Italians call the symbol a chiocciola or a “snail,” to describe its spiral shape.
2. HUNGARIANS SEE A SLIMIER ANIMAL: A WORM.
In Hungarian, the @ is likened to a wiggly earth-eater and called a kukac, which means “little worm” or “maggot.”
3. ARMENIANS THINK THE @ IS A CUTE LITTLE DOG.
They call the @ ishnik or “puppy.”
4. GERMANS HAVE A SPECIFIC MONKEY IN MIND FOR THE @.
German slang call the symbol klammeraffe or “spider monkey,” which is delightfully specific in the way you expect from Germans.
5. THE DUTCH ALSO SEE A MONKEY, BUT A LESS SPECIFIC ONE.
The Dutch have a similar nickname as the Germans: They call it an apestaart or “monkey’s tail.” No specific species this time.
6. IN DANISH YOU GET TWO ANIMALS TO CHOOSE FROM.
In Danish, the @ gets two names, both animal in origin. Sometimes, it’s a grisehale or “pig’s tail.” But most of the time it’s a snabel or “elephant’s trunk.”
7. THE TAIWANESE SEE A MOUSE.
In Taiwanese the @ symbol is called 小老鼠 or “little mouse.”
8. ISRAELIS HAVE FOOD ON THE BRAIN WHEN IT COMES TO THE @.
To Israelis, the @ is often called a שטרודל, or a “strudel,” as in the delicious layered pastry.
9. IN CZECH AND SLOVAK THE @ ALSO POINTS TO FOOD.
In Czech and Slovak, the @ symbol is called a zavináč or rollmops. For those uninitiated, a rollmop is a fillet of pickled herring, rolled up around a savory filling, often olives or pimentos.
10. IN SWEDISH IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SWEET BUNS.
Swedish has a few names for the @, but one of them is kanelbulle or “cinnamon bun.”
11. THE CHINESE SEE THE @ AS FANCY.
The Chinese have a couple of different ways of referring to @ but one of them is 花A or “flowery A.”
12. IN SERBIAN THE @ IS WILD.
In Serbian, the @ has gotten out of hand, and is called лудо А or “crazy A.”
13. VIETNAM HAS TWO NAMES FOR THE @, BENT AND HOOKED.
The Vietnamese have different names for the @ in the northern and southern bits of the country. In the North @ is Acòng or “bent A,” and in the south the @ is Amóc or “hooked A.”
In this vintage episode of Computer Chronicles, Stewart Cheifet takes us on a tour of the best Cyber Cafés. You might ask: “Wait, what’s a Cyber Café?” Well, let me explain: These were places where you could pay an hourly fee to use somebody else’s computer, access the internet, and maybe have some coffee or food. This was back in the day when pretty much nobody had a portable computing device, and lots of people didn’t have an email address (yet).
In the first interview, Cheifet asks the proprietor of one shop, “Is this kind of like Cheers but with terminals? Is that what goes on?” The man responds, “If we could do as well as Cheers, I think we’d do all right.” (Now if you have to ask me what Cheers is, why don’t you go where everybody knows your name?)
Turn the clock back 20 years and enjoy all the wonders 1996 had to offer:
In this incredibly geeky Numberphile video, Dr. Hannah Fry discusses various issues inherent in typical Secret Santa implementations. If you’re not familiar with Secret Santa, it’s a custom in which people within a group (say, an office) anonymously buy gifts for other members of the group. Fry says:
“I think there are two fundamental things that you need for a perfect Secret Santa. One, total anonymity. And two, everyone should have an equal probability of being selected by anybody else. … The normal way you do this—everybody writing their name down and picking it from a hat—fails on both counts.”
Where it gets interesting is her suggestion for how to make it work better. Tune in and geek out:
(Incidentally, the comments on this YouTube video are amusing. Lots of people discuss their own computer-based approaches for the same problem, while others take issue with Dr. Fry’s characterization of a Klein bottle as a poor choice for a gift.)
It’s that time of year again: You’re gathering with friends and family. Wrapping presents. And spiking the eggnog with your favorite yuletide libation. That leaves just one thing: the annual holiday movie marathon. Not sure where to start? How about with this list of fascinating facts about your favorite holiday films.
1. IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE WAS A BOX OFFICE BOMB.
Though it has become a quintessential American classic, It’s a Wonderful Life was not an immediate hit with audiences. In fact, it put director Frank Capra $525,000 in the hole, which left him scrambling to finance his production company’s next picture, State of the Union.
2. A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE A LAUGH TRACK.
In the 1960s, it was standard procedure to lay a laugh track over virtually any half-hour comedy, even if the performers were drawn in (The Flintstones was among the series that used a canned “studio audience” to help cue viewers for jokes). When executive producer Lee Mendelson told Charles Schulz he didn’t see the Peanuts special being any different, the artist got up and left the room for several minutes before coming in and continuing as if nothing had happened. Mendelson got the hint.
3. STANLEY KUBRICK IS PARTLY TO THANK FOR CHRISTMAS VACATION.
Christmas Vacation marked the directorial debut of Jeremiah Chechik, who began his career as a fashion photographer for Vogue then moved into commercial directing. “I had made these commercials that became quite iconic here in the U.S.,” Chechik recalled to Den of Geek! in 2011. “They were very dark and sexy and sort of a little bit ahead of their time in terms of style. And what happened was they gained the notice of [Stanley] Kubrick, who had mentioned them as his favorite American filmmaking, ironically, in a New York Times article.” It didn’t take long for Chechik’s phone to start ringing and for studios to start sending him scripts. “And the script that really piqued my interest was Christmas Vacation,” he said. “And the reason is I had never done any comedy—ever.”
4. NATALIE WOOD STILL BELIEVED IN SANTA WHEN SHE FILMED MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET.
Natalie Wood was eight years old while filming Miracle on 34th Street. “I still vaguely believed in Santa Claus,” said Wood, as recorded in her biography written by Suzanne Finstad. “I guess I had an inkling that maybe it wasn’t so, but I really did think that Edmund Gwenn was Santa. I had never seen him without his beard because he used to come in early in the morning and spend several hours putting on this wonderful beard and mustache. And at the end of the shoot, when we had a set party, I saw this strange man, without the beard, and I just couldn’t get it together.”
5. RALPHIE’S DAD IS NEVER GIVEN A NAME IN A CHRISTMAS STORY.
Over the years, a gaggle of sharp-eared A Christmas Story fans have pointed out that in Bob Clark’s scene, Ralphie’s dad is given a name: Hal. This is because they believed that in the brief exchange between the two neighbors, Swede asks of the leg lamp, “Damn Hal, you say you won it?” But a quick confer with the film’s original screenplay confirms that Swede’s actual query is, “Damn, hell, you say you won it?”
6. “FROSTY THE SNOWMAN” WAS A HIT SONG LONG BEFORE IT WAS A TV SPECIAL.
The song “Frosty the Snowman” was written by Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson in 1950 (with a melody that is strikingly similar to 1932’s “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee”) specifically as a means of capitalizing on the success of Gene Autry’s “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The record wasn’t as huge as “Rudolph,” sales-wise, but Frosty’s story was nevertheless perpetuated via Little Golden Books and Dell Comics.
7. “SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN” WAS ALSO A SONG BEFORE IT WAS A HOLIDAY SPECIAL.
Yet again, the song came first. In this case, way first: J. Fred Coots and Henry Gillespie wrote it in 1932, at a time when sheet music outsold records. The song only received national exposure in the first place because Eddie Cantor, Coots’ employer at the time, reluctantly sang it (at the urging of his wife) on his radio show in late November 1934. Despite the music publishers’ dire warning that songs aimed at children were doomed to fail, Cantor’s performance sent the sheet music for the song flying off retailers’ shelves and inspired countless other popular artists to record it.
8. GREMLINS WAS INTENDED TO BE MUCH, MUCH DARKER.
Though some might contend that Gremlins is a pretty dark film, the original script, written by Chris Columbus, was much, much darker. Case in point: Earlier scenes included the Gremlins eating Billy’s dog then decapitating his mom and throwing her head down the stairs. Producer Steven Spielberg, director Joe Dante, and Warner Bros. were all in agreement that they should tone down the gore in order to make the movie more family-friendly.
9. BILL MURRAY IMPROVISED A LOT OF HIS LINES IN SCROOGED.
In a 1988 interview with Philadelphia Daily News, director Richard Donner discussed Bill Murray’s penchant for improvisation and described the experience of directing Murray as follows: “It’s like standing on 42nd Street and Broadway, and the lights are out, and you’re the traffic cop.”
10. BILL MURRAY WAS THE FIRST CHOICE FOR THE LEAD IN BAD SANTA.
According to The Guardian, Murray was actually in final negotiations to take the lead, until he dropped out to film Lost in Translation. Suffice it to say, it was a win-win for both Murray and Billy Bob Thornton.
11. JIM CARREY WAS INITIALLY EYED TO STAR IN ELF.
When David Berenbaum’s spec script first emerged in 1993, Jim Carrey was pre-Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and attached to front the Christmas film. However, it took another 10 years to get the project in motion, at which time Saturday Night Live star Will Ferrell was signed to star.
12. HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS ALMOST NEVER HAPPENED.
Whereas today’s studios and production companies provide funding for projects of interest, television specials of the past, like A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, had to rely on company sponsorship in order to get made. While A Charlie Brown Christmas found its financier in the form of Coca-Cola, How the Grinch Stole Christmas struggled to find a benefactor.
With storyboards in hand, Chuck Jones pitched the story to more than two dozen potential sponsors—breakfast foods, candy companies, and the like—all without any luck. Down to the wire, Jones finally found his sponsor in an unlikely source: the Foundation for Commercial Banks. “I thought that was very odd, because one of the great lines in there is that the Grinch says, ‘Perhaps Christmas doesn’t come from a store,’” Jones said of the surprise endorsement. “I never thought of a banker endorsing that kind of a line. But they overlooked it, so we went ahead and made the picture.”
13. FOUR PLOT LINES WERE CUT FROM LOVE ACTUALLY.
Director Richard Curtis initially aimed to include 14 love stories in the film. Two were clipped in the scripting phase, but two were shot and cut in post. Those lost before production involved a girl with a wheelchair, and one about a boy who records a love song for a classmate who ultimately hooks up with his drummer. Shot but cut for time was a brief aside featuring an African couple supporting each other during a famine, and another storyline that followed home a school headmistress, revealing her long-time commitment to her lesbian partner.
14. A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL WAS THE FIRST MUPPET MOVIE MADE WITHOUT JIM HENSON.
The man behind the Muppets passed away on May 16, 1990 at the age of 53. The Muppet Christmas Carol debuted on December 11, 1992 with Steve Whitmire taking over Kermit the Frog for Henson. The film is dedicated to Henson and his recently deceased collaborator Richard Hunt, who’d long performed Scooter, Beaker, Janice, Statler, and Sweetums.
15. A HELLISH TRIP FROM NEW YORK TO CHICAGO INSPIRED JOHN HUGHES TO WRITE PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES.
Before he became a screenwriter, Hughes used to work as a copywriter for the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago. One day he had an 11 a.m. presentation scheduled in New York City on a Wednesday, and planned to return home on a 5 p.m. flight. Winter winds forced all flights to Chicago to be canceled that night, so he stayed in a hotel. A snowstorm in Chicago the next day continued the delays. The plane he eventually got on ended up being diverted to Denver. Then Phoenix. Hughes didn’t make it back until Monday. Experiencing such a hellish trip might explain how Hughes managed to write the first 60 pages of Planes, Trains and Automobilesin just six hours.
16. THE PLOT OF THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS WAS INSPIRED BY THE COLLISION OF HOLIDAY STORE DECORATIONS.
In the film’s DVD commentary, creator Tim Burton explains that his childhood in Burbank, California was not marked by seasonal changes, so holiday decorations were an especially important factor in the year’s progression. When it came to fall and winter, there was a melding of Halloween and Christmas in stores eager to make the most of both shopping seasons. This, he claimed, planted the seed for his tale of the king of Halloween intruding on Christmas.
17. THE PUPPETS FROM RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER WERE RECENTLY REDISCOVERED.
When they resurfaced, they did so on Antiques Roadshow in 2006. Well, not all of them—just Santa and Rudolph. A woman who worked for Rankin/Bass had stored them in her attic since at least the 1970s. Prior to that, she let her kids play with them. Rudolph lost his red nose, and let’s not even talk about how Santa lost his eyebrows. The puppets were fully restored after their trip to Antiques Roadshow and have since been displayed at the Center for Puppetry Arts. The new owner hopes the puppets can go on tour so more people can enjoy them.
18. ROBERT ZEMECKIS GAVE HIS CHILDHOOD HOME A SHOUT-OUT IN THE POLAR EXPRESS.
When the conductor says “11344 Edbrooke” near the beginning of the film, he’s referring to director Robert Zemeckis’ actual childhood home in Chicago.
19. THE FBI DIDN’T THINK IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE WAS SO WONDERFUL.
In 1947, the FBI issued a memo noting the film as a potential “Communist infiltration of the motion picture industry,” citing its “rather obvious attempts to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as a ‘Scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists.”
20. A CHRISTMAS STORY GOT ITS SCIENCE RIGHT.
Mythbusters tested whether it was really possible to get your tongue stuck on a piece of cold metal. Guess what? It is. So don’t triple dog dare your best friend to try it.
21. WILL FERRELL REFUSES TO MAKE A SEQUEL TO ELF.
Though the comedian reprised the role of Ron Burgundy for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, he flat out rejected the possibility of bringing back Buddy, even after being offered a reported $29 million. In December of 2013, he told USA TODAY, “I just think it would look slightly pathetic if I tried to squeeze back in the elf tights: Buddy the middle-aged elf.”
22. A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS KILLED THE ALUMINUM TREE BUSINESS.
Aluminum Christmas trees were marketed beginning in 1958 and enjoyed fairly strong sales by eliminating pesky needles and tree sap. But the annual airings of A Charlie Brown Christmasswayed public thinking: In the special, Charlie Brown refuses to get a fake tree. Viewers began to do the same, and the product was virtually phased out by 1969. The leftovers are now collector’s items.
23. HUGH GRANT DID NOT WANT TO DANCE IN LOVE ACTUALLY.
Though Hugh Grant and Richard Curtis had worked together on Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, they had a deep disagreement on how the Prime Minister should be played. Grant wanted it to be a grounded performance and resented Curtis’s push to make the part more whimsical. This came to a head when shooting the dance number, which Grant refused to rehearse. “He kept on putting it off, and he didn’t like the song—it was originally a Jackson 5 song, but we couldn’t get it—so he was hugely unhappy about it,” Curtis explained. “We didn’t shoot it until the final day and it went so well that when we edited it, it had gone too well, and he was singing along with the words!” It was a tricky thing to cut, but the final result with Girls Aloud’s cover of “Jump (For My Love)” speaks for itself.
24. RICHARD DONNER CONSIDERS SCROOGED THE MOVIE WHERE MURRAY BECAME “AN ACTOR.”
Though Scroogedis mainly a comedy, it concludes with Murray’s character being a changed man, who has to deliver a rather dramatic speech in order to make his character’s transformation clear. But director Richard Donner told Philadelphia Daily Newsthat what they witnessed in that pivotal scene was something much greater: “On the last take I saw something happen to Billy. I saw Billy Murray become an actor.”
25. WHEN NEAL IS THINKING ABOUT DEL ON THE TRAIN IN PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, STEVE MARTIN DIDN’T KNOW THE CAMERA WAS ROLLING.
In order to get the new ending he wanted, John Hughes and editor Paul Hirsch went back to look for footage they previously didn’t think would be used. Hughes had kept the cameras rolling in between takes on the Chicago train, without his lead’s knowledge, while Martin was thinking about his next lines. Hughes thought Martin had a “beautiful expression” on his face in that unguarded moment.
26. GIZMO AND STRIPE WERE THE SAME CREATURE AT ONE POINT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GREMLINS.
It was at the suggestion of producer Steven Spielberg that Gizmo’s role in the film grew. Originally, it’s the cute little Mogwai himself who transforms into Stripe the Gremlin. But Spielberg knew that audiences would want to see as much of Gizmo as possible, so he withdrew the idea so that they would appear as totally separate characters.
27. THE GRINCH’S GREEN COLOR WAS INSPIRED BY A RENTAL CAR.
In the original book, the Grinch is illustrated as black and white, with hints of pink and red. Rumor has it that Chuck Jones was inspired to give the Grinch his iconic coloring after he rented a car that was painted an ugly shade of green.
28. IN REAL LIFE, HARRY AND MARV MAY NOT HAVE SURVIVED KEVIN’S ATTACK IN HOME ALONE.
BB gun shots to the forehead and groin? A steaming hot iron and can of paint to the face? A flaming blowtorch to the scalp? The Wet Bandits endure an awful lot of violence at the hands of a single eight-year-old. So much so that neither one of them should have been walking—let alone conscious—by the end of the night. In 2012, Dr. Ryan St. Clair diagnosed the likely outcome of their injuries at The Week. While a read-through of the entire article is well worth your time, here are a few of the highlights: That iron should have caused a “blowout fracture,” leading to “serious disfigurement and debilitating double vision if not repaired properly.” And the blowtorch? According to Dr. St. Clair, “The skin and bone tissue on Harry’s skull will be so damaged and rotted that his skull bone is essentially dying and will likely require a transplant.”
29. DOROTHY PARKER WORKED ON THE SCRIPT FOR IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE.
By the time It’s a Wonderful Life made it into theaters, more than a half-dozen people contributed to the screenplay, including some of the most acclaimed writers of the time, such as Dorothy Parker, Dalton Trumbo, Marc Connelly, and Clifford Odets among them.
30. IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC, BAD SANTA IS CALLED SANTA IS A PERVERT.
Films are known to change names to fit foreign markets. That’s nothing new. However, sometimes its nuance gets a little lost in translation. Case in point: the Czech Republic’s extremely literal, albeit accurate, title.
31. CHRISTMAS VACATION’S COUSIN EDDIE IS BASED ON A REAL GUY.
Randy Quaid borrowed many of Cousin Eddie’s mannerisms from a guy he knew growing up in Texas, most notably his tendency toward tongue-clicking. But Eddie’s sweater/dickie combo? That was an idea from Quaid’s wife.
32. IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER FILMING THAT THE PRODUCERS OF MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET GOT PERMISSION TO USE MACY’S AND GIMBELS’ NAMES IN THE MOVIE.
Despite the fact that both Macy’s and Gimbels figure prominently in the story, the studio took a gamble by not getting the companies to sign off before using their names. According to TCM, the studio made the companies aware they were going into production, but refused to share footage until filming was completed. Luckily, both department stores were satisfied with the final product.
33. JEAN SHEPHERD MAKES AN ON-SCREEN APPEARANCE IN A CHRISTMAS STORY.
If the voice of the man who brusquely informs Ralphie and Randy that the line to sit on Santa’s lap begins about two miles further back than they had anticipated sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the voice of the narrator, a.k.a. Adult Ralphie, who also happens to be Jean Shepherd, the man upon whose short stories the film itself is based. The woman behind Shepherd is his wife, Leigh Brown.
34. RANKIN/BASS WEREN’T THE FIRST TEAM TO ANIMATE FROSTY THE SNOWMAN.
In 1954, United Productions of America (UPA) brought Frosty to life in a short cartoon that is little more than an animated music video for a jazzy version of the song. It introduced the characters mentioned in the lyrics visually, from Frosty himself to the traffic cop. The three-minute, black-and-white piece quickly became a holiday tradition in various markets, particularly in Chicago, where it’s been broadcast annually on WGN since 1955.
35. RUDOLPH HAS A SON NAMED ROBBIE.
At least, he does according to the BBC. They developed three cartoons based on Rudolph’s offspring, but the name of Robbie’s famous dad is never actually mentioned. The plotline tells us that the villain of the series, Blitzen, can’t stand to hear Rudolph’s name. In reality, it’s because the BBC couldn’t get permission to use it (or didn’t want to pay to use it).
People around the world celebrate Advent, the period of time each December where Christians prepare for Christmas and wait for the second coming of Jesus Christ. But if your knowledge of Advent begins and ends with Advent calendars—those Christmas-themed calendars with 24 perforated windows—read on to learn 10 things about Advent.
1. IT ORIGINATED AS A PERIOD OF FASTING.
Advent, from the Latin word adventus, meaning arrival, refers to the arrival of Jesus Christ. Although scholars aren’t sure exactly when Christians began observing Advent, we do know that monks in the 5th century CE began fasting thrice weekly in November, either to prepare for Christmas or Epiphany, during which new Christians were baptized each year. Similar to Lent, in which Catholics fast and pray for 40 days before Easter, Advent encourages Christians to fast so they can focus on repentance and prayer.
2. ITS START DATE MAY VARY.
In most Western churches, Advent begins on the Sunday four weeks before Christmas Day. So depending on the calendar, Advent may start at the end of November rather than beginning of December in some years. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Advent is called the Nativity Fast and usually begins in mid-November, so it lasts approximately six weeks instead of four.
3. IT’S A TIME OF SORROW AND JOY.
During Advent, devout Christians take the time to pray, reflect on the past year, and mourn for the sin and evil in the world. Although Advent is a time of sorrow, it’s also an opportunity to express hope. Christians prepare for new beginnings, look forward to the second coming of Christ, and renew their faith.
4. OBSERVANTS LIGHT CANDLES IN AN ADVENT WREATH.
Representing hope and everlasting light, candles have been traditional symbols of Advent for centuries. On the four Sundays prior to Christmas, most churches light an Advent candle, with each candle corresponding to an anecdote from the Bible. Some Christians also light Advent candles in evergreen wreaths, called Advent wreaths. Depending on the denomination of Christianity, believers may light a fifth candle inside the wreath on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to represent the birth of Christ.
5. VIOLET IS A POPULAR COLOR.
While green and red are typically associated with Christmas, the period leading up to December 25 is all about purples or violets. The candles in advent wreaths are usually violet or purple, churches are decorated with violet, and priests may wear the color in the weeks before Christmas. To Christians, purple represents repentance and fasting, though some denominations use blue or pink instead of violet.
6. CHOCOLATE ADVENT CALENDARS AREN’T THE ONLY ONES WITH LITTLE PRIZES.
Most advent calendars are simple cardboard affairs, and each opened window reveals an illustration of a Christmas-related item such as a reindeer or a stocking. But if you want to inject the countdown to Christmas with more anticipation and excitement, buy an advent calendar filled with chocolate, candy, or other sweet treats. Don’t have a sweet tooth? There are also advent calendars containing 24 LEGO pieces and 24 diamonds.
7. THE THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT IS A DAY TO REJOICE.
On the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday, Christians take a break from repenting to celebrate Christ’s imminent arrival. Churches use rose-colored candles and decorations, and the clergy preach about joy, redemption, and blessings. Christians may pray and reflect on the things for which they’re grateful.
8. IT’S TOO EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS MUSIC.
Although stores and radio stations begin blasting Christmas songs long before Thanksgiving, devout Christians don’t celebrate Advent by singing Christmas music. Instead, they sing Advent-specific hymns, such as “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” and they postpone the Christmas tunes until Christmas Eve.
9. SUNDAYS ARE IMPORTANT.
On each of the four Sundays of Advent, most churches focus on a specific religious topic such as the Prophets, the Messiah, or John the Baptist. Clergy may give sermons and light candles, and Christians spend time both remembering the first coming of Christ and anticipating His second coming. Because Sundays are so important during Advent, some churches don’t allow funeral masses on those days.
10. MOST CHRISTIANS NO LONGER FAST DURING IT.
Today, some devout Christians still fast during Advent, while others simply avoid consuming certain foods such as meat, dairy, or desserts. Still other Christians focus on praying and repentance rather than fasting. In general, current members of Eastern Orthodox churches are more likely to fast than members of Western churches.
In this Canadian Space Agency video, astronaut Chris Hadfield explains the Sokol (“Falcon”) suit. It’s a Russian design first introduced in 1974, and differs from NASA suits. It’s a “rescue suit,” meaning that it’s intended to keep astronauts (okay, cosmonauts) alive in the event of accidental depressurization within a spacecraft—it’s not intended for spacewalks.
Have a look at this brief video:
Now, you might want to compare that with a NASA EVA suit (see the video at How Astronauts Put on Space Suits). While this is a bit of an apples-and-oranges comparison, it’s worth seeing how much easier it is to get into the Sokol suit. This makes sense, given that you’re supposed to wear the thing inside a spacecraft, and it’s not bulked up with all that EVA stuff.
Finally, let’s dig into this delightful little documentary on Chris Hadfield’s training in Russia. We see various aspects of the Russian space program, including Hadfield learning to speak Russian and operate consoles labeled only in Russian. Commander Hadfield is truly a steely-eyed missile man.
In 1976, millions of people saw Network and laughed bitterly at its exaggerated, satirical story of a TV news department’s quest for ratings. In 2016, you watch the movie and realize it’s not a satire anymore. Every outrageous thing it predicts has happened. Was screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky a prophet? Did director Sidney Lumet have a crystal ball? Probably not. At any rate, never mind how mad you are, sit down and take these behind-the-scenes details about one of Hollywood’s most timeless satires, which was released 40 years ago today.
1. THE MOVIE GETS LIGHTER AS IT GETS DARKER (IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING).
On the DVD commentary, director Sidney Lumet points out a strategy that he and cinematographer Owen Roizman used to subtly underscore the movie’s themes. In the beginning, scenes that require anything more than natural light get only the bare minimum: dim lights in a barroom, for example. That’s to emphasize the news being independent, unconcerned about beauty, not “showy.” But as the characters become corrupted, we see more and more artificial lighting, as if the movie itself is becoming vain about its appearance. “Even the camera got corrupted as the movie went on,” Lumet said.
2. PETER FINCH GOT THE PART BY READING A NEWSPAPER.
Lumet was convinced he needed an American actor to play the unhinged TV news anchor. Peter Finch, though a fine actor, was inconveniently British. To prove to Lumet that he could get the accent right, he recorded himself reading an entire issue of The New York Times.
3. THEY USED A REAL TV STATION FOR THE NEWS SEQUENCES—IN CANADA.
The whole film was shot in real offices, apartments, etc., rather than on studio sets, mostly in New York. But for the scenes in the TV control room and Howard Beale’s news show, Lumet and company had to go to Toronto, as there were no TV stations closer that could rent themselves out for the two weeks Lumet needed. (There may have been opposition due to the nature of the film, too.)
4. SHOOTING ON LOCATION MEANT THEY HAD TO FAKE SOME RAIN.
The network offices in the film were real upper-floor offices in a Manhattan skyscraper. The un-fakeable view of a real city outside the windows gave the movie authenticity … but it also meant the weather in the movie was dictated by the weather in real life. That’s why there’s a scene where we see Howard Beale walking in the rain and entering the UBS building soaking wet: it had been raining days earlier when they filmed an office scene that took place right before this one, so they had to use rain machines to make it match.
5. IT RESULTED IN THE FIRST POSTHUMOUS OSCAR FOR A PERFORMER.
Peter Finch’s trophy for Best Actor was awarded 10 weeks after his death, and accepted by his widow, Eletha Finch. Several other posthumous Oscars had been won before, but Finch’s was the first in an acting category. (It remained the only one until Heath Ledger’s Best Supporting Actor win for The Dark Knight.)
6. IT ALSO GAVE US THE SHORTEST OSCAR-WINNING PERFORMANCE.
Beatrice Straight, who plays William Holden’s wife, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress despite appearing onscreen for barely five minutes, almost all of which is in one (very good) scene. Shorter performances have been nominated, but she holds the record among winners.
7. THE WRITER’S IDEAL CAST INCLUDED WALTER MATTHAU, CANDICE BERGEN, AND CARY GRANT.
Paddy Chayefsky’s notes indicated his dream choices, with a few candidates for each major role. As Schumacher, eventually played by William Holden, Chayefsky envisioned Walter Matthau or Gene Hackman. In the Faye Dunaway role, he liked Candice Bergen, Ellen Burstyn, or Natalie Wood. And as the ranting TV newsman Howard Beale (played by Peter Finch), he wanted Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, or Paul Newman (to whom he wrote a letter telling him he was one of “a very small handful of actors” he thought were right for the part).
8. THERE WERE PROMOTIONAL BUMPER STICKERS.
An R-rated adult satire of TV news doesn’t sound like the sort of movie that would have promotional bumper stickers, but Network did. They read “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore,” and MGM distributed 80,000 of them.
9. WALTER CRONKITE’S DAUGHTER IS IN IT.
Kathy Cronkite, whose father is mentioned by name in the film and could be considered one of its satirical targets, plays Mary Ann Gifford, the Patty Hearst-like revolutionary figure that Faye Dunaway wants to make a reality show about. Ms. Cronkite had done some acting, with small roles in a couple of films, but the added irony of casting her in Network undoubtedly helped Lumet make the decision.
10. THE DIRECTOR TOLD FAYE DUNAWAY TO VIOLATE A BASIC RULE OF ACTING.
Lumet hadn’t worked with Dunaway before, but he knew she was a dedicated perfectionist (to use one of the politer terms people have used to describe working with her). She’d want to dive deep into the character of Diana Christensen and really understand what makes her tick. Lumet headed her off at the pass. When they met to discuss it, he said, “I know the first thing you’re going to ask me. ‘Where’s her vulnerability?’ Don’t ask it. She has none. If you try to sneak it in, I’ll get rid of it in the editing room.” Dunaway understood what Lumet wanted: as a satirical figure, it was OK if Diana wasn’t quite realistically human.
11. DUNAWAY AND HOLDEN HAD WORKED TOGETHER BEFORE—AND DIDN’T LIKE THE EXPERIENCE.
Network’s romantic subplot, with the middle-aged and married Schumacher falling in love with the much younger Diana, would be tricky to pull off anyway. Making it riskier was the fact that Holden loathed Dunaway for her behavior on the set of The Towering Inferno, in which they had both appeared. How was it going to work now that they had to play lovers? As it turned out, everyone behaved professionally. Holden got along well enough with Dunaway, and she said of Holden, “I found him a very sane, lovely man.”
Additional Sources: Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies, Dave Itzkoff
Turner Classic Movies
As a recurring feature, we share some amazing Amazon deals we’ve turned up. These items were the ones that were the most popular with our readers during this Black Friday deals week, and they’re still available.
Mental Floss has affiliate relationships with certain retailers (including Amazon) and may receive a small percentage of any sale. But we only get commission on items you buy and don’t return, so we’re only happy if you’re happy. Good luck deal hunting!
Humans have long been interested in developing space colonies, and lately, that’s starting to actually look possible. Silicon Valley giant Elon Musk is one of many tech-industry executives interested in making the leap to other planets.
“History is going to bifurcate along two directions,” Musk said in his recent SpaceX speech about the company’s plans to send crewed missions to Mars. “One path is we stay on Earth forever, and eventually there will some extinction event. The alternative is to become a space-faring civilization and a multi-planet species.”
Whether humanity’s time on Earth is limited by our own bad choices or natural destruction, Musk plans to get to Mars within the next few decades: He optimistically envisions tourists heading to the red planet in the next 20 years, and building a city there with a population of a million by the 2060s.
This may sound great for humans, but what about the Martians?
THE SEARCH FOR LIFE ON MARS
The word Martians summons mental images of H.G. Wells’s gloppy octopi or Bradbury’s golden-skinned humanoids, but the most likely potential life on Mars is microorganisms. While we haven’t yet found any life on Mars, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter did find evidence of liquid water there, one of the most basic requirements for life. And while conditions on the red planet are incredibly harsh, there are similar places on Earth—inside super-hot geysers, deep in ocean vents, and under frozen-solid ice caps—where life has been found in recent years.
“[Microorganisms] are known to thrive in any biotope on Earth, no matter how ‘extreme’ the biotope is. They can withstand high doses of radiation, desiccation, and survive extended periods of starvation,” Alex Probst, a microbiologist at University of California, Berkeley, tells mental_floss. Probst has worked with NASA for almost a decade.
Though Mars may be pretty inhospitable (it has about 17 identified biocidal factors [PDF], which are destructive to life), its environment isn’t uniform; in fact NASA has already designated some parts of the planet as “special regions” which are, according to a paper in the journal Acta Astronautica, “areas that may support Earth microbes inadvertently introduced to Mars, or that may have a high probability of supporting indigenous Martian life.”
NASA already knows that given the opportunity, microscopic Earth life could thrive on Mars: “We test Earth microbes for growth in simulated conditions … there are many Earth microbes that can grow in Mars surface conditions, if protected from UV light (sunburn) and they have enough water and nutrients,” Catharine Conley, the Planetary Protection Officer for NASA, tells mental_floss.
If microorganisms were to be found in one of these special regions, or anywhere on Mars, it would be a huge deal. But the very possibility raises the important issue of keeping Earthling hitchhikers out. We know how problematic (and in some cases, disastrous) invasive species on Earth have been: What would happen to life on Mars if it’s overwhelmed or outcompeted by microbes from Earth before we even have a chance to study it?
PLANS TO SAFEGUARD MARTIAN LIFE …
These are serious enough considerations that NASA has a department dedicated to the issue of contamination, and developing protocols to deal with it. Known as The Office of Planetary Protection (OPP), the headquarters has a whole set of policies for vehicles headed to Mars, including definitions for levels of protection. For example, landers and probes going to Mars but not returning to Earth are category IV, which means they are completely decontaminated before they head out into space. The Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in 2014, was assigned a level IV designation: It was assembled in a clean room, and parts that could be baked at high temperatures were. Missions that will travel to the “special regions” are classified at level IV(a-c), even higher levels of caution. Mars missions where equipment will need to be decontaminated before returning to Earth to prevent bringing anything alien home are categorized at the highest level: V, which so far is theoretical.
All this caution isn’t just to protect creatures only microbiologists could get excited about. “Mars is an environment to which Earth organisms have never been exposed, over the entire known course of our evolution,” says Conley. “Anything that we find out about [these Martian organisms] will tell us about ourselves, and what are the possibilities for living elsewhere,” says Conley. The value of Martian life is hard to nail down, but NASA takes the tack that it’s a good idea to minimize our impact so that we can find out. “The focus of planetary protection is to make sure …the next robotic mission to Mars doesn’t bring something along that might cause problems later,” says Conley.
The scale of Musk’s humans-on-Mars plan is such that some think contamination of the red planet is inevitable. “We have more microbial cells on our body than human cells, so if we go to Mars, so will microbes. And they will spread easily and fast just like on Earth,” says Probst.
… AND LIFE ON EARTH
But like colonizers past, Musk and SpaceX don’t seem concerned about their impact on the places they’re exploring; as Musk said on The Late Show With Steven Colbert in 2015, he’d nuke the red planet’s poles to make it warmer and begin terraforming Mars to make it more habitable for humans.
Moreover, if Musk’s plans succeed, there’s also Earth to worry about. Musk insists that going to Mars shouldn’t have to be a one-way journey, which begs another question: Is there any danger to Earth from the potential life on Mars? Under NASA’s current rules, all of the rocket launchers, fuel tankers, and ships people would travel in would need to be decontaminated before returning to Earth. “We don’t know anything about Mars organisms. If they’re related to us, then we could exchange DNA with unpredictable consequences; and whether or not they’re related to us, they might find parts of the Earth really pleasant to invade,” says Conley.
As private exploration of the solar system expands, these are important questions to keep in mind. NASA’s approach is fundamentally different from Musk’s: “We are committed to exploration of the solar system in a way that protects explored environments as they exist in their natural state,” the agency wrote in a statement following Musk’s statements on Colbert. Considering that SpaceX and NASA will be working together to get us to Mars, we’ll see in coming years whose ideas prevail.
Maybe our biggest lesson from Mars exploration will be understanding how our own planet is “amazingly hospitable,” says Probst. He hopes that in light of Mars’ challenges, “our current life style of consuming all resources on this planet will hopefully change.”
