8
POPSSanta Claus 'buried in Ireland' It is thought that the man who inspired the tradition of leaving presents under a Christmas tree, came from a wealthy family and he is believed to have given much of his fortune away. Early pilgrims visited the cathedral in Myra to pay their respects to the bishop. The bishop was originally buried at a local church in Myra, in modern day Turkey, when he died. Historians now believe his body was later moved to the abbey in Ireland by early crusaders. “St Nicholas Church is still standing and there is a slab on the ground which marks St Nicholas's grave,” he said. Few locals know of the much-loved figure’s link with Kilkenny. “It is an amazing story and yet very few people in Ireland know about St Nicholas's connection with this country,” he said. “Every year now we get visitors to the site, but still not that many.” i
5
POPSSanta Claus vs. Krampus... TO THE DEATH! (By yours truly) More: These stories involve strong language, violence, sexuality, drug use both recreational and spiritual, and fairy-tale subjects on the darker side of the "Bruno Bettelheim" scale , the ones where bad & lazy servants gets tarred and feathered, and the wicked are forced to dance themselves to death wearing red-hot iron shoes. Disney has been driven from the building. This page will serve as a central list for links to the the collected stories as I finish them and their links go live. Not sure how many it's going to take, but I know how it ends for sure. I also, from time to time, blog about the writing process . As with any journey, getting there is most of the fun. Hope you'll take this one with me. As with any journey, getting there is most of
4
POPSThe Namahage: Japanese New Year's devils scare the laziness out of children
More: The head of the household will try to appease the devils with a specially prepared meal accompanied with sake. He assures them that no one has been lazy in his household. Then the Namahage, seeing all from their mountaintop, look into their secret book which records the doings of every household and challenge that statement. The head of the household again promises that all have been obedient and hard-working and pleads with the devils not to take his wife and children into the mountains. It takes considerable effort to control these devils with their strong work-ethic. As the negotiations drag on, the head of the household offers more sake… while begging that his wife and child not be taken away. Eventually the Namahage relent placated by the offerings and the sincerity of the head of the household. They bless the next year's harvest and wish good health to all the members of the household. As the Namahage leave, they promise (or rather threaten) to return next year.
3
POPSCyclists are not a menace More: You might say that even if we’re not a menace to other vehicles, we’re a menace to pedestrians. But again the figures don’t stand that up. Cyclists make up about 1 per cent of the traffic in London, and they also cause 1 per cent of the traffic injuries to pedestrians – almost exactly in proportion with their numbers. The injuries they cause are also, as you’d expect, disproportionately at the lower end of the scale. The fact is that only a minority of cyclists indulge in the arrogant behaviour towards pedestrians which gets us a bad name. I would have no problem with a motion that says some cyclists are a menace. But tarring us all with the brush of a minority would be like supporting a motion that says Muslims are a menace. It would be outrageous.”
6
POPSKrampus Runs: Harmless fun, or mysogynist assault? This year the Krampus debate intensified when a nine-year-old was set upon by three young Krampuses and so was so traumatized that she was reportedly afraid to return to school... The incident has heated the annual Krampus debate, with each camp growing increasingly shrill. One side holds that the "Krampus runs," as the random assaults are called, are good clean fun, the sort of local color that makes Salzburg charming and quaint, that Krampuses can be avoided by keeping off the streets between four and eight p.m., and that, in fact, most women enjoy being knocked around a bit by these burly beasts. The other side decries these assaults as blatantly sexist, misogynist exercises that have no place in modern society. "It is the only place in Europe where it is acceptable to beat women in public," a Salzburg women told me.
15
POPSPro-Rape Republicans "embarassed" by Franken's anti-rape bill So let's recap: -Franken proposes a bill amendment that says mercenary companies fighting our wars for us can't force their female employees into rigged arbitration (rather than civil court) when they get gang-raped by their co-workers. -The pro-rape Republicans vote against it. Okay, I'll give them that they were voting for their corporate masters, but their corporate masters are interested in sweeping employee-on-employee gangrape under the rug. -The pro-rape Republicans think Franken is rude and inappropriate for forcing them to show their true colors to the public. Why not stand up and defend your votes, Repiublicans? Ten of your party sided with Franken against letting corporations sweep rapes and assaults under the rug. I think a lot of people who dismiss Franken as a clown are going to come to understand that's he's actually a very smart, well-read policy wonk who is also funny.
13
POPSGeorge Washington's Hemp Crop The father of our country had painful wooden teeth. And cannabis is a potent painkiller found in traditional medical practices the world over going back thousands of years. Fiber hemp farmers don't separate the male from female plants. Marijuana farmers remove the male plants (which display their sex first) before they fertilize the females so that the females then produce lots of THC. Fertilized female plants produce very little THC, putting their energy into making seeds instead. Male plants produce almost no THC. I'm just sayin...
3
POPSHarvard study: Computers don't save hospitals money More; Himmelstein said that only a handful of hospitals and clinics realized even modest savings and increased efficiency -- and those hospitals custom-built their systems after computer system architects conducted months of earch. He pointed to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Latter Day Saints Hospital in Salt Lake City and Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis as facilities with some success in deploying efficient e-health systems. That's because they were intuitive and aimed at clinicians, not administrators. Programmers of the successful systems told Himmelstein that they didn't write manuals or offer training. "If you need a manual, then the system doesn't work. If you need training, the system doesn't work," he said.
4
POPSGen X: "Hello... we're still here!" Anyone born between 1961 and 1981 needs to read 13th Gen: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? . We've been told since we were kids that we were a stupid, lazy, violent generation, destined to be the first not to do better than our parents. And now we're getting ignored at the workplace , while everyone worries about the aging boomers and the upcoming "entitlement generation" (Although I prefer to call them "Generation Veal"), the 13th generation to call ourselves Americans gets shunted to the side.
15
POPSA couple of "SHUT THE FUCK UP"s for your Thanksgiving morning CONTINUED: Did you slaughter the turkey, cut it's throat and let it go from living animal to dead animal in front of you, drain it of blood, scoop out the shit and entrails from it's carcass,and yank all the feathers from it's dead skin? Or did you just turn on your gas-burning cage, drive to the supermarket, and pick up a plastic-wrapped ball of meat-&-bone without a face or feet? Shut the fuck up about the mela. Your hypocrisy sickens me. Enjoy your dinner. But shut the fuck up while you do it.
8
POPSBarbara Ehrenreich: Our Maniacal Optimism Is Ruining the World Realists of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose by the moronic, Panglossian smile off the optimist's face, and the dour, everything-sucks, soul-sucking eyore-ism of the pessimists. I particularly like Ehrenreich's take on why the poor should feel guilty for their poverty. More Ayn Randian bullshit , and she's right to call it bullshit.
12
POPSThe "Twilight" Saga: Textbook abusive relationship more: And this movie is the one that made $140 million bucks in one weekend. Bigger than Dark Knight. Maybe it's just that I'm older and (hopefully) wiser than the characters and thus out of this movie's target demographic, or maybe I'm a humorless feminist, but knowing that zillions of girls are seeing this getting the idea that a seriously unhealthy relationship is somehow the equivalent of true love -- that is profoundly disturbing. Far scarier than a werewolf.
1
POPSRunning Doc: PLEASE "do the aspirin"! More: Now, it's true that one case doesn’t prove anything. The International Marathon Medical Directors Association is meeting in March 2010 to develop a multi-city, multi-country research project. It may be that all runners develop high serum myoglobins, since they clear quickly (sometime within one day) -- but they also interact in the body, creating a cascade of other inflammatory elevations that may be markers of risk and may help us to get a better handle on SCD. As Dr. Siegel says: “Like the runner herein, these SCD victims during races can be saved. But wouldn't it make even more sense to try to prevent the SCD's in the first place? Taking aspirin may just do the trick." You can help us make this research project "smarter." If you happen to visit your doctor within 24 hours after finishing a full or half-marathon, please bring a copy of this post with you, record the information below, then e-mail the results to us
2
Clips
Latest Pops
Latest Comments
Most Pops
Tags
Print
Save
Turn on live update