Mid-Week Mellow

Time to be cool AND merry.


First, some Christmas music. Enjoy some "Jingle Bells"- in Arabic.


Factoids about "A Charlie Brown Christmas".


Apparently, reindeer really do have red noses:

Now, just in time for Christmas, a group of researchers from the Netherlands and Norway have systematically looked into the reason for this unusual coloration for the first time. Their study, published yesterday in the online medical journal BMJ, indicates that the color is due to an extremely dense array of blood vessels, packed into the nose in order to supply blood and regulate body temperature in extreme environments.

“These results highlight the intrinsic physiological properties of Rudolph’s legendary luminous red nose,” write the study’s authors. “[They] help to protect it from freezing during sleigh rides and to regulate the temperature of the reindeer’s brain, factors essential for flying reindeer pulling Santa Claus’s sleigh under extreme temperatures.”

And it wouldn't be Christmas without giant robots. What? It wouldn't.