Happy New Year!

Out with the old, in with the new, right?

I'm a big fan of Emily Yoffe's Human Guinea Pig column for slate.com. Though she most recently became a historical re-enactor on a "Colonial Farm," other columns have seen her become a drag king, compete in a Mrs. America pageant, and work at a day care.

I mention this because it's the New Year and people will be coming up with their resolutions (what'd I say about traditions and this holiday?) and before you go with a predictable "lose 10 pounds" or "eat more black eyed peas" or whatever, I thought this might provide some inspiration to try new things.

Maybe not dressing up as a drag king new things (though, if so, go for it) or trying to win a pageant new things, but new things nonetheless.

Ideas, from A to Z

I love the NYTimes' Year in Ideas series.

This year, their eighth alphabetized list in a row, included 53 ideas.

My faves:

Airbags for the elderly (to prevent injuries from falling, a motion detector vest inflated at the hips and neck)

The Biomechanical Energy Harvester (which attaches to a person's knee and collects energy as they walk)

The cloth car (basically just that, a model from BMW)

The dog-poop DNA bank (it's exactly what you think it's for — to ferret out non-pooper scoopers!)

Mini-cattle (more efficient than their heavier cousins)

Upside-down demolition (starting at the bottom and working their way up)

Vending machines for crows (okay, I haven't read this one yet, but it sounds interesting)

and, unfortunately,

Women in Power are Set up to Fail (Two British researchers found evidence of what they called "the glass cliff," an invisible form of prejudice in which people will only give women a position of power if there is a strong chance of failure. They say the idea also applies to minorities.)

Anyway, if you have a chance to give it a look, it's really fascinating. A little out there at times, but fascinating nonetheless.

Holiday Cheer

I was watching Rudolph the other day — the one with Burl Ives, tho I don't know if there's another one — and something struck me: What's up with the female reindeer?

When Rudolph first goes to reindeer training, Rudolph's new friend (Rocket? Maybe?) explains what the reindeer games are and says it's a great time to show off in front of the does. Because, of course, the does don't get to do any flying or gaming of their own; they just stand on the sidelines, watching.

Rudolph's poor mother doesn't even have her own name! They just call her Mrs. Donner.

But now wildlife experts at Texas A&M University are saying that Dasher and Dancer, as well as all the others, Donner and Rudolph included, were probably female:

"'Santa's reindeers were really females, most likely,' said Alice Blue-McLendon, a veterinary medicine professor specializing in deer who cites the depictions of Santa's helpers with antlers as the primary evidence. It turns out reindeer grow antlers regardless of gender, and most bulls typically shed their fuzzy protrusions before Christmas.

But Santa's sleigh helpers might also be castrated males, known as steers, said Greg Finstad, who manages the Reindeer Research Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks."

Finstad said sledders often use steers because bulls are typically tuckered out from rutting season — when they mate with as many as a dozen does — in the months leading up to Christmas.

Read more here.

For those who don't celebrate Christmas, here is a nice little story about potato pancakes. Seven pounds of potato pancakes, that is.

A 23-year-old mechanical engineering student recently ate 46 latkes in eight minutes to win a Long Island deli contest:

"Pete Czerwinski says he'd never eaten a latke before consuming about seven pounds of them Sunday at Zan's in Lake Grove. The Toronto bodybuilder says he's just 'a power eater' whose brain never signals that he's full, according to the Long Island daily Newsday.

Association of Independent Competitive Eaters Chairman Arnie Chapman says Czerwinski demolished the contest's previous record of 31 latkes, set in 2006."

Yum.

Naughty vs. Nice

With Santa making his rounds tonight, I was just thinking about who might be on his naughty list.

I was going to post my predictions about such a list, but then I thought, if I do, I'll surely end up on the naughty list myself. (And there's no guarantee I'm not already there!)

Y'all have any thoughts?