Surprising Facts About Reindeer
Breaking news: reindeer are real animals! Now that you’ve had your mind sufficiently blown, check out this article for 6 more surprising facts about reindeer.
LiveScience
Mistletoe Shortage
This year, the supply of holiday mistletoe has greatly decreased due to adverse weather events, especially the severe drought in Texas, where large amounts of commercial mistletoe is grown. Whether or not this will lead to a kissing shortage is yet to be known. NYT
Tracking and Calling Santa
Once again, NORAD is teaming up with Google Earth to track Santa on his journey around the world on Christmas Eve. And new this year, thanks again to Google, you can send a personalized call or video from Santa, who not only says the recipient’s name, but allows you to pick out themes like “wizard-style” and to ask for presents such as a pair of jeggings, or a set of front teeth.
Real-life Snow Globe
See the Earth as a real-life snow globe in this animation created by NASA’s Terra Satellite, which shows the Earth’s snow cover over the past decade.
OurAmazingPlanet
Apollo 8 Christmas Message
The live broadcast from the crew of the Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve in 1968. The broadcast was a success, becoming the largest TV event in history at the time, with a half billion people watching.
Top image: NASA’s newly found “cosmic ornament”, a spinning pulsar located in the remains of a supernova in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Image courtesy of NASA