Let 'er Rip

 According to research swearing is actually good for you, it can boost your performance by helping you feel stronger, more focused and disinhibited. The latest research also shows it can be good for your well-being making you let go and realize more potential. It has already been proven that swearing allows people to perform physical challenges like how long they can keep their hand in ice water or how long they can support their bodyweight on a chair push-up exercise. Why swearing is beneficial isn't quite as clear but it is believed that it throws off social constraints and let's us push ourselves harder in different situations. 

Karen and David?

 Some people believe the term "Karen" is gender-neutral and applies to anyone who excessively complains. Despite Gen Z thinking "Jessica" would be a better name that ship has already sailed as Karen caught on in a big way, but the question remains what should a male "Karen" be called? Several names have been kicked around, Greg, Terry, and especially Ken, though Ken got a reprieve after the "Barbie" movie. When all else fails let data help, in this case it was a study of who left the most 1 star reviews and the name that repeatedly appeared was David. Oh, and to set the record straight of the top 10 names on that list only one belonged to a woman, Sarah. Meaning men are more likely to piss and moan than women.  

Tannenbaum III

 Here are the final trees from this years unique trees, enjoy! 

The Wild West Cowboy Tree

The 50's Throwback Tree

The Belle of the Ball Tree

The Hung-From-The-Ceiling-With-Care Tree

The Have-Your-Cake and Eat it too Tree

The Naturalist's Tree 

Chilling Collection

 Another Guinness Record holder, this time for snow globes. The German man first claimed the record in 2002 when he had 6,100 of them, now the collection has almost doubled to 11,000. His collection began in 1984 when a friend gave him a snow globe as a gift, friends continued to gift him snow globes until he realized he could also buy his own. So he traveled the world with his wife hunting down unique additions until he has pretty much maxed out their space. His oldest is from 1889 of the Eiffel Tower, his smallest is a pin that can be worn on clothing and the largest is a lamppost that is taller than he is. 

O Tannenbaum II

 For those of you who missed the first installment of these weird and wonderful Christmas trees just go back to the December 15th post if you want to see the previous trees displayed. 

The Southern Charm Tree 

The Prickly Aunt Tree 

The Steampunk's Inventors Tree 

The Funky Grandma Tree

Always Ready to Play Ball Tree

Go Grannies

 This is one of the best ideas to come down the pike in a long time, Grandma Stands. A man in New York City had a grandma in Seattle who like many older folks, had a lot of useful information and advice to share, so he set up a lemonade stand with a laptop and noise cancelling headphones so people could do just that...talk to his grandma. For six years his grandma continued speaking to thousands of complete strangers until she died in 2018 at 102. The man retired the stand until 2024 when he realized the world still needed some good old fashioned wisdom. Since then the project has become nationwide, in NYC there are 15 grandmas staffing rotating pop-ups all over the city. This is really a win-win since people seeking advice have someone to turn to and the folks giving the advice feel like they have a purpose. 

Slop

 Merriam-Webster have chosen their word of the year for 2025, drum roll please...Slop. Seems kind of anticlimactic but their definition of the word explains the choice. "Slop" in 2025 defines all the AI generated digital content dumped on our screens. Another word that stood out in their lookup data was gerrymander which isn't surprising though the story behind the word is amusing. The word comes from Elbridge Gerry who was vice president to James Madison, Gerry was the one who decided that by redrawing districts more members of his party could get elected. His systems resulted in irregular and oddly shaped districts, including Gerry's home district which looked a little like a newt. Upon seeing the map a member of the opposing party drew feet, wings and a head on Gerry's district and said, "That will do for a salamander!" Another member called out "Gerrymander!" and the term stuck.