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Mateo, a child, sits at a debate table opposite an empty chair. He’s surrounded by twenty Santa Claus Deniers, each holding a red flag.

MATEO: My name is Mateo, I’m six years old, and Santa Claus is real.

The sound of a countdown can be heard, “3…2…1… ding.” Several Santa Deniers dive toward the empty debate chair. Santa Denier 1 arrives first.

SANTA DENIER 1: Hi. Okay, I just… with everything we know, how can you still think Santa is real?

MATEO: Well, every Christmas morning, there are REAL presents under my tree FROM Santa.

SD1: But you know it’s not Santa putting those there.

MATEO: Who else would it be?

SD1: Your parents, obviously.

MATEO: But every year, my friend Liam wakes up at his house, and there are presents under his tree from Santa too.

There’s more than what meets the eye in a color-swapping insect

The post These Butterflies Change Visual Systems with Seasons appeared first on Nautilus.

But the moon’s slushy interior could still harbor pockets of life-sustaining water

The post Titan May Not Host a Massive Ocean After All appeared first on Nautilus.

Like a name dropper at a party, Donald Trump likes to associate himself with famous forerunners. In his inaugural address in January, it was the 25th US president, William McKinley. Earlier this month, he issued what he called the ‘Trump corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine on the 202nd anniversary of the fifth president asserting US […]

I am somewhat of a hot chocolate maven. I normally consume this winter-wonderful drink through powdered packages and hot water, and I know my way around the myriad packages in my local grocery aisle. You could say I am a bona fide Swiss Mistress.

As I was scrolling through the internet one day, I came across The Grinch Hot Chocolate Bomb from Williams Sonoma. I like to avoid cooking at all costs, and I normally do not patronize stores like WS (I’m assuming this is what kitchen people call it), but I couldn’t resist this quirky little drink that is probably also a children’s activity. The picture on the WS website featured the idyllic outcome of The Grinch Hot Chocolate Bomb. “Oh, I’ve got to try this,” I murmured to my screen. I hit “add to cart” and waited in anticipation for three to five days.

I unboxed my new treasure and enthusiastically inspected the packaging. The bomb itself is a tennis-ball-sized head of the Grinch (and the same hue), taunting you with his cheeky eyes and about seven different artificial colors. It boasts a filling of marshmallows that will float like clouds to the top of your mug. Oh, we’re in for a magical time!

By awarding its peace prize to Trump’s favorite Venezuelan opposition figure, pro-war coup plotter Maria Corina Machado, the Nobel Committee contravened the principles enshrined in its founding documents, as well as Swedish law, Julian Assange alleged in an explosive brief reviewed by The Grayzone. The Swedish government violated its own laws by awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado, according to an explosive legal brief filed by Julian Assange, the Wikileaks co-founder and former political […]

The post Julian Assange: Sweden broke own laws with Nobel Prize to Venezuela’s Machado first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Julian Assange: Sweden broke own laws with Nobel Prize to Venezuela’s Machado appeared first on The Grayzone.

Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.

Why has the ‘learning styles’ theory persisted without any evidence? And what do we actually know about how we learn?

- Video by Veritasium

Watch on Psyche

Two women – one aged 35, the other 102 – become friends. This is what the road trip they can’t take would look like

- by Aeon Video

Watch on Aeon

In my therapy office, I’ve found that to live with greater purpose, we must think differently about where it comes from

- by Ross White

Read on Psyche

As the freedom flotilla made its way towards Gaza in October, a former Taylor Swift fan posted on Threads that Swift is so wealthy she could have sent her own flotilla to break the siege and deliver aid. Other fans responded that this is not Swift’s job: she’s a pop star, not a politician; she […]