All I want for Christmas is…a painting of a mouse riding a lobster.

Christmas cards during the Victorian Era tended to be rather unusual, reflecting an offbeat sense of humor before Christmas iconography had solidified into what it is today.

Let’s shake this tree down. 🧵⬇️ Queen Victoria, whose mother and husband were born in Germany, is credited with bringing German holiday traditions like Christmas trees and card-giving to England in the 1830s.

The Michelin company is responsible for both rubber tires and restaurant guides.

How they got there is an interesting trip. 🧵⬇️ The tire company was founded in 1888 by the Michelin brothers, André and Édouard, in a small French town.

At that time, there were fewer than 3,000 cars in France, total.

This begged the question: How do you sell tires when no one is driving?

Tomatoes: from enemy to bff

The tomato, which was first grown, consumed, and named by the Aztecs, had a dangerous reputation among Europe and American colonies for many years before it was considered safe to eat. 🧵⬇️ In the 16th century, when the fruit was first brought to Europe by Spanish and Portuguese colonists, it was not welcomed with open arms.

The color red, seen as sinful and supernatural, kicked the tomato’s reputation off to a rocky start.

The latest update to ChatGPT allows users to generate images in the iconic style of Studio Ghibli.

Studio Ghibli co-founder Miyazaki Hayao has raised concerns over AI-generated art as well as general unauthorized editing of his work in the West. 🧵⬇️ In 1984, Miyazaki Hayao made his second feature film, “Kaze no tani no Naushika” (“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”), which was based on his own popular manga strip.

The following year he, Takahata Isao, and producer Suzuki Toshi established Studio Ghibli.

Bow down:

Spiders, octopi, and certain snails, while not kings and queens, actually bleed blue.

So what makes them so royal? One of the main functions of blood is to carry oxygen around the body. 🧵🔽 In mammals, the oxygen is carried around by a molecule called hemoglobin, which includes iron.

This molecule absorbs all colors of light but reflects red.

Hence: red blood.

Encyclopædia Britannica will continue to use ‘Gulf of Mexico’ for a few reasons:

-We serve an international audience, a majority of which is outside the U.S.

-The Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water, and the U.S.’s authority to rename it is ambiguous.

🧵⬇️ -It has been called the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ for more than 425 years.

But it’s important to note the distinction between international and domestic areas.

Should the penny stay in circulation?

Pros vs Cons

Pro #1
Preserving the penny keeps consumer prices down and avoids harming low-income households.

The U.S. Federal Reserve found that minorities and low-income people are more likely to use cash than credit cards. Raymond Lombra, professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University, says the extra rounding charges would exceed $600 million annually and would “be regressive, affecting the poor and other disadvantaged people groups disproportionately.”

For the next hour this is strictly a Moo Deng fan account.

Since we can’t think about anything else, join us as we do a deep dive on the wonder that are Pygmy Hippos. Pygmy hippos are one of two species in the family Hippopotamidae. Unlike your standard large Hippopotamus, the Pygmy Hippo is more adapted for land (less webbed toes, longer legs).

This is beneficial to us because it’s easier to see Moo Deng when she’s out of the water.

Forget Iceland or Bali, real travel influencers go to Poyais.

It’s so exclusive it doesn’t even exist!

The story of this fake country starts in 1822 with a man named Gregor MacGregor (real name). MacGregor was a Scotsman who rose to the rank of general in the war for Venezuela’s independence from Spain.

After the war, he succeeded in convincing aristocrats in London that he was a war hero.

(Narrator’s voice: he wasn’t.)