The *Nixed Report

Yesterday was Christmas Day.  Though there has been much discussion and debate over the true origin of the holiday, the most well known figure of modern day Christmas is none other than Santa Claus.

While there is plenty of information on the history of this classic figure, it turns out that Coca Cola was the company that popularized the modern image of the big jolly guy in the red suit with white fur.

The soda company wanted a way to market their products during the winter, which was the slowest during the 1930’s.  When Haddon Sundblom was commissioned in 1931 to create a modern depiction of St. Nick for advertising purposes, they got the imagery they wanted; a larger than life figure that was realistic at the same time.

With that said, what holiday do you celebrate in December?  Feel free to sound off in the comments below.  😉

Many have had those dream careers in mind growing up.  Some wish to be in the military.  Others wish to be emergency workers.  Blake Tarrants wants to become a sports broadcaster.

He’s a senior at Blue Springs High School who broadcasts various games like basketball over the radio.  He knows the stats, the moves that the players make, and much more.

By the way, he’s blind.

The lesson for today is to never give up on one’s dreams, no matter the obstacles.  If Blake Tarrants can pull it off, then the sky’s the limit when it comes to dreams.

With the advances made in technology and social media, blunders are bound to occur.  This one happens to have occurred not too far from St. Louis, Missouri.

Considering the fact that St. Louis itself has been the subject of experiments against civilian populations among other weird things, this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

According to The Smoking Gun,

The 50-year-old woman and her child posed for the photo last month at their home in Wentzville, a city 40 miles west of St. Louis. According to a probable cause statement, the pair “were covering up their nipples in the picture.”

The hot tub photo, investigators reported, was subsequently “circulated throughout two high schools in the Rockwood School District.” As a result, the woman’s son “was ridiculed by classmates for the picture of his mother and sister.”

The photo was snapped by the teen’s sister, who used her sibling’s phone.

Remember kids: When taking certain pictures, don’t let them circulate in high schools.  If the judgmental peers don’t get to you, prudish authority figures will.

The A-Team was an 80’s show about a team of mercenaries wanted by the government.  One of the more prominent characters of the show was B.A., played by Mr. T.

The show brings back many memories.  Chief among them were the numerous overturning vehicles and big explosions.  What was your favorite show growing up?

This week’s links involve a plethora of technology updates and some geek and movie culture.

Unix

• Fedora 20 Released (LXer): Carla Schroder talks about the new release of the OS sponsored by Red Hat.  What’s interesting to note is the improved support for the ARM architecture.
• Steam OS Review (Muktware): Swapnil Bharttiya takes a look at Valve’s new OS, currently in beta.
• HP Chromebook 11 Chargers Recalled (MaximumPC): While Chrome OS can be seen as stable, the hardware can be another matter.  Certain chargers for HP’s Chromebook 11 are overheating and as a result have been recalled.

Overlooked Pop Culture

• Lords of Salem SUCKED!! (Promises Are Kept): Mitchell Brown offers his take on Rob Zombie’s latest film.
• The Stone Tape, a 1972 film, reviewed (An American View of British Science Fiction): Stephen Kelley takes a look at a 1972 film from Nigel Kneale.  This is apparently the final script accepted by the BBC before he went to ITV.
• Tone Deaf NSA (Foreign Policy Magazine): This article offers insight into the thinking of those who work for the NSA.

Hat tip to the Good News Network for this tidbit.

As we head deeper and deeper into Winter, more people are going to stay indoors to avoid the cold weather.  Eventually, people will get bored and will start killing time on the Internet.  To make things a bit more pleasant for those who happen to be bored, never fear!

Our weekly links will have you laughing, crying, and cursing multibiollion dollar corporations all at the same time.  With that said, here’s this week’s links.

Unix

• KDE Desktop in Need of Desktop Search Overhaul (Blog of Helios): Ken Starks argues in favor of improving the search experience on the desktop so that files are found quickly and accurately.
• Valve Joins the Linux Foundation: Gaming was such a contentous issue on operating systems other than OS X and Windows until Valve came along to port their Steam Client.  The company that brought one of the most successful game distribution services is now an official member of the Linux Foundation.
• Samsung PR Move on Galaxy S4 Catching Fire Backfires (MaximumPC):  In an attempt to do damage control on a problematic product, the problems of said product go viral instead.  Remember kids, preventing one from suing and broadcasting the fact that defects in a product exist is not good PR.

Overlooked Pop Culture

• There are people who are here to help you poop: We aren’t making this up.  There is a product called Squatty Potty that helps the person squat instead of sit on their toilet.  Something about making it all come out easier…….
• Foolish users brick their XBOX One consoles (Daily Dot): Thanks to a convincing looking image via 4Chan, a number of uses enabled the developer mode on their XBOX One consoles in the hopes that they’ll be able to play their XBOX 360 games.  Unfortunately, the instructions rendered said consoles inoperable.  Remember, kids…. never follow instructions from an image board, and for crying out loud, stay out of /b/!
• Martial arts demo curating (The Stick Chick): A martial arts expert explains why it’s best to practice certain things in a dojo before demonstrating them to the public.

It’s amazing what can happen when one takes a bad situation and makes the best of it. Winter has finally hit, and North Texas seems to be taking it quite well.