The World’s Dirtiest Man

And you thought your college roommate was bad.

Amou Haji is eighty years old. He lives in Iran. And he hasn’t bathed since the Eisenhower administration. After experiencing a series of devastating setbacks as a young man several decades ago, Amou Haji decided to become a hermit. He currently resides outside of Dejgah, a rural village in southern Iran. Why isn’t he eager to practice basic hygiene? It’s because Haji believes that cleanliness causes people to get sick.

When Did “The Present” Begin?

It’s a harder question than it sounds. Does the present refer to right this second?
Today? This year? The past few years? Fortunately, science has the answer.

The PresentDifferent scientific disciplines, cultures, and religions base their calendars on different “zero” moments. In geology, as well as other scientific disciplines, the epoch of time referred to as “the present” began on January 1, 1950. It’s a somewhat arbitrary, compromise of a date, but a fixed moment in the study of things that takes a really, really long time to change or move.

Those Darn Demonyms

DemonymsA demonym is a word used to describe the residents or natives of a place: New Yorkers, Oregonians, or Japanese, for example. Most demonyms are logical and straightforward, as in those examples. Here are some “irregular demonyms,” that, due to grammar, language, or local preference, are a little bit strange.

California, There They Go!

CaliforniaEarlier this year, we told you about some communities around the country aiming to separate from their states to create brand new U.S. states. Add another candidate to the mix—this one’s in northern California.

In September 2013, citizens and officials in Siskiyou County, the northernmost county in California, met to discuss their dissatisfaction with, and alienation from, the state government in Sacramento. Siskiyou, along with a lot of northern California, is primarily rural, and the economy is driven by farming and logging. Much of the rest of California is highly populated, urban, and leans to the left politically. Feeling that they shouldn’t be government by a government that doesn’t have its needs at heart, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in favor of a declaration to secede from California.

Happy 160th Birthday, Sherlock Holmes

Okay, we know he’s not real. But according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books, Sherlock Holmes was born on January 6, 1854. Celebrate the day (and look forward to season 3 of Sherlock) with these not-so-elementary Sherlock Holmes facts.

• Have you ever come across anyone, real or fictional, named Sherlock? It’s an obscure, Old English name that means “bright hair.”

• A common theme in all Sherlock Holmes books, movies, and other media is the great detective’s use of “deduction” to solve mysteries. Except that he doesn’t really use deduction. Sherlock uses a technique called abductive reasoning. Deduction eliminates possibilities until only one, hopefully correct theory, remains. Abductive reasoning, however, involves careful observation and consideration of evidence and any outside data to create an educated guess.

It’s Time for ‘Time’ Person of the Year!

Once again, Uncle John came in at #2.

Entertainment Weekly publishes a list of the year’s top movie’s each December. Rolling Stone prints a list of the year’s best albums. The year-end superlatives started in 1927, with Time’s “Man of the Year.” It came about as an idea to fill space during a slow news week (as December often is), and also as a way for Time editors to make good on a mistake from earlier in the year. When Charles Lindbergh made his solo transatlantic flight…Time failed to put him on the cover. To make up for it, editors made Lindbergh Time’s “Man of the Year,” recognizing him as the year’s most dynamic newsmaker.

Boxing Day 101

In the United States, the day after Christmas is simply the day after Christmas. In the UK, however, it is Boxing Day: a holiday in its own right.

Tip Till You Flip Boxing Day is December 26. Traditionally this is when all the haves distributed gifts and money to the have-nots—the poor or people who provided services throughout the year.

Street sweepers, waiters, lamplighters, milkmen, newsboys— you name it. Think of it as a Victorian orgy of tipping— though it actually goes back much further than Victoria’s reign. A 16th-century abbess, for instance, wrote about giving money to her kitchen clerk, servants, the gardener, and the “Baily of the Husbandry,” whatever that was.

Famous TV Sign-Offs

To mark the release of Anchorman 2, here is a look back at famous anchormen and their signature “sign-off.” You stay classy, BRI Fans.

hi-anchorman-ap-Sign Offs“Good night, and good luck.” Possibly the most famous sign-off in TV history, this phrase was coined by 1950s CBS News personality Edward R. Murrow (Person to Person, See It Now). He had gotten his start on CBS Radio during World War II, broadcasting from the rooftops of London buildings during the German blitz. With the line, Murrow was earnestly reaching out to the audience in an attempt to provide comfort. He kept the line after the war.

8 Quick Facts About “White Christmas”

Stuff you didn’t know about the most popular Christmas song of the 20th century.

Facts About White Christmas• Legendary songwriter Irving Berlin wrote the song from the point of view of a New Yorker (like himself) stuck in warm California for Christmas (as he had been). That sentiment was made explicitly clear by the song’s original first verse, which mentions “the sun is shining,” “the grass is green,” and things like palm trees and Beverly Hills.

• “White Christmas” was picked to be included in the 1942 Bing Crosby movie Holiday Inn—both Crosby and his producer thought that the song wouldn’t have much worth outside of the movie with that verse. So it was dropped.

Who Will Have the Christmas #1 in the UK?

Every year, the UK goes a little mad as pop stars compete to see who will get the completely ceremonial honor of having the #1 song in the country on Christmas. Here’s a look at this cultural phenomenon, which has no real comparison in the U.S.

Christmas #1 in the UKIn the 2003 Christmas-set romantic comedy Love, Actually, aging pop star Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) tries to revive his career by trying to get a Christmas #1 with a song called “Christmas is All Around,” a holiday-themed remake of the Troggs’ hit “Love is All Around.” Mack calls it a “festering turd of a record.” It’s a satirical look at the English pop cultural phenomenon of the music industry – and music buyers – guessing what song will be #1 on Christmas Day.