Top 10 Grossest Halloween Candy

Halloween brings out the kid in all of us. Although for the adults, it’s really about dressing up in wild costumes for a fun party or decorating the house to scare the bejeebus out of any visitors. For kids, Halloween is still all about the candy. It’s quite a unique holiday that, over time, has evolved into telling ghost stories and hording sweets.

Several candy companies have gotten into the spirit of Halloween by developing their own version of gross-out treats, which you can enjoy all year around.

Here then are the top 10 grossest Halloween candies:

10. Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans

If you’re a true Muggle, you might not have any idea what these special jellybeans are all about. But true devotees of the world of Harry Potter are quite familiar with Bertie Botts and her confectionary concoctions. Borrowing a page from the best-selling novels and popular film franchise, this collection of jelly beans come in such delightful flavors as dirt, ear wax, rotten egg, soap and vomit. There are some regular good tasting jellybeans in each batch but buyer beware!

9. Sour Flush Toilet Candy

It’s a toilet full of sugar! It’s a plunger lollipop! It’s both! Sour Flush Toilet Candy is shaped like an actual tiny toilet. You flip the lid and dip in one of your flavored lollipop plungers and, “Voila!”- you’ve got a tasty treat simulating the unclogging of your toilet. Insert your own joke here.

8. Crime Scene Candy Tubes

Nothing says Halloween like a good old-fashioned crime scene. Now the kiddies can get in on all the CSI fun with their own edible Crime Scene Candy Tube. Each tube is filled with drinkable goodness in three flavors: Blood, Urine and Saliva. Yes, that’s Blood, Urine and Saliva (or cherry, lemonade and apple if you’re being picky).

7. Box of Boogers

Full disclosure: you won’t really know you’re eating simulated boogers unless you have the actual Box of Boogers handy. Each individual booger looks like it could really be a typical piece of gummy green or yellow candy. But thanks to the packaging that proudly proclaims “Tangy gummy boogies that look and feel real” you won’t soon forget what you’re supposed to be chewing on.

6. Scorpion Suckers and Chocolate Covered Bugs

Wasn’t there always a kid in every neighborhood who would eat a bug for a nickel? Now everyone can get into that act with these actual ants, crickets dipped in chocolate or scorpions encased in lollipop candy. They are completely edible and taste great, so the reviews say. Fear Factor candy anyone?

5: Nose Hose

You know you’re in for a tasty treat with a candy slogan that is “It’s snot what you think!” The Nose Hose works on the simple principle of strapping a big plastic nose on your face then having a tube run through to drip sweet tasting liquid onto your waiting tongue. Fun for the whole family.

4. Ear Wax Candy

Keeping with the “what can we eat from our head” theme, Ear Wax Candy is perfect for when you’ve got a craving to eat some ear wax but don’t really want to eat actual ear wax. You get a big plastic ear with a handy ear drum snap lid. Inside the ear canal is a fruity-jelly like substance that approximates ear wax. You dip in your plastic swab, scoop out some ear goop and lick away.

3. Zit Poppers

How devastating was it to discover a pimple on the eve of the big dance? Or to have your graduation photo ruined because of an errant blemish. Ahh, to be young again with a face full of acne. Now you can relive all those wonderful moments of teenage angst with Zip Poppers. Imagine gummi candies shaped like huge pimples loaded with gooey jelly that you squeeze or pop out to taste. Available in strawberry and watermelon just like regular acne.

2. Chocka Ca-Ca

As the name implies, Chock Ca-Ca are bite size pieces of chocolate shaped to look just like what babies leave behind in their diapers. And if you need more convincing, each piece of Chock Ca-Ca actually comes wrapped in their own diaper. This unique treat comes in blue for boys and pink for girls packaging. Won’t it be fun to bring this gift at your next baby shower? Chances are you’ll never be invited to another baby shower. Mission accomplished. (Image: itsstupid.com.)

1. Lick Your Wounds Candy

Have you ever found yourself wearing a Band-Aid and wishing you could pull it off and lick a piece of candy underneath? Well, now you can with these delightful candy scabs. Underneath the pad of a typical Band-Aid is a lollipop-style hard candy that you can take a few licks of and then replace. S-w-e-e-e-e-e-e-t. Just be on the lookout for skin hair. Did we mention this is gross candy?

By Rick Bitzman

What was your favorite Halloween candy?

 

Top 10 Famous & Deadly Swords

The first sword appeared during the Bronze Age.  It was made of copper and was uncovered at the Harappan sites in present-day Pakistan.  By the Middle Ages iron and steel swords were being mass produced and used in battle.  Soldiers were trained in swordsmanship and prepared for combat.  It was before the era of guns and high powered artillery and face to face fighting was the norm.  During this time in history, all of the royal generals, kings, and emperors owned personal swords.  These weapons were manufactured by the greatest sword makers of the time.  Many historical manuscripts document events surrounding significant swords.  This article will be examining ten world famous swords that still survive today.  Mythological and legendary swords will not be listed.

10.  Tomoyuki Yamashita’s Sword

Tomoyuki Yamashita was a general of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.  He became known during the war after conquering the British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, ultimately earning the nickname “The Tiger of Malaya.”  After the end of World War II, Yamashita was tried for war crimes relating to the Manila Massacre and many other atrocities in the Philippines and Singapore.  It was a controversial trial that ended with a death sentence for Tomoyuki Yamashita.  The case changed the United States rules in regards to command responsibility for war crimes, creating a law known as the Yamashita Standard.

The Sword

During his military career, Tomoyuki Yamashita owned a personal sword that contained a blade manufactured by famous sword maker Fujiwara Kanenaga sometime between 1640 and 1680.  The weapon had its handle remade in the early 1900s.  The Samurai sword was surrendered by General Yamashita, along with his army, on September 2, 1945.  It was taken by General MacArthur and given to the West Point Military Museum where it remains today.  The sword is one piece in a great collection of military arms housed at the West Point Museum.

9.  Curved Saber of San Martin

José de San Martín was a famous Argentine general that lived from 1778-1850.  He was the primary leader of the southern part of South America’s struggle for independence from Spain.  San Martín is a South American hero and the 1st Protector of Perú.  Under the lead of San Martín, Peruvian independence was officially declared on July 28, 1821.  In the state of Argentina, the Order of the Liberator General San Martin is the highest decoration given out.

The Sword

One of the most cherished possessions of José de San Martín was a curved sword that he purchased in London.  San Martín admired the saber’s curved blade and felt that the weapon was maneuverable and ideal for battle.  For this reason, he armed his cavalries of granaderos with similar weapons, which he deemed important for charge attacks.  The curved sword stayed with San Martín until his death and was then passed down to the General de la Republica Argentina, Don Juan Manuel de Rosas.

In his will San Martín referred to the sword as “The saber that has accompanied me throughout the War of Independence of South America.”  In 1896 the weapon was sent to the National Historical Museum in Buenos Aires where it remains today.  In the 1960s the sword was stolen on two separate occasions and this caused museum operators to build a screened gazebo to protect the artifact.

8.  Seven-Branched Sword

The Baekje Dynasty was an ancient kingdom located in southwest Korea.  At its peak in the 4th century, Baekje controlled colonies in China and most of the western Korean Peninsula.  They were one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla.  In 372, King Geunchogo of Baekje paid tribute to Eastern Jin and it is believed that a Seven-Branched Sword was created and given to the king as a sign of praise.

The Sword

The weapon is a 74.9 cm long iron sword with six branch-like protrusions along the central blade, which is 65.5 cm.  The sword was developed for ceremonial purposes and was not built for battle.  In 1870 a Shinto priest named Masatomo Kan discovered two inscriptions on the Seven-Branched Sword.  One of them states “At noon on the sixteenth day of the eleventh month, fourth year of Taiwa era, the sword was made of 100 time’s hardened steel.  Using the sword repels 100 enemy soldiers.  Appropriate for the polite duke king.”

The Seven-Branched Sword contains many statements, but the most controversial involves the phrase “enfeoffed lord,” used when describing the King of Wa as a possible subservient to the Baekje ruler.  The sword is an important historical link and shows that a relationship did exist between the East Asian countries of this era.  The original Seven-Branched Sword is currently housed in the Isonokami Shrine in Nara Prefecture of Japan.  It is not on display to the public.

7.  Wallace Sword

William Wallace was a Scottish knight who lived from 1272-1305.  Wallace is known for leading a resistance against England during the Wars of Scottish Independence, which were waged during the late 13th and early 14th centuries.  During his lifetime, William Wallace was appointed the Guardian of Scotland.  He led an infantry of soldiers who engaged the enemy in hand to hand combat.  The prize possession of many of these soldiers was their sword.  In order to survive on the battlefield one had to be a talented swordsman.  In 1305, William Wallace was captured by King Edward I of England and was executed for treason.  Today William Wallace is remembered in Scotland as a patriot and national hero.  His sword is one of the most famous in the world.

The Sword

The William Wallace sword is located at the National Monument in Stirling, Scotland.  The shaft of the sword measures 4 feet by 4 inches in length (132cm) and it weighs 6.0 lb (2.7 kg).  The sword is said to be the weapon that Wallace used at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 and the Battle of Falkirk (1298).  The pommel on the sword consists of an onion-shaped piece of gilded iron and the grip is wrapped with dark brown leather.  The hilt or handle that is currently on the Wallace sword is not the original.  It is believed that the sword has been modified on separate occasions.

After the execution of William Wallace, Sir John de Menteith, governor of Dumbarton Castle, received his sword.  In 1505, King James IV of Scotland paid the sum of 26 shillings to have the sword binned with cords of silk.  It is said that the sword underwent many changes, which might have been necessary because Wallace’s original scabbard, hilt and belt were said to have been made from the dried skin of Hugh Cressingham, who was an English commander.

6.  Tizona

El Cid is a man that was born circa 1040 in Vivar, which was a small town about six miles north of Burgos, the capital of Castile.  The Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval empires of the Iberian Peninsula.  During his lifetime El Cid became a successful military leader and diplomat.  He was named the chief general of the army of Alfonso VI and became a Spanish hero.  El Cid was the king’s most valuable asset in the fight against the Moors.  He was a skilled military strategist and strong swordsman.

The Sword

El Cid owned and used many different swords in his lifetime, but the two most famous are Colada and Tizona.  Tizona is a sword that was used by El Cid to fight against the Moors.  The weapon is one of Spain’s most cherished relics and is believed to have been forged in Córdoba, Spain, although considerable amounts of Damascus steel can be found in its blade.  Damascus steel was primarily used in the Middle East.  Tizona is 103 cm/40.5 inches long and weighs 1.1 kg/2.4 pounds.  It contains two separate inscriptions, with one listing a manufactory date of 1002 and the other quoting the Catholic prayer Ave Maria.  Tizona is currently on display at the Museo de Burgos in Spain.

5.  Napoleon’s Sword

In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte became the military and political leader of France after staging a coup d’état.  Five years later the French Senate proclaimed him emperor.  In the first decade of the 19th century Napoleon and the French Empire were engaged in conflict and war with every major European power.  Ultimately, a series of victories gave the French a dominant position in continental Europe, but as history would later repeat itself, in 1812 the French began their invasion of Russia.  The decision to invade Russia marked the turning point in the fortune of Napoleon.  In 1814, the Sixth Coalition invaded France and Napoleon was captured and exiled to the island of Elba.  He would escape, but ultimately died in confinement on the island of Saint Helena.  Historians regard Napoleon as a military genius and a man who made strong contributions to the operational art of war.

The Sword

On the battlefield Napoleon carried a pistol and a sword.  He owned a large collection of arms and artillery.  His weapons were one of a kind and included the best materials.  In the summer of 2007, a gold-encrusted sword that once belonged to Napoleon was auctioned off in France for more than $6.4 million dollars.  The sword was used by Napoleon in battle.  In the early 1800s, Napoleon presented the weapon to his brother as a wedding gift.  The sword was passed down from generation to generation, never leaving the Bonaparte family.  In 1978, the sword was declared a national treasure in France and the winner of the auction was not identified.

4.  Sword of Mercy

The Sword of Mercy is a famous weapon that once belonged to Edward the Confessor.  Edward the Confessor was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England before the Norman Conquest of 1066.  He ruled from 1042 to 1066 and his reign has been characterized by the crumbling disorganization of royal power in England.  Shortly after Edward the Confessor’s death, the Normans began to expand into England, led by the infamous William the Conqueror.

The Sword

The Sword of Mercy has a broken blade, which is cut off short and square.  In 1236, the weapon was given the name curtana and has since been used for royal ceremonies.  In ancient times it was a privilege to bear this sword before the king.  It was considered a merciful gesture.  The story surrounding the breaking of the weapon is unknown, but mythological history indicates that the tip was broken off by an angel to prevent a wrongful killing.

The Sword of Mercy is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom and is one of only five swords used during the coronation of the British monarch.  The weapon is rare and is one of only a small number of swords to survive the reign of Oliver Cromwell.  Cromwell is known for ordering the melting down of ancient artifacts for scrap gold and metal.  During the British coronation, the Sword of Mercy is wielded as the monarch bestows knighthood upon the recipient of honor.

3.  Zulfigar

Zulfiqar is the ancient sword of the Islamic leader Ali.  Ali was the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad.  He ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661.  By some historical accounts, Muhammad gave Zulfiqar to Ali at the Battle of Uhud.  Muhammad admired Ali’s power and strength on the battlefield and wanted to present him with the cherished weapon.  The sword is a symbol of the Islamic faith and is admired by millions of people.

Zulfiqar is a scimitar, which refers to a West Asian or South Asian sword with a curved blade.  It is said that Ali used the sword at the Battle of the Trench, which is a famous siege attempt on the city of Medina.  During the battle, Muhammad, Ali, and other Muslim defenders built trenches to protect Medina against the much larger confederate cavalry.

The Sword

A few conflicting images of the famous scimitar sword exist.  Some of them describe the weapon as having two parallel blades, emphasizing its mystical abilities and speed, while others portray Zulfiqar as a more traditionally-shaped scimitar.  Some historical drawings depict the sword with a split, V-shaped blade.  According to the Twelver Shia, the weapon survives today and is kept in the possession of Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi.  The weapon is part of the famous collection called al-Jafr.

Al-Jafr is a mystical Shia holy book.  It is composed of two skin boxes that contain the most important artifacts from the time of Muhammad and Ali.  The collection has been passed down over the generations, with each new Imam receiving it from his dying predecessor.  The contents of Al-Jafr are quite impressive, but they are not made available for public viewing.  One section of the book describes the Islamic rules, directives and matters surrounding wars, including a bag that contains the armor and weapons of Muhammad.  Zulfiqar is said to sit among the priceless artifacts.

2.  Honjo Masamune

Masamune was a Japanese swordsmith that is widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest metallurgists.  The exact dates for Masamune’s life are unknown, but it is believed that he worked from 1288–1328.  Masamune’s weapons have reached legendary status over the centuries.  He created swords known as tachi and daggers called tant?.  The swords of Masamune have a strong reputation for superior beauty and quality.  He rarely signed his works, so it can be hard to positively identify all his weapons.

The Sword

The most famous of all Masamune swords is named Honjo Masamune.  The Honjo Masamune is so important because it represented the Shogunate during the Edo period of Japan.  The sword was passed down from one Shogun to another for generations.  In 1939 the weapon was named a national treasure in Japan, but remained in the Kii branch of the Tokugawa family.  The last known owner of Honjo Masamune was Tokugawa Iemasa.  Apparently Tokugawa Iemasa gave the weapon and 14 other swords to a police station in Mejiro, Japan, in December of 1945.

Shortly thereafter in January 1946, the Mejiro police gave the swords to Sgt. Coldy Bimore (U.S. 7th Cavalry).  Since that time, the Honjo Masamune has gone missing and the whereabouts of the sword remains a mystery.  Honjo Masamune is one of the most important historical artifacts to disappear at the end of World War II.

1.  Joyeuse

Charlemagne is a man that was born circa 742.  He is one of the greatest rulers in world history and became King of the Franks in 768.  In 800 he was named Emperor of the Romans, a position that he held for the remainder of his life.  In the Holy Roman Empire he was known as Charles I and was the first Holy Roman Emperor.  During Charlemagne’s lifetime he expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire, which covered much of Western and Central Europe.  Charlemagne is regarded as the founding father of both the French and German monarchies, as well as the father of Europe.

The Sword

Joyeuse is the name of Charlemagne’s personal sword.  Today, there are two swords attributed to Joyeuse.  One is a saber that is kept in the Weltliche Schatzkammer in Vienna, while the other is housed at the Louvre in France.  The blade on display at the Louvre claims to be partially built from Charlemagne’s original sword.  The sword is made of parts from different centuries, so it can be hard to positively identify the weapon as Joyeuse.  The hilt of the sword indicates a manufactory date around the time of Charlemagne.  The heavily sculpted gold pommel is made in two halves and the long gold grip was once decorated with diamonds.

Charlemagne’s sword appears in many legends and historical documents.  Bulfinch’s Mythology described Charlemagne using Joyeuse to behead the Saracen commander Corsuble as well as to knight his friend Ogier the Dane.  After the death of Charlemagne, the sword was said to have been contrarily held by the Saint Denis Basilica and it was later taken to the Louvre after being carried at a Coronation processional for French kings.

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Top 10 Weirdest CIA Programs

Over the years, the American Central Intelligence Agency has gained a reputation for being the most far-reaching, sophisticated, and effective government intelligence agency on the planet. At the same time, the CIA has also become known for its incredible paranoia and propensity to undertake costly, sometimes illegal, and often downright absurd projects in the name of gaining an edge on the competition. From spy cats to psychic hippies, the following are ten of the weirdest spy programs the government has proposed and funded over the years.

10. Acoustic Kitty

Most people wouldn’t think of the common house cat as being a potential master of espionage, but the CIA sure did. In the 1960s, American intelligence is said to have spent over $20 million on “Acoustic Kitty,” a top-secret project that used cats as recording devices. The project took a group of specially trained cats and surgically implanted microphones, antennae and batteries into their tails, and then set them loose near the Russian embassy. The idea was that an unassuming cat would be able to stride right up to groups of communist officials and listen in on their conversation, which it could then beam back to agents with its sophisticated radio equipment. The plan was eventually put into action, but the first cat sent into the field was supposedly run over by a taxi before it could make a recording, and operation ‘Acoustic Kitty” was abandoned shortly thereafter.

9. Operation Mockingbird

One of the most ambitious and downright insidious programs ever launched by the CIA was Operation Mockingbird, a propaganda project that was implemented in the early 1950s. It was a massive undertaking that saw as many as 3,000 CIA agents and collaborators attempt to gain some control of the free press by feeding select groups of reporters information and using newspapers at home and abroad to filter the kinds of stories that got to the public. At its height, the program included writers for the New York Times, Newsweek, and Time Magazine among its ranks, and was said to have a significant influence on as many as 25 major newspapers. The program had a major impact abroad, as well, as it served a major function in helping to sway public opinion in the run-up to the eventual overthrowing of Guatemala’s leftist president. Operation Mockingbird continued to have a major effect on worldwide media throughout the 50s, and it was not until the 60s that a series of reports by investigative journalists brought the program to light.

8. Operation Gold

The tapped telephone wires are presented to the press.

One of the most audacious intelligence operations of the Cold War was 1953’s Operation Gold, which was a joint effort between the CIA and the British MI6 to hack into the phone lines of the Soviet headquarters in East Berlin. This required the construction of a massive 450-meter long tunnel that would intersect with an underground telephone junction. Just preparing the tunnel took six months, and involved a substantial amount of risk and subterfuge. But when it was done, the CIA proceeded to carefully record as many as 50,000 telephone conversations over the course of nearly a year. The problem? A mole in British intelligence had tipped off the KGB about Operation Gold before the tunnel was even completed, and the Soviets had been feeding fake them information the entire time. In 1956, the Soviets raided the tunnel and shut it down, and the operation eventually caused a great deal of controversy for the American and British intelligence communities.

7. Operation Northwoods

In the early 1960s, when the Cold War was in full swing and fear of communism was rampant, a plan dubbed Operation Northwoods was proposed within the American CIA. In short, it called for the government to perform a series of violent terrorist actions in U.S. cities including bombings, hijackings, phony riots, and sabotage, all of which could then be blamed on Cuba. This would drum up support for a war against the communists and lead to an eventual military operation to remove Fidel Castro from power. The plan was drafted and signed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and presented to President John F. Kennedy, who personally rejected it, and it was subsequently abandoned. For years after, Operation Northwoods existed as a rumor, but it was finally revealed to be true when top-secret documents describing the plan were made public in 1997 as part of a release of government papers relating to the Kennedy assassination.

6. Project Pigeon

One of the most seemingly preposterous military programs of all time occurred during WWII, when famed behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner was enlisted by the government to try and train pigeons for use in a missile guidance system. At the time, Skinner was known as one of the major practitioners of operant conditioning, a system that used reward and punishment as a means of controlling behavior. With these ideas in mind, Skinner placed a series of specially trained pigeons inside missiles. A camera on the front of the missile recorded its flight path, which was then projected on a screen for the pigeon to see. The birds were trained to recognize the missile’s intended target, and they would peck at the screen if it was drifting off course. This information was fed to the weapon’s flight controls, which would then be changed to reflect the new coordinates. Skinner was originally given $25,000 to get the project up and running, and he actually managed to make some minor progress with it. But government officials were never quite able to get past the obvious absurdity of the program, and it was eventually shut down. Image credit: http://www.psywarrior.com/

5. Operation Midnight Climax

In the early 1960s, the youth culture of America was first beginning to experiment with hallucinogenic drugs like LSD, and so was the Central Intelligence Agency. Operation Midnight Climax was one of the government’s most ridiculous and illegal attempts to test the possible uses of drugs like acid by administering them to unsuspecting citizens. The program was run out of a collection of safehouses in New York and California. Prostitutes were used to lure young men to the houses, at which point they were given food or drink spiked with LSD and other drugs and placed in a room with a two-way mirror where their behavior could be observed. Midnight Climax was essentially an experimental program designed to monitor the possible tactical uses of psychotropic drugs and sexual blackmail in the field, but even within the Agency it was controversial, and it was shut down after only a few years. Most of the files connected to the operation were destroyed, but a few survived, and in the early 70s the files regarding Midnight Climax and many other illegal CIA programs were brought to light in a famous story by the New York Times.

4. The Stargate Project

The $20 million Stargate Project was a blanket term used to describe a large number of psychic experiments and investigations undertaken by the U.S. government between the 70s and 90s. The biggest goal of the Stargate Project was to investigate the scientific probability of “remote viewing,” which is the psychic ability to witness events over great distances. The program, which also investigated psychic abilities like out of body experiences and clairvoyance, tested subjects on their ability to predict future events and read hidden documents. The Stargate Project usually enlisted the services of anywhere from 3 to 22 subjects at a time, many of whom managed to test with an accuracy rating as much as 15% higher than the norm. Still, although some participants claimed to have correctly predicted major world events like military attacks and hostage situations, the program found that remote viewers and so-called telepaths were still wrong nearly 80 percent of the time, and in 1995 the CIA cancelled the Stargate Project for good.

3. Operation Mongoose

In the early 60s, communist Cuba became one of the major battlegrounds of the Cold War, and its president Fidel Castro came to be considered one of the most dangerous political figures in the world. After early attempts to overthrow Castro by force failed, the CIA instituted Operation Mongoose, which was a secret war of propaganda and sabotage designed to remove the Cuban leader from power. Operation Mongoose had a remarkably wide scope, and included plans to fake attacks on Cuban exiles, provide arms to opposition groups, and destroy Cuba’s crop of sugarcane. It also included several attempts to either assassinate or discredit Castro in the press, each of which was more elaborate and ridiculous than the next. The Agency considered, among other things, poisoning Castro’s personal supply of cigars, planting explosives disguised as seashells in his favorite swimming spots, and injecting him with a deadly chemical from a hypodermic needle disguised as a pen. Even more bizarre were the plans to discredit Castro in the public eye, which included a proposal to spray a TV studio with hallucinogens prior to one of the leader’s televised speeches, and even planting chemicals in his clothes that would cause his famous beard to fall out. The near-disaster of the Cuban Missile Crisis put Operation Mongoose on hold, and following an agreement between Kennedy and the Soviets, it was more or less abandoned.

2. Project MKULTRA

One of the most downright creepy government programs and the fodder for countless conspiracy theories, Project MKULTRA was a sweeping and top-secret CIA program started in the early 1950s that included experiments in “chemical interrogation” and mind control. In short, MKULTRA was a plan that sought to use drugs, psychological stress, and bizarre interrogation methods to get information, control behavior, and even alter brain function. To this day, much of the information on the project remains classified, but what we do know is that the program involved the testing and interrogation of private citizens—often without their knowledge or consent—in the service of discovering whether or not certain drugs could be used as truth serums. This included giving subjects large doses of LSD, amphetamine, and mescaline, as well as shock therapy. In one case, subjects were supposedly dosed with acid for 77 days straight in an attempt to test the effects of long-term exposure to the drug. Conspiracy theories abide about the real goals of the project, with some saying it was a program to engineer zombie assassins through mind control and brainwashing. Some information about MKULTRA was finally brought to light in the early seventies, when news reports about CIA abuses of power led to a Congressional commission. The project was subsequently shut down, but many people claim that similar CIA programs still exist to this day.

1. The Bay of Pigs Invasion

For sheer absurdity, wastefulness, and infamy, few CIA projects compare to 1961’s failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. The program was one of the first and boldest attempts to overthrow communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but it was also the most disastrously unsuccessful. It started in 1960, when the CIA, under the authorization of the President, began planning an attempted overthrow of the Cuban government. In order to eliminate any link to the U.S., the attack was to be perpetrated by an army of Cuban exiles specially trained by the CIA. After a series of diversionary air strikes, on April 17, 1961, a group of amphibious troop transports landed on a beach in the Bay of Pigs and began unloading their cargo of 1,300 exile guerillas. The plan was for them to rendezvous with a smaller band of paratroops to be dropped soon after their arrival, but from the beginning their plan was tragically mistimed. For starters, Cuban intelligence was already aware of the planned invasion, and this meant that when the exile troops landed they were almost immediately under attack. To add to the force’s problems, bad weather, coral reefs, and the Cuban swamps quickly claimed most of their equipment. All told, an estimated 2,000 Cubans died during the invasion, while over 100 members of the exile army were killed in action. The remaining 1,200 were captured and imprisoned, and some were later executed on the orders of Castro. Over a year later, the rest were freed in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine for Cuban people. The effects of the Bay of Pigs were far reaching. Several American officials resigned over their involvement in it, and many have credited it with increasing the resolve of the Cuban government and encouraging a severe distrust of American foreign policy in the years that followed.

Top 10 Internet Illnesses

FACT: You use most of your body when you are sitting at a computer typing on a keyboard – not just your eyes and fingers. Your muscles allow you to sit in an upright position and all of your organs are working (sometimes, even your brain).

Sadly, despite this amazing fact, surfing the Internet does not qualify as a workout.

Is your surfing position an Igor-style hunch rather than a hang ten? Do you have the wild, crazy Igor eyes to match? Then you need to read this list!

Eligibility: To get on the list, the condition must be directly related to Internet use (I’m defining condition as an illness, disorder, or injury).
Rank: Ranked by the seriousness of the condition and number of people affected, as interpreted by me (it’s my list).

As always I will personally reply to any recommendations or complaints in the comments below, so go nuts (but not nuts like #3 below, please…)

10. Eyestrain

When you use your eyes a lot, they get strained- so when you stare at a computer screen intensely for hours it isn’t a surprise when your eyes get sore. According to mayoclinic.com: “Although eyestrain can be annoying, it usually isn’t serious and goes away once you rest your eyes”, placing it firmly in tenth place on this list.

9.  Health Anxiety/Pain Catastrophization

Some people have a tendency to misinterpret or over-interpret pain signals.  According to Wikipedia, “psychologists refer to this as pain catastrophizing (the tendency to think the worst when one feels pain).” According to the same source, health anxiety is a “sense that something is seriously wrong that does not lessen with normal test results and reassurance from health professionals.”

Thanks to all of the scary medical information available on the Internet (some of it’s even true), people who never experienced health anxiety or pain catastrophization before are now freaking out. Speaking from experience, the Internet can make a borderline hypochondriac cross over into crazy town. Thanks a search on the Internet, a sudden case of the late-night sniffles could be nasal polyps or even diphtheria. We’re not saying it is for sure, but there’s a chance… pleasant dreams!

8. Headaches

There are three different types of headaches associated with Internet use:

Tension Headaches – The term ‘tension headache’ is misleading. These headaches are not caused by stress but often due to strain to your neck or eyes. According to mayoclinic.com, they “can last from 30 minutes to an entire week”.

Chronic Daily Headaches – You suffer from these if you have a headache for more than half of the days in a month.

Stress Headaches – Apparently it’s not the big stress that causes your head to hurt. It’s the small annoyances all day long. So, if you spend a lot of time on the Internet it may be time to switch to a faster connection or upgrade to a new computer if you spend a lot of time staring hopelessly at your computer screen while it downloads information or crashes on you.

7. Back Pain

Poor posture results in back pain, particularly when it is accompanied by obesity, smoking, or lack of exercise. Now I’m sure there are many people out there who sit on a Pilates ball and crunch carrot sticks while they spend hours each day Digging, Stumbling, or Tweeting – but, if you’re the Internet equivalent of a couch potato you might want to cut back on the corn chips and do some sit ups or something…

We interrupt this list while the writer goes to take a Tylenol or two – her back is killing her!

6. Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)

If you’ve been on an airplane in the last few years you’ve probably seen the warning information about Deep Vein Thrombosis: it’s “the formation of a blood clot in a deep vein” (Wikipedia). Also known as “economy class syndrome”, air travelers who don’t move around and are dehydrated are particularly vulnerable to this kind of blood clot.

The key points here are immobility and dehydration: If you are so immersed in your “Second Life” that you don’t remember the last time you went outside or drank a glass of water in this life, you are at risk. I couldn’t find any Internet related DVT cases documented, but I still think it deserves 6th place because a DVT blood clot can dislodge itself, travel to your lungs, and kill you. Zoiks!

So, move those legs around or try to type standing up for a change… oh no wait, that would be bad for your back…

5. Munchausen Syndrome

The Internet provides endless chatrooms, online support groups, and social networking sites where people can share their problems, seek advice, and get sympathy.

I was shocked to learn that some people actually fake illnesses or tragedies just to get attention. They pretend to be victims of rape, assault, abuse, and serious illness in order to get attention: a symptom of Munchhausen Syndrome. And, according to an article at the BBC News website, the “internet may be encouraging people to pretend they are ill in order to get attention, according to US research.”

In the same news article quoted above, a Dr. Feldman from Alabama explains that persons with this syndrome can be treated with “a chance to get… attention from medical professionals in a psychiatric setting. However, most patients do not want this. They want to have a serious medical ailment and not a psychiatric illness” (news.bbc.co.uk).

4. Facebook Depression

According to the Daily Mail, Facebook and other social networking sites make teenage girls “prone to anxiety and depression”. Along with texting and emailing, these sites allow teens to coruminate (a fancy word for talking about things over and over and over again). According to the same article, “repeated conversations among adolescent girls, particularly about romantic disappointments, worsen their mood and create negative emotions” (www.dailymail.co.uk). Prior to this teenage girls apparently did not dwell on topics such as ‘do my bangs look funny’ or ‘why didn’t he call?’ for hours and hours and then sulk in their rooms.

These are the results of a study conducted on 83 teenage girls at Stony Brook University (NY). One of the doctors, Dr. Davila, offers this antidote for teenagers who continuously talk about the same problem: “They could change the subject”.

Parents of teenage girls everywhere now plan to send their daughters to Stony Brook University so that they too can learn to deduce blatantly obvious solutions to things that everyone already knows.

3. Internet Rage

While it might be argued that Internet Rage itself is not really harmful to your health, it can lead to Internet stalking and perhaps even violence – so if you are the one inciting the rage then you should beware.

According to Tim McDonald of http://www.newsfactor.com, one of the sources of Internet rage is “information overload”. He explains, “the sheer volume of information available on the Web — and the slowness in accessing it — causes a great deal of stress, according to the independent survey commissioned by WebTop, a British Web indexing company.” He also reports that a study “found that 68 percent of the 200 people surveyed found computer glitches more stressful than spending a weekend with a partner’s parents, and 38 percent found them more stressful than being stuck on public transportation.”

Internet Rage manifests itself all over the place, from the comment section of a blog post to the headlines on your local news station.

Browse the comments under a Youtube video, a website’s forum, or on someone’s blog and it doesn’t take long to find some very nasty words. Perhaps the anonymous nature of the Internet encourages people to say what they really think. The worst part of this is that it’s contagious- your angry comment angers others, and the downward spiral continues.

Please let me point out that when your therapist suggested that you ‘write your feelings down’, she didn’t mean in the comments section of a blog. If you can’t restrain yourself, then try to limit yourself to sites that actually want your harsh words, like justrage.com or mybiggestcomplaint.com.

Some people say, ‘get over it’, but I think we have a right to be appalled and upset by fellow human behavior. It brings us all down, so stop passing your bad vibes onto other people, already!

And, by the way, you’re not as anonymous as you think so you might want to stop before you enrage someone who is even more of a nut job than you are. A Mr. John Jones experienced this in 2005, after getting into an argument with another man in a Yahoo chatroom, who then used “details obtained online… traveled 70 miles to Mr Jones’ home… and beat him up with a pickaxe handle” (new.bbc.co.uk). Yikes!

Okay, so enough Internet Rage – there’s only two more spots left on my list and then next one is a real pain in the neck:

2. Upper Limb Disorders (ULD)

Upper Limb Disorders include: neck tension syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, tendinitis (mainly hands/wrists), tenosynovitis, bursitis, repetitive strain injury (RSI), and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. All of these ailments can be linked to Internet use.

RSI Repetitive Strain Injury – the modern version of writer’s cramp, you experience pain and strain when you overuse one of your upper limbs (i.e. arms). “The basis for this illness concept is the idea that one can overuse a tool, such as a computer keyboard… in a way that causes tissue damage leading to pain” (Wikipedia).

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome – “The two groups of people most likely to develop TOS are those suffering neck injuries in motor vehicle accidents and those who use computers in non-ergonomic postures for extended periods of time” (Wikipedia).

Upper Limb Disorders earn second place on this list due to the overwhelming list of disorders they encompass and the fact that I couldn’t come up with anything funny for them (so they must be quite serious).

1. Internet Addiction

This is Number One for two big reasons: it actually has the word Internet in the title of the affliction and also because it has been fatal in some cases.

The nature of the addiction is also pervasive: when it comes to the Internet, someone can “be addicted to nearly everything, starting with pure act of typing, visiting chat rooms, shopping on-line and ending up with multiplayer games, which users characterize as “heroinware.” (www.infoniac.com).

Also, it’s so real that there are rehabilitation centres for treatment. In a NY Times article, Martin Fackler describes Internet Addiction rehab in South Korea: “Drill instructors drive young men through military-style obstacle courses, counselors lead group sessions, and there are even therapeutic workshops on pottery and drumming.” He goes on to explain the seriousness of Internet Addiction in South Korea, “It has become a national issue here in recent years, as users started dropping dead from exhaustion after playing online games for days on end…”

Are you addicted?

• Are you unable to limit your use of the Internet? Does it take up most of your free time?
• Do you lose your sense of time when you’re online?
• Do you take steps to allow yourself to stay online longer? (Do you stock up your desk with several meals? Wear a diaper? Drink energy drinks? Are you always improving your computers or your software?)
• Do you experience withdrawal symptoms when you are prevented from getting online? (Anger, craving, restlessness, moodiness, irritable, depression)
• Do you use your computer to escape reality?
• Do you lie to others about your computer use?
• Are you social isolated in the real world?
• Have you traded your real life experiences for emotions that you now experience on the Internet through social networking, games, and porn?
• Have you risked a real life relationship or your job over your Internet use?

If you were able to answer yes to several of these questions, please seek professional counsel for your Internet Addiction. Conveniently (and ironically) there are many online resources for you:

1. Net Addiction
2. Daily Strength
3. Internet Addiction

Top 10 New Year’s Traditions and Superstitions

From the ones you already know to the truly bizarre ones you’ve never heard of, here are the Top 10 New Year’s Traditions and Superstitions in the United States.

10. Fireworks

Fireworks, cheering, singing and noisemakers on New Year’s Eve are believed to scare away evil spirits. Do we really need an excuse to set off fireworks? Probably not. But we’ll take this opportunity to light the sky (and maybe the grass in our neighbor’s yard). Music and singing are a part of most celebrations and I’m pretty sure the 20 people doing a poor job of singing “Don’t Stop Believing” at 1AM aren’t concerned with keeping evil away in the new year.

9. Making Resolutions

Many believe the first day of the New Year should be spent thinking about the past year and resolving to improve oneself in the coming year. And while the media recycles old stories about quitting smoking or getting out of debt and your parents use new year’s resolutions as a guilt-inducing tactic to get you to move out of their basement or pay back what you owe them not all resolutions have to be a life-altering ordeal. Resolve small in the New Year and you’ll feel good that you got something accomplished.

8. Paying Off Your Debt

It sounds like a resolution but you’re supposed to do this before January 1. This way you’re even when the new year arrives and you start with a fresh slate. On New Year’s Day you shouldn’t pay out anything or make loans because this signals money leaving you. So buy your lottery tickets on New Year’s Eve.

7. Kissing at Midnight

New Year’s Eve ranks second behind Valentine’s Day as the worst day to be single because when that clock strikes midnight everybody’s smooching but you. Granted, this is only painful for about 60 seconds (unlike Valentine’s Day which serves up a full 24 hours of candy hearts, barely clothed cupids and ridiculous romantic gestures). The New Year’s Eve kiss is a symbol that your affection and closeness will last all year. So don’t grab some weirdo and kiss them, find a friend and give ‘em a hug.

6. Singing “Auld Lang Syne”

A Scottish poem from the 1700’s; it literally means “old long since” or, in American, terms “days of long ago” or “the good old days.”
The song goes as such:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and days of auld lang syne?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

5. First Footer

The first person to visit your home on New Year’s Day has significance. It is considered good luck for a man to be the first person to cross your threshold (you have to let him in; he shouldn’t use a key to let himself in). It’s even better luck if he’s tall and good looking with dark hair. I’ve read specifically that the first footer should not have flat feet, crossed-eyes or a unibrow. So Frida Kahlo and Bert from Sesame Street should not be let in. Best of all, the first footer should bring along gifts like bread, fresh fruit, salt, and wine. If you’re a handsome man delivering wine on New Year’s Day, I’m guessing not many people are going to turn you away.

4. Nothing Should Leave the House

Here’s one that had to be thought up by someone who didn’t want to run errands. Nothing should be taken out of the house on New Year’s Day. If you’ve got things to give to others, return to stores, etc. put them in your car on New Year’s Eve because they shouldn’t leave the house on New Year’s Day. Some people allow items to leave the house after something has been brought in. The idea here is that something should be added to your house before anything is taken away. So if you’re a First Footer with a goodie basket, you best buy that stuff on your way over.

3. Lay Low & Do (Pretty Much) Nothing

A lot of info out there said not to do laundry or dishes (since you “wash away” luck and these can cause a death in the family in the coming year), not to take anything out of the house (including trash) and not to wash your hair. Sounds like the hang-over crowd was looking for a little justification to lie on the couch all day.

2. Eat, Eat!

While you are lazing about on the couch, make sure you are eating luck foods:
• Grapes – 12 of them, one for every month of the year
• Pork – because pigs root forward when they eat while chickens scratch backward (and bacon is delicious)
• Black eyed peas – here’s a good luck recipe that’s quite tasty and gets you your black-eyed peas and pork all in one meal
• Lentils – which resemble coins
• Greens such as collard greens, chard, cabbage and kale – the folds of the greens resemble money
Many of the foods that are “good” to eat resemble money or have to do with moving forward.

1. What You Do at New Years, You Will Do All Year

While most of these superstitions and traditions are meant to usher in good luck while keeping bad luck at bay, what you do can reflect how you’ll live in the coming year. Recovering from a big party the night before? Your year will likely include being surrounded by friends and good times. Motivating to work out on New Year’s Day? Well look who might just drop 10lbs in the new year. Cleaning and organizing around the house? Sounds like a year full of getting things done. Sleeping the day away? Maybe you won’t be getting too much done in the new year. Reading Top 10 lists? Sounds good to us. Happy New Year.

Top 10 Santa Legends From Around the World

The tradition of children receiving gifts during the month of December is relatively the same no matter where you go in the world, but the character that brings the gifts can vary quite a bit from country to country. It is true that the American version of Santa is rapidly catching on abroad, but in addition to Mr. Claus many countries still celebrate their own unique Christmas characters. From rascally gnomes and friendly witches to creepy goat creatures, the following are the top ten Santa legends from around the world. You may also be interested in the Top 10 Bizarre Christmas Traditions.

10. The Yule Lads

Country: Iceland

The Yule lads, or Yulemen, are a group of thirteen mischievous creatures that have largely taken the place of Santa Claus in the Icelandic celebration of Christmas. Their first major appearance can be traced back to the early thirties, when an Icelandic writer composed a short poem describing their role in the Christmas season. Since then they’ve gone through many different incarnations, from lovable gift-givers to annoying pests, and they’ve even been painted as bloodthirsty creatures that kidnap and eat children in the night.

Mostly, though, the Yule Lads have become known for their playful nature. Each of the thirteen is known for playing a different, often quite weird, trick. Ketkrokur, for example, uses a long hook to steal meat, while Gluggagaegir spies into people’s windows in order to find things to steal in the night. Stekkjastaur, a personal favorite, is said to walk on peg legs and harass sheep.

Gift-Giving Style:

The Yule Lads aren’t just about playing strange pranks—they also give gifts to children. Accompanied by the Yuletide Cat, which is described as a hungry beast that is known to eat bad children, they place small gifts in the shoes of well-behaved kids in the thirteen nights leading up to Christmas Eve. Naughty children, meanwhile, are given potatoes.

9. Tomte

Country: Various locations in Scandinavia

The Tomte legend can be found in Scandinavian countries like Norway, Finland, and Sweden. In their earliest incarnations, the Tomte (also known as Nisse) were said to be small, gnomish characters that kept watch over family farms. They were generally kind and looked out for people, but they had short fuses, and were quick to beat up or play tricks on those who weren’t good stewards of the farmland. Over time, and with the increasing influence of Christianity, the Tomte eventually became integrated into the more traditional celebration of Christmas. Their appearance changed, too, as they were given more human features and eventually took on a role more closely related to that of Santa Claus.

Gift-Giving Style:

Modern Tomte (now known variously as Jultomte, Julnisse, and Joulupukki) do still differ from Santa in many ways. Most notable is that they tend not to be fat, and even though they might drive a sleigh, it doesn’t fly. They don’t live in the North Pole, either. In fact, in some regions, children are told the character lives in the woods just outside their house. Also unique is that although the Tomte brings gifts to kids, he doesn’t sneak in the house through the chimney at night. Instead, a parent or relative will dress up like the character and bring the gifts to the kids in person.

8. Christkind

Country: Parts of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Brazil

Literally meaning “the Christ Child,” Christkind is a holiday gift-giver associated with different parts of the world where Christianity is the main religion. He was popularized in the 1500s by Martin Luther, who hoped that a more religion-based holiday figure would help stamp out what he saw as the corruptive influence of St. Nicholas. Since he is supposed to literally be the baby Jesus, Christkind is usually depicted as a small, saintly child with blond hair and the wings of an angel. The influence of Christkind as the sole holiday figure has waned with the increasing popularity of Santa Claus, but it is still widely celebrated, especially in the more largely Catholic regions of South and Central America.

Gift-Giving Style:

Unlike many holiday gift-givers, the Christkind is never actually seen. Gifts are exchanged to honor the spirit of the Magi bringing gifts to the baby Jesus, but Christkind himself doesn’t ever make an appearance, and children are often told that he disappeared just moments for they arrived.

7. Belsnickel

Country: Germany, Austria, Argentina, United States (Pennsylvania Dutch)

Belsnickel is a legendary figure who accompanies Santa Claus in certain regions of Europe, as well in some small Dutch communities in Pennsylvania. Like the Krampus in Germany and Austria or La Pere Fouettard in France, the role of the Belsnickel is to be the main disciplinarian of Santa’s entourage. He’s usually depicted as a mountain man-style figure with fur covering his body, and he occasionally wears a mask with a long tongue. Unlike Santa, who was designed to be beloved by children, Belsnickel is generally a character to be feared, and in most regions he is employed as a sort of warning to coerce kids into being good.

Gift-Giving Style:

Although Belsnickel generally comes off as a negative figure, in some regions he is also known to give gifts. In Germany, for example, well-behaved kids are given candy and small gifts on Dec. 6, the feast day of St. Nicholas. Naughty children, on the other hand, are given coal or switches, and in some places they may even receive a visit from the Belsnickel himself, who will warn them that they should be on their best behavior.

6. Pere Noel and La Pere Fouettard

Country: France

Papa Noel is one of the most popular incarnations of St. Nick, and Pere Noel from France is one of the most famous versions. He resembles Santa Claus in appearance, but instead of using reindeer he rides a single donkey called Gui, which means Mistletoe in French. Like many other countries, some regions of France also celebrate St. Nicholas’ day on December Fifth. For this holiday, along with the traditional St. Nick figure, the French also have a character called La Pere Fouettard (The Whipping Father). Like Belsnickel, he’s a figure who is supposed to be feared by naughty kids, and based on his back-story, it’s easy to see why. In the most popular version, it is said that in the 1100s La Pere Fouettard and his wife kidnapped and murdered three young men and then cooked them into a stew.  After the victims were discovered and brought back to life by the benevolent St. Nicholas, La Pere Fouettard repented his evil deeds and vowed to serve as his helper.

Gift-Giving Style:

Like Sinterklaas and many other variations of Santa, Pere Noel places small gifts and candy in shoes left next to the fireplace. La Pere Fouettard, meanwhile, is a little less cheerful. He carries rusty chains and switches, and doles out floggings to children who misbehave. In some versions of the story, he gets even more brutal, and is said to cut out the tongues of kids who’ve been caught lying.

5. La Befana

Country: Italy

Similar to Santa Claus in style but quite different in appearance, the Befana is a witch-like character who has become a big part of yuletide celebrations in Italy. Her back-story varies, but the most popular version describes her as being a kind woman who gave food and shelter to the three wise men while they were en route to visit the baby Jesus.

Much like a traditional Halloween witch, the Befana is portrayed as an old hag who rides a broomstick, and she typically wears a black shawl and carries a bag of gifts. She supposedly does not like to be seen, and is said to whack any child who her spies on her with her broomstick—no doubt a clever way of keeping the kids in bed while parents arrange gifts in the night.

Gift-Giving Style:

Like Santa Claus, La Befana supposedly climbs down the chimney to leave gifts for kids, and she also is known to leave behind a piece of coal or ash for those who have been naughty. As the legendary Befana was regarded as the best housekeeper in all of Italy, she also is known to sweep the floor around the chimney on her way out.

4. Krampus

Country: Austria, Germany, and Hungary

In Alpine countries, Santa Claus is roughly the same jolly old gift-giver as he is in North America, with one key difference: he’s accompanied by a terrifying, bloodthirsty monster called the Krampus. With a name that derives from the German word for “claw,” Krampus serves as the resident heavy of Santa’s gang, dishing out beatings and other medieval-style punishments to naughty kids.

The legend of the creature dates back hundreds of years, but the church stamped out the majority of its influence in the 1800s. Today, the creature is still a minor Christmas character in some parts of Bavaria and Austria, where “Krampus Day,” or “Krampustag,” is held on December 5. People dress up as the Krampus and parade through the city streets scaring people, and there are even some towns that hold festivals devoted to jokingly celebrating the history of the creature.

Gift-Giving Style:

As you can probably tell, gifts aren’t really the Krampus’s style. In traditional folklore, he was much more likely to provide misbehaving kids with a beating from a birch rod or, if they were lucky, a stern warning. In darker versions of the story, he was even said to kidnap the worst of a town’s children, stuff them inside a burlap sack, and toss them in the river.

3. Ded Moroz and the Snow Maiden

Countries: Russia, Serbia, Bosnia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Poland, and other former Soviet republics

Literally translated as “Grandfather Frost,” Ded Moroz is the traditional holiday gift-giver of Slavic countries in Eastern Europe. Like Santa, Ded Moroz wears a flowing red costume and sports a white beard, but he doesn’t use reindeer or ride a sleigh. Instead, he drives a troika, which is a traditional Russian horse drawn sled.

The most interesting aspect of Ded Moroz is his background. As the story goes, he was once an evil and vicious sorcerer who would kidnap children and demand presents as a ransom. Over time, he was reformed, and now he gives gifts to children in order to atone for his once-wicked ways. Also unique to the Ded Moroz legend is his granddaughter Snegurochka, “the Snow Maiden,” who is said to accompany him on his trips.

Gift-Giving Style:

Ded Moroz typically arrives on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. Like Santa, he brings gifts for children and places them under the New Year’s tree, although in some versions he will show up at parties and celebrations to give out gifts in person.

2. Sinterklaas and Black Peter

Country: Netherlands, Flanders

Sinterklaas is the Dutch version of Santa Claus. With his traditional red costume, flowing white beard, and all-around jolly demeanor, he closely resembles the more famous North American Santa, and many have claimed that he is the biggest influence in the creation of the modern day Saint Nick. Unlike Santa, Sinterklaas comes to the Netherlands ever year in late November. He is said to arrive by steamboat from Spain, and after landing he is paraded through the city streets so that he can greet all the Dutch children. Sinterklaas doesn’t use elves, but is instead assisted by Black Peter, a little boy who helps him hand out presents. There are many versions of how Black Peter came to work with Sinterklaas, some of them quite controversial. In the earliest telling, he was Sinterklaas’s black servant boy or even his slave, but other versions state that he is a type of demon. Because of the racist overtones of the old Black Peter stories, in recent years his background has been rewritten, and he is now often described as being a chimney sweep.

Gift-Giving Style:

Unlike Santa, Sinterklaas brings children gifts on the fifth of December, a holiday designed to celebrate the historical figure of St. Nicholas. Children place their shoes by their fireplace, along with some carrots for Sinterklaas’s horse, and if they’ve been good, there will be candy and presents in the shoes come morning. Sinterklaas doesn’t leave the gifts himself; instead, Black Peter climbs down the chimney with presents for the good kids and coal or bags of salt for those who were naughty. In older versions of the legend, Black Peter would kidnap the worst of the children and take them away to Spain as punishment.

1. Father Christmas

Countries: UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and many others

Along with Sinterklaas, Father Christmas stands as the biggest influence in the creation of the more modern American Santa, and he is still the primary Christmas gift-giver in the holiday legends of several different countries. In his modern incarnation, Father Christmas is often indistinguishable from Santa Claus, but their origin stories are actually quite a bit different. Early versions of the character from the 1600s depict him as a merry old man clad in a green robe. At the time, he wasn’t seen as a gift-giver, but rather as the spirit of good tidings and the joy of the Christmas season. This incarnation was made famous by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol, who used the popular conception of Father Christmas as the model for his “Ghost of Christmas Present” character. With time, though, Father Christmas merged with Santa Claus and Sinterklaas into his more modern role as a bringer of gifts to children.

Gift-Giving Style:

The modern version of Father Christmas differs very little from Santa Claus in his gift-giving methods. Like Santa, he rides a sleigh pulled by a team of reindeer, and climbs down the chimney to leave behind gifts for nice children. Families often leave behind snacks for him and his reindeer, though these differ according to the country. His location and appearance differ as well. Some versions of the legend state that he wears a green suit instead of the more prevalent red, and he doesn’t always live in the North Pole. Some countries cite Greenland as the traditional home of Father Christmas, while others use the Lapland Province of Finland.