Badger, badger, badger, badger. Mushroom, mushroom! Snake!

CommonCents noted an Apple announcement a few hours before the anticipated keynote. He says "Apples' latest must have gadget does away with the keyboard. With the new MacBook Wheel, Apple has replaced the traditional keyboard with a giant wheel."

Thousands of shoes, boots, slippers, sandals, and even roller blades from sources unknown disrupted Miami traffic on Friday. No witnesses have come forward with information on the mountain of footwear and law enforcement officials say the person responsible for leaving behind the shoes will be charged for the clean up. I think we have just witnessed the beginning of the next M. Night Shyamalan movie.

This is one way to cut down on lines.

Sometimes what you seek most isn't right in front of you, it's sitting on your head.

DynaSoar writes "Lake Superior State University in Michigan's Upper Peninsula ('The land of four seasons: June, July, August and Winter') has just published its 34th annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. Besides such unsurprising inclusions such as 'green' corporations being 'game changing' due to concern with their 'carbon foot print,' this year's list contains an emoticon for the first time — not a smiley face or variant, but the 'heart' symbol made from the characters 'less than' and 'three.' It's perhaps a sign of the evolution of language, or at least of this volunteer linguistic watchdog group, that a symbol compounded of two characters, neither of them a letter, is considered not only a word, but a particularly egregious one."

Way back in 1997 Seinfeld made Festivus Famous. Alexandra Casuso was only 11 years old when Festivus made its TV debut but she is now one of many people who celebrate the holiday. "My parents -- my mother is Jewish, my father is Christian -- have a Christmas tree set up," said Casuso, 22. "They think I'm crazy. But I have a Festivus pole set up in the house. I also have a huge banner hanging up that says `Happy Festivus!' And I took all the gifts from under their Christmas tree and put them under my Festivus pole." Festivus is not over until you pin CowboyNeal!

boef writes "New Scientist has a gallery showing the top 10 unusual objects that have flown in space — from a small communion kit (that resulted in a lawsuit) to small toys to indicate when crew are in weightless conditions."

Harry writes "For well over a century, American inventors have been attempting to strike it rich with creations relating to Jolly Old St. Nick himself. I've rounded up 25 of their 'breakthroughs,' from the clever to the evocative to the just plain weird. Merry Christmas to all!"

"What do you think of a person who only does the bare minimum?"

A very hyper Christmas to you all.

Two very hungry German couriers ate a fruit cake destined for a German newspaper and in its place mailed a box of credit card data. The data including names, addresses and card transactions ended up at the Frankfurter Rundschau daily. The mix-up triggered an alarm, and police advised credit card customers with Landesbank Berlin to check their accounts for inconsistencies. Fruitcake must be different in Germany for people to want to use it as something other than a paperweight.

A new world record has been set in Romania after 3,939 Santas took to the streets handing out gifts. Guinness World Records officials confirmed it had beaten the previous record held by Taipei since 2003 with 3,618 Santas. Bucharest mayor Sorin Oprescu said, "We wanted to surprise kids by bringing not one Santa but thousands of them. This is the biggest gathering of Santas handing out gifts." The mayor added he hoped to break the record for the longest cake and the longest sausage later. Let the longest sausage jokes begin.

He's checking the pity list twice.

Even a Santa statue is scary.

You're never too big for Santa's lap.

dataxtream writes "The world's first refrigerated beach is to be built at a luxury hotel in Dubai, located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf. The beach will include heat-absorbing pipes under the sand along with large wind blowers, which will keep tourists cool and guard their feet against the hot sand. Half of me says these guys need a reality check, the other half wants to go there." I believe I've just thought of a way we could solve this whole global warming thing I've been hearing about.

designperfection9 writes "Burger King has lit a flame in the deodorant industry with the release of a new men's body spray called 'Flame.' The bottle is believed to contain the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat." Let me know when they come up with a french fry-scented laundry detergent.

DeviceGuru writes "A 49-foot-tall replica of Honda's infamous ASIMO humanoid robot will be a prominent participant in the 2009 Rose Parade. Honda's float will serve as the parade's opening ceremony stage and then transform itself into the supersized ASIMO, leading the beloved parade through the streets of Pasadena on New Year's Day. The giant replica is about 12 times the size of the actual ASIMO, which is 51 inches tall. That height, according to Honda, is ideal for interacting comfortably with people who are either sitting or standing."

It doesn't look like these Santas are going to make it much longer.