Santa Claus has many homes in the world. His main family house is near the beautiful and magnificent Northern Lights region (Aurea Borealis countries) in the polar north of the world. "As time went by, more and more was added to the Santa Claus legend. Thomas Nast, a 19th century cartoonist, did a series of drawings for "Harper's Weekly". Nash's vision of Santa had him living at the North Pole."
More people in many far away countries have to receive new gifts and rewards for their goodness. They get gifts for their compassionate polite manners, gentleness, and good deeds towards their family, their parents, and their brothers and sisters.
"After the Reformation, the feast and veneration of St. Nicholas were abolished in many countries, and the new figure of the Christmas Man substituted, so that soon the people in those countries forgot St. Nicholas who had once been so dear to them."
"Any kid can tell you where Santa Claus is from—the North Pole. But his historical journey is even longer and more fantastic than his annual, one-night circumnavigation of the globe."
Santa's new additional homes in many more countries make it easier and faster for the postal services to bring all the letters from every good person who writes to Santa Claus.
Marcel Breuer
Marcel Lajos Breuer (pronounced broy-ər ; 22 May 1902 – 1 July 1981) was a Hungarian-American modernist, architect and furniture designer of Jewish descent.
He was born in Pécs on May 21, 1902.
One of the masters of modernism, Breuer used the ideas he had developed in the carpentry shop at the Bauhaus. His personal architecture made him one of the world’s most popular architects. He died in New York City.
His philosophy follows the concepts of form over function.
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" is the second single off American punk rock band Green Day's fifth studio album "Nimrod". The song was released on October 17, 1997. The song was first written by lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong before the release of the band's third album "Dookie" in 1994 but the song was not released until Green Day's fifth album, "Nimrod" in 1997.
In 1998, the band were able to win their first MTV Video Music Award for Best Alternative Video. The song was also nominated in the category of Viewer's Choice.
The song has become popular at prom dances, to the band's surprise.
Miguel Gila
Miguel Gila Cuesta (12 March 1919 in Madrid - 13 July 2001 in Barcelona, Catalonia) was a Spanish comedian.
When Gila was 13 years old he left school because his father died. His first job was in a garage in Madrid. Several years later he went back to school to finish his studies. He got a degree in aircraft mechanics. He worked in the Elizalde of Barcelona Workshops. Later he was milling in Construcciones SA Aircraft (CASA) in Getafe.
Gila was a member of Unified Socialist Youth (JSU). When the Spanish Civil War began, he joined the republican troops. He came close to being shot by the rebel volunteers. He was able to survive. According his own words: "the fascist troops take me among others to be executed (""Paseo"": "Walking" in English), but they were too drunk for shoot us, so they failed". Therefore he left JSU.
Gila made his debut as vignettist in 1945. He become famous as a monologuist in 1951. Most of his repertory was about war histories. Gila's most known catchphrase was: ""Está el enemigo?, que se ponga [al teléfono]"" (Are the enemy there?, take him at phone).
"According to his own autobiography, success came in 1951 when he starred in Madrid as spontaneous theater Fontalba, where he told an impromptu monologue about his experience as a volunteer in a war. From there his career took off."
Gila worked on the scripts of "Cinderfella" and "The man traveling slowly". He took part in the animated film, "Tales of love and slaughter" in 1975. It was directed by Já (Jordi Amoros). Gila wrote the screenplay with with Chumy Chúmez, Ivà and Jaume Perich. They all worked on the drawings, or animations for the movie.
Gila died in Barcelona from respiratory failure. He had a chronic lung illness.
Ivar Aasen
Ivar Andreas Aasen (5 August 1813 – 23 September 1896) was a Norwegian philologist and lexicographer. He is best known for creating a new variant of the Norwegian language based on the way people in Norway spoke. His aim was to replace Danish as the official written language in Norway. He wanted a new written language that sounded more like the spoken Norwegian of ordinary people. Danish had become the official written language during Norway's union with Denmark (1400s-1814). It was only mastered by a few middle and upper class Norwegians.
New World oriole
New World orioles are a group of birds in the genus Icterus. They are in the blackbird family, and not related to Old World orioles of the family Oriolidae. Icterid species are strikingly similar in size, diet, behaviour, and strongly contrasting plumage to Old World orioles. This is a good example of convergent evolution.
Males are typically black and vibrant yellow or orange with white markings, females and immature birds duller. They moult annually. New World orioles are generally slender with long tails and a pointed bill. They mainly eat insects, but also enjoy nectar and fruit. The nest is a woven, elongated pouch. Species nesting in areas with cold winters are strongly migratory, while subtropical and tropical species are more sedentary (do not migrate.
The name "oriole" was first recorded (in the Latin form "oriolus") by Albertus Magnus in about 1250, which he stated to be onomatopoeic, from the song of the European golden oriole.
The genus name "Icterus" as used by classical authors, referred to a bird with yellow or green plumage. In modern times this has been identified as the golden oriole. Brisson mistakenly re-applied the name to the New World birds because of their similarity in appearance.
Volcanoes in Iceland
Many volcanoes in Iceland are active volcanoes. This is due to its location on the mid-Atlantic Ridge which is a tectonic plate boundary. Iceland has 30 active volcanic systems. Of these, 13 have erupted since the settlement of Iceland in 874 AD. The eruption under Eyjafjallajökull ("glacier of Eyjafjöll") in 2010 was notable because the volcanic ash plume disrupted air travel in northern Europe for several weeks.
Eurasian golden oriole
The Eurasian golden oriole ("Oriolus oriolus") or simply golden oriole, is the only oriole breeding in northern hemisphere temperate regions.
It is one of the oriole family of passerine birds. It is a summer migrant in Europe and western Asia and spends the winter season in central and southern Africa.
Golden orioles have an extremely large range with large populations that are apparently stable.
Until a few years ago this species was treated as being conspecific with the Indian golden oriole. They are now in separate species.
Iceland hotspot
The Iceland hotspot is a geologic hotspot. It is partly responsible for the high volcanic activity which has formed the island of Iceland.
Iceland is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world. On Iceland, there are volcanic eruptions about every three years. In the 20th century there were 39 volcanic eruptions on and around Iceland. About a third of the basaltic lavas erupted in recorded history were produced by Icelandic eruptions.
Notable eruptions have included that of Eldgjá, a fissure of Katla, in 934 (the world's largest basaltic eruption ever witnessed), and Laki in 1783 (the world's second largest). In many places, Iceland is covered by glaciers. Several eruptions under ice caps have burst through the ice. The most recent one was in 2010 after the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull.
Iceland's position over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is partly responsible for this intense volcanic activity. It is not understood why Iceland is an island, but the rest of the ridge consists of seamounts, with peaks below sea level.