All I want for Christmas

Found this hilarious video from r-bloggers, a modern adaption of the classical song!
http://www.r-bloggers.com/because-its-friday-all-i-want-for-christmas/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RBloggers+%28R+bloggers%29

Merry Christmas! We're cooking the turkey :)

And some famous skating:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zbbN4OL98

Christmas reading from Xiao-Li

Physical theories not based on experimental evidence:
https://www.quantamagazine.org/20151216-physicists-and-philosophers-debate-the-boundaries-of-science/

Franklin Institute at Philly

It was a rainy day. I walked around the city and passed a museum that looks grand. Out of curiosity, I went inside and saw the grand statue of Benjamin Franklin and the Lego model of the Vatican! I never realize that such beautiful craft exists, and right next to me! While strolling around the museum, I also saw a special exhibition about the times of Genghis Khan still running. Although he was once a great emperor in China, I have never understood much about him. So the exhibition seems very intriguing. Maybe it's not a bad idea to come here often.

The last one pictures Christmas shopping at Macy's. I was shooting right next to the well-known eagle.

Moon Walk and Mince Pies

Today is Christmas Eve in the UK (and elsewhere) and we went for a walk by the day / moon light. The moon appeared very large on the horizon, but our astronomer guides (Mike and Joyce) revealed that this is an optical illusion. Our expectation that things near the horizon will be larger than the dots of light in the sky makes us believe that the moon is larger when it is low in the sky. (During our walk yesterday we saw a full moon and sun at the same time! Norfolk has a certain flatness.) After the walk we had sausage rolls and mince pies :)

Moon on the horizon

Moon and sheep

Moon walk

Moon and chapel

Mince pie

 

Cool blog

You might like this blog. It's well written and has some great book reviews and pictures:
http://jinglebells2015.blogspot.co.uk/

How to be a good guest - 41 rules

While looking for gift ideas for the upcoming dinner at Tony's house, I found this with lots of "good" suggestions :)

http://www.dinneralovestory.com/how-to-be-a-good-dinner-guest-41-rules/

The next one features lots of interesting responses from various people. Take a look at the one Yves Granger who defined himself as a grandparent and an educator. I especially like his last idea on showing up one at a time with one rose in hand and the vase showed up the last!
https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-alternative-gifts-to-bring-to-the-host-of-a-dinner-party-besides-wine

The Two Ronnies

Blackberry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI

Four candles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ

Christmas in the UK

Funny slogan ... and a floating word!

Christmas tree

Variation on mince pies

Picasso quote

Art is the lie that tells the truth.

A statistics principle from George Box is:
All model are wrong but some are useful.

Rob Kass mentioned that some applied mathematicians / scientists instead say:
Models are the lie that tell the truth.

He's worried that the statistics principle seems to be less about truth and suggests we try to find models that are more scientific.