St. Nicholas Day: Santa Claus is coming to town in spades

by Jamie Rhein on

Two Sundays ago, we saw our first Santa Claus of the season riding on a float at the end of the Holiday Lights Parade in Gahanna, Ohio. Since my son is five, I’ve come up with elaborate reasons why Santa is in so many places at the same time.

On December 6, Santa Claus–aka St. Nicholas– has his own special day. St. Nicholas Day, a holiday started to honor Bishop Nicholas, the man who used his inheritance from his wealthy family to feed the sick and clothe the poor, particularly children, back in 3rd century Greece. He started the Santa Claus tradition.

Today finds St. Nicholas visiting schools, churches and museums, plus taking part in town parades and festivals. Most of them are in Europe, but he pays visits elsewhere to spread the idea that it’s good to give–even Walt Disney World, the Epcot Center is passing the word. Here, St. Nicholas is visiting guests at the Germany Pavilion. In some places, St. Nicholas has been making visits since the middle of November, but today is the feast day.

If you want to find St. Nicholas close to you, here’s a link that lists the various countries with St. Nicholas activities. Those links lead to links of specific events. The one in the photograph actually took place last Sunday in Germany. From what I can tell the spirit of St. Nicholas is catching on with my son. Yesterday, when I showed him a Toys For Tots present I bought to give away, he didn’t say, “I want one too.”

Test your UNESCO World Heritage Site geography

by Grant Martin on

We dabble in sustainable travel once in a while here at Gadling, but if you really want to get into the science of the process, there are some excellent, well-maintained blogs out on the interwebs. Both Friends of World Heritage and National Geographic’s Intelligent Traveler have dedicated professional staff to keep you informed on the happenings of eco-travel around the planet.

Friends of World Heritage has a great little map game to get you started, which is a combination of geographical and UNESCO site data. It’s a fun, educational way to test your knowledge of world geography as well as get the message out about the endangered sites around the globe.

The first time I played I got stumped on the North America stage (in my defense, I got some really random locations in Mexico), but on my second try was not able to get past stage twelve, which is wicked hard.

Give yourself a few minutes over lunch and take a gander. My top score is 718537 points which should be pretty easy to beat. You can find the tool directly off their homepage.

Stop giving money to Africa!

by Jerry Guo on

There’s been a lot of press and policy rejiggering over traditional attitudes towards African aid. We’ve seen for decades of its effects, or more accurately, lack of. One example from this year really showcases how domestic policies and investments, not aid, can pull Africa out of poverty.

In 2005, five of the 15 million people in Malawi needed emergency food aid. But this year, thanks to heavier agricultural subsidies (which goes against Western policies), it’s actually exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of corn.

As hard as it it to think about starving children, perhaps it’s more unsettling to think about starving children being around for generation after generation. But that’s what financial aid does. Africans don’t need handouts as much as they need investments and policies to cultivate entrepreneurial spirit.

Still, I do feel somewhat bad for taking this stance, so to make up for it, I’m directing you to Free Rice (“for each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice”).

How clean are those ice cubes again?

by Grant Martin on

I’m used to refraining from ice cubes in my beverages while in third world countries. But after the Chicago Sun Times published an article on ice cube quality in the greater Chicago area, I might have to start declining in the great US of A as well. In a series of tests across 49 fast food and casual dining restaurants, The Sun found that over 43% of them had higher bacterial levels than the toilet water in the Sun Building. Twenty percent of the samples had bacterial levels that were considered “high.”

My favorite part of the article is where they actually list the restaurants where they found high percentages of bacteria in the ice cubes. It’s great to call out these businesses on their cleanliness and I’d like to continue that tradition here. Take heed, fair Chicagoans: Restaurants in Chicago with high levels of total coliform bacteria:

  • Applebee’s at 7519 S. Cicero
  • Chipotle Mexican Grill at 10 S. LaSalle
  • Starbucks at 444 N. Michigan
  • Asiago Express at 176 N. Wells
  • Outback Steakhouse at 216 E. Golf Rd. in Schaumburg
  • Burger King at 6950 S. Pulaski
  • Caribou Coffee at 3025 N. Clark
  • Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery at 1 W. Grand (I think I ate here last November!)
  • The Drake Hotel at 140 E. Walton
  • The Hyatt Regency Chicago at 151 E. Wacker
  • The Sheraton Chicago at 301 E. North Water

Before you go out and get your immunizations boosted, remember that fecal coliform aren’t necessarily bad for you. While they do hold the potential to cause illness, the body digests and even requires certain bacterium. But it is disturbing to find that almost half of the ice cubes out there at public restaurants are dirtier than toilet water. I’ll definitely think twice about getting ice next time I’m out to lunch with the guys.

International Volunteer Day

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are a volunteer somewhere, give yourself a pat on the back. This is your day. Started as a UN resolution back in 1985, December 5 is a day to get people fired up for the other 364 days of the year. Even though the areas of economic and social development, are the target areas for applause, I say, if you’re helping anyone anywhere, bravo for you. Hmmm. Economic and social development. Those are broad terms. There’s a page on the International Volunteer Day Web site that lists the 7 Goals for the Millennium that volunteer activities are linked to. They are:

  1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. Achieve universal primary education
  3. Promote gender equality & empower women
  4. Improve maternal health
  5. Reduce child mortality
  6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
  7. Ensure environmental sustainability

Kabul, Afghanistan, Kathmandu, Nepal and Beijing, China are featured as areas where such projects are happening, but there are more. If you are looking for a place to make a difference when you travel, the International Volunteer Day Web site might be a place to start. Here are volunteer stories to get you inspired.