Thursday Things: Boxing Day Edition
26 December 2019. Vol 1 No 20. By Dan McGirt. #20
Welcome to Thursday Things! It’s the last Thursday of 2019 so let’s ring out the old year while we still can.
Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash
What is Boxing Day? you’re probably asking, unless you live in the UK or one of its former colonies. Boxing Day, observed on December 26, is a public holiday in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and a few other places. That’s right! Two holidays in a row! Very civilized, the British. So, as you might guess, it is not a day for stepping into the boxing ring with your relatives to settle all of the long-simmering feuds, arguments, and resentments that have accumulated during the year as a cathartic release after the forced cheer of the holidays. Not that any of you would need such a day. No, Boxing Day is about being charitable to the less fortunate.
The origins are the name are disputed. Some connect it to churches putting out collection boxes for the poor which were opened, and the alms distributed, the day after Christmas. Others say the name derives from the custom of the wealthy giving Christmas boxes of small gifts (and leftovers!) to servants the day after Christmas, along with a day off. To wit:
It was also the day when rich land owners would give 'gifts' (often some leftover food from the main Christmas feast!) to those who worked and lived on their land; and later on it became traditional that servants got the day off to celebrate Christmas with their families on Boxing Day.
Before World War II, it was common for working people (such as milkmen and butchers) to travel round their delivery places and collect their Christmas box or tip. This tradition has now mostly stopped and any Christmas tips, given to people such as postal workers and newspaper delivery children, are not normally given or collected on Boxing Day.
And, of course, in a complete inversion of any of these origins, Boxing Day has become a huge shopping day, offering the equivalent of America’s Black Friday sales. Regardless of which theory you embrace, or how you choose to observe it (if at all) (though, again, hopefully not by punching your obnoxious relative), I wish you a Happy Boxing Day, because it is just fun to say.
2020 will arrive before the next edition of Thursday Things does, so I’ll have to wish my Happy Subscribers an early Happy New Year. We could now discuss new year’s resolutions or do some kind of review of 2019. Maybe a top 10 list. Instead, let’s take a moment to consider the the important topic of your underwear.
It seems that in Brazil (that’s the one in South America where they don’t speak Spanish. Long story.) there is a quite elaborate New Year’s custom of wearing white on New Year’s Eve, along with colored underwear. This alone is a questionable fashion choice, but there is a method to the madness. You see, the color of underwear you choose determines your fortunes in the new year in various areas of concern. Here is one list of your options:
Key to Underwear Colors and their Meaning in Brazil:
Branco (white) = paz e harmonia (peace and harmony)
Aazul (blue) = tranquilidade e amizade (tranquility and friendship)
Amarelo (yellow) = dinheiroesorte (money and luck)
Rosa (pink) = amor (love)
Vermelho (red) = paixão (passion)
Laranja (orange) = sucessoprofissional (professional success)
Verde (green) = saúde (health)
Roxo (purple) = inspiração (inspiration)
(I presume my Batman boxers = justice) As always, opinions vary, and other sources give slightly different interpretations. Regardless — and this is good advice any day of the year — choose your underwear wisely!
Tired of solving those pesky quadratic equations? I know I am! Oh, look, ax2 + bx + c = 0. Time to remember the quadratic formula again. All that guessing and scratching out variables and starting over. We’ve been doing it this way for four thousand years. There has to be a better way!
Well now there is! According to mathematician Po-Shen Loh from Carnegie Mellon University, a better, easier way to solve quadratic equations has been right in front of us the whole time! According to Loh:
he uses an averaging technique that concentrates on the sum of the two numbers making up b in ax2 + bx + c = 0, as opposed to the more commonly taught way of focusing on the product of two numbers that make up c, which often requires guesswork to solve problems.
D’oh! (Or L’oh!) It’s so obvious! Why did we never think of this before! You can read Loh’s paper for all the details. Or watch the video:
Now you can start 2020 solving quadratic equations with confidence, the quick, easy way! You’re welcome.
If, like me, you went every so slightly off your normal eating and exercise habits during the holidays, I offer this small consolation: Christmas Weight Gain Could Be Offset With Coffee. Researchers fed rats a high-carb, high-sugar diet, along with copious amounts of caffeine and “determined that caffeine reduced fat absorption by 22 percent and reduce weight gain by 16 percent.” They estimated that drinking four cups of coffee (or mate tea) a day could help prevent weight gain. So I shudder to think what might have happened if I had not been drinking coffee along with gobbling down all those Christmas treats. Remember: Coffee is your friend.
This is the final Thursday Things of 2019. Thank you to all the dozens of Happy Subscribers who have been along for these first twenty issues. I hope you all had a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, and a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year ahead. Thanks for reading! I’ll see you again next Thursday in 2020!