A Christmas Card With A Secret

As a 'Happy Holidays' from SAM, we bring some cheerful holiday pictures that are a bit more than meets the eye. Yes, they are Christmas trees, but they are also intel!

Population Movement Simulation Results 1 

Consider this a teaser for what is to come from SAM in the new year. 2014 will bring a series of visually-appealing posts on Turkey, Syria, nuclear non-proliferation, refugee population simulations and a host of innovative analytic methods for the everyday analyst's toolbox. 

Population Movement Simulation Results 2

Wishing happy holidays and a brilliant start to 2014 to all our faithful readers!

Sunday Funnies: What Do You Do With Your Old Christmas Tree? Shoot It Into Space!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1...!

SNOWINT (CommunityWalk)

Want to know the odds that your location will have a white Christmas? Check out this map made using one of my favorite online custom mapping tools, CommunityWalk...

CommunityWalk Map - What are the odds of a White Christmas?

SHOPINT: Repair Or Replace? (Consumer Reports Via Lifehacker)

This time of year, many people's thoughts turn to shopping (well, first to giving thanks...but, then, to shopping). Lifehacker recently republished this very handy Consumer Reports repair or replace chart for a number of electronic items (Click on it to get a better view). Now you have the excuse you need to go out and get that 50 inch plasma...

Day After Christmas Videos

For readers of SAM outside of North America (South America, most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) this may seem like just another Friday but for us, it is the day after Christmas and no one is doing anything but recuperating. Even if they are at work, believe me...they are still recuperating.

With this in mind, I offer a bit of light entertainment. Happy Holidays to everyone!

From Improbable Research, "Violent Chess":



From MakeUseOf, "Beaker's Ode To Joy":



and "Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager":



and finally, from Gizmodo, "Nerf Vulcan":

Presents, Presents, Presents! (Happy Holidays!)

It is the holiday season just about everywhere so here is a list of goodies for just about every type person (or every type person that reads this blog...).

For The Operationally Inclined:

Operation Christmas. Ever wonder how the jolly old elf does it? Wired magazine has finally dug the dirt and ripped the lid off of Santa, Inc.

NORAD Tracks Santa. NORAD has been doing this for years and has recently upgraded to a real-time version integrated with GoogleEarth and live video.

For The Audiophile:

Vintage Christmas Wax. SAM is all about independent and new music and there is nothing more "indie" than these cleaned up .mp3s of old wax canister versions of classic Christmas songs. You never heard the Edison (as in Thomas Alva Edison) Mixed Quartet sing "O Come All Ye Faithful"? Here is your chance.

Sara Bareilles. Not all that Christmas-y but if you like Norah Jones you will likely like Ms. Bareilles.


For The Historian:

Christmas At War. The Imperial War Museum has put together a very interesting online exhibit of a number of stories and images of Christmas at War. Once you have finished with this exhibit, I recommend you check out the rest of this detailed site.

For The New Year:

Writing Proper Thank-You Notes. Excellent outline for doing what we know needs to be done.

Beating The Little Hater. A little hip-hop motivational lecture for the New Year from IllDoctrine.

Getting Back To School, Work Or Both:

SeatGuru.com. Find the best seats on every plane, every airline.

In-Flight Fitness Guide. The American Physical Therapy Association comes to the rescue with this series of tips for keeping yourself loose and healthy on long flights.