Things in December [2]

A short-list of newsy nuggets from December's headlines:

1. Unwanted Christmas gifts are being auctioned off online.
2. Reindeers are genetically programmed to stop growing in cold weather when food is scare, cutting their calorific needs by 70%.
3. The pagan tradition celebrates the shortest day of the year as their Winter Solstice.
4. Leonardo da Vinci might have been an atheist.
5. Tamerlane, the 14th Century Turko-Mongol conqueror, loved chess.
6. A man who lent a penniless tourist money has been repaid his debt nearly 40 years later.
7. British councils are banning number 13 houses on new developments.
8. Sneezing can be a sign of sexual arousal.
9. Sugar does not cause hyperactive behaviour.
10. The more brothers a man has, the more likely he is to have sons himself.

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