The tradition of exchanging gifts in a game-like format has multiple regional names across the United States, including ‘White Elephant’, ‘Yankee Swap’, and ‘Dirty Santa’, along with more colorful variations such as ‘Thieving Elves’, and ‘Cutthroat Christmas’. While the modern practice centers on exchanging either practical items or deliberately impractical gifts in an entertaining format, its origins can be traced to early American ‘swap parties’ documented as far back as 1901 in The Hartford Herald.

“Imagine a native English speaker who knows no Chinese locked in a room full of boxes of Chinese symbols (a data base) together with a book of instructions for manipulating the symbols (the program). Imagine that people outside the room send in other Chinese symbols which, unknown to the person in the room, are questions in Chinese (the input). And imagine that by following the instructions in the program the man in the room is able to pass out Chinese symbols which are correct answers to the questions (the output). The program enables the person in the room to pass the Turing Test for understanding Chinese but he does not understand a word of Chinese.” – John Searle, 1999

Turn right at the corner of Axiom

“The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings.” – Albert Schweitzer

“Science is a way of life. Science is a perspective. Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding in a manner that’s precise, predictive and reliable - a transformation, for those lucky enough to experience it, that is empowering and emotional.” – Brian Greene

“Farewell happy fields

“When captured electronically, customer sentiment — expressions beyond facts, that convey mood, opinion, and emotion — carries immense business value. We’re talking the voice of the customer, and of the prospect, patient, voter, and opinion leader.” – Seth Grimes