Theodore Roosevelt, among others, believed that tax could be used to check the growth of large fortunes. But lawmakers continued to view the tax more modestly, using it to balance other, more regressive elements of the federal revenue system, including excise taxes and tariff duties. The history of federal estate taxation does include at least one episode in which wealth redistribution played a starring role. In 1935 Franklin Roosevelt championed a new federal inheritance tax -- intended to supplement, not replace the estate levy -- as a means to slow the growth of large fortunes. "Great accumulations of wealth cannot be justified on the basis of personal and family security," FDR declared.
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/310E8B3293A7AD62852571A20068CBB7?OpenDocument

Q. What is frankincense? A. Frankincense is aromatic resin of dehydrated tree sap that comes from the milky-colored sap of Boswellia, a genus of deciduous trees. Once valued on a level with gold, it has been a commodity for more than 50 centuries. Incorporated into a diversity of cultures, it has been used in an array of settings, such as religious rites, cosmetics, alternative medicine, scent and incense. http://www.ehow.com/about_5121867_frankincense.html

Q. What is myrrh? A. Myrrh is as equally well known as frankincense in its use as an incense and anointment. Few know that the resin has also been used internally as medicine. Myrrh essential oil has many useful benefits, and is still used in natural products such as toothpaste, soap and perfumes. Myrrh has a pleasant scent for use in meditation or aromatherapy as well. http://www.ehow.com/about_5300033_benefits-myrrh-essential-oil.html

As a TV writer, Eddie Gorodetsky has seven Emmy nominations (and one win). He has written for "SCTV," "Saturday Night Live" and David Letterman. He now works with producer Chuck Lorre on the two most popular half-hour comedies on television—"Two and a Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory"—plus the new "Mike & Molly." A new project: writing a novel about "celebrity, paparazzi, drugs and superheroes." He was also the producer of "Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan," the weekly satellite radio series that from 2006-2009 produced a crazy-quilt mix of genre-and-decade-jumping songs, with running commentary from Mr. Dylan. Much of the material for the 100 episodes was culled from Mr. Gorodetsky's own record collection, which among other eclectic selections contains a vast array of Christmas music. Mr. Gorodetsky made these holiday songs into mixes and sent them to friends for years. The idea with the mix tapes was to get people to listen to stuff they wouldn't normally listen to—a reggae track here, then a country track, followed by a jump blues tune." He chose Christmas songs because "people will listen to anything if you put sleigh bells on it." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704156304576003783102082942.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

SantaLeaks
· Santa and several top elves colluded to circumvent a ban on Chinese-made toys, despite pressure from the North Pole community to deliver only toys made locally.
· Santa has, over the years, acted to undermine potential successors, privately disparaging one of his nephews as “lazy,” another as “not really committed to the whole Christmas thing,” and yet another as “incapable of growing a beard of the appropriate size, if you know what I mean.”
· Senior North Pole officials were astonished when an elf in Santa’s cabinet proposed halting a long-standing program monitoring pouting and crying. “For years, we’ve been telling people that they’d better not do this,” one said in a confidential cable, “and now we’re removing all restrictions? What’s next? Decriminalizing the failure to watch out? Read the other ten at: http://newyorker.tumblr.com/post/2351607272/santaleaks

Language analysts, sifting through two centuries of words in the millions of books in Google Inc.'s growing digital library, found a new way to track the arc of fame, the effect of censorship, the spread of inventions and the explosive growth of new terms in the English-speaking world. In research reported December 16 in the journal Science, the scientists at Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Google and the Encyclopedia Britannica unveiled a database of two billion words and phrases drawn from 5.2 million books in Google's digital library published during the past 200 years. With this tool, researchers can measure trends through the language authors used and the names of people they mentioned. Analyzing the computerized text, the researchers reported that they could measure the hardening rhetoric of nations facing off for war, by tracking increasing use of the word "enemy." in the past," said Mark Liberman, a computational linguist at the University of Pennsylvania, who wasn't involved in the project. "Everywhere you focus these new instruments, you see interesting patterns." The digital text also captured the evolving structure of a living language, and almost a half-million English words that have appeared since 1950, partly reflecting the growing number of technical terms, such as buckyball, netiquette and phytonutrient. "Empathy has shot up since the 1940s," said Harvard University cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker, who is experimenting with the data in his own research. "Will power, self-control and prudence have declined." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704073804576023741849922006.html

Silent monks "sing" Hallelujah Chorus--a selection of performances to choose from: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=silent+monks+hallelujah+chorus&aq=0

A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty Hi-Yo, Silver! ... Three times a week on the radio, those words, juxtaposed with the galloping strains of Rossini’s “William Tell” overture, captivated generations of midcentury Americans. For a decade, first on the radio and later on television, Fred Foy was the man who intoned those gallant lines, among the most evocative in American broadcasting. Mr. Foy died on December 22, at 89, at his home in Woburn, Mass. Mr. Foy was not the first “Lone Ranger” announcer and narrator — the show had begun in 1933, when he was scarcely more than a boy — but he was the last, and almost certainly the best known. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/arts/television/23foy.html