Christmas Links #5

'What do you call a snowman in the desert?' Comedians test the best Christmas crackers:
"Like the gifts presented to Jesus by the three kings, the merriment contained in a Christmas cracker comes in three parts. Instead of gold, there is a paper hat. Instead of frankincense, there is some kind of item made out of plastic that will be forgotten about within 90 seconds, and instead of myrrh, there is (grits teeth) a joke. We’ve assembled a team of comedians to assess the quality of this year’s Christmas cracker gags, which is rather like getting Marcus Wareing in to judge the quality of an empty plate that a toddler insists contains a cake."

Young farmers pose naked for Christmas cards - all in a good cause:
"Market Bosworth Young Farmers have produced a set of nearly-naked Christmas cards to go with a charity 2015 calendar being sold to raise money in memory of two-year-old Tom Beaumont from Cadeby who died in April 2014 after battling a brain tumour."

Harvey Nichols' budget Christmas campaign relies on smart PR rather than big media spend:
"Harvey Nichols declined to reveal the total budget for its Christmas campaign but it is believed to be a fraction of the £7m spent by John Lewis – and even more by Sainsbury’s. Forget schmaltzy messages of love, peace and goodwill. Harvey Nichols has instead cut to the heart of the matter with the tongue-in-cheek message: get me what I really want for Christmas, or woe betide you – or, in its own words "Could I be any clearer?"

A Preview of the Real Amazon Store:
"Tier two is made of products that are adjacent to the tier-one products. They’re electronics, or electronics accessories, that don’t really get much advertising, unless you count how easily they’re discovered when shopping Amazon for other stuff. These are the best-known of the “Amazon Basics” products. They’re HDMI cables and adapters. They’re cheap things, things that only have to function, usually in a single way, to be satisfactory; they’re also, perhaps not coincidentally, things that physical electronics stores, which Amazon would like to destroy, tend to mark up." [via]

Newspaper Staffers Remember Ex-Colleagues With A "Ghost of Christmas Past" Tree:
"For the past ten years, newsroom staffers have put up a tree and decorated it with photos of former colleagues. “Most are from the past 20 years, but a few go farther back than that,” says design editor Scott Griffin. “We’re up to 183 people now.”"

HRH Duke of Cambridge to unveil Christmas Truce Monument:
"HRH The Duke of Cambridge will attend a dedication ceremony for a monument commemorating the 1914 Christmas Truce at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire on Friday 12 December 2014."

Houses lighting up Shropshire with Christmas cheer:
"The start of December has heralded the arrival of houses lit and decorated for the festive season. And for some it has become something of a sport, competing with neighbours for bragging rights."

The Bottled Water Taste Test:
"Is expensive water really worth it?"