Today and tomorrow are the shortest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Here in Klaipėda, sunrise is 9:03am and sunset is 4:04pm. Starting Tuesday, the days will gradually get longer.

We are doing OK with the lack of sunlight, all things considered. We have a lot of joyful and exciting things to celebrate and anticipate, so that makes up for the lack of sunlight. We are sleeping more than we typically do.

In the spirit of the shortest day, snuggle up inside with a hot beverage of choice, and your favorite book or comedy videos, and ponder these difficult questions.

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Where is the pale, and how does one know when one has moved beyond it? What are the implications of trans-pale status, and how does one resume cis-pale existence?

I, an Old Testament scholar, recently had lunch with a philosopher. I ordered a chicken dish, which happened to have a boiled egg inside the chicken. Which should I have eaten first: the chicken or the egg? Is this the equivalent of seething a calf in its mother’s milk? How could I be sure I wasn’t violating Deuteronomy 22:6-7 by eating?

Since he possesses talking tools that respond to orders and do his handiwork for him, if he must be given an epithet, shouldn’t it be Maladroit Manny?

What caused the author of “Silent Night” to go rogue and take over the Nakatomi Plaza building?

Is there any way to permanently banish/abolish/obliterate/fumigate Calibri from my computer?