I DOUBT that I'll be posting links over the Xmas weekend, so there will be a little bit of "Everything Must Go!" today...

PATE ON THE RADIO FOR THE HOLIDAYS: For the past 16 years, Jon Solomon has DJ'ed a 24-hour marathon of Christmas tunes at WPRB (103.3 FM), now located in Princeton, NJ. Either Craig O'Neill or Ken King found him on the 'net. After discovering he was a fan of "My Turn," I sent him "Rope Around the Moon" and "New Year," both of which were aired last year. I should have examined that playlist more closely, as this article Ken found reveals that Pate is not the only Ames band to make the list. ISU Daily employees of a certain vintage will find this twice as funny.

ON THE PITCHFORK: The Top 50 Albums of 2004, with lists for singles and reissues as well.

SCARED OF SANTA: If you haven't seen the link before, here's a lovely photo gallery of frightened children for your amusement. These French kids, however, were not afraid of Santa, beating him after he refused to give them extra sweets.

FESTIVUS: The New York Times has in-depth coverage (registration or bugmenot required). Whoda thunk Chicago and Austin to be big Festivus cities? OK, lots of people.

SPEAKING OF AUSTIN: MTV's "The Real World" is headed there next. Stardom beckons for Jon Hahn!

CATS AND DOGS: There are now more dogs and cats in Italian homes than children.

HOGS AND DOGS: The L.A. Times reports that law enforcement authorities arrested seven people in three states on charges stemming from "hog dogging" events, in which pit bulls or bulldogs are placed in a pen with pigs or wild boars and are timed as they pin the squealing animals with their powerful jaws.

NATASHA LYONNE bites dog. Sadly, not a shocker.

MONKEYS IN JAIL: This story is from September, but just as funny now.

UPDATES ON PAST LINKS: Ex-Expos beat porn merchant for baseball park in Washington D.C., leaving only the taxpayers and the local community as the losers. Washington state Governor's race recount swings to the Democrat, as previously predicted, though more legal action is almost sure to follow.

EXERCISE IN A PILL may be on the horizon.

LEARN TO FIT BRAS in Britain. It would be nice to make money from a hobby.

WOMEN MAKE BETTER ASTRONAUTS: New medical research has revealed that the mental and physical characteristics of women mean they are far better suited to long-term space travel than men. Insert your own out-of-this-world sexist punchline here.

POP-TART EXPERT allowed to testify in flaming pastry trial. And you thought that was going to be about Britney Spears, didn't you?

AMERICA ONLINE will roll out its own free web-based e-mail service, but only to subscribers at first. Genius.

HARVARD GAZETTE: This is old, but who doesn't want to see how Bogota, Columbia deployed mimes for law enforcement?

BARNES AND NOBLE has the best singles scene in NYC. I always get a little funny look when I tell people I avoid the bar scene; this poll is giving away one of my secrets.

TWINS SWAP IDENTITIES FOR JAIL BREAK: This had to be a sitcom plot once.