Business

1. How airline cut cost: You might be amazed by bizzare yet realistic ways airlines are using to cut cost. Let's take a look: 

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/12/economist-explains-12?fsrc=permar|image2

Christmas

1. How does someone become a saint:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/32772092

2. Telling people not to shop at Christmas is nothing more than snobbery:“Don’t shop this Christmas, for the sake of the planet. But will a “buy nothing Christmas” actually help the environment? We clearly have a growing resource problem. The products we make, buy, and use are often linked to the destruction of our waterways, biodiversity, climate and the land on which millions of people live. But to blame these issues on Christmas shoppers is misguided, and lands us in the old trap of blaming individuals for what is a systematic problem:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/16/telling-people-not-to-shop-at-christmas-is-nothing-more-than-snobbery

3. 16 December is really the worst day to be born: Born nine days before Christmas? A survey says your birthday – shared with other losers such as Jane Austen and Noel Coward – is basically a write-off

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2015/dec/15/16-december-worst-day-born

Society

1. The False Dichotomy of Emotionalism vs Rationalism: There is this bizarre perception in our society that we are somehow in a great conflict between forces of emotionalism and rationalism. The idea here seems to be that going too far into the side of emotionalism is bad, destructive and leads to irrationality. This is dichotomy that I find to be nearly entirely false.

http://progressiveproselytizing.blogspot.com/2011/08/false-dichotomy-of-emotionalism-vs.html

Health

1. Models in France must provide doctor's note to work: “French lawmakers on Thursday adopted a bill forcing models to provide a doctor’s certificate confirming they are healthy, and magazines to label Photoshopped images as “touched up”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/18/models-doctors-note-prove-not-too-thin-france

Environment

1. Second Saharan dust cloud to hit England and Wales this weekend: A further spell of air pollution caused by a cocktail of Saharan dust and diesel fumes is expected to hit England and Wales on Saturday as temperatures remain unseasonably warm.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/17/second-spell-of-air-pollution-to-hit-england-and-wales-this-weekend

Science

1. Ancient 'Loch Ness Monster' Reptiles Swam Like Penguins: Plesiosaurs, marine reptiles that thrived in the world's seas when dinosaurs ruled the land, swam much like penguins by using their flippers to "fly" underwater, scientists said Thursday, resolving a debate that began nearly two centuries ago.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-plesiosaurs-idUSKBN0U02T420151217