It is increasingly uncool to like the Olympics these days, with the marketing and the policing and whatnot, but I still love the ideals and the opening ceremonies. Good luck, everyone!




Then again, the Mud Olympics sound awfully fun, too. If you’re in Germany, I recommend checking it out this weekend.



If you’re closer to Italy, there’s a Unicorn Festival that sounds like a fantasy extravaganza (site is in Italian with no other languages visibly available, sadly, but you’ll get the idea from the images).



Meanwhile, in Denmark, it’s never too early to start planning for the holidays; the World Santa Claus Congress gets underway.



In the United States, it’s a million degrees (give or take a few thousand), and we are coping by holding championship cardboard boat races in Arkansas, champion lumberjacking contests in Wisconsin, and, um, mosquito festivals in Texas.



This just in from Zazoo: the Muppets have taken over a NYC travel website, and the results are fantastic. They’re all there with recommendations, even Statler and Waldorf!