Sigh, it's that time of year again...

Specifically, it's that time of the year when you start hearing the silly "news" reports about Christmas-related things that either are not important:

• How much would those 12 days of Christmas gifts cost? ($78,100, or a little over £100*)
  

or astronomically impossible to figure out:

• Was the Star of Bethlehem a supernova? (possibly) And when did it appear exactly? (most think 6 BC - yes, Christ was born 6 years before Christ) -

or surprisingly have not been tackled yet

• Exactly how much oil would you need to keep a lamp burning for eight nights? (Beats me)

Well here's a new one:

• Exactly what disease did Tiny Tim (the Dickens character, not the singer) have that could've been cured by an infusion of money?

Doctors in-the-know suggest it was either kidney disease, which could have been treated with mid-nineteenth century medicines even though they didn't know exactly what the disease was, or rickets, which could've been alleviated with a stark increase in Vitamin D-rich foods into Tiny Tim's diet. This would've been made possible with a nice infusion of cash from Mr. Scrooge. Granted, they didn't know what Vitamin D actually was back then, but the English had access to foods containing it if there was money to buy it.

Well, I think I' off to have a glass of milk.

*Yes, I'm kidding - it's actually £39, 481.78 (by today's exchange rate of $1.97813 to the pound) - but the way the dollar is faring it sure seems like it, doesn't it?