Poll Answer: What is the most popular Christmas tree ornament in Japan?

It's the origami, or paper swan.  32% of you thought it was the candy cane.  Oh well  :-)

Poll Answer: Where was the first Christmas card created?

The first commercial Christmas and New Year’s card was designed in London, England in 1843 by John Callcott Horsley (1817 – 1903), a British narrative painter and a Royal Academician.

Horsley actually designed it in 1840, but it first went on sale only in 1843, when one thousand cards were offered for 1s each.

The card was controversial, for it showed a family raising their glasses to toast Christmas. Puritans immediately denounced it. The idea was a hit with others. Christmas card soon became very popular.

The First Christmas Card

Poll Answer: What was Eadweard Muybridge photographing when he developed a technique that became the basis for the movie camera?

In 1872, Californian governor Leland Stanford hired English photographer Eadweard Muybridge to capture the movement of horses. He wanted to prove a galloping horse always had at least one foot on the ground.

Muybridge set up 12 cameras at a Sacramento racetrack to photograph a galloping horse. He put the images on a rotating disc and shined a light through them. Not only did it prove that a galloping horse sometimes has all fours off the ground, but the photographic technique became the basis for the movie camera.

The 12 photos taken by Muybridge

Poll Results

Check back here every Sunday for answers to the weekly polls.  We might even give an explanation with a few more facts.  And one more thing.....  Expect to see giveaways and other rewards in future polls.