It's Christmastime, and if there's anything that can unite a nation, even one that doesn't universally love the holidays, it's a collection of wonderfully weird vintage Christmas videos. And even if you don't like the holidays, you'll probably still enjoy these strange (but fun) attempts at whimsy and festivity.

The video is freakish not for the video itself, but for how freakishly progressive it was when it was made -- in 1913!

The Insects' Christmas ("Rozhdestvo obitateley lesa") (1913)

(Video link) Vladislav Starevich, born in Russia to Polish parents in 1882, started as a documentary filmmaker who worked for a natural history museum in Lithuania. He eventually developed a knack for stop-motion animation using dead animals. "The Insects' Christmas," which was originally silent (what you hear are selections from the soundtrack for Edward Scissorhands), is a classic example of Starevich's filmmaking accomplishments, along with "The Beautiful Leukanida" (1912) and "The Cameraman's Revenge" (1912). Witness the seasonal beauty as well as the horror when someone loses their head at the 5:13 mark!

Santa in Animal Land (1948)

(Video link) This short only reinforces my fear of puppets, and it could have easily gone the way of Dead Snow. But more troubling: Felix the Frog(-like creature)'s unacknowledged cocaine problem.

Black Friday 1983: What to Get a Hacker for Christmas!

(Video link) "I know it seems boring, and I know it seems pointless..." Man, technology was adorable in the '80s, wasn't it? I wonder whatever became of Wendy Woods, Computerized Pet Whisperer.

A Visit to Santa (1963)

(Video link) I'll admit that since this was featured at the 2009 RiffTrax Live Christmas Shorts-travaganza, the silly commentary may have tricked me into thinking this video was weird. But I watched it sans commentary, and it is still pretty weird, in a wonderful way. You won't believe this, but none of these people are professional actors!

The Rapture: Are You Ready For the End of the World? (1941)

(Video link) "Housework will be left undone because Christian maids have been promoted to higher realms!" And no milk. None.

Runners-up: The pleasant but racist The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives and the 1905 silent film, The Night Before Christmas, allegedly the first film adaptation of the famous poem.

A white fur-trimmed Santa hat tip to XmasFLIX for their excellent compilation!

OK, I know that I promised to never post anything ever again about a certain hypothetical disaster that rhymes with Schmapocalypse MiffyMelve, but hear me out. This really isn't about that. Instead, I want to highlight an excellent profile of a scientist whose work and interactions with the public have been affected by that unnamed bit of urban mythology.

David Morrison is a 72-year-old senior scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center. He runs NASA's "Ask an Astrobiologist" column, and considers it his way of following in the footsteps of Carl Sagan. In this story, written by Dan Duray at The Awl, we learn about Morrison's deep commitment to communicating science to the public ... a commitment that has led him to spend the last eight years answering a increasingly heavy flood of letters about the end of the world. It's an interesting look at the effects pop culture has on real people.

The questions that Dr. Morrison receives circle around a surprisingly cohesive set of theories, each grounded in some kind of real science that then veers off in a wild direction ... It's possible that many of the people who write to Dr. Morrison are trolls, or have Kindle books to sell, or want to garner enough YouTube views to merit an ad before their videos (some of the "Nibiru exposed" videos now feature a pre-roll for the conspiracy movie Branded). But his younger questioners certainly aren't faking it. He read me some of the more serious emails over the phone:

"I know that everyone has been asking you the same question but how do I know the world is not going to end by a planet or a flood or something? I'm scared because I'm in 10th grade and I have a full life ahead of me so PLEASE I WOULD REALLY LIKE AN ANSWER TO MY QUESTION."

"I am really scared about the end of the world on 21 December. I'm headed into 7th grade and I am very scared. I hear you work for the government and I don't know what to do. Can someone help me? I can't sleep, I am crying every day, I can't eat, I stay in my room, I go to a councilor, it helps, but not with this problem. Can someone help me?"

It's not all serious business, though. In one of the funnier moments, a 72-year-old man tries to figure out how to deal with YouTube commenters accusing him of being a secret Lizard Person.

Read the full profile at The Awl