Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Dec 8, 2017

Ho, Ho, Ho --SantaCon 2016:

Santa is coming to town again this year. SantaCon is a not-for-profit, non-political, non-religious & non-logical Santa Claus "convention." Last year the rolling Santa Convention took on various cities and men dressed as the Jolly Old Elf wandered through cities, spreading love and drinking lots of holiday cheer.
It's sponsored by the Cacophonist Society, and it's already started --this year there are 393 locations in 52 countries!
This Saturday: Albuquerque, NM; Austin, TX; Benicia, CA; Buffalo, NY; Calgary, AB; Capitola, CA; Charleston, SC; Colorado Springs, CO; Columbia, SC; Corvallis, OR; Dallas, TX; Dyckman Street, NY; Eureka, CA; Fargo, ND; Fort Collins, CO; Fort Wayne, IN; Fresno, CA; Hood River, OR; Kent Island, MD; Los Angeles, CA; Manchester, NH; Mobile, AL; Monroe, MI; Nashville, TN; New Bedford, MA; New London, CT; New York, NY; Newport, RI; Newport Beach, CA; Norwich, CT; Ocean City, MD; Oklahoma City, OK; Palmer, AK; Phoenix, AZ; Princeton, NJ; Reno, NV; Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco, CA; Santa Rosa, CA; St Augustine, FL; St Louis, MO; State College, PA; Syracuse, NY; Ventura, CA; Washington, DC; West Palm Beach, FL; Wichita, KS; Wilmington, NC. For a complete list of SantaCon locations, please check HERE.
Since 1994, hundreds of jolly but evil Santa's helpers get dressed up and run through the city, chanting stuff like "Whose street? Santa's street!" much to the bewilderment of children and amusement of adults. Then again, any angry motorist or pedestrian might have second thoughts before getting into a verbal tangle. As one Santa, named ANDY, said: "Who's gonna pick a fight with 500 Santas?"
Everyone gives reporters their name as "Santa" and their address as the North Pole although there are variations on the theme like Elvis Santas, Pimp Claus, Pirate Santa and even an occasional heavy-metal Van Halen Santa.
At a recent Santacon, participants sang variations on carols --like "Frosty the Cokehead" and "Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire." Then it's onto a bar for belching competitions and other fun. Said one Santa: "Basically we go until we pass out." For more information on Santacon (and a hilarious FAQ sheet) head over to http://santacon.info/.
PS: It's expanding, too... there's a BunnyCon and a PirateCon scheduled, too!

Fast Food:

Participating Dunkin' Donuts shops across the country this month are taking turns serving up to 500 free medium-sized cups of hot coffee and making thousand-dollar donations to local organizations aligned with the Joy In Childhood Foundation. It's weekdays through December 20 and you can see the whole list at Dunkin's corporate website. (Kaye)

Another @$#%* Press Release:

Those crazy folks at Starbucks are really in the holiday spirit. This time, they've outdone themselves with a Christmas Tree Frappuccino! The drink features a Peppermint Mocha Creme Frappuccino for the base along with matcha whipped cream, caramel "garland" drizzle, candied cranberries "ornaments" and comes topped with a strawberry. The photogenic beverage will look great on your Instagram account and is only available through Monday.(Lee)