Whether or not you’ve heard of a white elephant gift exchange before, there’s a good chance you have the wrong idea of what it is, how it actually works and where the idea came from. According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them. It was a far more devious punishment than simply having them executed. The recipient had no choice but to simply thank
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- Ariana Grande is dating her "Wicked" costar Ethan Slater.
- Slater is a Broadway actor who rose to fame starring as Spongebob in "The Spongebob Musical."
- Here's what to know about Slater, from his notable roles to his relationship with ex

UPDATE: Dec. 20, 2024, 11:10 a.m. EST Less than 24 hours after Mashable published this story, Hailey Welch has broken her silence with a statement on the failed $HAWK memecoin.
Read our latest story on Welch's statement.
Mashable's original report continues below.
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Haliey Welch has gone MIA.
The "Hawk Tuah" girl has not released a new episode of her popular weekly podcast, Talk Tuah, in two
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- Alexis Ohanian predicts AI will drive demand for more raw human experiences.
- In 10 years, live theater will be more popular than ever, the Reddit cofounder contends.
- He says no matter what jobs are replaced by AI, humans will always have an advantage in empathy.
Alexis Ohanian predicted
On Friday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) sued four financial companies involved with Zelle. The CFPB’s lawsuit (via CNBC) accuses Zelle’s operator (Early Warning Services) and three of the service’s partner banks — JPMorgan Chase, Bank Of America and Wells Fargo — of failing to protect consumers from widespread fraud on the peer-to-peer payment system.
The CFPB says customers of

We couldn't think of a better way to spend the holiday season than curled up by the fire with a good book. Well, ebook, that is. You could go with a classic hardcover, but then you wouldn't be able to take advantage of double Kindle Rewards points on your purchase, would you?
That's right, for one day only (although they've done this already recently), Amazon is offering double Kindle Rewards point
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- Luigi Mangione is under monitoring in a 9-by-7-foot federal solitary-confinement cell in Brooklyn.
- On Monday, he may be moved to the same protective unit as Diddy and SBF, who are in the same jail.
- A prison consultant called his conditions "miserable."
In Squid Game, schoolyard games are turned into nightmares, as players compete to survive and — if they’re lucky — earn a massive cash prize. But in Unleashed, a new mobile spinoff that’s part of the streamer’s fledgling gaming efforts, those games are fun. It’s a strange experience that sands off much of the appeal of Squid Game in service of making a
Netflix has inked a deal with FIFA to snag exclusive US broadcasting rights to the next two Women’s World Cup tournaments, according to a report by ESPN. This contract covers both the 2027 and 2031 events.
Neither entity has described the financial value of the deal, but it has been reported to be the most significant contract that FIFA has ever signed with a streaming service for a major

SAVE $800: As of Dec. 20, you can get an LG 77-inch Class C3 Series OLED TV (2023) for $1,499.99 at Best Buy. That's $800 off the list price.
Apple
- Apple is facing backlash over one of its new Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.2.
- The feature meant to summarize iPhone notifications inaccurately summarized some news alerts.
- Nonprofit Reporters Without Borders has called for Apple to remove the generative AI feature.
Apple is facing
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- Big Lots said Thursday it does not expect to close the deal to sell itself to a private equity firm.
- The company will hold going-out-of-business sales at remaining stores as it looks for a new buyer.
- Hundreds of Big Lots