In the original published version, it’s “4 colly birds” not “4 calling birds.” In England at the time, “colly birds” was a name given to blackbirds.There are hints of our past relationships with birds still among us…sometimes hidden in the lyrics of a popular song.

But before heading off to the bach, beach, or boat, here’s five things you should know about regarding the 2020 Christmas climate, according to NIWA forecaster Ben Noll: The wet — although the Christmas/New Year period will feature plenty of dry weather, Christmas Eve will be an exception.

We combed through our many Cyber Monday guides and picked out the best deals still on sale.Be sure to check out WIRED's many other holiday buying guides for more of the gear we’ve tested and recommend.

Note: We strike through items that sell out or are no longer at their deal price as of publishing.Be sure to check out our lists of the best wireless headphones , best noise-canceling headphones , and best earbuds .Photograph: Apple.

It's on sale for $300, which is admittedly its actual retail price, but this bundle includes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, a party game every bit as essential as Scrabble.The Nintendo Switch Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle costs $300 ($68 off) at Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and GameStop.

He said his own Thanksgiving may look very different this year and warned people to be careful about social gatherings, calling gathering for holidays a risk.Public health experts tell WIRED there is no completely safe way to hold a Thanksgiving gathering this year, but there are ways to reduce risk.

Photograph: Amazon As usual, Amazon has slashed prices on many of its own house-made products and services, including smart speakers and screens, and even discounted memberships to premium services like Kindle Unlimited.

By year two, we at WIRED had changed our tune , and five years later, Prime Day is so big that Amazon makes more money from it than Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Every weekday, WIRED publishes a new cartoon about the worlds of science and technology.Plus, the latest news on artificial intelligence 🏃🏽‍♀️ Want the best tools to get healthy?

Travelers are travelin' and worriers are worryin', but first: a cartoon about GDPR Sunday School .Here's the news you need to know, in two minutes or less.Here are 20 last-minute gift ideas to save your bacon this holiday season.

We will update it as prices change or as gear goes out of stock, and we'll add new deals through the weekend as well.Deal prices sometimes return and items come back in stock faster than we can update, so it never hurts to check for yourself.

But Black Friday isn't just the best time to finish up your holiday shopping in one whirlwind weekend.For more gift ideas, you can also consult our buying guides on everything from MacBooks to fanny packs .Note: We will update this post through the weekend with new deals.

Ike Barinholtz writes, directs, and stars in The Oath, a timely satire that plays upon the idea of never talking politics at Thanksgiving.But as the Black Friday deadline for signing looms, Chris and Kai will have to deal with government interrogations, family arguments, and one very tense Thanksgiving holiday to make it through.

We put out an explainer and preorder guide , but there's another benefit of a new iPhone: It brings price cuts, discounts, and deals on all kinds of semi-related devices as retailers prepare their mobile goods for the holiday season.

Stories you might have missed about holiday travel. On Monday, SFTMA reported its Muni trains were experiencing a delay because of … a balloon, which got stuck in a tunnel. The number of Americans expected to travel for the July 4 holiday, according to AAA—a record!

You can choose between Battlefield V, Fallout 76, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.Xbox Game DealsWe've highlighted some titles we think you might like, but you can find many of these deals at multiple retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy, Xbox.com, GameStop, and Target.Call of Duty Black Ops 4 for $40 ($20 off)Assassin's Creed Odyssey for $40 ($20 off)Forza Horizon 4 for $40 ($20 off)Battlefield V for $30 ($30 off)Madden NFL 19 + FIFA 19 for $50 ($20 off)Overwatch Legendary Edition for $30 ($30 off)Nintendo Holiday DealsNintendoNintendo has a lot of indie games and other titles for sale through the new year on its Switch Game Store.

Look closely and you can find a few Cyber Monday deals still running, and some retailers have even extend the holiday into another Cyber Week of sales.We've linked to a few of those promotions below, along with some of the best tech and gaming deals available this weekend.Tech and Gaming DealsLG 65-inch 4K Smart TV for $747 ($453 off).

There was, as that list might make clear, a lot going on over the last seven days despite the holiday, so let's get to it, shall we?But Her Emails (Reprise)What Happened: Ivanka Trump failed to learn the most obvious lesson from her father's 2016 presidential campaign.What Really Happened: What's that saying about history not repeating, but rhyming? Perhaps we should ask First Daughter Ivanka Trump.

Special stars stage actor (and former starfighter) Lance Guest, and runs through January—just in time for your end-of-the-year Life Day festivities.Everything Is Awesome...rA newly released second trailer for next year’s The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part features a deeper look at the sequel to 2014’s deconstructing hit comedy.

So please be gentle with me as I introduce the theme of this car roundup, which is holiday plane travel.For this greatest of travel weeks, we're reviewing all the juicy, fun here-to-there stories we wrote in the last year or so, about building the most audacious flying machine ever, about staying healthy on your next flight, and about surprisingly safe airport Wi-Fi. We’ve got some important plane travel gear.

You can also use the cash to invest in wind farms, or contribute to international aid projects with environmental benefits, like distributing clean-burning cooking stoves in India.Good marketers of offsets will disclose what they’re funding, and how they calculate the emissions saved.

They are meant to: If you’re a Trump supporter, Trumpy Bear—who sports the President’s signature blond coiffure and red tie, and is stuffed with an American flag you can pull out the back of his fuzzy neck—is a hilarious gift that is, as the commercial says, “great for all American holidays.” If you’re not, it’s the sort of stupendously baffling object that makes you wonder what aliens would think if they visited Earth today.