You Can Finally Reserve a Spot on the San Juan Islands Ferry: The 21st century has finally come to the most annoying part of every Northwest summer getaway, according to Jack Broom of the Seattle Times, who writes, "The 'Save a Spot' system, years in the planning, will make reserved spots available on all westbound sailings from Anacortes, and eastbound sailings from Friday Harbor and Orcas Island. Reservations may now be made on those ferry runs beginning with the first day of service, Jan. 5."

Snow Is Coming to the Mountains: The Cascades are about to get some serious snowfall. "Between 18 and 30 inches of snow is forecast in a storm expected to hit Friday night and last through late Saturday night," the Seattle Times says. If we get any snowfall in Seattle, it'll just be a dusting late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, and the rain will wash it all away.

Metro Bus Stabbing on Christmas Eve: According to KOMO, a man boarding a bus downtown at 6 pm on Christmas Eve sat down next to another passenger. "That passenger apparently took offense to how close the man sat next to him, which started an argument. Police say the talk became heated, and at some point the passenger who took offense pulled out a knife and repeatedly stabbed the other passenger." Merry Christmas! The stabber ran away. The story doesn't say how the stabbee is doing.

Journalist Sentenced to Death for Writing About Mohammad and the Caste System: "Mauritania on Thursday condemned a man to death for 'insulting the prophet,' a human rights group said, a day after the country opened the trial of an anti-slavery activist."

Sony's PlayStation Network Collapsed Yesterday: Was this related to the release of The Interview? Nobody knows. The Xbox Live Network seems to have suffered similar outages. A hacker group called Lizard Squad is claiming responsibility.

Meanwhile, Terrorists Ignored Packed Screenings of The Interview: A whole lot of people went to see the movie at their local independent movie theaters yesterday. No North Korean terrorists were spotted at any of these screenings, which means freedom wins again.

Atlanta CDC May Have Accidentally Exposed Workers to Ebola: The AP's Lena H. Sun and Joel Achenbach write, "One technician... may have been exposed to the virus and about a dozen other people have been assessed after entering the facility unaware that potentially hazardous samples of Ebola had been handled there. The technician has no symptoms of illness and is being monitored for 21 days." This is not cause for alarm. Do not panic.

Pope Francis Apparently Hasn't Read the Old Testament: In his Christmas Eve homily, the Cool Pope said that "God does not know outbursts of anger or impatience." Which, you know, is a super-cool thing to say! But a couple hundred pages of the Bible suggest otherwise.

Putin Cancels Christmas Vacation for Government Staffers: Russia's economy is tanking, and Russia's President Vladimir Putin is taking drastic measures:

"The Government and its various structures cannot afford such extensive holidays, at least not this year," Putin told government ministers in a speech broadcast on state television. "You know what I am talking about."

Listeria Outbreak in California: Looks like Molly Moon's isn't the only business affected by a listeria outbreak; Safeway grocery stores in California had to recall all their listeria-tainted caramel apples.