I don't want to disturb your holiday merriment, but this is just too typical of what passes for "scholarship" on campuses today.Apparently, there are a couple of zoned out druggies who believe that a psychedelic mushroom is the reason behind our Santa Claus myths, including "flying" reindeer:He explained that back in 1967 an amateur scholar named R. Gordon Wasson published a book arguing that Amanita muscaria was used in ancient ceremonies by shamans in the Far East. Other scholars then chimed in, noting that in Siberia, both the shamans - and the reindeer - were known to eat these mushrooms. Man and beast alike hallucinated.As any 1st grader knows, the Santa legend has absolutely nothing to do with the Far East. It is a northern European tradition - about as far from the Far East as you can get and still be on planet earth.You can see the Christmas connections, Pfister said.Um...no, but don't stop now - you're on a roll:"This idea [is] that reindeer go...(Read Full Post)