OZY Daily Dose

It's possible that 2017 will be your breakout year - or the start of a terribly tumultuous one. Just ask Lee Shing Chak, a world-class fortuneteller who combines the ancient art of feng shui and the modern practice of statistics to divine what the future holds. In the coming year, Lee warns of a global conflict, not long after New Year's, and another between June and August. So those who plan to travel or have international investments should be "be extra careful" during these months, Lee says.

Because why make a resolution for yourself when you could make one for someone else? It’s a typical start to a typical workday at OZY. I walk through our door and over to my desk only to be greeted the same way I’m greeted every other morning — by the soles of my colleague Libby Coleman’s shoes, propped up on the desk before her. On this day, it was a pair of brown leather boots, feet crossed one over the other. Her face hidden behind the laptop nestled in her lap.

The author is the founder and executive director of Safe Hands for Girls, an organization working to end female genital cutting. Very few Westerners can point to Gambia on a map, let alone name its president. But this tiny West African country has become a microcosm of the incredible change sweeping Africa and the world. On December 1, Gambians elected a new president for the first time in 22 years.

Undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country, the Texas A&M football team was set for a game critical to its national championship hopes. But the players' resolve for the Nov. 16, 1957, contest at Rice University was shaken before kickoff. Word had spread of a stunner of a scoop from the Houston Post: Coach Bear Bryant was leaving for Alabama.Bryant later would sum up the move as "Mama called," but the reasons were more complex than an alma mater's siren song.

Back in the 1950s, a Santa Claus look-alike named Louis Marx visited Manhattan's 21 Club so often that he was awarded his own table, reserved just for him. Marx had deep pockets - but he stuffed them with toys, not so much money. Loaded with presents aimed to delight, Marx handed out penguins that walked, tiny cars and presidential statuettes to his friends, a group of people "who seem[ed] to include the entire world," Time magazine wrote in 1955.

Part of OZY's 2016 holiday gift guide, in which our staffers and contributors clue you in on what they want to give and what they want to get.Editor-at-Large Eugene S. Robinson, once described by OZY cofounder Carlos Watson as our sous-chef, adds flavor, grit, flavorful grit and twisted takes on everything from MMA and the EUGENIOUS video series to the "Sex With Eugene" advice column. When he's not singing for Oxbow, he's strangling his friends and calling it Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Sex ed is good for all kinds of things: naps, jokes and possibly actual education about birds versus bees. Some of us may have learned some science, like the fact that testosterone and estrogen determine whether we grow beards or breasts. But it turns out sex hormones affect more than how we look. In recent years, researchers have awakened to the possibility that they might even influence how we sleep.

Part of OZY's 2016 holiday gift guide, in which our staffers and contributors clue you in on what they want to give and what they want to get.Sean Culligan is in charge of all visuals on editorial and is one of two staff photographers. He grew up in Salinas, California, and lives near Santa Cruz. When he's not illustrating, creating graphics or building OZY's home page, he's skateboarding, thrifting or speaking Japanese. Also, he is obsessed with shoes and hip-hop.

Damon Lynn was putting up extra shots after practice one day when a janitor kicked him out of his high school gym. Waiting outside the New Jersey school - its doors locked; its lights off - Lynn noticed an open window leading into the second-floor weight room. He hopped onto a garbage can to reach the roof, then scampered through the weight room window. He hoisted up three-pointers late into the night.

I was born at Brookdale Hospital in Canarsie. I’m not a tough guy, mafioso or killer. Just another guy making money selling drugs. When I got busted, I had six DEA agents questioning me, wanting to know my connections. They told me if I blew trial, I was facing 40 years. But I didn’t give anyone up. I didn’t want to bring anyone else into my misery, even though I wasn’t out there murdering people.