Morning Coffee (11/23/17)

Happy Thanksgiving! I've got all Thanksgiving-themed links for you today, and then we're going to a weekend link schedule today/tomorrow - morning links only. (But check back tomorrow afternoon too because I'll recommend, uh, something. Suspense!)

This is basically my ideal Thanksgiving read: Hard Times at Plimoth Plantation

USEFUL ADVICE: How to Cook in Someone Else's Kitchen

I look forward to this post of Alyssa's every Thanksgiving because I, too, love tradition.

The Times has a great set of Thanksgiving essays by a variety of accomplished writers: My Thanksgiving

Here's the deal with all those turkeys terrorizing the suburbs

Americans are desperately seeking ham shops and other Thanksgiving Google-search revelations

9 Pop Culture Picks to Get You Through Thanksgiving

Tofurky: A Brief, Semi-Accidental History of Thanksgiving’s Fake Meat

Filling a Turkey With Molten Aluminum Is a Terrible Way to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner

How Pumpkin Pie Sparked a 19th-Century Culture War

Afternoon Tea (11/22/17)

I regret to inform you that I have another great Armie Hammer profile you need to read.

How Fruit Fly Brains Could Improve Our Search Engines

Huh! Winston Churchill’s Historic “Fight Them on the Beaches” Speech Wasn’t Heard by the Public Until After WWII

A Chinese Novelist Is Found in Translation

Before Avocado Toast, There Was Snowflake Toast

Morning Coffee (11/13/15)

Happy Friday! FINALLY.

It's the most wonderful post of the year! My friend Beck has posted her annual review of Oprah's gift guide.

Awesome: A Judge Used Taylor Swift Lyrics To Dismiss The $42 Million Lawsuit Against “Shake It Off”

Ooh! A Lost Story by Edith Wharton Has Been Discovered in Yale's Library

Look at this 3D printed violin!! (I think the objections that it doesn't sound that great are nonsense; no one's saying it should be used by professionals, but it would be GREAT for making music learning more accessible for kids.)

This is old, but a friend shared it recently and it was too delightful not to pass along: Computing the optimal search strategy for finding Waldo

How the British Royal Family Became a Global Brand

!!! Whisky Advent Calendar!!!

The Funky Little Football Phone That Sold a Million Magazines

Treebooks Vs. Ebooks: Just Read.

"TRACY: I will say this, though: I appreciate that you are the only man in this entire movie who has not described me as a frigid bitch-goddess or a human statue.
MIKE: That is something, isn’t it? I said you were a girl, and that I liked your fire, and your self-sufficiency.
TRACY: It was, quite literally, the nicest thing any man has ever said to me, including my father and former husband.
MIKE: My God, that’s awful."

Morning Coffee (11/12/15)

Hillary Clinton quoted Hamilton on Twitter, and given the way 70% of my Twitter timeline is nonstop Hamilton tweets, I assume this means she now has the nomination wrapped up.

SIGH. People Are Slamming the Veterans Day Google Doodle for Not Being White Enough

At least they apologized? Bloomingdale’s Realizes New Ad Advocates Date Rape and Apologizes After Online Outrage

How Marco Rubio Became the GOP's Foreign Policy Candidate

10 Falsehoods That Netanyahu Told During His Appearance At CAP

"But right here, right now, the moment feels wrong to host a female cage match." Good for THR.

A difficult but important read: 'A Mountain of Misconduct' at New Hampshire Rehab

Life Pulls Back in Afghan Capital, as Danger Rises and Troops Recede

Americans’ questions about Obamacare are changing. Their Google searches prove it.

"MONK #1: I don’t know much about Alexander the Great
only that he was one of the Nine Worthies
what was he like? what did he love? what brought him pleasure?
MONK #2: so the main thing to remember about him is that he loved scolding fish"

Morning Coffee (11/11/15)

Me elsewhere: Agent X was fun!

The Veterans Day Google Doodle is quite nice.

Important: Here's a good overview of the threats - and, just now, arrest - at the University of Missouri.

Here's John Dickerson on last night's debate.

Vox has a very thorough explainer on the Starbucks red cup controversy that makes some interesting points about social media fame and outrage in general.

"Under the rascality test, 'the objectionable conduct must attain a level rascality that would raise an eyebrow of someone inured to the rough and tumble of the world of commerce,'" says Bissetti. Oh, New Hampshire.

Ugh: American Girl Magazine Faces Criticism for Photo of Adopted Daughter and Two Dads

Humans of New York and the Cavalier Consumption of Others

Why it's time to leave old-school SEO behind. Amen.

Sex, Drugs, And V-Neck Tees: Inside The Cult Of American Apparel

"Because there are skulls, I shouldn’t waste my time reading books or looking at flutes or having an expensive pocket-watch? You’re going to have to do a better job of persuading me that the pursuit of all interests is dust and vanity if you can’t even draw a withered laurel wreath."

Morning Coffee (12/17/14)

Please check out this very important op-ed by my mother and her colleagues: Connecticut is dismantling its system of mental health care for children

Sorry, But You Can't Wear Your Pats Jersey To The Aaron Hernandez Trial

Whoa. SUPPOSEDLY Comcast is going to let Roku have the HBO and Showtime apps. I'll believe it when I see it, but this would be awesome.

This piece about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees is interesting. I didn't know there was DISCO CONTROVERSY.

Worth hours of fun: Google's year in search.

Huh: The fastest-growing job in each state

Sarah Wendell of the great romance fiction site Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has a new Hanukkah romance out and it's only 99 cents.

THESEUS: OH
Stringy
the, the helping girl
no I
I had a vision from the gods
they told me to leave her here
for god reasons

Morning Coffee (9/30/14)

Here are a few thoughts on the Outlander midseason finale.

Whoa: Publisher Ellora's Cave has sued blog Dear Author over this post.

Aw, remember the Yahoo! directory? It's finally getting shut down.

The Guardian has redesigned their liveblogs and it's fine I guess but I hate change.

Literary Biography of Jonathan Franzen to Appear Next Year, because of course. "Mr. Franzen doesn’t appear to have led an especially noteworthy life," but remember: When a white man writes about his "ultrasensitive childhood" and "troubled marriage," it's deep.

Nifty: When the Great War became World War I, in one chart

Firefighters Save Family of Hamsters With Tiny Oxygen Masks

I did embarrassingly badly on this Queens of England quiz.

Dirtbag Zeus

Morning Coffee (6/18/12)

Oh, Monday again.

That "forest boy"? Totally a hoax.

Here's a great takedown of that Sally Quinn column:

"Once Washington was a happy place where a girl and her mother could be groped simultaneously in good fun by a white supremacist. Sadly, it has all been ruined by Kim Kardashian and Ezra Klein."

Disney's Snow Queen movie sounds promising.

Don't believe everything you read.

People are trying to clear the name of England's last convicted witch.

The 10 Geekiest Google Easter Eggs

Ooh! Cheese puff taste test.

Why Google Docs Thought 'Congresswoman' Was an Error

Morning Coffee (6/12/12) & a Note

Last night I sort of hit a wall with how exhausted and overwhelmed I've been feeling, so I'm going to take a step back for a bit. I'll keep up with Morning Coffee, because I like compiling it and lots of you seem to like reading it, but other blogging may be spotty as I reassess. Thanks for understanding!

This resolution to figure out how to be more sane and less exhausted was partially prompted by this: Seriously, All of Us Really Need to Go the Fuck to Sleep

STOP THE PRESSES: A new Anne of Green Gables TV show? I am simultaneously really excited and really, really concerned.

Headline of the day: Priest given community service for ringing church bells

I hadn't heard much about sentiment analysis recently, but now there's this. Hrm.

Here Is the Annual Photo of Joe Biden Threatening Kids With a Water Gun

Good news for those of us who are big Olympics fans AND royal watchers: Zara Phillips will be competing.

I know it's not true, but I'd like to think that Coldplay is using these wristbands to attempt mind control or something.

Jezebel has a good take on the Melissa Stetten/Brian Presley issue.

Morning Coffee (6/11/12)

Ah, Monday. I HATE THIS WEATHER, by the way.

Aww. The Car Talk guys are retiring.

Here's the first official shot of the Doctor and his new companion.

Anyone need a birthday present for Buffy? Victorian vampire-slaying kit up for auction in Yorkshire.

In case you didn't already like Nathan Fillion enough: "Hello, my name is Nathan and I am a reader."

The myth of the presidential mandate

Conspiracy Theorist Edward Klein Concern-Trolls Hillary Clinton’s Weight

I'm fascinated by this green take on a traditional house in Vietnam.

Bing results will now include Encyclopaedia Britannica. So that's . . . something. But come on. It's still Bing.

Android Barometers & Other Tech Links

This Android Barometer idea is pretty awesome.

MC Hammer is launching a search engine. I've been thinking about this for three days and have yet to come up with anything wittier to say than " . . . wait, WHAT?"

Enough with the Ridiculous Product Code Names

Trying to make the Internet less annoying is a noble, if perhaps futile, pursuit, kudos to Is It Old?