Afternoon Tea (4/3/17)

The Dark, Dangerous World of Illegal Mining

Why Are We So Sure ‘Prestige’ TV Looks Like a 10-Hour Movie?

It's so frustrating and predictable that this was so hard: Ida Tin’s Battle to Build Clue, a Period-Tracking App

The Hidden History of Deviant Burials

A Century-Old Arctic Shipwreck Could Help Us Predict Extreme Weather

There's some exciting drama in Indian publishing: A Political Jolt at a Literary Festival, but Courtesy Wins Out

Morning Coffee (4/3/17)

Me elsewhere: TV news for the week.

In Anatomy of an Afghan Bombing, Clues of a Tangled War

Vice President Pence’s “never dine alone with a woman” rule isn’t honorable. It’s probably illegal.

This piece from Dara Lind on the visa process is important: The art of denial

"Many career diplomats say they still have not met [Tillerson], and some have been instructed not to speak to him directly — or even make eye contact."

The destruction of Hillary Clinton: sexism, Sanders and the millennial feminists

Not... really! GOP lawmaker: The Bible says ‘if a man will not work, he shall not eat’

Quite some Internet sleuthing: This Is Almost Certainly James Comey’s Twitter Account

Making Freedom Free

Good expose on for-profit schools for "troubled" kids: Hard Lessons

Spy report that criticised Marlowe for 'gay Christ' claim is revealed online

Do not want: Netflix lets you literally choose your own adventure

Morning Coffee (4/2/17)

Becoming Duterte: The Making of a Philippine Strongman

Meet the Everyday People Who Have Sued Trump. So Far, They’ve Won.

A Night Among the Witches Fighting the Trump Administration

The most damaging part of Trump’s climate change order is the message it sends

Don't Waste Your Money on Campaigns to Buy Congress's Internet Data, Ya Dummies

Ugh: Do Millennial Men Want Stay-at-Home Wives?

An important read if you want to understand what's affecting our politics: How a Christian movement is growing rapidly in the midst of religious decline

The racist professor, the bones and a university naming row

He Got A Bad Grade. So, He Got The Constitution Amended. Now He's Getting The Credit He Deserves.

I think the more interesting thing in this YouTube story is not "nice kids" vs. "mean kids" but the terrible and potentially exploitative business model, which it barely gets into.

Ooh: Stone Age Fences Discovered in Denmark Surround Mystery

Fossils from 1.6 billion years ago may be oldest-known plants

Morning Coffee (4/1/17)

Warning: It is April Fool's Day. BEWARE. (I will not knowingly fool you.)

The Trauma of Facing Deportation

Good refresher/update on the situation in Venezuela: Venezuela Muzzles Legislature, Moving Closer to One-Man Rule

Oh: Trump administration stops disclosing troop deployments in Iraq and Syria

2 White House Officials Helped Give Nunes Intelligence Reports

Josh Marshall has a good synthesis of Flynn, Nunes, etc.

WHAT A SHOCK: Russians used ‘Bernie Bros’ as ‘unwitting agents’ in disinformation campaign: Senate Intel witness

Interesting: How a Republican Congressman Accidentally Disclosed a Secret Intelligence Debate

The Problems with Trump’s D.C. Hotel Deal Aren’t Going Away

The wine detective battling counterfeiters

Before you yell at them: Why shows leave Netflix

Ooh: See the Ancient World Through Virtual Reality

How Many Books Will You Read Before You Die? (NOT ENOUGH, clearly.)

Afternoon Tea (3/31/17)

Heartbreaking and fascinating: The High Price of Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Life

This series is great: Parenting by the Books: ‘Little Women’

The Hidden World Of Harlem’s African Braiders

Lady Jane Franklin, the Woman Who Fueled 19th-Century Polar Exploration

The Marsh Arabs of Mesopotamia

These Passionate Latvian Linguists Refuse to Lose Their Language

March Book Review: The Wages of Sin

(First - yes, Kaite Welsh and I have very similar names! We became friends on Twitter partially because of that - mutual friends thought it was funny - but so far as we know we are not related. Alas.)

I'm a big fan of historical mysteries, so I know there are a ton of good series out there, and it can get overwhelming. But I'm here to tell you that you should absolutely try Kaite Welsh's debut The Wages of Sin, the first in her series about medical student turned detective Sarah Gilchrist. There are a lot of "spunky Victorian lady detective" series, but the fact that this one is set in Scotland rather than England and that Sarah is among the first class of medical students at her university to include women sets this series apart.

One of my pet peeves with historical mysteries - and historical fiction in general - is when characters have completely modern worldviews, and especially when earlier feminist characters think just like contemporary feminists. Welsh does a great job of avoiding that trap here. Sarah's views are very progressive for her time, but this reads as organic to the character, her background and experiences and interests. For all her advanced views, Sarah is very much shaped by her time and culture, so she doesn't seem to be dropped into the story from the present day.

The mystery Sarah investigates arises naturally from her medical studies (and from her volunteer work at a clinic), which helps the narrative work, but it is also completely intertwined with important economic inequality and social justice issues of the time (and of... now), which adds heft to the novel. The reader learns what's really going on in various parts of Scottish society as Sarah herself does, which helps avoid preachiness, and the mystery plot is well-paced and complex enough to be satisfying without being unnecessarily ornate.

Sarah Gilchrist is a delightful, complex protagonist surrounded by interesting supporting characters, and I'm definitely looking forward to following them through more books. But I'm looking forward even more to returning to the fascinating world of late Victorian Edinburgh and seeing how the series develops through this time of social change.

(This review made possible by my Patreon supporters! If you'd like to see more reviews here, come join! I think we're only a few dollars a month from the next goal.)

Morning Coffee (3/31/17)

WHAT A WEEK. Time for some Friday happy links!

!!! I want to go to this: Inside the Mesmerizing World of Miniatures Coming to New York City

Wow, this is quite the concentration of people I like in one movie.

The Folger Shakespeare Library Will Lend Chilly Readers a Handmade Shawl

Well this is just DELIGHTFUL: Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern, Wildly Close

In case you were concerned: Bo and Sunny Obama Are Just As Cute As Ever

HUH: Prosecco-Flavored Nail Polish Now Exists

Let's All Watch a Young Mary Berry Work Her Soothing, Sensible Magic in the 1970s. YES, LET'S.

Ooh: See the World’s Largest Collection of Fluorescent Rocks

I want all the candles.

5 fantastic Beauty and the Beast adaptations that go beyond Disney

Whoa, look at these 90s snack-themed doughnuts.

Let's make some spring pasta.

Afternoon Tea (3/30/17)

The rise of forensic science in an unlikely world—Hindi pulp fiction blockbusters

The True Cost of the Louisiana Purchase

The Masada mystery: Have archaeologists proven the ancient tale of mass suicide in the Judaean desert or twisted science for political end?

I haven't listened to this podcast, but this piece has some interesting points about access and the changing nature of fame: 'Missing Richard Simmons' And The Nature Of Being Known

Guardians of a Vast Lake, and a Refuge for Humanity

The Supposedly Pristine, Untouched Amazon Rainforest Was Actually Shaped By Humans

Morning Coffee (3/30/17)

Pillars of the West Shaken by ‘Brexit,’ but They’re Not Crumbling Yet

The UK has officially begun the Brexit process. Here's what happens now.

The Marine Photo Scandal and the Cost of Indifference

An Alabama Prison’s Unrelenting Descent Into Violence

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ President Trump’s company pursues second Washington hotel

70 days in, Donald Trump’s presidency is flailing

The Offender of the Free World

Devin Nunes's botched effort to scuttle the Trump/Russia investigation, explained

Donald Trump’s belief that Obamacare is “exploding” is false and self-destructive

The Future of the Left Is Female

I'm mostly enjoying Reza Aslan's show Believer, but this makes some good points: Reza Aslan and the Risks of Making Religion Relatable

Forbidden love: The WW2 letters between two men

Afternoon Tea (3/29/17)

Welcome to Afternoon Tea! It's a short list of interesting reading to provide you with a little break in your day.

Does Alexa Have Free Speech Rights?

This is a fascinating look at weddings in Iran: The Bride's Side

How Aristotle Created the Computer

TV’s Dead Zone: How the Cable Sector Is Killing Off Struggling Networks (The chart in this is amazing.)

All the President's Yachts: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of FDR's Floating White House

A great interview about the late Bob Silvers: “He Couldn’t Conceive of a Life Without Being the Editor of the NYRB”