Monday Links from Santa's Grotto vol. LI

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Monday Links from Santa's Grotto vol. LI

Ho ho ho etc. You might want to save some of these up for after the Queen's speech, otherwise you'll be forced to talk to your relatives:

How We Wrote Classic Simpsons Episodes - "Bill Oakley was a writer at The Simpsons from seasons 4-6 and an executive producer/showrunner with his writing partner Josh Weinstein from seasons 7-8. I talked to him at length about his experiences in that famous writer's room." Bonus links: The Lost Jokes and Story Arcs of "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", original story pitch, final outline, and first draft of the script. There, that should keep the Simpsons fans happy
Pork Pies - "It aint Christmas without a pork pie to tuck into for breakfast. The plate adorned with pickles, it is the breakfast you can scoff in your pyjamas, clutching a bloody mary, feeling ever so slightly dirty for consuming such large amounts of pork fat so early in the day. I highly recommend it." Brilliant recipe from Lizzie, aka Hollow Legs.
A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning - This is what happens to you when you give hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks. "PFC Manning is currently being held in maximum custody. Since arriving at the Quantico Confinement Facility in July of 2010, he has been held under Prevention of Injury (POI) watch... The guards are required to check on PFC Manning every five minutes by asking him if he is okay. PFC Manning is required to respond in some affirmative manner. At night, if the guards cannot see PFC Manning clearly, because he has a blanket over his head or is curled up towards the wall, they will wake him in order to ensure he is okay."
Best of Wikipedia - "A twice-daily updated collection of some of the best reading on Wikipedia." From the Bradford Sweets Poisoning to the Turbot War of 1995, you'll find it all here.
Google Maps & Label Readability - "Why Do Google Maps’s City Labels Seem Much More 'Readable' Than Those of Its Competitors?" Justin O'Beirne goes into exhaustive depth on this important topic, here and in his followup post on street and neighbourhood labels. It could just be coincidence that, less than a couple of weeks after these articles were posted, Bing Maps underwent some drastic changes to improve their readability.
Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt - "There you are, peacefully reading an article or watching a video on the Internet. You finish, find it thought-provoking, and scroll down to the comments section to see what other people thought. And there, lurking among dozens of well-intentioned opinions, is a troll... After Alexis Pilkington, a 17-year-old Long Island girl, committed suicide earlier this year, trolls descended on her online tribute page to post pictures of nooses, references to hangings and other hateful comments." Interesting analysis of the trolling phenomenon by Julie Zhuo.
The Decline and Fall of an Ultra Rich Online Gaming Empire - "For a long time, maybe a year and a half, the game was pretty much what remained of Brock Pierce's life: He would wake up, sit down at his computer, log in, and play... 'There were times I came outside,' he says, 'and the sun hurt.'" Long article by Julian Dibbell exploring the strange world of people who make real money trading virtual goods in online games.
The Semicolon Wars - "Every programmer knows there is one true programming language. A new one every week." Brian Hayes examines the programming language wars.
The Four Levels of Social Entrapment - "One of the most difficult aspects of interacting with other people is figuring out how to extricate yourself from a conversation without appearing rude or mentally unstable. You aren't allowed to just walk away - you need to have a reason to stop talking. And the reason can't be that you want to stop talking... At some point, the rapidly deteriorating subject material forces you to give up on being polite and just settle for the first bumbling phrase that comes out of you. Luckily, your artless delivery doesn't matter. The other person is just thankful that they finally have an excuse to stop talking to you." Allie Brosh explores a variety of awkward social situations with the aid of cartoons apparently drawn in Microsoft Paint.
The Movie Title Stills Collection - Extensive collection of movie titles from the 1900s to the present day. Mouseover some of the older ones to see the associated "The End" still.