The Morning Coffee, you might have noticed, generally includes a Webcomic. One of our favourite – hence most common – webcomics is Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.

One thing that confuses us here at the Morning Coffee is how organisations such as the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) can exist. Here is an institution that is dedicated to a single thing: denying rights to a minority group.

How such a group can exist in 2011 — how many people think the existence of such a group is acceptable in 2011 — is beyond me. We often link to amazing new technological breakthroughs in this space, and claim that we are living in the future. Sometimes it seems that we are reliving some of the more inglorious moments of our past.

But … here comes the good part. NOM appropriated today’s choice of Webcomic for their website — but they hotlinked to it. So Zach Weiner, author of the comic changed the image to the following:

Of course, here is the original comic. And Mr. Weiner? We salute you.

Photo found at FFFFound. Photographer unknown.
Webcomic is Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Weiner.

Perhaps the most bizarre recurring stories in the news are those that centre around Anna Chapman. (Not pictured above. That’s Scarlett.) Ms. Chapman is, if you will recall, the “sexy Russian spy” who was caught in suburban America and sent back home to Russia in a prisoner swap.

Weird enough.

Then she becomes engaged in Russian politics, which keeps her in the papers, but is not really that noteworthy. Russian spies-turned-politicians are not exactly new. But now she is making a break into television, hosting a TV show called Mysteries of the World. Based on this BBC article, it sounds like a Russian version of Unsolved Mysteries.

If you are asking yourself what?, then you’re right there with us.

What happened to the good old fashioned spies? The ones who would fall in love with the people they were spying on, resulting in grossly unprofessional — but story-worthy — conduct? What’s that? They now work for the police in Britain?

Alright, then.

Photo is of Scarlett Johansson, found at Things that excite me. Origin unknown.
Webcomic is Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Weiner.

For nearly two years now, the vast majority of your morning coffees have looked the same.

Link #1.
Photo.
Link #2.
Link #3.
Webcomic.

Well, today we are starting a new chapter in morning coffee history, and changing the design a bit. It means less links, yes, but will hopefully encourage me to write a bit more as part of the morning coffee. It will also mean a few more links being tweeted, most likely.

Here’s what it looks like:

John Dvorak has made an interesting comparison between Facebook and AOL. The basic argument is that Facebook is little more than AOL-done-right — an online destination for people who are a little bit less than tech savvy.

It’s hard to argue with the premise. The only thing I use Facebook for is to see what Facebook users are doing, and sometimes leave comments regarding their activity. Seriously. Anything you see by me on there is actually from here. Or Twitter. Or Flickr.

Still, Facebook’s market share is tremendous. It’s hard to see it the way I remember AOL being. I absolutely hated the AOL corner of the Internet with a passion Facebook doesn’t elicit. Facebook is to connect with people that I would be unable to connect with otherwise. AOL never had anything like that.

Nevertheless, I love the comparison, and will be using it in real life as often as possible.

Photo: Gannets above Boreray, by Coinneach Morrison.

Webcomic: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Weiner.

——-

So, internet friends … what do you think? A bit more commentary, a bit less link. It feels better to write it this way, if that’s any consideration.

I also feel like I should try harder to link up the content of the image, article and webcomic in the coffee, now that there’s less content. Today is very disjointed. Hopefully that will improve.

Dear Ladies,

In yesterday’s morning coffee, we were giving lots of lady advice. It turns out that we missed out on one of our lady-oriented links, we are so very, very sorry. However, you will be pleased to know that you can order custom-made, gold-plated dildos. Again, apologies for making you wait an entire 24 hours before sharing this very important information with you.

The Management.

(by Bill Carman.)

Speaking of things of purchase over the Internet, how awesome are these edible crayons? Very awesome, that’s how. I wish Maggie was a little bit older so that she was ready to both eat things and draw with crayons. Or that I was quite a bit younger, so that I could both eat and draw with crayons without getting in trouble.

Finally, we would encourage you to finish your coffee (or tea, if you are weird) with a visit to the virtual museum of unnatural history, which contains wonders such as unicorn tears and confused wood. If you happen to be in Washington, DC, it appears to be an actual place which you should visit.