Where I am, it's grey.  That's my outer weather.  Not so much my inner weather.  That's predictably more complicated.  But these links are here for you, whatever the weather, inside and out:

Here and here and here are three posts about coffee.  The first is about the biology of coffee--what it does, how it does it,  the second and third are about different ways of thinking about making a better espresso shot, especially through mathematical modeling and lots of trials.

This is a weird piece.  Seriously, the problem with The Rise of Skywalker is that it's not a very strong Star Wars movie, that it gets lost in the trees and can't see the forest of mythic theme. Its political messages are quite minor compared to that.

An economic historian on unrecognized challenges to the NYT’s 1619 project, esp among economists who look at economic history.  On the other hand, a contemporary historian insists the fight over the 1619 project is actually an intermural, and intergenerational, fight among historians: "this is not simply a clash between the Times authors and a group of historians: it is also a pre-existing argument between historians themselves."  Because of this, he argues, "[w]e should view with a wary eye any accounts of the two U.S. revolutions that insist that only the emancipation, or only the hypocrisy, matters."

Finally, some pieces particularly for academics:

Possibly of real use for many academics, and those who wish to speak to them (good luck to you):  

An older piece, from a couple of years ago, that has some good stuff on what we know about what helps in teaching college students writing.

And another piece from just now, about what we should be doing in teaching writing, which is basically not complicating it too much.

And finally, I agree with this professor, both as a professor and as a parent.  

Stay warm and bright!  If you can, that is.