26 Nov Dan Abrams’ Websites Today

From Mediaite: Thanksgiving is over, which means it’s on to Christmas! One FOX holiday segment caught Mediaite’s eye: “If there was one place in America where you could expect to see photos of people posing with Santa Claus and their AK-47′s, it would be Scottsdale, Arizona, home of the country’s largest indoor gun range. This morning, Fox & Friends invited Scottsdale Gun Club general manager Ron Kennedy to defend the organization’s controversial practice of having members pose with Santa and their guns. Gretchen Carlson questioned the appropriateness of these types of images in Arizona in light of last year’s Gabrielle Giffords shooting, which caused Kennedy to launch into his standard speech on safety without addressing the larger implications.” Read more here.

From Gossip Cop: Justin Bieber met the Canadian Prime Minister recently, and wore overalls to do so. The public had a lot of opinions about it, but Bieber is defending his choice. Reports Gossip Cop: “The teen singer took to Instagram to explain his fashion choice, posting a photo of a story from the Daily Mail referring to him as a ‘white trash prince.’ The Biebs wrote, ‘The pic of me and the Prime Minister was taken in a room in the arena where I was performing that day. I walked straight from my meet and greet to him.’ ‘It wasn’t like I was going into his environment — we were at a hockey arena,’added the pop star… Prime Minister Harper, for his part, didn’t appear the least bit offended by Bieber’s ensemble.” Read the full story here.

From Geekosystem: A big question in the tech world is always: what will Google do next? Geekosystem reports on their latest, “Google‘s collective grip on the Internet has just gotten a little bit stronger. The search engine giant is notorious for ventures that go far beyond the typical reach of an Internet company.Google Fiber saw the company effectively becoming an Internet service provider, and now the company’s going even further down that rabbit hole. It’s been announced that Google’s set to gobble up public Wi-Fi provider ICOA to the tune of $400 million. Internet hotspots across 40 states aren’t the only thing Google’s potentially getting out of this deal. The Verge explains, ‘With the deal, Google will also receive a new advertising vector.'” Read all the details here.

From Styleite: What will H&M’s next collaboration be? Styleite reports on a possibility: “Word on the street (and by “street”, we mean “the web”) is that H&M‘s next designer collaboration will be with none other than Givenchy! Details are scare at this point, but the rumor reportedly originated on the Fashion Industry Confessions Tumblr and has been making the rounds ever since. We’re pretty inclined to believe this one, since past collaboration rumors (about Versace, Marni, and, most recently, Maison Martin Margiela) all came to fruition. But what will the collection look like? Surely some of Riccardo Tisci‘s recent collections for the label would translate well at an H&M price point, namely the popular Rottweiler- and panther-printed pieces, and kitschy accessories like feline sunglasses and ear-topped caps.” Read more here.

From SportsGrid: Things just keep looking worse and worse for the Jets after their Thanksgiving defeat. Sportsgrid writes about the latest: “Ed Anzalone, also known as Jets No. 1 cheerleader “Fireman Ed”, is hanging up the pom poms. In a statement released yesterday, Anzalone cited the loss of ‘respect’ among Jets fans as reason for his retirement. Though he will still attend games, he will no longer lead the ‘J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!’ chant nor sit in the same section.” His statement begins, “On Thanksgiving night, I left the Jets game before halftime. This was the second time in a row I left before there were four zeroes on the clock. We have had much worse teams than this and I never left before. I pride myself in that, because I am not a quitter.” Read it in full here.

From The Mary Sue: If you’re shopping for Christmas presents for children in Sweden, you may be (pleasantly) surprised to see what one company has done with their catalog, writes The Mary Sue: “If you’re a toy company called out on enforcing gender stereotypes by filling your catalog with girls dressed as princesses and boys dressed as superheroes, what do you do? If you’re Top Toy, one of Sweden’s largest toy chains, you print a genderswapped Christmas catalog featuring girls with Nerf guns and boys with doll houses and Hello Kitty. Duh. For the past few years gender equality has been a big issue in Sweden, with laws being introduced requiring teachers to actively work to dispel gender stereotypes in the classroom. The country—clearly after my own heart with this one—has even introduced the gender-neutral pronoun hen. This newfound pressure to promote gender equality is what got Top Toy to shift focus with their new Christmas catalog.” Read on here.

From The Jane Dough: Shopping for new winter clothes? Turn to math to buy the right fits! The Jane Dough’s Sarah Devlin explains, “Were you expecting news this good on your first day back from work after the holiday? We sure weren’t. Lily Serna, a graduate student in mathematics has figured out the “Golden Ratio” for clothing, making it easy to calculate one’s ideal hemline using a simple equation: ‘The length of your body from shoulder tip (cm) + heel height (cm) divided by 1.618 = your golden number.’ Obviously, we had to try it. We ended up with a Golden Number of 32.756, which, when measured out from the tops of our shoulders hits just a few inches above the knee.” Read more about it here.

From The Braiser: Chef news! The Braiser reports on some big changes: “The obvious perk of running bi-coastal, multi-Michelin-starred restaurants is constantly having a magnificent pool of chef talent to shuffle around. Thomas Keller was lucky enough to swing just that when his chef de cuisine at The French Laundry announced he’d be leaving Keller’s service. Farewell Timothy Hollingsworth, and welcome David Breeden! Breeden was the one-time meat butcher at The French Laundry, turned line cook at Per Se, turned executive sous chef at Per Se, and now, in light of Hollingsworth’s resignation from the chef de cuisine position at Keller’s Napa Valley restaurant, Breeden is heading westward to take over.” Read more about the new chef, Breeden, here.