This is the year. For the first time in history, the average weight for a Thanksgiving turkey has crossed the thirty pound mark. That number represents a consistently skyrocketing increase since the 1930s when we hit the 15 pound mark. How do we get the turkeys so big and what does that mean for the turkeys? Alexis Madrigal takes a look the supersized birds: “Artificial insemination is a required part of modern turkey breeding. The modern bird is too heavy and misshapen to procreate the old fashioned way.” I guess these birds have more in common with humans than we thought.

+ WaPo: The turkey pardon is America’s dumbest tradition.

+ Wired: The sublime weirdness of the annual turkey pardon (with some incredible photos that show just how weird it really is…).

+ This year’s winner: A 38-pounder named Popcorn. Obama explained that the office of the presidency holds “many awesome and solemn responsibilities. This is not one of them.”