Weekend link dump for January 17

This is the job you dream of having; you can make such a big impact.”

A close look at the Working Families Party and its electoral successes. We could use some of that here in Texas.

“Drug epidemics—Oxy, meth, heroin, you name it—are devastating. It’s something to keep in mind when you consider both the costs and benefits of drug legalization. Ending the war on drugs would indeed be a huge benefit, but the costs might be higher than you think.”

Attention, Orphan Black fans: You can design their Season 4 promo poster. I wish I had some artistic ability.

Two words: Dinosaur foreplay. You’re welcome.

“Smart gun” technology and the forces against it.

A conversation with Eric Idle about Monty Python and money.

Who knew it was this easy to acquire the title to a sports arena?

“The world has never eradicated a parasite. But Jimmy Carter is about to.”

RIP, David Bowie, iconic and one of a kind rock, pop, and movie star. Fred has embedded his last video, released two days before his death.

Among his many other accomplishments, David Bowie was instrumental in the New York Yankees developing their own website before MLB Advanced Media formed. Who knew?

Diana Gabaldon does not have a George R.R. Martin problem.

“We can’t know what [Ted] Cruz really thought. And we don’t need to know. From the record assessed here, we’ve learned enough about him to decipher his words and predict his behavior. He’s a passionate, indefatigable liar. He speaks with the cadence of a preacher but the craft of a lawyer. When the time for choosing comes, he keeps his options open. Don’t let his vehemence fool you. Watch every word he says.”

On assisted suicide and the right to die. A must read.

“As infamous political advisor Karl Rove recently pointed out, why should they care about climate change when we’ll all be dead in the next sixty years or so? While that may be true for our elected officials, that isn’t true of everyone alive today, and that’s why ScienceDebate.org has enlisted the help of young children to help force a desperately needed conversation about climate change.”

RIP, Bill DeMonte, last survivor of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Clearly, some people aren’t taking the Y’all Qaida occupation seriously enough. And bravo for them.

RIP, Monte Irvin, Hall of Famer with the New York Giants and the old Negro Leagues, and the first black executive in MLB.

It’s hard out here on an oligarch.

Congratulations to Jessica Mendoza, for earning a permanent spot in ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast booth. Note how it was John Kruk’s turn in the booth for the Women’s College World Series that made her realize she could cross over. May she help clear the way for others to follow.

RIP, Alan Rickman – Severus Snape, Hans Gruber, the Sheriff of Nottingham, and so much more.

“I’m tentatively adopting a Marginal Assholery Discount (MAD) as a way to make quantify this – a discounted value or rather a knock-down on the probability that Cruz can survive challenges to his eligibility based on being an asshole who basically no one likes. In other words, we are trying to factor together fundamentals (the law, albeit law that is fuzzy and not certain) and the human factor of people not liking someone who’s a jerk and having that affect their judgments and actions, either in positive or negative terms.”

Some mammoth news for you.

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