Linkee-poo is sprung from cages out on highway 9

Scott Westerfield on why stories have power. He also has a piece on novels.

Janiece talks about task saturation. We're at that point in the so-called recovery that this is becoming an ever larger problem (hell, it's been my own personal problem for the past 3 jobs, but we won't go there). It has taken me 25+ years of professional jobs to get to a point where I realized I could work all the crazy hours I was working and still never get ahead. So it was just as good to call it quits at (around) 5. Because once you get so far behind, being farther behind isn't a big deal.

A cartoon about white privilege. Unfortunately the people that need to read this probably never will, but maybe it'll help you explain it to them. (Grokked from Janiece)

Love how the London Harry Potter Studio Tour exhibit on the Dark Arts includes pieces from Dolores Umbridge. (Grokked from Tor.com)

Building a better battery. While a 20-year effective live and 70% charge in 2 minutes sounds fabulous, I'm now at an age were I ask, "Where can I buy this cheaply? No where? Call me when it's available." I've seen so many Great Things™ that were just around the corner that never actually made it around that corner that I'm a little jaded. (Grokked from John)

A National Geographic picture story on parasites that control their victim's actions. Some pretty terrifying things there, but beautifully photographed. Also, this is provided just in case you think the researchers talking about how our gut biome may control our emotions and actions have been drinking a little too much while watching "The Thing." (Grokked from Chuck Wendig)

So, you may not get to go to outer space, but your name could. NASA is going to load a "microchip" with a lot of names to go on the Orion launch. Deadline for submission is Oct 31. Sure it's a way to build a mailing list and demonstrate just how much public support NASA has. But I got my boarding pass. Insert joke here about how the boarding pass is free, but the baggage fee is a killer. (Grokked from Tor.com)

"'If there are some people who think that what we did was primitive, not very interesting, not worthwhile - let them fly into space, go for a spacewalk and experience the air leaking from your suit, or a safety hatch refusing to shut,' says cosmonaut Georgy Grechko." A BBC story interviewing the first man to walk in space, Alexei Leonov, and what he faced. There's this old engineering story (sometimes taken up by those who decry government spending) that NASA spent millions developing a pen that would write in zero-g, the Soviets used a pencil. But they often miss just how narrowly the Soviets survived in their technology. (Grokked from Dan)

Sure, you may think of librarians as demure and graceful people, just don't piss them off by threatening their patrons. Librarians, defending our freedom since forever. My local libraries? When I asked about it they all said, "Once you return the materials, no record is kept, so there's nothing to subpoena. All they could ever know is what materials you currently have and when they're due." (Grokked from Janiece)

A little local news. Allegations of Ernest Angley covering up for sexual predators in the Grace Cathedral. Grace Cathedral is in Akron, and once was a power house of televised evangelism. He's still on TV (owning the local iteration of the CW). (Grokked from Dan)

You know how conservatives are all, "The Media loves Liberals"? "The findings from Pew showed that Christie and Clinton have each been the subject of 82 newspaper stories this year that connected them to a presidential run in 2016. And while no other potential Democratic candidate generated more than 22 stories, several GOP contenders were within shouting distance of Christie's total." You know, not really.

Jon Stewart on all the gorram solicitation emails that are being sent out from the Democrats. I've unsubscribed from all but one list, but I still get about 2 or 3 a day. Seriously, Dems, you're getting annoying.

"The new University of Delaware study found that 67 percent of white Americans supported voter ID laws after the question was posed to them with text only or accompanied by a photo of white people voting. But that number increased to 73 percent when the same question is asked with an accompanying photo of African-Americans voting." No racism to see here, citizen. Move along.