10.3.2017

Las Vegas.
Yesterday's attack on a country music concert evolved into the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history, as the death toll rose to 59 with 528 injured. Police say the shooter - Stephen Paddock a 64 year old white male, who killed himself before police arrived - had no prior record, and officials have not determined a motive (oddly but unrelated, his father was once on the FBI's Most Wanted list). Paddock had at least 23 guns, including AR-15s converted to be fully automatic, according to reports. Fully automatic weapons made after 1986 are banned - but some simple accessories (see here) can allow a semi-automatic weapon, like the AR-15, to achieve much higher fire rates. The shooting also prompted a conversation about why it was not immediately referred to as terrorism - with many saying it reflected a racial bias. From a legal perspective, Nevada state law does recognize the shooting as a terror attack, while federal law - at least until a motive is determined - does not. See profiles of the first 58 victims here. 

MLB.
One of the most anticipated postseasons in a while kicks off tonight with the Minnesota Twins taking on the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium as the Major League Baseball playoffs get underway. For the first time since 2003 - and only the sixth time in history - at least three teams enter with 100 wins or more in the Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Those three also have the best story lines - when the Chicago Cubs beat the Indians in last year's World Series, the Indians became owners of the League's longest championship drought. The Astros have never won the World Series and represent a city rebounding from Hurricane Harvey, while the Dodgers were on track to become the winningest team in history before going on an abysmal losing streak, dropping 16 of 17 down the stretch. Cleveland and Los Angeles have the best odds to win the World Series at 7/2 each, followed by the Astros (5/1) and Cubs (7/1). The folks at The Ringer think the Twins may be the Cinderella story of the postseason - though Vegas has them at 25/1 odds. 

Petty.
Legendary singer-songwriter Tom Petty died last night after suffering cardiac arrest at his Malibu home. Petty, age 66, released thirteen albums as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and three as a solo artist - selling over 80 million records in the process (top ten selling songs). Five of his albums with the Heartbreakers went at least platinum - Damn the Torpedoes, which went 3x platinum (see original Rolling Stone review from 1979) - and two solo albums passing the platinum mark. His solo work included his album Full Moon Fever which was certified 5x platinum in the US and 6x platinum in Canada. Petty will be remembered as a 'distinctively American' rocker who brought a southern twinge to Hollywood. 
 

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> Musician at Route 91 festival posts heartfelt reversal on gun policy (More)
 

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Village Voice | Author. Archival collections often aren't digitized - you have to examine items in person - and many may be the last reference to that topic in existence. In fact, the loose and never-ending expanse of articles hide many secrets - and once they're gone, they're gone - like the mysterious-but-systemic killing of the Osage Native Americans, a tribe found to be sitting on an oil reserve at the turn of the century. 
 

The Atlantic | Jon Marcus and Matt Krupnick. With the plethora of issues that plague urban America, it’s sometimes easy to forget about America’s rural sphere. Today, only one in five rural adults have college degrees, which is far less than the national average of about 50%. So why are these adequately prepared, mostly white, students not continuing their education?

Data: Gun violence in America, explained in 17 maps and charts.

Also: "Ghost gun" machine 3D prints untraceable, unregulated metal handguns. 

Early school starts may increase depression, anxiety in teenagers.  

More Data: How each NFL team's fans lean politically (via 538).  

Scientists developing 'smart' tattoos to monitor blood sugar. 

Art + Science: Researchers use X-rays to learn about how Degas made sculptures. 

The most disrespectful dunks in NBA history.

The best career advice from 15 powerful women. 

Wait What: Rich people with extreme politics have the happiest marriages.

Doing it the Hard Way: Inside one of baseball’s last manual scoreboards at Wrigley Field. 

Clickbait: If you like the song "No Diggity", you're more likely to be a psychopath. 

Historybook: President Lincoln proclaims official Thanksgiving holiday (1863); HBD Thomas Wolfe (1900); First NFL game played (1920); Iraq gains independence (1932); Baseballs ‘shot heard ‘round the world’ (1951); HBD Gwen Stefani (1969); Reunification of East and West Germany (1990); OJ Simpson acquitted of murder charges (1995); Amanda Knox murder conviction overturned (2011).

"DO SOMETHING YOU REALLY LIKE, AND HOPEFULLY IT PAYS THE RENT."
-Tom Petty
 

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