Weekend Links!

* The future of war, from the author of The Forever War. And a nice flashback from the archive: Almost Everything in Dr. Strangelove Was True.

* The dead zones of hypercapitalism.

* There’s some really weird, interesting stuff happening in X-Men fandom right now. It’s almost the inverse of the “Bad Fan” problem that tends to plague Quality TV shows like Breaking Bad: fans so devoted to “appropriate” affective investment in a story that the story itself can no longer be pleasurable to them…

* Insane: The EPA is accusing Volkswagen of illegally using software to cheat emissions standards, allowing the German automaker to sell half a million cars that produce nitrogen oxide, which creates smog, at up to 40 times the legal limit. Criminal charges?

* New details released Friday by researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University reveal that 96 percent of NFL players the group has examined showed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease impacting the brain. It seems hard to believe this sport can have much future.

* A Brief History of Toilet-Based Animal Attacks.

* Against Cary Nelson.

* The first, last, and only alignment chart you’ll ever need.

* Counterpoint: no, Jesus Christ, save money in your twenties if you can.

* Counterpoint: no, PhD programs exist to produce future professors. They can’t be saved independently of that, and why would you try?

* Counterpoint: no, actually that popular antidepressant was totally unsafe for teens.

* #IStandWithAhmed and the Criminalization of the American Schoolyard.

* The University As Ed Tech Startup.

* Ursula Le Guin’s guide to the impossible craft of storytelling.

* Meet the Engineers Trying to Prevent the Destruction of Humanity.

* Sometimes, though, it’s the little things.

* And the word’s come down: The FBI Says Retweets Are Endorsements.