Friday, February 5, 2016

Link roundup

1. "Russia's Arctic mechanized infantry unit holds military drills to learn how to ride reindeer sleds at a reindeer farm"

2. "XCOM 2 Is Ridiculously Exciting"
The game itself works so hard and does so much to create a constant sense of near-euphoric drama
3. "Man Sucked from Somali Jet May Have Been Suicide Bomber"

4. "Why Rand Paul Lost"
Just before the Republican debate last year in Colorado, a senior aide to Rand Paul had an idea.

Sergio Gor, the campaign’s communications director, decided he wanted to obtain an eagle for Paul to appear with before the debate.

Staffers were dispatched to try to find the eagle to rent, according to four sources with direct knowledge of the incident. One estimated that several people spent half a day on the task. Eventually a falcon was located, but by that point the scheme had leaked out to other staffers, who quashed it.

“We spent like half a day on this ridiculous project that I’m not even sure was approved by the higher-ups,” said one staffer. After that, other staffers nicknamed Gor “Condor.”