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The Independent Variable

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“There’s No Basketball Case”: Why the NBA Is Expanding Anyway

theringer.com

Is there enough talent, especially high-end talent, to support two more teams? How will the talent dilution affect the quality of play? Especially now, at a time when a third of the league’s teams are barely competitive (some, but not all, by design)? Will adding two more franchises exacerbate the tanking crisis? Will struggling small-market squads have an even harder time attracting players when there are two glimmering new teams in two glamour markets?

The real question is how does the NBA work to create more parity? What does the league look like if teams are forced

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The Madison Becomes Taylor Sheridan’s Biggest Series Debut Ever in Ratings

hollywoodreporter.com

Response to the series was mixed, with The Madison scoring a 60 percent positive rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 74 percent among viewers.

Oi vey. I made it through thirty minutes before I gave up and gave it 1 star. I was interested because of Pfeiffer and Russell, but boy did it not deliver and felt more like a soap opera to me. I wonder what the week two drop off will be like.

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Stephen Colbert’s next epic quest? Writing a new Lord of the Rings movie

npr.org

He will co-write a new movie with his son, screenwriter Peter McGee, and LOTR veteran screenwriter Philippa Boyens. Its working title is Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.

I like that they call his son a screenwriter even though he has zero writing credits on IMDb. Colbert also has no features to his name, but obviously everyone knows his fandom. Either way Boyens is still involved so I’m sure she will be able to keep the ship steady.

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1 Picasso 100 Euros

1picasso100euros.com

Non-profit raffle. Buy a ticket for 100 euros for a chance to win a Picasso valued at 1 million euros. All proceeds go to Fondation Recherche Alzheimer, the leading organisation in France dedicated to research on Alzheimer's disease.

This is pretty incredible. There are 120,000 tickets, so chances you win aren’t super high, but that means the Opera Gallery gets its million for the painting and then 11 million goes to Alzheimer’s research. Hard to think of a better way to donate than this.

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The Merlin Bird ID app is now the Merlin Fight ID app

mcsweeneys.net

Whether you’re a frightened child wondering if your parents are teetering on the precipice of divorce, a hard-of-hearing person worried about missing the nuances of under-the-breath barbs, or simply fed up with listening to your coworkers bicker, our app will do the work of listening to and analyzing any argument for you. We plan to add more categories of arguments, culturally specific approaches to conflict resolution, and, eventually, a Polymarket feature that lets users live-stream a fight in progress while others gamble on the outcome in real time.

As I've gotten older and gotten into birds a

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