"The future of humanity is fundamentally going to bifurcate along one of two directions: Either we're going to become a multiplanet species and a spacefaring civilization, or we're going be stuck on one planet until some eventual extinction event." In a much anticipated event, Elon Musk laid out his plan for getting humans to Mars, and building a settlement there. "In short, Musk thinks it's possible to begin shuttling thousands of people between Earth and our smaller, redder neighbor sometime within the next decade or so. And not too long after that--perhaps 40 or a hundred years later, Mars could be home to a self-sustaining colony of a million people."

+ Is the plan feasible? I'm a Humanities major. I don't think it's feasible to come to an agreement on the correct usage of the Oxford comma. So let's ask the folks over at Ars Technica: Musk's Mars moment: Audacity, madness, brilliance--or maybe all three.

+ Vox: Elon Musk's plan to colonize Mars is wonderfully bonkers. It's pretty amazing that we live in an age when a CEO of two public companies can give a talk about colonizing Mars and shareholders don't see that as a warning signal. But I'm a natural skeptic. I never even believed Amazon could provide free shipping to Prime members.

In a 97-1 vote, the Senate voted to override President Obama's "veto of legislation that would allow 9/11 victims' families to sue the Saudi Arabian government over its alleged support for the terrorists who carried out the attacks." And later in the day, the House went along with the Senate, marking the first veto override during Obama's tenure.

"We live in an ancient land, and as our land is small, so must our reconciliation be great. As our wars have been long, so must our healing be swift." So said Shimon Peres on the White House lawn in 1993. The healing he pursued has been anything but swift, and the disputes in the region outlived a the man "whose influence spanned 10 U.S. presidencies." Israeli statesman Shimon Peres has died at the age 93.

"Trade comes with no assurances that the spoils will be shared equitably. Across much of the industrialized world, an outsize share of the winnings have been harvested by people with advanced degrees, stock options and the need for accountants. Ordinary laborers have borne the costs, suffering joblessness and deepening economic anxiety." The NYT's Peter S. Goodman on one of the key issues of the American election, and one of the core issues of this era as well: What Fuels the Backlash on Trade?

"Training an average athlete for a set number of hours yields far more results than training an élite athlete, which, in turn, yields greater results than training a super-élite athlete. Put differently, someone like me is going to improve a great deal with even a few hundred hours of training. But within an Olympic team tiny differences in performance are unlikely to be the result of training." The New Yorker's Maria Konnikova examines the role practice plays in our achievement levels: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect. While I've been practicing about five hours a day for many years, I must admit that the first time I opened up 75 browser tabs, it felt pretty natural.

+ Yes, we're talking about practice.

"At a time when American politics is dominated by two presidential candidates with mountains of personal baggage, Morrissey, now 59, is starring on his own stage with enough proverbial Samsonite to fill a fleet of cargo planes." Joe Morrissey earned negative headlines across the world as a 55 year-old lawmaker who had an affair with his 17 year-old receptionist. Three years later, that receptionist is his wife, and Morrissey is leading the race to become Richmond's next mayor.

"The most electrifying athlete in college football doesn't need another minute to process what being a superhero means or how he has reached 25 touchdowns faster than any player in the past decade -- faster than Newton, faster than Manziel, faster than Mariota or Luck or Tebow. The man many in Louisville call La-Marvelous believed he could do it the entire time." If you have even a passing interest in anything related to sports, do yourself a favor and watch Louisville's absolutely amazing quarterback play this season. You can catch up on his touchdown streak so far in this ESPN piece: How Lamar Jackson has taken the college football world by storm.

Yes, banning books is still a big deal in America. And you can often see cultural and political trends in the books that parents try to ban from schools. This year, many of the leaders of the banned book list have five letters in common: LGBTQ.

"I went inside the house and in a few seconds, I saw my vineyard going from a green leafy state with long twigs, to nothing, zero, with a thick layer of hail on the ground. I told myself it would never end, it was hitting so hard. The ground was white as in winter. It was very violent, you get hit in the face with this, you have tears in your eyes, and you feel lost." French Chablis makers have been left with no grapes to crush after watching harvests get crushed by hail storms. Now, they're ready to fight back with anti-hail cannons.

"I was like 'I can't believe it's happened again.' I looked down and I've seen a few little legs come from around the rim." The first six words of this headline are upsetting enough. But the seventh word really takes it to a new level: Spider bites Australian man on penis again.

+ Proposing during a live-shot on the Yankees scoreboard might seem a little bit like a cliche. But not when you drop the ring.

+ LaCroix Seltzer is all the rage these days. But a negative analyst report sent the stock price of its parent company way lower. In retrospect, maybe it wasn't a good idea to pick the stock ticker symbol, Fizz.

+ Worried about reports that Samsung washing machines have been exploding? Relax. Just use the gentle cycle.