"Come writers and critics who prophesy with your pen. And keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again. And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin. And there's no tellin' who that it's namin. For the loser now will be later to win." So wrote Robert Allen Zimmerman -- better known as Bob Dylan, in The Times They Are a-Changing. And indeed the times changed once again as Dylan just got the nod to receive this year's Nobel Prize in Literature. His lyrics are poetic to be sure. But, perhaps it's even more important that his words were political; especially during an American moment that calls for protest singers -- but when most contemporary songwriters have left us blowin' in the wind.

+ While there's some controversy over the pick, New Yorker editor David Remnick argues we should embrace the moment: The wheel turns and sometimes it stops right on the nose. (It's about time a rock star won a prize. Novelists have been getting all the fame, money, groupies and sex for long enough...)

+ CNN: A few Bob Dylan songs that changed the course of history. And from USA Today, seven (of the many) literary Bob Dylan songs.

+ Rolling Stone: 100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs. (When it's hard to narrow down your setlist to the top 100, you know it's been a pretty good career.)

"Adderall wiped away the question of willpower. Now I could study all night, then run 10 miles, then breeze through that week's New Yorker, all without pausing to consider whether I might prefer to chat with classmates or go to the movies. It was fantastic. I lost weight. That was nice, too." In the NYT Magazine, Casey Schwartz describes her years using prescription stimulants to get through school and start her career. Then she tried to get off them.

+ Also from the NYT: Marijuana arrests outnumber those for violent crimes. (Either we're arresting too many people for pot, or we need more violent criminals...)

"The strikes, authorized by President Barack Obama, represent Washington's first direct military action against suspected Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen's conflict." The Pentagon insists that the strikes will be very limited. But following the failed missile attack on a US Navy destroyer, the US just got more active in Yemen.

"These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false." So said Donald Trump after four women described moments when he groped or kissed them without their consent. He also suggested that one of this accusers, a former People writer, was too unattractive for her story to be true: "You take a look. Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so." According to the claims, Trump once looked at a 10 year-old girl and said he'd be dating her in 10 years. (Luckily, she'd be eligible to vote for Hillary in 8.)

+ Digg has a running (and updating) list of the allegations.

+ Trump has blamed a biased media for the controversy, and (via a letter from his lawyers) threatened to sue the NY Times. The paper's lawyer responded with a letter that almost immediately went viral: "Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself." (Bob Dylan is lucky he won his Nobel prize before the NYT lawyer wrote his response to Trump.)

+ Like most current political controversies, this one is being waged on social and mainstream media. Here's the LA Times on why Trump and Clinton sleep in their own beds most nights even though they're on the campaign trail.

+ The Economist: Some Americans are getting rich by pushing politics to extremes. (To put it mildly, business is good.)

+ Google Searches for Write In have spiked 2,800 percent.

The What has an excellent rundown of TV shows you should binge this Fall. I know it's an excellent list because I was on the couch right along with its author, Gina Pell. It also happens to be her birthday. So this would be an ideal time to sign up for her weekly newsletter. It's really awesome. And it's never ruined by election news. (You will love it, and if she gets a ton of new subscribers, it will count as an excellent bday present from me. Everybody wins!)

"They had held secret meetings, in which they voiced frustration with the current administration. Upset by broken sidewalk planks and misaligned outhouses, they had hatched a plan to run for office themselves. And, because they were elected just two months after women in the United States received the right to vote, their new administration made headlines all the way to the East Coast." An especially timely story about an all-female government in 1920: We Can't Do Much Worse Than the Men.

"I'd come over 7,000 miles in part to kill my phone, too. And to defrag my mind. Not just from the neon bombardment of our consumerism but in full awareness that we've entered a new era of seeming no return: of random shootings, nasty politics, and daily tragedy. Was it even possible to find the gate back to some simpler Garden?" GQ's Michael Paterniti heads to the hinterlands to meet with the happiest man in the world.

"TripAdvisor's new booking policy and education effort is designed as a means to do our part in helping improve the health and safety standards of animals, especially in markets with limited regulatory protections." TripAdvisor has halted all ticket sales to cruel wildlife attractions. And that means calling out many attractions for being what they are.

The Ted Williams Shift used to be unique to one team and was only deployed against one batter. Now, in part thanks to big data, the shift is used by every team on almost every batter. FiveThirtyEight on why baseball revived a 60-year-old strategy designed to stop Ted Williams.

+ I'm am still recovering from PTSD after the SF Giants gave up a three run lead in the ninth inning and lost their series against the Cubs. I was at the game with my 10 year-old -- who is much too young to have witnessed such a thing. But sometimes, as fans, we forget that the players are real people too. Of all the articles I read on the ninth inning collapse (and I read enough to have a PhD on the topic), this is the one that really hit me: Casilla weeps after being passed over in fateful ninth-inning collapse.

MentalFloss examines the rise (and dramatic fall) of school lunches over the last several decades. Here's a look at where we started, and why we probably should have stopped at Lunchables.

+ I know 2016 has been a weird year when it comes to politics, news, and culture. But I really don't think anyone saw this headline coming.

+ TNR: Twitter made Ken Bone, and Twitter will destroy Ken Bone.