Extra, Extra

Nerf Wracking: “Second Amendment types like to joke that the AR15 is a gun guy’s equivalent of a Barbie doll: There are lots of exciting accessories to buy. The same could be said of toy weapons’ platforms. In the decade after the Longshot’s release — a period in which some 113,000 American students experienced gun violence at school, according to a database maintained by the Washington Post — its sales helped Nerf revenue grow tenfold, to $400 million.” NY Mag with a photo-essay on the weird world of Nerf wars. The Navy SEAL–ification of Nerf and the lucrative evolution of toy guns that are tricked out for war. (It’s all sort of funny, but don’t call these guys soft. These cosplayers are loaded to the hilt.) For some more background, here’s a brief history of Nerf.

+ No Leg Up on Competition “First, to get a prosthesis. Then learn to walk. That kept the depression at bay. ‘If you’re busy doing something,’ he says, ‘you’re not worried about doing nothing.’ He had no idea that he’d keep stretching those goals until he would eventually refashion himself into a new athlete, competing on an even larger stage with equipment he’d created—and, remarkably, outfitting his opponents with the same. That old Monster Mike? He was nothing compared to the Cyborg Mike to come.” GQ: The One-Legged Snowboarder Who Built an Ingenious Prosthetic for Himself—and His Opponents.

+ Yacht-See: “A 19-year-old Florida college student who tracked Elon Musk’s private jet trips, then expanded to Russian oligarch flights, is now drawing a bead on Russian billionaires’ mega-yachts.”

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