Headlines from December 19, 2013

Obama’s panel says the NSA shouldn’t collect phone data, but critics see a path to continue untargeted spying.
Drone strike kills a dozen and injures more at a wedding in Yemen—the kind of strike that fuels rather than diminishes al Qaeda. #opinions
Patriarch of Duck Dynasty suspended over remarks in GQ about the civil-rights era and gay people.
Related: The GQ article in question, where Drew Magary doesn’t get saved by Phil Robertson.
Toe bone discovered in Siberia shows that Neanderthals not only bred with homo sapiens, but a little-researched species called Denisovans.
See also: Portraits of Michael Jackson lookalikes and impersonators.
Awards for this year’s movies handed out based on principles from behavioral economics.
“Most amazing science images of 2013” include a remarkable animation of cat lungs being inflated. #photography
Nineteen million dollars granted for a camera to capture the massive black hole in the middle of the Milky Way.
Poppy farmers in Myanmar make $1400 more per year than other farmers, which explains a 23% rise in opium output.
Librarian and gang trash Renaissance library in Naples and loot several books, including a 1518 edition of Thomas More’s Utopia that has yet to be recovered.
At what point were there too many books to read in one lifetime? Physics points to an answer.
Ten years of self-portraits taken while falling. #tmn
Introduction to Cicada 3301, internet mystery full of ciphers that’s been baffling programmers for two years.
More than half of Reddit’s NoFap community—dedicated to quitting watching porn—developed a regular habit between the ages of 12 and 14.
Canadian scientists use desk fan to convert alcohol mist into binary code, which can then send text messages.
Gingerbread-ticket promotion on Finnish bus line proves to be a bust, with broken promises.
Reams of data about Christmas in America; e.g., among the religiously unaffiliated, 87% say they celebrate the holiday.