Midday open thread: Pot editor at Denver Post, missile launch codes, less sex, more guns

• Today's comic by Mark Fiore is Peace Turkeys:
  
• What's coming up on Sunday Kos ...
  

  • Riled-up Republican racists rant over another African name, by Denise Oliver Velez
  • Give credit to CBS, by Mark Sumner
  • Beyond the Margin of Error: The Virginia polling errors in context, by dreaminonempty
  • The sudden (and somewhat premature) pundit obsession with 2010, by Steve Singiser
  • Rush Limbaugh and the long, sordid history of pitting whites against blacks in America, by Ian Reifowitz
  • Could Charlie Crist save Florida from climate change, by VL Baker
  • Will women revolt in 2014 or let others control their interests, by Egberto Willies
  • Changes in driving behavior, especially among the young, should spur reworked transportation policy, by Meteor Blades
  • Stories of solidarity: Children's books and movies about labor and organizing, by Laura Clawson

  • For nearly 20 years, every missile launch code at Minuteman silos in the U.S. was set to 00000000:

    Today I found out that during the height of the Cold War, the US military put such an emphasis on a rapid response to an attack on American soil, that to minimize any foreseeable delay in launching a nuclear missile, for nearly two decades they intentionally set the launch codes at every silo in the US to 8 zeroes.

    We guess the first thing we need to address is how this even came to be in the first place. Well, in 1962 JFK signed the National Security Action Memorandum 160, which was supposed to ensure that every nuclear weapon the US had be fitted with a Permissive Action Link (PAL), basically a small device that ensured that the missile could only be launched with the right code and with the right authority.

  • More than 50 candidates have already turned in paperwork for 2016 presidential race.
  • Iran invites U.N. inspectors to visit Arak facility:

    Iran has invited UN inspectors to visit the Arak heavy-water production facility next month, the first step under the Geneva deal to clarify concerns about Tehran's nuclear programme. [...]

    The Arak facility produces heavy water intended for use in a nearby research reactor that is under construction. The west is concerned that the reactor, which Iran has said could start up next year, could yield plutonium for bombs once it is operational. Iran says it will produce medical istopes.

  • Gene mutation for excessive drinking found:

    The study showed that normal mice show no interest in alcohol and drink little or no alcohol when offered a free choice between a bottle of water and a bottle of diluted alcohol.

    However, mice with a genetic mutation to the gene Gabrb1 overwhelmingly preferred drinking alcohol over water, choosing to consume almost 85% of their daily fluid as drinks containing alcohol—about the strength of wine.

  • Understanding America through deep-fried Turkey accidents.
  • Post-TDay gun-buying becoming new tradition:

    Gun-buying after Thanksgiving is becoming something of a holiday tradition. In each of the past two years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has reported a record number of calls for background checks for gun purchases on the Friday after Thanksgiving. A flood of 154,873 calls on Black Friday in 2012, nearly three times the daily average that year, caused outages at some of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System's call centers.

    The FBI does not track actual firearms purchases, and customers can buy multiple guns at one time, suggesting the total number of weapons sold on Black Friday could be even higher than the number of background-check calls. The bureau has reported 17,238,102 background checks this year through Oct. 31.

  • UK survey: People are having less sex:

    This week, the latest reports from the UK’s National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) were released, and they revealed a treasure trove of intimate data about the country's bedroom behaviour. Among the many interesting nuggets of information was one idea that got columnists across the country excitedly tapping away on their keyboards with stories about an imminent “bonking crisis:” We’re having less sex, they wrote—and technology’s to blame.

    The survey, which is the third of its kind and one of the most detailed studies of sexual behaviour in the world, was conducted from 2010 to 2012 and interviewed 15,162 UK residents aged 16-74 about their sexual habits. One trend it uncovered was that we’re generally having less sex than we were when the last survey was carried out 10 years ago. The average frequency of getting lucky in Britain for people in the 16-44 age bracket is now just under five times a month, down from six in 2001.

  • Denver Post appoints music and entertainment critic Ricardo Baca as its first marijuana editor.
  • On today's "encore presentation" of the Nov. 29, 2012 Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin told about Medicare in the context of the "fiscal speed bump" negotiations, and gave us one of his early "wait and see" warnings. Also: the Fast Food Forward strikes in the New York area, and how they related to last year's WalMart and Hostess strikes. Finally, a look at all the important stuff that somehow gets left out of newspaper coverage of the filibuster reform fight. You'll only get that here, on Daily Kos Radio. And could anybody have talked you through that better? I ask you!