- Skywatchers, a partial solar eclipse will be visible from the Bay Area Thursday afternoon. From NASA: Advice on how to watch it safely.
- It turns out another part of California is experiencing a big tech boom. From faraway L.A., the Associated Press reports on "Silicon Beach."
- Facebook's empathy czar: Just trying to help people get along. (New York Times)
- And in news from the nonvirtual, nonempathetic world: S.F. Tour Guide Unleashes Racist Rant About Chinatown During Sightseeing Tour (S.F. Weekly)
- World Series meltdown: Kansas City Royals hitters teed off on youthful Giants reliever Hunter Strickland, and Strickland went bonkers in response. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Ann Killion's postmortem on the blowup.
- Explaining the Royals: Fangraphs pulls apart Kansas City's offensive statistics in an attempt to explain why they've made it this far in 2014.
- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declares he's tired of the minimum-wage debate. A Washington Post analysis suggests Christie needs to update his stereotypes about minimum-wage earners.
- A study from Texas finds that standing desks help schoolchildren physically (keeping them moving, for instance) and may make them be more attentive to and engaged in classroom activities, too. (KQED MindShift)
- The Oxford English Dictionary takes up the quest to discover which came first, chicken or egg? (Slate)
- From nuclear weapons to AIDS, a global map of the world's biggest fears. (The Atlantic)
- Ebola sounds scary, but the PBS NewsHour examines six diseases that pose a more serious threat to public health.
- Endangered tree snails in the middle of mating season (along with storms and power outages) slow down Hawaii Public Radio's fall fund drive. Really. (Hawaii Public Radio)
The Reading List: Solar Eclipse, and a Boom Down South
An image of a 2012 solar eclipse, taken from Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park (David McNew/Getty Images)
