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Daily Bafflements

• “Just imagine this scenario: It is the first day of class and I, the professor, walk into the classroom, throw my bag on the table; the bag sags open, showing the glimmer of a concealed, holstered gun,” writes Keffrelyn Brown in Pacific Standard. It’s a scenario students and teachers at the University of Texas will have to deal with this fall. Thanks to the state’s concealed carry law, Brown must now consider how the conversations she has in her classroom will change if her students are armed.

• How, exactly, do you get people excited about a private space race among various plutocrats and corporations? Well, Google has tackled that lofty problem by funding a series of documentaries on its Lunar X Prizes, helmed by Star Wars director J. J. Abrams. In a flourish of cosmic brand synergy, the “Moon Shot” series will premiere on Google Play.

• “Is Ben Carson’s campaign a scam?” we asked recently—the primary bid did, after all, funnel a lot of donors’ money into vendor companies owned by staffers’ family and friends. If so, the candidate will be laughing all the way to the bank: Carson’s seven-hundred-thousand-strong donor list could reportedly sell for millions to one of the remaining GOP candidates.