And in other election news…

2 adorable pygmy hippos pitted against each other in cuteness contest

“Moo Deng? Who deng?” the Scottish zoo playfully posted Monday on the social media platform X as it introduced its infant hippo to the world.

 

The attack of the whiskey fungus

‘Whiskey Fungus’ Is Dividing a Maine Resort Town—and Rankling Alcohol Giants

For the past two years, battle lines have been drawn in this coastal town of some 13,000 people. In one camp is a family-owned business—Wiggly Bridge Distillery—which wants to age its whiskey for longer in hopes of improving its flavor. In the other are hundreds of residents worried about the implications of whiskey fungus, in which ethanol vapors turbocharge a species of fungus called Baudoinia, leaving black stains on buildings and plants.

Wiggly Bridge. Really. 

"Hometown tree makes good"…

…says the guy at the end of this AP video.

Machine rules

The AI Chatbots Are Rooting for Kamala

Why is this concerning? Generation Z are AI power users, with up to 75 percent using the technology to plan meals, create workouts, and assist with job applications. They already use AI daily to help them make decisions, so it is not difficult to assume they could use these platforms to decide how to vote

Seventy-five percent? Planning meals?

Based on my (admittedly limited) experience, the A in AI is clearly A, the I is not so much.

I'll stick to my own Authentically Ignorant.

A cautionary tale

When the newspapers and pollsters botched the result of the US election

Ahead of the 1948 election, Democratic president Truman, who had stepped up from vice-president after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in April 1945, was not expected to remain in office. Opinion polls unanimously favored New York governor Dewey, the Republican nominee, to beat his less charismatic opponent. Per the Associated Press, indeed, Dewey was forecast to prevail over Truman by a margin of between five and 15 percentage points.

Truman, of course, won.

Except in Chicago, where the Trib famously jumped the gun and got it wrong.

And also vote (of course)

A Cookie Designed for Election Day Baking

When butter cooks long enough for its dairy solids to separate and darken from gold to copper, it develops a savory nuttiness. …The scent is as warming as a wood fire and lingers nearly as long.

Me, I could settle for something a little less rhapsodic (I know where I can pick up some leftover Halloween stuff, cheap) but baking cookies does sound like a good way to ease the pain of it all. 

Halloween is tomorrow

Salem’s witches to honor one of their own, Stormy Daniels

“I think every witch in the world has done magic against Donald Trump, but you cannot fight something if you don’t know what it is,” she said. “When I think of him, I think of that scene in ‘Men in Black’ where this robot human dies and they find a tiny alien inside controlling him.

I've heard some pretty scary stuff about Halloween but this… 

Pollsters getting their excuses ready

Has there been a shift toward Trump in the final days of the race? Here’s what the polls show.

“If the polls are off this year, chances are they’re going to be off in a similar direction, at least that’s what we saw in 2016 and 2020. Polls really had the same weakness. So we shouldn’t have a false hope that averaging is going to miraculously fix it"…

…“But it’s not the case that like, ‘Oh, we’ve figured out the silver bullet. Everybody’s fixed it, and we’re good to go.’ Instead, you have pollsters trying an array of different fixes, and we’re hopeful that in the aggregate, that will result in greater accuracy.”

Here's an idea: Let's just count the votes and find out.

Big bucks for bangs

Pentagon Runs Low on Air-Defense Missiles as Demand Surges

Since the war between Hamas and Israel began last year, U.S. ships have launched more than $1.8 billion worth of interceptors to stop Iran and its proxies from attacking Israel and ships traveling through the Red Sea, according to the Navy.

 And when does a bunch of little wars become a big one?

{"Little Wars," by the way, is the title of a book by H.G. Wells that set forth the rules for war games still widely played today. The author described it as being "for Boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books." The book is available from gutenberg.org.]

I don't cheer for a newspaper…

Jeff Bezos defends decision to end Washington Post endorsements

…like it's some sort of team and I'm hoping it wins. And I don't care about the politics of the people who work for it, one way or another. I'll make up my own mind, thank you very much.

It seems to me when a newspaper thinks it needs to tell me how to vote it's confessing it hasn't done a very good job of keeping me informed. And not only about the news.

Newspapers have (or should have) clearly labeled opinion pages and I read them. I use them to filter their news. I can pretty well guess how they're going to vote. How I'll vote, I'll decide for myself.

So, maybe not on everything he does but on this, I'll stand with Bezos here.

The important thing is, vote. Where and when you can. Make it a thing.