.Watching paint dry leads to Guinness world record in rural Indiana | Reuters
"Mike Carmichael simply wanted to do something weird when he and his 3-year-old son slapped a coat of blue paint on a baseball in 1977.…
The ball now measures 14 feet after Carmichael, his family, friends and even visitors added more coats of paint over the last several decades. At its last weigh-in two years ago, the sphere of ever-changing colors was about 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg)."
cosmetic companies have selfie consideration - NY Daily News
"Some companies are making specific cosmetics just for selfies."
Congressman swipes Pope Francis’ drinking glass | New York Post
"“How many people do you know that drank out of the same glass as the pope?” he boasted to the Philadelphia Daily News."
Or, in the words of Mark Twain…
"There is no distinctly American criminal class - except Congress."
(Speaking of which, Mark Twain on Congress: idiots, criminals, dumber than fleas - The Washington Post.)
NH poll shows Trump up, Bush falling, and Sanders widening lead - CBS News
"Among Democrats, New Hampshire voters favor Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton by a margin of 16 percentage points.…
…Jeb Bush has fallen to fifth in the [Republican] pack with 7 percent, which ties him with John Kasich."
Carly Fiorina Really Was That Bad - The New York Times
"In 2009, Portfolio magazine ranked her the 19th worst C.E.O. of all time and described her as a “consummate self-promoter” who was “busy pontificating on the lecture circuit and posing for magazine covers while her company floundered.” (That sounds like good preparation for running for president.)"
Bye, Bye, John Boehner - The New York Times
"There’s nothing like an imminent departure to make a politician popular."
10 Women Who Could be on the New $10 Bill
I thought it was the $20 we were talking about. But, no? Can you even buy anything with a $10 anymore? (A couple of weeks ago I spent $8 on lunch at McDonald’s so I guess you can buy something, but still.)
Also, where is Margret Thatcher on this list?
Weather service accidentally sends Connecticut tsunami alert - The Boston Globe
"HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut shoreline was briefly under a tsunami warning before the National Weather Service disclosed the alert had been sent by mistake during a routine monthly test.…
There are no records indicating a tsunami has ever hit Connecticut."
Officials: More work emails from Clinton's private account
"WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration has discovered a chain of emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton failed to turn over when she provided what she said was the full record of work-related correspondence as secretary of state, officials said Friday, adding to the growing questions related to the Democratic presidential front-runner's unusual usage of a private email account and server while in government."
Is Huckabee running for pope or president? - CNN.com
"According to him, your faith is no longer between you and God; it is now between you and Mike Huckabee. Huckabee appears to the judger in chief."
…Obama administration using “behavioral economics” to “tweak” your behavior—yes, Bunky, I said you…this tidbit from this morning’s NYTimes.
Police Program Aims to Pinpoint Those Most Likely to Commit Crimes - The New York Times
How the White House is tweaking your behavior - CNN.com
"Barack Obama is our first "nudge" president — he's a fan of behavioral economics' sometimes-simple tweaks for helping people make healthier and more forward-looking decisions…"
Pope Francis praised a socialist pacifist who J Edgar Hoover once called "very erratic and irresponsible" http://t.co/INFGWnrxZx
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) September 24, 2015How to See a Once-in-a-Generation Supermoon Eclipse This Weekend | TIME
"Three decades have passed since the last time Earth was witness to the triple crown of lunar events — a full moon, a lunar eclipse, and a lunar perigee all at the same time — and now people in north America will be able to see a “supermoon eclipse” this weekend."
The Halloween Pumpkin: An American History - Hungry History
"In 1866, the children’s magazine “Harper’s Young People” reported that “a great sacrifice of pumpkins” had been made that for that year’s Halloween celebrations. "
SPOILER: They used to be turnips.
What the Peanut Poisoning Case Means for the Food Industry | TIME
"Parnell, the former CEO of the peanut processing company Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), was sentenced alongside his brother Michael Parnell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Mary Wilkerson, a former manager of quality control at PCA, was sentenced to five years. "
The surprising geography of American left-handedness - The Washington Post
"The National Geographic data also show significant variation in rates of left-handedness by U.S. state, with higher rates in the Northeast and lower rates in the middle of the country."
Selfies Have Killed More People Than Sharks This Year
"Yes, that's right. Around the world, 12 people have died while trying to take a selfie, while eight have died after they were attacked by sharks. Of course, both of these numbers are minuscule, as is your risk, but selfie deaths are so preventable that 12 deaths is still kind of crazy."
Maybe they’re so busy auditioning for Shark Week…
Bush, Rubio, Cruz, Christie campaigns snag former Walker supporters http://t.co/Rvv0S5JWaS | AP Photo pic.twitter.com/AEcbv01dbL
— POLITICO (@politico) September 22, 2015
Huckabee: Obama made pope's visit a 'cattle call for gay and pro-abortion activists' http://t.co/0fNLmEdyVy | AP pic.twitter.com/tIgmyX9A1z
— POLITICO (@politico) September 22, 2015
That debate stage is starting to look sort of empty.PETA sues to give monkey the copyright of selfie photos
"A macaque monkey who took now-famous selfie photographs should be declared the copyright owner of the photos, rather than the nature photographer who positioned the camera, animal-rights activists contend in a novel lawsuit."
The picture (no way am I getting in the middle of this) and accompanying explanation thereof is here.
What went wrong for Scott Walker http://t.co/wM0kJ8vfrr
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 22, 2015Drink and Eat Specials for Pope Francis Visit
"In addition to serving a host of religiously themed craft brews — think: Brewer’s Art Resurrection, DC Brau’s On the Wings of Armageddon and a signature draft created by Franklin’s Brewpub in Hyattsville, Md., dubbed, “No Pope, ‘til Brookland,” among others — Brookland Pint (716 Monroe St. NE) is opening extra special early to accommodate the faithful."
Father, son use net to capture wandering emu in New Hampshire: http://t.co/ifGxe0bkM8 #odd
— AP Oddities (@AP_Oddities) September 22, 2015
Ben Carson Shattering Stereotype About Brain Surgeons - The New Yorker
"'When people found out I was a brain surgeon they would always assume I was some kind of a genius,' said Harland Dorrinson, a neurosurgeon in Toledo, Ohio. 'Now they are beginning to understand that you can know a lot about brain surgery and virtually nothing about anything else.'"
Hillary Clinton: I'm The Ultimate Outsider or Something Because I'm a Woman - Katie Pavlich
"Over the weekend new and spontaneous Hillary Clinton claimed during an interview with CBS' Face the Nation that she 'cannot imagine anyone being more of an outsider than the first woman president.' In other words, herself. "
Pope Francis bobbleheads are flying off the shelves http://t.co/DZqbeGvuIr
— TIME.com (@TIME) September 21, 2015The Secret of the Apple’s New San Francisco Fonts — Medium
"Why did Apple decide to ditch Helvetica, which is the most famous and loved font in the world?"
Jay Cutler throws interception, gets hurt and, well, you know the drill
"Give me your gullible, your naïve, your huddled innocents yearning to see Jay succeed."
A: Your guess is as good as mine. (Mine would be 1951. Although there was that one guy in the ‘80s.)
Ky. operatives have "grave concern" Rand Paul's presidential aspirations are jeopardizing his Senate seat http://t.co/Qlf4VwpZwK
— Roll Call (@rollcall) September 21, 2015Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight - The New York Times
"The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars."
[I don’t use this drug or any of the several others mentioned in the article, but what happens to the price of health care affects us all. –ED]
…or last day of summer, I’m never quite sure about that, it’s 45º out there, right on cue. The good news is, the food is about to get better around here. My summertime menus tend to be light on cooking—no pot roasts or pea soup. But tonight, I’m thinking stew.
Also, I’m going to have to dig out my Seahawks hat. They seem to need some support. But maybe they are at least salvageable. I asked Siri yesterday how the Bears did and Siri said “the Bears went into hibernation.” The Bears get no respect, even from smartass telephones.
I was thinking, earlier (yes, now and then I do), about what woman's face really should be put on US currency. I don't care what denomination. As far as I'm concerned, we could put women on all the money – and make the bills different colors too. They do that in other countries and it's a lot more festive.
So then, it turns out one of the answers to it today's New York Times crossword puzzle is Calamity Jane. How perfect is that? I was thinking Sacajawea, the Native American woman who showed Lewis and Clark where the Pacific Ocean is, but Calamity Jane would be a good choice too and it would be really fun to hear Marco Rubio say it.
Maybe Scott Walker's secret service code name should be "asterisk". http://t.co/wBYaNwbkuQ pic.twitter.com/x2AWHUkxPj
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 20, 2015
That makes today some kind of spare day I didn’t expect to happen, and it’s confusing.
Yesterday I asked Siri who the Bears were playing and Siri said they don’t play until tomorrow, so I thought…Great! Monday Night football! Monday was tomorrow yesterday but they play today, and it’s not.
I was planning to do my laundry on Monday but I had to do it today because tomorrow I’d be out of socks. I was planning to buy groceries today but I can’t do that until Monday, which is tomorrow, because the grocery is closed today. Last night’s movie is tonight.
I hope this doesn’t happen very often.
"It’s not going to happen. For Donald Trump to win, everything we know about politics has to be wrong.…"
Fighters trained by U.S. and others said to enter Syria - CNN.com
"A top U.S. general told the Senate last week that of the thousands of fighters the U.S. military was supposed to train in the first year, only four or five remained in place on the battlefield."
Oh. Well, maybe dozens is an improvement of some kind, but still.
Somebody in Washington should decide what we ought to be doing in the Middle East and then do it.