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Conservatives are a curse upon this country:
"The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates. [The new Florida law shortening the early voting period was] done for one reason and one reason only...'We've got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us.'"
-- Jim Greer, former head of the Florida Republican Party
Bill O’Reilly’s nightmare (featuring the Beaver).
The website 350.org is proposing to name hurricanes after oil companies instead of alternating male/female names in alphabetical order. Here’s a history of how hurricanes are and have been named. Here's what Providcence looked like after the unnamed 1938 hurricane.
Ever since her prolonged and very painful bout of pancreatitis last winter, and the subsequent insanely odd skin condition that followed, Creole has turned into a different dog. Six months ago my vet said I had to give her up before I lost my business to a lawsuit. She's become completely unpredictable, and has bitten four people in the past few months (none seriously), and growled at many more. She's denning to the point that she even threatens me if I try to get her out of a corner or hiding place. I can't risk it.
So she's going to a no-kill shelter today. Hopefully she'll find a good home with someone who can spend more time training her than I can. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
Albino Monday: Patches makes a rare appearance (via Hans).
I was glad that BP pleaded guilty for the Gulf oil spill, but Robert Reich has changed my mind. BP isn’t a person, and he lays it out nicely. The people who lose are the shareholders and employees, not the guys who were actually responsible.
In 1837 the New England Institute for the Education of the Blind published a braille atlas of the U.S. There are only five surviving copies (click to embiggen).
I probably eat two or four of them a year (they come in pairs!), but I have to confess to loving Twinkies. Too bad Hostess is shutting its doors.
Watch an astronaut dropping a hammer and a feather at the same time on the moon.
Today’s long read is Fear of a Black President, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Whitehouse.gov has a petition page, where anyone can create a petition to the administration. If it reaches 25,000 signatures supposedly the white house will respond to it. Not surprisingly, a bunch of petitions were created by red state whiners to secede their state from the union. None are getting anywhere, but this one, which is very close to its goal, is my favorite response.
I’m not too familiar with the bleached, spike-haired Guy Fieri, other than his signed photo appears at this great Mexican place in Belmar, called Tenth Avenue Burrito Company, we go an hour out of our way for during our annual collecting trips to New Jersey (I’m told our favorite collecting spots on Long Beach Island are pretty much gone). Anyway, he has a new restaurant in Times Square called Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar, and the food critic for the NY Times has a brutal takedown of it that’s really fun to read.
The belly button biodiversity project has discovered 1400 strains of bacteria that reside in human navels.
I tried this and it works. Go to Romney’s facebook page and refresh it every few seconds. The number of likes drops every time.
Stuff you should know: How to clone a person.
The Five Factor Model. I do have to admit that I’ve spent way to much time studying this than I should, trying to find out where I fit psychologically. I’m all over the map and I can’t pin myself down on any of the five traits except for the first one, “openness to experience”, which I believe I qualify in the positive for. As far as the rest goes, I’m a mess.
Geek stuff: The only space car that’s taken anyone to another world, explained using only the ten hundred words people use the most often.
Tens of thousands of elephants are still being killed each year for their tusks, which are now commonly carved into religious icons. And catholics and muslims are equally to blame.
Although it’s very short and subdued, Soonergrunt has my favorite Veteran’s Day post so far.
Things to make you feel old: The Princess Bride came out 25 years ago.
How awesome is this photo?
I don’t link to Greg Sargent nearly enough, so here are two for you. One is about the big night for Democrats and Liberals, and the other is about how this election was not in any way a small victory.
White people mourning Romney is hilarious. I love the smell of schadenfreude in the mourning.