This space takes a momentary break from celebrating the country's recent election results to note that the mere existence of change.gov is a really, really good sign. Granted, the fact that it's been slashdotted (electioned?) will need correcting. [#]

David Sedaris on undecided voters: "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?" To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked. [#]

Barack Obama: Black!? [#]

Boy, if the Red Sox are going to lose I sure wish they'd do it quickly. I don't have a whole lot more staying up super late left in me. Stupid 8:30 start times. [#]

Poor John McCain probably can't believe that he finds himself backed by supporters like these. On the other hand, those are the kind of supporters you get for hiring the same goons that ran the current loser-president's campaigns: a bunch of inbred racists who think everyone else is as clueless as they are, but less brave. Alas. [#]

Sad guys on trading floors. [#]

Paul Krugman shows us non-academics his latest "economics professor" paper about the dynamics driving the current financial mess. It's substantially more precise than anything else you're likely to read on the subject today, though you must do at least some mental work to get through the math; just remember that when economists write equations they perversely use q as the price instead of something obvious like p. Dozens of minutes of fun! [#]

David Rees explains the current financial crisis, once again making a completely sucky situation feel more like okay. This guy's a genius. [#]

Sarah Palin being interviewed by Katie Couric. This is how you know McCain's campaign has been flailing; what could he possibly have been thinking? She sounds even stupider than Bush! I thought it wasn't possible! I once registered as a Republican in order to vote for McCain in the 2000 primaries, and I can't believe it's come to this. [#]

Lib, you should post Ghana videos to YouTube. It's probably the easiest way of doing things. [#]

Evidence here of Primus playing YYZ, and now I need to go see Primus again. It's been fifteen years since I have. [#]

"I know that many times, in my life, while living it, someone would come up and, because of I had good readiness, in terms of how I was wired, when they asked that—whatever they asked—I would just not blink, because, knowing that, if I did blink, or even wink, that is weakness, therefore you can’t, you just don’t. You could, but no—you aren’t. That is just how I am." In The New Yorker. [#]

Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet? (The Large Hadron Collider is a big particle physics experiment. Certain half-educated folks were worried that it would destroy the world. You may have to trust me that this is funny.) [#]

Levitt (one of the authors of Freakonomics) argues persuasively that child car seats are no better than regular lap-and-shoulder seat belts at protecting children older than two, but at least we can all agree that car seats are expensive pains in the ass. [#]

6-Year-Old Stares Down Bottomless Abyss Of Formal Schooling. [#]

Liberty vs. control. [#]

Summertime kid pictures at left. It's been a pretty good summer. [#]

Light summer reading: lowered school performance not just of kids exposed to domestic violence, but also of kids exposed to kids (especially boys) exposed to domestic violence. Source article here. [#]

Holy crap: Neil Young has his whole Greendale album sitting on a (his) website. Makes me want to start trying again to get good at the guitar. [#]

The best T-shirts ever, which proclaim: Science! (Honorable mention to the green one here, though.) [#]

Winer: We won in Iraq a long time ago...Then came the occupation. There is no such thing as winning an occupation. You either continue to occupy or withdraw. It's semantic nonsense to apply the verb "win" to the noun "occupation." Seems pretty obvious when phrased that way. [#]

Mom displays her sick sense of humor (or is it dread? or bafflement?) by sending this to us just days before we all pile into planes for a family reunion:

The idea is to require all airline passengers to wear a "safety bracelet" that will be attached at check-in and removed when the passengers arrive at their destinations. The "safety bracelet" will contain all boarding information, seat assignment and personal information. It will eliminate the need for a boarding pass. Best of all, the "safety bracelet" also acts as a stun device capable of completely immobilizing passengers on command.

The beatings will continue until morale improves or the plane lands. Link. [#]