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Here's a novel take on a political ad. Subtle but effective. It's the 'Wassup' gang from the Budweiser commercials, 8 years later . This one via KnoxViews.

A topic that needs more discussion, and here's a great one from Anil Dash on What Sarah Palin is Saying .

To carve a pumpkin online . The only one I'll do this year..... Thanks to Knox Views Ashvegas.

Via Achenblog , a fun graphic from Foreign Policy: If the world could vote ... Heresy to some who think we should ignore what the world thinks of us, but I'm on the side who believes it matters very, very much....

Posting is slow again as I've been undergoing some medical treatments that slow me down. But over the last couple days I've succumbed to another social networking tool: after news librarians, and then my college classmates, set up Facebook groups, I decided it was finally time to join up. I've enjoyed using LinkedIn to keep in touch with work collegues and thought that was all I wanted to participate in, but now I've seen the light and have discovered how much fun it is to be able to converse with friends on Facebook, as well as see their photos, etc. Not to take it too seriously, but I admit it's amazing how, among school, work, and family contacts your Facebook lists can grow. I've only been on a day and already have a full platter there. Posting here should resume a more normal schedule in a few days.

( An occasional reminiscence on the events of 1968 ) (See the posts in chronological order ) On Oct 2, US Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas withdrew his nomination as chief justice; his nomination had been held up for months by a Senate filibuster. (Six months later, he would resign from the court, admitting he'd made a financial deal with the Louis Wolfson Foundation.) On October 2, the disturbances in Mexico leading up to the Olympics reached a head as a student procession in La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, led to a bloodbath. Supporters claimed soldiers with automatic weapons killed 300 or so students. The government claimed that only 50 students died in the five hours of gunfire. It became known as the Tlatelolco massacre. Ten days later, the 1968 Summer Olympics opened in Mexico City. The high altitude of the venue caused problems for many athletes, but created opportunities to set records for others. American Bob Beamon jumped nearly 9 meters in t

I hadn't heard of Google's 'In Quotes' until I saw it mentioned in the AskSam newsletter. What an intriguing idea, and hopefully useful. It's just quotes from John McCain and Barack Obama, but searchable or browsable by category. Some Biden and Palin quotes, too, I tried 'hockey mom' and and got it. Also from Ask Sam: a searchable version of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 ; the Presidential Debates transcripts ; and the Vice Presidential Debates transcripts . These available to search online, as usual, or download to use with the free AskSam reader. The Commission on Presidential Debates has lots of history, transcripts, quotes, etc. online, too. Good stuff for these final campaign days.

Roy Greenslade points us to a new newspaper being published in London, on a very tiny basis: The Manual is an actual hand drawn, hand lettered newspaper, 150 copies distributed to commuters at London stations this morning. How it was published... Fascinating.

Interesting stuff (updated, see last entries): From Christopher Buckley (son of William F.) in The Beast : Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget “by the end of my first term.” Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking? ...having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves. Dear Pup

...about politics, anyway, an amazing effort by the staff of Esquire to put together a database of endorsements of every Congressional-and-up candidate in the country. Wow. This includes their endorsement of Barack Obama, Esquire Endorses Barack Obama for President We thought this election would be a serious fight over the future of this country, but only one candidate showed up. This is a thoughtful and very thought-provoking argument, particularly on the links between -- and political effect of -- Justice John Paul Stevens and Obama. Far as I can tell, the rest of the endorsements are not online. Worth buying a copy, I'd say. Among the lists, the 10 best -- and 10 worst -- politicians in the country.

Here's a well- researched compilation at Random Pixels of various published reports on the details of John McCain's service record. This is interesting. John McCain's service to his country...the stuff he doesn't talk about . Ar all the questions about who did or said what, or what we know about Obama/McCain tax plans, driving you crazy? Don't forget to see what other factcheckers have discovered is true or false, at Politfact (with it's Truth-o- meter), or Factcheck , or Fact-Checker . And don't forget good old Snopes .