Table scraps:

♣"HEY BABY, WANT to cast your ballot in my voting box?" An appropriate question, perhaps, posed to those who called a number printed by the Florida Times-Union on election day -- a number that was supposed to connect readers to a non-partisan organization tracking the election, but instead sent them to a phone sex line. An paper insider tells me this isn't the first embarassing flub for the FTU: once, instead of running a photo of a school superintendent, they accidentally ran a photo of a horse -- and the caption read something like "so-and-so was the glue that held the school board together." Hah!

♣AS JOSH MARSHALL keeps emphasizing, Bush's people are working really hard at overstating his win. (Case in point: yes, Bush got more popular votes than any other candidate in history, but John Kerry got the second-most. See what's happening? It's not popularity -- it's called population growth.) But this map, with what each state would look like if it had a land mass proportional to its human population, puts things a bit more in perspective.

♣WE NOW KNOW the secret to a cat's grace: gravity. Take it away and, well, see for yourself (video).

♣HERE'S THE THING about automatically closing prison doors: they don't stop for anything, even heads.

♣CAN YOU PASS this off as "community service"? A counseling service comprised of volunteer men is using a hands-on approach to combat the growing restlessness -- and sexlessness -- of Japan's women.

♣PIXAR BUYS A Vowell -- but essayist Sarah Vowell's voice is only one of the great things brought to life in the Incredibles. Here's a great behind-the-scenes look at the team who put it together. (Opening pun courtesy of my friend Noah.)

♣"IT'S NEVER TOO late. You are never too old." Brave words from a 57-year-old woman about to have twins.

Posted by Jason Feifer at November 9, 2004 08:13 AM