Events

Josh Marshall checks in from the disaster: What I found so surreal about this storm is that in Manhattan at least there really was barely a storm at all. For whatever reason, through the period when there was the worst part of the damage the ‘rain’ never got worse than maybe a slight drizzle. Really no more than that. It got windy. But not all that windy either — though there were definitely gusts that were quite unlike anything normal. So through Monday night everything was pretty normal — just a wet...

The storm's destruction in the Northeast is mind-blowing. I lived in Hoboken, N.J., for about a year and a half; the entire city is in the flood zone. Just a link round-up for now; thoughts later: 26 confirmed dead from the storm. All power is out below 39th St in Manhattan. The Battery Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, and much of the subway system are flooded, and it could be days to pump them out. Governors Cuomo and Christie praised the Obama Administration for their handling of the disaster. Cuomo directly...

Their new baby is actually cuter than their Lab, but only just: Also, the baby is too young to see the camera, while Uma here found it fascinating.

Just watch:

A couple of days ago at work, we were talking about stupid things sports commentators say. In any sport, but much more so in baseball and U.S. football than others, you hear some commentator say "Well, Bob, with runners on first and third on a night with a 10-knot breeze out of the northeast, when the pitcher's name starts with 'M', there's only a 1-in-65 chance a left-handed batter with six toes on his right foot will fly out to center." Who cares, right? But being in Chicago, there is a huge question...

As if my just-born nephew and soon-to-be-born other nephew weren't making this fall all about babies, two of my friends had to go and spawn as well. This is what they produced a couple weeks ago: Wait, it gets cuter. Photobomb! Now that we've met all the characters, let's bring them together: We now return to your regularly-scheduled blog.

First, while I knew this existed, it still took me aback: At the location the BBC used as the Torchwood 3 main entrance, the good people of the world have put up a shrine to fictional character Ianto Jones, which the Mermaid Quay management have sanctioned. As much as I found Torchwood to be an entertaining television show, and even though I went to Cardiff in part to see some of their shooting locations in person, I find this...creepy. Cooler, significantly, were these props, at the Doctor Who...

I've been a little swamped since getting home, so not until just now, when I have a few minutes to watch a deployment go out, have I had time to go through my Cardiff photos. Why Cardiff? I hear you cry. Well, I'm not ashamed to admit it: Yes, that's the only place in the world that has the original TARDIS: It was also a lot of fun to see Roald Dahl Plass; in particular, this: Points if you know exactly what this is, and why I've included it. Major points. More UK photos tomorrow.

Way back in January 2006, the longest hurricane season ever to blow through the North Atlantic led to some off the wall updates from the National Hurricane Center. Today webcomic xkcd relives the experience. It's worth a quick read.

If we re-elect the President, then four years from now everyone in the US will have guaranteed health care—more than just the basic system we've had since 2009. If not, in four years no one will. (Note, also, that the President got us a health care system that ensures people don't die because they have pre-existing allergies or because they're somehow less lucrative for private insurance companies to cover.) If we re-elect the President, then four years from now we'll have taken all our troops out of...