With just two weeks left until election day in the U.S., the race is no longer heating up: it's at a steady boil. Early voting has begun, a full eight national tracking polls are cranking out numbers daily, and the campaigns are on the ground nationwide Getting Out the Vote. If you haven't voted yet (or if you just can't get enough political coverage), I urge you to check out Frontline's The Choice 2008 program online. You can watch the whole thing for free -- and I think you'll find it worthwhile.... READ ON

With all the recent talk about pork barrels and earmarks in the news, here are five things that might help stir the debate... or not, but at least they make good water cooler convo. 1) The term has always been VERY derogatory. According to most sources, the saying was first used by a journalist named E.K. Hale in a story titled "Pork Barrel," published in 1865 by Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. In Hale's own words: "When plantation owners rolled out a barrel of salt pork into the slave... READ ON

George Orwell began keeping a series of diaries on 9th August 1938 (love that British date formatting!). These diaries were never published. Seventy years later, the diaries are being released day by day in an annotated blog format. According to The Orwell Prize (who are putting up the entries), Orwell's diaries reveal several dimensions of the... READ ON

Today we're re-excerpting from Cormac O'Brien's terrific piece in mental_floss. The First to Walk Like a Crab: Julia Dent Grant (first lady, 1869"“1877) Julia Dent Grant was cross-eyed her entire life. While that never stopped her from being a tomboy in her youth, or—remarkably—from developing into an accomplished equestrienne, it did lead to some embarrassing White House moments. At the galas she was fond of throwing, Julia had a habit of standing in the corner to avoid bumping into... READ ON