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5 Climate Change Facts to Scare You Into Action This Halloween (Maria)
The author writes, “It’s Halloween, which means costumes, candy and scary movies. Fear turns to fun on October 31 because Halloween lets us seek scary thrills that can’t hurt us. When we feel like threats are closing in on us and things are getting truly scary, we just turn off the TV and turn on the lights. But there is one terror that we can’t escape, no matter the time of year. We’re talking about climate change. Here are five of the scariest, most bone-chilling facts about climate change.”
Wisconsin’s Purple State Tradition Doesn’t Match Demographics (Al)
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Why is Wisconsin a battleground state? It’s a question I’ve been hearing (and pondering) for decades because Wisconsin has been a battleground for a very long time. The explanations for that are not quite the same today as they were 20 or 30 years ago. The state’s political map has changed. This is a battleground for different reasons in 2024 than in 2000. But at the heart of Wisconsin’s remarkably enduring competitiveness is a bit of a puzzle. Demographically speaking, you would expect this to be a red state, not an almost perfectly purple one.”
Washington, Oregon Ballot Box Fires: Here’s What We Know (Reader Steve)
From The Seattle Times: “A fire caused by an ‘incendiary device’ damaged hundreds of ballots inside a drop box in Vancouver, Washington, early Monday. The fire is connected to a similar fire in Portland that happened the same day and an Oct. 8 incident in a downtown Vancouver drop box, authorities said. Here’s what we know.”
‘What the F**k To Do With Them?’ Russian Soldiers Heard Condemning North Korean Recruits in Intercepted Audio (Sean)
The authors write, “Russian soldiers have been heard raising concerns about how North Korean soldiers will be commanded and provided with ammunition and military kit, leaked intercepts obtained by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine and released on Friday show. The Russian soldiers talk disdainfully about the incoming North Korean soldiers, codenamed the ‘K Battalion,’ at one point referring to them as ‘the f**king Chinese.’ … The audio was intercepted from encrypted Russian transmission channels on the night of October 23, according to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence. Ukraine’s analysis of the intercepts revealed that North Korean troop movements were planned for the morning of October 24, in the area of Postoyalye Dvory field camp in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine launched a surprise incursion earlier this year.”
Elon Musk Working to Move His Children and Mothers to Strange Compound (Reader Jim)
From Futurism: “Multi-hyphenate billionaire and reproduction-obsessed father of 11 children Elon Musk wants to move his entire patchwork family into a collection of three mansions in Austin, Texas — a plan that sounds more than a bit like the beginning of a terrifying cult documentary. As the New York Times reports, Musk has told people close to him that he wants his many children — there are eleven known ones, ranging from infancy to young adulthood — and two of their three mothers to move into two properties near his own Austin mansion, which is a ten-minute walk away. And of course, Musk is likely far from done with having children. The entrepreneur has long cited falling fertility rates as being the number one threat to humanity, making it his mission to father as many children as possible.”
Hotter Summers Are Making High School Football a Fatal Game for Some Players (Laura)
The authors write, “Soon after Ashanta Laster reached the hospital, she was ushered into the emergency room where she saw doctors performing CPR on her teenage son. Laster had gotten a call that 17-year-old Phillip Laster Jr., a lineman who played for a top Mississippi high school, had collapsed on the field during an August 2022 practice. At the time, the family says the heat index was 102 degrees (38.9 degrees Celsius) on the football field. … The death of Laster underscores the dangers facing high school football players, mostly in the Southeast, who are collapsing and dying in late summer at the start of season. Players are most at risk of suffering heat-related illnesses due to searing temperatures and high humidity. Those conditions have worsened in recent decades due to climate change, with extremely hot days becoming more frequent since 1970.”
A 110-Year-Old Pickled Thylacine Head Helped Build the Most Complete Ancient Genome to Date, Says ‘De-Extinction’ Company (Dana)
From Smithsonian Magazine: “Forgotten for more than a century, a foul discovery in a cupboard at Museums Victoria in Melbourne could be the key to ‘bringing back’ an extinct Australian marsupial, according to researchers from the biotechnology ‘de-extinction’ company Colossal Biosciences. The putrid find? A skinned and pickled head from a thylacine.”
