The Friday Before Election Day MISCELLANY!

• Want to help the survivors of Sandy? Donate to the Red Cross. Seriously, if you don't have skills to rebuild and aren't in the storm area, it's the best thing you can do to help.


• The unemployment rate has ticked back up to 7.9%. Bonddad goes into why this is much better than it looks here.


• There is a draft IEEE standard for voting machines. Which, really, means that you can steal an election and justify it with an IEEE fig leaf. I still think vote by mail is superior in every way, including in that it requires a paper ballot.


• A lot of idiots have been beating up on Nate Silver. Who better to defend Nate Silver against these idiots than...Nate Silver? By the way, Romney fans, Nate's being a lot more generous to your guy than Sam Wang.


• Speaking of which, if Romney fans seriously believe the crap that Dick Morris is feeding them, they're going to be in shock come Wednesday.


• The worst thing about Sandy? According to The Thinking Housewife, its how people in NYC have let themselves go. File under "you rage you lose."


• I used to have a coat nearly identical to this one. My bohemian-bourgeois mother complained about it mightily, but it kept me incredibly warm throughout Chicago's and Indiana's harsh winters.