"In the summer of 2025, a staffer for Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democrat who was eyeing a run for Senate, received unusual instructions from top campaign aides: Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can."

"The staffer complied, combing through voter records to produce a list of Dan Sullivans from across the state.... Dan S. Sullivan is the name of the state’s Republican senator. And if the Peltola campaign or its allies could track down and persuade another Dan Sullivan to run for Senate, the confusion could cost the senator crucial votes on the state’s unusual, four-person ballot.... This spring, a retired teacher from a tiny fishing village along the Alaska Panhandle, reachable only by air and sea, announced his candidacy for Senate. His name was Dan J. Sullivan. The Peltola campaign has repeatedly denied any involvement in his candidacy. But The Times has found, based on interviews and text messages, along with documents prepared for a potential lawsuit against the campaign, that not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit Mr. Sullivan to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader. The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory...."

The NYT exposes Peltola, in "Inside Democrats’ Secret Effort to Stack Alaska’s Ballot/Operatives aligned with Mary Peltola, the Democratic nominee for Senate, spent months recruiting candidates to peel votes from Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican." 

That's a gift link. It's a long article, so check it out, especially if you're inclined to think the NYT is always just trying to help Democrats.

"And I said, Sundar, I'm thinking of the Atlantic Ocean. Can you handle it?

Trump: I called Google Maps to change the name of the Atlantic Ocean to Trump Ocean. Sundar said, “No, no, no. This time I'm not doing it.” He said, “Oceans are different, sir. They cover a lot of countries. Please don't ask us to do that.” https://t.co/mfK2ugKs38

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) October 22, 2026

It's almost like he's saying he was always joking, and sometimes they do what he tells them to do.

"We’ve got the gulf. We’ve got a beautiful lake... We need a river. We need an ocean. We call it 'Trump Ocean' or, or, 'Ocean of the Americas.'"

"Something like that. Before I get out, I think we should have an ocean. And we need a great river."

Said You Know Who, quoted in "Trump suggests ‘Ocean of Americas’ as new name for Atlantic or Pacific/The president also floated the idea of naming an ocean after himself" (WaPo).

I see the use of "float" to humorously carry the water theme, but is there a verb for "suggests" that could also be about water?

Now, I think the President is just toying with us. One clue is that name "Ocean of the Americas." That's a New York City joke,  isn't it? "Of the Americas" is so awkward, it must be intended as a reference to the long-derided renaming of 6th Avenue as "Avenue of the Americas." WaPo left out the "the" in its headline, but Trump said "Ocean of the Americas." 

"The [rooster] was named Nixon, after the former president, 'basically because he was a jerk' said his owner, Bill Leimgruber...."

I'm reading "The Chickens Came Home. So Did the Roosters. In Vermont, a single bird set off a feud over what, exactly, constitutes farm country, mirroring a battle dividing communities across America" (NYT). 

Last fall in Merrimack, N.H., a former town councilor infuriated by one bird spent months pressing for an ordinance with fines that climbed to $500, prompting one 40-year resident to ask: “We’re an agricultural town. If people moved here and now, all of a sudden, don’t want to listen to the noises of the deer, and the roosters, and the raccoons and the loons, why did they move here?”...

Because of the covid lockdown and because of the rising price of eggs, a lot of people were buying chicks, and some of those chicks grew up to be roosters. 

"'Next week, we’ll play a name game,' she said, explaining that it involves saying your name and then an animal starting with the same letter. 'For example, I’m Carol the Crocodile. It helps to remember.'"

So ends the NYT article "How to Be a 'Radical' Listener/The lessons in Carol Gilligan’s groundbreaking feminist book 'In a Different Voice' are more than 40 years old. She wishes they weren’t still so relevant."

"He chose the name Faust because it sounded cool, he said, and because, 'as a kid doing graffiti, you’re making this Faustian deal...'"

"'... this deal with the devil in exchange for fame. I was 15 years old, I was breaking the law, running from cops'... He now works out of a fifth-floor studio in a walk-up building on the edge of Chinatown. At the top of a rickety flight of wooden steps, the space is spare and well-organized.... 'Being born and raised in New York, really being inspired by this 50-year history of the culture and really trying to do whatever I can to continue to carry that narrative forward, I looked at all the pioneers before me and really tried to channel the ethos of New York City graffiti until I eventually was able to find my own voice within that,' he said."

From "The Graffiti Artist Top Brands Call On for That ‘New York’ Look/If the city had a font, would his lettering be it?" (NYT).

"It's unclear where the name Rose Bean originated from... however Gaga has a large rose down her spine..."

"... that she got to commemorate her performance of 'La Vie En Rose' in the film 'A Star is Born.' The middle name Bean may have been inspired by singer/activist Carl Bean -- whom her hit 'I Was Born This Way' pulled inspo from."

From "Lady Gaga & Michael Polansky/We Have a Baby Girl... Name Revealed" (TMZ).

Well, that's nice. I'm not named after my mother's tattoo. Are you?

I'm only reading TMZ because "CARROT TOP/HOSPITALIZED AFTER ATTEMPTED SUICIDE." Not seeing any reason. I hope he's okay. He's been treated unfairly over the years by people who think it's funny to say he's not funny.

Joe Rogan took issue with those people last year when Carrot Top appeared on the podcast:

"He seeks to unsettle and entertain; after all, an alternative pronunciation of his alter ego’s name, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, is 'Mischief Egotistical.'"

I'm reading "An Indigenous Painter Sees a Vermeer, and the Sparks Fly/For a new show at the Frick Collection, Kent Monkman imagines what Indigenous people see when they see fur trappers, General Custer and even Jeff Bezos" (NYT gift link)

"Two weeks before we meet, Margaret Atwood purchased her burial plot. 'You may think that’s a kind of dour thing to be doing'..."

"... she says beadily. I assure her I don’t, and perhaps detect mild disappointment in her gaze. 'Well, if you were 19 you probably would find it quite creepy.'"

Writes Decca Aitkenhead, in "Margaret Atwood: ‘God made the middle finger for a reason’/The Handmaid’s Tale author at 86 on gender wars, trade wars, assisted dying and the power of not playing nice" (London Times).

I've heard of "beady" eyes, which I've always assumed were eyes that looked like beads, but what does it mean to speak "beadily"?

"She says she has never scared people 'on purpose,' but the pleasure she takes in her own power is apparent and exhilarating to observe. When I ask whether I should call her Margaret or the name she grew up with, Peggy, she inquires, 'Well, who are you speaking to right at the moment?' Er, to you. 'Yes, but who is me?' Amusement teases in her eyes. 'You’re not talking to the writer, because I’m not writing at the moment. So Peggy.' When I later mention some people who used to behave very badly towards me, her eyes narrow. 'Are any of them dead?' Not yet. 'Oh well, it could be arranged.'"

The White House is taunting.

pic.twitter.com/Jh3DHXnflT

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 6, 2026

Oh, no! Now, we have to call Lake Ontario "Lake America."

I'm reading "Trump signs order renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America, escalating Canada feud/President Donald Trump called Canadian officials 'nasty people' and said the country 'has been ripping us off for a long time on trade, very sadly.'"

“We filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else,” Trump said. “We notified all the various people that we have to notify. So we’ve done everything that you have to do. And this is official, effective immediately.”

"Zale Parry... [an] underwater stuntwoman whose reverence for the oceanic world was deepened by tripping out on LSD in a research study that included Cary Grant, Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper..."

"... died on July 20 at her home in Tillamook, Ore. She was 93.... [She] doubl[ed] for Sophia Loren in the 1957 film 'Boy on a Dolphin' and co-starr[ed] with Lloyd Bridges on the television show 'Sea Hunt.'"

I'm reading "Zale Parry, Aquatic Hollywood Star and Early Acid Tripper, Dies at 93/A diving feat landed her on the cover of Sports Illustrated and led to a film and TV career. She also took part in one of the first LSD studies" (NYT gift link).

"Girl skin diver" — I like that old-time locution. 

Onto the LSD part of the magnificent lady's story. 

"Judge Urbanski... ruled a year ago that Stonewall Jackson High School students participating in extracurricular activities had their First Amendment rights violated..."

"... when they were forced to serve as 'mobile billboards' by carrying the 'Generals' name on their uniforms. [The plaintiffs' lawyer] recalled the 'heartfelt and unwavering' testimony from students during the trial, 'describing how Confederate school names make them feel unwelcome, devalued and ultimately inferior to their white peers.'..."

From "Judge Rules Two Virginia Schools Must Change Confederate Names/The school board’s decision to rename the schools after Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby 'cannot be divorced from racial discrimination,' the judge wrote in his ruling" (NYT gift link).

In 2020, in the midst of the George Floyd protests, Stonewall Jackson High School was renamed Mountain View and Ashby-Lee Elementary was renamed Honey Run. In 2024, a new school board restored the old names.

"The school board’s decision to rename the schools after Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby 'cannot be divorced from racial discrimination,' Judge Michael F. Urbanski wrote in his ruling. Those Confederate generals 'fought to preserve a political system that enslaved Blacks, and their legacy was used as a tool to fight school desegregation,' added the judge...."

"I left Google to study neuroscience, and what I found in the research literature helps explain why the A.I. summary poses a danger to learning."

"Curiosity, it turns out, is not just an individual’s desire to find out discrete facts; it’s also a feature of our biology designed to help us learn more broadly. And it requires a specific condition: a gap between what you want to know and what you find out. Researchers have found that people in a state of curiosity, while waiting for an answer to an intriguing question, remember unrelated information they encounter during that time far better than they otherwise would. In that same study, the researchers also placed those people in brain scanners. They found that waiting for an answer activates reward circuits in the brain and readies the hippocampus to help form new memories.... Curiosity opens a window, and while the window is open, learning deepens across the board.... Our technology is increasingly treating the territory between the query and the answer as dead space to be eliminated, when that territory is where most of the learning actually happens. The danger is not that people will stop asking questions. It is that questions will become endpoints...."

Writes Anne-Laure Le Cunff, "a neuroscientist who studies curiosity," in "We Are Losing the Ability to Discover What We Didn’t Know to Ask" (NYT).

Intriguing questions that popped up for me: 1. What kind of name is "Le Cunff"? 2. "The danger is not.../It is..." seems to be one of those things — like em dashes and the word "delve" — that A.I. tends to write, so did Le Cunff use A.I. to write this essay?

Answers: 1. It means "the gentle," "the affable," or "the debonnaire." 2. It's a rhetorical device that A.I. has learned from real human writers, and real human writers don't need to avoid it, they just, as always, need to use it well, which, in this case, Le Cunff did. 

"[H]er husband forgot her 50th birthday.... said Ruchi, who asked to use only her first name because she is in the process of negotiating her divorce."

"'You’ve put all these things aside because you’re a mom and you’re taking care of a family,' she said.... 'Then you think: Is that all I am good for? When did I stop being a person?' Menopause lent a kind of fury to Ruchi’s midlife turmoil. 'I actually thought I was crazy, because I was irritated at everything,' she said.... 'There was a time when I was like, "Oh my gosh. How are we going to do this? How is this going to work? What is my family going to say?"... I am a strong person. I am a capable person. My family is very, very, very important to me, but I am more than my kids and my husband. I think I kind of forgot that.'"

From "Older Adults Are No Longer Staying in ‘Empty Shell’ Marriages/Rates of gray divorce have risen sharply over the past few decades — and experts have a few theories as to why" (NYT). That's a gift link because there are so many interesting comments over there.

1. When her husband forgot her birthday, the wife remembered that she had forgotten that she was a person.

2. Do you get much anonymity by limiting the NYT to using only your first name when your first name is as unusual as Ruchi? (I did look it up, and I can see that in India, it is a very common name.)

3. From the anecdotes in the article, I get the impression that when these long-term marriages dissolve, the man finds another woman (to take care of him?) and the woman embraces independence. 

4. From the comments over there: "This article contains the second reference I’ve seen recently to menopause as the cause of women becoming intolerant. I feel like that’s a slippery slope. I offer for consideration the fact that many, many women in our society are expected to carry loads that are unreasonable. I think that might contribute to 'intolerance' more than any hormonal shifts. And I believe such intolerance is valid."

"The teams totaled 34 hits, and 14 pitchers combined to throw 444 pitches. It was the fourth game in major league history with at least 29 runs and 11 homers."

I'm reading "Brewers outlast A's 15-14 in 12 innings as teams combine for 11 homers and 34 hits in Las Vegas/Andrew Vaughn had four hits and four RBIs, including a two-run double that tied the score in the ninth inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers outlasted the Athletics 15-14 in 12 innings at Las Vegas Ballpark in a wild game that featured 11 homers" (WaPo).

No, I wasn't watching. That game started at my bedtime — 9 p.m.

I just noticed that there's a team now that's just named the Athletics — no city/state in the name. Just the mascot... and it's the most generic mascot. The Athletics. And they played in Las Vegas last night — "at the site of their Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators." They seem homeless. They're not in Oakland anymore, and their normal home these days is West Sacramento, but not enough of a home to become part of its name. Playing a few games in Las Vegas this week has something to do with Las Vegas being its future home. A new stadium will open in 2028.

But maybe you watched basketball last night. I'd rather watch a random baseball game than an important basketball game, but I did pause the movie I was watching and go downstairs to hear the National Anthem and catch a glimpse of Trump. The NYT says "Mr. Trump smiled and saluted in the face of deafening boos when he briefly appeared on the arena’s video board...." I went back to my movie — "A Complete Unknown," now, finally, on HBO — but I did look up the result this morning. I see Trump ruined everything:

Ooh, that Trump. The Knicks lost. Meanwhile, Bob Dylan won. That's what Joan Baez says to him at the end of the biopic: "You won." He's all "What did I win?" and then he rides off into the sunset on his motorcycle. 

"Reinforce the academic core of the university; don’t allow classes to be dominated by open laptops or other devices; do more to ensure that people do not self-censor; respect the ideals of free speech and academic freedom; 'be human.'"

Those are among the "smart and sensible recommendations" to be found in Yale's "Report of the Committee on Trust in Higher Education" according to "Yale Has Come Up With a Surefire Way to Make a Terrible Situation Worse" (NYT). That's written by the president of Wesleyan University, Michael S. Roth.

Sorry, I'm having a Marx Brothers flashback: "The Dean is furious! He's waxing wroth!"/"Is Roth out there, too? Tell Roth to wax the Dean for a while."

So what is Roth waxing wroth about with this anodyne committee report? 

The committee claims that in 2016, “departing from its traditional emphasis on the creation and dissemination of knowledge, Yale expanded its mission statement to include ‘improving the world today,’ educating ‘aspiring leaders worldwide,’ and fostering ‘an ethical, interdependent and diverse community.’”

It's weird to make a show of retreating from something so mild and vague. But Roth paraphrases the rejected mission as a matter of "independent thought, a commitment to truth even when it’s inconvenient and a focus on the creation of truly democratic citizens." Is that what the Trump administration has been "punishing" and what Yale is trying to be self-defensive about? 

"[I]n 1972, Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, discovered ['Reefer Madness'] in the Library of Congress archives."

"He screened it at a New York benefit, catching the eye of Robert Shaye, founder of the new production company New Line Cinema. Shaye knew it had potential as an accidental satire so he rereleased it, holding midnight showings marketed to college students across California campuses in particular. The rest is campy cult classic history, one that includes a 1998 stage musical, which has been revived in productions big and small around the country since, and a 2005 TV movie musical starring Kristen Bell, Alan Cumming and Neve Campbell. 'Reefer Madness' may be the first film to be embraced by a generation because it’s so bad — or so bad, it’s good."

That's from a new NYT article, "'Reefer Madness,' the P.S.A. That Backfired Spectacularly/The comically self-serious and outrageous 1936 morality tale, which warned the public about marijuana, became an unintentional parody and midnight-movie classic decades later."

First, I was sorry to see the article omitted the name of the author of the story:

 

Image taken from Wikipedia.

That's amused me for a long time.

But, second, I don't believe "Reefer Madness" was the first thing that "a generation" embraced because "it’s so bad — or so bad, it’s good." Personally, I remember going to see "The Green Slime" in 1969 for this reason. I remember hearing that it was what "all the heads" in New York were seeing. 

But I see the distinction: "The Green Slime" was trying to be so bad it's good. "Reefer Madness" was trying to warm young people away from marijuana.

Or was it?

AND: Even as we speak: "Trump administration moves to ease federal restrictions on marijuana/Marijuana had the same classification as heroin, LSD and others before being reclassified for lower potential for abuse" (Guardian).

ALSO: I took my "Or was it?" question to Grok, which assured me it was sincerely intended as propaganda. That made me think. I wrote this sentence to sum up my thoughts: "Propaganda is inherently funny but circumstances might cloud one's ability to appreciate the fun."

"Learning cursive will provide New Jersey students with 'the skills they need to read our nation’s founding documents'...."

Said New Jersey governor Phil Murphy, quoted in "Cursive Makes a Comeback in New Jersey Schools/In one of his final acts in office, Gov. Philip D. Murphy signed a bill on Monday requiring third, fourth and fifth graders to learn cursive" (NYT).

Proponents of cursive cite studies that link handwriting to better information retention and writing speed, and say — as Mr. Murphy did in a statement released as he signed the bill — that knowing script can help people read the original U.S. Constitution....

On Tuesday, Gabrielle and Kurt McCann, of Lebanon, N.J., were waiting to break the news to their 9-year-old son, Atlas McCann, when he got home from school. “I think it is important that kids are able to use that refined motor skill,” Ms. McCann said in an interview shortly after a meeting where she said she had taken all her notes in longhand.

But Atlas, she said, was thinking, “What’s the point of having to sit here and torture myself?”

The poor boy has the weight of the world on his shoulders. And now, this additional burden — handwriting! What for? Who reads the Constitution in the original handwriting? It's not even cut-and-paste-able. It's not searchable in handwritten form. Atlas will grope forward, if the time ever comes, asking AI what constitutional clause goes with whatever is the issue of the day. What constitutional clause deals with transgender women in girls sports? What constitutional clause gives cis gender girls the right to undress at public school in a single-sex locker room? The ancient handwriting will not say. AI will.

Let's consult not a politician but an expert:

“Oh, God,” Morgan Polikoff, an education professor at the University of Southern California, said when he learned of the New Jersey law.... He attributed the renewed affection for the style’s curlicues and squiggles to “boomerish nostalgia,” and said he was struck by cursive’s bipartisan appeal, with states as different politically as Arkansas and California requiring its instruction. Conservatives, the professor said, promote its utility for reading old documents; liberals like it for its beauty as an art form....

Fight the decline lest the day come when we cannot read the documents. Then what?

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I contemplated whether I was named after Ann Arbor.

My mother grew up in Ann Arbor, I heard about Ann Arbor throughout my childhood, and I went to college in Ann Arbor, but it had never occurred to me that I might have been named after Ann Arbor. The story my mother told me about my name is that they wanted a name that began with the letter A — so I ended up with the initials AAA, straight As — and they wanted something as simple as possible. The second-choice name was Amy, which is also only 3 letters, but it's 2 syllables, so Amy it wasn't. 

I'm also only just now looking into the question whether Ann Arbor was named after someone named Ann. Wikipedia says: