Akkam’s Razor

• From Cave Paintings to the Internet: 70,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE Timeline -
• Calculated Risk: Comparing Stock Market Crashes - Oh my.
• EzraKlein Archive | The American Prospect - Granted, it's probably (okay, certainly) not true. But if that crazy person who runs Atlas Shrugged is right and Barack Obama really is the son of Malcolm X, that would make my day. Honestly, who wouldn't give Malcolm props for that one? And think there's anyway we can fit Tupac into the bloodline? Or maybe Obama actually is Tupac? You know that whole shooting was some bullshit, right?

• The GOP ticket’s appalling contempt for science and learning. - By Christopher Hitchens - Slate Magazine - This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just “people of faith” but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.

• YES WE CARVE | Barack O’Lantern or Jack O’Bama? -
• Can a President Tame the Business Cycle? - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com - Today, Americans save less and earn a lower minimum wage — in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms — than at nearly any other time since 1950. Can voters reasonably expect these and other indicators to change significantly after a new president takes office in January?

As sure as summer turns to fall, there are some stories that are dusted-off and rehashed at a certain point of the year.

There's the back-to-school helicopter-parents stories, the "what's the next got-to-have-it toy for Xmas", and the ever popular FOXNEWS stories on "the War on Christmas" (It starts earlier and earlier every year.  It's sad, really, the commercialization of the War on Christmas.)