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I am one of the almost 78 million people whove voted. Feels good.
I am one of the almost 78 million people who has voted. Feels good. JK
Unemployment claims drop to 751,000 in last report before the election: That's down 40,000 from the week prior. 360,000 people filed initial claims under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program which is up 15,000 from the week before, says CNN. We still have 1.1 million people filing for first time unemployment which, while far below the peak of the pandemic, is still ridiculously high!

I hope West Seattleites love traffic: In January two southbound lanes of the First Avenue South Bridge will close for urgent repairs, reports the Seattle Times. The bridge has been serving as the main alternative to the West Seattle Bridge, which closed March 23 due to some serious cracks. Washington State Department of Transportation plans to close the two lanes for four weeks in addition to four full southbound overnight closures.

I did not think it was possible to make Gillian Anderson not hot: But then I saw this trailer for the fourth season of The Crown and....she's playing Margaret Thatcher. Nightmares do come true.

COVID-19 survival rates appear to be improving as we understand more about the virus: The New York Times says coronavirus death rates in New York hospitals dropped from 30 percent in March to 3 percent by the end of June. And it's indicative of a larger trend seen in hospitals across the country and world. Though more young people are getting COVID, officials don't attribute this drop in the death rate to the demographic's high survival rates, but rather to doctors knowing better how to manage the disease.

Ventilation? Is everything: El País put together this helpful graphic showing how coronavirus is spread in three different settings: a room, a bar, and a classroom. If you do decide to hang out with people outside your pod, the simulation makes a case for keeping it short, wearing a mask, and opening a goddamn window. But don't ok?

Hackers stole $2.3 million from Wisconsin Republican Party's account: The fund$ were being used to help reelect that orange fuck to the White House in this key battleground state, reports AP. The FBI is now investigating the matter. This hacking comes at a crucial time in America's Dairyland, which Trump won by less than 23,000 votes. The money in the GOP's account would be used to make last-minute "snap spending decisions based on the state of the race." I can confidently say these hackers were probably not Biden's people. That'd make him way too cool.

This is your warning: Daylight saving ends on Sunday, so remember to set your clocks back an hour. I like "getting" one more hour of sleep, but watching the sun sink into the horizon around 4:30pm will never not be depressing.

But I guess Norwegians know how to approach a dark winter: Ever heard of friluftsliv? It's a term invented by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen that means "free air life," a concept of spending time outside all year long no matter the weather. Megan Burbank at the Seattle Times thinks friluftsliv could help us during this depressing COVID winter. I learned how to make a campfire last night so I feel really ready to embrace this particular Scandinavian way of thinking.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Dems in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, allowing extended period for receiving mail-in ballots: The court "declined to disturb decisions that allow Pennsylvania officials to receive ballots cast by Election Day and received within three days, and a ruling by North Carolina’s elections board that set a grace period of nine days," says WaPo. In both cases, Republicans and GOP legislators opposed the extensions. Obviously.

I bet you the final turnout numbers for this election are going to be HUUUGE: Almost 77,890,285 people have already cast their ballots, which is 56.5 percent of America's 2016 turnout. Texas has the highest turnout of any US state when compared to its 2016 numbers: 8.4 million Texans have voted which equals more than 94 percent of the state's 2016 turnout. What!!!!

Is the coconut milk you're putting in your curry the result of "forced monkey labor"? PETA alleges that Chaokoh, as well as other Thai brands of coconut milk, use forced monkey labor to pick coconuts for their product. This allegation prompted Walgreens, Food Lion, Giant Food, Stop & Shop and now Costco to stop stocking those brands in their stores. For their part, Chaokoh has denied that their plantations use monkeys to harvest coconuts. 2020 won't stop with the wacky sentences.

Six voting centers are opening in King County on Saturday: These new centers will be in Seattle, Bellevue, Kenmore, Kent, and Federal Way, in addition to the in-person service at country elections HQ in Renton, reports Elise Takahama at the Seattle Times. If you go, you'll be presented with the same paper ballot sent to your home, which you'll fill out and return to a drop box onsite. But if you're looking for that in-person ~~*~**~voting experience~*~*~ you're not going to get it at these voting centers says King County Elections Director Julie Wise. "Do not wait to cast your ballot because you're waiting to come in-person."

Ok, well now that I brought it up: Read our legally-binding endorsements and vote the way we tell you to. Or, if you hate reading, check out our cheat sheet.

How is it already almost the weekend?: Thursday is Friday's Friday. What are you doing for a "partly cloudy & dry" Halloween?

The West Seattle Water Taxi was canceled this morning: An inspection revealed that one of the pins connecting the Seacrest dock gangway to the shore has been damaged. The water taxi is canceled until a damage assessment can be completed, reports KING 5.

Three people killed in knife attack at a church in Nice, France: One elderly victim who was "virtually beheaded" and a man were attacked inside the church. Another woman managed to flee to a nearby cafe after being stabbed several times, but later died, says the BBC. The mayor is calling the attack "terrorism."

They've got the queens, guys: The murder hornet queens that is. On Saturday, crews dramatically captured 98 hornets from a nest inside a tree in Blaine. Curiously missing from those hornets was their queen. Now entomologists say they have two queens from that same section of tree in their possession, reports KOMO. They are either two virgin queens or one virgin queen and one old queen. Something tells me this isn't the end.

Something to groove to this morning: My friend made me a mixtape recently and I can't get Pale Saints' "Kinky Love" out of my brain.