You might be surprised by the answer to the quintessential American question, You want fries with that? An increasing number of people are saying no. Restaurant prices are increasing more than grocery store prices these days, and that's putting pressure on fast food outlets. The less often we go to those, the fewer fries we eat. Even some of the bargain meal deals often only include a small fries. That might seem like small potatoes to you, but it's a big deal if you're in the fry business. "Lamb Weston, the largest producer of french fries in North America and a major supplier to fast-food chains, restaurants and grocery stores, is closing a production plant in Washington state. The company announced last week that it would lay off nearly 400 employees, or 4% of its workforce, and temporarily cut production lines in response to slowing customer demand." America’s french fry king sounds an alarm. (I wonder if some aspect of this is related to the rise of Ozempic use. Fries are one of the foods experts advise you to avoid when taking that drug.)

+ It turns out that sell-by dates don't have all that much to do with whether or not you can still safely consume a product. In fact, they're not even meant for you in the first place. "Sell-by dates are a slightly ironic, and unnecessary, cause of food waste, because they’re not intended to ever be used by consumers. Instead, these dates are meant to indicate to store employees when stock needs to be rotated, and are not accurate representations of freshness or consumability." California Just Became the First State to Ban Sell-By Dates.

2

Milton Whirl

"In a way, Milton is exactly the type of storm that scientists have been warning could happen; Michael Wehner, a climate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California, called it shocking but not surprising. “One of the things we know is that, in a warmer world, the most intense storms are more intense,” he told me. Milton might have been a significant hurricane regardless, but every aspect of the storm that could have been dialed up has been." The Atlantic (Gift Article): Milton Is the Hurricane That Scientists Were Dreading.

+ Florida meteorologist John Morales choked up when describing what he was seeing in terms of Milton's growth. "I apologize, this is just horrific.") And Tampa Mayor Jane Castor had a pretty stark warning for those in the most dangerous areas who refuse to evacuate: "If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die."

+ Some leaders in the region continue to play politics and culture war games instead of leveling with people and doing their jobs. This, sadly, is not new. Here's an article from a few months ago: As sea levels rise, DeSantis signs bill deleting climate change mentions from Florida state law. You can't delete reality.

+ In some places, Helene clean-up and Milton preparation efforts overlap. Here's the latest from CNN and ABC.

3

Agent Orange

"As the coronavirus tore through the world in 2020, and the United States and other countries confronted a shortage of tests designed to detect the illness, then-President Donald Trump secretly sent coveted tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his personal use." WaPo (Gift Article) on Trump's dictator love and American betrayals, while in office, and after, as detailed in Bob Woodward's latest book. Trump secretly sent covid tests to Putin during 2020 shortage, new book says. An "unnamed Trump aide cited in the book indicated that the GOP standard-bearer may have spoken to Putin as many as seven times since Trump left the White House in 2021." (Trump is a dream Russian asset. Every day, he finds new ways to betray America. And yet, his enablers persist.)

+ Also from WaPo (Gift Article): FBI probe of Kavanaugh constrained by Trump White House, report finds. "The report notes there was no dedicated tip line set up for the Kavanaugh inquiry; members of the public used a preexisting portal called the National Threat Operations Center. The FBI received more than 4,500 calls and electronic messages related to Kavanaugh and was directed to forward the tips to the White House without pursuing any possible leads, according to the report. Even when senators contacted the FBI directly with the names of people who claimed to have relevant information about Kavanaugh, the FBI did not contact them."

4

Yard Stick

Anthony Fauci has spent a career going places where infectious diseases are. Where did he get his worst one? (No, not Fox News.) In his own backyard. NYT (Gift Article): A Mosquito in My Backyard Made Me the Sickest I’ve Ever Been.

5

Extra, Extra

If the Suit Fits: "More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits against TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the popular short-form video app is harming youth mental health by designing its platform to be addictive to kids." (Meanwhile, all the politicians pushing for these lawsuits are trying to go viral on TikTok.)

+ There's No AI in Team: "John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton received the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries that helped computers learn more in the way the human brain does, providing the building blocks for developments in artificial intelligence."

+ Help Wanted: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday Israeli airstrikes had killed two successors to Hezbollah's slain leader, as Israel expanded its offensive against the Iran-backed group with a fourth army division deployed into south Lebanon."

+ NBC You Next Tuesday: "MSNBC recently acquired Errol Morris’ documentary “Separated,” a likely Oscar contender examining the Trump administration’s family separation policy. However, though the topic has significant relevance for the 2024 election, it won’t air on the cable news channel until a month after — in part because NBC bosses don’t want to offend Donald Trump."

+ Arm and Shammer: "It’s such a familiar ritual of going to the doctor’s office that most of us scarcely think about the ins and outs, but in reality even small missteps can leave you with an inaccurate reading." A misplaced arm position can skew blood pressure readings. (I accidentally placed my arm in 2024...)

6

Bottom of the News

"A Dutch museum had to pick artwork out of the bin after a member of staff thought that the display was leftover rubbish." In fairness to the staff member, the artwork consisted of two empty beer cans. (Looking back, I think I may have been an art major in college.)