Oh, hey, look, it's vacation time again! For me, that is. I'll be off the week of October 19th through 23rd, so Talk Topics, The Letter, and whatever else I do around here will go on hiatus while I spend the week doing nothing. You might find me posting some nonsense on Twitter (@pmsinon but otherwise, I'm going to be mostly off the grid (okay, in my back yard, which is not quite wilderness, but will have to do). Enjoy the silence and I'll talk to you on the 26th.

If you get coronavirus, should you feel shame? No, not if you took precautions and didn't do anything that might spread the disease yourself, but it's a side effect of the pandemic: People feel like they've become tainted in others' eyes, or guilty for surviving when others didn't, or any other variation of shame when they get the bad news and don't know what to tell friends and family. It's yet another mental health issue to deal with. (KOAA-TV/Pueblo-Colorado Springs)

Do you have something on your resume that would block you from getting hired by a lot of places? Because the article linked here says that people who have worked for Fox News are fighting that perceived stigma. Even if you've only worked on the hard-news side, have nothing to do with the prime-time opinionators, and are scrupulously impartial (and I know several people who worked or at working at Fox News who fit that bill), just the name alone raises some eyebrows. But I'd think working in talk radio in general would do that, too. I know that some people made assumptions about me because I worked in talk radio, and those assumptions were way, way off. Should your career be judged on how prospective employers judge the places you've worked, even if you weren't responsible for the parts they don't like? (Washington Post)

Research indicates that cows like it when humans talk to them in person and not on a recording, which is definitely news you can use, if you're prone to recording messages for cows, as one would. The researchers -- someone got a grant for this -- noted that the cows were more relaxed when someone talked to them in person and were more tense when listening to a recording. Perhaps it's because cows don't know what a "recording" is and may think the disembodied voice is from an alien dimension. Anyway, go talk to a cow. (CNN)

You know and have probably repeated George Santayana's "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," and so here's a New York Times reminder that the mask controversy is a lot like how America dealt with the onset of seatbelt laws. People turned that, too, into a political dispute and acted like it was a major infringement on our civil liberties. Here we are in 2020, and everyone wears seatbelts and nobody complains anymore. It's a non-issue. So how did we end up arguing about masks? Okay, we know why (and who), but still. (And, yes, it's not precisely the same -- law versus mandates, protecting yourself versus protecting others -- but you get the idea.) (New York Times)

The thing about the Ontario student whose profile in the high school yearbook, which he wanted to sport a message honoring his late grandmother, was changed to show a racist message is that while the school is correctly recalling all books and replacing them, the fact remains that the bullies who did it got away with their "little joke" and will continue to do so until they're named and shamed. The school has to know who did it, and if there were no editorial safeguards -- if a faculty member wasn't assigned to review the proofs before printing -- the whole school administration's to blame. Regardless, we're talking a bunch of racist teen bullies who aren't being identified, and it's more than just "kids will be kids." (CP24/Toronto)

No matter what we want to believe, nobody knows when the pandemic will be over, not even in an "educated guess" way; there are too many variables. But we try anyway, and we all have opinions about when it'll be over and we'll go back to "normal," which seems unwise in getting our hopes up. Not to worry, though, because psychiatrists say it's okay to keep moving the goalposts in cases like this. It helps us cope. Remember when Trump said it would be over by Easter? And you thought, nah, but by July 4th, sure? And then it was Labor Day? And now you're hoping for Christmas? You know what? Whatever gets you through the pandemic. And anyone who tells you you're right OR wrong is guessing, too. (CTV News)

Dunkin's publicity stunt of a ghost pepper donut for Halloween season? Yeah, whatever, but it's one way to bring up the curious phenomenon of teen boys and how they'll eat anything outrageous. Nobody could possibly think a strawberry donut with cayenne and ghost pepper will taste good. But teen guys, and here I disclose that I, too, was a teenage boy once and therefore know about which I speak, crave attention, so they go for the most extreme food and drink, or at least what they THINK is most extreme. Guys, what was the most outlandish thing YOU ate when you were that age? (Scripps Media via WFTS-TV/Tampa)

Once again, for all the kids in the back of the room who didn't hear them the first zillion times, here's another set of things you need to know about using public restrooms in the pandemic. It's all common-sense: You want to spend as little time as possible in there, wear a mask, don't breathe in too much (that might be a tad difficult), wash your hands well (and carry hand sanitizer as a backup), and... did I say wash your hands? Wash your hands. And you're probably okay if you don't spend too much time in there with other people, and let's not even think about that right now. Just do your business, wash your hands, and get out. (Washington Post)

Travel's down in general, of course, but especially hard hit by the pandemic are the city vacations, for what should be obvious reasons: crowds, closed attractions, public transportation fears. If you're going to get away, going someplace rural seems to make more sense. When will you feel safe enough to go to a big city again? (CNN)

You don't want to fly yet, right? But the airlines are trying to get you back in the habit, and one way they're doing it is to offer incredible deals if you use your frequent-flyer miles. Free flights may never require fewer miles. If you're a frequent flyer or have a bunch saved up, is this enough to get you back in the air? Or is it still way too early for that? (Wall Street Journal)

I didn't think they were ever cool, but Crocs are having a moment now, with Justin Bieber and Post Malone among the clown shoes' adherents. Sales are way up and people are adorning them with stuff and designers are coming up with special editions and, oh, yeah, the pandemic, in which the shoes have gotten more exposure since frontline healthcare workers wear 'em. Also, they're comfortable, so there's that. (The Guardian)

Police found an explosives-filled pumpkin behind a tractor supply store in Starke, Florida (pronounce that STAR-kee), right below power lines, and they don't know whether this was a terrorist act or something bored teens would do. Fear the former but the latter is so common -- teens love to blow stuff up -- that it's a coin flip. You blew stuff up as a kid, didn't you? What did you blow up? Because pumpkins, well, they were made for blowin' up. And smashing, of course. (WJAX-TV-WFOX-TV/Jacksonville)

Sonny Bunch has been making the argument that what might kill off movie theaters is purely unwarranted fear, that our concern about catching the 'Rona in a theater is greater than the statistics show the chances of bad things happening there to be. And you could debate that on your show, but I'll add something Sonny leaves out: It's also financial. Ticket prices have gone up so much and other, less expensive options are so plentiful (and the REAL economy, not the Dow Jones, is so bad), that it'll take something way more blockbustery than "Tenet" or Robert De Niro doing his comic-old-guy routine -- think Marvel or DC -- to get people back, and it'll probably be sometime in 2021 or 2022 before that happens. In the meantime, it's not just fear of the virus that's keeping people away, it's also money and lack of a compelling reason to go. (Washington Post)

By now, a lot of people expected to be back to relative normal, but many companies are now delaying the return to the office again, as long as next summer. The pandemic hasn't gone away and isn't looking like it will for a while. Ask your listeners who are working from home if their companies are putting this on hold, and how they feel about it. Some are going to be frustrated, but more may be just fine with sticking to the home office. (New York Times)

How bad is it in Vegas? The Wynn and Encore, high-end casino resorts, are cutting back to weekends only due to "low demand." And that raises the topic, again, of reopening before the public is really ready for it. Vegas reopened at a time when the attitude was "if you open, they will come." They didn't come. Surely, there are people for whom the casino experience is worth the risk, but for most people, there's no particular rush. (KLAS-TV/Las Vegas)

Another example of how the world is different if you have money: There's a shortage of tutors because wealthy parents are paying a lot of money -- like, $100/hour -- to help their kids. You're not that wealthy? You're on your own. Is the education gap between the rich and the middle class and poor about to become even more massive? (Los Angeles Times)

It may not seem like it since people are so... you know... well, it may not seem like it, but humans are still evolving. That's the conclusion reached by Australian researchers who have discovered that an increasing number of adults have an extra artery in their arms, including one that used to disappear in the eighth week of gestation while two other arteries develop. 35% of people have three arteries in the arm. That's up from 10% in the 1880s. Imagine how different we'll be in another couple hundred years. (CTV News)

The specifics may not fit you -- it's a column by a travel writer grounded by the pandemic -- but the concept is more universal: What do you do when the job you do, the only job you know, has been put on hold by circumstances you'd never foreseen? A travel writer never imagines she would suddenly be unable to travel to most places, or that the entire travel industry would be on hold. People who work in movie theaters -- people who work on movies, even! -- didn't see this coming. Restaurant owners. Hair stylists. What do you do when the world suddenly cuts you off from everything you do to make a living? (Washington Post)

Dentists say that there's been a surge in teeth grinding during the pandemic. This should be obvious. And just when people are afraid to go to the dentist even more than usual. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Top Ramen is doing a publicity stunt in which it's looking to "hire" a Chief Noodle Officer, with a $10,000 "salary" and 50 years' worth of ramen. That's a lot of sodium. Of what food would you want to win a lifetime supply? Because ramen ain't it. (Sinclair Broadcast Group via WJLA-TV/Washington)

The police in Wareham, Massachusetts want people to stop calling them to report a giant sunfish in a cove, because, the cops say, they've checked and the sunfish is just doing "normal sunfish activities." No suffering, no trouble, just swimmin'. But are people supposed to know that? How can you tell if the fish is trapped or in pain? I mean, I wouldn't even know it was a sunfish. (WBTS-CD/Boston)

One family in Riverside goes all-out to decorate their house for Halloween, using a "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme and fake fire on the side of the house that's so realistic that people driving by have a tendency to call the fire department to report it. This story is here as a possible prompt to talk about whether you're going to decorate for Halloween this year, considering how trick-or-treating might be a no go, or whether you're going to skip it. (KABC-TV/Los Angeles)

Here we go again, people increasingly beginning to hoard supplies and food again in preparation for another lockdown. Just over half the respondents in a recent survey said they're stocking up on TP and essentials. You? (USA Today)

Tuesday is new iPhone day. Question is, are you as excited/ready to buy as you used to be? I wonder. I used to buy the new ones every two years like clockwork, but I stopped with the 7 Plus and haven't felt like I needed to upgrade. Will 5G do the trick? Or will people like me (and you, maybe) hold out until our trusty old phones finally fail? (CNN)

Do you believe in curses? Because one Canadian woman does. She has returned five artifacts she stole from Pompeii because she blames them for cursing her, given that she's had two occurrences of breast cancer and a run of financial trouble since she stole the shards of a vase and ceramic wall 15 years ago. She's not alone; they say a lot of people take pieces from Pompeii and later send them back, claiming that they've been jinxed. But you don't need to believe in curses to know that you shouldn't steal stuff, period. (CNN)

Another effect of the pandemic you might not have considered, courtesy of the New York Times' Kurt Streeter: It might badly hurt youth sports for years to come. Think about it: If kids can't play team sports or, really, any sports right now, will we be developing the next generation of players? And, yeah, it matters, not just to sports as a business but to physical and mental health and culture. (New York Times)

Here's something I wish I knew when our cat was still with us: Turns out that, according to Science!, you can communicate better with your cat by blinking slowly and narrowing your eyes. Apparently, cats like that and will blink back. Try it with your cat. (Scripps Media via WFTS-TV/Tampa)

An armed robber tried to hold up a donut shop. The shop had no cash. The gunman ran. In 2020, you can assume that small shops probably have no money, right? (KCBS-TV/Los Angeles)

Reopened after several months of COVID-19 closure: the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, which is a ride in the sky up a mountain to a scenic overlook, $27 bucks a person round trip plus parking, and you're in a little bubble suspended above the side of the mountain with a bunch of strangers. Yes, they're doing the usual temperature check, masks, and social distancing, and they'll keep the windows open, but, still, it's a small enclosed area with strangers. Would you be comfortable with that? Is the scenery worth the risk? (Desert Sun, Palm Springs)

One weird thing about the anti-maskers is the tendency to equate wearing a mask with weakness and, more specifically, a deficit of masculinity. They think there's something less than manly about wanting to protect yourself and others. The president has played into this. But you can't beat the virus by acting like a stereotypical "tough guy" or "manly man." Besides the inherent misogyny of equating mask wearing with femininity, it's also deeply stupid. (New York Times)

As the philosopher Dr. Steve Brule once said, the most important thing to know about going on a boat is "stay on the boat." (Or "broat.") This rule escaped a trio of guys doing a photo shoot on the water in Florida; they fell off and the boat took off at high speed without them, going in circles while the three had to dodge getting hit by the boat. The video is quite something, with the boat speeding in circles and then flying across one pier before running aground. I wonder if they got the photos they wanted. (WPTV/West Palm Beach)

It is not just that this woman went into labor and gave birth in the middle of taking the Illinois bar exam, it's that she was able, after giving birth, to go back and finish the test in the hospital. (This happened ot due to her poor planning, but because the exam was delayed due to the pandemic. Not her fault.) Trust me, I've taken two bar exams and the idea of ANYTHING interrupting the process is mind-boggling. (Okay, New Jersey's wasn't too bad, but still.) Too early to tell if she passed, but under the circumstances, the bar association ought to just give her a pass no matter what. (CNN)

A bear went to a Wawa and the New York Red Bulls' soccer stadium in New Jersey, and later was seen at a Hampton Inn directly across the river from downtown Newark. That's not a joke setup. The weird thing is, that area is not near wilderness unless you count the Meadowlands swamps. It's highly developed and industrialized. Once again, wildlife is encroaching in unexpected areas. Think this is related to the pandemic? Climate change? End times? (NJ Advance Media/NJ.com)

This column about one writer's experience is a reminder that November is National Novel Writing Month -- NaNoWriMo -- and that means, once again, a lot of people who have always wanted to write the Great American Novel will give it a shot, pounding through the task of writing something -- anything -- every day to at least say you've finished a novel. So many people, maybe MOST people, are wannabe novelists; maybe you can ask listeners if they think they have a book in them, and if they think so, what it's about. (San Bernardino Sun)

A Singapore company is making lab-grown shrimp meat, reproduced from shrimp cells. They're planning to do crab and lobster, too. If you know that your shrimp or crab or any other seafood or meat was recreated in a lab and not from the real deal, are you going to eat it? Do you trust it? Is it better to you that you're eating meat that isn't from a living being that died for your lunch? (Los Angeles Times)

If you are one of the people downplaying the virus, this is what you're downplaying along with the actual deaths: survivors report a serious case of brain fog, preventing them from being able to function normally. They forget things that just happened, they can't focus, they can't do their jobs. The death rate is not the only public health emergency coming out of this virus. You can't downplay this. (New York Times)

The Athletic is doing a series on "What If" situations, this one being an oral history imagining what would have happened if, instead of the game ending with Ryan Howard crumpled with an Achilles injury on the first base line, the Phillies had won Game 5 of the NLDS. As a Phillies fan, the details are interesting to me -- coulda won the whole thing, and maybe it would have changed the team's subsequent downward spiral. But for most of you who aren't Phillies fans, the topic is "what if" for YOUR team: What if a pivotal moment in your local team's history, from a particular playoff game to a critical injury to an ill-fated trade -- never happened? How would it have changed everything? (The Athletic)

Airlines REALLY want you back. One way they hope to do it is to have COVID-19 testing before flights to help you avoid quarantining when you get where you're going. Naturally, because they're airlines, you'll have to pay. But would you pay $150 or $250 for a rapid test if it means you can fly and not shelter for 14 days when you get there? And how will you be sure that you won't get it on the flight? (Wall Street Journal)

Only 11% of borrowers are still paying their student loans during the pandemic, the data indicates. That's... not good. And the question again is whether those loans should be forgiven, because if it was hard to pay them off before, it's going to be nearly impossible now. (CNBC)

Due to a genetic quirk, some people are immune to the smell of fish. When you smell, um, fish, they smell caramel, potato, or rose. It's very rare but especially prevalent in Iceland. It's like a weird superpower, this article notes, which might lead you to think about other weird superpowers, like, I don't know, tasting chocolate when eating liver, or hearing anything else when everyone else is hearing... oh, insert your own least favorite band here. It's too cheap a shot for me. (New York Times)

It wouldn't be noticed much that a guy fell off a cliff in Arizona and died while taking pictures, except for one twist: When they went to recover his body, they found someone else's remains. Someone else must have fallen off that same cliff but nobody knew it until now. I'm gonna just say that maybe taking pictures from cliff edges is a bad idea. (CNN)

Have you had your pandemic meltdown yet? It's a thing and they say most of us will have at least one; you have to release your pent-up emotions, you know. So, have you had your tantrum yet? Did you punch a wall? Break things? You didn't hit anyone, did you? Please don't do that. Punch a pillow or something, but don't turn your meltdown at someone else. (Wall Street Journal)

Almost missed this story about someone going into a Meijer store (Midwest chain of Target-style discount stores, pronounced "Meyer"), pooping in a box, sealing it up, and putting it back on the shelf. Honestly, I'm not sure what you can do with this one, but I thought you'd want to know. Maybe inspect the next package you pick up at the store. (Detroit Free Press)

The thing about reopening is that it doesn't always take into account whether people WANT to go back to normal. And so we have this article about live theaters reopening in Florida in which they basically say nobody's coming to shows even though it's been allowed by the state, and that's the same with movie theaters (and why Regal just re-closed): who is so eager to see a play that they'll take a risk with their life to do it? We're not ready for that. (WPTV/West Palm Beach)

Take it with a grain -- no, a POUND of salt that a study claims men with deeper voices are more likely to cheat on their partners. The study also showed that women are attracted more to deeper, more masculine voices. Hey, those of you of the male radio personality persuasion: You have deep voices. You cheat? (New York Post)

Here's a Stanford professor proclaiming that remote working is a "productivity disaster" and will exacerbate inequality, kill innovation, create waves of depression, and lead to all kinds of other calamity. So it's fair to say he's against it. What's your experience been? Because I've been working from home for decades and I honestly feel like I'm more productive by a wide margin because of it, though I might feel differently if I had to deal with kids being home, too. (CNBC)

When the history of this year is written, the whole mask controversy is going to make many people look insane, like whoever was told by a server at a restaurant in my old neighborhood to wear a mask and stiffed her on a tip, instead writing "MASK" on the receipt. Really? You can't wear a mask? You can't protect others for even a short time? You'd stiff someone who is literally risking their health to serve you, for that? What is wrong with people? (WCAU-TV/Philadelphia)

A New Jersey flooring store is following up on that guy who created his own "candy chute" to hand out candy on Halloween at a distance; they're giving away free cardboard chutes for that purpose, and... okay, is it just me? Because I think maybe they shouldn't be encouraging trick-or-treating at all. I mean, WE'RE IN A PANDEMIC. We can't take one year off from that? Really? (NJ Advance Media/NJ.com)