Before NIMBY, a few notes: The debate yesterday between JD Vance and Tim Walz was a TIE .  CNN showed that Walz's favorability rating went from 46% to 59%, while Vance's improved from 30% to 41%. Recent Veep debates have been mixed. Here is a  list of the three best and worst Veep partners in recent history .  The absolutely worst was probably Sarah Palin in 2008.   GOP nominee John McCain wanted to pick his longtime colleague Senator Joe Lieberman, but instead impulsively chose little-known Palin, who became a Saturday Night Live hit.   One reason is that Tina Fey played such a terrific Sarah Palin . Worse, Palin gave a series of disastrous interviews. About her debate against Joe Biden, she lost, but kind of redeemed herself for her "folksy grit."   Some reviewers went so far as calling it a draw.   This is something you don't want to do, but if you are a masochist,  watch the entire 1.5 hour debate .  In 2008, Biden already looked sort of old, and you got to wo

Today, a little bit of everything, beginning with the  return plans for our stranded astronauts .  I've had  several postings on their plight,  and at one time their rescue would not be until February of next year. SpaceX launched NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, their 4-seat Crew-9 capsule docked with the International Space Station yesterday.  I guess the USA and Russia are still cooperating on something. But, whoops, there will be no early return. NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have been stuck on the ISS since June 6. The four will return to Earth in February. The death toll from  Hurricane Helene  is now up to 119, and will continue to grow, for there are 600 or more still unaccounted.  Most of those killed, 73, are from the Carolinas ( 46 in North Carolina, where as much as 30.78 inches of rain fell ), 25 in Georgia and 13 in Florida.  Several million are still without power.  At this point the total damage estimate has ris