Since Canadians can't vote in today's election, they are doing the next best thing -eating cookies! Queen of Tarts in Toronto is offering Obama, McCain, and Palin cookies. The Palin cookies have been the top seller since September. BlogTo has a rundown of other election happenings, result gatherings, and celebrations around Toronto. Link -Thanks, Jerrold!

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4-year-old Truett knows how important it is for all US citizens to go cast their vote today. Now, out the door! -via Millard Fillmore's Bathtub

If the TV show The West Wing was the real world, Josiah Bartlett would be marking the tenth anniversary of his presidential election today. Today's mental_floss quiz tests how well you remember about his fictitious presidency. Don't be afraid to try; I scored 40% and I've never seen the show. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/19828

Slobs of Gaming collected video game costumes from all over and posted the best on one page. These folks are serious about their cosplay! I had a hard time picking just one for illustration. Pictured is Devil Jin from the game Tekken. http://www.slobsofgaming.com/article/104754/31-amazing-video-game-costumes/ -Thanks, Geekazoid!

In a world where anything can happen… comes a ’Christmas card’ so
terrifying, so awesome, so joyful and triumphant only one man can help.

“We are going to need a bigger tree!”

Yes, it's early, but you don't want these to sell out before you get yours. Reece Ward designed the Claus Christmas card to tickle anyone who receives one. Link -Thanks, Reece!

Have you ever wondered how they make maple syrup? Jack Schmidling shows you how the sap is collected and processed, with photos. What surprised me is how clear the sap is straight from the tree! Link -via Grow-A-Brain

I took a bunch of kids to an antique store over the weekend, and one asked me about a box she found. I explained it was a safety razor. She remarked that it didn't look too safe. No, I replied, but it was a lot safer than the blades they used before that! This post traces the various patents that led to the relatively modern safety razor, beginning in 1762. http://www.razorandbrush.com/perkam.html -via the Presurfer

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Short and sweet. -via Arbroath

This list of the most expensive accidents in history starts out with the sinking of the Titanic at #10. If you think a bit, you can probably guess some of the entries before you check out the rest. Dollar amounts are expressed in current values. Wars and natural disasters are not included, and loss of life is not factored in the expense. Link -via Dark Roasted Blend

DarylIF of the forum MiceChat built a huge display of Disneyland scenes made of Lego bricks! Go see pictures of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, Its A Small World, Main Street, Splash Mountain, and more. Link -via Unique Daily

A chicken raised at a high school in Japan laid a giant egg. Inside was another egg!

The huge egg, which was 8.1 centimeters high and weighed 158 grams, was laid at the Yokaichi Minami High School in the city of Higashiomi in late October. The egg was scheduled to be displayed after grabbing headlines in local and national newspapers.

But school teachers decided on Friday to remove the shell by using a scalpel and tweezers after finding a crack. They later discovered another medium-sized egg inside the giant egg as the yolk and the white portion spurted out.

There are now plans to break the second egg to see what's inside. http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/second-egg-emerges-from-giant-chicken-egg-found-at-japan-high-school -Thanks, Geekazoid!

These huge fishing contraptions are called Cheena Vala, or Chinese fishing nets. Made of 30-foot bamboo poles, they came into use in India somewhere around 1350 to 1450 AD. Deputy dog takes a closer look at these marvels of engineering, with videos of the nets in action. http://deputy-dog.com/2008/10/indias-ingenious-fishing-contraptions.html

(image credit: ezee 123 aka Anoop Negi)

All road signs in Wales must have text in both English and Welsh. Sometimes they don't exactly agree. Swansea Council emailed a request for a Welsh translation for this sign. The reply came back in Welsh, and was duly printed. The problem is that the Welsh version says (in English),

"I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated".

The sign has been removed, but quite a few photographs were already taken and sent to the Welsh language magazine Golwg, which has a series of such unfortunate translations. Link -via Digg

Splitter is a flash game based on simple physics. Your object is to get the smiley face to the brown spot by cutting through wood or strings, then letting gravity take its natural path. I got to level 11 before I decided I'd better stop and post this. Link -Thanks, David!

Elke Wisbey of Bearsted, Kent, England was born with brain damage. Now 6, she has never been able to walk, feed herself, or even communicate with her family -until now. A £17,000 MyTobii Smartbox machine tracks her eye movements with lasers and sends messages to a programmed voice that speaks for her. Elke took only a few days to learn how to use the machine, faster than her family members. Her parents noticed she was constantly looking at the "I love you" symbol.

Mrs. Wisbey, 43, who also has a son, Galahad, aged nine, said: 'I thought it was stuck and then I realised what she was saying.

'She was looking at the "I love you" icon and I couldn't believe it, she kept doing it.

'I said to Elke "are you telling Daddy you love him?" and she pointed at the icon "yes".

'It really choked me up, made me really emotional. I'm still emotional when I think about it.

'It was quite emotional. It is mind-blowing really. We have gone from somebody not being able to communicate to this.

'We didn't think Elke would ever be able to tell us how she was feeling, and now she can. This will be amazing for us, absolutely phenomenal.'

Readers of a local newspaper raised money to buy the specially-adapted machine for the family from Bearsted, Kent.

Elke has learned a number of words and phrases and can also use the machine to play games. Link -via Digg