A miscellaneous list of links for Election Day diversions. All inappropriately long to keep you from what you really want to be paying attention to:

• The history of balloons. From animal bladders to foil and everything in between (and inside).
• The Atlantic’s Corby Kummer on saving the American Chestnut (The American Chestnut Foundation)
• Whiff a short piece by John McPhee from Nov 2003: “William Shawn, this magazine’s editor absolute for a great many years, used to tell his nonfiction writers that the world’s worst subject was the future. Hard to tie down, the future could too easily come loose and take off on unexpected vectors.”
• America’s First Transcontinental Highway: “The Lincoln Highway began in Times Square, Broadway and 42nd, New York City, and ended in Lincoln Park, San Francisco, spanning the continental United States in 3,389 miles.” (more about the Lincoln Highway)
• Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night is out on DVD again in a special 10th anniversary addition. I mention this mostly to say (shhhhhhhh) every episode of the show is on YouTube right now… just search (shhhhh!!! do NOT pass this on and remember, once you find them, you may be stranded there for hours).

And please, if you can, vote.

As liquidation sales entice bargain hunters into “all sales final” deals, the S.F. Chronicle clues shoppers into what is really going on behind the scenes. Don’t forget, liquidators are there to get as much money as they can for the creditors. Sometimes liquidators even bring in merchandise that wasn’t even sold at the store, presumably to make the inventory look better. Prices aren’t all that amazing at the beginning of the liquidation and, of course, the selection gets worse as they go down to true bargain territory. Shop around and don’t make quick decisions, especially considering the inability to make returns.

Berkeley Breathed has sent Opus off to a warm and loving nap spot. Clement Hurd, the illustrator of Goodnight Moon, owed his career in children’s books to Margaret Wise Brown, the author of that same bedtime classic. Brown wrote a book, Bumble Bugs and Elephants, in 1938 specifically to showcase Hurd’s talents. Their subsequent collaborations on The Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon anchored their place of honor in childrens’ libraries. Years after his death in 1988, Clement Hurd made news again in 2005 when HarperCollins decided to remove the cigarette from his photo on Goodnight Moon. His estate agreed to the alteration (Hurd quit smoking in the 1950s) but some purists were not amused.

I’m oddly fascinated by this Norma Kamali dress decorated with The New York Times logo. (Christie’s listing)

Thirty years ago, Connecticut passed the Farm Winery Act allowing wineries to sell wine and hold tastings. The Hopkins family in the town of Warren liquidated their dairy equipment and 250 cows and started planting grapes. Their ancestor Stephen Hopkins came over on the Mayflower and the farmland has been in the family since 1787. Other nearby farmland has also turned to vineyards. Connecticut has a tally of at least 19 wineries in the state.

My go-to chocolate dessert recipes from Epicurious: Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake and Flourless Chocolate Cake (I haven’t made the caramel sauce yet, just serve with whipped cream or ice cream — or both). Both work well with the Trader Joe’s 72% Dark Chocolate bars (with math or a scale to calculate the amounts). No complicated techniques involved, just melting and mixing, and both give me an excuse to take out my handy springform pan.

Bellevue police chasing a suspect were aided by construction workers and a crane operator who radioed down instructions. With numerous cranes still up (I stopped trying to count), no fugitive is safe downtown during building hours. Perhaps the real estate slowdown will help.

I’m very late to the a-ha moments here, but I finally looked up all 3 Mad Men actors who have been bugging me with their familiarity. Elisabeth Moss (Peggy) I figured out early on as being Bartlet’s daughter, Zoey, from West Wing. The other two I kicked myself for not remembering. Vincent Kartheiser (Pete) was Connor, Angel’s son. Christina Hendricks (Joan) was on Firefly as the elusive and oft-married con-artist “Saffron.”

Researchers at the Carnegie Institution have been successfully creating large diamonds using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for a few years now. Now they’ve announced a new technique for improving the color and clarity of their diamonds. A special annealing process turns the yellow-brown created stones colorless and pink. The large size and transparency resulting from these methods will enable the creation of diamonds for high-pressure situation and optical applications. They also mention the possibility of using these diamonds in the future as storage devices for quantum computing.

Last month in Lancaster, California, a road was grooved for a Honda commercial. A Civic driving over the road at 55mph would hear the iconic part of the William Tell Overture (known to many as the Lone Ranger theme). After noise complaints from residents, the city paved over the road. But they decided to groove a different street in an industrial area with the tune. They’re hoping it will be a tourist attraction. Here’s Honda’s playlist of videos with a look behind the scenes and the actual commercial. (There are also several homemade YouTube videos demonstrating the original road, but only a few with a Honda Civic which produces the best pitch. Here’s the best one of the lot.)