We've all been there. You hear the pitter patter of your kids unexpectedly approaching and you urgently reach for the remote to change the channel to after-hours Cinemax, a Game of Thrones brothel scene, the final shootout in Taxi Driver, Ving Rhames bound and ball-gagged in Pulp Fiction... anything to avoid being walked-in on while you're watching coverage of the election, or worse, a heavy-breathing scene from one of the presidential debates. But sooner or later you get caught. And you're forced to have one of those dreaded parent-child conversations. "Remember when we talked about the birds and bees? Well, tonight we're gonna talk about the election..." It could be worse. You could be tasked with teaching a social studies class in 2016. From WaPo: Teachers struggle with a presidential campaign full of vitriol, adult themes. The geography teachers have it the best. The most uncomfortable election-related question they get is, "Which way is Canada?"

+ NYT: "Maybe it's the talk of fat shaming, or adultery, or sexual assault, or bans on Muslims and walls to keep out Mexicans. But Brent Wathke is having a rough time teaching this presidential campaign to his seventh graders."

+ During this election, you have to pick and choose moments to use for educational purposes. For example, last night in an interview with Anderson Cooper, Melania Trump explained that as First Lady she'd like to focus on helping people counter the damaging effects of social media: "We need to guide them and teach them about social media because I see a lot of negativity on it." Most Americans don't know the meaning of irony, so this is definitely a teachable moment.

+ The coverage is trashy, and we're eating it up. I admit that, for me, the presidential race has become an obsession. Sometimes, I seriously can't remember what I thought about before I started thinking about this election. At least I finally came to terms with something. And I'd like to share it with you with this post: Yes, the media is biased. They're biased in favor of stories that they can easily understand and that you'll be likely to follow.

OK, we're gonna go way off-message with this election-related news. Courtesy of NPR: From The Economy To Race, See Where The Candidates Stand On The Big Issues. (And bonus: There are charts!)

Fred Kaplan in Slate: "The main question isn't whether ISIS will lose. Rather, it's who will win. Many factions are involved in this assault: the Iraqi army and police, the Kurdish peshmerga, Sunni militias, Iranian-backed Shiite militias, the Turkish army ... and the United States in the form of special forces, airstrikes, and intelligence operations. Most combat coalitions share at least basic strategic interests; that is not the case with this motley crew."

+ Another factor to consider: If ISIS falls in Mosul, the EU "should prepare for returning jihadists."

+ WaPo: Four maps that explain the chaos of the Middle East.

"When [someone] suddenly strikes it rich, the impact is profound on every part of their life. It can become a painful psychological experience for some people." From BBC: Loneliness often follows sudden wealth. (That said, this state probably beats broke loneliness...)

"Residents say there have been no relocations to hotels or rented homes. No transfers to schools out of harm's way. No U.S. Cabinet members swooping in to investigate. No national media hordes." What happens when a noxious stench is released into the environment and starts causing "nausea, nosebleeds and vomiting?" Well, that depends where you live. The LA Times with a modern twist on a tale of two cities.

"I'm seeing a lot of paramilitary groups recruiting on the basis of a likely Hillary Clinton win." From The Guardian: Extremist militias recruiting in fear of Clinton winning election.

+ Bloomberg: This Las Vegas gun store is banking on a Clinton victory.

"The whole man-cave concept is shunned ... because the idea is that your wife gives you permission to make one room in the house -- the basement -- your own. It's condescending. The man cave makes a mockery out of itself." In Narratively, C. Brian Smith introduces us to a band of "men going their own way." Why do these straight men want nothing to do with women? (The smart money says the feeling is mutual.)

"I just got tired of shaving every day, but then it became something else, and I'm not quite sure what it became. The beard is a good reminder to me that that was a different life. I'm hopeful that I will either find something else, or something else will be presented to me." From the NYT: David Letterman (and His Beard) Shop at Target These Days.

For the last few years, Apple has been fortunate that the Android phone situation was a bit of a complicated mess compared to the well-oiled iPhone ecosystem. Google is planning to change that as they bring the hardware in-house. Will it work? The early reviews of the Pixel are quite good. (Full disclosure: My cat's name is Pixel.)

A quick question: If the algorithms are so powerful that they know everything about you, then why do you keep getting junk mail even after you die?

+ During times like these, comedy helps. And so do photos of animals. As a master curator and editor of the Internet, I present you with both.

+ Wanted: Exorcists.