"Why did car dealers and furniture salesmen always have to scream?  He was convinced that the mute switch on TV remote controls had been invented because of car dealers and furniture salesmen."  Official Privilege, a novel by P. T. Deutermann 

Peter T. "P.T." Deutermann (born 1941) is an American writer of mystery, police procedural and thriller novels.  Deutermann served in the United States Navy for 26 years, earning 19 medals and decorations and retiring with the rank of captain.  He served as the commander of the USS Tattnall between 1981 and 1983.  He also served on the USS Morton, USS Hull, USS Jouett and USS Charles F. Adams, while also serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.  After retiring from active duty, Deutermann moved to Georgia to work on his writing career.  He published his first novel, entitled Scorpion in the Sea, in 1992 through the George Mason University Press.  The book landed him an agent, and then a contract with St. Martin's Press in 1993.  Three of his later books have been optioned for feature film development.  In 2012, he was named the recipient of the W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction by the American Library Association for his novel Pacific Glory.  Find bibliography at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._T._Deutermann

Studies support concept that frequently repeating a lie creates “the illusion of truth”  Quartz:  “The techniques of propagandists work for good reason. Studies show https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256486791_Credibility_of_repeated_statements_Memory_for_trivia that the more often we hear a statement, the more likely we are to believe it is true—regardless of the underlying facts.  Tom Stafford, a professor of psychology and cognitive science at the University of Sheffield and author of For argument’s sake: Evidence that reason can change minds, wrote in the BBC that the “illusion of truth” is created from frequently hearing a statement repeated.  Stafford points to a 2015 Vanderbilt University study https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/xge-0000098.pdf showing that this illusion works even when the person hearing the statement is aware of a contradictory fact.”  “Any universe where truth gets repeated more often than lies, even if only 51% vs 49% will be one where this is a quick and dirty rule for judging facts” http://www.bespacific.com/studies-support-concept-that-frequently-repeating-a-lie-creates-the-illusion-of-truth/

August 31, 2016  Massachusetts is launching a study into permanently changing its time zone to Atlantic Standard Time, leaving DST behind at the same time.  A bill establishing a panel who will study the effects of permanently setting the clocks forward 1 hour in Massachusetts has passed in State Legislature.  The bill proposes a shift from Eastern Standard Time (EST) to permanent Atlantic Standard Time (AST), abolishing Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the process.  The idea is that changing to AST will provide 1 hour of additional sunlight on dark winter evenings.  Sunsets in Boston are as early as 16:12 (4:12 pm) in December.  Governor Charlie Baker signed the bill on August 10, 2016.  The study of how a possible time zone shift would impact the regional economy, education, public health, transportation, and energy consumption, is to be completed by July 31, 2017.  Bills to change time zones, or remove DST, are common in American State Legislature.  Recently, a bill proposing to abolish DST was stopped in the California State Senate.  In Alaska, a proposal to change the time zone by 1 hour and remove DST permanently is advancing in the State Legislature.  Alaska and Hawaii follow their own time zones. Hawaii and most of Arizona do not use DST.

https://www.timeanddate.com/news/time/massachusetts-time-zone-change.html

Wisconsin voters who have already cast their ballot can change their vote as many as three times before Election Day, per Wisconsin law. Early voters in neighboring Minnesota can also change their early ballots.  While Michigan and Pennsylvania do not allow early voting, residents of those states who cast absentee ballots can change their votes if they vote in person on Election Day.  http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/01/politics/donald-trump-iowa-vote-switching/

Wright is an occupational surname originating in England.  The term 'Wright' comes from the circa 700 AD Old English word 'wryhta' or 'wyrhta', meaning worker or shaper of wood.  Wright is the sixteenth most common surname in England.  Its use as an occupational title continued until the mid-19th century.  This use was often combined with other words such as in shipwright, wheelwright, wainwright and playwright.  The word carpentier, now "carpenter", was introduced into England in the years after the Norman conquest of England in 1066 and it slowly replaced the traditional name and meaning of wright in most of England.  'Wright' is still used in Scottish English in the original meaning of 'skilled woodworker' and the Incorporation of Wrights of the Trades House of Glasgow and the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons of Edinburgh Trades retain the word in the original meaning in their role of promote the woodworking trade.  Wright is also an anglicised version of the Scots Gaelic clan name "MacIntyre" or "Mac an t-Saoir", meaning "son of the wright" (son of the carpenter).  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright

JOY IN CUB-DOM as Chicago Cubs win first World Series title since 1908   The skies opened up at Progressive Field November 2, 2016 after the ninth inning, while the Cubs and their fans were still reeling from the fact that with four outs to go, their three-run lead had disappeared.  The white tarps were unrolled over the infield and the teams retreated to their respective clubhouses.  A Cubs meeting during the rain delay was led by veteran Jason Heyward, who playing in his first World Series, did not want it to end with a seventh-game collapse.  Given how stunning Rajai Davis' tying homer in the eighth was, and how much it ignited the Indians' portion of the crowd at Progressive Field, things could have spiraled out of control.  But the Cubs didn't win their first 113 games--regular and postseason--by laying down at the feet of adversity.  "It's about the whole team," Heyward said.  "It's about everybody trying to get something done . . . we needed 114 wins, and I told them that everybody in this room, right now, was going to 114."  It was a win-one-for-the-Gipper speech that will resonate through Cubs history.  Bradford Doolittle  http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/42846/the-rain-delay-meeting-that-changed-cubs-history

Thanks to the Indians losing to the Cubs in the World Series, LeBron James won't have to plan out his outfit on December 2, 2016.  Since teams from Chicago and Cleveland were facing off in the World Series, James and his good friend Dwyane Wade made a bet where the loser would have to dress up in full uniform of the winning team for the first game between the Cavaliers and Bulls in the winning city.  James will now have to be decked out from head-to-toe in full Cubs gear when the Cavs travel to Chicago to take on the Bulls in early December.  Ananth Pandian  http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/cubs-win-world-series-which-means-lebron-james-has-to-pay-off-bet-to-d-wade/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1546  November 4, 2016  On this date in  1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his team found the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.  On this date in 1991, the Reagan Library, largest of the 13 federally operated presidential libraries, was dedicated.  Five United States Presidents gathered together in the same place:  Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan himself, and George H. W. Bush.   Six First Ladies also attended:  Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush.  Word of the Day  chad  noun  (uncountable)  Small pieces of paper punched out from the edges of continuous stationery, or from ballot papers, paper tape, punched cards, etc.  (countable)  One of these pieces of paper.