“In a rare public accounting of its mass surveillance program, the United States Postal Service reported that it approved nearly 50,000 requests last year from law enforcement agencies and its own internal inspection unit to secretly monitor the mail of Americans for use in criminal and national security investigations. The number of requests, contained in a little-noticed 2014 audit of the surveillance program by the Postal Service’s inspector general, shows that the surveillance program is more extensive than previously disclosed and that oversight protecting Americans from potential abuses is lax.” [NYT]
“Targets included NATO, governments of Russia’s neighbors, and U.S. defense contractors Science Applications International Corp. and Academi LLC, the U.S. security firm previously known as Blackwater ... China, the object of recent U.S. allegations of cyberspying, may hack more often, U.S. officials and researchers say. But Russia hacks better. [WSJ]
“Because of the limited time they can spend in the sick wards in their stifling protective suits, the risks of certain procedures and even the amount of medicines available, health workers [in Liberia] and elsewhere in West Africa ration care, operating under constraints they often find frustrating.” And contact tracing in Liberian slums is near impossible as mass fear of quarantine and treatment hampers any separation of the sick from the healthy. [NYT]
“The BP oil spill left an oily ‘bathub ring’ on the sea floor that's about the size of Rhode Island, new research shows. The study by David Valentine, the chief scientist on the federal damage assessment research ships, estimates that about 10 million gallons of oil coagulated on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico around the damaged Deepwater Horizons oil rig.” [AP]
Props, cell phones, and socialists brought some great moments to this year’s round of debates. [HuffPost]
“Election Day 2014 is almost here, and the tool [here], created by The Pew Charitable Trusts in partnership with Google, can help you figure out where to cast your vote. The tool uses official state data and does not require users to submit any personally identifiable information.” [HuffPost]
WHAT’S BREWING
“A growing anti-vaccination movement, coupled with ongoing difficulties in reaching underserved populations, is taking a global toll on efforts to eradicate infectious diseases, new data from the Council on Foreign Relations suggests. Polio, measles, mumps, rubella and whooping cough are all preventable with safe, low-cost vaccines. Yet the council’s Vaccine-Preventable Outbreaks Map shows hundreds of thousands of cases of those diseases worldwide from 2006 to the present day.” [HuffPost]
Wipes sold at Sam’s Club, Walgreens, Family Dollar, and other retailers are being recalled for bacterial contamination. [CBS]
And now the internet with explode. [Variety]
It was only a matter of time. [Vulture]
“Eventually, we would arrive for holidays at Grandma’s with groceries and takeout, and she’d seem relieved that we wouldn’t let her touch our plates. By then, her eyesight was starting to go, so she wouldn’t notice the layer of crystalline powder atop that fancy lox she was giving you.
So the question became: How did we explain to guests, outsiders, that they shouldn’t eat grandma’s food?” [Vice]
Could be the new normal in ten years. [Buzzfeed]
Salmon and avocado for days. [HuffPost]
And no one is surprised. [New York Magazine]
ON THE BLOG
“At HuffPost Morocco we'll be telling the stories that matter most and -- just as important -- helping people throughout Morocco tell their stories themselves, in words, in pictures and in video. We'll be covering topics including corruption, political tensions between Morocco and Algeria, social and religious questions like abortion and public health issues like the threat of Ebola. HuffPost Morocco will also be a place to discuss and celebrate Morocco's unique traditions and culture -- everything from sports and entertainment to technology and parenting.” [HuffPost]
BEFORE YOU GO
~ Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Martin are no more. Cue all the sad Coldplay songs.
~ A genius attached a GoPro to a bottle of Fireball at a wedding.
~ Hugh Jackman was treated for skin cancer for the third time.
~ T-Swift pals around with the Knicks now.
~ Walmart, don’t market plus size Halloween costumes as “fat girl costumes.”
~ Rob Ford will be mayor no more.
~ LeBron James welcomed a baby girl with his wife, Savannah.
~ New Zealand pulled out the Middle Earth starpower for their air safety announcements.
~ And here’s Westeros as George R. R. Martin envisioned it.
Send tips/quips/quotes/stories/photos/events/scoops to Lauren Weber at lauren.weber@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter @LaurenWeberHP. And like what you're reading? Sign up here to get The Morning Email delivered to you.