The verdict is in, and Mitt Romney gets the win. As we noted in a previous post, for all the attention they get presidential debates rarely have a significant impact on the election. But there's no denying that Romney had a big night and President Obama came up woefully short in the first of their three clashes. We've combed through the mountains of morning-after…

Leading off is this piece from factcheck.org, which nails both candidates for the many misleading statements they made in the course of their 90-minute exchange. As the editors put it, "We found exaggerations and false claims flying thick and fast..."

Over at Slate, David Weigel skewers the Obama team for their desperate efforts "in the big dumb swirl of a spin room" to re-frame the president's poor performance as a success.

The Washington Post offers a concise assessment in the aptly named "Six Reasons Mitt Romney Won the First Debate."

Finally, the editors of Bloomberg View have a smart take on what the win means for Romney and what he and Obama need to do in the days and weeks ahead. "As [Romney] basks in his victory this morning," they write, "he should also note how he won: by playing more to the center than to the right, appealing more to reason than to partisanship."

With 32 days until the election, the serious fun has just begun.

Regardless of whether or not last night's debate changed how you feel about the presidential candidates, watching their speaking styles closely may help you improve your own ability to influence and curry favor with others. That's the argument corporate consultant Mim Abbey puts forth in a recent Huffington Post blog post. She says the best candidates use what she calls “The… Read More >>

All it takes is the removal of one letter to make a movie title take on a whole new meaning. Examples? Delete the "k" from Kill Bill and you've got a story about food poisoning. Drop the "p" from Jurassic Park and you're left with one biblical dinosaur flick. Nix the "e" from Dawn of the Dead and boom: a tale of terrible fathers-in-law. Intrigued by this idea, the geniuses over at Remo…… Read More >>

Your smart phone is charged, your tweeting thumbs are rested, friends have been invited, and your kitchen is fully stocked with snacks and drinks for the first presidential debate, set to begin tonight at 9 p.m. EST. If you've been wracking your brain for a creative and fun way to engage your guests during tonight's discussion of the economy and domestic… Read More >>

I stopped by Martha Stewart's test kitchen the other day to check out her new show, "Martha Stewart's Cooking School." I was surprised to see a straightforward, no shortcuts, no fireworks approach to cooking—the "course schedule" is even based off the classic culinary school syllabus. Each episode is devoted to a single concept, like eggs, sauces, poaching, braising, and roasting… Read More >>

Next time you have a pile of work to get done, find some baby animals to "ooo and ahh" over first. That's right: viewing cute images, like baby animals, can increase concentration and productivity, according to a new Japanese study. In the study, "The Power of Kawaii" (kawaiimeans "cute" in Japanese), researchers at Hiroshima University found that people who looked at pictures… Read More >>

A new feature from the New York Times is either staggeringly brilliant or many, many steps too far: It purports to derive meaning from the simple hand gestures and physical tics on display when President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney speak. The media, it appears, will leave no stone unturned as we count down to Election Day. Some choice tidbits: • On Romney's "Tilt and Nod": "Mr. Romney often…• When Obama… Read More >>

You’re sitting at a bar when you ask the bartender for a Heineken. Your friend counters with a Sam Adams. With the election a month away, them's fighting words. That’s because, as The National Journal discovered, beer brand choice is just one more thing divided along political lines—along with, perhaps, craft breweries per capita. Heineken, Corona, Budweiser, and Stella Artois are… Read More >>

Heard the one about the 80-year-old parishioner who “restored” a 19th-century fresco, “Ecce Homo,” that was once the claim to fame of the Sanctuary of Mercy Church near Zaragoza, Spain? You know, the one about an unfortunate paint job on a Christ portrait by Elias Garcia Martinez that was characterized by a BBC Europe correspondent as “a crayon… Read More >>

The Grand Central Library window (left) says it best: This week, fight against censorship and enjoy your freedom to read what you want. If you think that banning books is something that happened only in the past—or in other countries—take a look. •Top 100 Banned or Challenged Books from 2000-2009: includes recent best-sellers like The Lovely Bones (#74), Snow Falling on Cedars (#33), and the Harry Potter series (#1). Here are the…. •Top…:… Read More >>