Cool toys: Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2008 include a retail DNA test, just in case you have some immediate paternity questions.

Mr. Hope’s hangmen caught: Two UK students were arrested for hanging an Obama effigy from a tree on campus. They said it was in response to the Palin mannequin hung from a balcony in West Hollywood.

She’s not ready: At least that’s what 59 percent of those surveyed say about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. It’s something more and more Republicans are willing to say aloud in the days leading up to the election.

Election addiction: Some people might have election fatigue, but political junkies will have serious withdrawals after Nov. 4. And it turns out there are quite a few of us. According to Newsweek, the Pew Center reported in mid-October that 61 percent of Americans have been following campaign coverage very closely.

Happy Halloween: Except for sex offenders.