In the spring, people in lockdown
struggled to find toilet paper. Now,
seven months into the pandemic,
there’s this: Because of high demand,
big spenders are encountering diffi-
culty buying or renting islands to
isolate themselves. Good to know in
case that lottery ticket hits.
Sketchbook
THERE’S ALWAYS THE YACHT
JENNIFER XIAOTHE NEW YORK TIMES, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2020 Y A
A study from the Commonwealth
Fund suggests that as many as
14.6 million people had lost
employer-based health insurance
coverage as of June because of the
pandemic-induced recession.
Reducing the Pain of a New Insurance YearB
In Thailand, criticizing the royal
family is against the law and can
mean prison sentences of up to
15 years.
Thai Police Use Water Cannons and Arcane Law
To Quell DemonstrationsA
A 75-year-old dispute involving heirs
of a Hungarian banker over the
ownership of art seized by Nazis has
included 11 court decisions, five
appeals and 15 claims by roughly
30 lawyers in seven countries.
Art Is Long. This Case Is Longer.C
Lebanon has more Christians per
capita than any other Arab state.
In Lebanon, Recreating a Legacy
Of Stained-Glass MarvelsAA majority of American voters cast
their ballots to give Democrats the
White House in all but one
presidential election dating to 1992.
Expand Court to Counter Vote Suppression,
Liberals SayA- Valerie Vlahakis, the owner of Lee
Sims Chocolates in Jersey City, N.J.,
and eight employees melt, mold, box
and peddle 150,000 pounds of
chocolate each year.
‘It’s Fall! Here We Are!’ A Morsel of a Shop
SurvivesB
Randy Arozarena, a postseason star
for the Tampa Bay Rays, said that in
his first professional season in Cuba,
he made $38 a month.
From $38 a Month in Cuba to Playoff Stardom
For the RaysB
Of Interest
NOTEWORTHY FACTS FROM TODAY’S PAPER
AURÉLIA DURANDA Combative Trump and a Deliberate Biden Spar
From Afar at Town Halls
With less than three weeks until Election Day, the candidates
took part in dueling forums on competing television networks,
during which President Trump declined to disavow QAnon
and Joe Biden promised a clear stance on expanding the
Supreme Court. This was Friday’s most read report.
In Rare Move, Trump Administration Rejects
California’s Request for Wildfire Relief
In September, the state asked for federal aid to help recover
from six major fires that scorched more than 1.8 million acres,
destroyed thousands of structures and caused at least three
deaths. The rejection escalated a long-running feud between
the administration and California on climate change and
forest management.
He Married a Sociopath: Me
This installment of the weekly “Modern Love” column is an
essay by Patric Gagne, a wife and mother whose husband’s
white lies — made obvious by her own sociopathy — provided
a rare lesson in empathy.
The Conversation
THREE OF THE MOST READ, SHARED AND DISCUSSED POSTS
FROM ACROSS NYTIMES.COM
MAX WHITTAKER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES“I no longer hear
the song of the Chaco
chachalaca bird.
Even the jaguar that
once scared me
is suffering.”
SANDRA GUATÓ SILVA,a community
leader in the Pantanal wetland of
Brazil, lamenting the destruction
caused by wildfires.
Quote of the Day
INFERNO THREATENS
WORLD’S LARGEST TROPICAL
WETLAND A
On the “Sway” podcast this week, Kara Swisher talked about
Big Tech and misinformation with Alex Stamos, former chief
information security officer at Facebook and the current direc-
tor of the Stanford Internet Observatory, a research program
that studies abuse of the web. In the edited excerpt below, Mr.
Stamos talked about why it can be difficult to lead security and
address misinformation at tech companies.Spotlight
ADDITIONAL REPORTAGE AND REPARTEE
FROM OUR JOURNALISTSTo listen to the full episode, go to nytimes.com/sway.Alex Stamos Running a security team in a tech
company does have different challenges because
what you have is often executives who are themselves
technologists. And the other thing about Silicon
Valley that I think is both a great power and a great
weakness is people really do believe in the mission of
the companies. In tech, we still have this thing where
people go to work for these companies because they
believe we’re changing the world.Stamos Oh, it’s absolutely about the money, too, but
people really believe that they’re doing something
right. And as a result, that actually makes them more
resistant to change in some ways.In tech, when you’re really trying to sell people on
the idea that, oh, the things you’ve been doing so far
were actually not that great, your core belief in your
goodness and the things you’ve been doing are not
that correct, sometimes that makes it a lot harder than
it would be to do security in a company where I.T. is
just a tool.Kara Swisher Oh, come on, Alex, they like the money.Halloween is going to look a bit different
this year because of the pandemic, but
there could be a greenlining: an opportu-
nity to develop a more sustainable outlook
on a typically high-waste holiday.
Need an example? Consider pumpkins.
American farmers produced more than a
billion pounds of them in 2018, according
to the Department of Agriculture. Much of
that total ends up decomposing in landfills
and emitting methane, a potent green-
house gas. “The biggest issue with a lot of
these holidays is that they’re extraordi-
narily wasteful,” said Amanda Cattermole,
who runs a consulting firm that advocates
for better chemical and sustainability
management in supply chains.
Candy is another culprit. Last year, an
estimated $2.6 billion worth of Halloween
candy was sold in the United States. Some
of those sweet treats, like the ones that
contain palm oil, are particularly detri-
mental to the earth because of their link to
deforestation. Then, there’s the problem of
packaging. Many recycling centers don’t
accept foil or plastic wrappers with food
waste, so they tend to end up in landfills.
Costumes and decorations are also an
area of environmental concern. Since most
people wear costumes only once or twice,
the ones purchased from stores are typi-
cally designed with cheap materials. Ac-
cording to Ms. Cattermole, those materials
are often among the worst for the planet,
often going through hefty chemical pro-cesses during production.
The good news is, there are some easy
shifts you can make to clean up your Hal-
loween, according to Katherine White, a
professor at the University of British
Columbia who studies sustainability. The
first is to set reasonable limits on how
much stuff you acquire and, when possi-
ble, use household items you already have.
For example, skip the plastic trick-or-
treating bucket and use a pillowcase.
Costume swaps are a growing part of
the circular clothing economy worth ex-
ploring, Dr. White added. Costume rentals
are also available in some cities. And,
coming back to those pumpkins: Consider
shopping local, and when the Halloween
party is over, try composting.
MIRANDA GREEN
This advice appeared in the Climate Fwd:
newsletter. Sign up at nytimes.com/newsletters.Here to Help
CLEAN UP YOUR HALLOWEENAMANDA WAYNE/SHUTTERSTOCKINTUITION
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