“A grizzly bear, mountain lion and a monkey are still on the loose in Ohio after authorities hunted down as many as 51 ferocious animals who were set free by the owner of an animal preserve before killing himself.” [ABC]

We didn’t intend on running another Siri video, but we lost our evening to Other People’s Deadlines, and by the time it was over, it was all we could do to find some quickie filler.

Then again, this makes as much sense as anything we would have said about the Republican debate.

[via Know Your Meme]

And with that classic Steve Martin line, we welcome you to our GOP Debate Open Thread/Breastacular! — because there are too many possible Vegas references to attempt in a formal introduction. Tip your host for the best seats!

As we stock up on beer prepare for tonight’s GOP debate, let’s check in with a candidate who won’t be there:

Gary Johnson’s unorthodox campaign for the Republican presidential nomination continued Sunday, when he spoke at a Google+ town hall conducted by representatives of various pagan media outlets.

The former New Mexico governor spoke with members of the Pagan Newswire Collective, ModernWitch Podcast and Patheos.com, among others. He said it was important to reach out to voters that fall outside the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, and slammed his own party for being too beholden to the Christian right.

Say what you might, but one thing’s for certain: At least they’re not Mormons.

GOP presidential hopeful courts pagans [The Hill]

“Some people have mistakenly said this guy Kony is a Christian, and I want to make sure everyone knows he officially was disavowed by the Catholic Church in Uganda.” —James Inhofe, calling out Rush Limbaugh on the Senate floor for saying that Obama opposes the “Lord’s Resistance Army” because they’re Christian. [Media Matters]

“Republican presidential contender Herman Cain[!] used campaign funds to buy his own books from his motivational speaking company, Federal Election Commission records show.” [Bloomberg]

Back before Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company introduced a Magical Gadget that promised to change the way you live.

It, um, didn’t work out.

This time around, instead of handwriting recognition, Apple promised voice recognition — and not just simple commands, but contextual understanding of requests.

It’s the kind of thing that could have gone terribly, terribly wrong.

Or it could become a cultural event.

We don’t have the new iPhone – we’re still on contract with the old one – and we don’t have an emotional stake in Apple products, other than the pleasure of using them. But our introduction to computers involved punchtape and a teletypewriter. Ours may not be the life of someone who lived through the Wright Brothers and the Moon Landing, but we’re starting to understand the feeling.

[via Daring Fireball]