The Daily Valet. - 10/23/20, Friday

✔️ We've Turned the Corner

Friday, October 23rd Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

Bring on the weekend.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

↦ Have you entered our Shinola Runwell watch giveaway yet? Now’s your chance to score this $1,500 timepiece.

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Today’s Big Story

We’ve Turned the Corner

The debates are now done, with just 11 days to go until Election Day

The final presidential debate has come to an end, and President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden head into the home stretch of an unusual campaign.

The two sparred over several policy issues Thursday night, but the debate featured noticeably fewer interruptions between the candidates compared with the first presidential debate—thanks to the addition of mute buttons for the microphones.

It’s unclear whether the debate, a little more than a week before Election Day, will change many voters’ minds, however. And that's a problem for the president, who remains trailing in the national polls by close to double digits.

Much of the early portion of the debate was devoted to the pandemic. Trump, noting his own recent experience with the virus, said his administration had taken tough steps to save lives. Biden countered that the president lacked a national strategy and had misled Americans about the severity of the crisis that claimed more than 222,000 lives across the country, with 8.3 million reported U.S. infections.

Healthcare was another subject that got a lot of back and forth. Biden said that under his plan, the public option would reduce premiums and allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with insurance companies. Trump said, “I’d like to terminate Obamacare, come up with a brand new beautiful health care ... protecting people with preexisting conditions.” Biden responded by attacking Trump for not having a clear health-care plan, despite promising that he would unveil it.

According to a snap YouGov poll, 54% of registered voters believe that Biden won tonight’s debate, while 35% believe that Trump won. But again, at this point, it seems like most minds are made up. And a good amount of ballots are already cast.

↦ FACT CHECK: The Associated Press examines all the falsehoods and fumbles in Trump-Biden debate.

Jony Ive Is Consulting for Airbnb Now

The legendary Apple designer has a new client. And it’s a big one.

I’m not going to pretend it makes obvious sense, but famed former Apple designer Jony Ive and his firm LoveFrom will soon be working for Airbnb, reports Gizmodo.

Yes, the company that primarily makes it easy for you to rent someone else’s home needs design help, and they’re going to the man best known for turning consumer tech on its head.

According to Reuters, Airbnb Chief Executive Brian Chesky said Ive will be designing new Airbnb products and services under a multi-year deal. He'll also help develop the Airbnb internal design team.

Maybe he can fix the company’s unfortunately shaped logo.

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Sports Ratings Down Across the Board

Are you watching the World Series?

In many ways, it's amazing that this World Series—staged in the midst of a global pandemic, with the teams in bubbles, the fans socially distant—is being played at all. When spring training began back in February, no one could've predicted the pandemic would've upset our lives and sports to the degree it did and still does.

But here we are. Two games into the 2020 World Series, and the score of the series is Los Angeles Dodgers 1, Tampa Bay Rays 1 … MLB ratings 0. Wednesday's Game 2 of the World Series drew only 8.950 viewers, according to Awful Announcing, making it the least-watched World Series game of all time. It breaks a record set just 24 hours earlier, when Game 1 opened the Fall Classic with a ratings thud.

According to Yahoo Sports, pretty much every sports league (except the WNBA) has seen down ratings this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, and baseball—long known as a regional sport with lagging national appeal—has been no exception.

It's not as worrisome as it appears, however. These are not normal times. Sports and television executives said they didn’t see evidence that the declines would continue after the pandemic. “There are so many reasons to think this is an anomalous time,” Cary Meyers, head of research at ESPN, told the New York Times. I guess we can chalk this up as another weird thing about 2020.

↦ TONIGHT: Game 3 will air this evening at 8:09 p.m. ET on Fox.

Ford and Filson Team Up on a New Bronco

A retro collaboration to help fight devastating forest fires in the American West

Today, Ford is opening back up its online build-and-price tool for the new Bronco. (The system was taken down after demand became too overwhelming.) According to Inside Hook, online deposits for the new SUV have already exceeded 165,000.

But you could say the unexpected delay was a blessing, because you just got some new inspiration for your potential Bronco builds. On Thursday, Ford announced the Wildland Fire Rig, a concept Bronco made in collaboration with heritage outdoor brand Filson.

The base vehicle is a four-door with the off-roading Badlands trim and the Sasquatch package. It's painted in classic U.S. Forest Service green, and loaded with Filson fabrics and accessories inside. Gear Patrol reports it features a custom-fabricated roof rack that can double as a firefighter lookout and hold a wide range of gear. The Bronco also carries a 50-gallon water tank and a high-pressure water pump.

The goal is to raise awareness for forest firefighting efforts. And Ford's newly created Bronco Wild Fund will also be donating two firefighting vehicles to wildland firefighting companies. And if you want to see the truck in person, the companies will be touring it around the country, starting today at Filson's Seattle flagship store.

↦ FYI: There’s also a limited-edition line of outdoor gear sold benefiting the National Forest Foundation’s reforestation programs and fire prevention awareness efforts.

In Other News

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

Cool stuff that doesn’t cost much

Tom Holland as Nathan Drake

McConaughey taking heat

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Close the Orgasm Gap

If you haven’t heard of it, you might need this

Have you heard of the orgasm gap? According to Dr. Justin Lehmiller, a social psychologist and researcher at The Kinsey Institute, men orgasm more consistently during sex than women. Not exactly surprising, until you look at the hard numbers. According to a study of more than 50,000 heterosexual relationships, men said they orgasm during sex 95% of the time. Women? A little more than half of that. And these numbers mirror other recent surveys. In short, it’s a problem that should be addressed.

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What We’re Buying

There's nothing better than crispy fried food on a cool autumn day. The air fryer is a recent technological invention that lets you fry, roast, bake or grill without the use of oils or fat. By using rapid hot air circulation, it helps you cook nearly anything to the perfect level of crispiness. I swear by mine. This compact model even has a digital touch display with a built-in timer making it even easier to use. With over one hundred five star reviews and a $35 price tag, there's no better time to indulge in your own personal air fryer.

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