Happy Friday, Dippers,
There's a lot to cover today: a polling firm admits it fabricated its data, Airbnb limits the chores hosts can require at checkout, and more.
Today’s estimated reading time is 3 minutes and 18 seconds.
- The Daily Dip Editor
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**On this day in 1958, which little creatures first appeared in a Belgian comic? **(answer revealed below!)
(hint: Papa wears red)
In today’s issue:
Pollster admitsto faking survey data. 🏛️Airbnb limitshost checkout demands. 💼New Mexico suesEpstein’s lawyer, accountant. ⚖️
Plus, take ** today’s poll** and check out the
Wedgewood Polls, whose election surveys were picked up by outlets including The New York Times and Newsweek, admitted it fabricated its data. The firm called it a social experiment meant to expose weak vetting in the polling industry.
The admission came after the polling outlet FiftyPlusOne examined raw data from a Wedgewood poll in Mississippi and found signs it was fabricated. Former Michigan Senate candidate Mallory McMorrow, a Democrat, says the fake numbers hurt her campaign, while others doubt one firm’s polls swayed the race.
**The firm:**Wedgewood was reportedly run by Republican Jack Sims and Democrat Andrew Prater. Its website listed no staff names, phone number or location.
For reservations booked on or after Nov. 20, Airbnb hosts worldwide can no longer require guests to wash dishes, strip beds, start laundry or take trash off-site at checkout. Hosts can still make reasonable requests, like putting dishes in the sink or sorting recycling.
Guests already pay separate cleaning fees, but some property managers warn nightly rates or cleaning fees may rise to cover professional cleaners.
**The rules:**The update also bars hosts from requiring guests to sign agreements outside the platform. Listings that repeatedly break the policy could lose search visibility or be removed.
:📈
Today’s Poll:Checkout ChoresAirbnb is limiting what hosts can ask guests to do before they leave. Guests point to the cleaning fees they already pay, while some hosts say the change could push prices higher.
Which checkout chores, if any, is it fair for hosts to ask guests to do?
New Mexico’s attorney general sued Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime attorney and accountant, alleging they helped manage and conceal the money behind his sex trafficking operation. The suit seeks to block both men from receiving payments from Epstein’s estate and to win damages for survivors.
The state says Indyke received over $16 million and Kahn over $10 million from Epstein and his entities between 2011 and 2019. An attorney for both men rejected the allegations.
**The DOJ:**New Mexico is separately suing the Justice Department for access to the Epstein files. Rep. Jamie Raskin also asked why the department has denied evidence requests from other investigators, including several foreign countries.
Let’s wrap it up on the sweeter side of things:
Luna, a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier who slipped out of a Yellowstone cabin,
was found after 34 days on her ownin the park! She’s 10 pounds lighter but in good spirits. 🐶🏞️A Georgia high schooler
staged a fake cafeteria “fight” to surprise his principalwith a crowd shouting “Happy Birthday!” The student says the principal helped him leave fighting behind for poetry and music. 🎂🎶Colorado’s wildlife crossings along I-25, including North America’s largest wildlife overpass,
cut wildlife-vehicle crashes by 91%! Cameras have caught bears, elk and pronghorn strolling across. 🦌🌉
✈️ Travel: The world's shortest scheduled flight, between two Scottish islands, is scheduled for about 90 seconds, and the record is 53 seconds. No time for the snack cart.
🥤 Food: Dr Pepper debuted in Waco, Texas, in 1885, a year before Coca-Cola. The doctor was in first.
📧 Language: Junk email is called spam because of a 1970 Monty Python sketch where every menu item included Spam. Lovely Spam, wonderful Spam.
🤯 WTF: Q-tips were originally sold as "Baby Gays", and the "Q" was later added for "quality." Marketing has come a long way.
TODAY’S QUIZ ANSWER:
The Smurfs
Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced the Smurfs as side characters in his Johan and Peewit comic in Spirou magazine on Oct. 23, 1958, and they got their own series a year later. Their original French name, “Schtroumpfs,” reportedly came from a dinner where Peyo blanked on the word for salt and asked for the “schtroumpf” instead. The little blue characters became a global hit, especially after Hanna-Barbera’s The Smurfs cartoon ran on NBC from 1981 to 1989.
Did you take ** today’s poll**?
Looking for more specific details on each story? ** Click here** for the full show notes for yesterday’s PDS episode.
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