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Daily Bafflements

surveillance camera with frown sticker

• Retail marketers are testing motion-sensing cameras that would record when people pick things up off the shelf, and how long they hold the things before putting them back down or deciding to buy. Digiday says that this information about how customers “interact with the shelf” is being compared to “browser cookies in the real world.” Hey cool, will the can of soup we look at in the grocery store roll down the street and follow us around for the rest of our lives, just like the things we look at online do? • In a new analysis of the most corrupt states in the union, Mississippi ranks first. • Adam Goldman at the Washington Post reports on the CIA’s short-lived plan to distribute Osama bin Laden action figure toys with a truly baffling feature. “The face of the figure was painted with a heat-dissolving material, designed to peel off and reveal a red-faced bin Laden who looked like a demon, with piercing green eyes and black facial markings,” writes Goldman of the “Devil Eyes” project. “The goal of the short-lived project was simple: spook children and their parents, causing them to turn away from the actual bin Laden.” With pictures. • In case you missed it yesterday, a quick update to our #CantorsNextGig gig-watch—there’s now a petition at Change.org to get ABC to put Eric Cantor on Dancing with the Stars. Happy Friday!