Top PolicyMic Stories – Obama "Hope and Change" Message Has Now Fully Morphed Into "Kill Romney" (Jesse Merkel) – A controversial new Obama campaign ad makes Romney look like Satan. Unfortunately, there are more than a few problems with it.

Oxford Dictionary Adds 35 New Words, But Using Them Coherently Will Not Be Easy (Dustin Riedesel) – The line between verbal diarrhea and real diarrhea is further blurred.

11 Actors Who Could Run the White House Better Than Obama and Romney (Laura Hankin) – In this uninspiring election season, here are some TV and movie presidents that might bring a little excitement and passion to the Oval Office.

Just For Fun – Why Sarah Palin and Tea Party Women Tend to Have Sex Appeal (Chris Miles) – Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Steelman. Why are attractive female politicians grouped in one of the most conservative ideological corners in America?

Congrats! to Pundit Ed Williams, who appeared on the Dr. Vibe Show last night for his PolicyMic article, The Weight of Being Black.

News From Across the Web – Veepstakes Heating Up – (via Politico) Why Not Paul Ryan? – "Overly safe is its own risk ... Ryan would inject a jolt of energy into the campaign and reorient the debate around policy. The Romney campaign doesn't have to be reckless. It does have to have a pulse. It doesn't have to commit ideological hari-kari. It does have to have an unmistakable substantive content. At times over the past few months, it has seemed that the Romney campaign has embarked on audacious experiment to see if it's possible to run a presidential campaign devoid of real interest. With the choice of Ryan, that would change in an instant."

July is Hottest Ever – July was the hottest month ever recorded in the lower 48 states, breaking a record set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The U.S. continues to set records for weather extremes this year, in terms of drought, heavy rainfall, unusual temperatures, and storms. The average temperature last month was 77.6 degrees, which breaks the old record from July 1936 by 0.2 degree, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Records go back to 1895.

Thursday Fun – Google's self-driving car logs 300,000 miles without accident (Tecca); Presidential foods and what they say about our leaders (NPR); How Olympic athletes' bodies have changed over the last century (NPR); The coolest Lego building ever (The Greek Colosseum!, Illusion); Why do so many murderers have three names? (Slate).

What We’re Reading – How Romney's VP could swing the outcome of the election (NY Times); Is the Facebook "like" button protected free speech (Wall St. Cheat Sheet); What's so bad about a boy who wants to wear a dress (NY Times); U.S. should adopt higher science standards (Scientific American); A lesson in crony capitalism (WSJ, congrats Pierpaolo Barbieri!); Sheldon Adelson's wish list (Mondoweiss).