A Weird Strange Obsession, The Nation's Fixation on Ohio, and More

Thursday, October 15th, 2026

Good morning! Welcome to The Tradesman, a 5-minute newsletter tailored just for America’s tradesmen.

Guess what, Tradesmen? We’re giving away yet another $50 gas card!

Click here to enter for a chance to win! (NOTE: Only one entry per person will be accepted)

Come back on Tuesday to find out if you’ve won.

Take a look around you. How many rectangles do you see?

The internet recently noticed something odd: Despite being one of the rarest shapes in nature, rectangles are all around us.

Phones, buildings, TVs, windows, rugs. Something about rectangles draws us to them.

But why? You can get the in-depth explanation here, but the short version is that rectangles offer symmetry while also being easy to build and fit next to other rectangles.

Fair warning: Now that we’ve said it, you won’t be able to stop noticing them.

President Donald Trump has held two midterm rallies in Ohio this month, and former President Barack Obama plans to hold one in Cleveland before the month is out.

At $409 million, spending in Ohio’s Senate race ranks second in the nation, behind only Texas’ $442 million. National news outlets are covering Ohio poll numbers as if they’ll be personally affected.

So why is Ohio getting so much attention?

For years, Ohio was labeled a swing state, but it has leaned Republican for roughly the past decade. This year, however, polls indicate Ohio could truly go either way.

That’s a big deal, especially in the Senate race. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, so every seat counts.

And if Ohio swings Democratic, it would signal to the country where voters stand not just on the president, but on the Republican Party as a whole.

Looking to move up in the company, or hoping to convince your boss to switch you to four 12-hour shifts? Tomorrow might be your chance.

Tomorrow is National Boss’s Day. In theory, it celebrates the men and women who manage us and sign our paychecks. In practice, it’s a day for some serious kissing up.

If you want a gift that makes your boss think, “Man, isn’t Jim great?” every time they look at it, click here for ideas.

Well, people are mad at Shane Gillis again.

Gillis, a stand-up comedian known for his everyman, guy-next-door persona, hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the second time last week.

He opened the night with a monologue in which he said, “I haven’t been to the gym in so long. I didn’t know women just dress like whores now.”

Predictably, the line set off a backlash. Critics, including some celebrities, called it needlessly misogynistic and said Gillis should be blacklisted, while others defended him and said it wasn’t that bad.

We’ve heard enough from the internet. What do you think? Watch his monologue here, then tell us in our poll below whether he was out of line.

What are your thoughts on Banana Ball?