Update: It's illegal to offer perks exclusively to voters, so now all of the election-specific freebies are available to anyone.

If the prospect of civic duty and the privilege of participating in the democratic process aren't enough to convince you to vote in today's election, maybe this list of free stuff will do the trick. Fox 4 News has a rundown of all the free services offered in the Kansas City area tomorrow, so keep your "I Voted" sticker. It might come in handy.

And if you're still unsure about where you voting station is, those altruistic wizards at Google have an voting zone locator here.

It's fall. The leaves are beggining to change and the weather is starting to turn cold, in other words, it's perfect theater weather. And what better way to celebrate the theater than through The fourth annual Free Night of Theater this Thursday, October 16.

Kansas City theaters taking part in the national initiative are the The Coterie Theatre, 2450 Grand Blvd., the Kansas City Repertory Theatre, 4949 Cherry St.,  and the Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main. The Martin City Melodrama, 9635 Metcalf Ave. in Overland park is also participating. Tickets can be reserved at www.freenightoftheatre.net.

The Coterie has tickets to Night of The Living Dead, and And Then They Came For Me: The World of Anne Frank. While the Kansas City Repertory Theater is offering free tickets to Radio Golf, the last play written by August Wilson. The Unicorn will offer free tickets to Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck as well as tickets to the reading of Bellweather, part of the theatre's In-Progress New Play Reading series. The Martin City Melodrama will offer tickets to Math: The Musical.

Six degrees of separation: How we went from iPod nanos to the Truffle Shuffle.

(subtitled: why we're not getting any work done today...)

Laurie: Does anyone know what that song is that's on the new Nano commercial?

Yesterday Ink got a publicity call from New York asking us to hurry over to Oak Park Mall to interview some employees at Lush cosmetics who were going to be working naked to bring attention to overpackaging (no, not that kind of package).

A guy and a girl wore black aprons that said, "Ask me why I'm naked."

When customers did, they gave them a spiel about their cause.

This month Ink adopted two kids through our "Project S.O.S." at work. None of us can remember what SOS stands for, but probably something like Save Our Schools or Support Our Schools or Save Our Souls, since the project is to buy school supplies for kids who can't afford them.

Our staff got two little boys - one kindergartner and one first grader.

We pooled our cash and Sarah, Monica and Tasha went shopping for the school list, some with very specific requirements like:

Part 1, Volume 1: Monica's Morgan Freeman impersonation doesn't sound like Morgan Freeman.

It sounds like Hannibal Lector.

Ink's marketing staff has put together a reader survey. Click here to fill it out. It'll take only a few minutes, and you can tell us on a scale of one to five exactly how much you love (or hate) each of our regular features.

We're also looking for readers who are willing to go more in-depth and attend a focus group meeting the night of Wednesday, July 9. The editorial staff won't be there, so you can speak freely. Lame, you say? Consider this: You get free drinks, appetizers and gas cards just for showing up. The sign-up window comes at the end of the survey.

— Ink

Something bad has happened to almost everyone on the Ink staff* this week, so we'll be glad when this week is over.

Here's the list, in order of bad to worst:

Congratulations to the winners of our Wizards tickets to Saturday's game. Our Frinks Ana Mora and Danny Collins get to hang out in our VIP Ink Pavilion and eat and drink for free.

Enjoy the game! We'll look for you there!

Check back next week for more Ink giveaways - namely, Ink swag bags and tickets to a VIP screening of "Hancock."

This week Ink gave away a pair of front row VIP seats to Saturday's West 18th Street Fashion Show.

Congratulations to our Frink Jeff Scott! We'll look for you tomorrow at the show. Stop by and see us for free Ink gear.

- laurie mansfield, ink editor