Given the fact that Halloween is only 2 days away, I've seen an inordinate number of articles and TV snippets on ghosts, demons, the supernatural and all that chazerai. Although I'm of the mindset that I find things hard to believe either without scientific proof or seeing it with my own eyes (hence my relative disbelief in the existence of God), the idea of ghostly beings still intrigues me. I just finished the most recent issue of the Improper Bostonian, which contained an article on ghost-hunters as well as some hotspots for hauntings around town. Granted, I'm close to Salem, which is supposed to be the Supernatural Capital of the World, what with the witches and all that, so it's possible that Boston has a higher concentration of ghosts than other cities. Plus, Boston's pretty much the oldest settlement in the U.S., so there's more of a history of people dying here so there's more potential for ghosts.

These stories that the ghost-hunters told... man, they kind of weird me out. They say they've talked to ghosts, been physically pushed up against walls and thrown down stairs by ghosts, even had their bodies inhabited by ghosts. Again, I've never seen it with my own eyes and there is definitely no scientific proof for this, but I still find it a little freaky and while I'd like to experience a ghost-sighting to either confirm or deny in my own head the reality of spirits, I kind of wonder if I really want to because I'm a little afraid of what if it is real and what might happen if it is.

According to the article, a man in a tuxedo appears in the upper balcony during shows at the Emerson Majestic Theatre, T drivers ring their trolley bells when driving through the Cedar Grove Cemetery to ward off the spirit of the cemetery's former caretaker, residents at 515 Park Drive occasionally hear a man pounding on their windows and the sounds of a woman struggling (a woman was murdered there by the Boston Strangler on December 31, 1962), and the "Lady in Black" haunts Georges Island in the harbor.

Anyone see any ghosts around?

Has anyone tried the new "Code Red" Mountain Dew? Opinions? Personally, I'm a little amused by it -- they're following the color trends set by most cough syrups, with NyQuil definitely leading the pack in terms of recognition on that. Denis Leary and Lewis Black have both done routines on NyQuil, and both mentioned the color schemes. Lewis was the one who called out the fact that NyQuil does have the same colors as Christmas ("That's right, folks, NyQuil makes a dandy eggnog!") and it seems that the Dew seems to be following suit. So either PepsiCo is planning on a nice Christmas marketing campaign this year, or they're planning on breaking into the pharmaceutical field. Then again, with the amount of caffeine Mountain Dew has in it, it already has the grounds to be classified as a DayQuil-like stimulant.

I can see the ads already: "Mountain Dew -- now with cough suppressant! It's the coughing, hacking, lethargic, barely awake in the morning, pulling-an-allnighter, so you can bounce off the walls and get your work on medicine and soft drink! In regular radioactive-goo green and 'Code Red' Christmas colors/flavors."

Has anyone tried the new "Code Red" Mountain Dew? Opinions? Personally, I'm a little amused by it -- they're following the color trends set by most cough syrups, with NyQuil definitely leading the pack in terms of recognition on that. Denis Leary and Lewis Black have both done routines on NyQuil, and both mentioned the color schemes. Lewis was the one who called out the fact that NyQuil does have the same colors as Christmas ("That's right, folks, NyQuil makes a dandy eggnog!") and it seems that the Dew seems to be following suit. So either PepsiCo is planning on a nice Christmas marketing campaign this year, or they're planning on breaking into the pharmaceutical field. Then again, with the amount of caffeine Mountain Dew has in it, it already has the grounds to be classified as a DayQuil-like stimulant.

I can see the ads already: "Mountain Dew -- now with cough suppressant! It's the coughing, hacking, lethargic, barely awake in the morning, pulling-an-allnighter, so you can bounce off the walls and get your work on medicine and soft drink! In regular radioactive-goo green and 'Code Red' Christmas colors/flavors."

I was going to write about the abject stupidity and duality of George W. Moron's statement of "flee for the hills to avoid the terrorists, yet live your lives normally," but Michele beat me to it. Instead, let's turn our attention to the Business section of the paper, shall we?

United Airlines (who I refuse to fly anymore because every time I fly United, they either delay my flight a long while or route me through Chicago even when I'm not going anywhere near it) canned their chairman, James Goodwin, because he said last week that the company would "perish sometime next year" unless they took actions to cut costs. The company's other directors forced him out and replaced him with board member John Creighton.

Okay, can we take a look at how dumb that was? The man gave a warning -- he said, "Unless we cut costs, we're not going to make it." And they canned him for it. Personally, I think that was a really wise thing to say because it showed that he recognizes the problems facing the company. That's the kind of leadership that I'm looking for in the White House. Recognition is the first step towards solving the problem. Shooting the messenger is the first step towards burying your head in the sand.

The thing that I don't get is that George W. Moron hasn't really done anything since the 9/11 attacks. He's made all sorts of vague statements about how we need to "stand firm and united" and "not give in," but if you break it down to the nitty-gritty, he's really made no definitive points at all. He's the idiot full of sound & fury, yet signifying nothing. All he's really done is send the military over to Afghanistan, and they're not even being that effective considering that we've been bombing for a couple weeks now and all we've succeeded in doing is blowing up sand. We still haven't caught Bin Laden. The Taliban are still firmly entrenched over there. And despite this, Moron's approval rating is through the roof. So how come a guy who has the chutzpah to stand up and say, "Hey, our company has a problem and here's a path we can take to try to keep ourselves afloat" -- how come he's the one who gets canned?

The irony of the situation is that this new guy, Creighton, said basically the same thing as Goodwin did when he announced that he would attempt to "sort out" United's financial problems. Apparently, though, he said it with a little more sugar-coating, so that's okay. But I'd rather have a guy stand up and rain fire & brimstone, because sometimes that's the only way to galvanize people and to make them realize that everything's not all right. If you sugar-coat things too much, people will get a false sense of security, which makes things worse for them when the bottom falls out a few months or years down the road.

I was going to write about the abject stupidity and duality of George W. Moron's statement of "flee for the hills to avoid the terrorists, yet live your lives normally," but Michele beat me to it. Instead, let's turn our attention to the Business section of the paper, shall we?

United Airlines (who I refuse to fly anymore because every time I fly United, they either delay my flight a long while or route me through Chicago even when I'm not going anywhere near it) canned their chairman, James Goodwin, because he said last week that the company would "perish sometime next year" unless they took actions to cut costs. The company's other directors forced him out and replaced him with board member John Creighton.

Okay, can we take a look at how dumb that was? The man gave a warning -- he said, "Unless we cut costs, we're not going to make it." And they canned him for it. Personally, I think that was a really wise thing to say because it showed that he recognizes the problems facing the company. That's the kind of leadership that I'm looking for in the White House. Recognition is the first step towards solving the problem. Shooting the messenger is the first step towards burying your head in the sand.

The thing that I don't get is that George W. Moron hasn't really done anything since the 9/11 attacks. He's made all sorts of vague statements about how we need to "stand firm and united" and "not give in," but if you break it down to the nitty-gritty, he's really made no definitive points at all. He's the idiot full of sound & fury, yet signifying nothing. All he's really done is send the military over to Afghanistan, and they're not even being that effective considering that we've been bombing for a couple weeks now and all we've succeeded in doing is blowing up sand. We still haven't caught Bin Laden. The Taliban are still firmly entrenched over there. And despite this, Moron's approval rating is through the roof. So how come a guy who has the chutzpah to stand up and say, "Hey, our company has a problem and here's a path we can take to try to keep ourselves afloat" -- how come he's the one who gets canned?

The irony of the situation is that this new guy, Creighton, said basically the same thing as Goodwin did when he announced that he would attempt to "sort out" United's financial problems. Apparently, though, he said it with a little more sugar-coating, so that's okay. But I'd rather have a guy stand up and rain fire & brimstone, because sometimes that's the only way to galvanize people and to make them realize that everything's not all right. If you sugar-coat things too much, people will get a false sense of security, which makes things worse for them when the bottom falls out a few months or years down the road.

I'm becoming more and more fond of Herd of Sheep, which is kind of a stripped-down (yet still hilarious) British version of The Onion.

A sample from the latest update: "One month after hijacked planes attacked Lower Manhattan, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spoke out against the epidemic of niceness in the city. He urged New Yorkers to defy the terrorists by resuming normal life... Giuliani said it was time for New Yorkers to get back to being New Yorkers. 'Act like pussies, and the fuckers will have won,' he said."

I'm becoming more and more fond of Herd of Sheep, which is kind of a stripped-down (yet still hilarious) British version of The Onion.

A sample from the latest update: "One month after hijacked planes attacked Lower Manhattan, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani spoke out against the epidemic of niceness in the city. He urged New Yorkers to defy the terrorists by resuming normal life... Giuliani said it was time for New Yorkers to get back to being New Yorkers. 'Act like pussies, and the fuckers will have won,' he said."

There are some things better left unsaid, some feelings better left unexpressed.

It's evening, you're tired
You sleepwalk --
A robot out on the street
Are you crazy to want this, even for a while?
-- Matthew Good Band, "Strange Days"

There are some things better left unsaid, some feelings better left unexpressed.

It's evening, you're tired
You sleepwalk --
A robot out on the street
Are you crazy to want this, even for a while?
-- Matthew Good Band, "Strange Days"

To the woman in the elevator who rode down with me a few hours ago on my way out: how paranoid and/or stupid are you that you would ask me with a serious and worried look on your face whether the envelope I was holding in my hand was an anthrax letter? Are you that brainwashed by the media that any envelopes you see that aren't yours you automatically think are "anthrax letters"? The only reason why I didn't say yes was that I figured anyone dumb enough to ask me that question would probably not be able to tell that I was mocking your lack of intelligence, and would most likely run to the police to tell them someone in the building is sending anthrax letters and get me arrested.

To the woman in the elevator who rode down with me a few hours ago on my way out: how paranoid and/or stupid are you that you would ask me with a serious and worried look on your face whether the envelope I was holding in my hand was an anthrax letter? Are you that brainwashed by the media that any envelopes you see that aren't yours you automatically think are "anthrax letters"? The only reason why I didn't say yes was that I figured anyone dumb enough to ask me that question would probably not be able to tell that I was mocking your lack of intelligence, and would most likely run to the police to tell them someone in the building is sending anthrax letters and get me arrested.

NASA's Polar Imaging System captured images of the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis from space. After almost three hundred years, they've definitively proved that the auroras are pretty much mirror images of each other. There's also a QuickTime movie on the site of the auroras in motion that looks really cool.

NASA's Polar Imaging System captured images of the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis from space. After almost three hundred years, they've definitively proved that the auroras are pretty much mirror images of each other. There's also a QuickTime movie on the site of the auroras in motion that looks really cool.

According to the Associated Press, the Pakistani government arrested and gave the U.S. a Yemeni student wanted in connection with the U.S.S. Cole bombing who is also suspected of ties to Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network. The Pakistani government didn't want a fanfare, so they arrested and turned the guy over to U.S. authorities on Thursday without a proper extradition and deportation hearing (translation: they didn't want Bin Laden's network getting word that they were cooperating with the U.S. and therefore make themselves a target as well).

Now, mind you, this is the first person to be arrested in connection with the U.S.S. Cole bombing, which took place a year ago. That's right -- it took a year to catch up to someone for this attack. And while Osama Bin Laden might've been mentioned in connection with the Cole, his name wasn't hammered into our consciousness like it is now. But the thing is, why did it take an entire year to arrest someone in connection with a bombing that destroyed American property and killed American citizens (citizens serving our country, no less!) while within two days of the World Trade Center attacks, we had a name of the prime suspect and within a few weeks, we had a full-scale military response underway?

The Cole was an actual terrorist attack against our country, yet the public response and outrage for that fizzled out very quickly. Maybe because it didn't happen on U.S. soil, maybe because it wasn't against civilians, maybe because it didn't kill on the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks, maybe because it didn't destroy U.S. landmarks. But either way, an attack was made against our country when they attacked the Cole, yet I find it hard to accept the fact that no one had any distinct leads until a year later and people began linking it to the 9/11 attacks.

According to the Associated Press, the Pakistani government arrested and gave the U.S. a Yemeni student wanted in connection with the U.S.S. Cole bombing who is also suspected of ties to Al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden's terrorist network. The Pakistani government didn't want a fanfare, so they arrested and turned the guy over to U.S. authorities on Thursday without a proper extradition and deportation hearing (translation: they didn't want Bin Laden's network getting word that they were cooperating with the U.S. and therefore make themselves a target as well).

Now, mind you, this is the first person to be arrested in connection with the U.S.S. Cole bombing, which took place a year ago. That's right -- it took a year to catch up to someone for this attack. And while Osama Bin Laden might've been mentioned in connection with the Cole, his name wasn't hammered into our consciousness like it is now. But the thing is, why did it take an entire year to arrest someone in connection with a bombing that destroyed American property and killed American citizens (citizens serving our country, no less!) while within two days of the World Trade Center attacks, we had a name of the prime suspect and within a few weeks, we had a full-scale military response underway?

The Cole was an actual terrorist attack against our country, yet the public response and outrage for that fizzled out very quickly. Maybe because it didn't happen on U.S. soil, maybe because it wasn't against civilians, maybe because it didn't kill on the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks, maybe because it didn't destroy U.S. landmarks. But either way, an attack was made against our country when they attacked the Cole, yet I find it hard to accept the fact that no one had any distinct leads until a year later and people began linking it to the 9/11 attacks.