• In 2007, a notable hoax was perpetrated by the publishers of the Lemony Snicket books, which are subtitled “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” In this hoax, a new organization, the “Happy Endings Foundation,” was set up in order to promote happy endings in books for children. According to the foundation, “[S]ad books are bad books.” Therefore, members of the foundation wish to get rid of the Lemony Snicket books, even employing two gerbils to shred such books. The hoax was successful, being written up in some book blogs, and of course it garnered even more publicity for the Lemony Snicket books after journalists began writing that it was a hoax. As hoaxes go, this one was clever, and I encourage more hoaxes such as this, even though it may mean encouraging more shameless publicity for books that are so famous and so often purchased that they don’t need it.
• A few decades ago, advertising copywriter Edward S. Jordan wrote an automobile advertisement designed to appeal to women (aka “girls” in the first half of the 20th century) who loved the outdoors: “It’s a wonderful companion for a wonderful girl and a wonderful boy. How did we happen to think of it? A girl who loves to swim and paddle and shoot described it to a boy who loves the roar of the cutout.” Lots of letters from women poured in and praised the ad. A woman from West Park, Ohio, wrote this letter: “I don’t want a position with your Company. I just want to meet the man who wrote that advertisement. I am twenty-three, a blonde, weight 130. My wings are spread. Just say the word and I’ll fly to you.”
• Daniel Handler is often thought to be the real Lemony Snicket, author of the children’s book series called A Series of Unfortunate Events; however, Mr. Handler says that he is merely Mr. Snicket’s representative. For example, he often appears at book events that Mr. Snicket is supposed to appear at but does not. One day, Mr. Handler appeared at an event and said that an exotic bug had stung Mr. Snicket in the armpit, thus keeping him from appearing in person. To prove that this had happened, Mr. Handler bought the exotic bug — trapped in a glass — with him. He also gave the children who had hoped to see Mr. Snicket in person some excellent advice designed to keep them from ever having an exotic bug sting them in the armpit: “Never raise your hand, especially not in class.” By the way, Mr. Handler’s parents understood how to get him to read. They would read to him at night a suspenseful story and stop reading when they reached a cliffhanger. Then they would leave young Daniel with strict instructions not to turn on the light and read after they had left. Of course, young Daniel would turn on the light and start reading as soon as his parents had left — as they knew he would.
The fear of ghosts in many human cultures is based on beliefs that some ghosts may be malevolent towards people and dangerous (within the range of all possible attitudes, including mischievous, benign, indifferent, etc.). It is related to fear of the dark.
The fear of ghosts is sometimes referred to as phasmophobia and erroneously spectrophobia, the latter being an established term for fear of mirrors and one's own body.
In many traditional accounts, ghosts are often thought to be deceased people looking for vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one's own ghostly double or doppelgänger is a related omen of death.
Fear of ghosts, their vengeance and mischief is a common base for a plot in the ghost story literary genre and in ghost movies. In cartoons and comics, Casper's efforts to make friends is hampered by humans, animals and even inanimate objects irrationally panicking, screaming and running away at the sight of him. It may be said that the characters Shaggy and Scooby from the TV and movie franchise Scooby-Doo suffer from phasmophobia, with the added joke that the ghosts they encountered were usually criminals masquerading as ghosts, specifically preying on people's phasmophobia as a cover for their criminal activities.
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Fear of ghosts.
Billy in Cypress U. $. A. said:
"Ghosts"
Randall wrote:
GHOSTS
Dave answered:
Ghosts. Also other supernatural beings like vampires and witches. I can see having irrational fears about wind, ducks watching you, or other natural events, but why be afraid of shit that doesn’t even exist? And “no Virginia” ghosts and Santa don’t exist.
Roy, Secretary/Treasurer of Antifa in Tyler, TX replied:
Phasmophobia is the fear of ghosts. If there really were ghosts, I'm pretty sure Nikita Kruschev's would be haunting Putin right now, screaming over and over again, "What the fuck took you so long? About 70 years ago I warned America that we would crush them from within."
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Phasmophobia is the fear of ghosts.
Jacqueline responded:
It's the fear of ghosts. I guessed it right this time, but looked it up just to make sure.
Rosemary in Columbus wrote:
Ghosts
DJ Useo said:
Ghosts, or "Ghosks", as Popeye used to say.
Alan J answered:
ghosts.
Deborah, the Master Gardener responded:
I’m going with a WAG: Ghosts. It makes sense.
Hope the local critters don’t haunt you.
Joe ( -- Vote Blue, No Matter Who -- ) replied:
Me and Mr Puddy ain't afraid of no ghosts, but just in case we ain't watchin no scary movies.
Mac Mac took the day off.
Kevin in Washington DC took the day off.
mj took the day off.
Stephen F took the day off.
David of Moon Valley took the day off.
Dave in Tucson took the day off.
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame took the day off.
Michelle in AZ took the day off.
Daniel in The City took the day off.
-pgw took the day off.
Kenn B took the day off.
Micki took the day off.
Doug in Albuquerque, New Mexico, took the day off.
Ed K took the day off.
Jon L took the day off.
Angelo D took the day off.
Harry M. took the day off.
George M. took the day off.
Gary K took the day off.
Roy the (now retired) hoghead (aka 'hoghed') ( Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ~Frank Zappa ) took the day off.
Saskplanner took the day off.
Gateway Mike took the day off.
Steve in Wonderful Sacramento, CA, took the day off.
MarilynofTC took the day off.
Paul of Seattle took the day off.
Brian S. took the day off.
Gene took the day off.
Tony K. took the day off.
Noel S. took the day off.
James of Alhambra took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
Info: “Big Stir Records presents the finest music from the global pop rock scene on CD, vinyl and digital downloads. Based in California and featuring artists from the US, UK, Sweden and Germany, BSR also curates a weekly Digital Singles Series, hosts live shows in the US and UK, and publishes Big Stir Magazine. Pop outside the box with Big Stir!”
Leslie Pereira & The Lazy Heroes have also released the album GOOD KARMA.
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $10 (USD) for 10-track album
No trick or treaters, damn shame I'm gonna have to eat some candy.
Tonight, Sunday:
CBS starts the night, as usual, with '60 Minutes', followed by the movie 'Star Trek Beyond'.
NBC fills the night with LIVE'Sunday Night Football', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe an old 'Dateline'.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'Supermarket Sweep', then a FRESH'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?', followed by a FRESH'Card Sharks'.
The CW offers a FRESH'Pandora', followed by a RERUN'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', then another RERUN'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'.
Faux has a FRESH'The Simpsons' (Treehouse of Horror XXX), followed by a FRESH'Bless The Harts', then a FRESH'Bob's Burgers', followed by a FRESH'Family Guy'.
MY recycles an old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by another old 'Big Bang Theory', then still another old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another old 'Big Bang Theory'.
A&E has the movie 'The Bourne Supremacy', followed by the movie 'The Bourne Ultimatum', and 'Court Cam'.
AMC offers the movie 'Halloween', 'Fear The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'Fear The Walking Dead', then a FRESH'The Walking Dead: World Beyond'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE HUNT - LIVING WITH PREDATORS - CONSERVATION
[7:00AM] PLANET EARTH: THE HUNT - MAKING OF `THE HUNT'
[8:00AM] HIDDEN HABITATS - SVALBARD
[8:30AM] WEIRD WONDERS
[9:30AM] WEIRD WONDERS
[10:30AM] WEIRD WONDERS
[11:30AM] WEIRD WONDERS
[12:30PM] UNDER SIEGE
[3:00PM] TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY
[6:00PM] TRANSPORTER 2
[8:00PM] TOP GEAR
[9:00PM] TRANSPORTER 2
[11:00PM] UNDER SIEGE
[1:30AM] DOCTOR WHO - THE END OF TIME: BONUS EDITION
[4:30AM] DOCTOR WHO - DEEP BREATH (ALL TIMES ET)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Potomac', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Potomac', then another FRESH'Real Housewives Of Potomac', followed by the FRESH'Race In America: Our Vote Counts'.
IFC -
[6:00am - 9:30am] Saved By The Bell: The College Years
[10:00am] The World's End
[12:30pm] Half Baked
[2:30pm] White House Down
[5:30pm] Bad Boys
[8:00pm] Bad Boys II
[11:00pm] Bad Boys
[1:30am] Half Baked
[3:30am] The World's End (ALL TIMES ET)
Sundance -
[6:00am] columbo - Dead Weight
[7:45am] columbo - Lovely But Lethal
[9:30am] pet sematary
[11:30am] silver bullet
[1:30pm] the ninth gate
[4:30pm] contact
[8:00pm] the silence of the lambs
[10:30pm] the sixth sense
[1:00am] the dead zone
[3:30am - 5:30am] hogan's heroes (ALL TIMES ET)
SyFy has the movie 'Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix', followed by the movie 'Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince', then hours & hours of old 'Futurama'.
Barack Obama is hitting President Donald Trump (R-Grifter) right where he thinks it’ll hurt most: His ego.
Campaigning for Joe Biden on Saturday, the former president painted Trump as insecure and self-absorbed, describing him as a failed president who cares more about himself than the country.
“Trump cares about feeding his ego. Joe cares about keeping you and your family safe,” Obama said in Flint, Michigan.
In a scathing speech, Obama mocked and belittled Trump for everything from the president’s criticism of the media coverage of the coronavirus pandemic — Trump, he said, was “jealous of COVID’s media coverage” — to his “obsession with crowd size.”
“He’s still worried about his inauguration crowd being smaller than mine. It really bugs him. He’s still talking about that. Does he have nothing better to worry about?” Obama said. “Did no one come to his birthday party as a kid? Was he traumatized?”
The cast of “Hocus Pocus” reunited to conjure up funds for the New York Restoration Project, a nonprofit founded by Bette Midler that aims to create a greener and more sustainable New York City.
The virtual Hulaween benefit, “In Search of The Sanderson Sisters, A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover,” took place Friday, with stars of the cult classic Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy reprising their roles (and outfits) for the hour-long witchy event.
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the horror hostess depicted by Cassandra Peterson, emceed the mockumentary show, which explored the three sisters’ history, answering questions about their ancestry, education, music careers, fateful love affairs and more. Fellow castmates Thora Birch, Omri Katz and Doug Jones also joined the reunion.
Along for the ride were Glenn Close, Billy Crystal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Samantha Diaz, Todrick Hall, Jennifer Hudson, Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Michael Kors and his husband Lance LePere, Adam Lambert, George Lopez, Alex Moffat, Vinessa Shaw (who played Allison in “Hocus Pocus”), Martin Short, Sarah Silverman, John Stamos, Meryl Streep, Kenan Thompson, Sophie von Haselberg, Bella Hadid and Mariah Carey.
The waxwork museum Madame Tussauds in Berlin loaded its effigy of TV star-turned Republican president Donald Trump (R-Corrupt) into a dumpster on Friday, a move apparently intended to reflect its expectations of next Tuesday’s presidential election.
In what seemed a further calculated insult, the statue of his predecessor and nemesis Barack Obama, who counted Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel among his closest allies, remained in place, beaming and besuited.
“Today’s activity is rather of a symbolic character ahead of the elections in the United States,” said the museum’s marketing manager Orkide Yalcindag. “We here at Madame Tussauds Berlin removed Donald Trump’s waxwork as a preparatory measure.”
Madame Tussauds’s display also includes former U.S. presidents: regardless of the outcome, Trump and his dumpster are likely to be wheeled back before long.
Sometime after Thanksgiving 2008, a Fox News insider remembers her then colleague Kimberly Guilfoyle telling her a story.
According to the insider, Guilfoyle said she had just returned from the office of Fox News' chief executive, Roger Ailes. He was, Guilfoyle said, unhappy with her performance as a contributor and wanted to fire her.
Her beloved father had recently died from cancer. Her mother had died of leukemia when Guilfoyle was 11 years old. What Guilfoyle needed in that moment from the Fox executive was something different from what he usually offered: sympathy.
Guilfoyle told the Fox News insider that she burst into tears and cried "But Roger — I'm an orphan!"
Guilfoyle, who is dating President Donald Trump (R-Flaccid)'s oldest son, Donald Trump Jr. (R-Sniff, Sniff), is a lead fund-raiser for the Trump reelection campaign. Her speech at the virtual Republican National Convention, in August, instantly became a meme, drawing comparisons to Mussolini and "The Hunger Games'" Effie Trinket.
A Biden campaign event was cancelled in Texas on Friday after reportedly coming under threat from armed Trump supporters, days after the president’s eldest son called on his father’s supporters to “get out there, have some fun”.
Don Jr posted a video earlier this week ahead of Democratic VP candidate, Kamala Harris, holding an event in Texas and urged his father’s supporters to show up.
He said: “It’d be great if you guys would all get together, head down to McAllen and give Kamala Harris a nice Trump Train welcome."
“Get out there, have some fun, enjoy it,” Mr Trump continued.
While Senator Harris’s appearance went ahead as planned, local Texas Democrats said they were forced to pull the plug on a gathering scheduled to take place in Pflugerville, a small city about 17 miles north of Austin, due to "security reasons".
In Kentucky, a high school newspaper obtained slides exposing how the state police force used Adolf Hitler quotes in their training sessions for recruits.
Students working on the Manual RedEye, the newspaper for Louisville's duPont Manual High School, published exclusive slides a local attorney obtained through a public records request and shared with the publication on Friday.
In the slides, reported the RedEye, recruits are told to "meet violence with greater violence" and be a "ruthless killer" with "a mindset void of emotion."
The slideshow reportedly quotes Hitler twice more and concludes with the German motto "Über Alles," meaning "above all" or "above everything," associated with far-right nationalism in Germany. It was removed from the German national anthem after the defeat of the Nazis in World War II.
It also reportedly quotes Confederate general Robert E Lee, leader of the slavery defending states in the US Civil War.
Vote-counting was far from over when Tanzanian opposition leader Seif Sharif Hamad was frustrated enough to call people onto the streets. As thwarted observers alleged the most blatant election fraud in the country’s history, and with no way to challenge the results in court, there was little to do but protest.
But Hamad and others didn’t get far. As they walked toward a roundabout in the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar on Thursday, police fired tear gas, then arrested them — Hamad's second arrest in a week. A party official, Ismail Jussa, was badly beaten by soldiers and hospitalized. On the eve of the vote, at least 10 people in Zanzibar were killed.
That populist President John Magufuli late Friday was declared the overwhelming winner of Wednesday’s election was no surprise. But the ruling party’s victory in almost all parliament seats has shocked even critics who had warned of creeping repression under Magufuli’s first five years in power.
Now the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, a version of which has ruled since independence, has enough seats to change the constitution and perhaps extend the presidency’s two-term limit, a goal of some party leaders and a much-criticized trend in parts of Africa.
Tanzania's events may be overlooked globally amid the U.S. election and COVID-19 pandemic, but many in Africa are watching in dismay as a country once praised for promoting freedoms is said to be dismantling them one by one.
An expansive city flourished almost a thousand years ago in the bottomlands of the Mississippi River across the water from where St. Louis, Missouri stands today. It was one of the greatest pre-Columbian cities constructed north of the Aztec city of Tenochititlan, at present-day Mexico City.
The people who lived in this now largely forgotten city were part of a monument-building, corn-farming culture. No one knows what its inhabitants named this place, but today archaeologists call the city Cahokia.
Excavations show it was home to thousands of families. The city held hundreds of earthen mounds that supported council houses, homes for social elites, tombs for powerful leaders and reminders of lunar alignments. In addition, archaeologists have discovered a Woodhenge at Cahokia – a circular celestial observatory made of large wooden posts.
Archaeologists call the pre-Columbian societies that lived in the Mississippi River Valley region “Mississippian cultures.” These people stretched as far west as Oklahoma, north to Wisconsin, south to Mississippi and Louisiana, and east to Florida and North Carolina. Though broadly similar, it’s unlikely these people thought of themselves as a unified political body.
Two men have been arrested in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly duping a doctor into buying an "Aladdin's lamp" that they promised would bring him wealth and health.
As part of the con, they even pretended to conjure up spirits from the lamp, in line with the tale from The Arabian Nights, Indian media report.
The men had reportedly wanted more than $200,000 for the lamp but settled for a down payment of $41,600.
The doctor reportedly filed a complaint with local police in Meerut, western Uttar Pradesh, earlier this week.
In the complaint, quoted by NDTV, he said he met the two men when he began treating a woman he understood to be their mother over the course of a month.
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said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
