I've just got a ton of links, so there won't be much else to this post.

Kids supporting Kerry threatened with expulsion.

School says Halloween disrespectful to witches.

Stranger moves in, redecorates while woman's on vacation.

How the devil do you get a Satanist in the Navy?

A slashdot interview with Neal Stephenson. Stephenson's one of my favorite authors: he's written Snow Crash and Quicksilver, among other things.

Nowadays, rock stars and movie stars are making all the money. But the publishing industry still works for some lucky novelists who find a way to establish a connection with a readership sufficiently large to put bread on their tables. It's conventional to refer to these as "commercial" novelists, but I hate that term, so I'm going to call them Beowulf writers.

But this is not true for a great many other writers who are every bit as talented and worthy of finding readers. And so, in addition, we have got an alternate system that makes it possible for those writers to pursue their careers and make their voices heard. Just as Renaissance princes supported writers like Dante because they felt it was the right thing to do, there are many affluent persons in modern society who, by making donations to cultural institutions like universities, support all sorts of artists, including writers. Usually they are called "literary" as opposed to "commercial" but I hate that term too, so I'm going to call them Dante writers. And this is what I mean when I speak of a bifurcated system.

Quadriplegic man controls computer with his brain chip.