The Syfy channel is doing it again! For the eighth year in a row, they'll serve up 31 Days of Halloween starting on Oct. 1st!

I Am Legend, Orphan, and Insidious: Chapter 2 make their premieres on Syfy this year, which is totally cool. But we'll also get the staples we look forward to including Texas Chainsaw Massacre (a classic), Underworld (visually stunning), The Fog and Cabin In The Woods (totally creepy), The Omen remake (better than the original), and The Last Exorcism (classic sequel). Of course, there are tons more — I can't list them all, but I can watch them!

And there's more than horror: there's fake ghost hunting! On Wednesday, October 28 you can see special episodes of "Ghost Hunters" and "Paranormal Witness" back-to-back. For the full schedule, visit Syfy's web site.

Don't forget to look under the bed and check the closet before bed. See you next week,
Bobby

When temperatures start to dip, it's time to start thinking about indoor activities again. And though reading is really indoor-outdoor, Fall is a great time to pick up a few new books for quiet nights in front of a fire. Here are my top three picks for the coming season (in descending order):

#3 - Stuff You Missed in History Class: From the brilliant minds of the folks at HowStuffWorks, this book based on the popular podcast of the same name clues you in on all the Things you wanted to know about history, but didn't even know to ask. Find out how medieval torture devices really worked and if the CIA really tested LSD on unsuspecting Americans, among other hidden, shocking, fun, and disturbing Things.

#2 - How UFOs Conquered the World: Not your ordinary conspiracy theory book, this is truly the history of a modern myth. The author looks at all Things unidentified and flying through the lens of his own experience and fascination from childhood through adulthood. Author David Clarke has close encounters with abductees, hoaxers and conspiracy theorists. He meets people who think aliens are angels or demons. And finds out what the British government’s ‘UFO desk’ investigations really uncovered.

#1 - Can Holding In a Fart Kill You?:  For obvious reasons, this is my favorite Thing for fall. First, it has "fart" in the title. Second, it's full of crazy, wacky, silly, unbelievable facts about almost EveryThing. Like why dogs walk in circles before they lie down. And where the phrase "son of a gun" came from. From Bigfoot to telekinesis to the Bermuda Triangle and Atlantis, this book takes on the best oddball topics. But it also answers scientific questions like how general anesthesia works and how popcorn pops. It's great for a quick peek or a long evening's read.

Enjoy the cooler weather (if you have it) and I'll see you next week,
Bobby

Last February, I told you about the adventures of a certain Reddit user who calls himself Captain Mercedes. The good captain cataloged (according to the Bristol stool scale) every bowel movement he had in 2104. He then posted the data for other Reddit users to analyze.

And now, the results are in! A data-obsessed Reddit user called Plotting Man took on the challenge of analyzing the captain’s data dump and published the results for all to see.

Here’s what Plotting Man found:

• A week of poop: The captain poops surprising little on Mondays and Tuesdays. 
• Log dropping time: He prefers to do his doo drops between 10-11AM, but a certain percentage seem to come on in the wee hours. 
• Toilet punishments per day: Usually the captain poops just 0-1 times, but on one fine day he punished the porcelain throne 5 times! (I wonder what he ate the day before?) 
• Distance from optimal corndog condition: Before I encountered Captain Mercedes, I had no idea this was a Thing. On the Bristol chart, 1 is "like nuts" (ouch!) and 7 is "entirely liquid" (eww!). What you want is a 4: "like a sausage or snake (or corndog), smooth and soft".  Did the captain's movements make the grade? Mostly, but it seems he has a healthier pooping life in the spring and summer. 

You can see the entire set of results here, along with Plotting Man’s commentary, colorful graphs and punny comments from the wide world of the web. I don't know if all of this actually helped the poor captain better understand his secretions, but I think it's one of the funniest crappy Things on the Internet this year.

Keep your eye on the bowl. See you next week,
Bobby

It's that time of year in Florida. The time when hurricanes come boiling of the African coast and head toward the United States. Tropical Storm Erika is on her way north and right now, we're in that nebulous "cone of uncertainty".

Hurricane season is also the pre-game warm up to winter storms up north. Hopefully, you' won't get hit by a big storm, but there are a few Things you can do to get prepared and stay safe. (And take the sting out of lost power, downed trees, no internet and being trapped in the house.)

Things you will need:

• A battery operated or hand-cranked radio to keep up on local area storms, flooding and other news alerts.
• Stock up on water. If you can't get your hands on bottled water, fill your bathtubs and make sure you have water purifying supplies.
• Emergency blankets are key for keeping warm and for keeping dry.
• A good first aid kit. Check your supplies and replace missing Things before the storm hits.
• SomeThing to beat boredom while you're housebound. DVDs (as long as the power holds) to watch, games, puzzles...

My boarding pass!

Well, I'm not actually going -- It's probably way out of my price range. But I am sending my name to the Red Planet!

It's the latest in NASA's wildly popular "frequent-flyer" program that encourages people to participate in space travel, even if only in name. Last year's Orion launch carried the names of over one million people.

You can "go", too. Just sign up and NASA will add your name to the microchip that will hitch a ride to Mars on the InSight lander next year. It's not a contest; once you add your name, it's a done deal. You'll get a "boarding pass" just like mine immediately.

I can't wait for the launch!

See you next week,
Bobby

The Internet is all abuzz with dazzling new images from the set of the new Star Wars movie: The Force Awakens. And it's more than just your run-of-the mill Star Wars chatter; it seems even the movie's makers were stunned into silence when Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew first walked onto the set of the Millennium Falcon as Han and Chewie.

“The minute Harrison and Chewie walked on board the Millennium Falcon — that was incredible,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told Entertainment Weekly. “Every single person on the set was stunned. I remember turning around, and there must have been 200 people gathered behind me — completely quiet. I didn’t even know they were there. The whole crew had stopped working, staring at the monitor, because it was so iconic."

To be a fly on that wall!


The moviemakers got back to work eventually. And just in time. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to be the biggest Christmas movie of all time. Until then, we'll have to be satisfied with the "teaser" trailers on YouTube.

May the Force be with you,
Bobby

Photomosaic Puzzle

Ah, the dog days of summer. Perfect for finding a shady spot in the yard (preferably a hammock!), a chair by the pool or a spot on the couch to stay cool and read a good book. Since Sunday, August 9th is National Book Lover's Day, you have the perfect excuse to do one Thing all day: read.

But if you're a bookworm with a philanthropic bent, you might want to spend half the day reading and the other half helping others. Some of my favorite bookworms gave me a few suggestions. Here are five of my favorite Things for National Book Lover's Day:

• Make a list of your favorite books and post it online.
• Read to someone. Anyone. Maybe a kid. Or an elderly person. Your spouse. 
• Give away your old books. Donate them to a library or a school or give them to friends as gifts to celebrate the holiday.
• Start a Little Free Library book box in your neighborhood. Get your neighbors involved and put up an exchange where people can take a book and leave a book. 
• Host a reading party. Gather some snacks, some friends and some good books and just lay around reading - with the TV off!