A sampling of today's headlines that ancient biblical scholars (or um, the crackpot kind) could read the coming apocalypse into: nuclear site, rare eclipse, sordid sex tales, riots, cave hideout... spider bite?

I always feel a little silly when I post stories from E! entertainment news on here, rather than taking the more sedate AP story. But there's just something I like about their shrill, hysterical, opinionated coverage of the Glove Monster. It's kind of like reading the muck-rakers. They make no bones about their mockery. And that's the weird thing. Entertainment news. You'd think they'd be licking the boot of every tangential celeb alive, but they're just brutal to them at the slightest foul up. "Interesting," said the detective, stroking her chin.

Okay, that was weird. But then, I've been having disaster-oriented dreams again. Too much thought about smallpox this week and so my dreams consist of me walking really fast, phones ringing too much, people yelling. I'm dreaming about the workaday part of a horrible disease outbreak. How geeky is that? Can I have ice cream and ponies and giant poetry theme parks tonight please?

Go check out the Washington Post piece on Ari Fleischer's ability to answer questions, wait that's inability to answer questions. And Times Magazine says that fantasy has supplanted science fiction in popularity.

Go forth and conquer.