From Fortean Times, an interview with George Hansen, author of The Trickster and the Paranormal. An interview with Stacy Horn, author of Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory. "Ghostbusters" is real: An interview with Peter Aykroyd, author of A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Seances, Mediums, Ghosts, and Ghostbusters. Touched by an Alien: Some Utahns claim their encounters with extraterrestrials are too close for comfort. What's the proper conversation starter when greeting an alien? How about, "Please don't kidnap us and poke us. We hate that." A conversation between Joshua Blu Buhs, author of Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend, and Sigrid Schmalzer, author of The People’s Peking Man: Popular Science and Human Identity in Twentieth-Century China. A review of On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma. Ever since its inception, the Smithsonian has been the subject of wild rumors about the Hope Diamond, Noah’s Ark and more. How to fake science, history and religion: A review of Invented Knowledge: False History, Fake Science and Pseudo-Religions by Ronald H. Fritze. The Secret: An article on the Group of Seven’s infatuation with the occult mysticism of Madame Blavatsky. The God of Skeptics: Heretics, nonbelievers, and doubters worship the Amazing Randi — so what will free thinkers do when he's gone? Wendy Grossman finds that the dramatic dice are loaded against skeptics.

From TNR, is California finished? John Judis investigates. Despite its woes, California's Dream still lives. From Texas Observer, the Pecos Insurrection: How a private prison pushed immigrant inmates to the brink. Don Yarborough’s Texas: It was an era when segregation and civil rights were still issues and liberals had a base from which to run — that Texas is gone. From Guernica, a suburban high school student finds love (sort of) when his sleepy Louisiana town — and his plans to rob the grave of Adolf Hitler’s horse — gets rained on by Hurricane Katrina (and more). Tales of Two Cities: What Chicago and Charlotte say about the future of America. A review of Hope and Despair in the American City by Gerald Grant. A radical plan to transform Detroit from a fast-shrinking post-industrial wasteland into the world's largest urban farm is pitting entrepreneurs against inner-city activists. Writers from around the country provide snapshots of their local economies: To make downtown Detroit a thriving destination again, restaurateurs have found only by working together will it happen; in Atlanta, G.M. left a plant to rot not sell — this sort of nonsense is why most car buyers are abandoning their old brand loyalties; more matter, with less art: How a New York City gallery crashed with the Wall Street banks; and most of Iowa city folk don’t realize how closely connected the economic fates of farmers and non-farmers, residents of the same state, really are. A review of Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What it Means for America by Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas (and more and more).

From World Affairs, John McWhorter on the cosmopolitan tongue and the universality of English. From Popular Mechanics, 3 mysterious builds: A look at how ancient peoples moved monoliths (and how to move heavy objects with simple tools). Chris Lehmann reviews Stripping Bare the Body: Politics, Violence, War by Mark Danner. Welcome home: It is high time to abolish the concept of ethnic minorities. Lost in the sauce: An article on the effects of alcohol on mind wandering; and are full or empty beer bottles sturdier and does their fracture-threshold suffice to break the human skull? Monsters and the moral imagination: Stephen Asma argues that monsters help shape our ethics and put us in touch with our humanity. A review of On Rumours by Cass Sunstein (and more and more). From Counterpunch, Kim Nicolini on Marx's Hollow Utopia: Spike Jonze re-envisions "Where the Wild Things Are". To chase streets gangs out of suburbia, adults will have to make a dramatic change: They'll have to start paying attention to the culture their children live in. What the Iraq bombings mean: Are devastating, synchronized car bombings a sign that Iraqi forces can't keep citizens safe? "History goes on; human beings don't change very much": John Gray says he is no despairing grump, just trying to help us by injecting realism into political thinking. Cleanliness is next to godliness: New research shows clean smells promote moral behavior. From The New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones on hip-hop's demise (and a response). From Yankee Pot Roast, an article on Halloween Costumes to Scare Your Man (Off, Forever).

From Newsweek, an interview with Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad on building the institutions of self-government; an interview with Shimon Peres on negotiations with the Palestinians; and an interview with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on nuclear proliferation and a two-state solution. Gershom Gorenberg on the implosion of the Israeli Left. From The Nation, the Jewish push for peace is surging through the grassroots, but leaders and policy-makers are still turning a deaf ear; Israel's latest strategy for responding to allegations of human rights abuses: kill the messenger; and Tom Dine, former head of AIPAC, now works for a two-state solution and on improving US-Syrian relations. Is AIPAC still the chosen one? A popular president and dissent within the advocacy ranks could lead to a showdown on Middle East policy. Jeffrey Goldberg interviews Jeremy Ben-Ami of J-Street. Nightmare on J Street: Why can't Arab Americans work for peace, too? Matthew Yglesias on the battle for American Jews. From Dissent, why are Jews liberal? Michael Walzer on an alternative to Norman Podhoretz. How much do world crises affect anti-Semitism today: Hate crimes happen everywhere — even in the college campus bubble. The backlash of secondary anti-Semitism: In a German study, the notion of ongoing Holocaust-related suffering among Jews apparently increased feelings of anti-Semitism. It's a terrible shame that Ahmadinejad does not join that illustrious company of Jews who become Jewish persecutors.