I love zombies.  Ask anyone.  However, my love mostly goes into books and the occasional movie and video game.  That being said, I think the  international zombie day is a wonderful thing, especially since it is a huge fund and food raiser for the Pittsburgh Food Bank.  Personally I have no desire to get dressed up, but more power to those that do.  The Zombie Olympics are going on right now in the parking lot outside of the old Boscov’s (and before that, Kauffman’s) end of the mall, and the record-setting zombie walk will take place at 6.

Coming to the mall on this day is always a treat, I laughed when I got cut-off by a family of four zombies in a pick-up truck, and once had to stop myself from complimenting someone on her make-up and costume: she wasn’t here for the walk.  Oops.

And, quite ironically, going on at the Monroeville Convention Center right across the road is a gun bash.  I hope they have shotguns.  Or even better, machetes.

An update for everyone, the ‘Burgh Bracket is in the Final Four.  The Terrible Towel takes on Malkin Interviews and The Cotton Candy Man is up against PittGirl.

Check it out and vote here!

96.1 KISS has been running a ‘Burgh Bracket.  Separated into four counties (although items are not necessarily from their division), The Terrible Towel won Allegheny County, Malkin Interviews won Fayette County, The Cotton Candy Man won Beaver County and Butler County are still up for grabs.

Currently, Mike Lange is up against the Baby Jesus and PittGirl is battling Billy Mays.

Check it out and vote here

Slate’s Explainer is reporting that Aloca is looking to build a new smelting facility in Iceland.  And they had to get clearance from the government certifying that no elves live on or under the land.  I had to re-read that a couple times too.  Let it sink in.

First Bigfoot and UFOs, then ghosts, and now elves.  Crazy times we live in!  Makes me want to go to Alabama and see the Leprechaun!

First bigoot and UFOs, now ghosts!  I’ve mentioned before (at least I think), that I”m a graduate of St. Vincent, one of the most haunted colleges in the country.  We have ghosts in the gristmill, the cemetery, the basilica, ones that roam campus and the nearby roads, even one in the freshman dorm.  Every year at Halloween in the stories resurface, articles are written and even the sociology and religious studies departments have gotten in on the conversation in years past.

Now, WTAE is reporting that a team of paranormal investigators are heading to Slippery Rock University to check out their theater.  I’ve never been to Slippery Rock, but I can’t really comment on their own hauntings, but I would like to suggest they head down to Latrobe, if they’ll be in the area anyway, it wouldn’t be bad to check out a local hotspot of paranormal activity!

Every couple of years, Jeanette plays host to the Bigfoot Convention, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society.  I haven’t been able to find a date for the next convention, but the last one was held in September.

Now, popular mechanics is reporting on the highest concentrations on UFO sightings, and of the ‘less populated countys’ (non-metro areas), Westmoreland County leads the pack!

I’m not entirelly sure why the map is broken up by Air Traffic Control boundaries, but it’s still pretty cool.

Check out the story and the comments, at io9.

Lindsay posted yesterday about the return of Superman, which coincides with a couple links I’ve stumbled across in the last few days.  The first was passed on by a fellow metblog author, discussing a recent increase of “reals”

They must stand for unambiguous and unsponsored good. They must create their own Spandex and rubber costumes without infringing Marvel or DC Comics copyrights, but match them with exotic names – Green Scorpion in Arizona, Terrifica in New York, Mr Xtreme in San Diego and Mr Silent in Indianapolis

The second is a post at io9, discussing the superheros of MySpace.

So combine the fact that there are Reals out there, and MySpace is helping them find and protect their legal rights, it begs the question: where is Pittsburgh’s superhero?  And no, Steely McBeam most certainly does not count!

On a side note, I don’t know if Spoon River Metblogs is finishing up, or just changing into another form.  It’s worth a look if you haven’t seen it (or in my case, read it in about a month) , maybe one of the citizens there is a Real and we never realized it.

How West Virginia University handles bogus degrees

How Carnegie Mellon handles bogus degrees

That is all.

I’ve been working to cut back on my driving, which has meant that when I do drive, I’ve been paying more attention to the scenery. Lately, whenever pointed in the direction of Dahntahn, I can’t help but notice a certain towering monolith gazing in my direction and reminding me of my semi-employer’s success at global domination. Thinking about the “rebranding” of the old USX Tower made me realize that in a way, it’s pretty appropriate. Next time you’re down in South Oakland or the South Side Works, take a look at what’s sitting there on the old brownfields where we once had steel mills. When I was working down there, my daily drive took me past the Pittsburgh Technology Center, the UPMC Sports Medicine complex, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Even the former South Side Hospital is now mostly taken up by orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation. UPMC’s spent the past decade building a new biotech/medical economy on the same sites where Pittsburgh’s last economic engine stood. Is it any wonder that they’ve decided to proclaim their fame with that same industry’s skyscraper?

Of course, it does raise the question of how long we have before all the hospitals get outsourced to India the same way the mills were…

The Post-Gazette has, on Sundays, been running a feature called “The Cutting Edge”, where they post snippets from Pittsburgh-related blogs. (Yes, I still get 90% of my news on dead trees. Portable, useful for stuffing shipping boxes, and doesn’t require me to pay some silly “hotspot” to read it.) It has sunk to new lows. You may recall that Chinese newspaper that accidentally recycled a story from The Onion?. Scroll down this week’s Cutting Edge and find “One of America’s great newspapers” doing the same thing. I’d like to hope they’re just adding it in as a bit of comic belief, but the lack of framing text makes me think someone there is just plain asleep at the switch.

Not to worry, though. They’re a “manufacturer” according to state law, and thus aren’t required to pay property taxes. With all that money they’re saving, I’m sure they can put it towards finding, you know, real news to report on once in a while.