Shortly after the post about Geoffrey Owens was shared here, I bumped into him on the way to the Montclair farmers' market. He's out there selling his Halloween book for kids. He seemed puzzled that people still talk about that old Trader Joe's story, but agreed that against the tiny smidge of negativity, there's been a huge amount of positivity. So a hello to you all from Geoffrey (named after Chaucer!)!

At approximately 12:13 AM on October 18, 2026, I was standing on the west side of Manhattan, looking across the Hudson River toward Jersey City, NJ.
I noticed this strange illuminated object flying above the skyline. Initially, its appearance caught my attention because it looked unlike anything I’d seen flying before.
Then things got weirder.
The object appeared to slow down significantly, hover in place for a moment, and then reverse direction. It continued flying in the opposite direction across the skyline.
I managed to capture these two photos on my iPhone, taken about 45 seconds apart.
The object appeared elongated, with two bright red lights and a yellowish/orange glow. The photos are heavily zoomed, so some of the apparent shape could be distortion.
I know New Jersey had a massive wave of reported drone sightings in late 2024, including eyewitness accounts of objects hovering and changing direction.
I’m not claiming this is extraterrestrial. It could absolutely be a drone, helicopter, or conventional aircraft. But the movement genuinely caught me off guard.
Has anyone in the NYC/Jersey City area seen anything similar? Anyone able to identify what this might be?
Photos attached.

One of the worst hotel experiences my family has ever faced.

I booked Holiday Inn Express through Expedia for October 10–12, 2026, and received a confirmed reservation. After travelling approximately 10 hours from Toronto, Canada by road, with my wife and two children, I arrived to discover that the hotel had cancelled our reservation without notifying us.

The front desk staff showed me that Hotel Manager Aurymar had cancelled our booking at approximately 7:30 AM on our scheduled check-in date. I also have evidence that room prices increased after my original booking, raising serious concerns about how confirmed reservations are handled.

My family, including two children who became sick during the long journey, was left waiting in the hotel lobby for approximately three hours while we struggled to find alternative accommodation.

I am extremely disappointed by this treatment. I am going to file a formal complaint with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs and explore legal action.

My advice to future guests: Be extremely cautious. Even a confirmed reservation did not protect my family from this experience.

I have norovirus for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. I wash my hands a lot, especially if I'm out. I also use hand sanitizer but I know that won't kill it.

I'm tired of puking and hoping that I make it to the bathroom in time.

I guess it's getting expensive to try to convince voters that a veteran that made a million dollars in the private sector is somehow worse than the nepo baby governors son was born a multimillionaire, never worked a job outside of government, needed the district gerrymandered so he could win this seat that he went awol from for 4 MONTHS and has voted to cut medicaid to million of people. Hopefully they are right that his campaign is a lost cause. He can explain to his family at Thanksgiving how he fumbled the seat that daddy pulled all his strings to get him.

A few days ago, I was driving home on 287 when traffic slowed to a stop at an exit lane. I slowed to a stop as well. Car behind me did not and rammed into me. Driver got out, asked if I was okay, and told me to pull over to exchange insurance information. Alarm bells should've been ringing because he got in his car immediately afterwards, but I was in a complete state of shock (first accident) and was just thinking I needed to get off the highway anyways. As soon as I pulled over to the shoulder, he sped off.

I guess it's not just that I was lied to by a hit-and-run driver, but also there were so many witnesses too and no one stopped to help. I hope I don't come across as entitled for this, I'm just feeling a little sad over it. I was crashed into, and the guy fled as soon as I got out of his way. So many witnesses to both incidents. Not a single person who seemed to care. Person behind him who definitely witnessed him fleeing just happily followed along now that the path ahead was clear. People were pulling onto the shoulder (before I moved onto it) to drive around us as if I was an inconvenience (which I definitely was to them). I had just really hoped that I wouldn't be so alone in this. The only person that night who helped me was the trooper who showed up after I called 911.

I did get the runner's license plate and car from my front dashcam (no rear dashcam), and a recording of his voice. Sent it to the trooper (dashcam didn't have a playback feature so he asked me to send them to him via email), but stressed and paranoid that maybe he didn't receive it because I uploaded them to a file storage site that might get blocked by IT systems. So adding stress on top of stress. My insurance company did confirm they got the videos successfully at least.

I've lived in NJ for years. I thought people had the capacity to be kind, even if it can't be everyone who's kind. Just be safe out there everyone. Too many people on the roads who shouldn't be.

A look at New Jersey’s proposed rules for police AI and license plate readers, including what local audits revealed in Berkeley Heights, New Providence and Summit.

46 years ago today, Bruce Springsteen released 'The River'. There's something truly special about witnessing the Boss play the double album's lead single "Hungry Heart" live - mainly because it turns into a massive sing-along, like it did during his Madison Square Garden show back on May 11 of this year (as seen im the first half of the clip). The only thing more magical than seeing a sold out crowd in the world's most famous arena sing that song at the top of their voices was hearing the crowd at Sea Hear Now in Asbury Park do it back in Sept 2024. Though that particular moment was made even more special when Bruce went into the crowd and handed a guitar pick to 4 year old fan standing 5 feet in front of me while singing "Hungry Heart" (as seen in the later half of the clip).

Stay tuned for more things to come from this space (including stories from concerts like this).

But he probably took off the entire Nancy Guthrie kidnapping, subsequent fiasco, and national heartbreak too.

I've never worked for a political campaign, but who the fuck is this even for? And what worker looks at five mailer ideas and says, "Now *THIS* is the one that reaches the most people!"?

edit: added a word.

Shane Coyle from Child Safety Soldiers and Jersey Coast Emergency News. Here is a video of him grooming a minor (14 year old) over voicemail