Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe BEEN LOADIN' FOR BIN LADEN Free computer games that allow people to punch, shoot, bomb and torment Osama bin Laden are proliferating on the Web, according to the Wall Street Journal. Advertisement Some of the titles include "Bad Dudes vs. bin Laden," "Get Osama" and "Yo Mamma, Osama!" Players of a game called "Bin Laden Liquors" shoot at bin Laden as he pops up behind a liquor-store counter chattering anti-American epithets, reports the Journal. One Web site, CyberExtruder.com, has created four bin Laden characters that can be downloaded and inserted into popular games such as "Quake" or "The Sims." CyberExtruder CEO Larry Gardner said he has counted 126,000 downloads of the bin Laden items, and no more than 10 complaints from site visitors who said the characters were in bad taste. "We hope that people will have fun at this and just laugh at him," Gardner told the newspaper. Advertisement (Thanks to UPI's Joe Warminsky in Washington) NOW THAT'S SCARY! Want to be a fright this Halloween? Then put on your silver glove and "moonwalk" dressed up as Michael Jackson. The King of Pop was cited as Halloween's "scariest character" by guests surveyed at Paramount's Great America in Santa Clara, Calif. When asked "who's the scariest character," respondents choose the Jackson over Dracula (37.3 percent vs. 24 percent) Jason from Friday the 13th (23.4 percent) and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates (15.3 percent). Those questioned also said snakes scared them the most, more than growing old, drivers on cell phones and Stealth, the world's first flying coaster. As for the best Halloween costumes, 56.8 percent of the 1,791 people surveyed said "Planet of the Apes" would make the best costumes, followed by "Charlie's Angels" (28.3 percent) and "American Pie 2" (14.9 percent). ANOTHER MECHANICAL HEART IMPLANTED The world's fourth implantation of the AbioCor Implantable Replacement Heart was performed Wednesday in an 11-hour procedure at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, Calif. The patient, a man in his 70s, is said to be resting comfortably. He was not identified. UCLA Medical Center is one of the national sites participating in the initial trial with the AbioCor Replacement Heart. The first two procedures were performed at Jewish Hospital in Louisville, Ky., on July 2 and Sept. 13. The third implant took place at Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston on Sept. 26. Advertisement The AbioCor mechanical heart is designed to replace a failing heart in a patient that otherwise would be too ill to undergo a heart transplant. REASONS TO CELEBRATE THIS WEEK: FRIDAY: This is Evaluate Your Life Day, a time to check and see if you're heading in the direction you want to be heading. (Web site: wellcat.com) And Yorktown, Va., celebrates Yorktown Day today with a parade and commemorative ceremonies. It was on this date in 1781 that British troops surrendered to American forces in Yorktown, Va. -- effectively ending the Revolutionary War. SATURDAY: This is Sweetest Day. Members of the Baha'i faith today observe the anniversary, in 1819, of the birth of Siyyid Ali Muhammad, who later took the title of "the Bab" -- the prophet-herald of the Baha'i faith. Guatemala celebrates Revolution Day today. And it's Kenyatta Day in Kenya, a public holiday. SUNDAY: Today through Oct. 27 is National Forest Products Week, by presidential proclamation. It's also National Massage Therapy Awareness Week, National Save Your Back Week, National School Bus Safety Week, New International Version of the Bible Week and Pastoral Care Week. This is National Shut-In Visitation Day, National Sunday School Teacher Appreciation Day and Reptile Awareness Day. Advertisement Today is National Day in Somalia. And it's Overseas Chinese Day in Taiwan. MONDAY: This is National Color Day. (Web site: colorology.com) It's also National Scientific Literacy Day. Today is a national holiday at the Vatican. And this is Zambia's Independence Day. Zambia, then known as Northern Rhodesia, gained independence from Britain in 1964. (Thanks to Chase's 2001 Calendar of Events) BY THE WAY... It wasn't just British troops that surrendered to Gen. George Washington on this date in 1781, effectively ending the Revolutionary War. Who else was there? Hessian soldiers also were among the troops led by British Gen. Lord Cornwallis that surrendered that day.
