--Any backpackers our there with at least moderate fitness and experience? Michael Lanza's backpacking trip in Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains is just for you.

--Read Jay Michaelson's tribute to Lou Reed in the Huffington Post.

--Governor Chris Christie abandoned his long fight against same-sex marriage, concluding that signals from the court and the march of history were against him.

--Fast food workers making low wages often must sign up for federal benefits or get second jobs. And, there's no incentive for fast food chains, especially individual franchises, to increase wages.

--Still searching for this year's Halloween costume? Dress up as you favorite literary character.

--World Book Night is back for another year! Check out the selections for 2014, and find out how to become a book giver.

--The Affordable Care Act gives another family a more affordable and better health insurance option.

--Watch a lecture Bill Ayers gave last year about teaching and organizing for social justice.

--What happens when we define some people as more human than others? Jeremy Adam Smith interviews Susan Fiske about the science of racism.