I am now terrified of gasoline.

Apparently gasoline is really expensive. I don't have a car in Chicago, so I'm somewhat blind to the whole phenomenon. I suppose it probably affects the that the CTA is charging riders, but as I've got the U-Pass through Northwestern which cuts my cost down to essentially nothing and have been biking up every day that it's not downpouring to avoid the mass incompetence of said transit authority, I'm a bit out of the Loop, as it were.

But, anyway, gasoline is expensive. Everyone everywhere in every local media outlet ever lately has been going on and on about this, because "$3.50 for a gallon of gas" is a bit shocking and generates some easy stories. Right now, Post-Gazette.com (the website for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for those of you unfamiliar with it) has got a story about how the high cost of gas isn't affecting Memorial Day travel while citing no real statistics other than "there were some people getting gas last night along the Turnpike, and if the price of gas were in any way affecting travel plans, everyone would be in their basement weeping." Or something like that.

The reason I bring this up is that the picture they use to draw you into the story on the main page is one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen.



I'm sure this guy's a terrific person. He's apparently a veteran's advocate, and was off to participate in something with Rolling Thunder this weekend.

But the picture is shot from the perspective of someone looking into a mirror to see an apparently naked old man creeping up on them from behind.

I'm no press-photographer. But I think I might have been drawn into the story more effectively with something that doesn't give me nightmares.

Then again, I'm blogging about it, so maybe that's their intent. Creep out the kid with the blog that five people read.