I found a great online tool last week.  To put a toll increase for New York’s bridges into perspective for a story on NY1, I wanted to know what the Verrazano Bridge’s initial one dollar round-trip toll in 1964 would be today if it had been increased in line with inflation.

In an era where corn syrup is public enemy number one, Halloween candy presents quite a paradox: For some, it’s the whole reason Halloween exists. For others, it’s an evil to eradicate.  The push and pull was fodder for several articles this week. And before you run out and buy this year’s stash, we thought we’d pass on the advice we read.

In response to yesterday’s Charlie Chaplin post, a reader passed along a link from a 1999 episode of “Felicity.” The dialogue refers to the iPad a decade before it existed.

If you’re vacillating between cape, no cape and you live in Transylvania, Louisiana, you might want to leave it at your castle—it’s supposed to be in the 70s on Halloween night.  If you live in Mummy Mountain, Colorado you’re going to want to wrap an extra layer of toilet paper around you because it’ll be in the 40s. And be sure to wear your hat in Broomstick, New York—you’ll need it with that 40-degree weather.

Let me start with a disclaimer: I’m usually a serious man. But in the spirit of Halloween, I’ve decided to suspend reality and share this crazy video I just saw. It’s a few seconds of footage from Charlie Chaplin’s 1928 “The Circus.” An Irish filmmaker swears there is a time traveler in the shot. At first I scoffed at the very idea. But then I watched the clip.

The Taiwan-based animators who re-imagined the events on the night Tiger Woods crashed his SUV have turned their computer animation skills loose on another incident. They’ve filled in the blanks for us on Charlie Sheen’s misbehavior.

More people are on food stamps than in college. And the average American has more than $7000 in credit card debt. My friend Christine Romans uses facts like those in her new book, “Smart is the New Rich: If You Can’t Afford It — Put It Down,” to drive home her point about curbing discretionary spending.

After a long decision-making process, NY1 made an announcement this morning about that Errol Louis is joining us as the host of “Inside City Hall.” The radio host and New York Daily News columnist fills the job left vacant by Dominic Carter’s departure last year.

I spent my Sunday in Poughkeepsie, New York, where I moderated the NY1-sponsored debate at Marist College. It was the only debate between Senator Charles Schumer and his Republican challenger Jay Townsend.