TIME.com This Week OCT. 15-OCT. 21

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ONLINE CHATS

Each week TIME writers and editors chat on AOL about what's going on in the news. This week we will be talking about bioterrorism, the strikes against Afghanistan--and anything that catches your fancy.

--ERIC POOLEY Is TIME's Nation editor--always a tough job but now even tougher. Eric is responsible for our war coverage and edited this week's cover package on the ground campaign. Talk to him on Thursday at 8 p.m. E.T. on AOL, Keyword: Live.

--MARGARET CARLSON writes TIME's Public Eye column from Washington. Since Sept. 11, she has written about everything from Rudy Giuliani to George Bush to patriotic splurging. Talk to her on Wednesday at 8 p.m. E.T. on AOL, Keyword: Live.

--MASSIMO CALABRESI covers diplomacy and national security from the Washington bureau and has been all over this continuing story. That makes sense, because he has written about the attack on the U.S.S. Cole and the foiled millennium bombing plot. Chat with him on Tuesday at 8 p.m. E.T. on AOL, Keyword: Live.

--ALICE PARK has covered medicine and health issues for TIME for the past eight years, but lately she has focused on the bioterrorism beat. Ask her about anthrax or smallpox or whatever biological threat you're worried about on Monday at 8 p.m. E.T. on AOL, Keyword: Live.

PHOTO ESSAY

--Floating Fortress TIME photographer Barry Iverson spent a week shooting the men and women aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, located somewhere in the Arabian Sea (for security reasons, the Navy won't say where), as they prepared jets, weapons and themselves for the strikes against Afghanistan. time.com/enterprise

WEB LORE

OSAMA & BERT? American culture is so powerful it permeates even anti-American protests. Last week Pakistani demonstrators carried posters of Osama bin Laden seated next to grouchy Sesame Street straight man Bert. The pictures were apparently downloaded from one of many websites publishing parody images of the Muppets in compromising positions. Sesame Street executives were none too pleased. You can find the images on the Web by searching for "Bert bin Laden."

WAR DIARY Like it or not, says TIME Asia correspondent Tim McGirk, Pakistan is a place where young girls moon over Osama bin Laden as if he were a rock star. Read about Tim's negotiations with protesters and religious taxi drivers in his weekly dispatches from the front. time.com/mcgirk

FEAR FACTOR If you're alarmed about anthrax and bioterrorism--and who isn't, these days?--you might want to take a moment to visit our UnHysterical Guide to Staying Safe, a commonsense listing of risks and how to be prepared for them. time.com/unhysterical