The Ghosts of Christmas Just Past The tinsel and Santas have come and gone in the city, but still we are haunted by Christmas: the tossed-out trees that never seem to go away. TMN Contributing Photographer Geoffrey Badner brings us a gallery of coniferous Laura Palmers.

Progress Reports: Fourth Quarter 2003 The Institute of Improbable Research has the means to make the impossible happen. From losing a loser’s viriginity to building the best coach in the world, John Warner has their year-end results.

Letters from Russia: Ordeals in Vyborg A town boasting roots in the middle ages, basements drowning in feces, and enough crime to scare away Finns who refuse to travel with guards – what more could a tourist want? Veronica Khokhlova leaves her home in St. Petersburg for the enticing Vyborg.

New York Diary: Notes from 10th Street 10th Street crosses Manhattan at its waist, from the Hudson to the East River, through the West, Central, and Eastern Villages, to the outskirts of Alphabet City. A walk from one side of Manhattan to the other is about two miles long, an hour of travel, and Rosecrans Baldwin takes these walks frequently.