Paul Krugman: Clinton, Obama, Insurance (nytimes.com)
The difference between the health care plans of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could well be the difference between achieving universal health coverage and falling far short.
Jim Hightower: THE HOWL OF THE WOLF (jimhightower.com)
On a wintry night, in the pale light of the moon, the Wolf emerges to howl again. Yes, "Howling Paul" Wolfowitz is back in government! The neo-con political hack who was a top architect of George W's Iraq debacle, is being brought out of the shadows to chair a prestigious state department committee that advises the Secretary on such matters as weapons of mass destruction.
Richard Roeper: Celebs' crush on Obama may not help him (suntimes.com)
The most popular viral video this side of Sarah Silverman's "I'm [Bleepin] Matt Damon" is "Yes We Can," featuring Barack Obama's New Hampshire speech, mashed up video celebrities reciting or singing snippets of the speech.
ROGER EBERT: Chocolat (from 2000; 3 stars)
"Chocolat" is about a war between the forces of paganism and Christianity, and because the pagan heroine has chocolate on her side, she wins. Her victory is delayed only because, during Lent, a lot of the locals aren't eating chocolate.
mj was first, and correct, writing:
Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice were nice (or so the commercial said)
They had nutrition, flavor, and were lots of fun. And they were good for weight watchers.
They also introduced many to the 1812 Overture.
Sandra in Bangor was second with:
puffed rice and puffed wheat
and fast on the draw, too.
Bill K replied:
Quaker Puffed Wheat
jim responded:
quaker puffed rice
Marian the Teacher said:
Quaker Oats
S. Bennett answered:
Quaker Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice.
And the commercials played Tchaikovsky's "Festival Overture The Year 1812" (not our war of 1812 but rather Russia's defeat of Napoleon) and showed cereal being blasted from cannon barrels while the orchestral drums simulated cannon fire.
Using guns to sell breakfast cereal. Is it any wonder that as a nation we are so fucked up?
Judi in Chattanooga said:
If my memory serves me correctly, the cereal "shot from guns" was Kellogg's Sugar Pops.
I guess all those morning cartoons enbedded certain commercials into my brain forever.
Keep up the great work....I enjoy your site most every day.
Maurice answered:
Rice Crispies
Bill W wrote:
Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice (made in my hometown of St.
Joseph, MO) were "shot from guns"
Sally said:
The cereal, 'shot from guns' IS:
Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice, "The swell tasting breakfast cereal shot from guns." And, I still eat it on occasion today! (Don't know if it's still shot from guns though...) Shades of Saturday morning radio, back in the good days...
PS Great to hear that Vic is still in the mix! "Hey man, life can be tough; we will be tougher." Keep on truckin' kiddo! :)
Bruce S. replied:
Quaker Puffed Wheat
ducks responded:
Quaker puffed wheat, perhaps. Or puffed rice. One of those puffed cereals. I think.
bebo guessed:
kix ?
rebel ("Fascism will come to this country and it will come disguised as Americanism."
- Governor Huey Long -) said:
Rice Crispies
Dave in Tucson responded:
"Quaker Oats - The only cereal that's shot from guns! BOOM!" (Sung to the tune of the 1812 Overture).
Alan J responded:
Quaker Puffed Wheat/Puffed Rice. I did see a site that mentioned a cereal Called Ranger Joe Cereal that was "shot from guns."
Marian the Teacher amends her answer:
May I amend my original answer. It was too early in the morning for me to try to be thinking. While administrating the California High School Exit Exam today I realized that the answer was Quaker Puffed Wheat. I realized this while mentally humming the 1812 Overture out of boredom and wondered where that came from....voila....here I am sending you my answer!!
And, Joe S ("I won't eat any cereal that doesn't turn the milk purple."
--Bill Watterson) wrote:
My first thought was Sugar Corn Pops, but that's not right. Sugar Corn Pops were "Shot with sugar, through and through." I believe the correct answer is Quaker Puffed Wheat. I think you have to be old to remember these things.
I recall one time when I was about 5 years old and my father brought home a gunny sack full of sugar coated puffed wheat. It sat in a box on the kitchen floor and it was pretty neat to walk up, open the sack and grab a handful of the stuff.
(I've given up trying to be first to answer, it can't be done. What time of the middle of the night do you people get up anyway? Or have you not gone to bed yet, when the new trivia questions come out?)
Please try to get your answers in by 9pm (pst) so I can start uploading - uploading takes (at least) a couple of hours with my crappy dial-up.
On a good night, the page is up by 12:30am (pst) - if it's a bad night, I quit around 3am (pst).
zEN mAN (observing the construction of "Forest City" in Downtown Oakland new 20th and Telegraph in what they're going to cal a new "Green Zone"...ha ha ha)
"My computer is acting up - it turns itself off and reboots. No warning, just a black screen, then the reboot, and *poof*, there goes everything I was in the middle of..."
First of all, back up, back up, back up! (Can you keep a disc or CD in the hard drive - then hit, "Save" every so often?) I sometimes compose on email and, "save" if interrupted - then cut 'n paste to a new format when I get back...
I had this happen last April. I thought it was my monitor, ditched that one, and got a replacement - still was shutting off. I took the hard drive to a small repair shop and they found it was my "internal" fan, replaced it (under $50) and nailed the problem. (I hesitate to say it's still working fine least I. Jinx something...)
Good luck, hope you get your little guy/gal up and running soon!
Sally P
PS There are 2 fans in your hard drive - I never knew that!!
Thanks, Sally!
The crashes yesterday were so bad I was logged out of sites I've never logged out of.
Today I repositioned its St. Jude medallion, and, so far, it's been behaving.
CBS opens the night with the SEASON PREMIERE'Survivor: Micronesia', followed by a RERUN'CSI: The Original One', then a RERUN'Without A Trace'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Kate Hudson and Jack Hanna.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Jon Favreau, Alicia Coppola, and Shelby Lynne.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'Deal Or No Deal', followed by a FRESH'Celebrity Apprentice', then the SERIES PREMIERE'Lipstick Jungle'.
Leno is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
Conan is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
Carson 'The Scab' Daly is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN'Lost', followed by a FRESH'Lost', then a FRESH'Eli Stone'.
Jimmy Kimmel is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
The CW offers a FRESH'Smallville', followed by a FRESH'Supernatural'.
Faux has a FRESH'Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?', followed by a FRESH'Don't Forget The Lyrics!'.
MY fills the night with the movie 'The Great White Hype'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', and still another 'The First 48'.
AMC offers the movie 'Snper', followed by the movie 'The Matrix', then the movie 'Breaking Bad'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 D-Place;
[1:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 10 Hinton;
[2:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 33 Ardingly 50;
[2:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 34 Wetherby 53;
[3:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 10;
[3:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 11;
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 5;
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 6;
[5:00 PM] My Family - Ep 7 The Art of Being Susan;
[5:30 PM] Coupling - Ep 1 Split;
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep. 3 Walnut Tree;
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America;
[8:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 The Priory;
[9:00 PM] Last Restaurant Standing - Episode 1;
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America;
[11:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 The Priory;
[12:00 AM] Last Restaurant Standing - Episode 1;
[1:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 The Priory;
[2:00 AM] Last Restaurant Standing - Episode 1;
[3:00 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 19 Plymouth;
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 20 Hither Green;
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 33 Ardingly 50;
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 34 Wetherby 53;
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 1;
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 2;
[6:00 AM] BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Futurama', 'South Park', another 'South Park', and 'Drawn Together'.
Jon Stewart is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
Colbert Report is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
FX has the movie 'Maid In Manhattan', followed by the movie 'Fever Pitch', then the movie 'Fever Pitch', again.
History has 'Modern Marvels', another 'Modern Marvels', 'Gangland', and 'Cities Of The Underworld'.
IFC -
[06:15 AM] Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle;
[08:25 AM] Othello;
[10:30 AM] In America;
[12:20 PM] Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle;
[02:25 PM] Othello;
[04:35 PM] In America;
[06:25 PM] George Washington;
[08:00 PM] Dinner For Five #50;
[08:30 PM] Basilisk #5;
[09:00 PM] Trapped in the Closet;
[10:35 PM] The Long Kiss Goodnight;
[12:45 AM] Once in the Life;
[02:35 AM] How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It);
[04:05 AM] Trapped in the Closet;
[05:40 AM] Othello. (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has the movie 'Meet Joe Black', followed by the movie 'Dragonfly'.
Sundance -
[05:30 AM] Language Does Not Lie;
[07:00 AM] Still Breathing;
[09:00 AM] Episode 1: Oliver's Dream;
[10:00 AM] Butterfly;
[11:30 AM] Sabah;
[01:00 PM] Open City;
[03:00 PM] Still Breathing;
[05:00 PM] A Good Woman;
[07:00 PM] Episode 5;
[07:30 PM] Yves St. Laurent: 5 Avenue Marceau 75116 Paris;
[09:00 PM] Mike Myers + Deepak Chopra;
[10:00 PM] Howard Schultz + Norman Lear;
[11:00 PM] Pucker Up: The Fine Art of Whistling;
[12:00 AM] Episode 1;
[12:35 AM] Energy War;
[02:00 AM] Fuel;
[02:40 AM] Hung;
[03:00 AM] Howard Schultz + Norman Lear;
[04:00 AM] Episode 2;
[05:00 AM] Smiles of a Summer Night. (ALL TIMES EST)
U.S. actor Danny Glover, left, and Rita Marley, widow of late reggae artist Bob Marley, cut a birthday cake to mark what would have been the Bob Marley's 63rd birthday in Kingston, Jamaica, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008. Bob Marley died of cancer in 1981.
Photo by Coliin Reid
He's no longer the host of "The Price Is Right," but Bob Barker is still giving away major money.
The venerable game-show host and animal activist said Wednesday that he is donating $1 million to his alma mater, Drury University, to establish an undergraduate animal-ethics program.
"It's incredible that I ever was able to go back to Springfield and give them a million dollars, because when I was there, I didn't have 15 cents," Barker told The Associated Press, adding that he graduated from the Missouri school in 1947. "What I'm hoping is that this will become a model for other undergraduate schools."
Over the past decade, Barker has donated millions to establish animal-rights curricula at law schools nationwide, including Harvard, Columbia and Northwestern.
The Writers Guild of America plans to brief its members this weekend on a deal taking shape to end their 3-month-old strike, using the meetings to gauge rank-and-file support for the labor plan, union leaders said on Tuesday.
If members react favorably to the proposed deal at meetings set for Saturday in New York and Los Angeles, WGA leaders could act to lift or suspend the strike while a formal ratification process gets under way, two sources told Reuters.
Those sources, who are familiar with the circumstances but are barred from speaking publicly about them under a media blackout for the talks, cautioned, however, that no formal deal with the studios was yet in place. They said negotiators were still working out fine points in the contract language.
One source characterized the proposed writers' deal as an improvement over terms of an earlier labor pact for Hollywood directors that helped pave the way for studios and the WGA to resume bargaining on January 23, after weeks of stalemate.
Comedian George Lopez reacts after making his putt on the 18th green during the Celebrity Challenge charity event at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament in Pebble Beach, California, February 6, 2008.
Photo by Michael Fiala
English graffiti artist Banksy's screen print of supermodel Kate Moss sold for $191,000 at a street art auction in London.
The work, inspired by Andy Warhol's iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe, was one of 75 pieces of "urban art" on sale, Bonhams auction house said.
Many of the works were created with spray-paint and stencils and began life as street graffiti before being transferred to canvas.
Banksy refuses to give his real name, which has been variously reported as Robert Banks or Robin Banks. The artist, who does much of his work on exterior walls, rarely offers originals for sale.
A charitable group is auctioning a bathing suit left at a Swedish pool by Australian movie star Nicole Kidman to raise money to buy cows for poor families in India, the suit's owner said Wednesday.
The bathing suit, which is currently on display in a second-hand store in the southern Swedish town of Esloev, will be sold to the highest bidder when the auction wraps up on Saturday, owner Zlatko Nedanovski told AFP.
He said the profits from the sale would be used to purchase cows for poor Indian farmers.
Nedanovski, 32, said he hoped to raise enough to buy five cows, which at a price of 1,800 kronor (190 euros, 280 dollars) a head should cost a total of 9,000 kronor.
A settlement of the Writers Guild of America strike appears imminent, but members of the postproduction industry -- the craftspeople and technicians who work on films after principal photography is completed -- are worried that it's already too late to repair the harm done.
Insiders calculate that the number of post industry members who have lost their jobs or been put on hiatus is in the thousands. That figure includes great numbers of freelance workers such as editors, assistants and post coordinators as well as staffers at postproduction facilities including Ascent Media Group, Laser Pacific, Matchframe, Modern Videofilm, the Post Group and Technicolor.
"I don't think the long-term impact on the post industry and its infrastructure has been understood," said Leon Silverman, the president of Laser Pacific who also serves as president of the nonprofit trade association Hollywood Post Alliance.
Some facilities have put employees on hiatus or on reduced work weeks, enabling them to maintain their benefits -- though not their salaries.
Rock and roll legend Chuck Berry arrives to the ceremony of the 'Goldene Kamera' award given by a popular German television magazine in Berlin February 6, 2008. Berry will be awarded for a lifetime of achievement.
Photo by Fabrizio Bensch
Local voters have rejected a proposal to demolish the famed Alcatraz prison and transform the island in San Francisco's Bay into a global peace centre, according to complete election results on Wednesday.
The proposition, which shared the presidential primary ballot measure on Tuesday, was rejected by 72 percent of San Francisco voters.
The island is San Francisco's second-most popular paid tourist attraction after cable cars, and occupies a dramatic position in the Bay near the Golden Gate Bridge.
Supporters had wanted to raze the prison, which gets 1.4 million visitors a year, and build a conference centre for conflict resolution, a labyrinth and a medicine wheel, a Native American symbol representing harmony and understanding.
It's typically the hottest party in town on Oscar night - but not this year. Vanity Fair has canceled its annual Academy Awards party, the magazine announced Tuesday.
The annual post-Oscar soiree often lures more luminaries than the ceremony itself. The night's big winners and nominees typically turn out, along with A-listers including Oprah Winfrey, Madonna, Cher, Sean Penn, Joni Mitchell and Al Gore.
Held annually at Morton's restaurant, the event has been a fixture for post-Oscar partygoers since its inception in 1994.
This year's party was to be the first at Craft, a new restaurant in tony Century City.
Actor Robert De Niro receives the 'Goldene Kamera' lifetime achievement award from director Martin Scorsese given by a popular German television magazine in Berlin February 6, 2008.
Photo by Fabrizio Bensch
Paris Hilton found herself somewhere she never thought she'd be: Harvard. "Harvard is hot!" the 26-year-old celebrity heiress said Wednesday as she picked up the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine's "Woman of the Year" award in front of the Lampoon castle.
Hilton, who arrived an hour late for the festivities, told the crowd of about 100 people who greeted her that her "Simple Life" co-star Nicole Ritchie was with her, then added: "Just kidding."
The Lampoon award is a spoof of the annual honors given by Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. The nation's oldest undergraduate drama troupe planned to present its "Woman of the Year" award to Charlize Theron on Thursday. "Man of the Year" Christopher Walken will be honored Feb. 15.
French actor Alain Delon (L) and director Thomas Langmann pose during a photocall to promote their film "Asterix in the Olympic Games" in Madrid February 6, 2008.
Photo by Sergio Perez
Two Chinese businesses and a U.S. company were indicted Wednesday in the tainted pet food incidents that killed potentially thousands of animals last year and raised worries about products made in China.
Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co.; Suzhou Textiles, Silk, Light Industrial Products Arts and Crafts I/E Co.; and Las Vegas-based ChemNutra Inc. were charged in two separate but related indictments.
The U.S. attorney's office in Kansas City said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received consumer reports suggesting 1,950 cats and 2,200 dogs died after eating food contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine.
U.S. Attorney John F. Wood said authorities haven't been able to substantiate all those reports, but "as for pet deaths, we think it's in the thousands."
A model displays body make-up by Nadia Brito at a contest during carnival festivities in Las Palmas on the Spanish Canary Island of Gran Canaria, late February 5, 2008. Picture taken February 5, 2008.
Photo by Borja Suarez
Prime-Time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Jan. 28-Feb. 3. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (X) Super Bowl: N.Y. Giants vs. New England, Fox, 97.45 million viewers.
2. (X) "Super Bowl Post Game," Fox, 63.93 million viewers.
3. (X) "House" (Sunday), Fox, 29.05 million viewers.
4. (1) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 28.22 million viewers.
5. (2) "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 25.57 million viewers.
6. (8) "House," Fox, 22.56 million viewers.
7. (4) "Moment of Truth," Fox, 17.64 million viewers.
8. (9) "Lost," ABC, 16.14 million viewers.
9. (20) "Lost" (Thursday, 8 p.m.), ABC, 13.16 million viewers.
10. (9) "NCIS," CBS, 11.77 million viewers.
11. (7) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 11.69 million viewers.
12. (32) "Eli Stone," ABC, 11.14 million viewers.
13. (26) "Law & Order," NBC, 11.1 million viewers.
14. (53) "Are You Smarter Than 5th Grader?," Fox, 10.56 million viewers.
15. (16) "Without a Trace," CBS, 10.18 million viewers.
16. (82) "Don't Forget the Lyrics," Fox, 10.07 million viewers.
17. (29) "Deal or No Deal" (Wednesday), NBC, 9.68 million viewers.
18. (X) "Two and a Half Men" CBS, 9.6 million viewers.
19. (35) "Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrieann," ABC, 9.45 million viewers.
20. (26) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 9.29 million viewers.
Lion cubs sit next to each other at Maruyama Zoo in Sapporo, northern Japan February 4, 2008. The cubs were born at the zoo on November 27, 2007.
Photo by Yuriko Nakao
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