Paul Krugman's Column: Holding China to Account (New York Times)
Ask yourself: Why is it so hard to restore full employment? It's true that the housing bubble has popped, and consumers are saving more than they did a few years ago. But once upon a time America was able to achieve full employment without a housing bubble and with savings rates even higher than we have now. What changed? The answer is that we used to run much smaller trade deficits.
Jim Hightower: Wendy's "improved" burger
… the "improved" Wendy's has a fattier beef patty, a buttered bun, and whole fat mayonnaise - weighing in at 33 grams of fat and 580 calories per burger. That's 7 fat grams more and 70 calories more than the comparable quarter-pounder with cheese at McDonald's.
Scott Burns: How Much Are Social Security Benefits Worth? (AssetBuilder)
… even if you're very well off, Social Security is a big deal. Only the truly wealthy can say Social Security isn't important to them. … for the rest of us- all us struggling brutes with less than $5 million or more- scheming to maximize Social Security benefits is the easiest way to improve retirement income.
Susan Estrich: Another New Year (Creators Syndicate)
On the Jewish New Year, we pray for our souls. Happy New Year. Shana tova. You don't have to be Jewish to understand what it means to pray for your soul, to ask for forgiveness, to embrace life - sadness and all - with courage and character, and most of all, to be grateful. May the Lord bless us and keep us and cause His countenance to shine upon us and grant us peace. Amen.
Steve Lopez: I'm going back to the video store (LA Times)
Videotheque in South Pasadena celebrates film and has anything you want. The owner and his staff seem to love movies and customers. And I don't have to figure out streaming video.
Roger Ebert: Review of "Moneyball" (4 stars; PG-13)
In the 2002 season, the nation's lowest-salaried Major League Baseball team put together a 20-game winning streak, setting a new American League record. The team began that same season with 11 losses in row. What happened between is the stuff of "Moneyball," a smart, intense and moving film that isn't so much about sports as about the war between intuition and statistics.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
Ginger ale is a carbonated soft drink flavored with ginger. Dr. Thomas Cantrell, an American apothecary and surgeon, claimed to have invented ginger ale and marketed it with beverage manufacturer Grattan and Company. Grattan embossed the slogan "The Original Makers of Ginger Ale" on its bottles. Ginger ale was considered the most popular soft drink in the United States between 1860 and 1930.
Source
Charlie was first, and correct, with:
Ginger ale.
mj wrote:
I don't know how popular
It remained but Dr. Pepper was the first commercial, widely distributed brand of pop.
Alan J said:
Ginger Ale
Adam answered:
Ginger Ale. Can you even make that at a soda counter?
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Ginger ale was considered the most
popular soft drink in
the United States between
1860 and 1930.
DanD
responded:
... Cocain-Cola? Naw, just Ginger Ale
Marian said:
ginger ale
Dale of Diamond Springs, CA replied:
I remember my Grandfather telling me when I was a kid about phosphate sodas when I was a kid. He even took me to an old pharmacy with an old fashioned soda fountain in downtown Oakland so that I could have one. It was lemon lime flavored and was tasty. I also remember getting real soda fountain cokes, cherry and vanilla cokes too. An ice cream cone was a nickel a scoop. That was in 1955 when I was five years old.
BttbB answered:
Ginger Ale... of which ...
... is the World's Best... Canada Dry's is horse piss compared to Vernor's.
CBS begins the night with a FRESH'NCIS', followed by a FRESH'NCIS: The 2nd One', then a FRESH'Unforgettable'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Hugh Jackman, Sean Young, and Feist.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Jessica Lange and Jacques Steinberg.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'Biggest Loser', followed by a FRESH'Parenthood'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Kim Kardashian, Kris Humphries, Kenny Wormald, and LeAnn Rimes.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Simon Cowell, Laura Dern, Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield, Bobby Flay, and Daryl Hall.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson 'The Scab' Daly are Kaitlin Olson, Megan Amram, and Lykke Li.
ABC opens the nightwith a FRESH'Dancing With The R's', followed by another FRESH'Dancing With The R's', then a FRESH'Body Of Proof'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Evangeline Lilly, the latest "Dancing with the Stars" castoff, and Mute Math.
The CW offers a FRESH'90210', followed by a FRESH'Ringer'.
Faux has a FRESH'Glee', followed bya FRESH'New Girl', then a FRESH'Raising Hope'.
MY recycles an old 'Cold Case', followed by another old 'Cold Case'.
AMC offers the movie 'Cold Creek Manor', followed by the movie 'The Others', then the movie 'The Others', again.
BBC -
[6:00 AM] BBC World News
[7:00 AM] BBC World News
[8:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 3 Katie Price, Jo Brand, Jackie Collins
[9:00 AM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 6
[10:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 9 - Le Bistro
[11:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 5 Sandgate
[12:00 PM] Doctor Who - 2 - The Beast Below
[1:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 7
[2:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 8
[3:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 7 - Sushi Ko
[4:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep. 4 Moore Place
[5:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 1 Redemption, Part 2
[6:00 PM] Doctor Who - 3 - Victory of the Daleks
[7:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 5
[8:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 6
[9:00 PM] 24 Hours in the ER - Episode 3
[10:00 PM] 24 Hours in the ER - Episode 1
[11:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 6 Hannah & Mason's
[12:00 AM] 24 Hours in the ER - Episode 3
[1:00 AM] 24 Hours in the ER - Episode 1
[2:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 6 Hannah & Mason's
[3:00 AM] 24 Hours in the ER - Episode 3
[4:00 AM] 24 Hours in the ER - Episode 1
[5:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills', 'Rachel Zoe Project', followed by a FRESH'Rachel Zoe Project', then a FRESH'Mad Fashion'.
Comedy Central has '30 Rock', another '30 Rock', 'Workaholics', 'Tosh.0', another 'Tosh.0', still another 'Tosh.0', followed by a FRESH'Tosh.0', then a FRESH'Workaholics'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Michael Lewis.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is John Lithgow.
FX has '2½ Men', followed by the movie 'I, Robot', then a FRESH'Sons Of Anarchy'.
History has 'American Pickers', another 'American Pickers', still another 'American Pickers', followed by a FRESH'Top Shot'.
IFC -
[6:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle - Rollerskates
[6:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle - The Bots and the Bees
[7:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle - Smunday
[7:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle - Water Park
[8:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle - Traffic Jam
[8:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle - Halloween
[9:00PM] Malcolm in the Middle - Lois' Birthday
[9:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle - Dinner Out
[10:00PM] Onion News Network - Asteroid Heads to Earth
[10:30PM] Arrested Development - The Ocean Walker
[11:00PM] Arrested Development - Prison Break-In
[11:30PM] Malcolm in the Middle - Smunday
[12:00AM] Malcolm in the Middle - Water Park
[12:30AM] Malcolm in the Middle - Traffic Jam
[1:00AM] Onion News Network - Asteroid Heads to Earth
[1:30AM] Doghouse
[3:30AM] Arrested Development - The Ocean Walker
[4:00AM] Arrested Development - Prison Break-In
[4:30AM] Bollywood Hero
[5:45AM] The Whitest Kids U'Know (ALL TIMES EST)
From left to right: Producer Nigel Sinclair, Director Martin Scorsese, musician and former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney; Yoko Ono, widow of former Beatle John Lennon; Producer Olivia Harrison, former Beatle George Harrison's widow and former Beatle drummer Ringo Starr, arrive for the UK Premiere of the film 'George Harrison: Living in the Material World' a film by Director Martin Scorsese , at a central London cinema, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011.
Photo by Joel Ryan
"Are you ready for some football?" That question has greeted "Monday Night Football" viewers for some 20 years, but as of Monday it has been retired.
ESPN decided on Monday to remove "All My Rowdy Friends," Hank Williams Jr.'s iconic theme song for "Monday Night Football," from the broadcast due to controversial comments the country singer made on Fox News.
ESPN has issued the following statement: "While Hank Williams Jr. is not an ESPN employee, we recognize he is closely linked to our company through the opening to 'Monday Night Football. We are extremely disappointed with his comments, and as a result have decided to pull the open from tonight's telecast."
In an interview on Fox's morning show, "Fox and Friends," Williams, an outspoken Republican, compared President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler.
Williams was criticizing Obama for playing golf with House Speaker John Boehner over the summer, saying it was like "Hitler playing golf with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Benjamin Netanyahu.
Actress and comedian Margaret Cho poses during a photocall to promote her album "Cho Dependent" at the annual MIPCOM television programme market in Cannes, southeastern France October 3, 2011. The international film and programme market for TV, video, cable and satellite (MIPCOM) runs from October 3 to October 6 on the French Riviera.
Photo by Eric Gaillard
Anderson Cooper's new daytime talk show is dealing with the fallout of a skateboarding accident that injured a teenager about to appear in an episode on the science of the teenage brain.
The news blog Gawker.com reports the teen hit his head while filming stunts of himself on a skateboard and was in a coma.
Cooper's month-old syndicated talk show confirmed Monday it had asked its guest for video footage but wouldn't address what he had been asked to film.
The teen was to appear on a segment about how a brain develops.
A protester marches in support of the New York Occupy Wall Street protests outside City Hall in Los Angeles, California October 3, 2011.
Photo by Lucy Nicholson
Actor Seth Rogen married his long-term girlfriend, screenwriter Lauren Miller, in a ceremony on Sunday.
Known for playing the role of the hapless bachelor in films such as "Knocked Up," Rogen, 30, wed 29 year-old Miller after getting engaged in 2010, his publicist said.
People magazine said the ceremony took place in Sonoma County, northern California, and among the guests were Rogen's frequent film collaborators including Jonah Hill, Adam Sandler and Paul Rudd, as well as "Knocked Up" director Judd Apatow and wife Leslie Mann.
The Canadian comedian met Miller while he was working on "Da Ali G Show" in 2004. Miller has played some minor roles alongside Rogen in "Superbad," "Observe and Report" and most recently the dark comedy "50/50," which opened in U.S. theaters this past weekend.
Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto (L) reacts with actress Charlotte Rampling after he was named Commander of Arts and Letters during a ceremony at the Culture Ministry in Paris October 3, 2011.
Photo by Charles Platiau
Former Australia cricketer Shane Warne says he and British actress Elizabeth Hurley are engaged.
Speaking after a round of golf at the Dunhill Links Championship pro-am in Scotland on Saturday, Warne said "Yes, I can confirm we are engaged."
British newspapers showed pictures of Hurley wearing a large engagement ring while she watched Warne playing at the Kingsbarns club in east Scotland.
Warne retired from international cricket in 2007 but played four seasons with the Rajasthan Royals in the lucrative Indian Premier League before calling it quits at the end of the 2011 IPL season.
Ferris Bueller has returned to Wrigley Field, though this time he didn't have to cut class. And he helped set a world record.
The 1986 film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" about three truant teenagers' adventures around Chicago was screened Saturday night at the historic baseball field. The event helped mark the film's 25th anniversary.
The trio attends a Chicago Cubs game at the park in one scene. In another, Ferris lip syncs "Danke Schoen" after getting onto a parade float.
Prompted by that classic scene, more than 900 viewers sang the song before the screening. A representative from the Guinness Book of World Records confirms it broke the previous 500-person record for the most people singing in a round.
An Occupy Wall Street protester writes on a board of thoughts and ideas at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan in New York October 3, 2011. The Occupy Wall Street protests moved into their third week on Monday with demonstrators camping out in Zuccotti Park.
Photo by Mike Segar
"The Office" actress Jenna Fischer gave birth to a baby boy on September 24, her spokeswoman said on Monday.
Fischer, 37, who is married to screenwriter Lee Kirk, welcomed son Weston Lee, the first child for the couple, People Magazine reported.
The Emmy-nominated actress was previously married to screenwriter James Gunn from 2000 till 2007. She met Kirk in 2009, and the couple married in 2010. Fischer announced that she was expecting in May.
Fischer's pregnancy has been written into the current season of "The Office" where her character Pam Halpert is expecting her second child with screen husband Jim (played by John Krasinski).
Actress Kristen Johnston poses during a photocall to promote the television series "The Exes" at the annual MIPCOM television programme market in Cannes, southeastern France October 3, 2011. The international film and programme market for TV, video, cable and satellite (MIPCOM) runs from October 3 to October 6 on the French Riviera.
Photo by Eric Gallard
"Hercules" star Kevin Sorbo has revealed for the first time that while filming his hit series in 1997, he suffered three strokes that left him "depressed and frustrated" and with a bad attitude for the two years it took him to recover.
In a Neurology Now magazine interview that teases Sorbo's new memoir "True Strength," the actor says his health troubles left him partially blind and grasping "the backs of chairs and counters for an arduous five-yard trip to the bathroom."
Sorbo, who worked out rigorously to play "Hercules" and perform his own stunts, was exercising in the summer of 1997 when, out of the blue, he began to feel pain and cold sensations in his left arm and hand.
Doctors checked him out and found nothing seriously wrong with him, and he resumed working out. The pain continued, however, and while lifting weights one day, he experienced severe pain down his shoulder. Again, a chiropractor checked him out and found nothing seriously wrong.
But on the drive home from the chiropractor appointment, Sorbo experienced blurry vision and dizziness. He arrived home safely and decided to "sleep it off," but awoke the next morning with slurred speech and found himself barely able to walk.
The Fox News Channel marks its 15th anniversary this week having changed the face of television news in the United States, yet still considering itself an underdog.
With its colorful graphics, news alerts, scrolling text, big personalities, fast pace and punditry, Fox News established a style that since 1996 has spawned many imitators along with plenty of controversy.
But it's a brand that many Americans have warmed to. Fox News Channel, part of Rupert Murdoch's giant News Corp media group, now towers over its cable news rivals, with some 1.9 million average viewers in primetime. That is double the combined audience of CNN and MSNBC, according to the most recent Nielsen media ratings.
Fox News also boasts the leading five cable news "entertainment" programs with outspoken Bill O'Reilly at the top of the pile with about 2.9 million nightly viewers for his "The O'Reilly Factor."
American musician, songwriter, actor Stevie van Zandt poses as he promotes his new TV Mafia series "Lilyhammer" during the 27th MIPCOM (International Film and Programme Market for TV, Video,Cable and Satellite) in Cannes, southeastern France, Monday, Oct. 3, 2011.
Photo by Lionel Cironneau
The Supreme Court let stand on Monday a ruling that a traditional Internet download of sound recording does not constitute a public performance of the recorded musical work under federal copyright law.
The justices refused to review a ruling by an appeals court in New York that the download itself of a musical work does not fall within the law's definition of a public performance of that work.
The not-for-profit American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) appealed to the Supreme Court. It said the ruling has profound implications for the nation's music industry, costing its members tens of millions of dollars in potential royalties each year.
ASCAP says more than 390,000 composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers in the United States exclusively license their music through the organization. It licenses nearly half of all of the musical works played online, according to the court record in the case.
The federal government opposed the appeal. U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli said the appeals court's ruling was correct and comported with common understanding and sound copyright policy.
Actress Fran Drescher poses with producer of the television series "Happily Divorced" Peter Marc Jacobson during a photocall to promote the show at the annual MIPCOM television programme market in Cannes, southeastern France October 3, 2011. The international film and programme market for television, video, cable and satellite (MIPCOM) runs from October 3 to October 6 on the French Riviera.
Photo by Eric Gaillard
The national board of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) has given negotiators for the labor group's sound recording contract authorization to strike, the organization announced Saturday.
Since mid-August, AFTRA, which represents professional actors, dancers, singers, and broadcasters, has been in talks with the major labels on a new sound recordings contract.
The deal covers, according to the AFTRA release, "singers, royalty and non-royalty artists, as well as announcers, actors, comedians, narrators and sound effects artists who work on recordings in all new and traditional media and all music formats, in addition to audiobooks, comedy albums and cast albums."
Actor Eddie Izzard poses during a photocall to promote the television series "Treasure Island" at the annual MIPCOM television programme market in Cannes, southeastern France, October 3, 2011. The International film and programme market for TV, video, cable and satellite (MIPCOM) opens from October 3 to October 6 on the French Riviera. \
Photo by Eric Gaillard
ABC News and Yahoo Inc. are joining to deliver more online news to their audiences. With the deal, ABC News content will be prominently featured on Yahoo News, the most visited news website in the world. It will also show up on Yahoo's popular front page.
The two news organizations have a combined online audience of more than 100 million users per month in the U.S. - something ABC News president Ben Sherwood noted was "the size of the Super Bowl audience."
While, the deal helps ABC grow its online reach, Yahoo News can drive further traffic to its own site by featuring original, made-for-online content. For the first time, ABC is launching Web-only news series, starting with a live interview with President Barack Obama by George Stephanopoulos Monday afternoon. That launches a series, "Newsmakers," with online interviews conducted by the likes of Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and others.
Both companies will maintain editorial control of their own content.
Yahoo and ABC News have already had agreements to share content online, but the companies say the latest venture goes deeper than that. Sherwood called it a "game-changing day" for ABC News.
In this Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011 photograph, young Indian artists dressed as Hindu deities Radha, right and Krishna, left, participate in a Dussehra procession in Allahabad, India. The Hindu festival of Dussehra commemorates the triumph of Lord Rama over the demon king Ravana, marking the victory of good over evil.
Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh
Producer Saul "Can't Dance" Zaentz has sued distributor Miramax and its former owner, the Walt Disney Co., for $20 million, claiming the defendants hid profits to the Oscar-winning drama "The English Patient."
The action, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that a prolonged scheme existed between Miramax (run during this earlier phase by founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein) and Disney to hide the film's $300 million in profits, paying Zaentz's company a mere $5 million over time. (The Weinsteins are not parties to the lawsuit.)
Released in 1996, "The English Patient" grossed $232 million at the worldwide box office on a production spend of $27 million -- and made many more millions on VHS and DVD.
The suit, filed by Levely & Singer, says that an audit of Miramax's books revealed "multiple acts of self-dealing and unfair business practices designed to ensure that the amount of the true gross receipts generated from the exploitation of 'The English Patient' would be artificially manipulated and understated...."
Bavarian riflemen in their traditional costume fire their muzzle loaders, in front of the 'Bavaria' statue in Munich, southern Germany, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2011. Members of various shooting clubs of the region met for a salute on the last day of the famous Oktoberfest beer festival.
Photo by Matthias Schrader
Chrissie Hynde is citing the struggling economy in the closing of her vegetarian restaurant in her hometown of Akron, Ohio.
The Pretenders front woman posted a notice Sunday on the VegiTerranean restaurant website.
She says that she and the staff had tried to keep the restaurant open but that the economic climate made it impossible. She opened the downtown eatery four years ago.
Hynde campaigned in 2009 against a recall effort targeting Mayor Donald Plusquellic and credited him with doing a good job to revive downtown. He survived the recall effort.
A model presents a creation by Belarusian designer Evgeny Ivanchik during the Festival of Vanguard Art, Mammoth 2011, in Minsk October 2, 2011.
Photo by Vasily Fedosenko
Construction is under way on revised plans for a Las Vegas attraction that will bring tourists into Wayne Newton's home.
The singer's sprawling Casa de Shenandoah estate has been a flurry of activity in recent months, and work on a tourist attraction to showcase his favorite celebrity keepsakes is almost complete.
Revised building plans submitted last month call for expanding a museum space and a theater where he will perform at least occasionally.
A Newton-themed car wash will also be larger than originally planned.
Thousands of spectators mingle among inflating hot air balloons at the 40th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, N.M., on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011. Fiesta organizers said 550 balloons and 600 pilots from around the world are registered for this year's annual event.
Photo by Susan Montoya Bryan
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
wrote:
took the day off.
