News of the Week: Buttered Rolls, Marilyn Monroe, and Rockwell at the Swimming Hole

Only in New York? 

Another week, another controversy that breaks the internet. Sometimes you can see them coming, like that Google manifesto that has the left and the right taking sides, or weird/funny videos that go viral. But sometimes something takes over the web that you could never predict, like that dress a couple of years ago that no one knew the color of (I knew it was black and blue!) Yes, there was a day when everyone online was arguing about the color of a dress.  

Now we have a new controversy: buttered rolls! 

This New York Times piece by Sadie Stein extols the virtues of the buttered roll, which she and many other people say is a thing unique to New York City. Now, you might have the same first reaction that I and many other people online had: Can’t you get buttered rolls, well, everywhere?  

Apparently not! Not like the ones in New York! To be fair, it seems like Stein’s talking about a certain type of roll (a big hard roll with butter in the middle, almost like a butter sandwich) that you get in certain places, like bodegas and carts and delis, and you eat it for breakfast with your morning coffee. I’ve never had one of these, but they still seem like, you know, a roll with butter. I’ve had a lot of those.  

This paragraph stands out:

Though of course bread and butter are eaten all over, the buttered roll (or roll with butter, as it is known in parts of New Jersey) is a distinctly local phenomenon. Mention its name outside the New York metropolitan area and you would very likely be met with blank incomprehension.

I very much doubt that, even if our buttered rolls aren’t “buttered rolls.” But what do I know? The article has a lot of defenders, including Stein’s New York Times cohort Pete Wells, and detractors, like BuzzFeed’s Tom Gara. Stein knew there would be people who didn’t understand:

In response to inevitable carping…yes, NYers are incurable solipsists. AND the specific buttered roll discussed here is a specific thing.

— Sadie Stein (@SadieStein) August 2, 2017

David Letterman Is Back!

I knew he wouldn’t stay away. As soon as I heard him talking about how he wished he had thought of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee and noticed that he had started to do more interviews and podcasts, I knew he would be the anti–Johnny Carson and actually come out of retirement to do another show. Letterman just signed with Netflix to do six episodes of a new talk show starting in 2018. Instead of many guests, Letterman will sit down with one guest for the entire show. I’m thinking it’s going to be more Charlie Rose, less The Late Show.

But Dave, please, shave off that beard.

Speaking of Netflix…

Pop quiz: Who’s going to play Lucille Ball in a new biopic Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing, The Social Network, A Few Good Men) is writing for the streaming service?

1. Cate Blanchett
2. Meryl Streep
3. Debra Messing
4. Tea Leoni
5. Amy Adams

Here’s the answer. Now we can all make our predictions on who should play Desi Arnaz.

Does America Have a Tattoo Problem?

I was watching an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show a while back. Sally was telling Rob and Buddy that she would date a guy who had a mustache even though she never liked them before. She then said the next thing she was going to be into was tattoos, which shows how rare it was for men to have them back then (unless you were in the military).

How times have changed. You can’t leave the house without seeing at least one man (or woman) who has at least one tattoo. This piece at The Federalist argues that America has a tattoo problem.

I’ve never been tempted to get a tattoo. I did think about getting my ear pierced for about five minutes back in the ’80s. I’d have to get a really subtle tattoo, small and in a place no one could see it, because, well, they can get out of hand.

A Modern-Day Norman Rockwell Painting

This is proof that Twitter isn’t completely annoying: a photo taken at a recent Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park that could pass, as Maury Brown says, as a Rockwell:

This is an absolute modern day Norman Rockwell painting. pic.twitter.com/SxYF6JRkof

— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) August 4, 2017

RIP Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Robert Hardy, Don Baylor, Darren Daulton, Daniel Licht, Ty Hardin, Haruo Nakajima

Glen Campbell not only performed such classic songs as “Wichita Lineman,” “Rhinestone Cowboy,” and “Gentle on My Mind,” he was also a member of the famous group of session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew and played guitar on many other songs, including The Beach Boys’ “I Get Around” and “Help Me, Rhonda,” Ricky Nelson’s “Hello, Mary Lou,” Wayne Newton’s “Danke Schoen,” and Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night.” He died Tuesday after a battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 81.

Barbara Cook was the Broadway soprano who won a Tony for The Music Man and appeared in other classic musicals like Candide and She Loves Me. She passed away Tuesday at the age of 89.

Robert Hardy was a veteran actor who played Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter movies and appeared in many other movies and TV shows, including several in which he portrayed Winston Churchill. He died last Thursday at the age of 91.

Don Baylor and Darren Daulton were two baseball favorites who passed away this week. Baylor was not only the 1979 MVP, he led the league in getting hit by pitches: seven times in his career. He died Monday at the age of 68. Daulton was an All-Star catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. He died Sunday at the age of 55.

Daniel Licht did the music for Dexter and many other TV shows and films. He died last Wednesday at the age of 60.

Ty Hardin played Bronco Layne on the 1958–62 CBS Western Bronco and also appeared in movies like PT 109, The Chapman Report, and Merrill’s Marauders. He died last Thursday at the age of 87.

You wouldn’t recognize Haruo Nakajima because his face was usually hidden inside a suit. The Godzilla suit, to be exact. He was the first person to put it on and stomp around Japan in 1954 and played the monster in 11 more films. Nakajima died Monday at the age of 88.

This Week in History

Marilyn Monroe Dies (August 5, 1962)

The last professional photos of Marilyn Monroe, taken by George Barris three weeks before her death, went up for auction this week. The auction ends at 12:07 p.m ET today, so get your bid in quick.

President Nixon Resigns (August 9, 1974)

Nixon was really excited about taping his Oval Office meetings for posterity, but the practice eventually led to this:

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “Swimming Hole” (August 11, 1945)

Here’s an actual Norman Rockwell cover, one where he shows a salesman taking an impromptu dip on a hot summer day. I’m trying to find his pants, though. I see his shirt, jacket, tie, shoes, and even glasses, but I can’t find the pants.

Paninis

August is National Panini Month. Food Network has 50 panini recipes you can try, which means you can have two every day for the rest of the month without repeating a recipe. If you don’t own a panini press, you’ll have to use a heavy pan to press it down in the skillet.

If a panini is too much work for you, you could just make a regular, old-fashioned sandwich, because it also happens to be National Sandwich Month. You could even have a sandwich on a roll.

You know, with butter.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

International Left Hander’s Day (August 13)

If you’re right-handed and have always looked at left-handers as “different,” Sunday’s the day you can treat them as if they were normal.

National Roller Coaster Day (August 16)

I’m not a roller coaster fan. I’ve been on one, years ago at Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire, and I’ll never go on one again. But National Roller Coaster Day is the day to get on one and ride it again and again and again.

News of the Week: Summer Heat, Sam Shepard, and the Scariness of Mac and Cheese

There’s Only One Good Thing about August 

I walked to the convenience store today and it was like walking through a sauna, the kind of heat that makes your skin feel dry and moist at the same time. There was no air, no breeze, nothing but a wall of heat and steam that made every step a chore. When I got to the store, it was air conditioned, and I wanted to just stand there all day long next to the Slim Jims. But I don’t think the guy behind the counter would have liked that, though he would have had someone to talk to.  

Like most people who don’t have air conditioning, I spend most of my time in the summer sweating (the rest of the time is taken up killing bugs). I don’t like summer, and I particularly don’t like the time of summer we’re officially in now, the “dog days of summer.” According to National Geographic, the phrase doesn’t come from the image of dogs lying around in the heat during the month of August; it actually comes from Greek beliefs about a star. 

I like August for one thing and one thing only: It’s the signpost that says SUMMER IS COMING TO AN END. Soon the kids will be back in school, Labor Day will be over, and we’ll be digging our sweaters out of the closet. I can’t wait. 

RIP Sam Shepard, Judith Jones, Jeanne Moreau, Marty Sklar, John G. Morris, Patty Deutsch, Michael Johnson 

Sam Shepard was a true Renaissance man, one who worked as a writer, actor, artist, and maybe even philosopher. He wrote many plays, including Buried Child (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize), True West, and Fool for Love. He acted in many films, including The Right Stuff, Black Hawk Down, and Frances, and wrote many screenplays and short story collections. Shepard died last week at the age of 73. 

Shepard is one of the writers interviewed for the new documentary California Typewriter, which opens on August 18: 

If not for Judith Jones, we might not know Julia Child and Anne Frank. Jones was the editor who saw the value in Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and rescued Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl from the rejection pile. She also worked with writers such as John Updike, Lidia Bastianich, and Anne Tyler. She passed away Wednesday at the age of 93.  

Jeanne Moreau was an acclaimed French actress who appeared in such films as Diary of a Chambermaid, Jules and Jim, and The Trial. A 1965 profile of her in the Post paints her as an artist of intellect, culture, and sensitivity. She died last week at the age of 89. 

Marty Sklar was a Disney “Imagineer” whose work was vital to the development of the Disney theme parks. He died last Thursday at the age of 83. 

John G. Morris was a veteran photo editor who worked for Life, The New York Times, Time, Magnum Photos, The Washington Post, and National Geographic, in a career that started during World War II. He died last Friday at the age of 100. 

You remember comedian and actress Patty Deutsch from her appearances on Match Game and Tattletales. She also appeared in Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and did voice work for many cartoons. She died last Wednesday at the age of 73. 

Michael Johnson was a musician whose songs you loved but you didn’t know who did them, songs like “Bluer Than Blue,” “Give Me Wings,” and “The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder.” He also did this beautiful hit from 1979:  

Johnson died last week at the age of 72. 

Flake News 

Two new books you might be interested in. The first, by Republican Senator Jeff Flake, is called Conscience of a Conservative. If that title sounds familiar to you, it’s also the title of the classic 1960 book by Senator Barry Goldwater. Flake’s book is getting a lot of attention. 

The other book is Sting-Ray Afternoons, a memoir by sportswriter Steve Rushin that looks back at his years growing up in the 1970s. Since I also grew up in the 1970s, I’m putting this on my “must-read” list, even if I wasn’t a big rider of bikes.  

Should You Be Afraid of Mac and Cheese? 

The short answer I want to give is “no.” The longer answer is … well, let’s have James Hamblin of The Atlantic answer that question from a reader. 

Specifically, the reader is referring to a New York Times piece from earlier this year that reported that the powdered cheese used in many mac and cheese products might be hazardous. Of course, the real story isn’t something you can fit in a headline or tweet, so Hamblin gives up the real deal.  

This is all part of a fantastic new column by Hamblin called “Asking for a Friend,” where he answers medical and health questions from readers. He did another health-oriented video series for the magazine called “If Our Bodies Could Talk” (you can check out the archive here) and released a book by the same title last year.  

Mission Control Is Falling Apart 

NASA’s control center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas — the HQ that controlled Apollo 11, the Space Shuttle, and many other space missions — is not in good shape. It hasn’t been used since 1992, and though tourists still visit it, it has been pretty much ignored for the past couple of decades. It’s falling apart and some equipment has even been stolen. As Today’s Kerry Sanders reports, the facility has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to restore it and create an interactive tourist center, one that looks exactly as it did in the 1960s and ’70s — right down to the coffee cups and ash trays on the consoles!  

Man Has Lived Alone on Island for 28 Years 

In 1989, Mauro Morandi landed his catamaran on Budelli Island, which is near Sardinia and Corsica. He liked the place so much that when he found out that the island’s caretaker was retiring, he decided to take the job.  

He’s still there, and at the age of 78, he doesn’t want to live anywhere else. The island used to be a big tourist spot, but because the Italian government closed it off for ecological/historical reasons, Morandi is the only one there. 

This Week in History 

President Harding Dies (August 2, 1923) 

As Post Archive Director Jeff Nilsson explains, Harding was plagued by many scandals at the time of his death. Samuel Blythe wrote a defense of Harding for the July 28, 1923, issue of the Post, and Harding’s wife, Florence, was reading it to him when he died in bed. 

Ernie Pyle Born (August 3, 1900) 

The famous war correspondent died from gunshot wounds on a small island in Japan on April 18, 1945. Writer and 60 Minutes essayist Andy Rooney was a friend of Pyle, and Mike Leonard has a nice piece about the friendship at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists website. 

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “Inn In Ogunquit” (August 2, 1947) 

I live in a big tourist town (the population almost doubles in the summer) known for its beaches, and I see this scene all the time: people walking down the street carrying things to the beach. Times have changed, though. The people in this John Falter cover don’t seem to be taking much. Maybe an umbrella, a picnic basket, and … what is that yellow thing, a bird? A duck? The people I’ve seen this summer are carrying chairs and backpacks and giant coolers I’m sure are just filled with soda pop.  

August Is National Peach Month 

I can’t eat peaches. I like the taste but the fuzzy skin sets my teeth on edge. I do love nectarines though, which I think of as “peaches you can actually touch.” 

But if you have no such phobia (I mean “adorable quirk”), here are some recipes for National Peach Month, including a Peach Johnnycake and this Rustic Open-Faced Peach Pie. 

I understand that both of these recipes require an oven being turned on, and maybe in this heat you don’t want to do that. In which case I’d just get some peaches from the store and eat them. Or some nectarines. 

Next Week’s Holidays and Events 

National Underwear Day (August 5) 

I guess you can celebrate the day by … wearing underwear? 

National Lighthouse Day (August 7) 

As the National Lighthouse Foundation site explains, the act passed by Congress in 1789 also mentions beacons, buoys, and public piers. But “National Lighthouses, Beacons, Buoys, and Piers Day” doesn’t have the same ring to it. 

Another Overdose Is Startling Reminder of the Nation’s Crisis

America’s drug epidemic is in the news spotlight again as Nashville Mayor Megan Barry lost her only son to an overdose over the weekend. Barry and her husband “received news that no parents should ever have to hear” on Sunday morning, according to a statement released by the couple. Though the substance in question is not known, more than 60 percent of drug overdose deaths involve an opioid, according to the CDC.  

The New York Times estimates that 59,000 to 65,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016, and this year’s number will likely climb even higher. The statistics — while substantial — cannot impart the suffering of parents, teachers, children, and others who are losing their loved ones to the worst drug crisis this country has ever seen.  

The problem is severe, but not necessarily new. The Post story “My Son Is a Dope Addict” details a mother’s grim experience with heroin in the family in 1952. Her otherwise talented and loving teenage son sells off their possessions and leaves nightly to get his “jolt.” The story offers a comprehensive view of how opioids can wreck a household even if there isn’t an overdose. The nameless narrator watches her teenager slowly fade from her until she is told, “you’d better forget you have a son.”  

The harrowing tale came before addiction was so alive in the public consciousness, and certainly before prescription opioid sales nearly quadrupled in 16 years (1999 to 2015). The American nightmare it depicts — one of deception, doubt, financial burden, and grief — is a prescient report that remains relevant as addiction in the country continues to rise.  

News of the Week: Superheroes, James Bond, and the Woman Who Leaves Mysterious Notes

Comic-Con 2017 

As this is a pop culture column, I feel that I have to at least mention this year’s Comic-Con convention in San Diego, which just ended. But I really don’t know what else to say except THERE ARE MORE SUPERHERO MOVIES COMING. There are always more superhero movies coming. 

Time has a rundown on all the big trailers and interviews from the convention, while Gizmodo has a list of the winners and losers. 

I have to admit I didn’t realize that Scrooge McDuck was going to be one of the big hits of the convention.  

Bond 2019 

We finally have a release date for the next 007 movie: November 8, 2019. That seems like a long time to wait, but at least we know another one is coming. What we don’t know yet is the title or whether Daniel Craig is going to play Bond once again. The New York Times is reporting that he has indeed signed for one more film, but there’s no official word yet from the studio. 

In the meantime, there are plenty of Post pieces about the secret agent, including this piece on the 50th anniversary of the movie series and this terrific 1964 Pete Hamill interview with Sean Connery. 

Fake (Shark) News 

Okay, look: I didn’t really think that swimmer Michael Phelps and a shark were going to be in the water next to each other in their own swimming lanes, starting at the same time to find out who would win a race. I don’t think most people thought that. But I also didn’t think that Phelps was going to swim by himself and the shark would be represented by computer animation, and the “race” would actually be just a comparison of what the shark’s results “would have been” with “speed based on scientific data.” That’s kind of goofy, and I think a bit of a cheat.  

Phelps says that it’s not his fault if people thought he was actually going to race a great white shark. If that’s the case, then why in this video does he dive down to meet real sharks in a cage, and why does one of the experts talk about the safety measures they’re taking because we “wouldn’t want to see him get eaten up by a shark”?  

Next month, I’m going to try to outrun a 747. We won’t be in the same place and I’ll use stock footage of a 747 flying through the air, but the results will be really interesting! 

RIP John Heard, June Foray, Barbara Sinatra, Chester Bennington, Red West, Jim Vance, Clancy Sigal, Danny Daniels 

John Heard was probably best known as the dad in Home Alone, but he had so many other roles over the past 40 years. Heard was found dead in a hotel room at the age of 71. 

June Foray was the voice of many great characters you remember, including Rocky J. Squirrel and Natasha on Rocky & His Friends, Tweety Bird’s Granny in Looney Tunes cartoons, Cindy Lou Who in the animated How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and Mattel’s Chatty Cathy doll, plus voices in movies like Cinderella and Mulan, and too many others to mention, in a career that started in 1943. She died Wednesday at the age of 99. 

Barbara Sinatra was Frank’s wife for the last 22 years of his life. She was also a former entertainer, a philanthropist, and author of the memoir Lady Blue Eyes. She passed away Tuesday at the age of 90.  

Chester Bennington was a singer for the group Linkin Park. He committed suicide last week at the age of 41. 

You’ve seen Red West in a gazillion movies and TV shows over the years. The actor, stuntman and songwriter was also a close friend and confidant of Elvis Presley. He died last week at the age of 81. 

Jim Vance was a longtime news anchor at NBC4 in Washington, D.C. He died Saturday at the age of 75. 

Clancy Sigal was the author of several books, including the influential novel Going Away, and was also a former Hollywood agent who counted Humphrey Bogart as one of his clients. Sigal was later blacklisted and moved to New York City and eventually London to work. He died July 16 at the age of 90. 

Danny Daniels was a veteran choreographer and actor who made his screen debut at the age of 14 in the Bing Crosby film The Star Maker and won several Emmy and Tony awards. He died earlier this month at the age of 92. 

Books and Bombs 

Librarians have to deal with a lot on their first day of work: learning new computer and filing systems, how to deal with kids at the front desk, maybe even budgetary problems. Oh, and they also might have to deal with Civil War artillery shells, like this woman in Massachusetts. She found them at the bottom of a closet with a helpful note that said they might be live shells. 

Notes on Trees 

Here’s the feel-good story of the week (unless you count the Comic-Con news above as “feel-good”). This woman leaves anonymous notes on trees to help inspire people who may be going through hard times. She’s left over 1,000 notes on trees, on pay phones, in airports, and in grocery stores. 

This Week in History 

Detroit Riot Begins (July 23, 1967) 

A new movie about the infamous riot, Detroit, opens next Friday. Here’s the trailer. 

That wasn’t the first time there was a riot in Detroit. 

Jacqueline Bouvier Born (July 28, 1929) 

The woman who would become Jackie Kennedy was born in Southampton, New York. Jimmy Breslin wrote this piece for the December 14, 1963, issue of the Post, about her last moments in Dallas with President Kennedy. 

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “Unwelcome Pool Guests” (July 22, 1961) 

I love this Thornton Utz cover for two reasons. One is the detail that shows what this guy had planned for the day. He’s in his lawn chair, he has his paper and his tray of food and his coffee and a radio to listen to the ball game, and here comes the damn family to interrupt things. Can’t I get one afternoon alone?  

The second thing I love is the sitcom dad–like expression on his face as he breaks the fourth wall and looks at us. 

National Milk Chocolate Day 

The old M&Ms slogan says that they melt in your mouth, not in your hand. I found out this week that when it’s this hot and humid, that’s not exactly true. The candy coating sort of melts and leaves your hands sticky. If it’s as hot where you are as it is where I am, you might want to keep your milk chocolate in the refrigerator. 

At least until you make these recipes for National Milk Chocolate Day, which happens to be today. Epicurious has these Milk Chocolate Brownies, while AllRecipes has a Fudgy Milk Chocolate Fondue. Or head on over to the Hershey’s site and try one of the many desserts you can make with their chocolate bars. I’d like some of that Our Gal Sundae Pie. 

By the way, James Bond loved milk chocolate too. 

Next Week’s Holidays and Events 

International Clown Week (August 1-7) 

A lot of people think that clowns are happy and fun! Others think they’re dark and scary. For you people who fall into the former category, here’s the official site for International Clown Week. For those of you in the latter category, here’s the trailer for the remake of Stephen King’s It, which opens on September 8. 

Coast Guard Day (August 4) 

This commemoration celebrates the day in 1790 that Alexander Hamilton founded the United States Coast Guard. Hamilton, of course, went on to become a talented singer and dancer and to star in the critically acclaimed Broadway show that bears his name. 

Has Technology Become Addictive?

At an Apple event in January 2010, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad:

“What this device does is extraordinary. … It is the best browsing experience you’ve ever had … way better than a laptop, way better than a smartphone. … It’s an incredible experience. … Phenomenal for mail. … It’s a dream to type on.”

For 90 minutes, Jobs explained why the iPad was the best way to look at photos, listen to music, take classes on iTunes U, browse Facebook, play games, and navigate thousands of apps. He believed everyone should own an iPad.

But he refused to let his kids use the device.

In late 2010, Jobs told New York Times journalist Nick Bilton that his children had never used the iPad. “We limit how much technology our kids use in the home.” Bilton discovered that other tech giants imposed similar restrictions. Chris Anderson, the former editor of Wired, enforced strict time limits on every device in his home, “because we have seen the dangers of technology firsthand.” His five children were never allowed to use screens in their bedrooms. Evan Williams, founder of Blogger, Twitter, and Medium, bought hundred of books for his two young sons but refused to give them an iPad. Walter Isaacson, who ate dinner with the Jobs family while researching his biography of Steve Jobs, told Bolton that “No one ever pulled out an iPad or computer. The kids did not seem addicted at all to devices.” It seemed as if the people producing tech products were following the cardinal rule of drug dealing: never get high on your own supply.

This is unsettling. Why are the world’s greatest public technocrats also its greatest private technophobes? Can you imagine the outcry if religious leaders refused to let their children practice religion? Many experts both within and beyond the world of tech have shared similar perspectives with me. Several video game designers told me they avoided the notoriously addictive game World of Warcraft; an exercise addiction psychologist called fitness watches dangerous — “the dumbest things in the world” — and swore she’d never buy one; and the founder of an internet addiction clinic told me she avoids gadgets newer than three years old. Her favorite computer game is Myst, released in 1993 when computers were still too clunky to handle video graphics.

Greg Hochmuth, one of Instagram’s first software engineers, realized he was building an engine for addiction. “There’s always another hashtag to click on,” Hochmuth said. “Then it takes on its own life, like an organism, and people can become obsessive.” Instagram, like so many other social media platforms, is bottomless. Facebook has an endless feed; Netflix automatically moves on to the next episode in a series; Tinder encourages users to keep swiping in search of a better option. Users benefit from these apps and websites but also struggle to use them in moderation. According to Tristan Harris, a “design ethicist,” the problem isn’t that people lack willpower; it’s that “there are a thousand people on the other side of the screen whose job it is to break down the self-regulation you have.”

These tech experts have good reason to be concerned. Working at the far edge of possibility, they discovered two things. First, that our understanding of addiction is too narrow. We tend to think of addiction as something inherent in certain people — those we label as addicts. The label implies that they’re different from the rest of humanity. They may rise above their addictions one day, but for now they belong to their own category. In truth, addiction is produced largely by environment and circumstance. These entrepreneurs know this. They recognize that the tools they promote — engineered to be irresistible — will ensnare users indiscriminately. There isn’t a bright line between addicts and the rest of us. We’re all one product or experience away from developing our own addictions.

Bilton’s tech experts also discovered that the environment and circumstance of the digital age are far more conducive to addiction than anything humans have experienced in our history. In the 1960s, we swam through waters with only a few hooks: cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs that were expensive and generally inaccessible. In the 2010s, those same waters are littered with hooks. There’s the Facebook hook. The Instagram hook. The porn hook. The email hook. The online shopping hook. And so on. The list is long — far longer than it’s ever been in human history, and we’re only just learning the power of these hooks.

Tech offers convenience, speed, and automation, but it also brings large costs. Human behavior is driven in part by a succession of reflexive cost-benefit calculations that determine whether an act will be performed once, twice, a hundred times, or not at all. When the benefits overwhelm the costs, it’s hard not to perform the act over and over again, particularly when it strikes just the right neurological notes.

A like on Facebook and Instagram strikes one of those notes, as does the reward of completing a World of Warcraft mission, or seeing one of your tweets shared by hundreds of Twitter users. The people who create and refine tech, games, and interactive experiences are very good at what they do. They run thousands of tests with millions of users to learn which tweaks work and which ones don’t. As an experience evolves, it becomes an irresistible, weaponized version of the experience it once was. In 2004, Facebook was fun; in 2016, it’s addictive.

I spoke to several clinical psychologists who described the magnitude of the problem. “Every single person I work with has at least one behavioral addiction,” one psychologist told me. “I have patients who fit into every area: gambling, shopping, social media, email, and so on.” She described several patients, all with high-powered professional careers, earning six figures, but deeply hobbled by their addictions. “One woman has two master’s degrees and she’s a teacher. But she’s addicted to online shopping, and she’s managed to accumulate $80,000 in debt. She’s managed to hide her addiction from almost everyone she knows.” This compartmentalization was a common theme. “It’s very easy to hide behavioral addictions — much more so than for substance abuse. This makes them dangerous, because they go unnoticed for years.” A second patient, just as accomplished at work, “went through a horrible breakup, and then stalked her ex-boyfriend online for years. With Facebook, it’s far more difficult to make a clean break when relationships end.”

“The impact of social media has been huge,” a second psychologist told me. “Social media has completely shaped the brains of the younger people I work with. I could be five or ten minutes into a conversation with a young person about the argument they have had with their friend or girlfriend, when I remember to ask whether this happened by text, phone, on social media, or face-to-face. More often the answer is, ‘text or social media.’ Yet in their telling of the story, this isn’t apparent to me. It sounds like what I would consider a ‘real,’ face-to- face conversation. I always stop in my tracks and reflect. This person doesn’t differentiate various modes of communication the way I do … the result is a landscape filled with disconnection and addiction.”

Technology is not inherently bad. When my brother and I moved with my parents to Australia in 1988, we left our grandparents in South Africa. We spoke to them once a week on expensive landline calls and sent letters that arrived a week later.

When I moved to the United States in 2004, I emailed my parents and brother almost every day. We talked on the phone often, and waved to each other via webcam as often as we could. Technology shrank the distance between us.

Tech isn’t morally good or bad until it’s wielded by the corporations that fashion it for mass consumption. Apps and platforms can be designed to promote rich social connections, or, like cigarettes, they can be designed to addict. In many respects, substance addictions and behavioral addictions are very similar. They activate the same brain regions, and they’re fueled by some of the same basic human needs: social engagement and social support, mental stimulation, and a sense of effectiveness.

Behavioral addiction consists of six ingredients: compelling goals that are just beyond reach, irresistible and un- predictable positive feedback, a sense of incremental progress and improvement, tasks that become slowly more difficult over time, unresolved tensions that demand resolution, and strong social connections. Despite their diversity, today’s behavioral addictions embody at least one of those six ingredients. Instagram is addictive, for example, because some photos attract many likes, while others fall short. Users chase the next big hit of likes by posting one photo after another, and return to the site regularly to support their friends. Gamers play certain games for days on end because they’re driven to complete missions and because they’ve formed strong social ties that bind them to other gamers.

So what are the solutions? How do we coexist with addictive experiences that play such a central role in our lives? Millions of recovering alcoholics manage to avoid bars altogether, but you can’t apply for a travel visa or a job without an email address. Hardly any modern jobs allow you to avoid using computers. Abstinence isn’t an option, but there are other alternatives. You can confine addictive experiences to one corner of your life while courting good habits that promote healthy behaviors. Meanwhile, once you understand how behavioral addictions work, you can mitigate their harm, or even harness them for good. The same principles that drive children to play games might drive them to learn at school, and the goals that drive people to exercise addictively might also drive them to save money for retirement.

Addictions are damaging because they crowd out other essential pursuits, from work and play to basic hygiene and social interaction. The good news is that our relationships with behavioral addiction aren’t fixed. There’s much we can do to restore the balance that existed before the age of smartphones, emails, wearable tech, social networking, and on-demand viewing. The key is to understand why behavioral addictions are so rampant, how they capitalize on human psychology, and how to defeat the addictions that hurt us and harness the ones that help us.

A decade ago, who could have imagined that Facebook would attract 1.5 billion users, many of whom say they wished they spent less time on the site? Or that millions of Instagram users would spend hours uploading and liking the 60 million new photos the app hosts every day? Or that more than 20 million people would count and monitor their every step with a small wrist-bound device?

These are remarkable statistics, but they represent an early waypoint on a long climb. Behavioral addiction is still in its infancy, and there’s a good chance we’re still at base camp, far below the peak. Truly immersive experiences, like virtual reality devices, have not yet gone mainstream. In 10 years, when all of us own a pair of virtual reality goggles, what’s to keep us tethered to the real world? If human relationships suffer in the face of smartphones and tablets, how are they going to withstand the tide of immersive virtual reality experiences?

We can’t abandon technology, nor should we. Some technological advances fuel behavioral addiction, but they are also miraculous and life enriching. And with careful engineering they don’t need to be addictive. It’s possible to create a product or experience that is indispensable but not addictive. Workplaces, for example, can shut down at six — and with them, work email accounts can be disabled between midnight and five the next morning. Games, like books with chapters, can be built with natural stopping points. Social media platforms can “demetricate,” removing the numerical feedback that makes them vehicles for damaging social comparison and chronic goal-setting. Children can be introduced to screens slowly and with supervision, rather than all at once. If app designers can coax people to spend more time and money on a smartphone game, perhaps policy experts can also encourage people to save more for retirement or donate to more charities.

Our attitude to addictive experiences is largely cultural, and if our culture makes space for work-free, game-free, screen-free downtime, we and our children will find it easier to resist the lure of behavioral addiction. In its place, we’ll communicate with one another directly rather than through devices, and the glow of these social bonds will leave us richer and happier than the glow of screens ever could.

News of the Week: Baseball Begins, Dandelion Ends, and a new Philip Marlowe Is on the Way

Play Ball!

Like last year, we’ve had a weird spring so far here in the Northeast, really not even a spring at all since it has been so cold and raw and snowy. Somehow in between the fall-like chill and two days of downpours, the Boston Red Sox got their home opener in on Monday, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3. If your favorite team didn’t win their opener, well, I’m sorry, but this is my column and I get to mention my team winning.

If you’re a diehard baseball fan, ESPN has a schedule for every single team and every single game they’ll be playing during the 2017 season, complete with the names of the starting pitchers and links to buy tickets. If you don’t want to wait until the season is over to see who wins the World Series, my friend Will Leitch has looked into his crystal ball and predicted not only who will win everything but exactly how it will all go down.

Goodbye, Dandelion

There’s an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry, George, and Elaine are talking about George’s new girlfriend, Sienna. Elaine asks, “Sienna?” and Jerry says, “Yeah, he’s dating a crayon.”

Sienna (officially “burnt sienna”) was saved from retirement by fans in 2003. But that’s not going to happen with dandelion. Crayola has announced that they’re getting rid of that color (and if you didn’t even know there was a dandelion color in the box of 24, you’re not alone, even though it has been around for 27 years). In this Facebook video, Crayola says that the color is “retiring,” as if it’s going to go live in a toy retirement community, along with Monopoly’s boot. Maybe you should grab as many of the dandelion crayons as you can before they’re gone forever, or buy one of the many dandelion collectibles that the company has on its website.

Luckily, there are approximately 497 other crayon colors that are pretty close to dandelion, so kids and adults alike will have plenty of yellow to choose from. Crayola will unveil a new color (another shade of blue) in May, and fans will be able to help name it.

RIP Don Rickles, Jack Ziegler, Gilbert Baker, Richard Bolles, James Rosenquist, and Joe Harris

Don Rickles certainly knew how to insult someone. In fact, he was an expert at it. Besides being a standup comic for over 60 years, Rickles was also a good actor, with roles in such classic movies as Kelly’s Heroes, Casino, Run Silent, Run Deep, and the Toy Story films (he’ll reprise his Mr. Potato Head role in Toy Story 4 later this year). He also starred in his own TV shows — The Don Rickles Show, CPO Sharkey, and Daddy Dearest — and appeared on The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Get Smart, I Spy, The Twilight Zone, Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie, Hot in Cleveland, and dozens more.

Rickles died yesterday at the age of 90.

He was a regular and memorable guest on The Tonight Show. Here’s a classic episode where Johnny Carson discovers that Rickles broke his cigarette box the night before, when Bob Newhart had filled in as host:

Jack Ziegler was one of the great New Yorker cartoonists, creating 1,600 cartoons for the magazine since the 1970s. Here’s a gallery of some of his work. I love the one with the guy who misses his dog.

Ziegler passed away last week at the age of 74. According to The New York Times, he’s the seventh New Yorker cartoonist to die in the past year.

Gilbert Baker created the rainbow flag that has become so symbolic in the gay community. He came up with the idea after Harvey Milk became the first openly gay person to be elected to office in California in 1977. Baker died last Thursday at the age of 65.

My sister bought me Richard Bolles’ classic career/life book What Color Is Your Parachute? in the late ’70s/early ’80s. If you are of a certain age, you’ve probably read it too (millions of copies are still sold every year). Bolles passed away on March 31 at the age of 90.

James Rosenquist was one of the pop art pioneers of the 20th century, using montages of pop culture and advertising images to create bold art. The New York Times has a gallery of some of his most famous works. Rosenquist passed away last Friday at the age of 83.

If you loved Underdog and the Trix rabbit, you have Joe Harris to thank. He drew those characters, along with Tennessee Tuxedo, Go Go Gophers, The Beagles, and Klondike Kat after forming a company with other advertising execs and creatives to make Saturday morning cartoons. They wanted to compete with the company that made Rocky and Bullwinkle. Harris passed away March 26 at the age of 89.

The Singular They

It seems like we’re getting new grammar/spelling/punctuation rules every week now. Here’s the latest.

The Associated Press has announced several changes, with the big one probably being that they will now accept the singular they in situations where saying anything else would be awkward or unclear. It has a lot to do with new gender definitions that have risen the past few years, changes I will never get used to.

Other changes to the AP Stylebook include cyberattack, which will now be one word instead of two; baby bump, which the AP says they will never use again; and the increased use of our old friend the Oxford Comma, which, the AP reminds us, has always been available when it’s needed for clarity (and it often is).

They’re also changing flier to flyer, as in the phrase frequent flyer. Funny, I’ve always spelled it flyer, which just proves that sometimes you can do something incorrectly for decades and eventually be proven right.

Hey, There’s a New Philip Marlowe

There’s an old joke that says foreigners are taking all of the jobs Americans used to do. And they are! Just look at all the American characters being played by actors from different countries in the movies and on TV. Seriously, are we going to give every action movie role to Liam Neeson?

The answer is yes. It has been announced that Neeson will be playing Raymond Chandler’s classic detective, Philip Marlowe, in a new movie based on the 2013 Benjamin Black novel The Black-Eyed Blonde. The screenplay will be written by William Monahan, who wrote the screenplay for The Departed and is a guy I had a few beers with three decades ago, but he probably doesn’t remember me.

I’m looking forward to this. I’ve been saying for a while now that we need a real private eye series on TV again, preferably in black and white, set in the ’40s and featuring Marlowe. Maybe if this movie is a big hit, they’ll think about bringing him to television again. He was played in a late-’50s series by Philip Carey and in an ’80s series by Powers Boothe. There was a pilot made for a new series in 2007, but it got bad feedback and never made it to the screen.

The star? Jason O’Mara, who’s from Ireland. Of course.

By the way, even though Raymond Chandler often griped that he wasn’t the type of writer who was published in The Saturday Evening Post or other “slick” magazines, he actually did write for us. His story “I’ll Be Waiting” appeared in our October 14, 1939, issue. Unfortunately, we no longer own the rights to republish it online for you.

The Circle 

This movie could do for social media and smartphones what Jaws did for going into the water.

The Circle stars Tom Hanks as the CEO of a massive tech company that, well, controls everything online and, increasingly, offline. Emma Watson plays a new employee who starts to suspect that not everything is what it seems. It’s based on the novel by Dave Eggers and also stars John Boyega, Nate Corddry, Karen Gillan, and Patton Oswalt. It opens on April 28. Here’s the trailer:

This Week in History

Pony Express service begins (April 3, 1860)

Did you know there’s a Pony Express National Museum? There is, and it’s in St. Joseph, Missouri.

U.S. enters World War I (April 6, 1917)

In “Is World War I Relevant?,” Saturday Evening Post Archives Director Jeff Nilsson writes about a fascinating article by Corra Harris from our pages in 1915.

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: “Hanging Clothes Out To Dry” (April 7, 1945)

My dryer broke last week. I took my wet clothes out of the washer and put them into the dryer to, well, dry and noticed there was no heat. The repairman came over that same day so I didn’t have to deal with wet clothes for more than a few hours, but it got me thinking of the clothesline we used to have when I was a kid. My mother always put clothes out to dry outside in the backyard but it’s something I haven’t done in almost 40 years. I wish I had a backyard now.

Here’s the April 7, 1945 cover by John Falter.

Hanging Clothes Out to Dry
John Falter
April 7, 1945

Play Ball and Eat!

I always sense a shift of eating habits when the warmer weather and baseball come around. Heavier comfort foods and drinks, like pasta with heavy sauces and chili and bourbon, give way to salads and sandwiches and refreshing iced tea. Of course, baseball stadiums seem to destroy that theory by serving pizza and nachos and beer and the aforementioned chili, so maybe there’s room in our minds and stomachs for these comfort foods in the warm months, too.

Oh, and hot dogs! Delish has more than 20 ideas on what to do with hot dogs that they call “insane and brilliant.” I don’t know if those words apply, but I do like these Hot Dog Skewers and these Taco Dogs.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

Palm Sunday (April 9)

As this site explains, Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent and the beginning of Holy Week. On this day, many services include the carrying of palm leaves that symbolize the palm branches that surrounded Jesus as he entered Jerusalem.

Passover (April 10)

Here’s a detailed description of what the Jewish holiday — called Pesach in Hebrew — means.

National Scrabble Day (April 13)

One of my favorite Scrabble words is Qi, which, according to Merriam-Webster, is “vital energy that is held to animate the body internally and is of central importance in some Eastern systems of medical treatment (as acupuncture) and of exercise and self-defense (as tai chi).” At The Daily Beast, David Bukszpan has a poem that will help you remember it and 100 other two-letter words you can use the next time you play.

Contrariwise*: Dirt is good for you

Also be sure to read 7 Microbes That are Living on You Right Now by Nicholas Gilmore. 

 

I am not the neatest of people.

I shade more toward Oscar Madison than Felix Ungar. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t cover myself with slime, but I don’t want to live in a scrubbed-down, super-hygienic world. That’s why I’ve observed my fellow Americans’ cleanliness obsession escalate over the years with something between dismay and horror.

It’s hard even to get dirty anymore. In many public spaces, Purell dispensers seem to be replacing potted plants for decor. My pet peeve is the sanitary wipes installed at supermarket entrances, presumably so you can wipe down the handle of your cart. Really? We’re afraid of getting a few stray microbes on our hands?

This is wrong. Look at the way babies explore the world by sticking things in their mouths, says The New York Times science reporter Jane E. Brody, arguing that the practice may provide an evolutionary advantage. “Researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses, and especially worms that enter the body along with ‘dirt’ spur the development of a healthy immune system,” she writes.

Dr. Joel V. Weinstock, the director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center, told Brody, “Children raised in an ultraclean environment are not being exposed to organisms that help them develop appropriate immune regulatory circuits.” There’s evidence that germ-free child rearing may be behind the rise in immune system disorders like MS, type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, and allergies.

This is not to deny that public health measures of the last century, like eliminating contamination in water and food, have saved countless lives, but clearly we’ve taken a good idea and run with it to the point of absurdity.

It’s all about balance. Mary Ruebush, Ph.D., a microbiology and immunology instructor and author of Why Dirt Is Good, writes, “The typical human probably harbors some 90 trillion microbes. … The very fact that you have so many microbes of so many different kinds is what keeps you healthy most of the time.”

So, let’s stop trying to disinfect the world. It’s time to welcome a little dirt into our lives.

—Jorge Jetsohn

*“Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”

This article is featured in the March/April 2017 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives. 

News of the Week: March Madness, Mad Men Ads, and Meatballs of the Swedish Variety 

Is Your Bracket Busted Yet?

There are many things I don’t understand: how the pyramids were created, the size of the universe and how we fit into the grand scheme of life, the popularity of Steve Harvey. I’d add to that list the mania that surrounds March Madness and college basketball in general.

It’s not that I don’t understand why people like basketball (though I’m a tennis and baseball guy myself), I just don’t understand the annual craziness of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. There are people who dedicate weeks if not months to filling out their bracket, and many of these people are people who have no interest in basketball at all the other 50 weeks of the year. Who really cares about these teams, unless you go to the school, you’re an alumnus of the school, or you have a kid who goes to the school? At least in pro basketball you probably live in the city of a particular team or like certain players.

But hey, if you enjoy it and plan on watching it I don’t want to be a buzzkill. Here’s a handy bracket that you can print out from CBS, which will be airing the tournament for the next couple of weeks. I just can’t wait until it’s over and we can get back to regularly scheduled programming.

Pass the Heinz

AMC’s Mad Men is probably my favorite TV drama of all-time. Besides the sheer brilliance of the acting, writing, and directing (I know that’s not an in-depth analysis but it happens to be accurate), I always thought that many of the companies that Don Draper’s advertising agency worked for should actually take the campaigns used on the show and use them for their products in real life. Now, one has.

Heinz is going to use the idea Don came up with, to show the foods that Heinz ketchup would be used on—burgers, fries, etc.— without actually showing the Heinz bottle. In the show Heinz didn’t go with Don’s idea, but now they like it! We’ll see billboards in New York City and print ads too.

Here’s Don’s pitch:

RIP Robert James Waller, Joni Sledge, Christopher Gray, Jay Lynch, and Jack H. Harris

Writer Robert James Waller is best known for his novel, The Bridges of Madison County, which was made into a film starring Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep. He also wrote several other novels, including Border Music, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend, Puerto Vallarta Squeeze, and the sequel to The Bridges of Madison County, A Thousand Country Roads.

Waller passed away last week from cancer at the age of 77.

Joni Sledge was part of the group Sister Sledge, famous for songs like “We Are Family,” “My Guy,” and “He’s The Greatest Dancer.” She passed away Saturday at the age of 60.

Christopher Gray was an expert on architecture and a historian who wrote the popular “Streetscapes” column for The New York Times. When the column ended in 2014 after 27 years, Gray continued to write it on Facebook. He passed away last Friday at the age of 66.

Jay Lynch was an important figure in the underground comics scene of the 1960s and ’70’s. Besides creating the comic strip Nard & Pat and starting magazines like Bijou Funnies, he also drew for Bazooka Joe comics, Garbage Pail Kids, and Wacky Packages (something I collected when I was a kid, probably one of the first “alternative” or semi-subversive things a kid at that time could get into). Lynch passed away earlier this month at the age of 72.

Beware of the Blob, it creeps, it crawls! Fans of classic monster movies will remember that line from the opening of The Blob, one of the many movies produced by Jack H. Harris. He also produced Dark Star (the first feature film directed by John Carpenter), The Eyes of Laura Mars, 4D Man, the 1988 remake of The Blob, and other films. Harris passed away Tuesday at the age of 98.

By the way, another remake of The Blob is currently in development.

“You May Want to Marry My Husband” Essayist Dies

Just two weeks ago, The New York Times published an essay that went viral titled “You May Want To Marry My Husband.” It was written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and only had a short time to live. Rosenthal passed away this week. She was only 51 years old.

Rosenthal wrote more than 30 books in her short time, including children’s books like Duck! Rabbit!, Uni the Unicorn, I Wish You More, and Bedtime For Mommy. She was also a filmmaker and essayist and wrote a really terrific memoir titled Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. Her most recent book was 2016’s Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, where she actually encouraged readers to send her text messages.

The Biggest Threats to the Web (According to the Guy Who Invented It)

When the inventor of something has an opinion about that something, you should probably listen to him.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee created the very thing you’re looking at right now, the World Wide Web. It turned 28 last Sunday, and Berners-Lee wrote a letter for The World Wide Web Foundation outlining what he sees as the three biggest threats we face in the online world.

You can probably guess what they are. One is that we’ve lost control of our personal data, one is that false information can spread quickly and easily on the web, and the other is the dangers of political advertising. These are all major problems that, well, let’s face it, will probably never be solved since people want easy access to information, convenience, speed, and they want to live on social media.

My pick for the biggest threat to the web? Auto-play videos.

This Week in History

Coca-Cola First Sold in Bottles (March 12, 1894)

The first glass bottles of the popular soft drink (invented eight years earlier by Dr. John Pemberton) were sold at a soda fountain in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

President Andrew Jackson Born (March 15, 1767)

It’s the 250th birthday of our seventh president, who was called a brawler, gambler, drunk, thief, and adulterer by supporters of rival John Quincy Adams.

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History

“St. Paddy Cake for Policeman” Cover (March 16, 1940)

Magazines don’t do covers like this anymore, do they? It’s such a bold, specific image. I love the attention to detail in the bowl. The artist, Albert W. Hampson, could have just drawn an empty bowl but he left some cake batter in there and you can see the scrapes on the inside.

Use Your Noodle

Some weeks I wonder if I should even mention what food month it is. If it’s at the start of the month, sure, they’re well worth highlighting. But if it’s the last week of the month it’s probably too late. Here we are on March 17. That’s still early enough to mention what food month it is, isn’t it?

March is National Noodle Month! There are many things to make beyond chicken noodle soup, like this Broccoli Cashew Casserole, these Soba Noodles with Kimchi, or maybe Betty’s Swedish Meatballs, which ideally should be served over egg noodles.

Betty, by the way, would be Betty Draper, Don’s wife. That recipe is from the fantastic Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook. I don’t know if Heinz ketchup would be good on Swedish meatballs and noodles but give it a try.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

National Cherry Blossom Festival (March 18)

Because of this week’s east coast snowstorm, the official opening of the annual Washington, D.C. festival has been pushed back to March 18. It runs until April 16.

First Day of Spring (March 20)

It’s probably not going to feel like it in many parts of the country, but the Spring Equinox begins in the northern hemisphere at 6:28 a.m.

News of the Week: Presidents, Pluto, and the Perfect Snacks for Oscar Night

And the Greatest President of All Time Is…

… Millard Fillmore! That’s right, according to a new survey that ranks our nation’s leaders over the years, the greatest president of all time is Millard Fillmore.

Okay, I’m lying (or maybe I’m just providing “alternative facts”). C-SPAN conducted a Presidential Historians Survey to rank the U.S. presidents. It’s probably not a surprise that Abraham Lincoln tops the list, followed by George Washington and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But what about John F. Kennedy placing above Ronald Reagan? Or Barack Obama placing 12th even though he just left office?

William Henry Harrison isn’t last, even though he was only in office for 31 days. (He didn’t listen to his mom when she told him to wear a coat at the inauguration and died from pneumonia.) This is one of those surveys that’s built for an argument.

We once had a president named Chester Arthur. I always forget that.

NASA Wants to Make Pluto a Planet Again

Poor Pluto. One day you’re a planet, the next you’re not. But it’s another day, and maybe you’re going to be one once again.

Scientists at NASA are thinking about changing the definition of what a planet is, which means that Pluto — which was demoted to “dwarf planet” status in 2006 — could become a planet once again. Alan Stern, the principal investigator on NASA’s New Horizons, calls the demotion of Pluto “b***s***.” NASA scientists swear like sailors.

This isn’t the only space news from the space agency this week. They also announced that they’ve found several Earth-sized planets 40 light-years away, and some of them might contain water and could sustain life.

I wonder if Pluto’s upgrade means that other objects in our galaxy will also have to be upgraded to planet status. Seems only fair. They could name them Mickey and Goofy.

90 Years of NBC

The Peacock Network’s special this week answered the question: “Is it possible for a three-hour history of a TV network to move along quickly and still be incredibly boring?” The answer would be yes.

Kelsey Grammer hosted the event (that you can watch online), which was billed as “The Paley Center Salutes NBC,” even if there didn’t seem to be much Paley Center involvement beyond the title. It’s just a stiff Grammer talking about the network and introducing clips centered on genres (comedy, drama, variety show, news, etc.) and interviews with stars.

It would have been better to have a chronological history of the network (they had three hours!) and to have given less time to shows that debuted in the past 20 years (and in some cases are still on). It’s great to see clips from the shows of the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, but there weren’t enough of them. (And did anyone really want to see Jennifer Lopez’s thoughts on the network just because she’s currently starring in Shades of Blue?) It was also oddly filmed. The interviews with the celebrities were filmed in such a way that they cut off the sides of faces of people like Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser. I bet they were mad about that.

By the way, they didn’t mention Bill Cosby or The Cosby Show that much. Not sure why.

75 Years of The New York Times Crossword Puzzle

I keep forgetting to do The New York Times crossword. Does that make sense? I love crosswords, and the Times’ puzzles are the gold standard, but for some reason I don’t think of doing them. I don’t think of doing any crosswords, actually. I watch Wheel of Fortune every night, though.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the puzzles in The New York Times. The paper has a great feature on them, including a timeline (the paper initially didn’t want to run crosswords and called them “a sinful waste of time”), a profile of the various editors the crossword section has had (they’ve only had four in 75 years), and a reprint of the very first crossword that appeared in the paper in 1942. Let me know if you figure out what an “obovoid pome” is.

CBS Sunday Morning had a great profile on current New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz this week that talked about his big obsession (besides crossword puzzles). It’s table tennis:

RIP Norma McCorvey, Warren Frost, Richard Schickel, Clyde Stubblefield, and Alan Colmes

You know Norma McCorvey under her other name: Jane Roe. She was the plaintiff in the famous 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that made abortion legal. In her later years, she actually became pro-life and regretted her decision. McCorvey passed away at the age of 69.

Warren Frost joined the Navy when he was 17, was at Normandy on D-Day, and later became a teacher at the University of Minnesota. Oh, he also played Susan’s father on Seinfeld (Kramer burned down his cabin), Doc Hayward on Twin Peaks (his son Mark created the show), and was in such movies as Slaughterhouse-Five, War of the Colossal Beast, and The Mating Game and TV shows like Matlock, The Larry Sanders Show, The Stand, and Playhouse 90. He’ll also appear in the Twin Peaks sequel that premieres on Showtime in May.

Frost died last week at the age of 91.

Richard Schickel was the film critic at Time for 38 years, and before that was the film critic for Life. He also wrote 37 books, penned reviews and essays for The Los Angeles Times Book Review, and directed many documentaries.

He passed away Saturday at the age of 84.

You probably heard Clyde Stubblefield playing drums at some point recently because a short drum pattern he performed in 1969 in the James Brown song “Funky Drummer” has been sampled in many pop and hip-hop songs over the years, including George Michael’s “Freedom ’90,” Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” and Sinead O’Connor’s “I Am Stretched on Your Grave.” Some estimates say it has been used in over 1,000 songs.

Stubblefield passed away last weekend from kidney failure at the age of 73.

Alan Colmes was the liberal part of the Fox News show Hannity & Colmes for many years. After that show ended, he continued his Alan Colmes Show radio program and appeared on the network on various shows, including The O’Reilly Factor. He was also the author of several books.

Colmes died yesterday at the age of 66 after a brief illness.

This Week in History

Japanese Internment Begins (February 19, 1942)

The aforementioned Roosevelt ordered the deportation and incarceration of over 110,000 Japanese and Japanese descendants on the West Coast, Midwest, and South. Saturday Evening Post Archives Director Jeff Nilsson has a fascinating history of the order and discusses a 1939 SEP article by Magner White. Star Trek actor George Takei often talks about his experience in one of the camps.

President Andrew Johnson Impeached (February 24, 1868)

The Democrat missed being removed from office by only one vote, and if C-SPAN did a list of the best vice presidents, he probably wouldn’t be on it.

This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: Sunday Paper Cover (February 21, 1948)

“Sunday Paper”
From February 21, 1948

 

It took me a while to figure out what’s happening in this terrific cover by Constantin Alajálov. The man is hiding behind the door because it’s Sunday and he just ditched church. Who’s outside his door? The minister, of course, and now the guy can’t get to his paper and bottled milk.

The cover probably doesn’t make sense to a lot of younger people today. Is not going to church really such a big deal? And why the heck would anyone get bottled milk delivered to their house?

Oscar Night

There are two ways to celebrate the Academy Awards, which air on ABC this Sunday starting at 7 p.m. Eastern (though the red carpet show starts — and I’m not kidding — at 1:30 on E!). You can dress up in a tux and roll out a red carpet in your living room and serve things like filet mignon and martinis, or maybe you’re more of a popcorn-and-pizza type of person. I’m going to assume the latter.

The Pocket Change Gourmet has several recipes for the night, including Queso Dip, Spiced Nuts, and Academy Award Oscar Cupcakes, while Food & Wine has seven — seven! — ways you can eat popcorn. You might also need a good recipe for guacamole and salsa. Or you could just get on the phone and order Domino’s. Hey, if you can use their wedding registry, you can have it on Oscar night.

I haven’t seen any of the nominated films, but I’m just going to assume La La Land is going to win everything.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

Mardi Gras (February 28)

This day is also known as Fat Tuesday, and the first one was held in 1857. Even though the celebration starts today, the parades actually started in January.

Ash Wednesday (March 1)

The ash is from the palm branches blessed on last year’s Palm Sunday, and they are pressed into the foreheads of worshippers in the sign of the cross. I remember this from Sunday school.

National Salesperson Day (March 3)

The term salesperson encompasses a large group of people, from insurance salespeople and retail store clerks to the little ones who sell Girl Scout cookies and writers who want you to buy their writing, so this sounds like a day for all of us.

News of the Week: The Rockefeller Tree, Robert Vaughn, and Recipes for Thanksgiving 

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We just went through an intense election, and one of the things that finally made me realize that I want to concentrate on the holiday season instead of who won and who lost and why those things happened was this week’s arrival of the Christmas tree to Rockefeller Plaza. This year’s tree is a Norway spruce that stands at 94 feet, weighs 14 tons, and leaves a lot of needles on the ground:

When your Christmas tree is so big you need scaffolding to trim it https://t.co/5TQeUYKIMd #RockefellerTree pic.twitter.com/8bvsQG1zna

— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) November 15, 2016

 

The tree will be lit during NBC’s annual Christmas special, which will air on November 30 at 8 p.m. Eastern.

RIP Robert Vaughn, Gwen Ifill, Leon Russell, and Lupita Tovar

Robert Vaughn is probably best known for his starring role as Napoleon Solo on the ’60s spy hit The Man From U.N.C.L.E. He also had roles in such classic movies as The Magnificent Seven, The Verdict, Bullitt, and The Towering Inferno, as well as TV shows like The Lieutenant, Bonanza, The A-Team, Columbo, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Father Knows Best, Dragnet, and Law & Order: SVU. He had a critically acclaimed role in the 1977 miniseries Washington: Behind Closed Doors and starred in the AMC caper drama Hustle from 2004 to 2012.

Vaughn passed away at the age of 83 from acute leukemia. Here’s a great profile of Vaughn from a 1965 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.

Gwen Ifill, the well-respected anchor of PBS NewsHour, passed away earlier this week at the age of 61. She had been undergoing cancer treatments recently. Besides working for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and NBC, Ifill moderated several vice-presidential debates in 2004 and 2008, and also moderated a primary debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the 2016 election.

Face the Nation host John Dickerson wrote a nice tribute to his friend for Slate.

Leon Russell had a long career as a musician, with such songs as “A Song for You” and “Tight Rope.” But he had an even more successful career as a songwriter for others. George Benson recorded “This Masquerade,” The Carpenters did “Superstar,” and Joe Cocker did “Delta Lady.” Russell also wrote songs for and performed with such people as Frank Sinatra, George Harrison, Phil Spector, Aretha Franklin, and The Monkees, and you can hear his piano work on such songs as The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Herb Alpert’s “A Taste of Honey,” and many songs on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album.

Russell passed away in his sleep last Saturday at the age of 74. No cause was given, but he’d had a heart attack in July and had other serious health problems before that.

What if I told you that until last Saturday there was someone from the 1931 Spanish version of Dracula still alive? What, you didn’t know there was a 1931 Spanish version of Dracula? There was! It was filmed at the same time (and on the same set) as the classic Bela Lugosi Dracula we all know. Lupita Tovar was one of the stars of the film, and she has passed away last week at the age of 106. She was the grandmother of screenwriters Chris and Paul Weitz, known for such films as About a Boy and the American Pie series.

And the 10 Worst Toys of 2016 Are …

Every year, the W.A.T.C.H. child safety group releases its list of the 10 worst toys of the year, just in time for Christmas. The organization’s statement says that “Due to poor design, manufacturing, and marketing practices, there are toys available for purchase today with the potential to lead to serious injury and even death.” Yikes.

This year’s list includes toys called Banzai Bump N’ Bounce Body Bumpers, Slimeball Slinger, Kids Time Baby Children’s Elephant Pillow, The Good Dinosaur’s Galloping Butch, Dippy Dog’s Disco Ball Playset, and Peppa Pig’s Muddy Puddles Family. And believe it or not I made up only one of those.

I think the names of the toys might be as dangerous as the toys themselves.

The Supermoon

A supermoon isn’t an incredibly rare thing. In fact, we had one last year. But the supermoon that appeared this week is the closest we’ve had since 1948, and the photos from it are pretty spectacular.

Winning The Internet: Photographer Trevor DeHaas with his dog and the #Supermoon last night in Phoenixville, Pa. pic.twitter.com/Bi51f7Vj4w

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 15, 2016

 

Will This B-29 from World War II Fly Again?

To accompany this great history of the B-17 Flying Fortress from Saturday Evening Post Archive Director Jeff Nilsson and W.L. White, we have a story from this week’s CBS Sunday Morning about the efforts to repair and fly the last known intact B-29. Did they do it? Take a look:

This Week in History

Five Sullivan Brothers Die in USS Juneau Sinking (November 13, 1942)

In one of the more horrifying tragedies of World War II, five siblings from the same Iowa family — George, Al, Frank, Joe, and Matt Sullivan — died when the USS Juneau was sunk. Their deaths helped lead to the Sole Survivor Policy, which protects families who have already lost a family member in combat.

Robert Fulton Born (November 14, 1765)

Along with other clever Americans, such as Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers, Fulton ushered in a new age when he piloted the first commercially successful steamboat in 1807.

President Abraham Lincoln Delivers Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863)

Lincoln’s famous speech is only 270 words long but it’s still genius.

Hey, Thanksgiving Is Next Week!

Turkey Day may have sneaked up on you this year. It seems like only yesterday it was Halloween and we were giving out peanut butter cups (not Starburst), and now — boom! — we’re cooking yams. If you’re not prepared for it, we can help.

Check out our “Shake Up Your Thanksgiving Dinner” feature for some rather different Thanksgiving dinner ideas, including Harry Truman’s Baked Ham, Curry Deviled Eggs, Carrot Top Pesto (which has nothing to do with the prop comic), and the classic Norman Rockwell’s Oatmeal Cookies.

And if you want to get a head start on the Christmas festivities, here are some gingerbread Christmas tree cookies you can make. If you multiply the ingredient amounts by a million and make each cookie 94 feet tall and 14 tons, you can tell everyone they’re Rockefeller trees.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

Thanksgiving (November 24)

What, the above wasn’t enough reminder? Here are several things you might not know about the day, from a 1948 Saturday Evening Post article. They served boiled eel at the first Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t try that this year.

Black Friday (November 25)

I’m a big anti–Black Friday person, and November 25 also happens to be Buy Nothing Day. But if you insist on shopping, a site has been set up to show you all the deals in one place

News of the Week: Classic Rock, Campaign Bumper Stickers, and Christmas in October

Cleveland Rocks

For some reason, I thought that Yes was already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but while they’ve been nominated before, they’ve never made it. Maybe this year will be different, as they’re on the list of the 2017 nominees. Other nominees are Bad Brains, Joan Baez, The Cars, Chic, Depeche Mode, ELO, The J. Geils Band, Janet Jackson, Jane’s Addiction, Journey, Chaka Khan, Kraftwerk, MC5, Pearl Jam, Tupac Shakur, Steppenwolf, Joe Tex, and The Zombies. This is Chic’s 11th nomination!

You can help decide who gets into the Hall by going to the official site and making your choices. Voting ends on December 5.

In related news, The Nobel Prize academy can’t find Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and new Nobel Prize for Literature winner Bob Dylan. If it helps, tomorrow he’s going to be performing at the WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma.

Au H2O in ’64

CBS Sunday Morning had an interesting segment this week: campaign bumper stickers. The first ones were actually made out of metal. The stickers arrived in the 1940s.

RIP Eddie Applegate

2016 is turning into the “who died from The Patty Duke Show this week?” year. In March, we saw the passing of Patty Duke, and then in May her co-star William Schallert died. Now Eddie Applegate has passed away.

Applegate played Patty Lane’s boyfriend Richard Harrison on the sitcom that ran from 1963 to 1966. He also appeared in TV shows like Gunsmoke, The Lucy Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Daktari, and Nancy, as well as the 2010 movie Easy A. He died Monday at the age of 81.

October Books

Some new fall books you might be interested in:

The New York Times Book of the Dead, edited by William McDonald. This happy little volume contains 320 obituaries from the newspaper, along with access to 10,000 more on a special website.

A Torch Kept Lit, edited by James Rosen. Speaking of famous dead people, here’s a collection of eulogies written by William F. Buckley Jr. Included are remembrances of Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., and Truman Capote.

The Age of Daredevils, by Michael Clarkson. A history of the many people who tried to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel early in the 20th century.

Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places, by Colin Dickey. A travelogue of places in the U.S. that are supposedly haunted, with lots of historical information about each place. Just in time for Halloween.

Happy Hallo … I mean Merry Christmas!

Here we are, ten days before Halloween, and they’re already running Christmas commercials. I saw this one on Tuesday night:

In a few years we’ll come home after watching the Fourth of July fireworks and Frosty the Snowman will be on TV.

Starburst? Seriously?

I refuse to believe that Starburst is the most popular Halloween candy in my state of Massachusetts.

But that’s what this map from Influenster says. They did a state-by-state survey of Halloween candy and Starburst rules The Bay State. I have not eaten a Starburst in 25 years and I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone eating/buying/talking about them (though to be honest, I don’t really keep track of other people’s candy purchases). I’ll take Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

Survey reveals America's favorite Halloween candy by state; candy corn is “candy of choice” in most number of states https://t.co/W412Peno3D pic.twitter.com/8DYPsMf8OH

— ABC News (@ABC) October 18, 2016

 

Who the heck is eating all that candy corn? I mean, come on.

This Week in History: Noah Webster Born (October 16, 1758)

Have you ever used Webster’s Dictionary? This is the guy to thank.

This Week in History: New York World’s Fair Closes (October 17, 1965)

The fair was open for two six-month runs in 1964 and 1965. Some of the buildings are still standing, if in poor condition, and you can see the Unisphere every year when the U.S. Open is played at Flushing Meadows, New York.

This Week in History: Cuba Embargo Begins (October 19, 1960)

President Obama has eased aspects of the embargo, and now you can get Cuban rum and cigars again!

National Nut Day

Saturday is National Nut Day.

A couple of years ago, I made a batch of spiced nuts that was well-received by my family during the holidays. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the recipe and can’t find it online, so how about this spiced nuts recipe from Emeril Lagasse? Here’s a chocolate zucchini bread recipe that includes chopped nuts, and here’s one for dark chocolate bark with roasted almonds and seeds.

I would have included a recipe for fruitcake, but that’s a Christmas thing and it’s still Halloween time. Even though they’re already playing Christmas commercials. Before Halloween.

Next Week’s Holidays and Events

Mother-in-Law Day (October 23)

Come on, you can put aside all of those jokes for one day.

Bill Murray receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (October 23)

The Kennedy Center ceremony will be telecast on PBS at 9 p.m. Eastern on October 28 (check local listings). Here’s a piece by Saturday Evening Post Archive Director Jeff Nilsson on the surprising and familiar Twain.

Navy Day (October 27)

The day was chosen because October 27 is President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday, though some want to change it to October 13.

Burr Slur? Broadway’s Hamilton Doesn’t Tell It Like It Is

With a Pulitzer Prize for its creator and a record-breaking 16 Tony nominations, Hamilton is the hottest show on Broadway. Its multiracial cast portrays the pantheon of Revolutionary greats, and for many a starry-eyed critic, the musical’s hip-hop songs, R&B rhythms, and tri-cornered hats represent “a rigorously factual period drama.” Those are the words of Jody Rosen in The New York Times, and he is not alone. As an academic who spent years studying Aaron Burr before producing a scholarly biography, I can say emphatically that rules of historical rigor do not apply to Hamilton.

The musical follows an old playbook that divides the founders into heroes and villains. This started after the Revolution, when Charles Willson Peale began compiling portraits of “Revolutionary patriots” and displayed them in his renowned Philadelphia Museum. In 1818, a Russian diplomat and artist, Pavel Petrovich Svinin, observed that “every American considers it his sacred duty to have a likeness of Washington in his home, just as we have images of God’s saints.” In death, Washington figuratively became a god when an artist attached his iconic face and head to a classic pose of Jesus sitting on a cloud and ascending into heaven. The impulse to glorify the founders is still with us. They were romanticized in the silent film era and in innumerable hokey movies since.

The drama of the founders has overtaken the reality. In the undergraduate seminar I teach, America’s Founding Myths, I ask my students to identify the life masks of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, produced in 1825, which is as close as we can come to capturing their likenesses. None of my students recognize them. Why? They are old. Adams is jowly and bald. There isn’t an ounce of glamour in these unflattering busts. The reason that Hamilton is so popular is that the theatergoer is treated to vigorous youth, brazen sex appeal, and macho brashness, capped by so-called genius — all wrapped up in a loving and whimsical portrait of a Hamilton who “tells it like it is” in the pounding, nonstop rhythms of hip-hop. Which guy do you want to be? A shrunken Jefferson, or the dashing and daring Hamilton who, like Peter Pan, never appears to grow up?

News of the Week: Unhip Tech, Cool Books for the Summer, and Tiny Toast

Anybody Got an Abacus?

I have a theory: We use the technology that we’re most comfortable with. Maybe you’re a writer and you still like using a typewriter. Maybe you prefer vinyl records over iTunes. Maybe you still have a landline because you hate smartphones. You don’t have to be a slave to technology and grab the newest, shiniest thing just because the media tell you to. Besides, that new thing will probably be obsolete in 10 months.

Joe Queenan has a fun piece at The Wall Street Journal about “the shame of loving old technology.” But I don’t think it’s shame at all; it’s pride. I’m old enough to remember when CDs were the new thing that was going to replace vinyl. It was compact! The sound was incredible!

I still actually buy CDs. I refuse to buy everything in bits and bytes and simply live in files and in the cloud all the time. I like to have the physical object, though anyone in their teens and twenties probably looks at CDs the way people my age look at those old AOL discs we used to get in the mail to get online.

Speaking of typewriters (three paragraphs ago, but still), author Frederic S. Durbin has a terrific piece at Tor about his love for typewriters. I still have this dream that Apple will make a line of manual typewriters, in various colors, with the Apple logo on the front. Imagine how hip typewriters would become once again, almost overnight.

New Books

Some new novels and nonfiction for you to read on the beach, or wherever you happen to read books during the summer:

End of Watch, by Stephen King. This is the last book in the Bill Hodges trilogy that started with Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers, with the retired cop battling an old foe out for revenge.

Magic & Loss, by Virginia Heffernan. Can the internet (now with a small i) be considered art? That’s the argument made by Heffernan in this long-awaited look at the good side and the bad side of the thing you’re staring at right now and can’t seem to get away from.

But What If We’re Wrong?, by Chuck Klosterman. What if everything we assume to be true now isn’t true, or won’t be true in 20, 40, 100 years? That’s the premise of Klosterman’s new book that looks at rock music, politics, sports, and everything in between. And yes, the cover is supposed to be upside down.

Seinfeldia, by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. Armstrong wrote a terrific book a few years ago about The Mary Tyler Moore Show titled Mary and Lou and Rhoda and Ted. Now she sets her sites on another classic sitcom, Seinfeld. She goes behind the scenes of the shows and also talks to devoted fans. (Comes out July 5)

Introducing: Tiny Toast!

When was the last time the launch of a new cereal got any attention? I’m sure there have been other new cereals launched in the past several years, but Tiny Toast, the new product from General Mills, is getting some buzz. Maybe because it’s the first new cereal from the company in 15 years, or maybe it’s the name, Tiny Toast!

And it’s exactly what it says: little toast-shaped pieces with real fruit “spread” on them, with no high-fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors. Right now it comes in two flavors, blueberry and strawberry. They should make one that’s butter-flavored.

I haven’t tried them yet, but I know I’m going to. I’ll give a full report in a future column.

The Whopperito

What do you get when you combine Burger King’s Whopper with a burrito? You might get indigestion, but you definitely get the Whopperrito. That’s right, the fast food chain has put together those two products and come up with a new concoction for those late-night munchie runs. It’s not available everywhere yet; Burger King is testing it in several Pennsylvania locations.

They could have gone with a different name that combines both foods, though “The Burper” probably wouldn’t have gone over as well.

Night of the Gun

Writer and media columnist David Carr passed away in February 2015. He was a beloved figure in the media world, not just for his fine work for The New York Times and other publications, but also for his memoir, Night of the Gun, a hard-hitting and unflinching look at his many years of addiction.

Now that book will become an AMC mini-series. The network announced the film this week. Better Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk will play Carr, and the book will be adapted by Shawn Ryan, creator of The Shield.

Hey, Let’s Spend the Night at Bing Crosby’s House!

I bet you’ve seen a celebrity home on television and wished you could own it. Or maybe you simply just want to visit it and maybe stay for one night? Well, thanks to Airbnb and Luxury Rentals by Homeaway, you can.

For a rather large fee, you can spend the night in the home of a classic celebrity. Want to see how Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz lived? It will cost you $1000 a night. Want to have a ring-a-ding time at Frank Sinatra’s? That’s $2,450 a night. Too much? You can stay at Ava Gardner’s place for only $85 a night.

It’s Negroni Week

The Negroni is a drink you don’t really hear much about anymore. Have you ordered one recently or heard anyone order one? A lot of people have probably never even heard of it, but it’s really a solid, classic cocktail that should be ordered more. The recipe is pretty simple, and you can make one this weekend for Negroni Week, which ends on Sunday:

• 1 oz. Campari
• 1 oz. gin
• 1 oz. sweet vermouth

Combine ingredients in a rocks glass with ice and stir. Throw in an orange peel or slice if you want.

Goes great with a Whopperrito.

Upcoming Events and Anniversaries

Miranda Warning established (June 13, 1966)

The “You have the right to remain silent…” warning given by police after they arrest you arose from the case of Ernesto Arturo Miranda.

President Harding broadcasts first presidential radio message (June 14, 1922)

EarlyRadioHistory.us has a complete history of the radio address, including a photo that shows where all of the microphones were placed.

Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775)

The line “Don’t shoot ’til you see the whites of their eyes” wasn’t really spoken at the battle.

Stan Laurel born (June 16, 1890)

Steve Coogan will play the legendary comic in a new BBC movie about Laurel and Hardy. Hardy will be played by John C. Reilly.

O.J. Simpson arrested (June 17, 1994)

O.J.: Made in America, a new, critically acclaimed five-part documentary on Simpson’s life and the murder case, debuts tomorrow night on ABC.

Napoleon defeated at Waterloo (June 18, 1815)

After his loss, the General was sent to live in exile on the island of St. Helena, where he died of stomach cancer in 1821.

News of the Week: Starbucks, Stamps, and How Staying In Is the New Going Out

And Now, a Scolding from the Internet

Starbucks has apologized to a customer after the man got a note on the drink he ordered at one of the chain’s Florida locations. Where the customer’s name would ordinarily be was the phrase “Diabetes Here I Come,” presumably because the man had the audacity — can you believe it? — to actually order something he wanted to order: more syrup in his Grande White Chocolate Mocha.

I’m always amazed — and maybe at this point I shouldn’t be — when people on the web have the completely wrong reaction to a story like this. You would think that most of the comments on this story would be on the customer’s side, that maybe baristas at Starbucks shouldn’t be dumping on customers via their coffee cups. But this is the world of internet comment sections, and many reactions are along the lines of “He shouldn’t be drinking that!” and “You mean to tell me he added more sugar to something with a ton of sugar already?!?”

Talk about missing the point. Or maybe they see the point very clearly and have instead decided to dump on the guy and give their flawless moral opinions, because that’s what comment sections and social media are for now.

Stamp Prices Are Going … Down?

That’s not a typo or a hallucination; stamp prices are actually going down.

Stamps have been 49 cents for the past few years, but last Sunday, the price dropped 2 cents to 47 cents. Postcard stamps — and I always forget about those — have also gone down, a penny, to 34 cents. The reason? A program that allowed the United States Postal Service to raise prices on stamps to make up for lost revenue when the volume of mail decreased during the recession has come to an end. I have no idea why the price of the stamps is going down instead of just staying the same, but I won’t argue with a discount.

It’s the first time stamp prices have gone down since 1919.

Nothing Left Unsaid

Did you know that CNN host and 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper is Gloria Vanderbilt’s son? I know, I know, that’s old news by now, but I’m sure there are some who didn’t realize it, and maybe you knew it but forgot that you knew it.

Vanderbilt is 91 now, and not only do she and Cooper have a new book out, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, but a new HBO documentary about her life, titled Nothing Left Unsaid, premiered last weekend. I caught it and it’s well worth seeing. It’s not only a fantastic look at Vanderbilt’s life, including the infamous custody trial she was involved in at an early age, her marriages and business successes, and the suicide of Cooper’s older brother Carter, it also turns out to be a rather surprising and inspirational meditation on the power of art and how to go forward in life. It’s really well done, and I recommend you take a look.

RIP Arthur Anderson

The actor started as a child actor on radio and Broadway with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater and appeared in many movies and TV shows, including Midnight Cowboy, Zelig, and Law & Order. But you might remember him as the original voice of Lucky the Leprechaun in a series of Lucky Charms cereal commercials from 1963 to 1992:

Anderson passed away last week at the age of 93. In 2010, he released the autobiography An Actor’s Odyssey: Orson Welles to Lucky the Leprechaun.

Robert Osborne Will Be Absent from TCM Film Festival Again

Well, this is rather too bad. For the second year in a row, Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne will not appear at the TCM Classic Film Festival, which will take place in Hollywood from April 28 to May 1. In a letter to fans (PDF), Osborne says that a health problem will sideline him again this year. In 2015, a health problem also made Osborne miss the annual get-together. The classic political thriller All The President’s Men will open the festival, and guests this year include Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, Eva Marie Saint, Stacy Keach, and John Singleton.

Osborne says that everything’s okay, though, and he’ll be back on TCM soon.

Going Out Tonight? Don’t Bother!

Big is the new small! Wet is the new dry! Stamp prices going down are the new going up! And going out is the new staying in.

Apparently, people aren’t going out as much as they used to. And as Molly Young points out in her interesting essay at The New York Times’ T Magazine, you can pretty much blame the internet and television.

You can do everything from the comfort of your home now. You can binge on movies and TV shows, shop, post pictures, order food, find a soul mate, and most importantly, you can hang out with friends without, well, actually hanging out with your friends. There are also many jobs you can do from home now, so you don’t even have to commute to work every day. If you carefully plan things out, you never have to leave the house again!

I’d just like to say that if staying in really has become the hip, cool thing to do, then I must be a trailblazer, because I’ve been staying in for years.

Happy Tax Day Everybody!

It’s April 15. What, you haven’t done your taxes yet? What the heck are you doing reading this then?

I did my taxes the other day, and while I would never call the process “fun,” I felt a certain amount of pride and accomplishment when I finished. Of course, writers are notoriously bad when it comes to math, so I have no idea if I even did them correctly. But hey, I did them!

If you really haven’t done your taxes yet, don’t stress out too much; you’ve got a little extra time this year. Because Friday is a legal holiday for public employees in Washington, D.C. — it’s Emancipation Day — we all get an extra weekend to procrastinate. Taxes are due on Monday, April 18, this year. But why wait? Do your taxes today so you don’t have to worry about doing them over the weekend.

Today is also National Glazed Spiral Ham Day. I don’t know if you can combine that with doing your taxes in any way, but if you do, let us know.

Upcoming Events and Anniversaries

Bay of Pigs invasion (April 17, 1961)

Here’s how The Saturday Evening Post covered the military plan and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Benjamin Franklin dies (April 17, 1790)

Franklin did many things in his life, including starting the newspaper that eventually became The Saturday Evening Post.

The midnight ride of Paul Revere (April 18, 1775)

It really should be called the midnight ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes.

The San Francisco earthquake (April 18, 1906)

The destructive quake hit at 5:12 a.m. and killed 700 people, a number many researchers think is actually a lot lower than the actual death count.

Ernie Pyle dies (April 18, 1945)

The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist died after being struck by a Japanese machine gunner’s bullet.

“In God We Trust” first put on U.S. coins (April 22, 1864)

​Here’s a timeline of how we handle faith in America, including putting those words on our currency.​

News of the Week: Bob Elliott, Amazon’s Bookstore Plans, and Why I Used the Oxford Comma in This Headline

RIP, Bob Elliott

Abbott and Costello. Laurel and Hardy. Martin and Lewis. These are classic comedy teams. I’d add Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding to the mix too. As Bob and Ray, they did very smart and very funny comedy routines on stage and on television for four decades. Goulding passed away in 1990, and this week Bob Elliott died at the age of 92.

I could write something really long about Bob and Ray, but that The New York Times obit says a lot. You can also check out Bob and Ray’s official site, where you get recordings of their routines on CD, iTunes, even on a Flash drive.

Elliott was the father of comedian Chris Elliott, who has appeared on everything from Everybody Loves Raymond to David Letterman’s late night shows. Bob Elliott also starred with Chris in the short-lived but cult-favorite sitcom Get A Life on Fox in 1990. He leaves four other children as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Maybe Bookstores Aren’t Going Away After All?

Did you know that Amazon has a brick-and-mortar bookstore? It’s called Amazon Books, and it’s located at Seattle’s University Village mall. But according to Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of mall-builder General Growth Properties, the online retail giant is planning on opening 300 to 400 more bookstores across the country. Of course, the next day, he released a new statement saying that his previous statement “doesn’t reflect Amazon’s plans.”

But if this is true, it’s one of the biggest retail stories of the year. What a plot twist it would be if Amazon, which has been accused of destroying large bookstore chains like Borders, would actually become a large bookstore chain itself. Suddenly, Barnes & Noble would be the plucky underdog!

Amazon hasn’t commented on the story yet, but people are already making jokes about it on social media. This might be my favorite:

You've Got Mail 2: An Amazon store opens across from a Barnes & Noble and the two store managers unknowingly begin a flirtation over Tinder

— Iris Blasi (@IrisBlasi) February 2, 2016

Archer Meets Magnum

I haven’t watched FX’s animated spy spoof Archer since its first season, but this new promo for the seventh season of the show (which starts on March 27) makes me want to get back into it.

That’s real dedication by the artists. Compare it to the original:

Breaking Groundhog Day News

I wouldn’t necessarily go by the predictions of groundhogs Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck, who both said this week that we’re going to have an early spring. For one thing, how can a regional groundhog give a forecast for an entire nation? Second, I don’t even think either of these animals have meteorology degrees. Though that’s never stopped Al Roker.

I wouldn’t necessarily go by the predictions of groundhogs Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck, who both said this week that we’re going to have an early spring. For one thing, how can a regional groundhog give a forecast for an entire nation? Second, I don’t even think either of these animals have meteorology degrees. Though that’s never stopped Al Roker.

I wouldn’t necessarily go by the predictions of groundhogs Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck, who both said this week that we’re going to have an early spring. For one thing, how can a regional groundhog give a forecast for an entire nation? Second, I don’t even think either of these animals have meteorology degrees. Though that’s never stopped Al Roker.

Google Buys Google.com

What’s the significance of $6006.13? More on that in a moment.

Have you ever forgotten to renew your domain name and when you go to do it you find out that someone has already grabbed it? That can also happen to multibillion-dollar international companies too.

For some reason, the Google.com domain was available to buy last September, so a former Google employee bought it for $12.00. And the funniest part is that he bought it on Google’s own registration page! It only lasted a minute though, as the system figured out what had happened and canceled the transaction.

This week Google disclosed that they did indeed pay the man to get the domain back. They bought it for $6006.13. If you look at that monetary amount closely you can see why they decided on that amount. It kinda spells out Google in numbers.

Do You Remember Remember WENN?

Mad Men is my favorite drama of all time, but it irritates me when people (including the people over at AMC) refer to that show and Breaking Bad as the network’s first forays into original scripted shows. There was actually a show on AMC long before those shows started. It was called Remember WENN. It was a half-hour comedy/drama set in the 1940s, about life at a Pittsburgh radio station, and it debuted in 1996. Even though the show ran for three seasons, it has almost been forgotten, except by hardcore fans. It’s not available to stream, and it’s not available on DVD either. Which is really odd, because it was a really good show. Here’s the first episode.

Rachel Syme remembers it though, and writes about it at The New York Times. The creator of the show, Rupert Holmes — yes, the man who did “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” — even went to AMC a few years ago, to see if he could get a DVD set made. They weren’t interested.

How Do You Use the Oxford Comma?

The Oxford Comma, also known as the serial comma, is one of the more controversial punctuation topics (if punctuation can indeed be controversial). In this video, Mary Norris, proofreader and “Comma Queen” at The New Yorker and author of the fun memoir/language guide Between You & Me, explains how to use it correctly. Sometimes when you leave this comma out, it doesn’t just make the sentence less clear, it can change the entire meaning of the sentence. A lot.

Super Bowl Snacks

I’m one of those annoying people that really does watch the Super Bowl for the commercials, and this Sunday will be no different. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like the food. And there’s a lot of food consumed on the big day. According to various organizations and associations, we eat 11.2 million pounds of potato chips, 3 million pounds of nuts, and 1.2 billion chicken wings before the day is over, along with a lot of pizza too.

And dips! Here’s a recipe for a classic guacamole dip, and here are 11 more, including individual 7-Layer dip, a BLT dip, cheesy spinach and bacon, and something called a cookies and cream cheese dip.

And if you’re looking to save a few calories this weekend — though it’s probably one of the worst days to attempt that — how about homemade pita chips instead of potato?

Go Patriots! Oh, wait …

Upcoming Events and Anniversaries​

The Beatles land in NYC (February 7, 1964)

Read SEP Archives Director Jeff Nilsson’s article on why early critics hated the Fab Four.

Del Shannon dies (February 8, 1990)

The “Runaway” singer committed suicide at the age of 55.

Daylight Saving Time debuts (February 9, 1942)

Who is credited with the idea for the time change? Benjamin Franklin.

Laura Ingalls Wilder dies (February 10, 1957)

Paramount just announced that they’re doing a big-screen version of the TV series Little House on the Prairie, which was based on Wilder’s book series.

President Abraham Lincoln born (February 12, 1809)​

During a debate with Stephen Douglas, who called Lincoln “two-faced,” Lincoln said “If I really had two faces, do you think I’d hide behind this one?”.

News of the Week: The Best and Worst of 2015, People We Lost, and Cures for Your Hangover

The Year in Review​

So here we are at the end of the year, and that’s the time for list, lists, lists! Everyone likes lists! The best this, the worst that, the biggest this, the most disappointing this and that. Here’s a quick wrap-up of what pop culture writers liked and didn’t like in 2015:​

​TV: The New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum hates doing top 10 lists like I do, but here’s her list of the best shows of the year; Robert Rorke at The New York Post hated True Detective (like a lot of people); Vulture’s Matt Zoller Seitz picks the best shows, episodes, and performances of 2015; and Entertainment Weekly has the best and the worst picks from Melissa Maerz and Jeff Jensen.

Film: Over at The Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper picks his best and worst; New York Times critics A.O. Scott, Manohla Dargis, and Stephen Holden give us their lists; and Entertainment Weekly’s Chris Nashawaty picks the 10 best (and 5 worst) films of the year.

Books: The staff at The Atlantic picks their favorite books of 2015; Laura Miller at Slate picks hers; the writers at The Millions go over their Year in Reading; and here’s the Best of the Year from the critics at The New York Times.

Music: Wow, reading these lists of the Best and Worst Albums of the Year makes me realize … I’m now too old to know anything about current music. Tyga? Jamie xx? Father John Misty? Tame Impala? Hey, I’ve heard of Adele!

RIP

It’s hard to list all of the well-known people who pass away in a single year. There are just too many people and you simply can’t list everyone. But two outlets do a great job with their annual video tributes. The best is probably by CBS Sunday Morning, and another good one is courtesy of Turner Classic Movies:

And since those tributes were completed before the end of December, we have to add people who passed away this past week, like Harlem Globetrotters star Meadowlark Lemon, actress Patricia Elliott, and Twilight Zone/Star Trek writer George Clayton Johnson.

An IMDb member has created a list of people in show business who passed away in 2015, and it has over 3,500 names!

Rules for Holiday Gift Returns

It happens to a lot of people at Christmas. There’s that one gift you get that you don’t like or it doesn’t fit or maybe you broke your arm using it or it exploded and caught on fire. This is the week that everyone returns the gifts they don’t want, and there are rules to follow.

Money has the five rules of holiday gift returns, and most of them are common sense. You should return the gift as soon as possible (don’t wait until Valentine’s Day), you should check to see if a website return policy is different than an in-store policy, and please note that Amazon doesn’t let you return wine. (Also: Amazon sells wine.)

I got mostly gift cards and cash, and, well, I’m not returning those.

Tonight: The Return of Sherlock!

I mentioned this several weeks ago, but this is a quick reminder that Sherlock returns tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. The PBS series has been gone for a while (and the fourth season doesn’t even start filming until this spring), but this special episode has the master detective and Dr. Watson solving a mystery in 1890s London. And no, it’s not a dream sequence or time travel, they’re just going to be in 1890s London.

Predictions for 2016

We’re still trying to figure out what happened in 2015, but some are making some predictions about the year ahead.

Fortune looks into their crystal ball to make some predictions about the worlds of business and technology; Newsweek makes five completely random predictions for the year; and USA Today has 52 goofy and serious predictions for the world of sports.

I’d make a prediction about who our next president will be, but the way this election season is going I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Trump, Clinton, Sanders, Mitt Romney, Mark Zuckerberg, the ghost of William McKinley, or the kid who bags my groceries at the supermarket.

Hangovers and Resolutions

DID YOU IMBIBE TOO MUCH LAST NIGHT? Sorry, I’ll lower my voice. Did you imbibe too much last night?

If you need a hangover cure today, you could try everything from IV drips to eating snow, or maybe you’d like to try some cures that seem a little more normal, like drinking water and eating toast.

Note: The Saturday Evening Post cannot verify or endorse any of these remedies. I mean, if you want to try eating a deep-fried canary to get rid of your hangover, you’re on your own.

As for resolutions, I think I found a way to make sure I stick to at least one of the resolutions I make. I simply resolve to not stick to any of the resolutions I make. That way, I don’t have to stick to any resolutions, but I’m guaranteed to feel good about the one I actually did stick to. Though I guess by actually going through with that resolution I actually am sticking to one resolution, which destroys the logic of the whole exercise. Oh well.

Happy New Year!

Upcoming Events and Anniversaries​

President Theodore Roosevelt dies (January 6, 1919)

The Saturday Evening Post Archives Director Jeff Nilsson lays out an alternative of World War I and what would have happened if Roosevelt had been re-elected in 1912.

Common Sense published (January 9, 1776)

You can read the entire text of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet at USHistory.org.

Baseball adopts the designated hitter rule (January 11, 1973)

Here are the pros and cons of the controversial rule, debated by Aaron Rimstadt and Kelsey Roan.

Batman TV series debuts (January 12, 1966)

It’s the 50th anniversary of the Adam West/Burt Ward series. My mom told me that my first word wasn’t “mom” or “dada” or even “binky.” It was “Batman.” Probably from watching this over and over and over.

Jack London born (January 12, 1876)

London wrote 18 stories for The Saturday Evening Post before dying at the age of 40. Here’s “A Goboto Night”.​