Ta-Nehisi Coates

I think that sometimes people need to be just a bit more patient with the operation of things. I see the McDonald's oatmeal saga as in some ways optimistic. The first piece of good news about McDonald's oatmeal is that, as a marketing strategy, they clearly think there's money to be made in selling people food that they perceive as healthier than the existing McDonald's options. The second piece of good news about McDonald's oatmeal is that, as a matter of corporate policy, McDonald's discloses extensive nutritional information about the food they sell. Thanks to the second piece of good news, we know that the promise of healthy McDonald's oatmeal is a lie. And thanks to the Affordable Care Act, more extensive and aggressive calorie information will be coming.

A state is fundamentally an ethical enterprise aimed at promoting human welfare. A business isn't like that. If you're trying to look at America from a balance-sheet perspective the problem is very clear. It's not "entitlements" and it's not "Social Security" and it's not "Medicare" and it's not "health care costs" it's the existence of old people. 

Old people, generally speaking, don't produce anything of economic value. They sit around, retired, consuming goods and services and produce nothing but the occasional turn at babysitting. The optimal economic growth policy isn't to slash Social Security or Medicare benefits, it's to euthanize 70 year-olds and harvest their organs for auction. With that in place, you could cut taxes and massively ramp-up investments in physical infrastructure, early childhood education, and be on easy street. The problem with this isn't that it wouldn't work, it's that it would be wrong, morally speaking.

"Most of the people were working government jobs, like the post office. My father was a decorator. There was a gentleman in our neighborhood who owned a grocery store," Robinson recalled. He "had to go to his farm to pick up his groceries. It was rough. There were plenty of reasons why people could not do. People who couldn't afford rent for a whole apartment, they would share...

"That's where we got our understanding that it was going to be hard, but you just had to do whatever it takes," she said. "We all went to church. I was a Brownie. I was a Girl Scout. We all took piano lessons. We had drama classes. They took you to the museum, the Art Institute. They did all those things, but I don't know how. I grew up with a grandmother and an aunt. My aunt would do things my mother would not or could not."

As I've mentioned once or twice here, I'd met him a few times back when I was in my third life (writing comics), which just about coincided with the launch of Milestone Comics. He and his crew (well, some of them - I'd always wanted to meet Robert L. Washington in person to tell him I thought his dialogue in "Static" was the best "superhero" dialogue I'd ever read) would swing through Texas to do the whole promotion thing and we'd end up in the same stores with not a whole lot going on. 

Don't recall a lot about those times, except that he was a fairly imposing dude who rarely chose to use it, if you know what I mean. And, believe me, with some of the questions and comments he would get at some of those shops and conventions, I dunno if I could've done the same were our roles reversed. Comic book folk aren't exactly the most sensitive people in the world. Well, maybe they are now, but we weren't back then. 

There had been black pros in comics for over a decade before McDuffie broke onto the scene, but up until then I'd seen very few at conventions. Probably not fair to them or Dwayne, but it didn't really take long before he became "the face" of the black comic book professional. And even if Milestone didn't end up being the financial breakthrough that some were hoping for, the line did well enough. RWG (coming as it did right before the big bust of the '90s, in retrospect, I dunno if more could've been expected)

That's awesome. I like Holmes's emphasis that this is their JOB - e.g. someone else is effectively paying for their time at the gym, their personal trainer, and their Whole Foods groceries. They are not cramming a workout session at the Y in between meetings and picking the kids up. They are also not feeding a household on $40k/year. I never want to see "Diet Tips from [Insert Celebrity]" again, because their lifestyle is simply not applicable to normal women who have normal jobs, normal time constraints, and normal incomes. 

I'm in pretty good shape, but I'm fairly sure if I had an assload of cash and dropped out of law school, I could be in awesome shape. Not gonna happen. Just not my life.

Part of it is an appeal to young men, who want to fantasize about how Minka Kelly is really just a down to earth who will drink a beer with them. 

And that put me in mind of the latest nugget from OK Cupid: 

Among all our casual topics, whether someone likes the taste of beer is the single best predictor of if he or she has sex on the first date. No matter their gender or orientation, beer-lovers are 60% more likely to be okay with sleeping with someone they've just met. Sadly, this is the only question with a meaningful correlation for women. 

So having a beer with Minka Kelly is indeed the fantasy of many young men.

"An abortion can cost a ballin' nigga up to 50gs maybe a 100. Gold diggin' bitches be getting pregnant on purpose, Liz Lemon."

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For no apparent reason, in both interviews Mr. Sheen said Mr. Lorre's real name is Chaim Levine. He was born Charles Levine; a Hebrew version would be Chaim. The comment struck executives at both CBS and Warner Brothers as anti-Semitic, according to an executive who had spoken with representatives of both companies.

In response to the shutdown, Mr. Sheen sent a comment to TMZ. Again he attacked Mr. Lorre, saying, "What does this say about Haim Levine [Chuck Lorre] after he tried to use his words to judge and attempt to degrade me. I gracefully ignored this folly for 177 shows." He added,"I urge all my beautiful and loyal fans who embraced this show for almost a decade to walk with me side-by-side as we march up the steps of justice to right this unconscionable wrong." 

In a previous radio appearance, Mr. Sheen had indicated he was ready to go back to work but was being prevented by the decision to shut down production. In the interviews Thursday, he expressed rage with Mr. Lorre for not doing "his job, which is to write." 

He accused Mr. Lorre of taking money from him by canceling several episodes of the show. Mr. Sheen is reported to make $1.2 million for each episode. In the TMZ interview, Mr. Sheen said, "I violently hate Chaim Levine. He's a stupid, stupid little man."

Others will argue that the McDonald's version is more "convenient." This is nonsense; in the time it takes to go into a McDonald's, stand in line, order, wait, pay and leave, you could make oatmeal for four while taking your vitamins, brushing your teeth and half-unloading the dishwasher. (If you're too busy to eat it before you leave the house, you could throw it in a container and microwave it at work. If you prefer so-called instant, flavored oatmeal, see this link, which will describe how to make your own). 

 If you don't want to bother with the stove at all, you could put some rolled oats (instant not necessary) in a glass or bowl, along with a teeny pinch of salt, sugar or maple syrup or honey, maybe some dried fruit. Add milk and let stand for a minute (or 10). Eat. Eat while you're walking around getting dressed. And then talk to me about convenience.

Last night, Kanye tweeted the following: "an abortion can cost a ballin' nigga up to 50gs maybe a 100. Gold diggin' bitches be getting pregnant on purpose. #STRAPUP my niggas!" He followed it up with "It ain't happen to me but I know people."

Minka Kelly, the "sexiest woman alive," slides a fork into a tangle of spaghetti carbonara. Zoë Saldana has a basket of fried calamari. Jennifer Lawrence, an Oscar nominee for her leading role in "Winter's Bone," wants it known that a skimpy morning repast is not going to satisfy her. "I'm freakish about breakfast," she explains to an Esquire magazine writer there to interview her. "You're not gonna order, like, fruit or something, are you? Because I'm gonna eat." We then learn that Ms. Lawrence "orders the eggs Benedict without looking at the menu." 

For regular readers of glossy magazines -- which depend on interviews with famous people to generate chatter and goose newsstand sales -- such situations have become increasingly familiar. (Especially over the last year or so, and most persistently in Esquire, the source of the three preceding examples, as well as Ms. Kelly's November 2010 crown of sexiness.) A writer meets a starlet for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The starlet, usually of slim and gamine proportions, appears to thwart our expectations by ordering and consuming, with conspicuous relish, a meal that might satisfy a hungry dockworker.

"We would all appreciate it if you had an interview with an actress who says: 'You know what? It's my job to be a certain size, and it takes a lot of work for me to do so. I tend to eat very healthy, small portions, but once in a while I splurge,' I would like to hear that. That it's not easy."

I wonder if it is possible that everyone is just way too far out of their depth on this one. How do any of us have a conversation about things with which so few of us have any experience? How many of us have stood in the muck of a factory farm, the nauseating smell of animal excrement filling the air? Let alone, stood at the side of a dog pit and seen two pitbulls go at it? How many of us can speak to the soul of dog fighter when most of us have never known one? 

 How then in the world can we bring all of this together to speak in any kind of thoughtful way about the reasonableness of threatening someone with bodily harm who we have never met? Or whether there is any kind of cognitive disconnect between eating factory farmed meat and hating a man who would slam a dogs head into the ground until it was dead? Maybe some things require experience, not just knowledge. 

Before he shot himself fatally in the chest Thursday, the former Chicago Bears defensive back Dave Duerson sent family members text messages requesting that his brain tissue be examined for the same damage recently found in other retired players, two people aware of the messages said Saturday night.

As a longtime force in the N.F.L. players union, Duerson, 50, was keenly aware of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease linked to depression, dementia and occasionally suicide among more than a dozen deceased players. He had expressed concern in recent months that he might have had the condition, said one person close to him who spoke on condition of anonymity.

It really isn't good to try to defend evil by playing the race card. Too many suffer because of true racism but it devalues that arguement everytime its misused. Vick is evil his color isn't a factor his character is!!

Have you seen what he did to the animals in his care? Have you completely watched the video's he made of himself Smashing a dogs head onto concrete until she died, and then did it again while laughing? Have you seen the videos of him laughing and electrocuting his dogs in his pool. Look at the pictures and then read the court evidence. 

The only reason he is out of prison is because of his money, money which he is hiding among friends and family and now the courts are going after his friends and family for the five million that hes "hidden". 

He is Not reformed. The only regret he has is that he was caught. As for other players in football, I shake my head. How is it as a country when more than 25% of American children go without meals that all of those fools are paid millions of dollars to catch a ball and run up and down a field?

Please, View all of the evidence before deciding anything, on his reform. Because he hasn't and its only a matter of time before he returns to killing of any sort.

People need to stop pulling the race card for Vick. He is POS, no matter the color of his skin. Athletes don't get a free pass to crime and heinous acts of cruelty. In fact, the fact that many many professional athletes or celebs get a free or cheap pass when charged and CONVICTED of a crime sickens me. He doesn't even qualify as a good human being in my eyes. I would never allow my children to play with his kids, go over to his house, or even watch a game that has has played in. 

 He is just as bad as a serial killer in my eyes, and the fact that YOU and others are saying that people are pissed just because he is black just shows your ignorance. The fact that you cannot see that willfully torturing, maining and inflicting ungodly pain on an innocent creature is wrong and heartless shows that you are missing a piece of your own soul. I hope that you don't have any dogs. 

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Absconded from the household of the President of the United States, ONEY JUDGE, a light mulatto girl, much freckled, with very black eyes and bushy hair. She is of middle stature, slender, and delicately formed, about 20 years of age. 

She has many changes of good clothes, of all sorts, but they are not sufficiently recollected to be descri- bed--As there was no suspicion of her going off, nor no provocation to do so, it is not easy to conjecture whither she has gone, or fully, what her design is;-- but as she may attempt to escape by water, all masters of vessels are cautioned against admitting her into them, although it is probable she will attempt to pass for a free woman, and has, it is said, where- withal to pay her passage. 

Ten dollars will be paid to any person who will bring her home, if taken in the city, or on board any vessel in the harbour;--and a reasonable additional sum if apprehended at, and brought from a greater distance, and in proportion to the distance. 

FREDERICK KITT, Steward.

When asked if she is not sorry she left Washington, as she has labored so much harder since, than before, her reply is, "No, I am free, and have, I trust been made a child of God by the means."