I believe during the last economic downturn new TV purchases went up as well. The idea is that people cut back on vacations, movies, entertainment, etc. and stay home- with their brand new flat screen TV. -- Nicolemc99

The difference then, though, is that most American households we're holding around $5,000.00 in credit card debt and gas was a lot cheaper.

While nothing gets the American economy out of a recession more quickly than consumer spending, the U.S. economy could really use some retrenchment and parsimony for a few quarters. Oh, that and returning the tax bracket back to where they were in January of 2000 would really help.

NBC barely showed the pole vault competition at all, which was a bummer, since the final in Athens was one of the greatest track and field showdowns I've ever seen.

As we did with the Torino Winter Games, we've mostly watched CBC's coverage.

If an alien plopped down in front of a set tuned to NBC for these Summer Olympics, he/she/it would have to assume that the only sports contested were beach volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, diving and, now, track and field.

. . . is entering late middle age on the arm of Lou Reed.

You go to college, don't get married, don't have kids, become Laurie Anderson, make all this money and sing your song. And then our 30s came along, and reality set in.

Sandra got a guitar player too, and probably one with a better personality.

. . . tell me where the audience for table tennis is outside of China?

And if tennis goes, take badminton with it and, yes, rhythmic "gymnastics" (even though my niece may qualify for 2012), and everything "synchronized." No soccer, no rugby, no bowling, no inline figure skating, no bump competition for skiing or snowbording, no equestrian, no boating except sculls, and no shooting of anything other than archery.

The Olympics have become bloated with events that have little world-wide popular appeal, world championships that already give the best participants a chance to compete against one another or simply aren't athletic in the least.

. . . April Fools don't you think?

I know I'm the wrong demographic (40+, married w/ children), but Jesus, don't you young people have anything better to do than set up a virtual circle of friends so you can "poke each other" and post pictures no one cares about?

Facebook: E-crack for yuppies

I'm a self-proclaimed yuppie . . . -- Krasnaya Zvezda

"Self-proclaimed yuppie"? Are you also either living in a time warp and/or have perfected time travel? Yuppie went out of the American lexicon about 20 years ago.

. . . Obama is the best Democratic candidate since 1968. Do you want Denver to be a repeat of Chicago?

. . . he calls the capital of China "Peking"? Odd.

"I have my suspicions," he says. "Judging by their Chinese, they're not from Peking."

Impeach now!

The examples in this article show why all utilities, be they water or power, need to be public entities.

Coal-fired power plants work hand in glove with coal producers promoting what is essentially a 19th Century energy source. Coal is about the dirtiest form of carbon energy available and has few other uses. As soon as we get rid of coal-fired plants, that whole "industry" collapses. So even making coal-fired plants more efficient and "cleaner" is an anathema to them.

Mr. Romm's main thesis is spot-on. I just wish he would have stayed clear of the unfortunately common device of vilifying a straw man in order to make his point. There are some utilities that will dig in their heels, but there are others who are already pushing for reform. Since they'll all figure in the eventual solution, I think it's important to make that distinction. -- ukiyo

Snopes has a fake-article about this. . . . debunking a widespread e-mail saying that African American women can no longer name their babies because it can get over-ridiculous.-- Lulu Lulu

I worked in the municipal court of Seattle about fifteen years ago. All my co-workers were African-American women. They were quite frank about why mothers gave their sons such odd names - it helps keep them from getting mixed-up with someone sought by the law. Robert, or even Rodney, Jones is much more common than Rasheed or LeBron Jones.

This doesn't necessarily explain, however, any of the made-up names so commonly given to their daughters.

Who Cares? Edwards isn't a public official (unlike Vitter and Craig), nor is he a candidate for public office. . . -- escowles

Because he would have made a fine VP and maybe an even better AG. Unless we learn unequivocally that this story is shit, his political career is done.

Obviously, it's not a movie version of some crappy 1970s television show (Starsky and Hutch anyone?). But If you must see a filmed adaptation, there is no excuse for not watching the Thame's version done in the early 1980s. It is one of the few such works that is an almost word-for-word and scene-for-scene reproduction of the book, and nearly perfect for it.

You lived in Nebraska.

I heave my knapsack over my shoulder and trudge out into the sticky Nebraska heat, crestfallen. It wasn't that I liked school so much. It's that I hated summer.

NPR is running this, thankfully, without comment this morning.