USA TODAY

How to Write a "Vinyl is Back!" Story

Last Saturday marked Record Store Day, a global celebration that encourages folks to head down to their local record store and buy some vinyl. Pleasantly, the initiative has done wonders for local businesses. Besides boosting sales, Record Store Day also offers an invaluable service to writers: It p ... More >>

CICADA BROOD EMERGING TO DELIVER HELL UPON NEW YORK CITY

We apologize if the above headline is alarming, but we can assure you this spring's invasion of 17-year cicadas will be the most terrifying ordeal you will ever live through (if you make it out alive, of course). Don't believe us? USA Today ran an absolutely terrifying report about the imminent emer ... More >>

Will Smith's Violence With Male Kisser Is Sad!

As you know, Scientologist Will Smith was greeting the press at the Moscow premiere of the esteemed Men In Black III the other day when he was approached by a male reporter who double kissed the star on the cheek, which is apparently the guy's shtick. At first, Will smilingly went along with it and ... More >>

McDonald's Shuffles, Sweet Suits

McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner is retiring after 41 years at the fast-food chain. Donald Thompson, the company's current president, will take his spot. [AP via USA Today] What's more natural, sugar or high fructose corn syrup? This old debate was the subject of a lawsuit over false advertising between ... More >>

Bread Trumps Chips as the Biggest Source of Salt in Our Diet

​Where does most of the salt in our diet come from? Not from potato chips, pretzels, popcorn, or pizza, according to a government report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the Love of God, It's Not 'Downtown' Abbey!

Have you seen the extremely popular British period drama called "Downton Abbey"? It's all the rage right now. It won a Golden Globe! People are talking about it, watching it, DVR-ing it, weeping with joy and raising their glasses to it as we speak. And people and news organizations, which are bigger ... More >>

Peanut Butter Too Expensive for Food Banks

​If you didn't already have your concerns about food banks -- considering that they can be stocked with shit you wouldn't want to eat -- here's more unsettling news.

Study: Alcohol Linked to Breast Disease in Teens

​A Harvard researcher has found that alcohol could put teens at risk for benign breast disease, a risk factor for breast cancer. [Times of India]

Chipotle Founder Named 'Innovator of the Year'; Consumers 'Ripped Off' When Buying Fish

​Just in case you were wondering, "Montezuma's Revenge" has not been a problem for athletes at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. [Washington Post] Kosher food is becoming more conventional in Berlin, post World War II. [Reuters] Restaurants are getting ready to raise prices as ... More >>

Cheesecake Factory Ranked Consumer Fave, Again; Only 2% of Food Imports Inspected

Kraft is recalling three flavors of Velveeta Shells & Cheese single-serve microwavable cups due to possible thin wire bristle pieces in the cups. [Chicago Tribune] In a widespread market survey, consumers ranked the Cheesecake Factory their favorite casual-dining restaurant for the second year in a ... More >>

Introducing 'Uptown Restaurant Month'; The 20 Worst Kids' Foods in America

​Jamawn Woods, the creator of Soul Daddy, which was the winning concept on America's Next Great Restaurant but failed miserably weeks after opening, plans to reopen in his hometown of Detroit. [Nation's Restaurant News] Tyson is recalling about 131,300 pounds of ground beef after a family in ... More >>

Restos Return from Summer Vacation; Wendy's Redesigns Its Signature Burger

​A Staten Island couple stole some $2.5 million meant for healthy meals for preschoolers by skimming money over five years from accounts at the nonprofit Red Apple Child Development Center. [NY Times] A roundup of cooking classes in the city includes pasta making at The Brooklyn Kitchen, beer ... More >>

More Americans are Buying Lotto Tickets, Should You?

​With unemployment rates at a standstill and the economy still withering, one financial sector just had a banner year: lottery tickets. According to USA Today, 41 state lotteries saw a sales increase from the last fiscal year, with 17 states recording record-high ticket sales. A 2004 Cornell U ... More >>

Summer Wine Books Reviewed; Beer and College Football Go Hand-in-Hand

​Eric Asimov reviews four new wine books. He likes Summer in a Glass about the Finger Lakes, An Ideal Wine about Californian wines, and Voodoo Vintners about biodynamics. Less so Naked Wine about natural wines. [NY Times] The Hangar One Vodka blimp, on a six-month promotional tour around the ... More >>

Tons of Turkey Recalled; Target Now a Grocery Store, Too

​Cargill, one of the country's largest meat producers, is recalling more than 35 million pounds of ground turkey in association with the salmonella poisonings that killed one and sickened 76. [USA Today] Really fancy kids can now get served puréed squash, organic chicken, and "babe-a-ccinos" ... More >>

Little Italy Replaces Greeters with Suave 'Maitre Ds'; Menu Calorie Counts Can't Be Trusted

​It appears that Little Italy is trading in its pushy greeters in favor of "outside maitre d's": suave young gentlemen who attract lady tourists with their eyes. [NY Post] The Hurt Locker star Anthony Mackie's new Bed-Stuy bar NoBar welcomed stars like Samuel L. Jackson and Sam Rockwell at it ... More >>

Chipotle Doubles Its Organic Produce Use; John Huntsman Digs Mexican Street Food

​LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold scores the best assignment ever -- comparing Copenhagen's Noma, San Pellegrino's top restaurant of the year, with Grant Achatz's Alinea for GQ. [HuffPo] The clear grape spirit pisco, originally from Chile and Peru, is making inroads into the crowded U.S. liquor mark ... More >>

Men Relax More When Their Wives Are Doing Chores (Seriously)

​Today in stereotype-reinforcing studies, we get this: Guess what? The stress levels of married women drop when their husbands help them with chores. But married men relax most when their wives are busy doing things besides relaxing. Hm! And we wonder why women seem to be less interested in ge ... More >>

Facebook Tried to Plant Negative Press About Google

​A secretive story has been bubbling in Silicon Valley this week, in which the PR firm Burson-Marsteller pitched anti-Google articles to national newspapers on behalf of some unnamed client. Google, they claimed, has privacy issues that the American people should know about -- but it was far f ... More >>

Match.com Survey: Men Are Really Just Love-Bunnies Nowadays

​According to a new survey undertaken by Match.com, single Americans might be a bit different than they used to be! Particularly with regard to how they date. In brief, men want love, and sometimes even marriage and kids. Women, however, want freedom. In other news, one-night stands aren't so ... More >>

Why We Don't Mind Shelling Out for Fancy Foods; Vegas More Expensive Than New York for Diners

​Economist and Brooklynite Eduardo Porter explains why New Yorkers are willing to pay for certain things -- like fancy coffee and hundred-dollar meals -- but not others in his new book: The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do. [NY Post] Josh Ozersky manages to go ... More >>

Gun-Control Poll? We're Divided. But a Note to Liberals: Run for Your Lives!

Pew Research​This graphic shows the overall even split in opinion from the Pew Research Center poll about gun control. It's about 50-50. But read on for the detailed breakdown, touted today by the pretty rigorously nonpartisan and pro outfit. Just be warned: The poll, taken before assassin Jared L ... More >>

College Kids Prefer Praise to Sex, Booze, or Money

​Young folks! They're so irrepressible! So full of joie de vivre! So damn young! So young, in fact, that a recent study seems to indicate that they actually prefer praise to the more cynical adult pleasures of sex, booze, or money. Yes, we could hardly believe it ourselves, but according to re ... More >>

iPads Gain Popularity as POS; United Serves Healthiest Airline Food

​The iPad is an increasingly popular tool restaurants employ as as part of their point-of-sale systems. [Nation's Restaurant News] Kroger has recalled several brands of pet food in 19 states, because of possible aflatoxin contamination, which can cause sluggishness and diarrhea. [Bloomberg] ... More >>

Silly Bandz Are So Over; Sales Way, Way Down

​"Kids move on to the next fad," Captain Obvious told USA Today, but in the case of Silly Bandz -- the wild rubber bands that make a shape when you take them off, loved by kids and awkward adults alike -- the drop off in their popularity has been precipitous. The toy expert went on to say that ... More >>

Restos Offering Gluten-Free Dishes; White House to Host Healthier Holiday Parties

​A Canadian biotechnology company has come up with a genetically modified apple that doesn't brown after slicing and is trying to sell it to the U.S. [Yahoo News!] Restaurants like Blue Smoke and Bar Breton, and chains like P.F. Chang's and Chipotle, are offering gluten-free menu options. [Bl ... More >>

Food Network Launches an App; New Bacon Soda Is Gross

​Domino's Pizza in Japan has announced it will hire someone for a mysterious one-hour job in December that will pay 2.5 million yen ($31,000). [AP] Meanwhile, Domino's in Europe is opening its first store in Germany, in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, this Saturday. [PR Newswire] Food ... More >>

People No Longer Grossed Out By British Food; McDonald's to Pay Out $17,500 to Fattened Employee

​Peter Meehan on why he's really into Chinatown these days: Sichuan hot pot in a bag, tofu, and barbecued parts. [T Magazine] Royal Caribbean cruise line's newest ship, the 5,400-passenger Allure of the Seas, will house the first Starbucks outlet at sea. [USA Today] A recent survey reveals t ... More >>

Three Former Reality TV Stars Are Running for Congress this Fall

​Donald Trump told Surya Yalamanchili "you're fired" on national television in 2007, and now the former contestant hopes to be "hired" into the U.S. House of Representatives by Ohio voters. He is one of three ex-reality show cast members running for Congress this fall, including Republican Sean Du ... More >>

Smart Money, Huh? American Student-Loan Debt Now Greater Than American Credit Card Debt

​Hey, creditors, leave those kids alone! All along, it turns out, they were just another brick in the massive wall of student-loan debt Americans have now acquired which -- fun fact! -- has now surpassed American credit card debt, reports to the Wall Street Journal. Which is how much, exactly? ... More >>

A Chocolate Cruise from Windstar; Contaminated Foods at Airport Restaurants

​Nancy DeBenedittis, the owner of Leo's Latticini, better known as Mama's of Corona, passed away earlier this month at age 90. Mama's was a regular joint for cops, firefighters, sanitation workers, parks employees and other city workers. [NY Daily News] Airport restaurants have been cited in ... More >>

Domino's to Change Pizza Prototype; Mickey D's Introduces Free WiFi

​McDonald's will soon start offering free WiFi access as part of its transformation from fast-food joint into hang-out destination. As of mid-January, the Golden Arches will lift its $2.95 WiFi fee at 11,000 of its 14,000 U.S. locations. [Wall Street Journal] A new study from the Netherlands ... More >>

Giant Lobsters, Courtesy of Climate Change; Does Organic Food Make You a Jerk?

​A new study suggests that people who buy local and organic foods -- i.e., "virtuous shoppers" -- are more likely to be immoral. Specifically, green shoppers were found to be more likely to cheat and steal. [Slate] According to recent research, higher levels of acidity in oceans, which result ... More >>

TEMPEST BREWING

St. John’s Red Storm play the Fordham Rams

Newark Grocers Push Fruits & Veggies; Jonathan Safran Foer Asks, 'Why Not Eat Dog?'

​Costco will start accepting food stamps nationally after it started to accept them in New York earlier this year. The program should be operational in half the company's 407 warehouse-style stores by Thanksgiving, according to company officials. [NY Times] Small corner grocery stores in Newa ... More >>

The Nation's Newspapers Slammed By Circulation Plunge

All Local Dailies Except WSJ Lose Circulation; National Drop 10.6%; York, PA Record Soars!

​New U.S. Audit Bureau of Circulations numbers have been released, and about the only happy news was for the Wall Street Journal, whose circ rose six-tenths of a percent while USA Today's dropped 17.5 percent. Thus, WSJ supplants USA Today as the national circulation leader. The New York Times ... More >>

When Marcella Hazan Eats at Olive Garden, She Needs Whisky

Olive Garden's lobster spaghetti​Somehow, USA Today writer Jim Cox has managed to get Marcella and Victor Hazan to dine with him at Olive Garden--to test out the restaurant's claim that it offers authentic Italian food. How does it go? How do you think it goes? Tortellini in Bolognese, lobster ... More >>

Who Should Play Teddy Kennedy?

​I hate to start the casting ball rolling so soon after a person's passing, but somebody's got to. So in the inevitable movie about Teddy Kennedy, who should play the Massachusetts Democrat who achieved so much (though USA Today's Wednesday headline, "Kennedy Made Massachusetts Larger Than It ... More >>

Food Corps Fear Nationwide Sugar Shortage; French Cooking Not Quite Over

​Could the U.S. run out of sugar? Yes, say major food corps, if the government doesn't ease import tariffs. Kraft, General Mills, Krispy Kreme, Hershey, and Mars have together written a letter to the Agriculture Department demanding more tariff-free sugar be allowed. [Wall Street Journal] How ... More >>

USA Today's "Big Black" Robot Cock-Up

​ You see the above headline as it originally appeared, and can at this moment still be found via the Google cache of USA Today's story about Otty Sanchez's gruesome alleged murder of her young son and attempted suicide in San Antonio, Texas. The item has since its publication last week be ... More >>

Fast Food Causing Colon Cancer Rates to Rise; Prez Boosts Five Guys Burger Business

While the overall rate of people with colon cancer has gone down over the years, more people under the age of 50 are being diagnosed, especially in the 20-29-year-old range. The prevalence of fast-food is a possible culprit. [US News & World Report] USA Today takes a look at the Five Guys burger ch ... More >>

Vegetarian Dishes for Meat Lovers by Meat Lovers; Alain Ducasse Opens a Cooking School for Locals & Tourists

For carnivores trying to reduce their meat consumption for the greater good (ie., sustainability reasons), vegetarian recipes from meat lovers may be the answer, such as Bill Niman, of Niman Ranch's, Three-Bean Chili and barbecue expert Steven Raichlen's Malaysian Grilled Tofu with Chilli Peanut Sau ... More >>

More Food Recalls--Watch Out for Frozen Pasta and Alfalfa Sprouts

Another food product recall has been announced. Frozen meat and poultry pasta from Mucci's Food Products were prepared without federal inspection and sold in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. No illnesses have been reported. [AP via Google] Meanwhile, the FDA is n ... More >>

Smuggling Chocolate?

USA Today reports that a Canadian couple were recently arrested in the Toronto airport, and their baby taken from them as they were led away in handcuffs. Their crime: Trying to fly with a pound-and-a-half of chocolate. Rube customs agents tested it with one of their junior science kits an ... More >>

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