Enotes

It took over a decade for Jessica Savitch to make a name for herself in television journalism, and about sixty seconds to ruin it. Three weeks later, she was dead and never got a chance to redeem herself. Time again to recall another gone too soon, as I thought of TV people from the past while watching all of the coverage of Ted Kennedy's death over the weekend. Savitch was a Philadelphia girl who made good in local TV news in Philly. In fact, she was, for a time, a co-anchor in the City of Brotherly Love with Mort Crim , who would eventually co-own Detroit news, along with Bill Bonds. Savitch was, as is the case of most females on the tube, an attractive blonde. But she combined brains with that cheesecake, and was much more of a cerebral on-air personality than a bubblehead. Eventually, her career outgrew Philadelphia and Savitch ended up on NBC News. This was in the late-1970s. Her star power was such that she became anchor of the weekend version of the NBC Nightly News by the e...

In this day of rising inflation, I suppose it only makes sense that companies no longer nickel-and-dime you to death. Some are quartering you to the grave. Take fast food giants Burger King and McDonald's, for example. Apparently we're all a bunch of dipping sauce packet abusers, for BK and Mickey D's are beginning to place us on rations. Yes, despite the economy being in the toilet and other fast food players such as the submarine sandwich industry engaging in pricing wars, Burger King and McDonald's are having some fun at our expense. Next time you order some Chicken McNuggets or Chicken Fries or anything that requires dipping sauce, look for a handwritten or half-typed, half-handwritten sign near the drive-thru window or the counter. It'll tell you how many dipping sauce packets you get, free of charge, based on what you've ordered and the size, along with what it'll cost you to dare ask for more. No joke. Dipping sauce packets are tiny things, perhaps no...

Ted Kennedy doesn't have any brothers who are living, so who will give him his stirring eulogy? Teddy---the Kennedy brother who was still standing, at age 36, when Bobby was gunned down in Los Angeles in 1968, seeking the presidency. The lone brother---after Joe died in WWII, after John was killed while president prior to Bobby's assassination. Teddy Kennedy, who survived a plane crash that broke his back, and who survived a controversial car wreck in 1969 that not only killed a young woman but also his chances of ever becoming president himself. Teddy Kennedy, the accidental (no pun intended) patriarch of the Kennedy family---the "Liberal Lion" of the U.S. Senate. Teddy's gone now, succumbing at age 77 to brain cancer in a year that's been virulent when it comes to celebrity deaths. Just last week, we lost Don Hewitt , creator and executive producer of "60 Minutes", and who produced and directed the famous Kennedy/Nixon televised presidential debate...

You'll never be able to make fried rice like me, but that doesn't mean I can't help you in your ultimately futile effort. Yeah, I get cocky about it, because no American whips up fried rice like I can. And you've probably been tossing out those cartons of uneaten white rice from the Chinese take-out joints all these years, oblivious to their culinary potential. Tsk, tsk. I first started frying rice and creating various concoctions with it about 20 years ago, when I purchased my first Chinese cookbook, having been on an Asian food jag. It was around the time that I discovered Thai food and its glorious heat and spice. Till then, I thought the only spicy Asian stuff was the Szechuan and Mandarin cuisine of China. Silly me. Homemade fried rice, when done properly, is good on so many levels. Number one, you're using up every bit of your Chinese take-out leftovers, so you can feel satisfied about that. Number two, it's a terrific way to get rid of some other leftover...

Michael Jackson, I see now, never had a chance. He was a walking vessel of prescription drugs so powerful and of such a wide variety, that I'm amazed that he lived as long as he did. Pop star Jackson, who slipped into death in late June at age 50, officially died as a result of homicide, according to a source close to the Los Angeles County coroner. The straw that broke the camel's back, according to reports, was the powerful anesthetic propofol, which was administered to Jackson in lethal doses. Jackson couldn't sleep. So he had his doctor, Conrad Murray, fill him with a volatile cocktail that included propofol and other sedatives. The list of drugs connected with Jackson reads like a pharmaceutical journal. It makes Elvis Presley look like a popper of Flintstones vitamins. Clonazepam, Lorazepam, Tamsulosin, Temazepam, Tizanidine, Trazodone and Valium. Except for Valium, I have no idea what these drugs do, but there's a lot of them and many of them have the "pam...

I feel sorry for all the Joe Smiths in the world. Or the Bob Johnsons. Or any married female---and not for the reason you think. For how can any of the above ever be found on the Internet? Or on social networking sites like Facebook? We've all done it---looked up former classmates or co-workers or childhood friends on search engines like Google, to see if we find a match, and therefore have a chance to find out what in the world they're up to. It's easier when the name you're searching is...well, like mine, for instance. How many Greg Enos did YOU grow up with? The names of the friends I've looked up haven't been 100% unique, but they're usually different enough that when I find matches, chances are that one of them is the person I'm seeking. Which brings me back to poor Joe Smith. What are the odds that ole Joe will ever be found by those curious as to his whereabouts? Too many Joe Smiths, and who has the patience to try to whittle them down to a manage...

I guess PETA doesn't think it needs donations from the plus-size community. Because it sure ain't gonna be gettin' any NOW. PETA, which rhymes with the bread but actually stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has proven that they need to work on the ethical treatment of humans. Billboards have gone up in Jacksonville, FL trumpeting the benefits of going vegetarian as a way to slim down. So far, so good. But the image PETA chose to use is that of an obese woman (the back of her, anyway) spilling out of a bikini, on a beach. The words that accompany the image are, "Save the Whales. Lose the blubber. Go vegetarian." There are no whales on the billboard, even though "Whales", by far, is the biggest and most prominent word displayed. Get it? Ha ha---boy, that's so funny, my sides are splitting! Not. The billboard in question How could PETA possibly think that making fun of overweight women---especially when the female gender is far more ...