White House recipe for success

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The heat is on, and the stakes are high, with the potential first ladies’ bake-off underway and organizer Family Circle magazine looking to see which way the cookie is going to crumble.

In the past four presidential elections, readers of the magazine have successfully predicted who would be America’s next first lady by favoring her recipe in the magazine’s competition.

Something with chocolate has melted the hearts of readers in the last four elections. So both Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain might be taking a risk by eschewing everyone’s favorite treat.

Instead, Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic Illinois Senator Barack Obama, has put forward a recipe for shortbread cookies with zest of lemon and orange, and a cheeky kick of almond liqueur Amaretto.

The recipe comes courtesy of Mama Kaye, the godmother of both her daughters, Sasha and Malia.

Cindy McCain, who earlier this year had to apologize for plagiarizing a recipe for passion fruit mousse from Food Network, went for oatmeal butterscotch cookies.

They are “an absolute must whenever the whole family gets together,” says the multi-millionaire heiress to a large beer distribution firm, married to Republican presidential hopeful John McCain.

Readers can vote online at the magazine’s website with the results to be published in mid-October, just ahead of the November 4 elections.

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Vote in Our ’08 Presidential Cookie Bake-Off!

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Hello Lego

Couple win right to name son Lego

A Swedish couple have won the right to name their baby son Lego after a legal battle.

Couples in Sweden have previously run into trouble with officials over the names Ikea, Veranda, Metallica and the use of Elvis for a girl.

But the Swedish Administrative Court of Appeals has now overruled an earlier decision to stop a couple naming their child after the brightly coloured plastic building blocks.

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The United States of Advertising

From the BBC:

America is, I think, the only country in the world which permits advertising of drugs which are available only through your doctor.

The insidious message is simple; if your doctor is not offering you this drug, maybe you should be asking for it.

Americans do accept advertising in areas where it does not tend to appear elsewhere.

It is not uncommon here for a sports presenter to be required to break away from the main business in hand to draw your attention to the succulence of a sausage or the ruggedness of a truck.

Prescription drugs though are surely different. After all, the whole point of them is that it is not considered safe to let us simply buy them over the counter.

They are so strong or so habit forming that it is up to the doctor to decide that we really need them.

Advertising subtly changes that relationship by sending us in to see the doctor filled with nameless dreads about the symptoms of diseases we might have, and a detailed knowledge of the drugs that might help us.

The TV spots in other words insidiously furnish us with the tools to torture ourselves.

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And then there’s this:

UK likely to reject TV product placement

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has indicated it will reject proposals from the European Union that would allow broadcasters to raise money from product placements in television.

In a speech on Wednesday, Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said he could understand why the industry wanted to move towards having branded products on the screen — which is increasingly common in the United States — but he could also see the risk.

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How to Live With Just 100 Things

Excess consumption is practically an American religion. But as anyone with a filled-to-the-gills closet knows, the things we accumulate can become oppressive. With all this stuff piling up and never quite getting put away, we’re no longer huddled masses yearning to breathe free; we’re huddled masses yearning to free up space on a countertop. Which is why people are so intrigued by the 100 Thing Challenge, a grass-roots movement in which otherwise seemingly normal folks are pledging to whittle down their possessions to a mere 100 items.

Time Magazine

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