cookies and Paul Harvey

My labmate Ryan linked this article regarding a stolen German cookie statue today. We were curious what the picture sent to the police looked like, so i tracked it down (the third picture). Interestingly/sadly, the ransom note specifies that all the children be given milk chocolate cookies, not dark chocolate. Why?! Monsters. We all had no idea that Sesame Street was a thing in other parts of the world, but apparently there are co-productions in Canada, Australia, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, France, Germany, some Caribbean countries and Israel to start, and now it's in 140 countries total. Also, South Africa has their own version (including a muppet who is HIV positive). For reasons including that "it's too American", audiences in the UK simply do not seem to care for Sesame Street despite attempts.


In my opinion, and this is my blog so my opinion counts, the hands-down, not-even-a-question best commercial of last night's Superbowl was the Dodge one, featuring Paul Harvey's 1978 FFA National convention speech 'So God Made the Farmer'. i made the entire room shut up to watch it; i was quite frankly shocked to hear his voice. There have been commentary that it's a re-make of a pre-exsisting youtube clip, that it's playing on people's emotions, that it's stuck in the past, that it's actually selling something (c'mon, seriously? it's a COMMERCIAL). Whatever. The photography was stunning. It's actually a fundraiser for the National FFA Organization, so there's that (though i feel like Chrysler has enough money to donate one million dollars directly to the FFA). True, modern farmers are as facile with a computer as they are with a tractor, but Mr. Harvey's speech was a.) made in 1978, and b.) meant to evoke nostalgia. Regardless, Paul Harvey is an icon for those of us who grew up hearing his voice every single Saturday of our youth (and beyond), right before the farm report (and now you know the rest of the story.) He's beloved, and i appreciate that the message was actually a positive and inspiring one. Besides all that, i'm pretty sure he was talking directly about my family.