From the serious to the sublime

Three other stories of potential interest:

• An update in the New Jersey gubenatorial horserace puts US Sen. John Corzine ahead of his opponent Doug Forrester by a comfortable margin, but with the latter's name recognition on the upswing. That election is creeping up.
  
  
• College tuition is crazy nationwide, but apparently the pricetag in southeast PA is even worse in every category.

  The area's centuries-old tradition of higher-education excellence is partly to blame, experts said, noting that prestige has a price. But poor state support for public universities, the high cost of doing business in an urban area, and the local marketplace's hankering for colleges with top-notch perks are also factors, college administrators said.

  Pesky demand for quality!
  
  
• The invention of TV dinners apparently arose from the Philadelphia suburbs.

  Thomas first came up with the idea in late 1953, when he worked for Swanson and the company had more than 52,000 pounds of frozen turkey that went unsold for that Thanksgiving. Thomas sketched his idea for the dinner, drew cover art for the box holding the tray that made it look like a television set, and presented the package to his bosses.
  
  The next year, Swanson sold 10 million TV dinners, and a lifestyle was born.

  The guy who had the idea brought home frozen dinners almost every night, and used his family as cheap taste-testers. Ah, civic pride...