By Sarah Handel

In case you've missed it so far, Sesame Street is about to start its 40th season. I've loved the Google doodles (yesterday's featured Big Bird -- specifically, his legs -- and today belongs to Cookie Monster, whose googly (conicidence?!) eyes make up the O's), and can rarely resist the urge to search for old clips online (Ladybug picnic anyone? How about milk? Rrradio, rradio!). So I'm enjoying the variety of takes on this anniversary around the web. Here are some good ones.

Keith Stills, writing for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's MOMania blog asks, 40 years on, do kids still love Sesame Street?

All of my kids enjoyed Sesame Street for a while. But with so many children's programs on so many different channels, Sesame Street faced stiff competition and was never really the favorite.

Troy Patterson from Slate blames Cookie Monster for our national obsession with TV:

He is brought to you by the insatiability of every child. Sesame Street taught us how to watch television, and Cookie Monster taught us how to want it.

Jimmy Orr at The Vote Blog digs into the "Oscar the Grouch is a communist" brou-ha-ha that took over the blogosphere for a minute. He did some research on Oscar's political persuasion:

All that we could come up with is that he's kind of a cross between Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann. His personality is more like O'Reilly. Yet he's green. So that would make him Olbermann-like.

As for his appearance, Wolf Blitzer probably comes the closest. Not that Blitzer looks like he lives in a garbage can or anything but there aren't many TV commentators with facial hair.

...And in case all this has you nostalgic for your favorite clips, Andrew Heining at the Christian Science Monitor's got you covered.

Has the election of President Obama changed how we talk about race? (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images)

By Gwen Outen

Talking About Race, A Year After The 2008 Election
One year ago this week, America elected its first black president, and many believed his win signaled the beginning of a "post-racial" society. As we approach President Obama's second year in The White House, conversations about race around the country are far from over. Guest host Jennifer Ludden speaks with several prominent thinkers about race relations and where we are a year later.

American Conservatism
The GOP claimed important victories in governors races in Virginia and New Jersey, and a new study by Gallup says that American conservatives now outnumber moderates. Guests examine American conservatism. Is America becoming more conservative? Or is it the definition of conservative that has changed?

Happy 40th Birthday, Internet!
Last week marked the 40th anniversary of the internet. We'll celebrate the milestone with computer researcher Scott Fahlman, originator of the virtual smiley face -- or, emoticon.

By Barrie Hardymon

If you didn't hear Bruce Buschel on his hundred things today, check it out. If you did, and you're a frustrated server that didn't get on the air, check this out, from Laura Reiley at the Tampa Bay Mouth blog.

I agree with many items on the list, but it got me thinking back to my own table-waiting days and how often, in fact, customers could be @#%%#. Here are some of the things customers should never do.

1) Fine, I'll never interrupt your conversation, but when plates are coming in for a landing, please stop waving your arms around so that demi-glace stays off your shoes and mine.*

2) Don't have a big, steaming gob about who is paying the check, leaving me to stand there like a dolt. Let's say the fleetest of foot gets the check, not the meanest or loudest.**

3) Don't get all embarrassed about the crumbs on the table. I'm cleaning them up right now, no big whoop. Relax. And if you spill a little, same thing. We're washing the tablecloth anyway.***

*Guilty.
**Guilty, too.
***Guilty, messy, covered in crumbs and worse.

By Sarah Handel

This headline was met by a series of groans around the Talk newsroom:

Hulu to Charge Users in 2010

Dang. Acccording to the TVBizwire,

Chase Carey, the deputy chairman of News. Corp -- which co-owns Hulu -- says the popular online destination that carries TV programming, will start charging users, probably as soon as 2010, B&C reports.

Noting that "It's time to start getting paid for broadcast content online," Carey added that "I think a free model is a very difficult way to capture the value of our content. I think what we need to do is deliver that content to consumers in a way where they will appreciate the value. Hulu concurs with that, it needs to evolve to have a meaningful subscription model as part of its business."

Carey made his remarks at B&C's On-Screen Summit in New York on Oct. 21. He later told B&C's Claire Atkinson that not all content on Hulu would be behind a pay wall.

Here's hoping your favorite shows stay free!

The next governor of New Jersey. (Stephen Chernin / Getty Images)

By Gwen Outen

Election Anniversary Junkie
In a special election anniversary of the Political Junkie, Ken Rudin talks about results in Virginia and New Jersey, and the special congressional race in the NY-23. Then, author Hendrik Hertzberg looks back at the Obama campaign and reflects on where we are one year after Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election. And former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee talks about his own candidacy and looks ahead to 2012.

"Sizing Up" The Skinny Model
Tall, thin models dominate fashion runways and magazines, but the September issue of Glamour magazine features a "plus-sized" semi-nude model. Cindi Lieve, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, and Washington Post fashion editor Robin Givhan examine whether or not the fashion industry is "sizing up."

A Good Meal Starts With The Waiter
Restaurateur Bruce Buschel has compiled a list of 100 dos and don'ts for the wait-staff for a restaurant he's building. An example of what NOT to say? "Are you waiting for someone?" and "Good choice." He'll share with us what else made his list. The first half of his list appears on The New York Times website. The second half will appear next week.

By David Gura

Browsing The Book Bench, I came across this article, published in The Telegraph, about the results of a new study, run by an analytics firm called Flurry, of 40 million smart phone users. They determined that, "in October, one out of every five new apps launching in the iPhone has been a book." More and more publishers are formatting and releasing books for smart phones, including the the Apple iPhone.

According to The Telegraph, "Flurry has predicted that Apple could take market share from the Amazon Kindle's eBooks, as book publishers continue to adapt books for the AppStore at pace."

I still can't get my head around reading books -- or magazines and newspapers, for that matter -- on an electronic reader. Can you? Have you downloaded a book onto your smartphone?

by Barrie Hardymon

Waiting tables is one of my cherished past jobs -- not because it was the most fun I've ever had, but because I learned so darn much from it. (Except math.) I learned slowly -- I'm a late bloomer when it comes to table service -- so the list in The New York Times detailing the things you should not do, would have come in very, very handy for me back in the mid-nineties. I was a frequent breaker of rules 45, 36, and 28 (there was no such thing as H1N1 back then, thank goodness.) Anyway, here are the first ten -- I suggest you read them all, as they make great conversation starters. (What's your feeling on dessert recommendations? Two of my favorite diners believe -- and I'm quoting from Facebook here -- "We think generally speaking there are only 2 good desserts on the menu. Sometimes you need the server to give you the 411.")

1. Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting.

2. Do not make a singleton feel bad. Do not say, "Are you waiting for someone?" Ask for a reservation. Ask if he or she would like to sit at the bar.

3. Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived.

4. If a table is not ready within a reasonable length of time, offer a free drink and/or amuse-bouche. The guests may be tired and hungry and thirsty, and they did everything right.

5. Tables should be level without anyone asking. Fix it before guests are seated.

By Sarah Handel

My fiance and I have a mild but ongoing debate about the best way to treat our rechargeable devices -- our phones, our laptops, that sort of thing. I come from the school that teaches recharges are finite, so let the device get pretty close to dead before plugging it in. He's less anal about things, and just plugs his phone in whenever a charger's handy.

Love us some Farhad Manjoo. He, of course, has answers for our debate, because he knew who to call for answers: "Isidor Buchmann, the CEO of Cadex Electronics, a Canadian company that makes battery-testing equipment. Buchmann also runs Battery University." Basically, Buchmann said whatever you do, your battery's going to die. OK. But how should we treat it before it gets there? Well, of course, it's complicated, but Manjoo gives us this basic rule of thumb for laptops, batteries and cameras:

Keep the battery in the 20 percent to 80 percent range, and keep it cool.

It's kind of elegant, because it means there are no big winners or losers in my household! Read the details, and why you should pop the battery out of your laptop when it's plugged in, in Manjoo's column here.

The late, great Michael Jackson. (Kevin Mazur / The Michael Jackson Company, LLC)

By Gwen Outen

Drug Policy Under The Obama Administration
Last month, Attorney General Eric Holder said the department will no longer prosecute medical marijuana users who comply with state laws. Some drug policy reform advocates hope the move means decriminalization of pot may be in the works. But President Obama's new drug czar Gil Kerlikowske says legalizing pot is not on the agenda. Gil Kerlikowske talks about the direction of U.S. drug policy under a new administration.

Debbie Allen Reviews 'Michael Jackson's This Is It'
Michael Jackson's This Is It smashed box offices and reportedly earned over $101 million worldwide. Dancer and choreographer Debbie Allen was a friend of Jackson's, who once asked her to show him how to pirouette like Mikhail Baryshnikov. Debbie Allen gives her review of Michael Jackson's This Is It, and talks about Jackson's impact as a dancer and performer.

If You Have H1N1, Stay Home!!!
Your throat hurts and your head is throbbing. Should you stay home, or take two aspirin and report for duty? It may be an easy decision to allow ONE member of staff to stay home with the flu, what happens when half of your work force falls ill? Guests talk about the tough decisions employees and employers must face as H1N1 spreads.

Carole King: Activist
In 1971, Carole King's Tapestry became one of the biggest selling albums of all time. Today, the singer/songwriter is focused on environmental activism. Carole King talks about the legendary album and her push for Congress to pass a bill to help the Northern Rockies.

By David Gura

Today, a listener called in, complaining that he couldn't see the Political Junkie Wall of Shame, reserved for winners of Ken Rudin's weekly trivia competition. Well, it's my fault that no one can find it, and I'm going to work doggedly to get a permanent link to it on the TOTN page somewhere.

The gallery, as it stands, is above. You may say, "Haven't there been more winners than that?!" Well, yes, there have been, but a few winners out there seem to be shying away from the shame. If you've won a No-Prize, email me, people!

By Barrie Hardymon

So, I promised I would pull out all the literary and musical references in Cornel West's wonderful interview so that everyone could get their library in order... Here 'tis, in the order that he mentioned them, and a couple of Dr. West's notes on a few of them.

The interview, by the way, is well worth a second listen.

Soren Kierkegaard
Franz Kafka ("You know, we're all vanishing organisms and disappearing creatures in space and time - that death sentence in space in time that Kafka talked about with such profundity.")
Curtis Mayfield
The Temptations
Stephen Sondheim ("...be it not just West Side Story, but Follies, Company, Sweeney Todd, Passion. You can go on and on.")
Sarah Vaughan
James Cleveland
Aretha Franklin
Marion Williams
The Main Ingredient
The Whispers
Blue Magic
James Brown
Aretha Franklin
Luther Vandross ("...that music helped me preserve my sanity, help me preserve whatever dignity I was able to preserve, helping to keep going.")
B.B. King
Ma Rainey
Bessie Smith
Leroy Carr
Bruce Springsteen
Bob Dylan
Janet Joplin
Daryl Hall ("my dear, dear brother's a blues man too..")
Talib Kweli
KRS-1
M-1
Rah Digga
Jill Scott
Gerald Levert
Prince ("Prince, of course -- collaborating with the musical genius of our time in some ways with Prince himself -- late, great Gerald Levert.")
George Clinton
Anton Chekhov
John Coltrane
Ludwig Van Beethoven ( a poet of tones, just like Coltrane's a poet of tempo.")
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Eudora Welty ("one of the grand American Jacobean writers.")

By Sarah Handel

Arian Sherine's got a lovely column on the Guardian's site, "My life as a charlatan." She wanted to impress a "formidably intelligent friend" by solving a crossword in record time. She breezed through most of it, but 1-across stumped her:

I squinted at it, frustrated, pen hovering fruitlessly over the grid. Words which fitted the space but not the clue flitted pointlessly through my head: solarium? Solstice? Solitude?

At this point, my friend chose to glance over my shoulder and, in a voice which seemed to say "I'm surprised, confused and slightly disappointed that you haven't already got this", announced effortlessly, "Solecism".

Solecism, a word she didn't know*. But, like I think many of us would, she acted like she did, then later, looked it up. I used to do this when someone would deal out a "touche!" Finally, I broke down and asked Barrie what it meant, and I'm glad I did. Sherine later fessed up to her friend, who shrugged it off. She concludes, "it was only paranoia and fear of being thought intellectually inadequate that had led me to sprint needlessly through a crossword, and tell a barefaced lie." I know I've glossed over words and allusions I don't understand to avoid looking dumb, but the older I get, the more I realize that, if you know the right people, no one's going to mock you for asking, and you end up smarter for it.

*Me neither.

R. Crumb, by R. Crumb. (Courtesy of W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.)

By Gwen Outen

Pre-Election Junkie
In a special pre-election edition of the Political Junkie, Ken Rudin looks at the latest developments in the races, from New Jersey's gubernatorial battle, to the last minute changes in the race in New York's 23rd congressional district.

Doctor Says Sue Him. Really.
As the debate over health care continues, many argue that medical malpractice is key to reigning in costs. But Dr. Rahul Parikh believes malpractice suits are not to blame for rising healthcare costs.

R. Crumb Draws God
"And God said let there be light." That line is probably the best remembered part of our The Bible. But what would it be like to draw that light? Or Adam and Eve? Or God, for that matter? Underground comix legend R. Crumb has spent the last few year doing just that. The cartoonist talks about drawing the book of Genesis.

The First Marriage
New York Times Washington correspondent Jodi Kantor talks about her conversation with President Obama and the First Lady about how their marriage has changed since they moved to the White House, and what it's like to be under constant public scrutiny. Her interview appears in this week's New York Times Magazine.

by Barrie Hardymon

Listen to Cornel West for five minutes and you'll get that feeling -- the excitement that takes over when someone extremely convincing is uttering a stream of recommendations. Recommendations that you know are the real thing, books you should read, music you should hear, people you should read about. It doesn't feel like an assignment... just pure anticipation.

After the show is over I'm going to pull out all the various writers and musicians and politicians Professor West name checked -- but check out the excerpt from his memoir on our website for a couple to tide you over. Literally -- Anton Chekhov and L'il Wayne in the same paragraph.

Like the peerless Russian writer Anton Chekhov and the matchless Irish author Samuel Beckett, the bluesmen sing of real-life, here-and-now experiences of tragedy and comedy even as they offer up help. They offer up strategies for survival. They share their coping skills. They get us to dancing and laughing, rapping and exposing the hypocrisy of a soulless and sanitized civilization.

Bluesmen aren't sanitized. Bluesmen aren't deodorized. Bluesmen are funky. Bluesmen got soul. The great blues artists -- Toni Morrison, Louis Armstrong, B.B. King, Sterling Brown, Koko Taylor, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Lil' Wayne, Alvin Ailey, Curtis Mayfield, Giacomo Leopardi, Sarah Vaughan, Gwendolyn Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Muriel Rukeyser, Savion Glover, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Thomas Hardy, Ella Fitzgerald, August Wilson, Mary J. Blige, Jacob Lawrence, Federico Garcia Lorca, Duke Ellington--fight the good fight by doing what they can and moving on.

More to come.

Carly Simon has a new album, called Never Been Gone, and an adorable puppy, apparently. (Amanda Borland)

By Gwen Outen

Bystander Behavior
Last weekend, a 15-year old girl was gang raped in a schoolyard during a Homecoming Dance. As many as 20 people witnessed it and did nothing. Guests talk about what happened in the case, and examine the behavior of bystanders when they witness acts of violence.

Monster (Movie) Mash
Halloween is around the corner, and ghosts and goblins (and Murray Horwitz!) are coming to visit early. Our favorite movie buff screams about his favorite monster movies. What's your favorite monster horror flick?

Cornel West, Out Loud
Philosopher, civil rights activist and Princeton professor Cornel West talks about his new memoir, Living and Loving Out Loud, and shares stories about his life, his intellectual development, and why he describes himself as a "bluesman in the life of the mind, and a jazzman in the world of ideas."

Carly Simon: Never Been Gone
For more than 30 years, Carly Simon has recorded some of America's most beloved songs and her latest release, Never Been Gone, revisits some of her classic tunes. The Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter talks about collaborating with her son to make the record, and the highs and lows of her stellar career.