Popcorn

The nation's four biggest makers of microwave popcorn have removed the flavoring chemical diacetyl, which has been linked to a lung ailment in popcorn plant workers, from nearly all of their products. The companies say all their microwave popcorn recipes should be changed by January. The brands produced by the companies include Orville Redenbacher's, Act II, Pop Secret and Jolly Time microwave popcorn.

Each morning, Eric Peoples sits up in bed and starts his day with a cough. A deep, long, hacking cough. He plants his feet on the bedroom floor and immediately feels as if someone is standing on his chest. That's a good day. When it gets really bad, it seems as though a giant creature is crushing his lungs, squeezing the breath out of him. Peoples has lived this way for several years.

At least one man who ate several bags of butter-flavored microwave popcorn each day has developed a life-threatening lung disease possibly caused by an additive in the popcorn, his doctor says, and U.S. regulators have launched an investigation.

MCDONALD'S pioneered fast-food shaker technology in 1999 with the McSalad Shaker, a salad-in-a-cup with a lid in which simple shaking effectively distributed dressing to all parts of the lettuce while allowing the customer to pretend to play a maraca. Sadly, salad eaters, by and large, lack a sense of whimsy, and the shaker met its maker. Arby's is attempting to bring the fast-food shaker into the 21st century with the introduction of the Popcorn Chicken Shaker.

ALL your coverage of the opening of the new Landmark Theatres multiplex at the Westside Pavilion failed to mention one interesting fact: The theater has decided not to hire union projectionists, even though Landmark hires union projectionists at its theaters in Northern California and in other western states. With all the money it has invested in the new theater complex, this seems to me like buying an expensive sports car and letting a 15-year-old, unlicensed driver take it for a spin.

ASK anyone who has ever whiled away a few hours in a darkened auditorium at Hollywood's ArcLight Cinemas: Not all movie theaters are created equal. Unveiled in 2002, the ArcLight multiplex almost single-handedly shifted the Southland's moviegoing paradigm.

The American Embassy in Vienna, Austria, sent a Virginia Tech flag that had flown over its building. Nike workers in Beaverton, Ore., sent a group photo with everyone in Hokie T-shirts. Lionel Virollet, a Frenchman in Abu Dhabi, sent a letter praising the campus police. Linda Woodward of Luray, Va., sent a doll. Its dress was hand-crocheted in the school colors, maroon and orange, and covered in bows. "There is a bow for every soul that died," Woodward wrote, in careful script.

PATRICK GOLDSTEIN hit the nail right on the head when writing about the success and merits of the film "300" ["Call It a Grand, Vivid Spectacle -- Nothing More, Nothing Less," March 20]. It's a diverting, visually striking popcorn flick that has struck a chord with audiences, and the film critics who are finding a hidden political message in the film and are bemoaning its box-office success as a sign of the decline of the cinema are over-analyzing the whole "300" phenomenon. Audiences simply find the movie entertaining.

Question: My 1970s cottage-cheese acoustic ceiling has been lab-tested and found to contain asbestos. Is it legal for me as a homeowner to remove the acoustic material if I use the proper safety equipment and dispose of it per regulations? Or must I have a contractor do it? Answer: Getting rid of those dated cottage-cheese or "popcorn" ceilings is often the first thing homeowners want to do in a remodel.