David Letterman Retiring After 33 Years As Late Night Host

David Letterman is retiring in 2015 after 33 years as a late night host.
Letterman announced the news during a taping of Thursday's episode of "Late Show." He called CBS president Leslie Moonves before the program, "And I said ‘Leslie, it’s been great, you’ve been great, and the network has been great, but I’m retiring.'"
The late night host explained that "Moonves, he and I have had a relationship for years and years and years, and we have had this conversation in the past, and we agreed that we would work together on this circumstance and the timing of this circumstance."
"I just want to reiterate my thanks for the support from the network, all of the people who have worked here, all of the people in the theater, all the people on the staff, everybody at home, thank you very much," Letterman said, then joked, "What this means now, is that Paul and I can be married ... we don’t have the timetable for this precisely down – I think it will be at least a year or so, but sometime in the not too distant future, 2015 for the love of God, in fact, Paul and I will be wrapping things up."
By the time Letterman retires, he will have hosted CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" for 22 years. He previously hosted NBC's "Late Night" for 11 years.

THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON -- Actress Betty White, guest host David Letterman on March 26, 1979 -- Photo by: Paul Drinkwater/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

Moonves said in a statement that "we knew this day was getting closer" when Letterman went with a one-year extension for his contract, "but that doesn’t make the moment any less poignant for us."
"For 21 years, David Letterman has graced our Network’s air in late night with wit, gravitas and brilliance unique in the history of our medium," Moonves stated. "During that time, Dave has given television audiences thousands of hours of comedic entertainment, the sharpest interviews in late night, and brilliant moments of candor and perspective around national events. He’s also managed to keep many celebrities, politicians and executives on their toes – including me."
"There is only one David Letterman," Moonves added. "His greatness will always be remembered here, and he will certainly sit among the pantheon of this business."

LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN -- Comedian Jay Leno, host David Letterman on April 13, 1987 -- (Photo by: Alan Singer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

You'll Never Look At Cereal Boxes The Same Again

The next time you stroll down the cereal aisle at a grocery store, blindfold your child. Because the characters on kids cereal boxes are literally staring at your children.
According to a recent study from Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab, cereals that are marketed to children tend to be placed on lower shelves (not so weird) and feature characters that often look downward toward children (very weird). In other words, Cap'n Crunch and his other sugar-loving friends make eye contact with kids, which in turn builds brand loyalty.
The same can't be said of adult cereal boxes, in which characters often gazed straight ahead, the researchers found.
To arrive at this conclusion, the Cornell team examined 65 different types of cereal at 10 different grocery stores, or a total of 86 cereal "spokes-characters." The team measured the angle of the character's gaze four feet away from the the shelf. Of these characters, 66 percent were targeted at kids and gazed downward.
This eye contact isn't just a matter of being polite. The study found that trust for and connection to a brand are significantly increased when eye contact is established. The researchers came to that conclusion after participants viewed two versions of a Trix cereal box, one in which eye contact was made and one in which it was not. They found that when the Trix rabbit made eye contact, "brand trust" increased by 16 percent and "feeling of connection to the brand" rose 28 percent:

Tal said that in many cases, the characters on cereal boxes are actually just looking down at the cereal pictured on the box, so it's not entirely clear that the boxes are designed to deliberately seduce kids. But incidental or not, the findings are striking. Here are some examples the researchers provided of characters gazing downward:


Comparatively, this box of Wheaties, a cereal made of wheat and bran, features NBA star Kevin Garnett looking straight ahead (we found this photo ourselves):

But are cereal companies subliminally brainwashing us? It's unclear.
When contacted for comment, Kellogg's did not directly address the study, but noted that it follows industry guidelines on marketing food to children.
"Personally, I don't think it's a deliberate strategy." Aner Tal, a post-doctoral research associate at Cornell, told The Huffington Post on Wednesday. "I think it's incidental... But the finding could be used for good."
One way? The findings could help companies market healthier cereals to younger kids, Tal suggested. For now, Tal recommends some basic advice for those who want to make conscious, smart decisions at the grocery store: "Stick to the shopping list."
Here are some other good examples we found of cereal characters looking down:

U.S. states probing security breach at Experian unit

Reuters) - U.S. attorneys general have launched a multi-state investigation into a breach in which criminals gained access to a repository of some 200 million social security numbers through a unit of data provider Experian Plc.
"We are investigating," said Maura Possley, a spokeswoman for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. "It's part of a multistate investigation."
Jaclyn Falkowski, spokeswoman for Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, said that Connecticut is looking into the matter also.
Neither attorney general's office would say if other states were involved.
A spokesman for Experian declined comment on the probe, saying the company does not comment on such investigations as a matter of policy.
Vietnamese national Hieu Minh Ngo last month pleaded guilty in New Hampshire federal court to running an underground website that offered clients access to personal data of Americans including social security numbers, which could be used for identity theft and other types of financial fraud.
Federal authorities say that he obtained some of that through a U.S. firm known as Court Ventures, which provides customers with access to court records. It also offers them access to a database of social security numbers of some 200 million Americans through a data-share arrangement with another firm, known as U.S. Info Search.
Ngo obtained an account with Court Ventures sometime before March 2012, when Experian bought the data firm, by posing as a Singapore-based private investigator, according to court documents.
Prosecutors say that Ngo's customers used Court Ventures to make some 3.1 million queries of the U.S. Info Search database over an 18-month period ending in February 2013. Authorities have not said how many people's data was accessed through those queries, each of which could have potentially included multiple records or returned no data.
Officials with both Experian and U.S. Info Search say they have not been able to ascertain which records were accessed by Ngo's customers and are therefore unable to notify victims.
"We are actively pursuing the facts and we are working to help uncover what records may have been affected," said Experian spokesman Gerry Tschopp.
A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service declined comment. The agency investigated Ngo using undercover agents and lured him from Vietnam to Guam where he was arrested.
He is now awaiting sentencing in New Hampshire federal court.
(Reporting by Jim Finkle and Karen Freifeld; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Lisa Shumaker)