(times are tough all over, but Alexi Lalas has found work)

From the BBC :

Ronald McDonald, the iconic mascot clown of fast food giant McDonald’s, is to be given a sporty new makeover.

Traditionally famous for his red hair and yellow jump suit, Ronald will be seen juggling fruit and snowboarding in a TV advert to be screened on Friday.

The leaner, more health-conscious Ronald will encourage children to get up and join him playing sports.

Images of hamburgers and fries, the food McDonald’s is best known for, will be noticeably absent from the campaign

Perhaps if Colonel Sanders had gotten himself into better physical condition, his restuarants wouldn’t be subject to the sort of attacks reported on by the New York Times’ Somini Sengupta?

Four times since Pakistan allied itself with the United States campaign against terrorism, a KFC outlet here has been attacked. Each time, the owner, Rafiq Rangoonwala, dutifully cleaned up and reopened for business. This time, with six of his employees dead, he’s not so sure.

Last week, as evening prayers began at a Shiite mosque down the street, a suicide bomber believed to belong to a Sunni extremist group linked to Al Qaeda blew himself up inside the mosque compound, splattering his remains across the high courtyard wall.

Minutes later, a mob, believed to be led by outraged Shiites, stormed Mr. Rangoonwala’s KFC outlet, dousing its floors with gasoline, setting it ablaze and then blocking the entry of rescue workers. Six hours later, the six bodies were hauled out. Four had been burned. Two had frozen to death in the walk-in freezer; their bodies were found only after a mobile phone belonging to one of the men rang. The dead had all worked at the KFC, and they were all local men in their mid-20’s.

Now the restaurant is a gutted, blackened hulk, with the familiar profile of Colonel Sanders still visible and a billboard, now sooty and macabre, looming above. “Come have a chicky meal,” it reads, “cuz you are going to love this deal.”