Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.

* German politicians and other “important” people in Germany are geting a special “clean” version of the H1N1 vaccine. Everyone else can eat Squalene and/or Mercury! Hey all you wannabe investigative reporters out there – quick question… does the American version of the vaccine have Squalene and/or Mercury? And are the politicians getting the same vaccine us regular citizens are? That might kinda sorta be important to know. [TIME]

* High tax California or low tax Texas? California offers residents a “package deal” that bundles numerous and ambitious public benefits with the high taxes needed to pay for them. Other states, such as Texas, offer packages combining modest benefits and low taxes. Do higher taxes bring about superior lifestyles? A recent article says…no. That Texas way is better. A scathing quote from the opinion piece sums it up… “Twenty years ago, you could go to Texas, where they had very low taxes, and you would see the difference between there and California. Today, you go to Texas, the roads are no worse, the public schools are not great but are better than or equal to ours, and their universities are good. The bargain between California’s government and the middle class is constantly being renegotiated to the disadvantage of the middle class.”
All I have to say is ahhh, thankyah. Thankyavehrymuch. [LA TIMES]

* A Mexican mayor announces his rival’s death hours before the actual body is found. When asked about this, the mayor said “Sometimes there are coincidences in life; it’s better to look at it this way.” In other words, it’s just business as usual. And what’s with England having better coverage of this kind of evil than the US has? [UK TELEGRAPH]

* Who really owns the “organic” food companies? You’ll be surprised. Most “organic” companies are not mom and pop kind of organizations, no matter what the label says. Con Agra, General Mills, Kraft and Heinz would probably like you to skip this link. [MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY]

* A cat got the swine flu. Which means cats can be carriers of swine flu. Your dog has some ideas on what to do about this. [YAHOO NEWS]

* Another fake botox scam busted by the Department of Justice. What I don’t get is why people don’t get just a little suspicious when the operation is performed in someone’s home. [US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE]

* When the kids of 2012 ask when did the vampires start showing up, you can point them to this little tidbit: ‘Dracula Therapy’.  It involves getting your face injected with your own blood. Of course, S3 Therapy is the hottest news in anti-aging right now. So of course all anyone will need in the near future to stay young is a little fresh blood. Great. I see exactly where this is going. I better add a crossbow to the shopping list the next time I’m at the local S-Mart. [DAILY MAIL]

Now where were projects like this when I was in school? NASA today announced they are… “accepting applications from students at U.S. colleges and universities who want to send their experiments to the edge of space on a high-flying scientific balloon.”

“The annual NASA project provides near space access for 12 undergraduate and graduate student experiments to be carried by a NASA high-altitude research balloon. The flights typically last 15 to 20 hours and reach an altitude of 23 miles. Experiments may include compact satellites or prototypes.”

Dude! For a former science geek, that’s one hell of an opportunity.

If you or someone you know is still in school, the press release says the “question-and-answer teleconference… will be held Nov. 13 at 11 a.m. EST. The deadline for applications is Dec. 18. NASA is targeting fall 2010 for the next flight opportunity. NASA expects to make selections in January 2010. Teleconference dial in information, application materials and technical details are available in the Call for Proposals document at: http://laspace.lsu.edu/hasp Information about NASA’s scientific balloon program is available at:   http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code820 More information about NASA’s education programs is available at:  http://www.nasa.gov/education”

And here’s the official link to this press release.

Nobody tell Richard or Mayumi Heene about this project, though. We all remember what happened the last time those two got near a balloon.

If you think you’re having a bad day, this forklift driver’s day in Russia might make you feel a little better.

According to the dailymail website, this driver just nuked five million rubles of vodka and cognac in just five seconds.

Having seen this, I’m probably going to freak out a little the next time I’m at Sam’s.

Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.

* Some people have a pre-existing immunity to H1N1. Now THAT would be good to have! Warning: deep med-speak in this article [CDC]

* Hormel and Herdez Del Fuerte are going to combine to form VOLTRON MegaMex Foods. This venture is to market “Mexican foods in the United States”. Um, guys? You’re a little late. It’s called Fiesta. But I guess this might be a good thing overall to push more things into the mainstream. As long as they don’t “Hormel-ize” everything. I better not see no Molle with “real bacon flavor” at the grocery store. [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]

* The US Military would like to point out that current research… “appears to show that many people can emerge from traumatic experiences with greater self-confidence, [and] a keener sense of compassion and appreciation for life, says Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum, director of the Army’s Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program.” OK. Let me paraphrase that: Didn’t die. Woo Hoo! Pass the beer. [US MILITARY HEALTH SYSTEM and a cross link on USA TODAY]

* Pepsi just lost 1.26 billion in a lawsuit… because they didn’t show up. As in ever. As in summary judgment. What the hell, right? It’s just money! [WALL STREET JOURNAL]

* A California jury just found KDNDFM radio station liable for causing a woman’s death in a stupid “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest they had back in 2007 when the Wii system was just coming out. This woman drank 7.5 litres of water trying to win a new this video game system for her three kids. The Wii video game system is now worth around $200. That’s messed up. And why is this only making British news? [DAILY MAIL]

* Good news, bad news. A US company has acquired BIMBO. For those of ya’ll that don’t know what BIMBO is, it’s pretty much a major Hostess / Sarah Lee bakery kind of thing in Mexico. Well, “net U.S. third-quarter sales more than tripled to $978 million when compared to the previous year’s third quarter.” Fine. I’m happy for you all. Really. Just DON’T MESS WITH MY BIMBUNELOS! They’re 100% sugar on a fried wagon wheel goodness! [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]

The US Department of Health and Human Services has a spinoff website called flu.gov with tips on how to stay healthy this flu season, downloads to business and school sickness plan-of-action sheets, and some good information about vaccinations. But what got my attention were the great Public Service Announcements (PSAs) they have.

Try watching this one and not smiling a little.

And in Spanish! Even better!



Gordon and Luis from Sesame Street also make an appearance in other PSAs, along with celebrities Marc Anthony, Amy Ryan and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. There’s also some good PSA winners from a recent video contest to round out the page.

The US Department of Health and Human Services has their own YouTube channel here if you want to see everything they have without going through their site. Who knew they had a sense of humor over there?

Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.

* Young college graduates are having hell finding a job now. And if they can’t get employed now at a entry level job, chances are they won’t be employed even when the economy recovers later because everyone else who was unemployed before will be trying for the new jobs too. The media is already calling the new graduates “the lost generation”. Highly educated very motivated young graduates with massive debt and no job prospects? That’s going to come back with some sharp teeth soon. [BUSINESSWEEK]

* If anybody in the Army was stop-lossed between September 11, 2001 to September 30, 2009, they may be eligible for retroactive pay of $500 for each month of additional service paid in a lump sum. My question is why is this an application process? Doesn’t the Army know who served them? Can’t they just direct deposit the money today? Or even mail out the checks? [ARMY TIMES]

* COOL (Country Of Origin Labeling) is a new initiative in labeling proposed by senators in Wisconsin that would say where your dairy products come from. The idea is that on the front of most dairy products, a sticker would say this cheese is from Wisconsin, this milk is from Oklahoma, etc. Well, as Gomer Pyle would say, SUH-PRIZE, SUH-PRIZE, SUH-PRIZE! Jerry Slominski, senior vice-president of legislative affairs and economic policy for the International Dairy Foods Association, says “This legislation is misguided, because it would do nothing to help America’s dairy farmers.” Yeah. Well Jerry, I’m thinking it might have something to do with the fact that most Americans ain’t gonna buy their skim milk if they find out it’s from a processing plant in downtown Detroit. Or their swiss cheese from a warehouse in Rochester. [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]

* Do you have a child that is going to get or has already got the H1N1 (Swine Flu) vaccine?  Whatever you do, don’t give them Tylenol or aspirin after the shot. It greatly reduces the effectiveness of the vaccine. Oh, and after getting the vaccine, most kids get a real bad fever. I would put this little tidbit somewhere between “good to know” and “why the flaming hell isn’t this front page news by now?”. [BLOOMBERG]

* Speaking of H1N1 (Swine Flu), the FDA is going after online hustlers that are selling “preventative medicine” for this disease. The FDA specifically popped drweil.com for “Unapproved/Uncleared/Unauthorized Products Related to the H1N1 Flu Virus; and Notice of Potential Illegal Marketing of Products to Prevent, Treat or Cure the H1N1 Virus.” Isn’t there an old proverb about not trusting people with beards? [FDA]

* And speaking of a lack of trust, the US Department of Justice recently busted “e-meditech”, which was owned by Joseph Egbe. Egbe was asking for and getting a lot of prescription drugs from other charitable organizations, saying he was going to ship them to Africa and other impoverished countries. But instead, he tore the labels off the donated drugs and resold them to local pharmacies for profit. Nice. Hopefully a little prison time will help adjust his conscience. [US DOJ]

* That new creature “Darwinius” that scientists were saying was the link to all links of humans and primates a few weeks ago? Uh… not so much now. A little research and wouldn’t you know this little creature was off by just 10 million years. And they have no living descendants. I thought scientists did a little of this “research” stuff I keep hearing about before having a press conference. [SCIENCEBLOG]

Mike Hughes, chair of the Smart Choices Program, announced today that “The Smart Choices nutrition labeling program voluntarily will postpone active operations and not encourage wider use of the Smart Choices nutrition logo by current or newly enrolled companies”

The article goes on to say that this surprise announcement “…comes shortly after the Food and Drug Administration announced on Oct. 20 that the agency is reviewing labels that communicate nutritional quality on front-of-package labels and how consumers are using the labels.”

In a related story, posted on the same website, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of the F.D.A is quoted as saying “Some are questioning whether they (front-of-package symbols) are marketing or health-oriented.” That same related story says the FDA is “analyzing front-of-package labels that appear to be misleading and also is looking for symbols that may be considered nutrient content claims.”

Soooo… lemme see if I have all this straight. This industry driven private food labeling program was being put on just about all the new “healthy” and “good for you” food items out there. All any food product needed to do to get this sticker was to fill out an “application and deposit fee” on the Smart Choice website and wait and see if they qualified to put that nice big green checkmark sticker on their product. But three days ago, the FDA announces it’s going to start looking into front of package labeling on all food items. And since the FDA announced it is going to be coming around for a little look-see, the company in charge of this label with the nice big green healthy checkmark immediately stops everything it is doing and will not take any newcomers who want to get this this label on their product.

There’s an old song from the 80’s that I think is appropriate here….. “Things that make you go hmmmm……”