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.

* New rules from the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor, and the Treasury department mandate that “genetic information [can not be] used adversely in determining health care coverage.” On the website, it says the “Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA)… group health plans and issuers in the group market cannot: increase premiums for the group based on the results of one enrollee’s genetic information; deny enrollment; impose pre-existing condition exclusions; or do other forms of underwriting based on genetic information. In the individual health insurance market, GINA prohibits issuers from using genetic information to deny coverage, raise premiums, or impose pre-existing condition exclusions.” That’s wonderful news! Right now, since the medical repair and adjustment of DNA is in its’ infancy, the only thing thorough DNA testing can do at this time is discriminate. Unfortunately, good news doesn’t sell like bad news does. [HHS – HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES]

* AH-NOLD does it again! This week, he signed a law that “requires gun shop owners to thumbprint people who buy handgun ammunition, as well as record their identification and provide that information to police.” What, exactly, is this law going to do? All the people who get thumbrinted will say is that they resold their ammo if the police come knocking looking for it. And since that’s not illegal, what’s the point? And the bad guys you are trying to stop from buying ammo will just drive a truck across state lines to pick up a palette of their choice and drive it right back into California! Brilliant work, governor! What’s your next trick?  [NEWS 10 – CA]

* Acai Berry : the new wonder drug! Truth or Scam? Well, it is indeed a fruit. And, as such, it works just as well as other fruits at keeping you healthy. Sorry about that. Next month, APPLES : The new wonder drug! [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]

* Saudi Arabia is trying to gather support to demand that “if wealthy countries reduce their oil consumption to combat global warming, [these countries] should pay compensation to oil producers” for lost revenue. BWA HA HA!!!! I’m sorry. That was completely unprofessional of me. My answer on behalf of the United States is NO. You want a second opinion? OK. Hows about HELL NO! [NEW YORK TIMES]

* A man finds a Dragon surface-to-surface missile launcher in his backyard. He calls the FBI, Homeland Security, and the Sheriff’s Department. Nobody wants to pick it up! Hijinks ensue. OK, Dude… the first rule of missile club is that you don’t talk about missile club! [SAN ANTONIO NEWS]

* The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved “Folotyn (pralatrexate), the first treatment for a form of cancer known as Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma (PTCL), an often aggressive type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.” What’s going to make this reeeeeal interesting is that “Folotyn was approved under the FDA’s accelerated approval process, which allows earlier approval of drugs that meet unmet medical needs.” Hmmm… definitely good news / bad news kind of thing here. This kind of cancer is very bad, bad news. But an untested drug is another problem in and of its’ own. [FDA]

* An artificial electromagnetic black hole for microwave frequencies was just invented by scientists. OK, that was an awesome sentence! Anyhow, scientists are trying to push this invention further along so it can trap visible light to harness solar energy in solar cells more efficiently. Holy crap. A solar panel full of baby black holes to power homes. Ammunition will be illegal, but ownership of black holes will be acceptable. Welcome to the future! [NEW SCIENTIST]

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.

* FBI Director Robert Mueller, the head of the one of the most prominent law enforcement agencies in the US, had to be stopped from falling for a simple phishing scam…. by his wife. Sad. Sad. Sad. The NSA and Air Force must be laughing their asses off right now. [CNET]

* Ever have one of those “ten year” curly bulbs blow out on you in a month? Turns out they’re really not designed for being used “upside down” from the ceiling. To last for a long time, most of these bulbs need to have the screw-part pointing down ad the bulb pointing up, otherwise “they overheat the electronics in the base and burn out early”. Did you know these bulbs also come in different color temperatures? There’s a flowchart to show you how to select the right ones. Oh, and they’re full of mercury and need to be disposed of in a Haz-mat manner. Throwing them in the trash is devastating to the environment. So now the act of purchasing a simple lightbulb has gone from zero thought to very complex. A great example of the cure being worse than the disease. [TREEHUGGER and EPA]

* The CDC has “continues to receive reports of an unexplained skin condition which some refer to as “Morgellons”. Persons who suffer from this condition report a range of cutaneous or skin symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations; granules, threads, fibers, or black speck-like materials on or beneath the skin; and/or skin rashes or sores. In addition to skin symptoms, some sufferers also report fatigue, mental confusion, short term memory loss, joint pain, and changes in vision. At this time, scientists and doctors do not know what causes this condition”. Um…. damn. A link to the investigation is here. A link to the disease is here. [CDC]

* A study by the British Psychological Society confirmed when someone anticipates an interaction with an obese person, they automatically feel socially superior to them. The study says this is probably “based on the activation of obese people’s status in American society today.”  Somebody needs to go watch Shrek and Shallow Hal again. [BPS]

* A Hawaii company in the sugar business for 119 years has had to close its’ doors. Companies go out of business every day, but none I have ever heard of “offer housing for its retirees and employees affected by the shut down.” Epic levels of awesome here. [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]

In what I think is long overdue news, the FTC today announced that bloggers must disclose if they are being paid to review or post a product on their website, as well as post a “clear and conspicuous” disclosure if such a post is being made under paid pretenses. The penalties include fines up to $11,000 per violation. The new ruling, available directly on the FTC’s site, also mandates that “celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media.”

Finally!

Have you ever noticed how when a new product comes out, a lot of websites have the identical text when reviewing the product? I’m not talking about a few sentences here and there. I’m talking about the same verb use, the exact same sentences, and the exact same 4 1/2 and 5 star reviews. That’s payola at work for you. There’s even a very popular website that apparently fired it’s reviewer for actually posting an honest review when the game company had paid for advertising on that site.

What’s also interesting is the specific mention in the article that “word of mouth” advertising also applies. This regulation makes it mandatory that even if it’s activity beyond websites, if it’s paid for, it needs to have that notation clearly attached. The RNC and DNC should watch out for this little tripwire from the FTC. I can see them stepping on this in some of their “campaigns”, too.

I think what will probably come of this for the web will be a puny little “advertisement” banner on the top of a paid post, much like what is in magazines and TV ads nowadays. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

When someone cheats on you, it’s devastating. Devastating. There is no other word for it. There is no kind way to frame it.

A few days ago, David Letterman admitted on his show “he is the victim of an alleged extortion attempt and admitted to having sexual relations with several members of his staff”. A few mild jokes later, ha ha, it’s so funny, and let’s not talk about it anymore. Next guest!

Fine. But I think David missed one very critical thing.

Nevermind the blackmail or the producer or the money. David needs to apologize to Regina Lasko. Because since this was revealed in the public eye, it needs to be addressed in the public eye. He has apologized to his staff, his audience, his friends, but nothing to the woman who has been with him since 1986. 23 years and one child apparently doesn’t merit one public “mea cupla”.

On his show, in the same context as the original confession, he needs to say “Regina, I’m sorry for having cheated on you.” Then take a week or two off to really seriously work on the relationship. Quit going back to the scene of the crime and hiding behind work. Go home, take your hits, and make things better. I’m sure Craig Ferguson will be happy to cover the Late Show.

And if you go back and there isn’t any love? Let them go. Quit wasting someone’s life who loves you if you really don’t have the same love for them back. Let them go to be with someone who will really love them just as much as they loved you.

Cheating is anything you can’t do in front of your partner. If they’re OK with having whatever done right in front of them, then it’s not cheating. It’s as simple as that.

If you have a hotmail.com, msn.com or live.com. account, or if you have one of these as part of your Xbox 360, you should know that more than 10,000 of these account passwords were just posted online. Most of these accounts were in Europe, but quite a few were here in the US.

If you have any one of these accounts, take a moment right now to change your password. In Hotmail, you need to go to OPTIONS in the top menu and then down to MORE OPTIONS. From there you can choose VIEW AND EDIT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. Finally, click the CHANGE link next to the password field to type in something new.

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.

* The H1N1 (Swine Flu) is getting ugly. A quietly released CDC paper that you can download here says H1N1 is adapting to everything being thrown at it. The paper says “…humanity faces a dangerous threat. Viruses isolated from a sample of patients with confirmed cases in early phases of the outbreak demonstrated resistance to amantadine and rimantadine…. More recently, pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus resistance to oseltamivir emerged during treatment of 2 immunosuppressed patients in the United States. Such cases demonstrate that oseltamivir resistance can emerge in infected persons treated with oseltamivir. To date, all isolates tested have been susceptible to zanamivir.” The paper is written in med-speak, but it’s quick reading. Stock up on Zanamivir and buy stock in GlaxoSmithKline. [CDC (CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION)]

* Related to the H1N1 (swine flu) mutation and adaptability… not surprisingly it is spreading. A website from the CDC shows “Twenty-seven states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. Any reports of widespread influenza activity in September are very unusual.” The website is an overall 2009 H1N1 update and is good a good reference to bookmark. The stats on the bottom of the website are particularly worrisome. “U.S. Influenza and Pneumonia-Associated Hospitalizations and Deaths from August 30 – September 19, 2009… 12,863 hospitalizations and 1,197 deaths.” That’s in just 20 days. Stock up on masks and meds now. [CDC (CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION)]

* Meanwhile, the FDA has released a warning for consumers not to eat or purchase certain imported dried plums because they’re spiced with lead. The problem isn’t with any plums from the US, so check the labels. Or better yet, just skip plums altogether. Yuck. [FDA]

* When blood used for a transfusion is over 30 days old, it doubles the possibility of death for the person receiving the blood according to an article in the LA TIMES. The article says the American Red Cross believes blood has a “shelf life” of 42 days, but the reality now looks like 30 days or less. Seriously, one of the better things you can do on a weekend is go and donate blood. You will not only be helping saving someone’s life, but when this goes mainstream, you can bet the blood banks will need donations more than ever. [LA TIMES]

* Is vitamin water really better for you? Nope. At least according to an article in Food Business News. Vitamin water is better than most sodas, but compared to water? Not so much. And for athletes, sports drinks are superior to vitamin water too. Save your money, folks. [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]

In case you haven’t heard already, Robert Rodriguez is remaking the original Predator movie. Or as Hollywood says, “rebooting the franchise”. Due for release sometime in 2010, Latinoreview has already noted that Nimród Antal is going to direct and Danny Trejo will be in the film as a supporting character.

According to the exclusive preview on latinoreview, the main character, the new badass, the “Dutch 2.0” is named….. Royce.

Yeah. Just gimme the tickets now.

Io.9 and Screenrant both say “Our hero is Royce, a “Steve McQueen” type. The film begins back on Earth, when Royce gets in a fight with another human, and kills his opponent — but some Predators are watching the whole thing from behind their camouflage screens. The Predators like what they see, so they kidnap Royce and shoot him over to their home planet. Royce, along with seven other abducted humans, all wake up after parachuting into the Predator home planet.”

Robert? I’m cutting you off. If you can’t keep a secret, I ain’t telling you any more of my stories.

Seriously. Just how many famous “Royces” are out there? Royce Gracie (the original MMA badass), California House of Representatives Ed Royce, Royce da 5’9″, and Royce the Voice.

Short list!

Latinoreview has an exclusive video on the reboot on their website to go with the story that shows the movie’s other supporting characters and their backgrounds.

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.

* Dannon to reimburse customers for misleading advertising. Turns out statements in its marketing and advertising materials for Activia, Activia Light, DanActive and DanActive Light were deceptive. As in completely made up. Ain’t the truth a pain in the ass? [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]

* Mandatory H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine for the military are imminent. Oh, good. Because on the off chance something is wrong with the untested and very-rushed to production flu vaccine, we want to infect those with the automatic weapons and heavy artillery first. [US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE / MILITARY HEALTH SYSTEM]

* FDA issues strong warning about those “fallen and I can’t get up” lifeline pendant buttons. Turns out they may be a choking hazard if they get caught on something. If only there was… some way to call… for help… when that… happens! [FDA]

* Google approved sub-group now shows you how to completely delete and remove all of your personal data from…. everything Google. Looks like they are really standing behind their “don’t be evil” mantra! But couldn’t they still have a backup copy somewhere? The details are all in the FAQ. [GOOGLE / DATALIBERATION.ORG]

* The french want bold printed notices on all photoshopped images in print advertising stating they have been digitally enhanced. Finally! I seriously think this is long overdue! The only problem I see is that advertising agencies are about to get a big kick in the nards on this one. [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]

* Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000. Clever, manbearpig. Very clever. [WALL STREET JOURNAL]

* USA Network has announced the departure of star Vincent D’Onofrio (Robert Goren), Kathryn Erbe (Alex Eames) and Eric Bogosian (Danny Ross) from Law and Order : Criminal Intent. You know. The main stars. Julianne Nicholson is also out for good measure. Everybody got killed at once? I’m not buying it. Someone get CSI on this.  [THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER]