Going through my monthly reading pile, I finally got to the MMR “food and beverage report” for 2010. (AKA all of the top selling food items of 2010)

Why Food Network misses out on a “foodie Oscars” report is beyond me. I’m also surprised the “winners” aren’t plastering this information all over their products to boost sales.

MMR has all these categories in their report…

… but I’m only going to go over a few.

To start off with, the top selling cookies in 2010 were… CHIPS AHOY. (Dammit! Oreos were robbed again!)

Next up, the top selling domestic premium beer in 2010 was… BUD LIGHT.

The top selling potato chips in 2010 were… LAYS.

Next up, the top selling frozen pizza in 2010 was… DI GIORNO.

The top selling ground coffee in 2010 was… FOLGERS (Starbucks was #3? Seattle’s Best was #9? Buuuuuurn).

Next up, the top selling tortilla chip in 2010 was… DORITOS. (Oh hell no! Santitas kicks Doritos ass 24-7)

The top selling candy > 3.5 oz in 2010 was… M&Ms.

Next up, the top selling candy < 3.5 oz in 2010 was… M&Ms again.

The top selling energy drink in 2010 was… RED BULL (Rockstar white is awesome, but Red Bull is a classic.)

And finally, the top selling cereal in 2010 was… HONEY NUT CHEERIOS (Hey! Where’s my Cocoa Puffs? Not even in the top 10?)

If you want to read the full report on everything, head over to MMR and order the January 10th 2011 issue. They offer back issue PDF and “snail mail” versions on their site.

I tweeted this but wanted to drop into the blog too. WFAA and The Monitor say “the Electric Reliability Council of Texas — which manages much of the state’s electric grid — ordered rotating blackouts across the state to cope with heightened demand for power.”

Blackouts are going to hit Houston, Dallas, Ft Worth, San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, Abilene and the Rio Grande Valley soon. Blackouts should only last 30 minutes or so (yeah, right!).

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.

* Another day, another 80’s TV actor caught doing somethin’ illegal. Larry Wilcox, the guy who played Jon from the 80’s TV show CHiPS, was busted for a crime he didn’t commit. OK, he was busted for a crime he won’t be spending any jail time for, but still I guess you can say the CHiPS are down for him now. I should let the CHiPS fall where they may. Perhaps he had a CHiPs on his shoulder? OK, I’m out of crap puns now. LETS HEAR SOME 80s TV MUSIC! [SUN SENTINEL]

* Dear God, we’re really using civilian tech and homemade apps to fight a modern war? Maybe the military would buy my ghetto “Iron Soldier Man” armor made of trash cans and pizza boxes after all! [FOX NEWS]

* Criminals sure are creative. Extremely stupid, but creative! I feel sorry for the police officer having to deal with this one… “So let me get this straight, sir. Your girlfriend, who is in multiple pieces in a cardboard barrel in the back seat of your car, died two days ago after you shagged her to death? Ah. Of course. It all makes perfect sense now! Might I interest you in trying on a pair of steel bracelets I have with me?” [MSNBC]

* On a different kind of crazy, the Voyager 2 spacecraft launched into space in 1977. It’s been in space for 34 years. It flew by Uranus over 25 years ago. It is around 91.898 AU (13.747 billion km, 8.542 billion miles or 0.001443 light years) from the Sun and it STILL HASN’T LEFT OUR SOLAR SYSTEM! That’s a whole lot of crazy if you think about it. [SPACEREF]

* Meanwhile, back on Earth, hundreds of people are actually surprised to see a gorilla walking upright at a local zoo. What? Hundreds of years of hard scientific evidence and research by brilliant dedicated people not good enough to prove evolution? Dammit, we’re never getting off this planet are we? [HUFFINGTON POST]

* In other science-related news, there’s a growing chance that the next few decades may develop a “cure” for aging! I really really really hope “death from aging” will one day be nothing more than a footnote in the medical journals. I have a feeling “death from stupid” will always be with us, though. [POPULAR MECHANICS]

* Speaking of death, when hoarders die, who gets the hoarders hoard? The relatives? The state? Maybe History channel or National Geographic can make a show about it. A cross between “Pickers”, “Pawn Stars”, and “How Clean is Your House” with rooms full of rotting piles of crap that make you go DAAAAAAA. Can’t miss! [NEWSWEEK]

*And finally, Texas got caught in a lie. It’s Texas, so it’s a big big big lie. The Obama stimulus, which the gover-nah constantly bitched and complained about, was actually used to cover 97% of the Texas budget this last year. You would think that much hypocrisy would get somebody struck by lightning! [THE ATLANTIC]

** Actually published Monday because it was my wife’s birthday weekend!

Whats going on in Egypt right now at this moment is going to change the world.

Live coverage is at Al Jazeera’s website here.

A “Why this is happening in Egypt 101” is at Mother Jone’s site here.

I’ve been glued to the Al Jazeera page all day.

Have you ever wanted to report on a internet scam or some other online crime? Check out IC3.

IC3, AKA the Internet Crime Complaint Center, is a partnership between some other Federal alphabet soup agencies – the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA).

Technically it should be IC3 = SUM (FBI + NW3C + BJA), but that’s just murder on a business card.

Anyhow, IC3 was set up to “receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime” and is pretty easy to use. You click through a multiple-choice questionnaire on the site and fill in the blanks as you go along. It takes about two minutes for a typical form.

Maybe if enough people use this system, some of those “I give you this sum $3, 750,000.00 Million Dollars from the bank in south America” kind of emails will go away.

Right. Here’s the official link to the report-a-scam-and-crime website.

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.

* Once again, the mainstream media plays it safe. Instead of a headline like “A MAJOR CONTINENT IS SPLITTING IN HALF! REPUBLICANS SAY OBAMA TO BLAME! DEMOCRATS SAY REPUBLICANS CAN SUCK IT! KIM JONG IL SAYS HE WANTS SOUTH KOREAN CHEESE ON HIS WHOPPER!”, the European media goes all factual with it and says “Violent Seismic Activity Tearing Africa in Two”. Hey waitaminute, that does sound pretty bad! [SPIEGEL]

* Part of me wishes headlines like “German Police Pick up Drunken Owl” was the only breaking news in the world. Then I think of how mind-blisteringly soul-numbingly boring that world would be, and I move along. Oh yeah, German police really did pick up a drunken owl. It was a hoot. [SPIEGEL]

* I’m actually amazed people are genuinely surprised when nasty stuff they write in emails comes back to bite them right in the nalgas. Case in point –  a dude was typing smack to his attorney through his corporate email account and was shocked (yes, SHOCKED) when his company read his email! He said “Aaaaayyy! It was attorney client privilege there!”, but his company said “Up your nose with a rubber hose!” Or something like that. [WIRED]

* Highly anal retentive English teachers of the world unite!  Is it time to phase out the old double space between sentences rule?  Does it really matter how many spaces are between sentences anymore?  O spacebar! my spacebar! our fearful mark is done;  The sentence has weather’d every rack, the quote we sought is won! [SLATE]

* A man was brought back to life after three and a half hours without a heartbeat thanks to a machine that “performed 20,000 life-saving chest compressions”. Good thing it wasn’t 19,900 life-saving chest compressions and 100 “not really feelin’ it” chest compressions. [NEWS.COM.AU]

* Since the fatherland homeland security can search your cell phone whenever the ingrown buttwarts feel like it they have a valid suspicion of illegal activities, you may want to encrypt your cell phone and tell them to eff off!. Here’s how! [ARS TECHNIA]

* And finally, I predict the end of waterfountains at all malls because of this upcoming genius. This mensa candidate was walking and texting (as most of us do!) but then fell flat into a waterfountain in the center of the mall. Instead of taking the opportunity to fish out dollar coins, this genius is suing the mall for “not helping her”. Not helping her WHAT? Run nice things for everybody even faster? [ABC]

** Actually published Monday because too many things went BOOM this weekend. Yo. Def. What?

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 US government is recruiting everyday regular people to find out the best ways to blow up the US. The government then takes those ideas and comes up with stuff to keep to keep it from happening. Imagine the resume after having that job? 2010-2011 : Employed at modern day culper ring. Highly experienced in discovering new and exciting ways to destroy the United States. Classified references available with appropriate clearance. [NY DAILY NEWS]

* OK, what do you think would happen if I walked into a bank and told them “I’ve been direct depositing my paycheck every month here, so I would like to collect the interest on my future checks I’ll be getting throughout 2011 right now. In advance.” How far do you think I would be thrown into the street? Well the banks themselves are doing something similar to this little trick! They’re taking interest on foreclosed homes and counting them as income even though nobody is actually paying the mortgage or the interest! It’s ghost money! When the actual foreclosure finally goes through, the banks will then take the ghost money off the books. “Many bank financial statements actually look much better than they actually are… ultimately, the banks face a potential loss of $1 trillion on nonperforming loans.” I think I finally understand how epic financial crises start. [FORBES]

* President Obama renewed the Patriot Act for another year without any kind of complaint whatsoever. Doesn’t that kinda’ go against, oh, EVERYTHING HE WAS VOTED INTO OFFICE FOR? I’ll just put this in the growing “Guantanamo” pile. [EXAMINER]

* Apparently “the amount of dust in the Earth’s atmosphere has doubled over the last century.” You watch. Somebody is going to tie this into global warming, La Nina and cow farts before the end of the year. [SCIENCE DAILY]

* The FDA has ordered Vicodin and Percocet to dial back some of the acetaminophen painkiller ingredients in their products because they have labeled it as APAP. This is good because since most people didn’t know APAP = acetaminophen, they would combine Viocdin and Percocet with Tylenol or other acetaminophen based painkillers. Too much acetaminophen will completely nuke your liver form orbit, so the FDA gets the extra point on this one. [HUFFINGTON POST]

* Apparently a veggie-rich diet will make you more beautiful. Great. Science has just given PETA more ammo for those “I’d rather be nude” ads. [TIME]

* Finally, researchers may have found a cure for Tinnitus! Yes! Set all speakers to 11! [DALLAS OBSERVER]

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.

* To every man who said a woman’s crying isn’t fair… well now there’s SCIENTIFIC PROOF!!! A woman’s tears… “may temporarily lower [a man’s] testosterone level. Those tears send a chemical signal as the man gets close enough to sniff them – even though there’s no discernible odor” AH HAH!! IT WAS SECRET CHEMICAL WARFARE ALL ALONG!! I KNEW IT!! [HUFFINGTON POST]

* I’ve got an idea. Come up with a product that’s a kid’s favorite toy. Make it addictive. Make it something small enough so they can take with them everywhere. Get them addicted to the toy. Then come out with an update to this amazing product that PERMANENTLY DAMAGES THEIR LITTLE EYES. Mu ha ha ha ha!!! MU HA HA HA HA HAAA!!! Wait, hold on, what’s the goal of the evil plan here Nintendo? [NEOWIN]

* Speaking of evil plots, those “Power Balance” bracelets? The ones that are advertised as metal medical genies that will cure just about everything that’s wrong with you? Just because you wear one on your wrist? Well the company was forced by an Australian court to post on their website that…. “We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct.” Too bad America doesn’t have strict “must be the truth” advertising standards like, oh, Australia, England, and the rest of the bloody world does. [POWERBALANCE]

* OK, so eating dead monkeys = world melting diseases, virologists are borderline mental cases, and I’m totally buying a Ploom. That is all. [THE NEW YORKER]

* NASA’s super-high tech orbital cameras are also used to detect skin cancer? Science rocks! [NASA]

* We can make rain now? For real? In the middle of the desert? Science really rocks! [TIME]

* A new finding shows that going under anesthesia is like putting your body into more of a “deep abyss-like coma” than a “restful happy-dreamy sleep”. OK, science is sometimes pretty scary, too. [SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN]

* In very serious news, police in California can now search your cell phone without a warrant. This means they get all your contacts, voicemails, call history, internet history, app use… everything on your cell phone. Without a warrant. Some “new and improved” administration this is turning out to be. [ARS TECHNICA]

* According to a secret found by Wikileaks, Israel is treating Gaza like something from the old cowboy movies. They’re leaving them in the middle of the desert without a firearm, food, water or a horse, but hey, they aren’t going to kill them! So who are the ones in the white hat again? [HAARETZ]

* The Economist has details on how to beat full body scanners at the airports! You know things are finally going to change when rich people start getting bothered and post stuff that gets poor people indicted and thrown in jail. [ECONOMIST]

* Texas is now a nuclear waste dump site? And they’re putting all the “gonna be deadly for a million-years” crap over a major state aquifer too? Dude! Even for deep West Texas, that’s not cool! [HUFFINGTON POST]

* And finally, speakin’ of my home state of Texas, Dallas busted out “Don Giovanni” at their opera house, but with palm trees, no conductor/actor sync, and “melodramatic lighting effects certainly made for what was evidently intended as a “grand opera” experience.” Ouch! Opera News magazine sure knows how to damn with faint praise!  [OPERA NEWS]

Every Tuesday I re-post all zee tweets that didn’t originate from this blog just to keep everything in sync.

This last week on Twitter…

• wilw Wow! Obama lied about enforcing Network Neutrality, too! What a gigantic surprise! I wonder what’s next? I can’t wait! http://bit.ly/dWvDnZ (12/21/10 via web Retweeted by RoyceEddington and 100+ others)

• Lunar eclipse is beautiful. I’m somewhat hypnotized. Once in a 500-or-so-year event. Philosopher nerd totally emblissed right now. (12/21/10 via Twitter for iPhone)

• wilw Some of your Android and iPhone apps, including Pandora and Text Plus 4, are spying on you: http://on.wsj.com/eFRFRD (11:16 AM Dec 18th via web Retweeted by RoyceEddington and 100+ others)

• HuffingtonPost CIA gave waterboarders $5 million legal shield http://huff.to/g7IMNq (7:59 PM Dec 17th via TweetDeck Retweeted by RoyceEddington and 64 others)

• “@breaknews246: Tropical Tropical Storm Hermine Heads For Mexico, Texas – http://xrl.us/bib3q2” – WHAT? No way! That was back in September! (7:49 PM Dec 17th via Twitter for iPhone)

• Enable AirPlay from iPhone, iPad, iPod touch to Mac http://t.co/Zhp2Y0O via @taranfx (12:36 PM Dec 17th via Tweet Button)

• thehill RT @HilliconValley OVERNIGHT TECH: House Judiciary Committee tackles WikiLeaks on Thursday http://bit.ly/i2BKUh Tip @Techmeme (7:07 PM Dec 15th via Twitter for Android Retweeted by RoyceEddington and 3 others)

• RT @Wolfire: The Humble Indie Bundle (pay what you want for five awesome indie games) http://bit.ly/fRYX0C (11:08 AM Dec 14th via web)