Fewer pat-downs for kids in TSA security checks
By Bart Jansen | USA TODAY | 9/14/2011
Children 12 years old and younger won’t have to take off their shoes to get on an airplane, and they’ll get patted down less, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday.
These changes will be adopted in airports nationwide within months, after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers receive extra training, Napolitano told the Senate homeland security committee. The program will be expanding from a pilot program in six airports that began in the spring.
“There’d be additional training for a different pat-down procedure for them and also, again, allowing them to leave their shoes on,” Napolitano says.
If you ever tried on a pair of these shoes, you’d wonder why it took so long for this case to come forward.
Fake claims
Snake oil shoe
Ads lie
Snake oil salesmen
Reebok to Refund Customers $25 Million Over Toning Shoes Complaint
By: Allison Berry | time.com | September 30, 2011
The only thing slimming down here is Reebok’s profit margins.
The athletic company agreed to pay up to $25 million this week in refunds to customers who bought their EasyTone brand sneakers. This settles a recent complaint filed by the FTC, which posited that Reebok’s claims about the health benefits of the shoes were false.
The EasyTone advertising campaign touted the shoes’ ability to strengthen legs and glutes, leading to a 28% improvement in buttock muscles, 11% improvement in hamstrings, and 11% improvement in calves as compared to regular walking shoes. But when the FTC investigated, they deemed the evidence to back these claims as insufficient.
The terms of the settlement prohibit Reebok from making any further claims about the sneakers’ exercise benefits unless backed by hard scientific facts. “The FTC wants national advertisers to understand that they must exercise some responsibility and ensure that their claims for fitness gear are supported by sound science,” David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in an FTC press release.
Magic undergarments are actually part of some religious beliefs so maybe this is not quite as wacky as it seems. Maybe.
Magnetic Underpants Questioned
www.loweringthebar.net | June 27, 2011
Lobatoz v. Dream Products Inc., No. BC463269 (Cal. Super. Ct., filed June 10, 2011).
Putative California-only consumer class action filed against Dream Products Inc. in California Superior Court (Los Angeles County) alleging deceptive marketing of the defendant’s “Magnetic Slimming Panties.” Plaintiff alleges under California consumer protection laws that the undergarments are falsely advertised as having healing properties and health benefits as a result of magnets contained in the undergarments.
Although I specialize in defending companies from consumer-protection claims, which is also good for this blog because many of those claims are so completely ridiculous, I do also sometimes point out cases where there is ridiculousness on the other side. There was the “Q-Ray Bracelet,” which a judge once questioned despite the fact that it was made from guaranteed “ionized Bio-Metal”; the hoo-ha over ear-candling; and the time when the dietary supplement “Gary Null’s Ultimate Power Meal” almost killed Gary Null. In fact, in connection with the latter story I noted that Gary Null was then selling what he called the “Magnetic Chi-Belt,” which he said was “designed to facilitate the use of magnets” in the groin area, although he didn’t say what for.
According to a press release on their own page JPMorgan Chase donated $4.6 million to the NYPD in June of 2011. Since the Occupy Wall Street Movement didn’t start organizing until September 2011 this is not a case of “whoops, we have a problem, let’s donate to the cops.” However, one wonders how impartial the NYPD is being in their handling the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
New York City Police Foundation — New York
JPMorgan Chase recently donated an unprecedented $4.6 million to the New York City Police Foundation. The gift was the largest in the history of the foundation and will enable the New York City Police Department to strengthen security in the Big Apple. The money will pay for 1,000 new patrol car laptops, as well as security monitoring software in the NYPD’s main data center.
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly sent CEO and Chairman Jamie Dimon a note expressing “profound gratitude” for the company’s donation.
“These officers put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe,” Dimon said. “We’re incredibly proud to help them build this program and let them know how much we value their hard work.”
Since the JERSEY SHORE that is currently filming is set in Italy, not in New Jersey, I think the governor may have made a better point using that as his reason. It is poor taste for the law breaking, murderous SOPRANOS to be officially ok but the hunky drunks on the JERSEY SHOW to be double plus bad.
Random image of Snooki on the sands of the Jersey Shore moments before being arrested.
Barbecue restaurant sues yellow pages company over ‘Carcass Removal’ listing
www.todayonline.com | Sep 12, 2011
A barbecue restaurant in the United States listed in the phone book under “Animal Carcass Removal” became the butt of a Jay Leno joke in January. But it’s no laughing matter to the owner who is now suing the publishing company over the business he’s lost.
Mr Hunter Lacey says in his lawsuit that business at his Bar 3 Bar-B-Q restaurants in Montana has dropped off since the Dex Media Inc listing and that his reputation and years of building up his brand have gone down the tubes.
The listing first appeared in 2009 in the yellow pages of Dex’s telephone book in the “Animal Carcass Removal” section and was repeated in other printed and online telephone directories last year and this year.
In January, Mr Leno joked about the listing on his nationally-televised talkshow, The Tonight Show.
Mr Lacey said his restaurants had lost US$18,254 (S$22,000) from 2009 and 2010. His attorney, Mr Geoffrey Angel, is trying to reach an out-of-court settlement with Dex Media for US$417,000.
A Dex spokesman said that it was an “erroneous listing” and steps have been taken to ensure it would not be in future phone books.
How many strip clubs are in this area? Trust me, the kids would have noticed strip clubs one day but a school bus stop is a little too close for comfort, especially in the bible belt. It is worth noting that Atlantic Beach is a historically black area and the district may have just not cared. I mean look at the stop sign in the video, it’s falling over.
“I had to explain to my four-year-old what topless was,” Misty Umphries said.
School district moves bus stop location from behind strip club www.midlandsconnect.com | 09.09.2011
ATLANTIC BEACH (WPDE) — Parents of kids having to wait at a school bus stop in the parking lot of a strip club are relieved Thursday, after learning the Horry County School District has decided to relocate the stop.
The stop was located 4th Street and 30th Avenue South in Atlantic Beach. That stop is between two parking lots and sits directly behind a strip club.
“I had to explain to my four-year-old what topless was,” Misty Umphries said.
The mother of four waits with her children at the bus stop every morning. Windy Prince, a mother of three, also says the bus stop shouldn’t be where it is.
This is funny. Wait, taxpayers paid for these and these can blow up and hurt people. Hmm, not so funny anymore.
Random image that says something I don't understand.
Tres bomb: navy’s new toy needs translator
Dan Oakes | August 26, 2011 | www.smh.com.au
WHEN you buy flat-pack furniture, you can be sure the instructions will include English. But when you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on torpedoes for your navy, apparently that is not the case.
The highly classified technical documents for the European-built weapon are in Italian and French, so the defence procurement agency, Defence Materiel Organisation, has tendered for people to translate them.
The translators will be flown to Canberra and accommodated while they plough through the documentation at DMO offices. It is the latest in a series of stumbling blocks for the anti-submarine MU90 torpedo, which will be installed on two classes of warship.
Both apps promised treatment for acne through colored lights emitted from mobile device screens. The app marketers instructed users to hold the screen next to the area of affected skin for a few minutes each day.
FTC: No, your smartphone can’t heal acne The agency reaches a settlement agreement with makers of two smartphone apps that promised acne treatment
By Grant Gross, IDG News Service | IT Management/Strategy | www.itworld.com
September 08, 2011, 4:16 PM — Smartphones can help you record video clips, compose music and find the nearest Ethiopian restaurant, but they can’t cure acne, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said.
The makers of two mobile applications claiming to treat acne have settled FTC complaints that the developers sold the apps without proof that they work as advertised. Under a proposed settlement, the sellers Acne Pwner and AcneApp — including a dermatologist involved with AcneApp — are prohibited from making acne treatment claims without scientific evidence, the FTC said Thursday.
“Smartphones make our lives easier in countless ways, but unfortunately when it comes to curing acne, there’s no app for that,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement.
Both apps promised treatment for acne through colored lights emitted from mobile device screens. The app marketers instructed users to hold the screen next to the area of affected skin for a few minutes each day.
This is harvest time. These are stubborn fellows. I can’t resist the chance to let my imagination run wild with these mug shots.
From left to right. Top row.
Number 1-he is in the dictionary under “Amish”
Number 2- has a burning shame from his arrest and hatred for the English though he covets shiny technology and really enjoyed shooting guns on his Rumspringa, overflowing with testosterone he is dissatisfied with his wife’s sewing ability and is haunted by pornographic images he saw during his Rumspringa
Number 3-by averting his eyes out of modesty while doing a dead on Gary Burghoff impression
Number 4-Rabble rousing instigator or possibly the dwarf Grumpy, also resembles Number 2
From left to right. Lower row. Number 1-really really REALLY looks like a friend of mine of German heritage who occasionally dresses as an Amish man for fun, could be his brother
Number 2-the beard means he is married, but he looks so young, and the blush and down under stare, total hottie, who cares if he probably can’t read a big word like mayonnaise? I’ll make you a pie.
Number 3-why is the camera so far away? Does he have B.O.? A bible?
Number 4- Looks like he is sleeping, or wishing, wishing wishing he’d have never gotten wrapped up in this silly business with the English and police be treated like a criminal, although secretly he thinks this is all tremendously exciting and is stifling a grin.
These Amish men were arrested for not placing a reflective triangle on the back of their buggies.
Amish buggies shown with disputed reflective orange triangles.
Graves Amish men spend a night in jail
Peter Smith | www.courier-journal.com | Sep. 13, 2011
MAYFIELD, KY. — For Jacob Gingerich, a lifelong farmer, this was a first: waking up where he couldn’t see the sunrise.
But after his first night in the Graves County Jail, Gingerich said he and seven other Amish men were standing by their decision to go to jail rather than pay fines for refusing to put bright safety triangles on their horse-drawn buggies.
They believe the law requiring the emblems on slow-moving vehicles unjustly violates their religious modesty code, which forbids using bright colors or trusting in manmade symbols for their safety.
“I feel like I’m in a place where I don’t need to be,” the 39-year-old father of 12 children said Tuesday. But “we’re going to stand up for what we believe.”
Gilbert Gottfried is a comedian who lost a lucrative gig as a”spokesduck” after making childish jokes about Japan’s recent tsunami.
Gilbert Gottfried, former spokesduck
Japan’s New Trade Minister Resigns
September 10, 2011 | DailyBeast
Did he learn nothing from Gilbert Gottfried? Japan’s trade minister Yoshio Hachiro, resigned Saturday after making a comment about the nuclear crisis that was deemed highly insensitive. While visiting the Fukushima Daiichi power plant Thursday with other government ministers, Hachiro drew criticism when he referred to the evacuation zone around the plant as “a town of death.” He later told reporters he had only meant to express his concern over the dire situation at the plant and his commitment to cleaning the area so that residents could return. His gaffe and subsequent departure does not bode well for the new government, which just took office eight days ago when Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda was sworn in.
Japan is still recovering form the horrific tsunami. This is just one reminder of the sacrifices the entire nation is having to make, though one wonders how much of an impact it will have beyond Public Relations.
Maeda Corporation Headquarters in Tokyo.
Japanese firm orders 2,700 staff to get the same ‘energy saving’ haircut… so they don’t have to spend as long blow-drying Men to have short back-and-sides and women to wear a ‘cute’ bob
By Damien Gayle | www.dailymail.co.uk | 28th August 2011
A Japanese company has ordered all 2,700 of its employees to get identical hairstyles – to help save energy.
Tokyo-based Maeda Corporation announced the move as part of a national campaign to reduce energy consumption in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March.
Men are expected to sport a short back-and-sides, slightly longer on the top, while women have been asked to wear a ‘cute’ bob with a fringe that can be swept to one side.
Chizuru Inoue, a spokesman for Maeda Corp, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘Our company is very keen on protecting the environment and we encourage our staff to adopt many environment-friendly actions,’We are not sure of the data yet, but we believe if people have short hair they do not need to use their hair driers for so long and they will use less water.
‘If all our staff do this, then it may save a lot of power.’
