Enzyte male ‘enhancer’ president guilty of fraud; faces 20 years in prison, purchasers bilked out of $100 million
March 7, 2008
Could not resist this. The AP report on the trial outcome, and the Cincinnati Enquirer piece on the company’s vice-president James Teegarden Jr.’s testimony.
“So all this is a fiction?” Judge S. Arthur Spiegel asked about some of the claims.
“That’s correct, your honor,” Teegarden said.
Bizarrely enough, the Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals site is still up, though it carries a copyright date of 2006 and they are still pitching Enzyte. Look for these links to be broken soon.
Airborne supplement scam costs makers $23.3 million
March 7, 2008
I just love it when practitioners of medical fraud get nailed, details below. Here’s a link to an excellent commentary on the whole sad affair from the Respectful Insolence blog.
The makers of Airborne–a multivitamin and herbal supplement whose labels and ads falsely claimed that the product cures and prevents colds–will refund money to consumers who bought the product, as part of a $23.3 million class action settlement agreement. The company will pay for ads in Better Homes & Gardens, Parade, People, Newsweek, and many other magazines and newspapers instructing consumers how to get refunds.
Concocted by second-grade teacher Victoria Knight McDowell and her screenwriter husband Thomas Rider McDowell, Airborne promised to “boost your immune system to help your body combat germs” and instructed users to “take it at the first sign of a cold symptom or before entering crowded, potentially germ-infested environments.” The company’s folksy “created by a school teacher!” slogan and insistence that the product be stocked with real cold, cough, and flu medicines instead of with dietary supplements, helped turn the company into an overnight success, as did an appearance by Victoria Knight McDowell on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Science is Beautiful – Mars Ice Crater
March 7, 2008
I’m a huge fan of science and technology, the only two things that have consistently improved the quality of life for everyone on our pale, blue dot.
Some find refuge in religion or New Age beliefs, complimentary and alternative medicine or fantasies of being abducted by aliens with an bizarre interest in human genitalia. But when they have a toothache they go to a modern dentist, not a Reiki healer or an aromatherapist. Even if someone swears by acupuncture and believes that being practiced for two thousand years lends it some credibility, no one I know is willing to go back to the dental practices of 2,000 years ago.
Here’s a question to ponder: MDs, Ph.Ds, astronomers, chemists, economists, physicists and academic researchers are well represented among the ranks of those who have won Nobel Prizes in their fields. Why hasn’t an acupuncturist or a naturopath or a homeopathic doctor or an herbalist ever won a Nobel Prize for their ‘contributions’ to science or medicine?
A friend who is heavily into astrology and a therapist I know who does alleged “past life regressions” both claim my skeptic, science-oriented world view devalues the mystery and beauty of life. Nonsense. There is real mystery and beauty enough in the universe without having to resort to the manufactured mysteries of frauds, con artists and miracle-mongers.
In support of this I present the following: a link to a stunning image of an ice crater on the north pole of Mars, from the the website of the University of Virginia Department of Astronomy.
I submit this is beautiful and mysterious and only science and technology could bring this view to us.
The FURminator – Over-Priced but Believe the Hype
March 5, 2008
There’s a relatively new product on the market for dealing with one the commonplaces of dog ownership – shedding hair. Of course, most people don’t brush their dogs as often as they should which would help tremendously with the problem.
The FURminator is really not a “new” concept to anyone who’s familiar with the traditional curved shedding blade. But it is an effective and ergonomic variation on the previous styles of blades and coat combs. Of course, it is hideously over-priced at $60 for the large FURminator.
However, it does work very well and if you’re only going to brush your dog once a month or so, this is the tool to use. It doesn’t cut your dog’s hair but works by pulling out the undercoat. I have to admit that it does this better than any of the shedding blades I’ve used in the past.
They claim it will reduce shedding by up to 90% (I’ll report later on my own long term experience with it). That’s like the dishwasher soap that leaves your dishes ‘virtually spotless.’ Another way of expressing the same thought is, this soap leaves some spots on your dishes.
The FURminator folks also sell shampoos and lotions that they claim work with their tool to even further reduce the amount of shedding your dogs does. I’m very skeptical of this claim. If you believe that any lotion or potion or soap or shampoo by itself will reduce shedding in a breed prone to it, you probably click on those emails for breast and penis enlargement, too.
Bottom line: it works. I got an incredible amount of hair off my two Labradors, similar to the examples shown on their website, www.furminator.com. But I think the price should be one-half of what it’s currently selling for.
You can, I believe, achieve the same results by using a $10 shedding blade once a week, as you can by using the FURminator once a month. I gotta admit they came up with a great name and a handle that looks very high-tech and is comfortable to use, too. But $60? C’mon, guys give us a break.
How Much is that Doggie in the Window?
March 4, 2008
I think most people would be shocked when they add up the expenses and the time involved in dog ownership. I find myself actively discouraging people from adopting dogs without first getting a real sense of how much time and money is involved.
Potential owners who underestimate the cost and time inevitably wind up with under-exercised, under-trained dogs who, naturally enough, exhibit behavioral problems (excessive barking, destructive chewing, inappropriate elimination habits) and then wind up abandoned or in shelters.
A recent posting on the Fosters & Smith Pet Education site details the expenses involved over the life of a 50 pound dog over 14 years in the Midwest. The low number? $4,242.00. The middle number, which I consider to be closest to the true average cost? $12,468.00. The high end number? $38,905.00.
Surprised? Then you should read the entire article, here.
These totals are pretty shocking aren’t they? And remember, this is the cost for a 50-pound dog that lives in the Midwest. It is not uncommon to see some of these numbers double or triple in places like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Dallas. Now granted most people do not end up spending $40,000 on their dog, but some spend a whole lot more. A dog with hip dysplasia or severe allergies can have significantly higher veterinary expenses and I routinely see people who spend over $2,000 on a single veterinary problem. Chances are your costs will be similar to those I incur, but even with the minimum required care, it is still over $13,000.00.
Abduzeedo.com shows how to creating smoke in PS
March 3, 2008
The Abduzeedo.com blog shows you how to create very convincing smoke effects in Photoshop. It’s a 7 step process and one that has many potential applications. It’s one of the best ‘smoke’ tutorials I’ve found on the web. Check it out and try it yourself!
“The Wonderful World of Early Photography” on Neatorama
February 25, 2008
There’s an excellent overview of the fascinating early days of photography on the Neatorama blog.
From the camera obscura to the first human portrait, the first color photograph, the first underwater photo, to the first American woman to be photographed with her eyes open (in 1839), you’re certain to learn something about the development of photography that will surprise you.
[The distinction about being the first American woman photographed with her eyes open comes about due to the early practice of funeral photography of the recently deceased.]
“In the 1880s, French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey wanted to learn how birds fly, so he invented a photographic gun, which uses a rotating glass plate to take 12 consecutive pictures per second.”
Alien Intelligence: UFOs or Dogs?
February 15, 2008
According to a poll reported in the New York Times in 2003, there are three million Americans who believe they have had some kind of encounter with an alien.
My opinion is that if Americans wanted to have an encounter with an alien intelligence they probably have one sleeping on a rug right in their own home. I submit that the family dog possesses a mind that is is at least as alien to most dog owners as any “grey” with huge black almond-shaped eyes and an unsettling tendency to probe human orifices.
My interest is to explore the canine mind and leave the extraterrestrial brain to the province of science fiction and needy fantasists.
People who claim they’ve met aliens, been aboard their space craft or given birth to alien-human hybrid babies are 1.) suffering from a delusion and 2.) have no understanding of the size of the universe.
How can I so easily dismiss the multitude of reports by millions of otherwise sane and sober folks? Let’s take a look at how big a place this universe is anyway.
Physics tells us that it is impossible to achieve speeds greater than that of light itself. The commonly used denominator light year is defined as the distance light travels in one Earth year, approximately 6 trillion miles. Let’s assume that we could actually build a ship capable of sustaining life that matches the speed of light.
Leaving Earth we pass the Moon in 1 1/2 seconds. Venus flies by us in 2 1/2 minutes. The recently down-graded Pluto would take us 5 1/2 hours. So far so good. It will now take us several months at this speed to leave behind the gravitational influence of the Sun and escape our solar system. To get to the closest star, Proxima Centauri we’ve got to travel for more than four years.
Here comes the problem. To get to the center of our own galaxy, one of billions observable by the Hubble Space Telescope, will take us 25,000 years. To get to the outer edge of the Milky Way requires 50,000 years at the speed of light. Wait, it gets worse. The closest galaxy to us is Andromeda. To get there we’d need to travel for 2.5 million years.
The farthest objects we can see with the HST would require a journey of 12 billion years. For comparison the age of the universe is currently believed to be 14.8 billion years.
So while the odds certainly favor the possibility of intelligent life out there among the stars, the distances between us and them are almost incomprehensibly vast. Which makes the thousands of reports of alien ships seen or boarded since 1947 seem highly unlikely. Instead, E.T., the greys and the rest of the intergalactic menagerie come from that universe between our ears, the human brain, than from the one we see when we gaze into the night sky.
In future posts we’ll explore the genuine mysteries and complexities of the canine mind; the alien at our feet.
Source: Hubble: the Mirror on the Universe, Robin Kerrod & Carole Stott, Firefly Books, 2007. (Above) A cluster of galaxies 2.2 billion light years from Earth. Photo from Space.com, the Best Hubble Images,
Bob Dylan – “Tangled Up in Blue” Rolling Thunder Revue 1975
February 13, 2008
It was 1966 when I first discovered Bob Dylan and for me, like so many others, his songs became the musical backdrop of my formative years. Of all the talents to come up through folk and rock in the 1960s, his work is the most likely to endure into the far future, in my opinion.
It’s impossible for me to select a single song in his vast catalog as my favorite but Tangled Up in Blue stands apart for me. That’s because I lived through many of the scenes referenced in the lyrics, after a fashion. Tangled Up in Blue is, for me, the most personal of all his great tunes for that reason.
This live version from his Rolling Thunder Revue in 1975 shifts the perspective from first person to third yet it remains one of the best renditions primarily because it is stripped down to simply Dylan, acoustic guitar and harmonica.
Tangled Up in Blue YouTube video
Note: Please ignore the comments section on this video. This applies to almost all comments and replies that have become one defining feature of Web 2.0. As the Arabic proverb goes, “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.”
Dogs in Danger.com
February 11, 2008
DogsinDanger.com is a new non-profit organization devoted to saving the millions of dogs who are running out of time in local shelters all across the country. No one group, or single approach can stem this tide of killing abandoned dogs. But this is certainly a step in the right direction.
James Serpell, author of the excellent book In the Company of Animals estimates that we euthanize less than 5% of the US canine population each year. So while the percentage is small, the absolute number is still unconscionably high.
The truth is we are doing better today than we were in the 1970s and 1980s when the estimates were around 13 million dogs killed a year. But we must drive this number down further. Dogsindanger.com is one way to do that. Check them out if you are interested in adopting a dog and saving a life.
–from their website:
WHO ARE WE
DogsInDanger.com is a nonprofit national shelter outreach program at the forefront of a grassroots movement trying to help shelters save the lives of millions of innocent dogs.
A NATIONAL TRAGEDY
We are a nation of dog lovers. Then why is it that the shelters that are expected to provide these animals with a second chance at life are instead being forced to euthanize them?
Shelters are the last line for millions of innocent dogs. The public has no idea of the magnitude of this national tragedy. The sad reality is that over four million dogs are killed each year in shelters. Why, in a country of dog lovers, are so many dogs homeless?
Because their families abandon them, for reasons like job change, divorce and new baby… and most shelters don’t have the necessary programs to get the dogs the exposure they need to find new homes. Shelters find homes for many dogs, but millions are euthanized. For far too long we have been told there is no other way.
AND A REASON FOR HOPE
DogsInDanger.com believes in the power of compassion, and that Americans would do more to help and adopt shelter dogs, if only they knew how many dogs shelters were forced to euthanize. We also believe that shelters don’t really want to euthanize dogs, if they had any other option. Simply put, we have chosen a path of technology as a means of connecting these scared, abandoned shelter dogs with the loving homes they deserve. As a nonprofit organization, we seek no other gain except for the happiness we see in the face of a dog as he faithfully walks out through the shelter doors, in perfect step with his loving new family.
It may be uncomfortable for some to see lists of names and photos of dogs scheduled to be euthanized, but, the truth is uncomfortable. By making it personal, we believe more people will be compelled to help these dogs. Thus dogsindanger.com refuses to present a sanitized version of the truth. Our ultimate goal is to see a day where healthy and treatable animals are no longer killed by their most trusted friends.
