Overindulgence in Small Packages [NYT]

RELATED:
100 Calorie Packs Are Still A Scam, Cost More For Less Food
Like Those 100 Calorie Packs? You're Paying Twice As Much

Reader Michael says:

Last week, I found that kitty's favorite food vanished from Petsmart. So I went to Petco, where the Super shrink ray scored a critical hit. The big bag of Science Diet Nature's Best cat food shed 31% of its weight, going from 17.5 lbs to 12 lbs. If you look closely at the picture, you'll see that the "Low price!" tag is kind enough to point this out. Although the old price may have been clearance and the new UPC was different, the price check said $35.99.

It's also now "Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner" instead of merely "Chicken and Rice". Surprisingly, the ingredients might qualify as legitimately new and improved: "chicken" (a lot closer to what you'd think it is than the unpleasant but cheaper "chicken by-product meal") has been bumped up in the ingredient list from #7 to #1, for example.

Anyway, it was a sad ending here for Science Diet. Before, Nature's Best was merely high-priced food. Now it's now the most expensive food in the store.

Reader Amy contacted the company and here's the response they sent:

Hill's Pet Nutrition, Inc.

Ms. Amy xx
xxx
xxx

Dear Ms. xxx:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Hill's® is a significant purchaser of quality ingredients used in the production of our pet foods. In the last several months, the cost of these ingredients has substantially increased. We are passing along a portion of these increases in the form of a product price increase.

Hill's® has always maintained the highest quality pet food and manufacturing processes, and will continue to do so. This quality is reflected in the superior nutritional benefits we provide pets, at cost of just pennies more per day than grocery brands.

We can certainly understand your concern, as we have personally been impacted by rising costs of essential items like gas or food. However, Hill's® is unwilling to compromise our high quality standards by using less costly, lower quality ingredients or manufacturing methods.

Comments from our consumers are one of the most important sources we have for measuring the quality and acceptance of our products and the services we provide. If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to call our Consumer Affairs Department toll free at 1-800-445-5777, 8AM-5PM CST, Monday-Friday, or visit HillsPet.com.

Sincerely,

Jama Einfalt
Dietary Management Consultant
Consumer Affairs

If you've seen the "Bodies" exhibit at the South Street Seaport in New York City, you're entitled to a refund (click here for info) according to a new agreement between New York's Attorney General's office and Premier Exhibitions, Inc. When "Bodies" first opened here over two years ago, some opponents questioned whether the Chinese cadavers were legally obtained—or whether they were Chinese political prisoners who hadn't consented to being plastinated, flayed, and displayed by a private for-profit company. At the time, Premier Exhibitions' president said all the bodies were documented: "Although he said he was not allowed to keep copies of documents, officials at Dalian University in northern China showed him papers attesting to the origin of the remains," wrote the New York Times in 2005. Then ABC's news show "20/20" aired an investigative report this past February that showed otherwise.

From ABC News:

Premier Exhibitions says that the "unclaimed" bodies on display were legally obtained from Dalian Medical University.

ABC News' "20/20" reported earlier this year that the bodies did not come from the university but instead from a private, for-profit lab about 30 miles away. "20/20" interviewed someone who said he was a former participant in the black market, in which, he said, bodies were sold to that lab for $200 to $300 each. Dalian Medical University told ABC News that it severed its ties to the plastination lab several years ago.

Premier's former CEO Arnie Geller, who is still on the company's Board of Directors disputed the allegations on "20/20." He said that his suppliers assured him that "these are all legitimate, unclaimed bodies that have gone through Dalian Medical University."

"20/20" also reported that the inventor of plastination, Dr. Gunther von Hagens (who has touring body shows that are not related to Premier Exhibitions or their exhibits), claimed he stopped using Chinese-sourced bodies entirely because of his suspicions that they were unethically obtained:

Von Hagens says he had to cremate several bodies he received in China after detecting injuries that led him to suspect they had been executed prisoners. He says those bodies were given to him by a medical school in China to plastinate for teaching models. He said he only used Chinese bodies, all of which he received from the Chinese university, for teaching models, but has never put Chinese bodies on public display.

"There is now no way for me any more to work with specimens in China," said von Hagens, who says his company in China now only deals with animal specimens.

Oddly, there are no customs restrictions in the U.S. with plastinated corpses at the present, writes ABC News:

U.S. Customs has said that since the plastination process changes the nature of the human remains, plastinated body parts can be imported as plastic objects, not as human bodies.

This is why 21 members of Congress have sponsored a bill that would prohibit the importation of plastinated cadavers entirely.

WNYC reports that as part of the agreement, Premier Exhibitions will have to post a warning now that some of the bodies may be those of executed Chinese prisoners, which we imagine would put a damper on any future visits.

We can't find any details yet on how to request the refund, so if someone finds out, please send us a tip. Thanks to Brian and Melt for the refund contact info!

"'Bodies' exhibit avoids a stiff penalty" [Daily News] (Thanks to Alex!)

RELATED
"Cadaver Exhibition Raises Questions Beyond Taste" [New York Times]
"Exclusive: Secret Trade in Chinese Bodies" [ABC News]
"Lawmakers Call for Crackdown on Bodies Exhibits" [ABC News]
H.R. 5677 [GovTrack.us]
"State Reaches Settlement with Bodies Exhibit" [WNYC.org]
(Photo: jemsweb)

Our favorite polling question takes aim at people who support mandatory binding arbitration, but don't quite know what they're supporting:

A majority of those who were initially supportive or unsure of binding arbitration disapprove of arbitration when important information is given about common provisions in consumer contracts. With added information, Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of binding arbitration.

Big shift among binding arbitration supporters. Those who said they approve of, or were not sure about binding arbitration were presented the three following facts:

1. The arbitrator who decides the outcome of the dispute will be selected by the company
2. The consumer may never take legal action against the company over the dispute
3. Binding arbitration applies even in cases where the consumer has been seriously injured by the product or service

When presented with this information, two in three (66%) disapprove of binding arbitration and only one in five (21%) approve. Among those who initially said they were unsure, disapproval is very high (64% disapprove, 6% approve). Disapproval is high even among those who initially approved of arbitration (67% disapprove, 28% approve).

After learning the specifics of contract provisions, Americans overwhelmingly are against binding arbitration. When initial and final disapproval ratings are combined, binding arbitration loses by more than eight to one (81% initial/final disapproval, 10% final approval).

Congress may be unable to do anything about our unpopular President, but 64% of us want them to get off their asses and pass the Arbitration Fairness Act. When they return tomorrow, rested from their holiday break, give 'em a call and tell them to channel our collective hatred of mandatory binding arbitration into action.

New Poll: Americans Say "No Thanks" To Binding Arbitration [Consumer Law & Policy Blog]
Write Your Senator
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PREVIOUSLY: How To Write To Congress

(Photo: Getty)

Here's the gist of her argument:

I'm reasonably sure that many people do not make the same purchases when they pay with plastic. This isn't just a feeling or anecdotal evidence. Researchers have found that people's willingness to purchase more products or services increases with the use of plastic.

In their groundbreaking research, Drazen Prelec and Duncan Simester of the Sloan School of Management at MIT found that study subjects paid more when instructed to use a credit card rather than cash. In fact, they found people were willing to pay up to 100 percent more with plastic.

Credit cards empower us to spend more on the same junk we would normally buy with cash. According to science, this has many causes:

• The delayed payment makes us treat credit differently from cash.
• Charging several items to a card doesn't help you identify overspending on any single item.
• Forking out cash provides a strong visual clue that your wallet is getting lighter.

Singletary ultimately argues that credit may be fine, so long as you realize that it may exacerbate spending. She challenges all non-believers to put down their cards for a month and pay only with cash, and then compare their spending to previous months.

What do you think?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Like it or not, it's unwise to use credit [Seattle PI]
(Photo: Getty)

"Hi welcome to McDonald's! Don't buy the such-and-such it's a waste of money. Just order the cheaper burger with lettuce and sauce."

"Did you know that salad has more calories than a Jr. Whopper?"

The possibilities are endless.

Note: Although it is extremely interesting and funny..please, please, please don't actually do this. Just watch the video and learn about science. People who work fast food jobs have enough to deal with. They are people, too.
(Thanks, Brad!)

The study was conducted by Prof. Paul L. Dawson, a food microbiologist, who decided to experiment with "double dipping" after watching a Seinfeld re-run in which a character named "Timmy" objects to George's dubious dipping habits.

Professor Dawson told the New York Times that he expected "little or no microbial transfer" as a result of double dipping.

He was wrong.

Double dippers are just as gross as you've always suspected:

The team of nine students instructed volunteers to take a bite of a wheat cracker and dip the cracker for three seconds into about a tablespoon of a test dip. They then repeated the process with new crackers, for a total of either three or six double dips per dip sample. The team then analyzed the remaining dip and counted the number of aerobic bacteria in it. They didn't determine whether any of the bacteria were harmful, and didn't count anaerobic bacteria, which are harder to culture, or viruses.

There were six test dips: sterile water with three different degrees of acidity, a commercial salsa, a cheese dip and chocolate syrup.

On average, the students found that three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater's mouth to the remaining dip.

Each cracker picked up between one and two grams of dip. That means that sporadic double dipping in a cup of dip would transfer at least 50 to 100 bacteria from one mouth to another with every bite.

Dip Once or Dip Twice? [NYT via WSJ Health Blog]

"We're filling that black box of uncertainty — 'Has my pizza been forgotten?' — with information and entertainment," says Chris McGlothlin, technology chief at Domino's.

The system goes up Wednesday at 3,400 Domino's outlets and will be in all stores by June 30, he says. It even gives folks the first names of the workers who take their phone order and deliver their pizza — and asks customers to rate them.

Any customer comments about inappropriate behavior by order takers or delivery staff will be investigated, spokesman Tim McIntyre says.

Pizza Tracker
Where's your Domino's pizza? Track it online [USAToday]

For now, companies are offering genotyping—"the strategic scanning of your DNA for several hundred thousand of the telltale variations that make one human different from the next." It will take a few more years before anyone can offer (or afford) to sequence all 6 billion points of a person's genetic code, but in the meantime, genotyping can provide a lot of the kind of health-related information many people would love to know.

So what's involved, other than $1,000?

A lot of spit, as it turns out. It takes about 10 minutes of slavering to fill the 2.5-milliliter vial that comes in the fancy lime box provided by 23andMe. Wrap it up, call FedEx, and two to four weeks later you get an email inviting you to log in and review your results. There are three main sections to the Web site: Genome Labs, where users can navigate through the raw catalog of their 23 pairs of chromosomes; Gene Journals, where the company correlates your genome with current research on a dozen or so diseases and conditions, from type 2 diabetes to Crohn's disease; and Ancestry, where customers can reach back through their DNA and discover their lineage, as well as explore their relationships with ethnic groups around the world. Family members can share profiles, trace the origin of particular traits, and compare one cousin's genome to another in a fascinating display of DNA networking.

One of the big problems with HIPAA, they say, is it has increased the paperwork and legalese required to collect data, but done little to actually help protect patients: "The consent forms have become so long with the addition of HIPAA that subjects may not be understanding what they are agreeing to."

Some databases are leaving out data that doesn't meet HIPAA compliance, while some institutions are not even collecting certain types of potentially useful data because of HIPAA rules. This summer, the Institute of Medicine will make recommendations for "how to reduce the burden of HIPAA compliance on public health research."

"Too much privacy? U.S. law makes research harder" [Reuters]
(Photo: Getty)

Viacom Branding used neuromarketing to test ads in episodes of South Park in Great Britain and Ireland, in what sounds like a bizarre focus group experience: "The two dozen subjects each spent an hour inside an fMRI scanner watching four programs while their brain activity was measured." However, the results—that ads that are "congruent" with the programming, like alcohol-based drinks, outperform "incongruent" ads for things like the Red Cross and Tetley tea—seem to be no-brainers. But an executive says that the results make it clear that even more attention should be paid to the context of an ad.

Another project used EEGs and eye-tracking programs to measure responses to ads placed in virtual walk-abouts of famous cities. They found that "saturation campaigns produce diminishing returns."

So far, neuromarketing has been confined primarily to Europe and kept largely under the radar in order to avoid what could be negative public reaction. But a creepy Stanford University experiment earlier this year showed that we can actually predict what test-subjects will buy based on past purchases and brain scans, and we can't imagine American ad agencies or companies wanting to miss the chance to sell more things, faster—without consumers knowing exactly why the ads work so well.

"This Is Your Brain on Advertising" [BusinessWeek]

When the Finnish investigators looked at the results of the dozen best-constructed experimental trials that addressed weight maintenance—that is, successful dieters who were trying to keep off the pounds they had shed—they found that everyone regains weight. And depending on the type of trial, exercise would either decrease the rate of that gain (by 3.2 ounces per month) or increase its rate (by 1.8 ounces).

The one thing that might be said about exercise with certainty is that it tends to makes us hungry. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. Burn more calories and the odds are very good that we'll consume more as well. And this simple fact alone might explain both the scientific evidence and a nation's worth of sorely disappointing anecdotal experience.

In the US, the Nintendo "brain training" games are presented as a sort of anti-aging tonic for the 30+ set that grew up on Atari and NES, but in Japan, "brain training" is an entire industry that's been around for years. Most of the scientific studies either for or against the concept, however, have been poorly structured and unverifiable—which makes it a prime marketing opportunity for any population hell-bent on self-improvement. Says Hirano, "In any bookstore, there always is a section for brain books, [and] adult consumers keep devouring such games. Dentsu, the biggest advertising agency announced the No.1 Consumer-chosen Choice of the Product 2006 was game software and books for brain training."

But despite the criticism that the currently popular games don't do much, Sharpbrains insists that the concept as a whole is valid, even if current implementations are not. A study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that "reasoning training" helped stave off a decline in brain functions in older brains, and "cognitive training" improved performance in the area being trained for approximately five years after the training occurred. It may be a while, though, before any sound medical proof arrives that your "old person video game" is doing anything more than helping you while away the days until senescence.

"Brain Training and 'Brain-ism' in Japan" [SharpBrains]
"11 Neuroscientists Debunk a Common Myth About Brain Training" [SharpBrains]

RELATED
"Long-term Effects of Cognitive Training on Everyday Functional Outcomes in Older Adults" [JAMA]

The Cell Phone Empowerment Act of 2007 would improve the lives of cellphone users by attacking a smorgasbord of the industry's most eggregious practices:

• Early Termination Fees: FCC regulations would require companies to prorate ETFs, with the penalty for escaping a 2-year contract cut in half at the end of the first year.
• Service Maps: Cellphone companies would be required to provide detailed maps showing call quality down to the street level. The maps would be augmented by data on dropped calls and coverage gaps collected and publicized by the FCC.
• Fee Disclosure: Overage charges would be displayed separately from taxes, and companies would be prohibited from levying any fees, apart from the basic service charge, not expressly authorized by federal, state, or local regulation.
• Contract Disclosure: Depriving us of a source of many posts, companies would be prohibited from extending contracts without "point-of-sale notification," and customers would have 30 days to cancel any contract, new or extended. Any contract changes would need to be sent to consumers in writing, and could not take affect for 30 days.
• Unlocked Phones: The bill would give the FCC a homework assignment: a single-spaced report to Congress on the harmful and anti-competitive practice of locking handsets.
• Military Exemptions: Companies would be required to release military members awaiting deployment from their contracts.
• This bill is amazing. Seriously, we like this bill so much, were it not for those pesky Capitol police irradiating everything, we would send the Senators a fruit basket.

  Both Senators are members of the powerful Senate Commerce Committee. They have asked Chairman Inouye (D-HI) to schedule a hearing on the bill, which he should do without delay.

  Klobuchar and Rockefeller Announce Cell Phone Consumer Empowerment Act of 2007 (Press Release) [Senator Amy Klobuchar]
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  (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
  

What's the point of chemically induced party sex if it's just gonna lead to willful monogamy? And if it turns out to have the same effect in humans, can Pfizer be found legally responsible for failed marriages that were initiated by drug-induced false love? Are these even scientifically literate questions? No, they are not. On a more serious note, however, it may indicate that drugs like Viagra could be used for other purposes—the article suggests "to promote social bonding," but that sounds eerily like one of those sci-fi movies where the water supply has been laced with tranquilizers to make us all docile. (Aroused, but docile.)

We can't tell if Professor Meyer Jackson, who led the study, was being sarcastic or not when he gave the following quote: "I hope that this doesn't cause some wild orgy of inappropriate recreational use."

"Viagra boosts feel-good 'love' hormone: study" [Reuters via Slate]

(Photo: Getty)

Or are you wondering if people really do take baths together in matching claw-foot tubs perched on the edge of a cliff at sunset? (Do they? If so, we've been missing out.)

The FDA would like to know if the full message is getting through, so they're planning a study to see if all the pretty pictures are getting in the way of the warnings about side-effects.

We're assuming that sending the FDA an email that says "Well, Duh" isn't sufficient, so we'll just have to wait and see what they find.

The Pictures Are Happy, the Words Are a Bummer [WSJ Health Blog]

The pill uses the same hormones as traditional birth control pills, but does not include the placebos that "fake" a period every month. (The bleeding one experiences from taking placebos is not, in fact, a menstrual period. It is just bleeding caused by withdrawal from hormones.)

Nevertheless, some women like their faux periods, according to the Houston Chronicle:

"That scares me," said Melinda Perez, 35, of League City. "It plays too much with the way your body naturally needs to work."
...
"Not that I always enjoy my cycles, but I wouldn't want to get rid of it," said Kiara Ward, 17, of northeast Houston. "It's there for a purpose."

But gynecologists say that's not necessarily true. Women are designed to be pregnant or nursing, which causes menstruation to cease, during their child-bearing years, said Dr. Patricia Sulak, a professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. Instead, because of the availability of contraception and women's modern roles in society, they're having periods every month, year after year.

"Women are having too many periods today," said Sulak, who specializes in menstruation suppression.

New pill is a true test of women's love-hate relationship with periods [Houston Chronicle]
(Photo:Steve Campbell: Chronicle)

PREVIOUSLY: FDA Approves Birth Control That Eliminates Periods

From the bill:

SEC. 4. STUDY ON ADDITIONAL BROADBAND METRICS AND STANDARDS.
(a) IN GENERAL- The Comptroller General shall conduct a study to consider and evaluate additional broadband metrics or standards that may be used by industry and the Federal Government to provide users with more accurate information about the cost and capability of their broadband connection, and to better compare the deployment and penetration of broadband in the United States with other countries. At a minimum, such study shall consider potential standards or metrics that may be used—

(1) to calculate the average price per megabyte of broadband offerings;

(2) to reflect the average actual speed of broadband offerings compared to advertised potential speeds;

(3) to compare the availability and quality of broadband offerings in the United States with the availability and quality of broadband offerings in other industrialized nations, including countries that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; and

(4) to distinguish between complementary and substitutable broadband offerings in evaluating deployment and penetration.

Broadband Data Improvement Act clears Senate Commerce Committee [Ars Technica]
Commerce Committee Approves Inouye Broadband Data Collection Bill (Press Release) Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
S.1492 - Broadband Data Improvement Act [THOMAS]
Write Your Senator
Write Your Representative
(Photo: SHEARSHEAR)

Sec. 41781. AIRLINE CONTINGENCY SERVICE REQUIREMENTS.
(1) PROVISION OF FOOD AND WATER- In any case in which departure of a flight of an air carrier is substantially delayed, such air carrier shall provide—
(A) adequate food and potable water to passengers on such flight during such delay; and
(B) adequate restroom facilities to passengers on such flight during such delay.
(2) Right to deplane-
(A) IN GENERAL- An air carrier shall develop a plan, that incorporates medical considerations, to ensure that passengers are provided a clear timeframe under which they will be permitted to deplane a delayed aircraft. The air carrier shall provide a copy of the plan to the Secretary of Transportation, who shall make the plan available to the public. In the absence of such a plan, except as provided in subparagraph (B), if more than 3 hours after passengers have boarded an air carrier and the air carrier doors are closed, the air carrier has not departed, the air carrier shall provide passengers with the option to deplane safely before the departure of such air carrier. Such option shall be provided to passengers not less often than once during each 3-hour period that the plane remains on the ground.

Sec. 42301. Emergency contingency plans
(c) Air Carrier Plans-
(2) CONTENTS- An emergency contingency plan submitted by an air carrier for an airport under subsection (a) shall contain a description of how the air carrier will—
(A) provide food, water, restroom facilities, cabin ventilation, and access to medical treatment for passengers onboard an aircraft at the airport that is on the ground for an extended period of time without access to the terminal; and
(B) share facilities and make gates available at the airport in an emergency.

Fliers' bill of rights moves ahead [USA Today]
S. 1300 - Aviation Investment and Modernization Act of 2007 [THOMAS]
H.R. 2881 - FAA Reauthorization Act of 2007 [THOMAS]
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Write Your Representative

These findings also confirm recent European research, which showed that organic tomatoes, peaches and processed apples all have higher nutritional quality than non-organic

They found that on average they were 79% and 97% higher respectively in the organic tomatoes than in the conventionally grown fruit.

New Scientist magazine reported that the different levels of flavonoids in tomatoes are probably due to the absence of fertilisers in organic farming.

Flavonoids are produced as a defence mechanism that can be triggered by nutrient deficiency, such as a lack of nitrogen in the soil.

The inorganic nitrogen in conventional fertiliser is easily available to plants and so, the researchers suggests, the lower levels of flavonoids are probably caused by over-fertilisation.

Organic food 'better' for heart [BBC]
(Photo: Vertigogen)

"Caller ID provides critical information to those who rely on it. However when this technology is used to deceive people it can endanger personal privacy and safety. This bill will help strengthen the ability of the FCC and states to combat these nefarious practices."

Caller ID spoofing about to be outlawed [Ars Technica]
S. 704 - Truth in Caller ID Act of 2007 [THOMAS]
H.R. 251 [THOMAS]
Write Your Senator
(Photo: Lazy_Lightning)

Now, we're not sure to what extent the magazines are responsible for this company's actions, but the story is always the same. You cancel your subscription to a magazine or "free trial", then, magically you get an official-looking letter from NCAC that tries to scare you into renewing your subscription by citing the THE FAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES ACT and OTHER SCARY LANGUAGE.

National Credit Audit Corporation is owned by Choicepoint, and the complaints on the internet are all pretty much the same as the one Brian just sent us. People sign up for trial subscriptions to magazines, then are sent the scary collection notices. If you get one of these letters we suggest reporting the company to your local attorney general.

Brian writes:

Ben, Meghann, and Carey:

I thought I'd share a story about my experience with Popular Science Magazine and their parent company, Bonnier Corp's , efforts to renew the subscription I let expire by sending me a bogus debt collection letter.

About a year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to subscribe to Popular Science Magazine for $0.01. I never would have paid to subscribe to their magazine, but since it was basically free, I thought I 'd give them a shot. Their subscription card indicated that the subscription would automatically renew . Being clever, I crossed that sect ion out, initialed it, wrote in " DO NOT RENEW", and taped a penny to the card (so they wouldn't have my credit card or checking account information), and mailed it off. Honestly, I didn' t think that they'd accept it , but issues starting arriving a few weeks later.

Well, the magazine turned out to be about as boring as I thought it would be, so after a year of tossing issues into trash as they arrived, I let the subscription expire. They sent me the typical renewal requests with "Urgent" and "Time Sensitive Materials Enclosed Act Now !!" splashed across them, but I wasn 't interested.

Fast forward to today when I receive what appears to be a debt collection notice from a company called National Credit Audit Corporation (8512 Allen Rd, Peoria, IL 61615).

The letter implies that Popular Science engaged them because I " placed an order" for their magazine (which I never did), but failed to pay the $15.94 subscription fee . It then goes on to state that the matter can be easily resolved if I simply send them a check. It then goes on to say that, upon receipt of payment, the publisher will reinstate my subscription.

Near the bottom of the letter, there 's a full paragraph of very official-looking language that references the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, disputing the "debt " within 30 days etc. I can scan and send you a copy of the letter if you' d like.

I called the long distance number listed on the letter for NCAC and listened to the prompts. Their menu system lists a number of prompts, one of which was "If chose to accept a free offer and do not wish to continue the subscription ..." After entering the 19 digit code from their letter, I was told that my subscription would be canceled and that I should disregard any future mailings.

So, they're trying to retain me as a customer by sending renewal offers disguised as bogus debt collection notices from a so-called debt collection agency? I' ve heard of some shitty customer service, but this takes the cake!

I then called Popular Sciences' customer service line, and after speaking with one of their agents for several minutes, was told that this is a common practice to try to get past subscribers to renew their subscriptions and she went out of her way to assure me my subscription would be canceled and that they were not really going to send it to a collection agency.

This smells like fraud to me. I tried calling Popular Sciences' corporate offices at 212-779-5297, but had to leave a message. I don 't expect that I' ll hear back from anyone. I'm therefore submitting this story to you, contacting the Kansas Attorney General's Office and am calling my local sensationalist news channel's "Problem Solvers" team to expose this company's attempt to prey on its customers.

How many consumers would fall for this scare tactic, thinking that f or the small sum of $15.94, they can resolve this "debt" without it impacting their credit rating? How many consumers are already receiving legitimate collection notices and would pay this to have it resolved? How many elderly or otherwise impaired individuals would simply pay this because it says they owe it? This is predatory, pure an d simple, and it needs to be stopped .

To Popular Science: This, you blithering idiots , is why the internet is eating your lunch!

Brian

Overland Park, KS

Choicepoint [Wikipedia]
National Credit Audit Corporation [Complaints.com]
National Credit Audit Corporation Re: Golf Magazine [Ripoff Report]

If your goal were to spend more time with your family, what would you buy? A set of lawn darts or a time-saving new appliance? If you voted lawn darts, you are a "promotion-focused" consumer. If the appliance, a "prevention-focused" consumer. According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research by Mehdi Mourali, Ulf B ckenholt, and Michel Laroche, your focus could help advertisers market to you.

Promotion-focused consumers tend to have more positive outlooks and appreciate connections between products and advertising with more disparate elements, while prevention-focused consumers respond better to unambiguous, "buy this and free up time to spend with your kids" advertising.

In other words, this will help advertisers sucker you into buying more stuff. — SAM GLOVER

From The New York Times:

Professor Dawson and colleagues then placed test food slices onto salmonella-painted surfaces for varying lengths of time, and counted how many live bacteria were transferred to the food.

On surfaces that had been contaminated eight hours earlier, slices of bologna and bread left for five seconds took up from 150 to 8,000 bacteria. Left for a full minute, slices collected about 10 times more than that from the tile and carpet, though a lower number from the wood.

What do these numbers tell us about the five-second rule? Quick retrieval does mean fewer bacteria, but it's no guarantee of safety

As far as we know, that was already the rule. But hey, a slice of lunch meat saved is a slice of lunch meat earned. —MEGHANN MARCO
(Photo: ninjapoodles)

For the first time, the USDA has granted preliminary approval for large-scale planting of an engineered food crop that contains human genes.

The rice from California-based "pharming" firm Ventria Bioscience was designed to synthesize a human immune protein. The crop will soon be cultivated on 3,000 acres of land in Kansas, if the USDA finalizes its approval after a public comment period that ends March 30.

Science! —MEGHANN MARCO

Rice Containing Human Genes Approved By USDA [BoingBoing]
(Photo:megabn)

Happy Meal Bad Science [Flickr via Boing Boing]

When a shopper sees something they want to buy, the nucleus accumbens is activated, which feels good, and so the shopper tends to buy. When the price is too high, the insula turns on and the good times are over. This explains why people prefer to "pay later" with credit, or otherwise eliminate or downplay the activity caused by the insula. This doesn't work for us, so we assume that either our nucleus accubens is broken, or our insula is hyperactive, making us a tightwad. Neat. Which one are you?—MEGHANN MARCO

The Voices in My Head Say 'Buy It!' Why Argue? [New York Times]

PREVIOUSLY: Brain Scans Predict If You'll Buy Something

Brain scans predict shoppers' purchasing choices [Yahoo! via BoingBoing]

"All of the studies indicate that the composition of meat and milk from clones is within the compositional ranges of meat and milk consumed in the U.S.," the FDA scientists concluded in a report published in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Theriogenology." Farmers have cloned animals for meat and milk, but voluntarily kept them off the shelves. —MEGHANN MARCO

FDA expected to OK cloned products [Seattle Times]

[Science Blog via The Transcendental Wildcard]

According to a study conducted at Standford university, researchers discovered that about six percent of both women and men were compulsive shoppers and binge shopped until they suffered financial hardship or kneecaps broken by diamond-toothed loan sharks.

I'm guessing that women largely binge shop for shoes, tampons and post-its to passive-aggresively stick on the rim of a raised toilet-seat. Men? Urinal cakes shaped like footballs and hard core pornography, nautrally.

Men As Likely As Women to Be Binge Shoppers [ABC News]

We'll make a ladder of all the submissions and vote. It will be like our Worst Company in America contest, except nice.

Which companies get it? Which companies make customer service a reality instead of just a buzzword on the employee manual?

In addition to universal acclaim, winners shall receive Science Award certificates. With stakes that high, competition is gonna be fierce.

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The FDA should have very strict labeling and testing protocols for foods containing genetically modified crops because of allergies.

What a fine criticism! Of course, it stands to reason that, hypothetically speaking, tomatoes spliced with peanut genes should be well labeled and tested. And a quick look on Wikipedia shows that G.M. foods that induce allergies have well been created. Awesome!

Of course, after expressing a pragmatic, common sense opposition to the FDA's current approach to G.M. foods, Kate over at A.H. then goes on to ruin my buzz by claiming that genetically modified foods could destroy the planet. Hey, just like technology if Skynet ever went sentient!

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Consumer group sues FDA over biotech foods [Accidental Hedonist]

Study: Chocolate may boost brain power [CNN]

We talked a bit before about the crackdown on kids' chemistry sets because they can technically be used to make explosives in addition to papier mache volcanos. Now Wired's looked at the problem when authorities looking for terrorist cells and drug labs start trying to criminalize DIY science.

It should be obvious just how ludicrous all of this is, but unfortunately, it's hard to be surprised these days' by America's clamp down on personal freedoms by pandering to an emerging culture of paranoia. But in case you don't want to go to the link and marvel in the absurdity, this quote says it all: "But they marvel a little too much. Taking chemicals and lab equipment away from kids who love science is like taking crayons and paints away from a kid who may grow up to be an artist."

Don't Try This At Home [Wired]