Company recalls 129,000 pounds of beef

According to various news websites including yahoo, AP, and others, a meat company in Kalamazoo, Mich. is recalling the beef due to ecoli contamination. Davis Creek Meats and Seafood were the manufacturers of the product for Gordon Food Service stores.

Products which were made between April 30th and May 1st were shipped to the following states: Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

The items in question are boxes of mechanically tenderized steaks and ground beef of different weights and each has the label "Est. 1947A" on it.

For more on this go here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BEEF_RECALL?SITE=NCKIN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

India must resist China pressure on tiger ban

Ok, anyone who has been reading my blog for some time now knows that I adore Tigers. My favorite of which is the white tigers and it really saddens me to think that there are truely a limited number of these awesome creatures left in this world. I for one have been lucky enough to have been able to see one of these creatures in person (at a zoo mind you but in person none the less) and their beauty and power is simply amazing to behold. I would love to see the numbers in these creatures incrase as opposed to decrease. Anyway, enough of my ranting here is the story from www.news.yahoo.com :

India must not support a Chinese campaign to lift a ban on trading tiger parts as any relaxation could wipe out the endangered cats, conservation group WWF-India said on Wednesday. The call came a day after a Chinese delegation met Indian officials seeking support to lift the ban, imposed in 1993 on the sale of tiger bones in China for use in traditional medicines as well as skins. "At a time when the tiger is already facing threats like habitat loss and poaching, China's move to lift the ban will only compound the problem further," Sujoy Banerjee from WWF-India's Species Conservation Programme told a news conference.

"The Indian government should take a strong stance on this issue in the interest of tiger conservation in India, which has the world's largest population of tigers in the wild." "Breeding a tiger costs $1,500 per year, but poaching a tiger costs just $40. If the trade becomes legal, which is more profitable -- poaching or breeding?" said wildlife biologist A.J.T. Johnsingh.

For more go to www.yahoo.com news section.

Man charged with stealing $250,000 worth of Skittles

Now I like these candies as much as the next person but this is a little extreme. Here's the report from www.cnn.com :

A man caught removing tires from a truck has been charged with stealing the tractor-trailer containing $250,000 worth of Skittles, police said.

Seven pallets of the 28 in the truck are still missing, authorities said. Alan Chavez, 22, has been charged with first-degree felony theft. It was unclear Monday whether he had a lawyer.

Chavez said he had paid someone else $500 for the truck's rims and tires, police said. The truck has an estimated value of $85,000, and the trailer's value is $30,000.

For more on this story go to: www.cnn.com

Most-wanted part of $2M estate: the dog

In Memphis, Tenn. A man who didn't have a will left a $2 million estate, but the most hotly contested item in court has been his golden retriever, Alex. The four-way dispute over the 13-year-old pet was so intense, an attorney was appointed to represent the dog's interest. On Monday, the judge decided the man's divorced parents should split custody, The Commercial Appeal reported.

"At first glance, the petition seems almost frivolous, but after speaking with all parties, it is evident that this is a highly emotional issue for all involved," said Alex's attorney, Paul Royal, in his report to the probate court. Ron Callan Jr., 35, committed suicide on New Year's Day. He had been a partner with his father in Callan Salvage & Appraisal Co., and the father was named the estate's administrator.

In the consent order the judge approved, the elder Callan and his ex-wife, Esther Snow Gnall, will trade custody of Alex every two weeks. Both parents also agreed to take the dog to the veterinarian for arthritis treatments and any other needed procedures. Before the agreement was reached, the elder Callan had custody and took Alex to work during the day. The father has cats at home, though, so at night, the dog stayed with Callan Jr.'s former girlfriend, who had known Alex since he was a puppy. The son's fiancee also was interested in Alex, and Gnall had said if she won custody, she would allow the fiancee to spend time with the dog.

Royal, the dog's attorney, said he believes all four people love Alex and would take good care of him, but they were using the fight for the dog to punish each other for past transgressions.
"This case is similar to a bitter custody battle involving children where each party loves the children, but the kids are stuck between two people who cannot coexist," the attorney said in his report.

For more on this story go to http://news.yahoo.com/

Lilly gets U.S. approval for Prozac for pooches

As someone who has two CRAZY poodles who suffer from separation anxiety time to time when left alone at the house when I have to leave them there, this article that I found on could very well be a blessing. However, I doubt that even my precious poodles would take to the treatment. I'm often reminded of Happy Bunny when I look at my two little poodles. "Cute But Psycho...Things Even Out!"

Man's best friend may have a new best friend after Eli Lilly and Co. won U.S. approval to sell its former blockbuster antidepressant Prozac to treat misbehaving mutts. The drug, repackaged into a chewable, beef-flavoured tablet to be called Reconcile, was officially approved by the Food And Drug Administration for the treatment of separation anxiety in dogs in conjunction with behaviour modification training.

"Lilly research shows that 10.7 million, or up to 17 percent of U.S. dogs suffer from separation anxiety," Steve Connell, manager of technical, academic and consumer services for companion animal health at Lilly, said in a statement. Canine separation anxiety can occur when dogs are left alone and manifests itself in a range of undesirable behaviours, such as destruction, excess barking, eating disorders or urinating or defecating in the house. The drug, known chemically as fluoxetine hydrochloride, can minimise a pet's distress from being left alone.

For more on this please visit
http://www.reuters.com/article/health-SP/idUSN2538704320070426

Grandma finds condom in McDonald's bag

A grandmother was alarmed to find a condom in a happy meal gift pack bought for her 7-year-old granddaughter at a McDonald's restaurant in New Zealand, local media reported Thursday.

The condom was discovered Tuesday night in a bag that came with Maia Whitaker's meal, which her grandparents bought at a McDonald's outlet in the city of Wellington. Grandpa Rowan Hutch told The Dominion Post newspaper it was lucky his wife was first to look inside the small sports bag that came with the meal. She was aghast when she found the green condom and its packet inside the bag, he said.

"I was pretty horrified really. The fact my granddaughter was going to look in the bag and find this thing. It would be difficult to explain, she's only seven," said Hutch. The outlet quickly swapped the happy meal for a hamburger and pencil case. McDonald's is investigating the find.
Spokeswoman Joanna Redfern-Hardisty said because of its popularity, the previous happy meal gift had sold out at the outlet and prepackaged sports bags were substituted as children's gifts.
One was left unsealed for display purposes and "somehow" had ended up with the customer, she said, without explaining why the condom was present.

http://news.yahoo.com

Fruity cocktails count as health food, study finds

A fruity cocktail may not only be fun to drink but may count as health food, U.S. and Thai researchers said on Thursday.

Adding ethanol -- the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits -- boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries, the researchers found.
Any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol, they report in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Berries, for instance, contain compounds known as polyphenols and anthocyanins. People who eat more of these fruits and vegetables have a documented lower risk of cancer, heart disease and some neurological diseases. The study did not address whether adding a little cocktail umbrella enhanced the effects.
www.yahoo.com news section.

Man brings donkey to testify in court

Faced with complaints that his donkey was too loud, attorney Gregory Shamoun decided to bring his case directly to the court: He had the donkey testify.

Buddy the donkey appeared in court Wednesday. He walked to the bench and stared at the jury, the picture of a gentle, well-mannered creature and not the loud, aggressive animal he had been accused of being.

Shamoun was in a dispute with oilman John Cantrell, who had complained to the city about a storage shed Shamoun was building in his backyard in Dallas. Cantrell said Shamoun retaliated by bringing the donkey from his ranch and putting him in the backyard.
Cantrell complained of donkey noise and manure piles.

"They bray a lot any time day or night. You never know when they're going to cut loose," he testified.

Despite the donkey's appearance, neither jurors or Buddy had the last say — the neighbors settled their dispute while jurors deliberated.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-04-19-court-donkey_N.htm?csp=34

Pocky

Ok, so I have become adicted to a new candy that I have found. Now I'm not one to get hooked on a candy in this way but this stuff is really good. It's Pocky and is basicly a biscuit stick coated with some sort of flavoring. I have only seen the chocolate and the strawberry but according to wikipedia there are many many more flavors that I must find.

Here's the link to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocky#In_manga_and_anime and there you can find all the info on this sweet temptation. I know I'll definately be looking for other flavors. At the moment the only places that I can find this stuff is on the shelves at Wal-mart usually in the asile where the pasta and the Raman noodles are found, and in a local comic store that may possibly have different flavors of the things. Oh well, I'm off to find more pocky! I hope everyone has a great day.

Girl kicked off plane for coughing

Now this is just a little extreme don't you think? I mean we have all had fits of uncontrollable coughing and things. Talk about going just a little over board. Oh well that seems to be the norm in the world today.

Rachel Collier was removed from the Continental Airlines plane as it was about to leave Newark, N.J., for Honolulu earlier this week. She had fallen asleep after boarding the plane with about three dozen classmates and woke up coughing and gasping for breath as it was about to take off.

The flight attendants gave her water, and a doctor on the flight said she would be OK to make the 10-hour flight. But the captain returned the aircraft to the gate to drop off the girl and one of her teachers. Rachel said she started crying when the captain told her to leave. She and the teacher finally made it home the next day.

Teacher Maile Kawamura, a chaperone for the spring break trip to New York and Washington, D.C., said she was shocked. The two didn't know what to do or where to stay, she said. They finally found accommodations in New York and bought clothes and toiletries.

Continental said in a statement that Collier was coughing "uncontrollably" on the plane Tuesday and that "the captain felt he was acting in the best interest of the passenger and other passengers on the flight."

More on Pet Food Recall

There has been a lot of stuff in the news regarding the recent pet food recalls. I have two poodles and feed them Pedigree dog food so I was hoping that it wasn't listed on the recall so you can imagine my relief when it WAS NOT there. Here is a link to Pedigree's website wher they talk about the safety of their product.

http://www.pedigree.com/petfoodrecall.asp

Hope this helps some out there who have furry members of their family.

Rat poison found in tainted pet food

Tests turned up rat poison in the pet food suspected of causing kidney failure in dogs and cats across the country and killing at least 16, state officials and scientists announced Friday.

The toxin was identified as aminopterin, which is used to kill rats in some countries, state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker said. Aminopterin is not registered for killing rodents in the United States, though it is used as a cancer drug.

The pet deaths led to a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of pet food produced by Menu Foods and sold throughout North America under 95 brand names. There have been several reports of kidney failure in pets that ate the recalled brands, and the company has confirmed the deaths of 15 cats and one dog.

Menu Foods last week recalled "cuts and gravy" style dog and cat food. The recall sparked concern among pet owners across North America. It includes food sold under store brands carried by Wal-Mart, Kroger, Safeway and other large retailers, as well as private labels such as Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. A list of the recalled pet food can be found at: http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

I have two dogs myself and find this type of thing very disturbing. I view my puppies as members of my family and hope this stupid thing gets straightened out quickly so that I don't have to worry about the type of food my puppies are getting. Thankfully Pedigree and Mighty Dog brand dog foods in the can are NOT included in the recall. HOWEVER: the Mighty Dog Pouches have been added to the recall list. For more on the story go to Yahoo.com news.

Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End

The trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End is now up at the official website at http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/pirates/atworldsend/ . Enjoy. I can't wait to see the movie. It's going to be quite interesting. The movie comes out May 25th.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Here's the Irish Unicorn wishing you the best St. Patrick's Day!!!!

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Indiana Man Tries to Cash Check From God

HOBART, Ind. - Kevin Russell found out it's not easy trying to cash a check from God. The 21-year-old man was arrested Monday after he tried to cash a check for $50,000 at the Chase Bank in Hobart that was signed "King Savior, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Servant," Hobart police Detective Jeff White said.

Russell was charged with one count attempted check fraud and one count intimidation, both felonies, and one count resisting law enforcement, a misdemeanor. He could face prison time.
Police were called to the bank after Russell tried to cash the check, which was written on an invalid Bank One check with no imprint, White said. Russell had several other checks with him that were signed the same way but made out in different dollar amounts, including one for $100,000.

Russell struggled with police as they tried to detain him, White said, and then threatened police as they transported him to the Hobart Police Department. "I've heard about God giving out eternal life, but this is the first time I've heard of him giving out cash," White said. No court date has been set for Russell. He was being held Wednesday at the Lake County Jail on a $1,000 bond.

For more go to http://news.yahoo.com/

Ohio wants special car plates for sex offenders

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Lawmakers in Ohio said on Wednesday they want to force convicted sex offenders to use a fluorescent-green licence plate on their cars so they can be easily identified.

A Republican and a Democrat in the state legislature in Columbus have joined forces to propose the law, which echoes measures in several U.S. states that require convicted drunken drivers to use a yellow, pink or red plate on their cars. "The fluorescent-green licence plate will make the most egregious sex offenders easily identifiable," state Democratic Rep. Michael DeBose said in a statement. Police said the green plates would allow them to track sex offenders, who are already required to register with the local sheriff's office and are prohibited from living within 1,000 feet (300 metres) of a school.

"It will give Ohio families a great peace of mind knowing that their children will be able to recognise where this danger exists," Summit County Sheriff Drew Alexander said.
Alexander joined the politicians at a news conference in Columbus, the state capital, to praise the proposed law. Opponents of the proposed law argue the use of a special plate would stigmatise everyone who shared the offender's car -- including their spouse or children.
The proposed law will be debated in committee before a decision is made whether to put the proposal to a vote.

New Star Trek Movie in 2008

Captain's log: December 25, 2008.

Paramount Pictures has set a Christmas Day 2008 release date for the 11th "Star Trek" feature, to be filmed by "Mission: Impossible III" director J.J. Abrams. Shooting will begin in the fall, Paramount said Tuesday.

The screenplay, from "M:I 3" scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, is said to follow James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock during their Starfleet Academy years and into their first space mission.
The previous film in the series, the 2002 box office bomb, "Star Trek: Nemesis," was directed by Stuart Baird

For more go to http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN2625638120070227

Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Peanut Butter

Government scientists struggled Thursday to pinpoint the source of the first U.S. salmonella outbreak linked to peanut butter, the kid favorite packed into millions of lunchboxes every day.

Nearly 300 people in 39 states have fallen ill since August, and federal health investigators said they strongly suspect Peter Pan peanut butter and certain batches of Wal-Mart's Great Value house brand — both manufactured by ConAgra Foods Inc.
Shoppers across the country were warned to throw out jars with a product code on the lid beginning with "2111," which denotes the plant where it was made.

How the dangerous germ got into the peanut butter was a mystery. But because peanuts are usually heated to high, germ-killing temperatures during the manufacturing process, government and industry officials said the contamination may have been caused by dirty jars or equipment. "We think we have very strong evidence that this was the brand of peanut butter. Now it goes to the next step of going to the place where the peanut butter was made and focusing in on the testing," said Dr. Mike Lynch, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The suspect peanut butter was produced by ConAgra at its only peanut butter plant, in Sylvester, Ga., federal investigators said. ConAgra said it is not clear how many jars are affected by the recall. But the plant is the sole producer of the nationally distributed Peter Pan brand, and the recall covers all peanut butter — smooth and chunky alike — produced by the plant from May 2006 until now. "We're talking a lot of jars of peanut butter," said Dr. David Acheson, chief medical officer of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

FDA inspectors visited the now shut-down plant Wednesday and Thursday to try to pinpoint where the contamination could have happened. The FDA last inspected the plant in 2005. Testing was also being done on at least some the salmonella victims' peanut butter jars, but investigators said some may have already been discarded. The highest number of cases were reported in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri. About 20 percent of all the ill were hospitalized, and there were no deaths, the CDC said.

About 85 percent of the infected people said they ate peanut butter, and about a quarter of them ate it at least once a day, the CDC's Lynch said. It was the only food that most of the patients had all recently eaten. Salmonella sickens about 40,000 people a year in the U.S. and kills about 600. It can cause diarrhea, fever, dehydration, abdominal pain and vomiting.
But most cases of salmonella poisoning are caused by undercooked eggs and chicken. The only known salmonella outbreak in peanut butter — in Australia during the mid-1990s — was blamed on unsanitary plant conditions.

ConAgra spokesman Chris Kircher said the company randomly tests 60 to 80 jars of peanut butter that come off its Sylvester plant's line each day for salmonella and other germs, and "we've had no positive hits on that going back for years." But he said the plant was shut down as a precaution for further investigation. "We're trying to understand what else we need to do or should be doing," Kircher said. An estimated 974 million pounds of peanut butter are sold each year in the U.S., and peanut butter and jelly is the most popular sandwich among children. Peter Pan is one of the nation's top three brands, though well behind market leader Jif. Great Value peanut butter is also produced by some other manufacturers for Wal-Mart.

In a measure of peanut butter's popularity, ConAgra's hot line was swamped with so many calls after the recall was announced on Wednesday that many people got a busy signal. School officials in Houston confiscated students' sandwiches from home and replaced them with those made at schools. And in Georgia, a lawmaker representing one of the nation's biggest peanut-producing areas warned colleagues to throw out jars of peanut butter that he recently handed out.
The outbreak was detected by the CDC and state health agencies when they noticed spikes in the cases of people sickened by an unusual type of salmonella, starting in August. Once peanut butter emerged as a link, the CDC notified the FDA.

Salmonella commonly originates in the feces of birds and animals, and could be introduced at a multitude of stages in the peanut butter-making process. But many safeguards are in place.
While rodents and birds commonly get into peanut storage bins, germs are killed when raw peanuts are roasted. When making peanut butter, the nuts are again heated — above the salmonella-killing temperature of 165 degrees — as they are ground into a paste and mixed with other ingredients before being squirted into jars and quickly sealed. "The heating process is sufficient to kill salmonella, should it be present," said Mike Doyle, director of the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety, in the state that produces nearly half of the nation's peanuts.
Experts say the point in the process where salmonella could be introduced and survive would be as the product cools down, is placed in the jars and then sealed. At most plants, those steps take just minutes.

But "there is quite a lot that happens after that heat step ... before it's put in jars. So there's definitely an opportunity for contamination after the roasting," the FDA's Acheson said.
Acheson speculated a small, on-again, off-again source of contamination caused the outbreak, which would explain the relatively small number of illness. That "will make finding it in peanut butter difficult. But that's not going to stop us from looking," he said.

Other states reporting cases are Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

The strain in this outbreak, Salmonella serotype Tennessee, is comparatively rare, as is salmonella contamination of peanut products, said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. It may have taken a long time to identify peanut butter as the source because "it's just not one of the first things you'd suspect," Smith DeWaal said.
________________________________________________________
To get a refund, consumers should send lids and their names and addresses to ConAgra Foods, P.O. Box 57078, Irvine, CA 92619-7078. For more information, call (866) 344-6970.

For more on this go to Yahoo.com news section.

Cross-dressing lawyer hangs up his dress

A male lawyer who appeared in court dressed in women's clothes as a protest against what he said was New Zealand's overly-masculine judiciary was suspended Wednesday after being found to be in contempt of court.

The High Court found Rob Moodie, a 68-year-old, balding man who appeared in court in dresses and toting a handbag, was in contempt for circulating suppressed documents outside the court in one of his cases.

Moodie officially changed his name to "Miss Alice" as part of his protest against the "old boys network" that he said runs the nation's judiciary, and was granted an award for the most bizarre conduct by a lawyer in 2006 by London's The Times newspaper.

The protest began after a coroner's inquest largely blamed a farming couple for the collapse of a bridge on their property built by the army. Moodie obtained documents apportioning much of the blame for the collapse to faulty wood used by New Zealand Defense Force engineers, and posted the report on the Internet despite a judge's order it not be distributed.

The High Court on Wednesday found Moodie guilty of contempt of court, suspended him for three months, fined him and ordered him to pay costs. Moodie announced after the ruling he would quit the law altogether, and end his cross-dressing protest because he no longer needed to appear "in a 19th-century Alice in Wonderland environment that allows pomp, self-importance and deference to the court to eclipse the truth."

For more go to Yahoo.com news section.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's DAy to everyone out there who visits the blog. I hope everyone has a great day.