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In 1976, an 11 year old Björk, participated in a christmas special for Icelandic TV station RÚV in which she read the nativity story while accompanied by music played by fellow students from the Reykjavík children’s music school.

If there’s one thing in life I regret, it’s that I can’t remember the first time I ever ate bacon (or cheese, for that matter. Or pizza. Or Nutella). But through the glory of technology, there’s a whole new generation of kids who will easily be able to look back on their initial interactions with food, glorious food, because their parents are armed with camera phones to preserve the experience in thrilling detail.

Presenting: a child who, we are to surmise, has never tasted the crispy, savory, wonderful pork product that is bacon, until his parents filmed him for about a minute, exulting in his newfound gustatory appreciation and rehearsing the name of his new beloved over and over.

“BACON! BACON! BAAACON!” he screams triumphantly, head tilted back, eyes closed.

At least he’ll be able to grow up and point out the exact moment he fell for bacon, while the rest of us just have to imagine it was a pretty great moment in our lives that we’ll never get back.

Earlier this year, a California man sued MillerCoors (which is half-owned by SABMiller, which is currently in the process of a massive global merger with Anheuser-Busch InBev) over its continued labeling of its Blue Moon brew as a “craft beer.” But yesterday, a federal court threw out the case against the mega-brewer.

The original complaint [PDF] alleged that MillerCoors was deceiving customers into paying more for BlueMoon by labeling it a craft beer and by distancing the brand from the MillerCoors name.

Citing the non-binding Brewers Association standard for craft beer — fewer than 6 million barrels produced annually; a craft brewer must be the majority stakeholder; the beer is made using only traditional or innovative brewing ingredients — the plaintiff contended that Blue Moon is just another beer made by a huge beer company.

In fact, according to lawsuit, Blue Moon beer made for retail consumption is brewed at the same plant where MillerCoors makes decidedly non-craft brands Coors, Milwaukee’s Best, Miller High Life, Hamm’s, Icehouse and Olde English.

The suit also called out MillerCoors for not placing its logo or info anywhere on the Blue Moon website, for listing Brew Moon Brewing Co. as the beer’s maker, and for using terms like “Artfully Crafted,” to describe the beer.

MillerCoors asked the court to dismiss the complaint, arguing that no reasonable consumer could have been misled by MillerCoors’ use of “craft beer” and “Artfully Crafted,” because — in spite of the Brewers Association’s definition — there is no widely accepted standard definition for “craft beer.”

The company also maintained that its trademark registrations for the Blue Moon brand and the fictitious Blue Moon Brewing Co. were sufficient to let consumers know that MillerCoors is the actual maker of this beer.

Finally, MillerCoors argued that its use of the Blue Moon Brewing name instead its own was not deceptive but was within the California state “safe harbor” exception standard. Put plainly, if existing regulations allow the use of the fictitious name, then it does not violate the state’s Unfair Competition or False Advertising laws.

The brewer pointed to state and federal labeling regulations that specify what information needs to be on beer packaging. California rules allow for the use of a fictitious name if it’s been properly registered.

To MillerCoors, that means the use of the Blue Moon Brewing name is explicitly allowed by state regulations, preventing the plaintiff from bringing deceptive marketing claims against the company.

The plaintiff countered that he wasn’t challenging MillerCoors’ legal right to use a fictitious name. He was alleging that the way in which it used the name was deceptive, pointing to precedent showing that just because someone’s actions are ostensibly legal doesn’t prevent someone from bringing a claim that they are unfair or fraudulent.

This wasn’t enough to win over the judge, who noted that in order to bring such a claim, the plaintiff would need to show that MillerCoors was doing something illegal in addition to the legally protected behavior.

“Here, the conduct challenged by plaintiff is the same as the conduct authorized by law,” explains the judge in his order [PDF] dismissing the case. “MillerCoors has properly registered Blue Moon Beer Company as a trade name in California’s Fictitious Business Name registry. MillerCoors’ use of the Blue Moon Trading Company trade name on the Blue Moon label is thus specifically authorized by federal and state regulations.”

The judge also took issue with the plaintiff’s claim that MillerCoors was doing everything it could to distance itself from the Blue Moon brand.

In dismissing the case, the court noted that while MillerCoors branding was not present on the Blue Moon website, the MillerCoors site made no effort to hide the company’s ownership of the brand.

“[T]he Court cannot conclude that ‘it is probable that a significant portion of the general consuming public… acting reasonably under the circumstances’ could be misled by Blue Moon’s internet presence when MillerCoors ‘prominently’ displays Blue Moon on their own company website,” reads the order.

Further, by including the Blue Moon brand on the MillerCoors site, the judge ruled that no reasonable consumer “could be misled into believing that Blue Moon is an ‘independently brewed, hand-crafted beer’ not owned by MillerCoors.”

Regarding the “Artfully Crafted” slogan, the judge found that this is not really a challengeable statement of fact — unlike a “Made in U.S.A.” or “All natural” claim — but a rather generic slogan.

The plaintiff also failed to convince the court of his argument that the higher price charged for Blue Moon, or its placement on store shelves with other craft beers was deliberately misleading.

“Plaintiff does not allege, and provides no factual allegations from which the Court could reasonably infer, that MillerCoors has any control over where retailers place Blue Moon on their shelves,” reads the order. “Plaintiff points to no case supporting the proposition that the price of a product can constitute a representation or statement about the product.”

The judge has given the plaintiff 30 days to amend the complaint, saying that it’s not “impossible that the Plaintiff could allege other facts as to MillerCoors’ advertising or sales practices that would support their claim that MillerCoors deceptively or misleadingly represents Blue Moon as a craft beer.”

But if the plaintiff does try again, he can’t rely MillerCoors’ use of the fictitious Blue Moon trade name or its use of the “Artfully Crafted” trademark.

If you’re looking for some Saturday morning inspiration, simply text an emoji to the number listed below. You’ll receive an adorable corgi or two in return. It’s totally worth ten seconds of your time, I promise.

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Exactly a month ago to the day, our fragile world was rocked when a Facebook user from the Gujranwala District in Pakistan announced that he was severing ties with his then-former best friend Mudasir in favor of new best friend Salman. Today, however, people from all corners of the globe can breathe easy—Asif and Mudasir are friends once more.

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The Myers-Briggs personality test is the internet's sorting hat, beloved of twittering nerds, Tumblr addicts and Facebook oversharers alike (I'm in House ESFP!) But it's also plainly pseudoscientific, with a cultish marketing dimension growing on the back of its online popularity. Merve Emre takes a look at the woman who created it, a life shrouded in mystery, and the custodians selling it now. (more…)

Last week, using information from the Huffington Post, Amnesty International (UK), and the Times of India, I posted a story about how two Indian women were sentenced to be raped as punishment for their brother’s adultery.

Reporters for Reuters have been looking for confirmation of this story, conducting interviews with locals and even talking with the family members themselves. As far as they can tell, there’s no evidence of this punishment being handed down. The family asked for protection, yes, but there’s no evidence the council actually issued the grotesque punishment in the first place.

… family members said in interviews with Reuters the information that the council made such an order may have just been gossip. “It is all hearsay, we don’t know if this actually happened,” said Dharam Pal Singh, 55, the women’s father and a retired soldier. “We heard it from other villagers.”

…

There were many discrepancies in the accounts offered by the families of the sisters and the married woman, members of the village council, the lawyer who drew up the Supreme Court petition, and police officials. But no one said they had any evidence that the council had handed down the rape punishment, as alleged in the court petition. The petition said the council was comprised of upper caste men.

The village council is actually more than 80 percent female and headed by a woman who, like the sisters, is from the bottom of the caste hierarchy.

“How many times do I have to tell you that there was no meeting?” said Bala Devi, 55, who has run the council for the last five years. “We spend our time discussing mundane things like fixing the roads or water pumps.”

That hasn’t stopped some people from continuing to push the story:

Gopika Bashi, women’s rights campaigner at Amnesty International India, said that despite the doubts cast over the story there were no plans to withdraw its petition. “We will continue to push for protection for the family,” she said.

They can ask for protection, but it’s unclear whether or not they actually need it.

I’m happy to correct myself when I post about a story that turns out to be untrue, and this appears to be one of those times. My apologies for perpetuating it. My only excuse is that I felt those sources were reliable enough and their reports full of details that it seemed unlikely to be based on a giant game of hearsay. But when you build a structure on a flimsy base, this is what happens when the foundation falls apart.

That’s not to say that the treatment of women in India isn’t a problem. It’s a major problem and many credible sources have reported on that.

This incident, however, shouldn’t be included in those reports. I’ve included an update in my original post to reflect this.

(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to @AstrokidNJ for the link)

John Felton, a black man, was driving to his mother's house in Dayton, Ohio to celebrate her birthday when he was pulled over by a white police officer.

It must have found the bone of its dreams!

The Found Footage Festival has unearthed a 1980s-era modeling instructional video so tubular "you'll probably watch it several times over before you understand it all completely." Read the rest

The LA Times reports that on Saturday "the husband of Jelly Belly’s chief executive accidentally crushed a man to death with a World War II-era tank during a reunion on the family’s property in Fairfield, Calif." Read the rest

Rapper Wiz Khalifa was arrested at LAX this week. What was he arrested for? If we’re to believe almost every headline , Wiz’s crime was joyriding a hoverboard at the airport. Are we finally living in the future Back To The Future II promised us?

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The best and worst thing about the Internet is that a bit of information can spread far and wide very quickly. That’s a major problem, though, when the information was on quicksand to begin with. Let me show you what that looks like in practice using 19 Kids and Counting.

Last month, after TLC canceled the series following the Josh Duggar‘s molestation scandal, Star magazine (a tabloid) quoted an anonymous source saying this:

“The family can’t afford to not have the show — it is their main source of income, and with a family of that size, without it they’re in enormous trouble,” says a friend, adding the Arkansas couple are willing to beg for forgiveness to get the cash flowing again.

“They know they have to at least pretend to be sorry about what happened, and now they want a spin-off where Jim Bob and Michelle would give advice to abuse victims — even though they’re in denial about their culpability in Josh’s crimes.”

So the Duggars supposedly wanted a show in which they would give advice to abuse victims. That’s the rumor. We don’t know who this “friend” is, or how close that person is to the family. TLC hasn’t confirmed it. The Duggars haven’t hinted at it publicly.

It’s just unconfirmed gossip.

But that didn’t stop unreliable source after unreliable source from making a big deal out of that rumor.

And then my Patheos colleague Michael Stone at Progressive Secular Humanist spread it even further, wrongly suggesting that “industry insiders” knew about this “pitch” the Duggars were making.

There are no “industry insiders.” There’s no “pitch.”

It’s just unconfirmed gossip.

And then Raw Story amplified the story even more, linking back to Stone, with the headline “Desperate Duggars pitch TLC new show where they counsel sex abuse victims: report.” (Only the last word there suggests this may not be happening.)

And others are still spreading the bad information.

So let me say it again: There’s no evidence whatsoever that the Duggars are pitching this show.

Until there is, we should all know better than reporting hearsay with no substance, going for the cheap clickbait, and ignoring that whole “skepticism” thing we claim to love so much.

Here’s what we do know: On August 30, TLC will air a special called Breaking the Silence focusing on the horrors of child sex abuse. It will feature two of the Duggar sisters who were among Josh’s victims.

TLC has announced no further collaborations with the Duggars. Hell, it’d be stupid of them to throw even more money at a family that pushed advertisers away as quickly as they did. It’d be a public relations disaster. There’s no shortage of vapid people willing to put themselves in front of the cameras (Survivor, call me), so why would TLC even bother?

In any case, none of these stories about the Duggars’ supposed new show have any merit. There’s plenty of reason to criticize the Duggars. This isn’t one of them. Not without more reliable information. So let it go.

/EndOfRant

This is as unsettling as a scopolamine overdose. [via]

Jesus help us all.

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I can't tell what's going on in this compilation, but the dog sure is cute. (more…)

Pretty adorable. (more…)

American kids attempt to eat traditional breakfasts from Korea, Brazil, Finland, Vietnam, Poland, and Netherlands. (more…)

Go ahead and laugh. You know you can't dance this well. (more…)

Monte Beauchamp’s book, Popular Skullture is a refreshing look back at the early days of mass culture print publishing, when skulls still evoked a sense of the macabre.

Johann writes, "One of the creators of notorious millennial website Bumfights has is accused of stealing preserved child body parts and flayed tattoos from the notorious Bangkok Black museum at the medical faculty of Siriraj Hospital. Then he attempted to DHL his swag back to the States, he has now fled to Cambodia." Read the rest

I still get the chills when I re-read Brian Shul's account of his Blackbird flight against enemy SAM batteries over Libya. Imagine yourself inside that tight SR-71 cockpit with all the alarms sounding. This cool 360-degree virtual reality view will help.

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Winter is coming. For much of the world, it's already cold, wet, and terrible out there. We need a legit dancehall banger to heat things up. Well, ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes and bodies on this Gizmodo-exclusive world premiere. It's "Sweat On Me," from Flynt Flossy and the crew at Turquoise Jeep Records.

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Telly Savalas's stirring rendition of "If" made it to the top spot on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in 1975. [via]

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Sheer Heart Attack, the album which, by most accounts, launched Queen to international tight-leather-clad stardom. But rather than watching a fur-covered Freddie Mercury doing his thing (excellent though that would be), here's Panic at the Disco's cover of 'Bohemian Rhapsody', which provides a pretty fitting homage.

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Straight outta Creeptown, a DIY wreath covered in bones. ACTUAL BONES,… Continue reading on Curbly.com

Whatever you do on a plane right now, do NOT sneeze and then say "Sorry, I just came from Africa." First, the flight attendant will publicly denounce you as an idiot. And then the Haz-Mat team shows up.

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