pileofcrapola

Reader Andy sent us this e-mail he received from Sears as an example of Christmas Creep. He was confused that the retailer has already started its holiday marketing. A look through the Consumerist archives leads to a different perspective. It indicates that maybe Sears has figured out when the major gift-giving holidays actually are.

Usually, the stores of Sears Holdings Corporation are way ahead of the curve when it comes to holiday decorations. They’ve pushed “last-minute gifts” in mid-November, and early Christmas displays in July and airing holiday-themed commercials in September.

While this e-mail uses the good name of the holiday season to coax Andy back into a Sears store, think of it this way: it shows that Sears is at least aware that there’s more than six months until Christmas. Maybe they’ll hold off on putting the bears and ornaments until maybe July this year?

Back in February, the United States Food and Drug Administration announced an interim rule covering infant formula that would require manufacturers to test for certain contaminants, as well as ensure that the products contain the right amount of nutrients. Today the agency announced that the new policy is set to be finalized.

The FDA announced today that the rule sets standards for manufacturers of infant formula, including best practices that include required testing for the disease-causing bacteria salmonella and cronobacter, as well as requiring manufacturers to show that products have been tested for nutrient contet before they enter the market, and at the end of a product’s shelf life as well.

“FDA sets high quality standards for the safety and nutritional quality of infant formulas during this critical time of development,” says Stephen Ostroff, M.D., FDA’s acting chief scientist in a press release.

The rule only applies to formulas that are for healthy infants that don’t have any unusual health or dietary problems.

While the FDA notes that many companies already produce safe products and have applied the good manufacturing practices and quality control procedures laid out in the new rule, these requirements are now federally enforceable.

FDA Takes Final Step on Infant Formula Protections [FDA.gov]

While your computer’s webcam can be a source of scariness if someone is watching who shouldn’t be, it could also be a valuable witness when things go awry. To wit: Police in Tempe, Ariz. have arrested one suspect and are looking for another, after online gamers from around the world watched a home invasion unfolding live via their fellow player’s webcam.

According to the Tempe Police Department, two men broke into a home in the early morning hours while the woman was online playing Dota 2 and livestreaming it as part of the game, reports AZFamily.com.

Players watched as the man broke in the door, perhaps looking for weapons, police say, and one suspect who stepped into the frame could be seen with a weapon.

She’s a popular player, and as such, plenty of people were watching — but the problem was that no one knew who to call for help.

“At that point gamers from around the world were watching the home invasion occur while trying to contact the corresponding law enforcement agency,” a police spokesman said. The suspects were reportedly in the home for almost 15 minutes before the camera was disconnected.

Eventually a friend of the victim who knew where she lived called the cops. When police arrived on the scene, one suspect was still there and fled when officers tried to speak to him. He was arrested after a short chase, while the second suspect is still on the loose.

Online gamers witness home invasion; 1 suspect in custody, 1 on the loose [AZFamily.com]

Amazon is quickly turning itself into an online one-stop-shop for consumers. Next up for the e-tail giant? Entering the e-commerce fold with a new payment product system that puts it in direct competition with PayPal.

Amazon Payments, which launched Monday, aims to allow consumers to use their Amazon accounts to send and receive money and shop online at a number of online sites, CNN reports.

Retailers and other businesses looking to use the service will have Amazon’s security and already plentiful user database at their disposal. In addition, consumers who already have Amazon accounts can save precious time during checkout.

The system uses the information already stored in a consumer’s Amazon account to log in and pay for their desired purchases. Consumers are also covered by the same buyer protection plan available with Amazon.com purchases.

The platform features no recurring fees for retailers, however, Amazon plans to take a standard cut of 2.9% from those businesses, as well as $0.30 for each transaction of $10 or more.

Amazon currently has 244 million active customer accounts, creating a large pool of potential users for the new service. In contrast, PayPal, which has long offered the similar services, has roughly 148 million active accounts.

Amazon launches PayPal competitor [CNN]

If you’re like most Americans, you spent many of your formative years drinking sugary vitamin-laced beverages: a childhood littered with Capri Sun packets and Sunny D bottles. If you’d like to revisit that time, Sunny Delight is now available as a caffeine-free canned energy drink. No, really.

In a quote provided in the press release announcing the product, it becomes clear who this product is aimed at. “It… offers a different kind of pick-me-up – carbonated energy that’s uniquely provided by a combination of three carbohydrates, as well as seven B vitamins to help metabolise the carbohydrates into energy,” we’re all pretending that the company’s associate marketing director said. “Simply put, SunnyD X offers the energy teens crave without the ingredients moms tell us concern them such as caffeine and taurine. It’s a win win.” Aha! Teens!

In other words, the idea behind the drink is to serve as an alternative to standard energy drinks by blasting you with B-vitamins and sugars. That “combination of three carbohydrates” is sucrose (regular sugar), glucose, and isomaltulose, a sugar-derived sweetener that has the same amount of calories as sugar, but is metabolized at a slower rate, avoiding sugar highs and crashes. No, you’ll have to depend on the other two sugars for those.

If this sounds interesting to you, SunnyD X is available at convenience stores and some grocery chains in Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

News: Sunny Delight Now Comes in an Energy Drink Version [Brand Eating]

It’s hard to keep track of what’s a superfood these days and what’s just like, a regular-powered food, but heck, plenty of people love gobbling up whatever the newest, trendiest thing is. Which is why in the future you might be hearing a lot about a new contender in the wonder food category, camel milk.

Yes, those humped, gangly animals you probably loved taking a ride on at the zoo when you were a kid could be part of the next superfood fad, reports The Citizen-Times, as one farmer is hoping to build up a business selling camel milk as a health drink.

On a farm near Asheville there are 23 camels, including the humped dromedaries as well as the double-humped Bactrians, along with a herd of buffalo. The owner of the farm says he wants to grow his camel milk business, modeled on the fact that it’s been a staple food in the Mideast for a long time. And he could sell the stuff at $18 a pint as a nutrition and dietary supplement.

“Epigenetics suggest that we can actually change our genes by how we live,” the farmer explains. “Right now in modern society, we are like polar bears released into a Death Valley environment. When people connect with nature, they feel better, and wild is better.”

According to some scientific studies, camel milk’s benefits include higher levels of potassium,magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, sodium and zinc than in cow’s milk, lower cholesterol levels than cow or goat milk, and is three times higher in vitamin C and 10 times higher in iron compared to cow’s milk. It also has more fat and protein than cow’s milk, and it’s higher in unsaturated fatty acids and B vitamins.

I know what you’re thinking, because I’m thinking it too — what the heck does camel milk taste like?

“The milk is tasty. The dromedaries’ milk has a slightly salted taste and creamier. The Bactrians’ is less salty,” he explains. He should know — he and his family drink it four times a day for better health.

Camels are milked by hand, and you don’t need to even sit down to get the job done, since camels are a lot taller than say, a cow or a goat.

Right now the farm is still working on figuring out pasteurization methods as required by federal law, if the milk wants to travel across state lines.

And this farm isn’t the only one — there are several farms with collections of breeding camels that are working on milking programs, in states like Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio. A slew of other states are also scheduled to open new programs as well.

Milking camels for the next superfood [The Citizen-Times]

So you think your car is special, huh? Like maybe it has some magical power that reorganizes its atoms as such that a fire hose can pass through it without breaking, or emergency jet packs that can lift it up and away when the fire hydrant it’s parked in front of needs to be used. Well, it’s not, and yet again, another hapless driver gives us the perfect reason why you shouldn’t leave your ride where it isn’t supposed to be.

A Wilmington, Del. driver learned that there is no such thing as a special car that’s allowed to sit in front of hydrants after firefighters bashed out the windows of the Ford Fusion vehicle while battling a three-story house fire that was spreading, reports NBC News Philadelphia.

With the fire on the move, firefighters broke the car’s two front windows and fed the fire house through them to access the hydrant and get the water to the scene.

And lest you think you’ve got wiggle room, be careful — in this case, it’s illegal to park within 15 feet of a hydrant, and not just directly in front of it. Many cities have similar regulations, all put in place to make sure firefighters have water when they need it.

After 40 minutes of battling the blaze, the fire was brought under control, say officials. No one was inside the homes at the time, but a dog was killed and a firefighter was taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion and later released.

As for that car, police issued a ticket and had it towed, providing a no doubt unwelcome surprise for the owner. Although again, it shouldn’t be a surprise if you act like the rules don’t apply to you. Or if your car’s emergency jet pack lifting capabilities are on the fritz.

Firefighters Trying to Fight Blaze Bust Windows of Car Blocking Hydrant [NBC News Philadelphia]

The signs in the parking lot warned that it was only for Kmart customers and employees. If the Kmart store had long since closed, does that mean that it’s OK to park there? The $200 towing bills that four friends each received after leaving their cars there say “no.”

A group of friends have been using the Kmart as a spot to meet up and then carpool to their destination for about eight years. Now that the Kmart store is closed and the company’s lease has expired, the out-of-state company that owns the property is in charge of the lot.

“There’s no Kmart, there’s no employees, there’s no customers, so what were we hurting if we parked there?” one of the friends told TV station KCTV.

Well, about that: the towing company with the contract for the parking lot pointed out the tragic story of a trucker from Arizona who disappeared and was found dead four months later, stuffed inside a freezer. Guess where his truck was found? That’s right, that vacant Kmart parking lot. His murder is still unsolved.

Instead of “no overnight parking,” the owners changed the policy to “no parking, ever” after the Kmart closed. That simplified things: the towing company says that when any of their drivers are in the neighborhood and spot someone parked in the former Kmart

Don’t park in closed Merriam Kmart lot or face tow bill [KCTV]

For three decades, Burt Shavitz’s bearded face has graced the labels of Burt’s Bees products, but he hasn’t been part of the company that bears his name for 20 years. The reason for his exit is now being put in the spotlight thanks to a new documentary on the private man with the well-known face.

Shavitz had been producing honey on his property in central Maine in the early ’80s when he met Burt’s Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby. They began selling beeswax candles and then eventually the personal care products the company is now famous for.

By 1994, the company had expanded far beyond its small-town beginnings and had expanded to the point where production relocated to North Carolina. At that time, Quimby bought out Shavitz’s portion of the company and he retreated to Maine where he still resides.

While Burt’s anti-corporate leanings and desire to live a normal life have long been considered the reason for his departure, he now tells the makers of the documentary Burt’s Buzz that Quimby gave him the boot because he had an affair with a Burt’s Bees employee.

And so he got some money — and his face continues to grace the products — but Burt wasn’t running the company anymore when Quimby sold the brand to Clorox in 2007; a sale that reportedly netted $300 million for Quimby.

“In the long run, I got the land, and land is everything,” Burt says of the 37 acres he received as part of his severance “Land is positively everything. And money is nothing really worth squabbling about.”

Of his former partner, Burt says, “Roxanne Quimby wanted money and power, and I was just a pillar on the way to that success.”

He does, however, say he has no regrets about what happened. “The bottom line is she’s got her world and I’ve got mine, and we let it go at that.”

In an e-mail to the AP, Quimby claims that “Everyone associated with the company was treated fairly, and in some cases very generously, upon the sale of the company and my departure as CEO. And that, of course, includes Burt.”

Did Burt’s Bees oust co-founder because he had a honey? [AP]

We can’t imagine anyone with even the most basic grasp of the English language would confuse Hershey’s Almond Joy with “Ganja Joy,” an edible marijuana product. Nor do we think anyone will mistakenly buy a “Dabby Patty” thinking it’s a York peppermint patty. But we don’t work for the Hershey legal department, which has sued a Colorado company over punny pot product names that the chocolate goliath believes are too close to its trademarked brands.

The Denver Channel reports that Hershey recently filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Denver, alleging trademark infringement and dilution.

“Defendants, who are well aware of the fame and popularity of these Hershey products and marks, are manufacturing and selling cannabis- and/or tetrahydrocannabinol-laced chocolate and candy products,” reads the complaint, “using names, marks and designs that are knock-offs of Hershey’s famous REESE’S, HEATH, ALMOND JOY and YORK trademarks and trade dresses, in order to increase sales of defendants’ cannabis and tetrahydrocannabinol candy products, draw additional attention to their products, confuse consumers as to the source of their products, call to consumers’ minds Hershey’s famous and beloved brands, and otherwise to trade on the goodwill of Hershey and its brands.”

Hershey also contends that the similar branding and packaging of these products “creates a genuine safety risk with regard to consumers” who may inadvertently eat them, as “Individuals and families the world over trust Hershey and its various brands as signifying safe and delicious treats for people of all ages.”

You have to love it when a company manages to work marketing language into its lawsuits.

Marijuana munchies have been in the news recently, following last week’s admission by NY Times columnist Maureen Down that she’d sampled some while visiting Colorado and that it didn’t go so well for her.

What was probably worse for Dowd than any anxiety she might have felt during her brief freak-out, was the mocking she received at the hands of the Internet for not doing her research ahead of time and probably biting off more than she should have chewed.

The alleged misuse of brand names has also made headlines recently, with a number of big-time cookie and candy companies — General Mills, Tootsie Roll, the Girl Scouts — asking the makers of liquid nicotine products to please stop using their trademarked brand names on their goods.

Fla. man charged with sexually assaulting children in Manassas WTOP WASHINGTON - A Florida man has been charged with sexually assaulting two children in Manassas, wrapping up a case that dates back decades. Lawrence E. Runion, 64, of Acadia, Florida, was extradited to Virginia and served with long-standing warrants. and more »

Petition aims to stop move of popular Manassas music teacher Inside NoVA A popular middle school band teacher in Manassas is moving to a new school, prompting a petition from parents seeking to keep him where he is. Craig Dye, the band teacher at Grace E. Metz Middle School, has been reassigned and will be the music ... and more »

Prince William police Inside NoVA Jasmine Jorg Quette Martell, 21, of Woodbridge, is charged with possession of a firearm while in possession of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. mugshot Christopher Johnson. Prince William police ...

Indoor shooting range opening in Gainesville this fall Inside NoVA Elite Shooting Sports is opening one of the largest indoor shooting ranges in the country in Prince William County this fall, according to a news release. Construction is underway for the 65,000-square foot-facility at 7751 Doane Drive, Gainesville ...

The thousands of locks that cling like barnacles to the Pont des Arts in Paris have become a symbol of danger, rather than love, after a chunk of fencing fell off under their weight.

Hillary Rodham Clinton says her family was "dead broke" after her husband Bill's presidency.

The Wal-Mart truck driver from Georgia accused of triggering a crash in New Jersey that critically injured Tracy Morgan and killed another comedian had not slept for more than 24 hours.

He eluded police for more than six years, ransacking cabins across a wide swath of Utah as he trekked hundreds of miles alone on his snowshoes with a rifle slung over his shoulder.

The decision by California transportation officials to hire a Chinese company that had never built a bridge to make key components of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge's eastern section ended up being a costly choice in terms of both dollars and confidence in the span's structural integrity, a newspaper reported Sunday.

In recent weeks, some neighbors in the City of Manassas have been dealing with a nauseating situation. A foul odor has been coming up through the manhole covers in their community and even into their homes.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's family was "dead broke" and saddled with legal bills when she and her husband left the White House, the former first lady said in an interview that aired Monday at the start of a high-profile book tour that could precede a 2016 presidential campaign.

Before packing the car and hitting the road for your beach trip, police say a few steps can protect your home and belongings while you are away.

A state audit of the Department of Conservation and Recreation found that the agency owes $500,000 in taxes on sales at concessions at Virginia parks.

The wait time for new patients seeking a primary care doctor at the VA Center in Richmond, Virginia, is more than 72 days -- roughly five times what the Department of Veterans Affairs had set as a goal.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is extending the Western Maryland Rail Trail by bypassing a tunnel that's home to a colony of federally endangered Indiana bats.

Paul Maher didn't take care of himself, but he didn't think he'd have a heart attack so soon.

A quarter-million juvenile clams are getting a new lease on life.

Police and fire officials are investigating the death of a lifeguard found unconscious in a pool where he worked in the New Carrollton area.

A new trail gives fishing enthusiasts access to a river gorge in Smyth County.

A 14-year-old Michigan boy set out on a 40-mile trek on Saturday with his 7-year-old brother strapped to his back, hoping to raise awareness about the muscular condition that prevents the younger boy from being able to walk without help.