Woman buys over $1K in tainted pet food

BEAUFORT, S.C
A woman said she was so worried about reports of tainted pet food she spent more than $1,000 buying all the product she could find at her local Wal-Mart. Margaret Trask said she filled a shopping cart full of canned pet food made by Canadian company Menu Foods at the Beaufort Wal-Mart after hearing about the recall Friday.

She returned Wednesday morning to buy more food and came back that night to buy even more, but Trask said store officials asked her to leave. She said store employees were taking some of the food off the shelves.

Trask plans to throw the food away so no animals eat it. She figures she spent more than $1,000.

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Podcasting growth slower than expected: study

While the debate between satellite radio and terrestrial radio continues, I've believed for a long time now that the biggest threat to radio is not Satellite Radio but podcasting. At this point in the evolution of the technology, most people feel that they have to be computer geeks in order to download and listen to podcasts on their MP3 devices, if they even have an MP3 device. They view regular radio and Satellite radio as something that they just need to push a button and they have their music. But I think the advantage of having what you want, when you want it, will help listeners overcome the reluctance of listening to podcasts.

The audience for podcasting is still small, but it has a similar penetration to Satellite Radio. And nobody had to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to launch satellites or hire Oprah Winfrey or Howard Stern.

From the CBC:

"The number of Americans who have downloaded a podcast rose only slightly in 2007 despite growing awareness of the media format, a study published this week found.

Only 13 per cent of those polled had 'ever' downloaded an audio podcast, up from 11 per cent last year, according to the findings Edison Media Research presented to the Corporate Podcasting Summit in London on Monday.

First podcasts started in summer 2004

Podcasting is a relatively new phenomenon that started in late summer 2004. Among digital audio formats, podcasts are unique in that they can be downloaded automatically using software capable of reading feed formats such as RSS (Really Simple Syndication).

Within six months of its inception, programs available through podcasting grew from about three dozen to well over 3,500.

While early podcasters typically distributed syndicated audio files and radio shows, podcasters now routinely deliver many kinds of digital multimedia content, including video, images and text."

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Ann Coulter no longer welcome in the Chronicle

Via The Horse's Mouth

The rapid escalation of electronic communication options and the frequent inappropriate and indiscriminate use of those options have combined to produce horror stories regarding job terminations that we have all heard about and shaken our heads over. We all know stories of folks getting fired via e-mail or through a voice-mail message left on a home or cell phone answering machine. We can't fathom the gutless and impersonal nature of such terminations. We can't fathom it -- yet we're about to do one better. We're going to fire someone publicly -- in print -- right here, right now...

Ann Coulter is not a “real” employee of the Chronicle. She isn't a freelancer or even an independent contractor. If she were an employee and referred to another human being as a “faggot,” her employment would be short-lived. As it is, the acerbic Coulter is a syndicated columnist whose material is distributed through Universal Press Syndicate. Universal President and Editor Lee Salem has responded to Coulter's remarks by saying, “She is not an employee, and we have no legal power to ‘fire' her.”

That's a lot like the Chronicle saying, “She didn't say it in one of the columns we ran, so it isn't our problem.” Wrong. It is our problem, and not dealing with it is a cop-out.

So yesterday we called Universal Press Syndicate and “fired” Coulter. What she said was wrong and hurtful and stepped way beyond the line of human decency, much less political commentary.

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Fox News: Libby Found NOT Guilty

Sam Seder pokes holes in the Conservative spin on the Libby verdict.

Iraq War A Disaster: Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite weighs in on the Iraq war. Back in 1968, after a tour in Vietnam, he came back highly critical of that war. His pronouncement that the war was unwinnable led President Lyndon Johnson to say, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America."

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(Crossposted to the Garland Area Democratic Blog)

Restaurant Offers 80 Pound Burger

Do you win anything if you eat this in one sitting? How about a supply of Lipitor to go with it?

CLEARFIELD, Pa. — The newest addition to the menu at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub is one meaty monstrosity of a burger.

The Beer Barrel Main Event Charity Burger weighs in at 123 pounds. The sizable sandwich features an 80-pound beef patty, along with a pound each of lettuce, ketchup, relish, mustard and mayonnaise, 160 slices of cheese, up to five onions and 12 tomatoes.

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