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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check
October 20, 2009
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Halloween candy:
Orthodontists are issuing their annual warnings for kids with braces who want to eat Halloween candy. In a word: don't. Dentists say they see more emergency visits at Halloween than any other holiday, with the biggest offenders being sugary, stick-to-your-teeth candies and gum. However, there's plenty of problems that can be caused by bobbing for apples or pizza crust as well.
Christmas shopping:
You've seen bacon salt, bacon air freshener, bacon floss and bacon mints but how about bacon soap? Yes, for that person who can't get enough bacon in their life, $5.95 buys you a marbled bar of soap infused with the sweet smell of bacon. Find it at neatorama.com, mcphee.com or perpetualkid.com. You're welcome.
BUSocial networks are giving new meaning to "word of mouth" advertising.
Consumers are increasingly tweeting and posting about products, sales and deals. Traverse City, MI-based research company Oneupweb compared holiday traffic trends over the last two years at the top-ranking e-tailers, social sites and review sites against the latest user trends, and finds search engines are losing ground to the social world in driving shoppers to online retail sites.
Facebook contributes more than three percent of all traffic to the top retail sites online and as many as 25 percent of social network users post links to other companies, products or services. (Kaye)
Grace notes:
TAYLOR SWIFT is releasing her own signature guitar line. Taylor Guitars, one of the finest manufacturers of acoustic instruments, says the singer's model is based on its three-quarter size Baby Taylor. It will have a screen-printed design of vines and script around the sound hole as well as Ms. Swift's signature and the title of her "Fearless" album above the bridge. It's priced at a very reasonable 400-bucks. (Marino)
PHIL COLLINS will release a new solo album in 2010. He told a German newspaper that he'll record remakes of 30 Motown songs and wants them to sound just like the original versions. However, Phil also said he can no longer play the drums. The former GENESIS skin basher had surgery in April to fix a dislocated vertebra in his neck and now no longer has any feeling in his fingers. Phil says he can't even hold drumsticks anymore and would have to glue them to his hands in order for him to play.
FYI: Phil had a number 10 hit in 1982 with a cover of "You Can't Hurry Love" by Motown's SUPREMES. (Marino)
Discrimination update:
Don't discriminate against fat people! That was the cry yesterday as demonstrators rallied in London on behalf of overweight people saying they want "fat-ism" to be made illegal on the same grounds as race, age and religion. (Size isn't a protected characteristic under British discrimination laws.)
The protests in front of the offices of the mayor of London are being led by the Size Acceptance Movement that says attacking someone for being fat should be a hate crime.
They want the mayor to "lead the way" in making sure employers do not discriminate in housing or employment. One demonstrator told the BBC, "I have been punched, I have had beer thrown in my face, I have had people attack me on the train. They say 'Move out of the way fatty Well person coming down the aisle!'"
Editor's note: Unfortunately, the demonstration outside the Mayor's office had to end early due to the pavement cracking.
--Overweight rally against "fat-ism" brings out a BIG crowd. Film at 11. (Maiman)
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