This is it folks. Our bill to raise the alcohol content allowable in beer sold in MS is before the Senate Finance committee. It must receive favorable action by Tuesday 19 February or it’s dead until next year. The reality is more urgent that that, however. The bill is up for consideration in the committee this Thursday 14 February. That’s the day after tomorrow for those of you not paying attention.
That means the fate of this bill will be decided the day after tomorrow!
If we are to have any chance at this we MUST have citizens pick up the phone and call the members of the committee now. This is how democracy works, people. If we don’t get a lot of people involved immediately this will end and MS will be stuck in the neo-prohibitionist doldrums for another year.
OK fellow beer lovers. We have learned that Dean Kirby (chairman of the
Finance committee) is not going to let the Beer Bill (SB 2851) come out of
committee (which means it will die if it does not).
I can’t overstress how important it is for every beer lover in the state to pick up the phone and contact Mr. Kirby tonight or tomorrow at the latest. If we do nothing, the bill dies. Period. The ONLY chance we have is for the members of the committee to hear from enough of us and hear our position. I’m attaching some talking points that might help you when talking – but just call them up. Also, does anyone know any businesses in Pearl, Brandon, etc (Kirby’s district) that they can contact to get them to call Kirby and support the bill? [via]
You will probably get Senator Kirby’s secretary, Janet. Please leave a message with her - she’ll probably ask for your name and number. After that, just tell her you support Senate Bill 2851 and would like Senator Kirby to allow it to come to a vote. — Katie Parkman
There was an interruption in internet service yesterday from approximately 1:45 PM CST to approximately 8:00 PM CST. We lost upstream connectivity because there was a large fiber distribution cut in an area outside of Jackson.
It seems like an obvious move: Apple’s little pink 8GB iPod nano ($199) comes out in time for Valentine’s Day, and perhaps before most pink second-gen nanos have kicked the bucket. But there’s a problem: if you’re trying to impress your lady friend by buying her a nano that contributes money to some worthy cause, you’re going to have to stick with the (PRODUCT) RED one, which fights against AIDS and tuberculosis in Africa and around the world. As pink as this nano is, there’s no mention of an accompanying breast-cancer charity benefit, in an industry where pink gadgets usually mean precisely that. Let’s get it going, Apple! [Apple]
The Rolling Stones have signed a one-album deal with Universal Music Group for the release of their next album, the live soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s concert film Shine a Light. The Universal deal likely spells the end of the Stones’ sixteen-year partnership with EMI, as the band’s record contract with that label expires next month. If they do sign a long-term deal with another label, the Stones would join Paul McCartney and Radiohead as the latest big-name artist to exit EMI in the wake of their tumultuous takeover by private equity firm Terra Firma. Earlier this week, EMI head Guy Hands announced that the label would allow for the corporating sponsoring of bands, as well as cut 1,500-2,000 jobs in order to free up $400 million. Still-contracted EMI artists like Robbie Williams, the Verve and Coldplay hinted at withholding new albums until EMI proved they were capable of appropriately promoting and distributing those releases.
Scorsesefilmed Shine A Light during two Stones gigs at New York City’s relatively intimate Beacon Theatre in 2006. Among the special guests who joined the band on stage were Jack White and Christina Aguilera. The film will debut at the Berlin Film Festival next month before hitting American cinemas on April 4th.
Two German doctors presented case studies today suggesting that chewing too much sugar-free gum could lead to extreme weight loss of up to 20% of a person’s normal body weight.
The work, which appears in the journal BMJ, consists of two case studies (pdf). In the first, a 21-year old woman reported experienced severe diarrhea four to twelve times per day. She’d lost 11 kilograms and had a body mass index of 16.6, substantially below normal. Patient interviews revealed she was chewing about 15 pieces of sugar free gum per day. She stopped chewing the gum and her symptoms disappeared. A middle aged man had similar symptoms and the same miraculous weight-gain upon cessation of gum chewing.
Given that most weight-lossdrugs have a difficult time producing one-pound per week weight loss, you might think the scientists would trumpet these findings as a prelude to the newest blockbuster pharmaceutical. But sadly, the drop in pounds was the result of diarrhea and other bowel-trouble caused by ingesting too much sorbitol, a common sweetener that has laxative properties at high dosages.
As John Clemens, a UCLA professor told WebMD about sorbitol, “The laxative effect is very well documented,” he said.
“We would not expect the average consumer to consume upwards of 20 sticks of gum a day.”
That might have been true before these findings, but now, I expect to add at least 15 sticks of chewing gum to my diet per hamburger eaten. Hey, laxatives worked for the guys on my high school’s wrestling team.
Yeah! My Big Lebowski action figures were on my doorstep this evening when I got home. They’ve been on pre-order for over 6 months now. I ordered them from www.entertainmentearth.com. They were packed very caringly. Much kudos to EE.com! I’m sure I’ll be ordering from them again.
It seems like an obvious move: Apple’s little pink 8GB iPod nano ($199) comes out in time for Valentine’s Day, and perhaps before most pink second-gen nanos have kicked the bucket. But there’s a problem: if you’re trying to impress your lady friend by buying her a nano that contributes money to some worthy cause, you’re going to have to stick with the (PRODUCT) RED one, which fights against AIDS and tuberculosis in Africa and around the world. As pink as this nano is, there’s no mention of an accompanying breast-cancer charity benefit, in an industry where pink gadgets usually mean precisely that. Let’s get it going, Apple! [
