Four Loko

-  In North Carolina the ABC Commission is trying to make it easier for retailers to remove alcoholic energy drinks like “Four Loko” from store shelves

North Carolina’s ABC Commission addressed the issue of alcoholic energy drinks, a day after the FDA issued warnings to the makers of these drinks, including the maker of the popular “Four Loko” brand. ABC acts to quicken removal of alcoholic energy drinks

“The Federal action yesterday effectively leads to a ban of the products unless there is a court challenge,” said ABC Commission Chairman Jon Williams.

Commissioners say North Carolina wants to take the Federal actions a step further. Chairman Williams said that he will work with the retail merchants and the wholesalers in North Carolina to quickly and orderly remove the products from North Carolina shelves. The commission created an exemption to allow retailers to get credit from wholesalers to return the product, which they say will hurry the removal process.

The commission also proposed making companies disclose any stimulants added to drinks in the future and put them on the label. They said this will help make sure dangerous products like this do not sneak up on health officials again.

The labeling proposal will have to go through several steps before it is made official. ABC Commission leaders said they expect that to happen early next 2011. Companies making caffeinated alcoholic beverages have 15 days from when the warning was issued to notify the FDA of what steps they are taking.

Cameo For Clinton

-  Former president Bill Clinton shot a cameo appearance in Bangkok for the Hangover 2 movie, reports People. It was perfect casting, Clinton will be playing himself. Clinton was in Bangkok for to deliver a speech on clean energy.

Director Todd Phillips wrote the sequel with Scot Armstrong. The sequel is schedule for release next spring. The sequel brings back Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zack Galifianakis and Justin Bartha who all agreed to replay their characters.

It had been revealed earlier that Mel Gibson would have a small part as a tattoo artist in Bangkok. But has recently been replaced by Liam Neeson. Mike Tyson is also invited back to appear in the sequel.

lone surfer

- Professional surfers call Kelly Slater “The King”. He’s just won an unprecedented 10th world surfing championship title in Puerto Rico.

Unfortunately, this win comes when the surfing world is mourning the death of Andy Irons, a long-time rival and friend of Slater was found dead in his hotel room in Dallas, Texas. Irons was 32 years old and a three-time world champion.

“I feel blessed that we worked through the differences we had and I was able to learn what I’m made of because of Andy,” Slater said in a statement upon hearing of Irons’ death. “We enjoyed many quiet times together with our girls in the last year and I got to know a happy, funny, innocent kid who was happy to live every second with the people he loved.”

Slater learned how to surf as a boy in his home town of Cocoa Beach, Florida. He has won more titles most athletes, winning his first title at age 20, and this tenth Championship title at age 38, to claim the youngest and oldest champion in surfing.

Along the way, Slater stockpiled an insurmountable mountain of records: both the oldest and youngest world champ; most WCT Victories (41); six Pipe Masters Wins; the highest two-wave total (20 points); the most prize money (more than $2 million) and the first ‘seven-figure’ salary — not to mention 14 Surfer Poll wins and a Quiksilver Eddie Aikau big wave victory.

Snack Food Pyramid

-  It’s not what you eat, it’s how much. Twinkies, Little Debbie Snacks, Oreos or Doritos are not diet foods, but Mark Haub, a nutrition professor at Kansas State University ate only convenience store snacks for two months and lost 27 pounds.

Haub says the effort was an experiment. He kept his food intake below 1,800 calories a day and claims no extra exercise is required. Dr. Haub ate only 1,800 calories each day and took vitamin supplements just in case he develops certain nutrient deficiencies.   Twinkies, snacks and cookies were not the only things he ate.

“I avoided whole grains, I avoided fruits. I did eat some raw carrots and celery at dinner … [and] I tried to pick foods that most people would consider unhealthy,” states Haub.

He ate about four convenience vending machine items a day, along with milk, a protein shake and one or two servings of vegetables, avoiding whole grains and fruits. Dr. Haub usually ate 2600 calories a day and weighed 200 pounds befor starting his experiment.

“I kind of took the stance that … let’s say we reduce obesity, reduce body weight, move somebody — me — from overweight to healthy weight, but we do that with foods that aren’t recommended,” he says. “Is that healthy?”

At the end of the two months, in addition to his weight loss, his cholesterol levels improved lowering his “bad” cholesterol by 20% while improving his “good” cholesterol by 20%. His triglycerites were reduced by 39%.

Ready to Plug In

-  Today, Apple is a major force, but in 1976 the Apple-1 was assembled and shipped from the garage of Steve Job’s parents’ house. One of the approximately 200 Apple-1′s sold, number 82 is going on the auction block at Christie’s on November 23rd. Christie’s has placed the value at an estimated $161,600 – $242,400.

The Apple-1 was the first home computer to feature an assembled motherboard, which was a major step for people lacking the electronic skills necessary to assembly one. As with other early computers, the Apple-1 did not have a floppy drive, it instead used cassette tapes to load the programs into memory.

The winning bidder will receive the Apple-1 along with the original packaging, instruction manuals, cassette interface and basic tape,early documentation and a signed letter by Steve Jobs. The letter, typed on ruled note paper is signed “Steven Jobs”. The manuals have the company’s original logo of Newton sitting underneath the apple tree.

Christie's Apple-1 Auction Listing

Cruise Passengers Disenbark

-  The arduous journey aboard the Carnival Splendor has finally come to an end as passengers disembark in San Diego, California

The forty-five hundred passengers and crew will not soon forget the experience with no air conditioning, no hot water, bad food, backed-up toilets and stuffy cabins. Luckily no one was injured, however, that didn’t ease their discomfort.

Here are the reactions of some of the passengers after docking in San Diego, Ca:

“It was gross when the toilets weren’t working. What can you do? There were a lot of people getting smashed off warm beer.”—Chris Harlen, Buena Park, Calif.

“We ate the same stuff. They tried to get creative and the more creative they got, the yuckier it got.” shares Fahizah Alim, Sacramento, Calif.

“It was just bread and butter and some leftover meats. … I want a shower, some coffee and some meat with no bread.” said Ken King, Los Angeles.

“All of a sudden, the walls started shaking. It was like an earthquake.”—Karen Blocker, of Phoenix, Arizona, describes the emergency.

Peg Fisher and her husband, of Las Vegas, were on their first cruise. Peg said, “If you could see

ADHD Increasing

-  There are currently 5.4 million children who have been diagnosed with ADHD and 2.7 million of those are taking ADHD medication. That is almost one in ten school age children with an ADHD diagnosis, which is a 22 percent increase in four years.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common childhood condition which is treatable with therapy, drugs or both.. ADHD can affect certain areas of the brain that allow problem solving, planning ahead, understanding others’ action, and impulse control.

“Based on our parent surveys, there has been an increase in parent-reported ADHD diagnosis among their children,” said lead author Susanna Visser of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“This increase was from 7.8 percent in 2003 to 9.5 percent in 2007,” she said. “When we project it to the American population, we can see that a million more children were diagnosed with ADHD in 2007 as compared to 2003. That’s a substantial increase in four years.”

“There are probably more children out there who have not received a diagnosis and we can’t determine how many more children there are based on these data,” Visser said.

GE To Buy 25000 Electric Cars

-  In hopes of jump starting the demand for electric cars, GE plans to purchase 12,000 GM vehicles beginning with the Chevy Volt in 2011. It will then add other manufacturers reaching it’s goal of 25,00 vehicles by 2015.

“Electric vehicle technology is real and ready for deployment and we are embracing the transformation with partners like GM and our fleet customers,” said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. “By electrifying our own fleet, we will accelerate the adoption curve, drive scale, and move electric vehicles from anticipation to action.”

“We make technology that touches every point of the electric vehicle infrastructure and are leading the transformation to a smarter electrical grid,” Immelt said. “This transformation will be good for our businesses and for our shareowners. Wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles will also drive clean energy innovation, strengthen energy security and deliver economic value.”

GE’s action is a boost for GM. In a statement GM CEO Dan Akerson said, “GE’s commitment reflects confidence that electric vehicles are a real-world technology that can reduce both emissions and our dependence on oil. It is also a vote of confidence in the Chevrolet Volt, which we will begin delivering to retail customers by the end of this year. We are pleased that the Volt will play a major role in this program, which will spur innovation and benefit our companies, our customers, and society as a whole.”

Ford Opted for TheraMatrix

-  TheraMatrix, a small Michigan firm gave Ford Motor Co. a proposal to cut its physical therapy costs. The automaker signed up for an in-state pilot program, which ended up being so successful that Ford expanded it last year, increasing national coverage to about 390,000 employees, retirees and family members.

This cost-saving program came under attack from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

“They tried to destroy us,” says Robert Whitton, a physical therapist who founded TheraMatrix in 1981. TheraMatrix has cut Ford’s physical therapy costs by about half, Whitton says, saving millions of dollars annually. Under Blue Cross, Ford’s costs averaged $745,000 a month just in Michigan, he says. “We shouldn’t have been in this position for creating a program that helped save health care costs.”

Blue Cross denies trying to hurt TheraMatrix’s business.

USA Today quotes Blue Cross’ general counsel Jeffrey Rumley, “The picture that they’re trying to paint is the big whatever giant with a chainsaw in his hand coming down on the little guy, I just don’t buy into that too easily.”

Duhamel Wins World Series of Poker

-  Twenty-three year old  Jonathan Duhamel outlasted a field of more than 7,300 contestants to take home the grand prize of nearly $9 million.

The 41st annual poker tournament began in early July, and the top nine players were invited to come back for the finals on Saturday.

Duhamel and Florida’s John Racener emerged as the two top players when the final round began Monday night at the Rio hotel in Las Vegas.

But Duhamel’s large 6-to 1 chip lead held, so Racener  took home over $3.5 million dollars for his second-place finish.

Racener didn’t go down easy,  it took Duhamel 43 hands to finish off the Florida pro.

Duhamel earned the top prize of $8.9 million, while Racener seemed very content to pocket the $5.5 million for his runner-up finish. Here are the complete final table payouts for the

Duhamel’s previous best prize was just under $55 thousand when he finished 10th in a 2008 tournament.

Threre were 150 Canadians cheering Duhamel on. USA Today quotes Duhamel reaction to his new celebrity, “It’s weird but it’s kind of fun at the same time. I’m not used to people (asking for autographs). It’s new for me, but I enjoy it a little bit.”

Duhamel added, “With poker I saw that I had chances to make it. I tried to do everything I could and I just tried to up my game the best I could.”

I try my best to try and be the best,” Duhamel says. “If I do something, I want to do it 100 percent.”

Duhamel is now the third non-American to win the World Series of Poker.