uFDA Regulation Of E-Cigarettes Would Only Help Big Tobacco, Say Vaping Startupsr

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  (Mike Mozart)

  If you go into a convenience store to buy cigarettes, you might have a wide variety of smokes to choose from, but most of those brands are made by three or four huge tobacco companies. But if you’re one of the growing number of consumers who choose vaping over traditional cigarettes, there are seemingly countless small companies willing to sell you liquid nicotine. Some of those startups say that pending FDA regulation of e-cigarettes could put them out of business, leaving only big tobacco.

  The FDA is currently deciding whether or not to consider liquid nicotine a tobacco product. If it does, the makers of the vaping liquids would be subject to a rigorous review process that would include providing the FDA with detailed information about ingredients, manufacturing processes, and potential health effects.

  Some small companies believe the additional cost of complying with the new rules would be too much for them to take on.

  The president of the president of the American Vaping Association tells the L.A. Times he predicts that 99% of small vaping businesses would shutter as a result.

  It’s not just the makers of these products that are concerned. Those who sell and distribute them worry that FDA requirements favor the large tobacco companies that have the resources to deal with the red tape, and who already competing in the e-cig market.

  Lorillard, maker of Newport, Kent, and Maverick cigarettes, is behind the Blu brand of e-cigs. The smallest of the big U.S. tobacco companies, it has a market cap of around $26 billion. Altria, the folks behind Marlboro, Virginia Slims, and others, has the MarkTen brand (and a market cap of more than $100 billion), while Reynolds America (market cap: $61 billion) produces the Vuse brand of e-cig, along with Camel, Kool, Lucky Strike and other cigarettes.

  “Making the claim that they are proposing the regulations the way they are written to make a safer product, knowing that the only people who are going to be able to compete is big tobacco, is ludicrous,” the president of a liquid nicotine wholesaler tells the Times.

  If the FDA does extend tobacco regulation to cover liquid nicotine, manufacturers would have two years to comply with the new rules. It’s hoped that this will give them sufficient time and not drain resources needed to stay in business.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uPolice: Man Planning A Burglary Tipped Of Officials After Butt-Dialing 9-1-1r

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  (Alan Rappa)

  There are many ways to get caught in the act, but one guaranteed method to landing in hot water is calling the police directly and letting them know what you’re planning. Although one man accused of burglarizing homes in New Jersey didn’t mean to bring the cops in on his plan, his backside did all the dialing, calling up 9-1-1 just as he was allegedly discussing his plans.

  Authorities say the suspect was clueless to what the prosecutor noted is “commonly referred to as a ‘butt dial’ ” when he was discussing a burglary, reports NJ.com, making the job of the police a lot easier.

  The local dispatch center received what appeared to be an open-line emergency cell phone call, the county prosecutor’s office and the town’s chief of police said in a joint statement. When officials started listening in, they say they heard male voices discussing an apparent burglary, but they couldn’t pinpoint the caller’s location.

  Later that night, police had a report of a burglary at a residence in the area, with a reported $1,355 in jewelry missing. In the meantime, police had confirmed that the cell phone that made the butt dial had recently been assigned to the 42-year-old suspect.

  After another forced entry was reported at a residence nearby, detectives followed the suspect in his vehicle and then stopped him and arrested him. A search warrant for the car resulted in a bunch of loot that police believe was stolen by the suspect, including jewelry, electronics, a hand gun and U.S. bonds worth up to $11,300, as well as burglary tools.

  The suspect was charged with two counts of third-degree burglary, two counts of third-degree theft, three counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief, and second-degree burglary in connection with the series of burglaries.

  Previously in butt dial news: Court: You Have No Right To Privacy When You Butt Dial Someone

  Bungling Branchburg burglar butt dials 911, cops say [NJ.com]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uCustomer Turned Down For Loan, Threatens Kia Dealership With Handgunr

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  (Janet Ulliott)

  There are many ways to deal with the situation when you’re turned down for a car loan. You could, for example, try a different dealership, or apply for financing through your own bank or credit union first. We do not recommend the tactic that one man in Kansas took last week, which was to pull out a handgun and threaten Kia dealership employees with it.

  According to the police in Wichita, KS, dealership employees called the cops on Friday morning after a customer threatened three employees with a handgun. Police said that the man was part of a young couple who were turned down for a car loan.

  His girlfriend, who was also arrested, contacted a local TV station to clarify some things. She told KAKE that the gun was unloaded, and that the real reason why he pulled the weapon was that he “felt threatened” while they were leaving the dealership, and decided to defend himself in the parking lot.

  Whatever the case, both members of the couple were arrested for suspicion of aggravated assault and other “minor offenses,” police said, and they were put in jail.

  Police: Turned down for a car loan, man draws gun on Kia Motors employees [Wichita Eagle]
  Couple arrested for allegedly threatening dealership [KAKE] (Thanks, Wayne!)

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uIKEA To Sell Only LED Lighting Starting September 1r

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  (catastrophegirl)

  That lamp you’ve been eyeing at IKEA is getting a bit of a makeover; or at least the light bulb is. The company is moving forward with plans to only sell LED bulbs starting this fall.

  The Swedish furniture retailer announced today that starting on Sept. 1 it will only sell light fixtures equipped with LED bulbs as part of its effort to encourage sustainability both in its stores and in consumers’ homes.

  The world’s largest home furnishing retailer, who stopped selling incandescent bulbs in 2011, first revealed its plan to shift to an LED-only product lineup back in 2012. Since then, the company claims to have saved U.S. customers around $3 billion in energy costs from the 7.6 million LED bulbs sold.

  LED lighting sources are estimated to use about 85% less energy that traditional incandescent bulbs and can last up to 20 years.

  “Changing a light bulb may seem like a small action but many small actions can lead to a big change,” Lars Petersson, IKEA U.S. President, said in statement. “Note that if one million people changed one bulb each into an LED this would be equivalent to taking 6,700 cars off the road or planting 17 million trees per year. That’s significant.”

  A study conducted by the retailer in 2012 and again in 2015 found that consumers are coming around to the idea of purchasing the often more expensive lighting source.

  In 2015, nearly 64% of Americans say they’ve purchased at least one of the more sustainable bulbs for their homes, up from the 49% who had made such a purchase in 2012.

  “With household electricity bills continuing to rise rapidly and global energy consumption increasing, the LED lighting will have a big impact,” Steve Howard, Chief Sustainability Officer for IKEA, said in a statement. “Building on our belief that everyone should be able to afford to live more sustainably at home, we will make sure our LED prices are affordable for the many.”

  In fact, IKEA says its been able to work with manufacturers to bring the cost of its LED bulbs down. A two-pack of 40-watt replacement LED bulbs now costs about $4.5, while the 60-watt dimmable version sells for $4.50 each.

  The switch to LED lighting is part of IKEA’s larger renewable energy push. The company has set a goal to produce as much renewable energy as the total energy IKEA consumes globally by 2020.

  The company estimates that by the end of this year its renewable energy investments in the U.S. will produce four times more energy than IKEA uses in its operations in the country.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uAstronauts Have Grown Lettuce In Space For The First Time (And Today They Get To Eat It)r

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  (NASA on YouTube)

  It’s hard enough for some people to keep plants alive and thriving on the face of the Earth, but a team of astronauts on the International Space Station have green enough thumbs that they’ve managed to cultivate plants in space. Today, they’ll get to eat the fruits of their labors, chowing down on the first-ever lettuce grown in space.

  Fresh food is rare in space, and there isn’t a lot of room for refrigeration. Most fresh things get consumed immediately upon arrival in orbit. But space missions are getting longer, especially if we ever want to move a colony to Mars, so researchers have focused on how to grow greens in space for those long hauls.

  The red romaine lettuce called “Outredgeous” was planted, grown and now harvested in space, Business Insider reports, as part of a NASA experiment called Veg-01. Scientists have been working on an effective way to grow plants in-orbit, using a technology dubbed “Veggie” that combines the efforts of Nasa and an aerospace research company called Orbital Technologies Corporation.

  There are all kinds of factors that don’t exist on land: No gravity means water and soil won’t stay put, and roots tend to grow in weird directions. Not to mention a lack of rain or sunshine inside a metallic space station.

  The plant growth system cultivated by astronauts thrives in zero gravity, in something akin to a tiny greenhouse. The Veggie system uses plant “pillows” as a bed for roots with a water reservoir below. Its lightweight structure made from special fabrics is filled with soil, fertilizer and seeds. Red and blue LEDs provide the colors of light that plants use for photosynthesis.

  The set of Veg-01 pillows used for this batch were set in motion on July 8 and have grown for 33 days. Astronauts will get to eat the lettuce today, as part of a six-hour live-stream event on NASA TV that began just before 10 a.m. EDT on Monday, that also includes the Russian crew performing a spacewalk.

  Anticipation was already running high last night, and puns were on point:

  Tomorrow we'll eat the anticipated veggie harvest on @space_station! But first, lettuce take a #selfie. #YearInSpace http://pic.twitter.com/fUKQMhEDjK

  — Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 9, 2015

  Here’s more info on the science behind space lettuce:

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uFlorida Man Spends 17 Years Challenging Debt He Never Owed In The First Placer

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  (Adam Fagen)

  Imagine you wake up one day to find out that you suddenly owe nearly $100,000 on a house you’ve never owned, in a city where you’ve never resided. Should be easy enough to sort that out, right? Tell that to the Florida man who has spent the better part of two decades trying to convince creditors he didn’t buy property in Philadelphia when he was 12 years old.

  The man’s saga, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, goes back to 1998, when he learned of a $98,293 judgement against him from a bank. The money was related to a property in Northeast Philadelphia that had gone into foreclosure.

  The building had apparently been purchased by someone with a similar name, but in 1972, when the alleged debtor wasn’t even a teenager, let alone trying to invest in real estate.

  He was the victim of lazy “skip tracers,” who do their best to connect names and dates and locations in the hopes of tracking down the correct person, but who sometimes fail miserably by, for example, not taking into account that this man could not possibly have ever owned this property.

  Through a little research on his own, the man believes he may have found the correct debtor with his same name. Unfortunately, that man died back in the 1970s.

  And yet, he continually receives demands for payments for significant amounts of money. There was the law firm demanding nearly $32,000. A collections action dating back to 1986 valued at $12,000. A 2011 collection notice for a city water bill he never paid, because he never lived there.

  He’s been able to shoo them off as they pop up, but they just won’t go away.

  Most recently, a Philadelphia law firm demanded $7,323 for delinquent taxes owed — again, by someone other than him — to the city and its school district.

  There is a bright spot at the end of this long tunnel. A lawyer at the firm trying to collect this latest debt tells the Inquirer that the info from the third-party skip tracer has been flagged as wrong, which could cut down on the number of people trying to collect these age-old debts owed by someone else. Or that bright spot could just be the next debt collection train coming to barrel him over.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

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