Taco Bell Beef in Court

Taco Bell Beef story is not on the top of the Google searches list, but it reached the first position in popularity at Yahoo. So, what is the story?

According to the suit filed by the Alabama law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, Taco Bell is using a meat mixture that contains binders and extenders, and does not meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be labeled as "beef.” Attorney Dee Miles said the meat mixture contained just 35 percent beef, with the remaining 65 percent containing water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch.

Here’s the actual ingredient list on the side of the shipping containers labeled “Taco Meat Filling".

Beef, water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.

And here is the list of Seasoned Ground Beef ingredients from Taco Bell website:

Beef, Water, Seasoning [Isolated Oat Product, Salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Oats (Wheat), Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Spices, Maltodextrin, Soybean Oil (Anti-dusting Agent), Garlic Powder, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Cocoa Powder (Processed With Alkali), Silicon Dioxide, Natural Flavors, Yeast, Modified Corn Starch, Natural Smoke Flavor], Salt, Sodium Phosphates. CONTAINS SOYBEAN, WHEAT

Based on the lawsuit, in accordance with the USDA regulations, Taco Bell can't call this mixture "beef" at all. Beef is officially defined as "flesh of cattle", and ground beef is defined as:

Chopped fresh and/or frozen beef with or without seasoning and without the addition of beef fat as such, shall not contain more than 30 percent fat, and shall not contain added water, phosphates, binders, or extenders.

That is certainly nothing like the mix that Taco Bell is using in their products. Therefore, the law firm argues that the mixture labeled as "taco meat filling" in the industrial packaging should be labeled in exactly the same way in all advertising and packaging, as the USDA mandates.

Following USDA guidelines “by book”, any food labeled as "meat taco filling" should at least have 40% fresh meat. As, Taco Bell stuff only has 36% meat, that makes this claim well grounded from all perspectives.

The suit was filed on behalf of Taco Bell customer and California resident Amanda Obney, who is not seeking monetary damages, but instead wants a court to order Taco Bell to be honest in its advertising. "We are asking that they stop saying that they are selling beef," Miles said.

Irvine, Calif.-based Taco Bell spokesman Rob Poetsch said the company denies that its advertising is misleading and said the company would "vigorously defend the suit."

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/25/wheres-beef-taco-bell-sued-ingredients/

http://www.tacobell.com/nutrition/ingredientstatement

http://gizmodo.com/5742413/this-is-what-really-hides-in-taco-bells-beef?skyline=true&s=i

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700104116/Taco-Bell-defends-its-meat.html?s_cid=rss-14

iPhone and Verizon: Will that be a Happy Marriage?

The rumors were going in rounds, but nothing happened… until now. The iPhone is finally coming to Verizon. After talking up his new LTE network a bit, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed a CDMA (non-LTE) version of the iPhone 4 will be introduced to Verizon Wireless network next month. Talks started way back in 2008, and the phone has been in testing for a year -- it sounds like they wanted to get this one right. Current Verizon customers will be able to pre-order on February 3rd for the standard $200 price for the 16GB model on a two year agreement, $300 for the 32GB version -- everyone else can order on February 10th (see it compared with AT&T's iPhone 4). Just to clarify and put any wild rumors to bed, the phone is Verizon 3G (EV-DO) only, no 4G data or GSM roaming. It's not a world phone or an AT&T + Verizon phone, it's just a Verizon phone.

Outside of Verizon connectivity, the phone is basically unchanged, although Verizon's CDMA network doesn't support simultaneous voice and data as with the GSM version. It does have the new antenna design we were hearing about last week, but that's just because CMDA requires a different configuration of antennas. Apple claims they didn't go LTE just yet because first-gen chipsets would force unwanted design decisions, and customers want a Verizon device now. That slight modification also equates to a slight bump in where the volume buttons and mute switch -- a new case might be required. Software-wise the big innovation is five user WiFi hotspot functionality, something that's standard on Android phones, while Apple has kept the iPhone only able to tether directly to one computer.

How that may change the competition of the wireless carriers? A lot! With the network available on the US market, Verizon will be able to attract all the iPhone fans from the main competitor AT&T and ultimately dominate the market. When the iPhone hits Verizon on February 3rd, we are likely to see the following consequences:

• Apple and Android will breakaway as the two leading mobile operating systems, both separating even further from the pack over the next year. BlackBerry, Windows Phone, WebOS and others are in big, big trouble.
• Apple and Google will begin a more rigorous arms race in terms of releasing new and innovative features. This is what I really love: both want to “win” and will push harder and harder to make the best product, and in the end, it’s the consumer that really wins.
• Prices for smartphones in general will drop due to increased competition – consumers win again.

Personally, as long-term Verizon user and fateful Droid fan, I do not care much about the new gadget introduction. But I do care on the quality and reliability of the network connection. There is a serious danger that Verizon’s network may become just as congested and overloaded as AT&T’s became as soon as iPhone has been introduced to AT&T. Verizon assures that network is ready for all surprises. Is that true – we will see soon.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.engadget.com/apple/verizon-iphone/

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/the-arrival-of-the-verizon-iphone/

http://www.onlinesocialmedia.net/20110110/verizon-iphone-vs-droid-bionic-4g-release-importance/

http://phandroid.com/2011/01/10/verizon-iphone-how-will-it-affect-android/

History of the New Year Celebration

While most of the world now celebrates New Year's Day on January 1st, it was not always that way. If you had lived in Mesopotamia and Babylon 4,000 years ago (c. 2000 B.C.), you probably would have celebrated the New Year in mid-March, at the time of the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. If, however, you were an Egyptian, your new year began with the Autumnal Equinox and the flooding of the Nile. If you were Greek, the Winter Solstice began your New Year celebrations. All these seasons reflected a time of renewal, re-birth and regeneration. However, it was secular, civic and religious influences that eventually changed most "new year" celebrations to January 1st.

Measuring time was, historically, determined by the easily observed cycles of the sun (solar), the moon (lunar) and of the regular occurrences of seasonal events that influenced agriculture. However, since solar, lunar and seasonal events were not consistent, formulating a reliable calendar evolved over eons.

The earliest known Roman calendar designated March as the beginning of the New Year, on the Vernal Equinox - the beginning of spring and a time when warring could begin, again. Depending upon whether one focuses on Mars or Martius as the derivation of that month's name, either interpretation is acceptable, as the return of spring begins a new crop season; and, with the winter ending, the weather was favorable for moving troops. Their calendar had ten named months, reflected in the historic, numerical names of six of the months. The origin of the names of the months were:

• March - Mars, Roman god of war; or, Martius - Roman god of fertility and vegetation
• April - perhaps derived from aperire - Latin from open; or, from Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty
• May - Maia, Roman goddess of spring
• June - Juno, principle Roman goddess of marriage and the well-being of women
• July - originally Quintilis, Latin for 5th month, renamed for Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.
• August - originally, Sextilis, Latin for 6th month, renamed for Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C.
• September - septem, Latin for 7
• October - octo, Latin for 8
• November - novem, Latin for 9
• December - decem, Latin for 10

Before 700 B.C. the calendar year began with the month of March, until the second king of Rome, Numa Pontilius, added the month of January and February. The month of January was named to honor Janus, a Roman god with two faces - one looking back and the other looking forward, signifying the old and the new.

February is derived from Februa, the Roman festival of purification.

In 46 B.C.E. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first established January 1 as New Year’s day. In later years, Roman pagans observed the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies—a ritual they believed constituted a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos was ordered by the gods.

As Christianity spread, pagan holidays were either incorporated into the Christian calendar or abandoned altogether.  By the early medieval period most of Christian Europe regarded Annunciation Day (March 25) as the beginning of the year. According to Catholic tradition, Annunciation Day commemorates the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would be impregnated by G-d and conceive a son to be called Jesus.

After William the Conqueror (AKA “William the Bastard” and “William of Normandy”) became King of England on December 25, 1066, he decreed that the English return to the date established by the Roman pagans, January 1.  This move ensured that the commemoration of Jesus’ birthday (December 25) would align with William’s coronation, and the commemoration of Jesus’ circumcision (January 1) would start the New Year - thus rooting the English and Christian calendars and his own Coronation.  William’s innovation was eventually rejected, and England rejoined the rest of the Christian world and returned to celebrating New Years Day on March 25.

About five hundred years later, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII (AKA “Ugo Boncompagni”, 1502-1585) abandoned the traditional Julian calendar.  By the Julian reckoning, the solar year comprised 365.25 days, and the intercalation of a “leap day” every four years was intended to maintain correspondence between the calendar and the seasons.  Really, however there was a slight inaccuracy in the Julian measurement (the solar year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds = 365.2422 days).  This slight inaccuracy caused the Julian calendar to slip behind the seasons about one day per century.  Although this regression had amounted to 14 days by Pope Gregory’s time, he based his reform on restoration of the vernal equinox, then falling on March 11, to the date had 1,257 years earlier when Council of Nicaea was convened (March 21, 325 C.E.).  Pope Gregory made the correction by advancing the calendar 10 days.  The change was made the day after October 4, 1582, and that following day was established as October 15, 1582.  The Gregorian calendar differs from the Julian in three ways:  (1) No century year is a leap year unless it is exactly divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000, etc.); (2) Years divisible by 4000 are common (not leap) years; and (3) once again the New Year would begin with the date set by the early pagans, the first day of the month of Janus - January 1.

 Throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years at January 1 - supposedly the day on which Jesus’ circumcision. So, the January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.holidays.net/newyear/story.htm

http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/newyearshistory/

http://adoptionworld.org/kid/newyear.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year's_Day