Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

And This Little Piggy Went.....

Note to law firms: before you send a ridiculous cease and desist order to a blogger remember there is strength in numbers.While bloggers may not have the funds to fight you in court, they can fight back in the blogosphere. And, they will.

Visit CafePress.com and you'll find lots of T-Shirts ,buttons ,and bumper stickers inspired by the National Pork Board's very successful promotion ,The Other White Meat.

From Gefilte Fish, to Republicans,to Blondes, to Tofu, people have been marketing their own version of the other white  meat without a peep from the  National Pork  Board.

So when Jennifer Laycock, a well-known search engine marketer and breastfeeding advocate decided to  create The Lactivist, a blog about breastfeeding, she decided to help fund the site and raise money for breast milk banks by selling T-Shirts.

I have a CafePress store that sells t-shirts with funny pro-breastfeeding slogans. Things like "Milk on Tap" and "That's my baby's lunch you're staring at." Thus...the shirt that read "the other white milk."

I received a letter this morning from Jennifer Daniel Collins, an attorney at Faegre & Benson that represents The National Pork Board. It stated, for the most part, that my use of the phrase "the other white milk" violates their trademark on the phrase "the other white meat." As such, they've demanded that I remove the shirt, demanded that the image of the shirt be removed from any site I know of, demanded that I destroy any shirts that exist with the logo and demand that I not at any point in the future use the phrase in a commercially profitable way.

Turns out, the real reason the Pork Board sent her the cease and desist order is because they somehow got it in their heads that she was promoting an adult breastfeeding fetish.

"In addition, your use of this slogan also tarnishes the good reputation of the National Pork Board's mark in light of your apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption, such as with the following slogans on your website in close proximity to the slogan "The Other White Milk." "Dairy Diva," "Nursing, Nature's Own Breast Enhancement," "Eat at Mom's, fast-fresh-from the breast," and "My Milk is the Breast."

Go back and read that again. "apparent attempt to promote the use of breastmilk beyond merely for infant consumption."

Do they think I'm trying to an promote an adult breastfeeding fetish??!

Are you freaking kidding me?

 

In her post, Laycock asked bloggers for their support.  Blog they did :

"Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land offers up: National Pork Board Goes After Breastfeeding Search Marketer and National Pork Board Says: Breastfeeding is a Viable Trademark Threat.

Six Degrees of Bacon writes National Pork Board + Lawyers = Boobs.

Kerflop cautions Hold on to your bacon ladies.

Shoemoney says Big Bully Pork Group Stomps on Breastfeeding Moms

The cucking stool sagely explains Lawyer Jennifer gets testy!

Thomas Claburn at Information Week points out National Pork board Stumbles Into Hornet's Nest of Bloggers

Matt Bailey at Site Logic Marketing declares National Pork Board Protects Their Images While I Have Beef for Dinner"
an McAnerin muses on Copyright, Trademarks and Pork Milk

Richard Ball at Apogee Weblog states The National Pork Board Hamstrung by the Other White Milk

Kickass at Blogher says These porkers are unbelievable

Jason Lee Miller at WebPro News declares Search Marketers Declare War on Pork

Evil Green at Filthy Jack asks Will Someone Please Sue Me?

Roger at Blogging Baby says National Pork Board's Reputation Tarnished by BreastfeedingL

Within 48 hours the CEO of the National Pork Board had sent an apology and as Laycock posted, "we are currently working on a resolution."

So what  really happened?  Why did the Pork Board think that Laycock was promoting an adult breastfeeding fetish? My hunch is that the lawyers jumped to a conclusion because of Jennifer's last name. Somehow when the attorneys saw the words lay, cock, and breasts they automatically went to the darkside. But that's just  a hunch.

Astronauts wear diapers

  The news reports about Lisa Nowak's attempted kidnapping of another astronaut all share that Nowak wore diapers on her mad dash from Houston to Orlando so she could save time.

On first read, that sounds looney. Turns out diaper wearing is  something she learned on the job.

As the National Space Biomedical Research Institute shares, all astronauts where diapers during lift off.

As you are seated with your head back and your legs and feet inclined upward, the fluids in your body are already beginning to redistribute. While sitting in the launch position, your body begins to respond to the increased volume of fluid that it senses in the upper part of the body and it begins to tell you so. As part of this response, you feel as though you must go to the bathroom, but, of course, that is impossible given your situation. At this point, it is time to be thankful for the "diaper" that all astronauts must wear during launch. It is the finest and most absorbent diaper ever made! This is important, because you stand to lose up to about a liter of urine. All astronauts wear these diapers and all astronauts experience the need to urinate during this early pre-launch phase. Even if the astronauts attempt to dehydrate themselves on the day prior to launch (which many of them do), the fact that the kidneys work very hard to maintain the production of about one milliter of urine per minute under normal Earthbound circumstances means that the astronaut's bodies will continue to produce at least a minimum amount of urine. And the fact that the body is oriented in the head-down, legs-up launch position means that, as fluids are pulled upwards by gravity, the body will respond by attempting to eliminate what it detects as a "flood" of fluid in the chest, resulting in even more urine production. All of this results in the need to urinate. Besides, as you probably have experienced, during times when you are excited and nervous (which you can imagine the astronauts feel before launch), the need to urinate is exacerbated! Primarily, however, the "upward" fluid shift created by the astronaut's launch position is responsible for the size of the response that occurs.

So when someone asks you how long it takes to drive from Houston to Orlando, the answer is-- Depends.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission Maytag is recalling 2.3 dishwashers manufactured from 1997 to 2001 because of a fire hazard.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Maytag has received 135 reports of dishwasher fires, resulting in product and/or property damage. Four injuries have been reported. The hazard: Liquid rinse-aid can leak from the dishwasher dispenser and come into contact with the dishwasher’s internal wiring which can short-circuit and ignite, posing a fire hazard. The recall involves both under counter and portable plastic tub dishwashers. To see if your dishwasher is affected, visit www.repair.maytag.com.

Turns out the fire problem with dishwashers is widespread. A year ago about 160,000 dishwashers manufactured by Whirlpool and Kenmore were recalled and in the news release about the Maytag recall, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that over the past 15 months Consumer Reports has received about eight dishwasher fire reports involving several other manufacturers. Those reports are currently under investigation.

Dishwashers were not the only product being recalled this week. Busy Mom COO has a listing of four products that were recalled this week including a vase from IKEA that is being recalled because of a lasaration hazard.

Hazard: The base of these vases can break off unexpectedly, posing a laceration hazard to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: IKEA has received 18 reports of these vases breaking, resulting in seven reports of injury. In the U.S. a single incident has been reported. The consumer sustained a cut to her foot. Additionally, six reports involving injury have been received from outside of the U.S., with five consumers sustaining cuts to the hand requiring hospital treatment. Description: The recalled vases have thick black, white or clear glass walls. They stand about 28 inches high and weigh about 11 pounds. The base diameter is about 6 inches and the top diameter is about 9 inches. The IKEA logo and one of three article numbers are printed on the underside of the base. The article numbers are 201-102-34 (black), 501-121-99 (white) and 000-795-45 (clear). Sold at: IKEA stores exclusively nationwide from April 2004 through December 2006 for about $40.

A little more than 100 thousand of these vases have been sold in the U.S. and another 800 thousand worldwide.

Turns out Maytag and Ikea are not alone-- if you want to stay on top of the product recall market, check out US Recall News Blog- a blog that covers private and government recalls on everthing from cars to pharmaceuticals. Some of the current listings include:Fitness equipment, children's toy magnets and an urgent recall in December for   a medication used to treat Lupus. Evidently there were reports of two deaths from people who contracted a brain infection after taking the medication. Kidsource also highlights product recalls for children's products.On the list today: stuffed bears, stuffed cats and bicycles.