We thought you should know that the Federal Trade Commission just published new guidelines about – among other things – blogs that feature product endorsements.That sure caught my attention.
The Guides, which have been around since 1980, have been freshened up to “specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”
Then I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
See, there’s a seedy underbelly to media where some journalists – crappy, amoral journalists for sure (there are many names for these people: swag hags, freebie queens, whores, shills) – but still journalists, who too enthusiastically accept gifts (like bikes and components), giveaways, expensive meals, all-expenses-paid trips and the like in exchange for editorial coverage. If you’re a keen reader, you can probably already spot this perversion, aptly called “advertorial.” So far it has flown silently under the radar because the FTC has no authority to regulate speech unless it’s specifically commercial speech.
The new guidelines surfaced due to a recent spate of bloggers trumpeting the virtues of a product that they were either given or were paid to endorse.
[Just to be clear... anything I write about is something that either I purchased or a friend purchased and I've used. The exception that comes to mind is stuff donated to QuietlyHelping.org but I will include in the context of the piece that it was donated. I'll happily except stuff for review, as I already do with books, and occasionally other stuff, but if it appears here, you will know when I was given something. Otherwise you can safely assume I hauled out my wallet.]
Source: Speedgoat Blog
It never did warm up. Well, maybe it did, but not when we were riding. It stayed cloudy and cool, breezy and chilled, but at least there were hills and suffering.
The water levels in the lakes were down (to my surprise) since last I was in the park. It seems like there’s been plenty of rain lately thus my surprise. But I’m not sure who controls the levels, nature or mankind, as there are gates and valves seen here or there, and maybe they were allowing the lakes to spill off before the winter. We shot across the park with the intent of crossing over to Route 17, but someone had a change of heart and so we climbed back up Johnstown road and looped back down the hills we had just climbed (I took it easy today and held my top speed to 41mph). We cut through what was an old orphanage strange in its juxtaposition against a golf course and then completed the loop.
The road leads ever onward and todays ride, mostly with folks I’ve known for a long time now, was perfect for the day. No pressure, no ripping each others legs off, no sprints. Just a cruise of the countryside and some suffering from the hills. Just enough of everything to keep things interesting. As hilly as it is where I live it is hard to put together a ride that doesn’t contain some climbing. You’d really have to ride to other side of the county to begin to make that happen, and the ride across the county would not be hill free. But what are bike rides without climbing? Wind fights? Far more demoralizing than the hills, I assure you.
ot for nothing, it is amazing how much a beautiful drop cap can dress up a simple blog post. Fortunately there’s a site devoted to the topic the 
RSS - Posts
NY Bottle Deposit for ‘water drinks’ Starts On Halloween
leave a comment »
Bottle Deposit Starts On Halloween: Starting this coming Saturday, bottled water drinks will be subject to a nickel deposit—and the NY State government will be able to collect millions from the unclaimed deposits. Governor Paterson said, “The expansion of this legislation not only provides our State with much-needed revenue, but will also help us to keep our neighborhoods and parks clean.”
The law was supposed to go into effect in June, but some bottlers had argued that it was going into effect too soon, especially since NY State requires bottles sold here to have a special UPC. Which means some distribution and logistical issues; Environmental Leader points out, "For instance, a distributor can’t simply restock New York shelves with product from a New Jersey warehouse unless it bears the unique code."
The Post-Standard explains, “For consumers, the change is simple enough. Beginning at 12 a.m. Saturday, they will pay a nickel deposit on bottles of water, just as they do for soda and beer. They will get the deposits back when they return the bottles to the store or to a redemption center. Deposits will not be required on water that has sugar added, or on containers of 1 gallon or more.”
Distributors will have to give NY State 80% of all unclaimed deposits.
[This one is simple. Bottled water is bad idea. It always has been. I'll admit that there a few times when bottled water makes sense. A few very special cases. Most of the time, tap water is fine. If you're really super finicky, filter that as well. But by far most of the time plain old tap water carried in a reusable and hopefully recyclable or upcyclable container is the way to go. Lately the word is to watch out for BPA and linings made with BPA (metal cans, and some metal water bottles. Anyway... stop pretending that bottled water is worth the environmental impact of shipping this expensive and heavy item anywhere. We're lucky that in most places in the US water is clean, healthy, and abundant. And save yourself needless tithing to the State. My disclaimer here is that as a hiker I've pulled water from sources that would make city folk vomit, although I did carry a filter and stuff (which never improves (ahem) brackish water), but did seem to keep me safe.]
Source: Gothamist
Written by Daniel
October 25, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Posted in advocacy, commentary, environment, ethics, health, news