Coming Soon To A Grocery Store Near You

Say buh-bye to the ambiguous “sell-by” dates on food. The Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Association announced last Wednesday that standardized regulations will be adopted in order to clarify the shelf-life of a food product. Currently, food products are labeled with any of 10 different phrases, including “sell by” and “expires on.” Now, products will be labeled with “Use By” or “Best if Used By.” “Use By” is an indicator of when the food is safe to eat. “Best if Used By” is an indicator of the when the food tastes the best. In the past, “use-by” dates have been a subjective measure as to when a food should be eaten for peak flavor, but most consumers assume that the food can’t be consumed after the use-by date. As a result, about 91 percent of consumers have mistakenly thrown out food after its use-by date that was actually fine. FMI and GMA are hoping that this small change will help clarify food safety for each product and reduce food waste. You will start to see these changes in grocery stores between now and July of 2018.

Doll…Or Spy?

A doll named Cayla just got banned from Germany for potentially being able to spy on its owners. Cayla is a blonde, blue-eyed doll that connects to the internet in order to talk and interact with kids. She can talk to you about hobbies, the world, games, and more. The problem? The doll uses an insecure Bluetooth connection, leaving it susceptible to hackers that can use the connection to eavesdrop and record private conversations. Germany’s Federal Network Agency pulled the doll off the shelves and banned it from Germany, warning parents about the dangers. Germany has some of the strongest data-protection and privacy laws in the world, but they aren’t the only ones looking into the potential dangers of the doll. Norway stated concerns about the doll last year, and the US, where the doll’s manufacturing company is based, is now examining the doll. This concern reflects increasing worries that “smart” products are too smart. Hackers have controlled baby monitors and other technologically advanced items in the past, and now people are worried that dolls are next. So keep an eye on your toys because you never know who may be listening.

“I Want To Believe”

Scientists are one step closer to answering the question, “Is there other life in the universe?” According to a study recently announced in a news conference at NASA headquarters, astronomers have found seven planets the size of Earth that all orbit the same star. Meaning, they could all have water and support life. Here’s what we know. They are rocky planets, not gaseous, and they orbit a dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. Three of the seven are thought to be habitable. All seven exist in a space that is five times smaller than the distance from Mercury to the sun. They have orbits ranging from one-and-a-half to thirteen Earth days. They do not rotate, so one side is always night, and the other is always day. If you stood on one of the planets’ surfaces, you would receive 200 times less light than we receive from the sun, but just as much energy due to the star’s proximity. The planets exist 40 light-years away, so it would take us millions of years to get there. Instead, a space telescope will launch in 2018 to observe the planets. And if there’s one planet supporting life, there are more.

Silence Of The Girls

Jameis Winston, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB, spoke at a grade school in St. Petersburg, Florida to encourage students to have higher self-esteem. While doing so, he asked all the boys to stand up and told the girls to remain seated. He encouraged the boys by saying, “All my boys, tell me one time: I can do anything I put my mind to.” At this point, the situation was already a bit off-putting. Winston then turned his attention to the girls in the room saying, “but the ladies, they’re supposed to be silent, polite, gentle. My men (are) supposed to be strong.” You can imagine that this did not sit well with the public. Tampa Bay columnist Tom Jones describes the incident as “damaging” and “hurtful.” While Winston has since apologized for his comments, it’s needless to say (considering his track record with controversy) that this incident won’t blow over so easily.

Left In The Dust

By 2030, the average life expectancy is expected to skyrocket. South Korea will lead the pack for women with an average life expectancy of 90.8 years, and Switzerland will lead for men with an expectancy of 84.1 years. In 2010, South Korea’s life expectancy was 84.2 years for its women and Switzerland’s was 80 years for its men – pretty significant. While the U.S. is leading the free world, it’s certainly lagging behind in the race for the highest life expectancy. In fact, the U.S. isn’t even in the top ten for women or men’s life expectancy. Currently, the U.S. is predicted to have an average of 83.3 years for women and 79.5 years for men while in Europe, the highest average for women is 88.6. Studies credit the United States’ lower life expectancy to the lack of universal healthcare. Countries like South Korea and Japan have higher life expectancy rates due to childhood nutrition, lack of smoking, and good access to healthcare. U.S., take notes.

Not All In Vain

At 19 weeks, Keri Young, an expecting mother, went for her prenatal checkup and was told that she was carrying a baby without a brain. Instead of aborting the baby, Young made a noble decision. Knowing that her baby won’t survive without a brain, she decided to have the baby in order to donate the remaining organs to other infants in need. Keri’s husband, Royce Young, reflected on her decision saying, “It would just be irresponsible to take the gifts that Eva (the baby) has and not share them with others.” In addition, she and her husband came to the conclusion that baby Eva is alive, and that their daughter “deserves to meet her mama and daddy.” Keri is now in full-term pregnancy, and the baby is due May 7.

Bye, Beyonce

Hopefully you didn’t buy Coachella tickets just to see Beyonce, because the singer has just announced that she is pulling out of the popular festival. Beyonce was scheduled to headline Coachella on April 15 and 22. However, due to the fact that Beyonce is very pregnant, her doctors have recommended she doesn’t perform at Coachella and instead keep a less rigorous schedule. Don’t fret though! Coachella confirms that instead Beyonce will headline the 2018 Coachella festival. Coachella hasn’t yet revealed who will be taking her place, but we know she is…irreplaceable.

Cold War Flashbacks

Donald Trump has announced that the United States should increase its nuclear arsenal. He said that it would be “wonderful” if no country had nuclear weapons at all, but that unfortunately is not the case. He says it is unacceptable for the United States to fall behind in anything, and Russia currently has more nukes in its arsenal than the United States. Critics claim that both the United States and Russia have more nukes than necessary, though that probably surprises no one. A new treaty called the New Start, which goes in effect February 5 of next year, requires that Russia and the United States must equal their amounts of nuclear weapons for the next ten years. Though Trump claims that nuclear warfare as the biggest problem facing the world, he also says that he wouldn’t rule out using nuclear weapons against Europe.

Freedom Of The Press?

Is this the start of White House censorship or just a continuation? Today the White House blocked various news sources from attending a question-and-answer session with White House Spokesman Sean Spicer. Singled-out specifically was CNN, in just another round of the White House’s claiming that CNN reports fake news, but other news sources that were banned include The New York Times, The Hill, Politico, the Daily Mail, BBC, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Daily News. However, reporters from the right-winging Breitbart, the Washington Times, and One America News Network were allowed in Spicer’s office. Other news sources present included ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, Reuters, Bloomberg, and McClatchy. The White House Correspondent’s Association criticized the decision to prohibit the news sources from attending. It seems that the Trump administration’s war against the media is far from over.

Pop Culture Announcement

Beale Street Music Festival just announced their lineup for May. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Beale Street Music Festival is an annual three-day Memphis in May event starring some of your favorite music acts from across the country. This year, the lineup features Kings of Leon, Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg, MGMT, Tori Kelly, Ludacris, Jimmy Eat World, Ziggy Marley, and more. For the full lineup and information on buying tickets, click here.