• dave
• 1 Comment
• 11 Dec 2008

Keep Your Head Warm This Winter With Nobis Winter Headwear

At this time of year the population is split into two types of people;  Those who happen to be lucky enough to live in a climate that allows you to wear a Hawaiian shirt year round (this is not recommended), and those of us who have to worry about their hair turning into gelcicles when we walk outside.  If you’re living north of 36th parallel, Nobis has created a variety of winter wear for you that will thwart your brainfreeze.

Nobis recently released its new fall line of head wear and apparel, which is designed to look different and be independent of any other brand of its kind.  With over 40 selections of hand knit hats in varying in styles, they provide a variety of trendy winter wear.  With hats humorously named “teabag” a thermal peaker, “lucifer” a beanie, “Fargo” a knit cap, and “helga” a jockey cap, the Canadian based company even makes fedoras, for those who are living the gangster lifestyle.

You can find Nobis gear at retailers throughout the country.  Visit their store locator to find the closest store near you.  Get there quick because as I have found out first hand, they are going very fast.

BTW, Alpha Mantra is in no way affiliated with Nobis, but if anyone over there is reading this, James and I have cold ears and would love some warms hats. NY weather is awful!

• james
• No comments
• 8 Dec 2008

Check Out BlackHalf.com

As you may well know, AlphaMantra is all about winning at life.  One person who is certainly a winner, at life and the Presidency amongst other things, is Barack Obama.  A good friend of mine, who I’ll hopefully drag onto the site to write some content, has started a social movement in the wake of this election via his t-shirts that read “I voted for the Black Half.”

Essentially, Obama is 50% black, and my friend is 0% black yet 100% jealous (of Obama’s blackness, not the Presidency.)  A little over 50% of the country voted for Obama.  Of that 53 odd percent, some were voting for the white half of Obama, and some were voting for the black half of Obama.  By wearing a BlackHalf T-Shirt, you can explain with half you voted for.

Personally, I just went with whatever half knew how to use a computer, and did not believe that at some point in history, two of every animal boarded a boat and set out into a rainstorm…

Anyway, check out blackhalf.com, buy a T-Shirt, and wear it proudly.  It’s what your ancestors would have wanted.

• james
• No comments
• 17 Sep 2008

Country of Origin Labels Required on all US Meat

A new federal law will require food manufactures and grocery stores to put new labels on all meat they sell stating what country the meat originated. The “Country of Origin Label” law, or the COOL law as it is being called, goes into effect on September 30th.

The new labels will tell consumers whether their food came from animals raised in the U.S. or another country. The law also covers perishable items, such as fruits and vegetables and a variety of nuts. Some say this will enable consumers to avoid food that, for example, comes from countries that they have heard have food safety problems. It also will allow consumers to stick to American-grown food, if that is their preference.

Because of the complexities of the livestock industry, some product labels may list multiple countries. That’s especially true of ground beef, because some meat processors combine cuts from a number of countries to make ground meat and hamburger patties.

Wait, so my hamburger is made from meat of multiple cows, from multiple countries? I’m sorry, but that is absolutely disgusting. If your main source of hamburger is McDonalds’ then you needn’t worry, as you are already knowingly ingesting all manor of unforgivable disgustingness.

For those of us who don’t knowingly eat trans fat and cow dung in our burgers, where does that leave us when we want a tasty grilled all-American meal? I recommend packing your own burgers. With the new COOL labels coming out in a couple weeks, it should be relatively easy to track down some ground beef that doesn’t have more than one country listed on it’s origin label. Just remember to get 85% lean if you plan on grilling, any leaner and there won’t be enough fat for it to cook properly.

From there you just need some buns (preferable whole wheat without any partially-hydrogenated ingredients) and cheese. The exception would be if this is for a post-workout meal, in which case you want white buns for fast carbs. Feel free to get creative and add other ingredients like spinach, bacon, or cheese to the ground beef to mold your own uniquely delicious burgers.

• james
• 1 Comment
• 12 Sep 2008

Dannon Sued over Probiotic Yogurt Claims

Branding and word of mouth can have an exponential effect on the performance and success of their intended target. Sometimes these effects can be positive, but often times they are negative and misleading.

Trish Weiner, a California woman has finally said she’s had enough. She is suing her parents for the emotional scarring caused by years of teasing as a result of being hampered with the last name Weiner. Just kidding, but she is suing yogurt manufacturer Dannon after patiently enduring her two week trial of Activia yogurt and still waiting for the big poop.

A California consumer has filed a proposed class-action suit against The Dannon Company, alleging the company’s claims that its probiotic yogurt offers clinically and scientifically-proven health benefits are false.

“Deceptive advertising has enabled Dannon to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ordinary yogurt at inflated prices to responsible, health conscious consumers,” Timothy Blood, the lead attorney handling the case, claimed.

Dannon Activia contains the probiotic culture bifidus regularis, which is supposedly “clinically proven to help regulate the digestive system when eaten daily for two weeks.” DanActive is supposed to have a similar effect on the immune system as a benefit from it’s L. casei immunitas probiotic culture. The tag-line for that product is: “Each bottle of DanActive™ contains over 10 billion cultures and has been clinically proven to help strengthen your body’s defenses.”

The class action lawsuit alleges that these claims are intentionally misleading, unsubstantiated, and essentially concocted for the sole purpose of influencing the health conscious consumer to buy a line of yogurt that is 30% more expensive than similarly sized portions of yogurt that do not tout the probiotic claims.
Read the rest of this entry »

• james
• 1 Comment
• 8 Sep 2008

Eye-Fi Gives any Camera Wi-Fi and Geo-Location

Eye-fi is a magical orange SD memory card that will not only store 2GB worth of pictures, it’ll upload them to your computer (All Eye-Fis), and to Flickr, Facebook, Picasa (or 14 others) (Eye-Fi Explore and Eye-Fi Share), even geo-tag them so you can see exactly where in the world you took the photo (Eye-Fi Explore) wirelessly, invisibly, automatically!

This little guy looks like a normal 2GB memory card and works with nearly any camera that takes SD memory. There are no antennas, no protrusions, no subscription fees, and no cables.

This is the sickest thing to happen to photography since the nip-slip. You take a picture while in the vicinity of your Wi-Fi network and instantly it’s on your facebook and flickrr accounts, and already uploaded to your computer’s hard drive. If you’re not near your Wi-Fi network, the pictures will upload instantly as soon as the Camera is in range of the network. Eye-Fi will also geo-tag your pictures so you can search by location when viewing your favorite photos.

Just imagine, your camera will know what bar you’re taking sloppy 4am photos at even when you don’t! Now that’s impressive. The product sells from the manufacture for $130, but you can get it on Amazon for $109. For under $110, Eye-Fi is a steal. This Wi-Fi, Geo-Location add-on also functions as a 2GB memory card. Best of all, you can stick it in any digital camera with an SD slot, effectively upgrading any old clunker of a camera to the hottest thing on the market.

Unless you’re a photography buff, Eye-Fi should eliminate your need for a new camera. I have a 5-year-old Canon Digital Elph that shoots at 5.0 Megapixels, and for photos to save, print, or share online, that resolution is plenty. The 2 Megapixel Camera on my iPhone would work just fine for everything I need it for if it only had a flash!

Once you get up into the 10+ megapixel range, the file sizes are just enormous and if you’re not a professional photographer it’s more of a hassle than a benefit. Eye-Fi breathes new life into the generation of cameras that are a bit behind the “cutting edge” models, but still years ahead of cell-phone camera technology.

• dave
• No comments
• 29 Aug 2008

Read This Before You Eat Fast Food

It seems like every few weeks there is a news story about how local governments are trying to “healthy up” fast food restaurants with various laws and restrictions. Whether it’s by banning trans fat or requiring chains to post nutritional information for their patrons, these restaurants are constantly getting bitch-slapped by new legislation in hopes of curbing the current obesity problem in our country. New York and Los Angeles are the two cities taking the biggest strides in this fight; they were the fist two cities to completely ban trans fat in restaurants. With Chicago close behind in this trend, many more cities are expected to join this cause.

For the most part, I’m in favor of anything that will better society (eg. Kim Kardashian in So Low pants), but I just don’t buy into the effort that the majority of these restaurants are supposedly putting in to this initiative. It seems that most fast food chains are trying to side step these new laws. In a 2007 American Journal of Public Health study, researchers analyzed the purchasing patterns of 11 fast food chains in New York City and found that only one produced an easy and useful way customers could process nutritional information. That chain was Subway Restaurants. Unfortunately they also produced Jared, who may not be fat, but yet still manages to be a huge douche.

If only 1 of 11 chains is providing useful nutritional information, how are we expected to make smarter decisions when indulging our taste buds amidst the American landscape of processed food-like substances? Well, as a matter of fact, it’s quite simple, by choosing the lesser evil. A few weeks back I found myself starving in New York’s Penn Station, craving sustenance, and about to vomit from the smell of hobos. I walked into a McDonalds all set to order my sausage, egg and cheese on a biscuit; I took one last glance up at the menu board and surprisingly saw calorie information for each sandwich. Noticing that the sausage and egg McMuffin had significantly fewer calories (510 compared to 300, along with 21 less grams of fat), I chose to forgo a delicious biscuit the McDonald’s equivalent of an English muffin. In this case, the McMuffin was the lesser evil.

Read the rest of this entry »

• james
• No comments
• 29 Aug 2008

Buying an HDTV: 720p vs. 1080p

One of the most important decisions an Alpha Man can make is what kind of HDTV to buy. After all, a man’s HDTV is where all his great rivalries are settled; Man vs. Roommate in a Wii Tennis Match, Man vs. Online ESPN Fantasy League during Monday Night Football, and the feverish bout of Man vs. Genitals via the newest installment of Girls Gone Wild, in Blu-Ray HiDef of course.

I recently moved, and in traditional Alpha Man fashion, have no furniture, but I did go out and buy a grill. The next necessity is a television. I have been looking at a few different models, but ever since I began my search I had my heart set on 1080p. I plan on getting a PS3, so I figured it’s a must…

Talking with a friend of mine who works for Circuit City, I heard a different opinion. He told me that 1080p is a huge marketing ploy, and it’s by far not the most important consideration when buying a new TV. Things like color accuracy, contrast and refresh rate (on an LCD) are far more important. He explained that the best reviewed HDTV ever made was in fact a 720p model.

This insight got me thinking if 1080p really was worth the extra money (which is a big step for someone like me who needs to have the best everything.) I did some research and have posted an excerpt from what seems to be the definitive source on the topic:

720p vs. 1080p HDTV: The final word - Fully Equipped

We believe that when you’re dealing with TVs 50 inches and smaller, the added resolution has only a very minor impact on picture quality. On a regular basis in our HDTV reviews, we put 720p (or 768p) sets next to 1080p sets, then feed them both the same source material, whether it’s 1080i or 1080p, from the highest-quality Blu-ray and HD DVD players. We typically watch both sets for a while, with eyes darting back and forth between the two, looking for differences in the most-detailed sections, such as hair, textures of fabric, and grassy plains. Bottom line: It’s almost always very difficult to see any difference.

So there you have it, unless you plan on buying a 60″ HDTV and then sitting 2 feet from it to make happy time with Skinemax in HD, save the money and go with the 720p model. One cool thing about saving money on technology is that the less you spend, the sooner you can rationalize replacing the item. Let’s say if you would spend $2000 on an HDTV and replace it in 4 years time; if you only spent $1500 you could replace that HDTV in 3 years, and lets face it, in 3 years whatever HDTV you buy today is going to be a relic.

• james
• 2 Comments
• 27 Aug 2008

The American Express Black Card, Are You High Class?

Apparently AMEX makes an American Express Black card, but it is only available to people with more money than God.

Also known as the Centurion Card, this tribute to excessive consumption lifestyles is forged out of solid titanium, making the card too thick for the credit card machines at places rich people would never be caught dead (i.e. Target, Sears, pumping their own gas at Mobil). The card totes a $5000 start up fee and a $2500 annual fee. All I can say is that I better be able to use my rewards points for lap dances from Jessica Alba.

Requirements and Benefits of the AMEX Black Card | BlackCardSource.com

Requirements:

1) Charge $250,000 or more a year to AMEX

2) Be invited by AMEX or ask to join

3) Pay the $5,000 initiation fee

4) Pay the $2,500 (US) annual Fee

Benefits:

1) Very high spending limit. Each card has a different limit and the limit is based on the income of the individual. The most expensive purchase known to date on a black card, is that of a $30M private jet.

2) 24hr personal concierge. They can make reservations, plan weddings, or score tickets.

3) Private shopping services at the finest retailers. It is known that Tiffany’s offers up private shopping for Black Card customers.

4) Invitations for special events, such as a round of golf with Tiger Woods.

5) Complimentary companion airline tickets on international flights.

6) Access to Airport Clubs.

7) Free hotel stays.

8) Subscription to Black Ink magazine.

9) International emergency health care.

These are the benefits received from being in the elite circle of about 17,000 people.

Known cardholders include Jay-Z, Britney Spears and The Olsen Twins. In fact, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil Wayne have all rapped about the card at some point. Bow Wow was apparently so impressed he’s rapped about his card three times in the songs Marco Polo, Oh I Think They Like Me, and Get Money. One can only imagine that when Lil Wayne opened his card in the mail, he was so excited that he proceeded to lick the wrapper.

I find the most impressive part about this whole thing to be that the people over at Blackcardsource.com have put together a Blog that is just information about the card, pictures of people with their cards, and adds for other AMEX products; I bet they’re making a killing! Huge props to anyone who can see that money can be made in blogging about a ridiculous credit card and make it happen.