McDonalds Shrek glass recall: thank Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA)

Movie product tie-ins are common and many new products are aimed at kids. That's why the news of the McDonalds Shrek glass recall is so terrible. But first, thank the Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier for the discovery of the problem.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle via the Associated Press, there were 12 million McDonalds Shrek glasses on the market: all of them must be recalled after a discovery by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The glasses are tainted with Cadmium, a carcinogen that can cause "long term adverse health effects." While that's in the recall notice, along with the news that the discovery came from the Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier from California, that news is buried way down deep in in the Associated Press article.

The article also makes it seem as if the Consumer Product Safety Commission made the discovery. You have to read the entire, long work to see that it was Rep. Jackie Speier's office who made the find base on an anonymous tip. Spier issued this statement:

"Our children's health should not depend on the consciences of anonymous sources. Although McDonald's did the right thing by recalling these products, we need stronger testing standards to ensure that all children's products are proven safe before they hit the shelves," said Speier. "Cadmium is a toxic substance that is extremely dangerous to the developmental health of children."

Here's the text from the recall notice and the link to the web page containing it:

McDonald’s Recalls Movie Themed Drinking Glasses Due to Potential Cadmium Risk

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: “Shrek Forever After 3D” Collectable Drinking Glasses

Units: About 12 million

Manufacturer: ARC International, of Millville, NJ.

Distributor: McDonald’s Corp., Oakbrook, Ill.

Hazard: The designs on the glasses contain cadmium. Long term exposure to cadmium can cause adverse health effects.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The “Shrek Forever After 3D” collectable drinking glass are 16 ounce glasses that came in four designs, Shrek, Fiona, Puss n’ Boots, and Donkey.

Sold exclusively at: McDonald’s restaurants nationwide from May 2010 into June 2010 for about $2.

Manufactured in: United States

Remedy: McDonald’s is asking consumers to immediately stop using the glass out of an abundance of caution. Visit www.mcdonalds.com/glasses for additional instructions on how to obtain a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact McDonald’s toll-free at (800) 244-6227 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday or visit the firm’s website at www.mcdonalds.com/glasses

Note: CPSC was made aware of issues with this product through the Office of Congresswoman Jackie Speier from California.

If you want to thank Rep. Jackie Speier's office, visit their website here:  http://speier.house.gov/

Tila Tequila in row with Zennie62's Nikki Raney

Nikki Raney has advice for Tila

Tila Tequila is a celebrity who's very familiar to readers of this space. The combative reality TV show star, and former wife-to-be of the late Casey Johnson, loves to get in the mix with people.  First it was Perez Hilton and now its Nikki Raney.

Nikki Raney is a star blogger and journalist at Zennie62.com.    But before we look more into that and her row with Tila Tequila, some background on Tila Tequila from this space' perspective.

In the middle of accusing San Diego Chargers Linebacker Shawne Merriman of assault, when he was just trying to stop her from driving drunk, this space revealed what Tila said about herself:

"i like people who are really fucked up...I am very high strung and suffer from multiple personalities...I do a lot of things that are self destructive. I try not to...I am also bi-polar so that should explain my irratic postings."

Here's the video on the entire incident between Merriman and Tila Tequila:



Of course, the charges against Shawne Merriman were dropped and after it was revealed that Tila lied; Tila Tequila said she did not drink but in one video was seen living it up with the bubbly.

After that, Tequila tried various ways of gaining attention, which just drew more critics, who then criticized her. That led Tila Tequila to start her own blog called Miss Tila OMG, with the idea of getting gossip revenge on all who said mean things about her. In other words, a gossip blog.

But Tila Tequila doens't want to be called a gossip blogger; she says she's a journalist. That's 180 degrees opposite this blogger, who never claimed to be a journalist. Fortunately, Nikki Raney was here to provide much needed guidance to the poor celeb, but Tila wasn't having it.

Tila blocked Nikki Raney from commenting on her blogsite. Now unlike some commenters Nikki is not hateful and gives great feedback. In fact, that's how Nikki Rany came to be at Zennie62.com. She's a celeb gossip and "future of media" blogger and gaining a following. One that's sure to increase after this row with Tila Tequila's put out there. Here's Nikki's blog post comment on that:

Today, Tila Tequila called herself a journalist on her blog. That was the last straw for me...Somehow, Miss Tila finds a way to incorporate herself into every blog entry.

I really never wanted to post a rude or judgmental post about anyone, but I think that enough is enough. I already wrote how there is a difference between blogging and journalism, but this is something that needs to be addressed.

Tila Tequila has blocked me from commenting on her blog, because of how critical I have been. This is not meant to be a hateful rant, but meant to inform and educate about what blogging is.

Tequila claims to run a celebrity gossip blog which costs so much money to run, but it is filled with articles that are about things that happened a few days prior. She also has a section called "hottie of the week" which she has updated five times in the span of 3 days. She has made herself "hottie of the week" three times.

In her blog post Nikki does a great job of exposing Tila's mistruths; it's worth reading and part of a three blog series on Tila; you have to read about Tila as "an army of one" here: click.

I closing, this blogger has nothing but love for Tila Tequila. (If Tila wants to call herself "hottie of the week", cool, but include some other women!) We all know this is a game; bloggers, you can't take it too seriously or you lose grip on reality. Let's hope that hasn't happened to Tila.

Stay tuned. And hey Tila, treat Nikki well, will ya?

YouTube Turns 5: My YouTube Story - Zennie62

YouTube turns 5 years old and this is my third installment to celebrate YouTube's fifth birthday.

 This blog post presents the video called YouTube Turns 5: My YouTube Story.

For me, all of this started when I was using a camcorder at the 2006 NFL Draft and interviewed my friend Oakland Raiders Legend and Stanford Hall of Famer Michael Dotterer as we were walking to 21 Club restaurant in New York City.

On the way, Michael said "you're a vlogger, You should start video-blogging" or words to that effect. He also mentioned an online show called Rocketboom.   That was here:



Later that year I was lucky enough to attend Vloggercon in San Francisco, and met a lot of interesting people including Irina Slutsky and Schlomo Rabinowitz, who produced the event:



The stars of Vloggercon were Amanda Congdon and Andrew Michael Baron the founders of Rocketboom. While not YouTube stars, Amanda and Andrew's daily video news show with videos hosted on their own site, drew as much as 125,000 viewers a day, and over 1 million during their celebrated argument over control of the company. That happened just a month after this presentation:



While their argument was nasty and publicly displayed it served to shine light on the value of video-blogging and vloggers.

It was also an example of what was possible for me.

In 2007 I became a YouTube Partner, which means I draw a monthly check based on the views my videos generate. That set in motion a number of events, from being on the CNN / YouTube Democratic Debate and the "coin question"...



Which now-Vice President Joe Biden answered very well at the debate:



That started a major change in my life and led to to being on my first national TV show, and on CNN, and one of my favorite videos:



And later that year I met YouTube Founder Chad Hurley at the BizWorld Luncheon:



Then there was the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and CNN's Jessica Ellis found me to be their on the scene iReporter. Of course, YouTube was right there with me and Matthew Modine and Willie Brown:



As of this writing I have posted 942 videos on YouTube and heading toward my 1,000th. I officially joined YouTube in April of 2006, so I'm past my 4th year mark with YouTube. But what's changed is that now I feel like I'm part of the YouTube family:



YouTube and vlogging have made me a better, more confident, and more thoughful person. It's actually helped my game business Sports Business Simulations, and for me, now, I have two jobs that I have to figure out how to merge into one. Whatever it comes to be, YouTube will be a part of it.

And yes, YouTube fixed my Channel, Zennie62.