Meet the Choco Surprise

As more and more childhood memories slowly disappear, Kinder Surprises, or kinder eggs as they're sometimes referred to, were created by Ferrero, who also created the popular spread Nutella. They were banned by the Food and Drug Administration in 1938. They were banned under the right that "a confectionery product with a non-nutritive object, partially or totally embedded within it, cannot be sold within the United States, unless the FDA issues a regulation that the non-nutritive object has functional value", otherwise known as the 1938 Food and Drug Act. There have been few cases of people smuggling them in over the Canadian border to sell in the United States of America, as a woman from Winnipeg found out after paying a $300 fine. 

Smugglers, be gone. There is now a much safer, legal alternative, and you can thank the genius minds behind 

it.

They're called "Choco Treasures", and are produced by Candy Treasure LLC, a candy producer is New Jersey. They cost between $1 to $1.49, and they're sold on Candy Treasure's website (www.chocotreasure.com), Target, and a candy store in Lower Manhattan called Economy Candy.

Kevin Gass, the creator, reported to ABC News that "he worked with the FDA and a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission certified lab to make sure the product was safe for children of all ages." To wit: The egg is designed that each egg contains a capsule that separates the two halves of the chocolate. The capsule also has expands around the side, so all children can tell there's something there by the edges.

Kinder Surprises were banned for the reason that the candy was not eligible for kids under 3 to eat, due to choking hazards from the toys. Most Kinder toys had to be assembled. However, Gass and the FDA had created a bigger egg so that no assembly was required.

Squirty toys, hand-painted figurines, full decks of mini playing cards, 3D puzzles and spinning tops are just a number of kid-friendly toys a Choco Surprise could hold. His motivaton behind which toys to enclose was because if they were for kids, why not add toys adults could love, too? Gass revealed that one of the biggest challenges was finding a toy that appealed to adults and kids alike, even though children are the target audience.

The best part? The eggs are being released just in time for this year's Easter. There are also 2 special edition eggs:  Sport eggs, containing a sport related toy, and a Spiderman version, licensed by the comic giant, Marvel.

Candy Treasure LLC is also sponsoring multiple Easter Egg hunts around America, and the proceeds will help donate Choco Surprise eggs to St. Jude’s Children’s Ranch & Hospital, the L.A. Zoo, the NY City Parks Dept, Chicago Parks Dept, Glazer Children’s Museum, and the Drumthwacket Foundation.

While there’s finally a legal alternative, fans of the original Kinder Surprise have set up a Facebook page for the Kinder eggs and have also started a petition trying to get the ban lifted.

America: Do We or Do We Not Need Gun Control?

America has had its fair share of gun violence. The Newtown school shooting from Adam Lanza and the shooting at the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado from James Holmes has given more insight to the nature of Americans. Do we need guns for safety? Or should we regulate gun sales?

The decision to ban gun sales is risky and people will find a way around them one way or another. However, the numbers don't lie.

Approximately 1,000 crimes involving guns are committed daily in the U.S., while some 29,000 citizens are killed annually with firearms. Comparable numbers include 155 deaths by firearms annually in the UK, and 168 in Canada. These numbers approximate to UK with 2.5 firearm deaths per million, Canada with 4.9 per million, and the U.S. with 92 per million.

On the other hand, people find ways around gun control. Anders Breivik, the terrorist who blew up a government building in Oslo. He used a bomb in order to get achieve his goal and killed over 70 people.

If you're for it, or not for it, either way there's no denying the shootings have sparked many debates about gun control: should we have heavier bans or continue on as we are? Some say continue on as we are and that guns can do just as much good as evil, such as self-defense. But counter arguments say more control on guns, background checks, and magazine clips with room for only 10 bullets or less. James Holmes was apprehended with 3 guns carrying more than enough ammunition for a mass murdering.

However, nobody talks about the positive sides of using guns. An elderly Florida man legally carrying a gun shot and wounded two armed men as they tried to escape a cafe they had just robbed. The video, shot last year, has gone viral, and the old man, Samuel Williams, has quite rightly become a folk hero in the miniature Florida community.

On the other hand, when insanity takes control of gun, then the results aren't the best. James Holmes and Adam Lanza, two mass shooters who took action in 2012, had been "diagnosed with a form of mental illness." James Holmes and Adam Lanza both had considerable mental problems, leaving America wondering if we need background checks. Both injured and killed multiple people, saying we need less ammunition per magazine clip.

More rural areas want less gun control. Guns are one of the most important things for a rural person. In the countryside of south Louisiana, nearly everyone has guns. Many people hunt, and if you don't hunt, it's still completely normal to have at least one gun in the house. You need it for personal security - the police can't come soon if you live far out of town - and for shooting poisonous snakes and coyotes threatening your farm animals. More city folk are more in favor for more gun control, as they’re living in a more populated area, where a shooting could more likely take place. A poll found that the view of gun control is affected by one's race and locality.

Either way, the debates keep coming and coming into view. Should we or should we not have more gun control? Which will benefit the public more?

Oscar Pistorius's Legacy Coming to an End?

The world of sports was shocked this summer when Oscar Pistorius, the infamous Blade Runner at the 2012 Olympics, became the first ever Olympian to run in the Paralympics as well as the regular Olympics. He's widely been regarded as "the most famous disabled athlete of all-time." Now the world of sports is being shocked again as he's being accused and investigated on the possible charge of first-degree murder.

The double amputee is being faced with the heavy charges on the accusation of shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp 4 times in the arms and head early Thursday morning. Neighbors also said they heard incidents of "screaming and shouting" throughout the evening before. Police have also said they've visited the runner's home in South Africa in the past on reports of domestic violence.

Police have not confirmed that Steenkamp was murdered although her publicist released a statement saying the model was dead.

Pistorius was born on November 22, 1986 with fibular hemimelia , or having an absence of the fibula in both of his legs. Just when he was 11 months old, his legs were amputated halfway between his knees and ankles, and he now wears fiberglass “blades” which is how he got his name of “Blade Runner”. He had won several gold medals in the Paralympics and 4 silvers in able-bodied events. Pistorius’ friends and family described him as a very nice guy and very inspirational. It’s no wonder that he shocked the world when the story was released. 

Reeva Steenkamp was born in a small town near Cape Town and moved with her to Port Elizabeth. She then began to study law at the University of Port Elizabeth. After earning her degree as a paralegal, she then became a model. She had been dating the runner since November and was soon to be shown on a reality TV show called Tropika Island of Treasure. Just last week, the model described her boyfriend as "an impeccable man who always has her best interests at heart".

A claim not made by the police says the runner mistakenly shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkemp thinking she was an intruder, when she was just planning a Valentine's Day surprise. This could be traced back to the 30 year old model Twitter account after she tweeted Wednesday evening "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow?" and also tweeted that "It should be a day of love for everyone."

A 9mm handgun had been recovered from the crime scene in the morning, which Pistorius reported owning one much before the incident. Pistorius was a fan of guns, and he would drive to the local shooting range when he couldn’t sleep at night. He kept his gun located in his bedroom for security. Later that day, Pistorius arrived at Mamelodi Day Hospital for tests on his blood alcohol level and his fingernails would be tested for evidence as well.

Pistorius will appear Friday morning for a court hearing. Police in South Africa said they would oppose bail for Pistorius.

Super Bowl Outage

During the excitement and rush of 3rd quarter, the escalators and credit card machines spontaneously shut down, the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans had a power surge, resulting in a loss of power in the Superdome. At least half, if not more, of the lights shut off after Beyonce's electrifying half-time performance. Her show was almost epileptic to those who don't even have epilepsy, and the over-usage of lights made many believe it caused a power surge (dang it Beyonce, this is why we can't have nice things) resulting in a power outage. The outage lasted for a total of 34 minutes before the maintenance room switched back on the power in the 3rd quarter. The 73,000-seat dome went out with 13:22 remaining in the third quarter on Sunday night. 

According to a report by Sports Illustrated, the outage was due to an "abnormality" in the power supply system that set off an automatic shutdown, which forced backup systems to start up." To go more into detail, the power company, SMG and Entergy New Orleans, power supplier to the Super Bowl, released a statement saying "A piece of equipment that is designed to monitor electrical load sensed an abnormality in the system," the statement said. "Once the issue was detected, the sensing equipment operated as designed and opened a breaker, causing power to be partially cut to the Superdome in order to isolate the issue. "

The worst part for New Orleans is that the outage may have affected their chances for holding future Super Bowls at the Superdome. New Orleans was looking forward to hosting its first Super Bowl since 2002 and was eager to show off how the city has rebuilt since Hurricane Katrina.

However, just like any other unexpected event, people responded with conspiracies. Possible theories include:

•       The 49'ers cut the power when they were getting trampled in the first half.
•       49'ers coach Jim Harbaugh cut the power when losing.
•       Beyonce's performance caused a power surge.
•       A booker who bet in Las Vegas was at the Superdome and cut the power when he realized  he wasn't going to win his bet.
•       Terrorism (obviously ruled out by the FBI).

Still many fans didn't care, yet a few fans were scared. "I started thinking it was a terrorist attack. I was a little nervous!" said Doug Cook, a Ravens fan. The football fans in the dome passed the time by refilling their beers, doing the waves, and being humorous. Pictures and tweets bombarded Twitter including some tweets saying "They didn't pay the light bill," or "Maybe this is Sean Payton calling in for the outage, Bountygate, part two."

After 34 minutes, the power returned, and with it, so did the 49'ers encouragement. Scoring 2 touchdowns in 2 minutes and almost going for a 3rd, many people were stunned, and many 49'ers fans betting with their Ravens friends became happy. While screams heard 'round Baltimore continued with a few minutes left, Kaepernick decided to throw the ball three times instead of rushing. Kaepernick, with an average rushing yardage of 8 yards, didn't rush when there were 5 more yards to go, and alas, no touchdown, giving the Ravens the win, 34-31.

Year of the Phablet?

That's right. A phablet. I'm sure many of you haven't heard of it. It's also called a phonelet, a tweener, or super smartphone. It's a combination of a phone and a tablet, and people say this will make both obsolete. Tablets and smartphones are relatively new, and yet they're already obsolescent. How can this be?

 The first ever phablet was the Dell Streak, but wasn't acknowledged until 2010. The Samsung came out with the Samsung Galaxy Note, a surprising success. Companies that produce phones and tablets like Apple or Samsung believe this will be a cooperate-smashing success. 2013 will be the year of the phablet, no doubt. Others believe its pointless due to the fact that it's too small to fit in your pocket, like a smartphone, or too small to be a tablet, like an iPad. Companies who are looking into making these phablets say that the screen size could be up to 5 in. or more.

However ridiculous or astounding these may turn out to be, they may actually have a good room for marketing. According to a Barclays study and report, "The market for phablets will quadruple in value to $135 billion dollars. Shipments of gadgets that are 5 inches or bigger in screen size will surge by nearly nine-fold to $228 million dollars during the same period, though estimates vary because no one can agree on where smartphones stop and where phablets begin."

There's no way that phablets can take over the dominated world run by smartphones, right? Or, if they end up actually taking over the world, there's no way it can happen soon, right? Wrong. In a Yahoo! poll of 5,000 people, more than half of the people voted for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 than the recent iPhone 5. It's hard to deny that phablets have already started their domination.

Are you in love with the phablet? Are you in love with your hard earned money? Well, you'll have to make a decision. A good phablet runs for just over $300. Some good ones are under $300. Bad for consumers, great for companies. Samsung's fourth quarter profit was a whopping $8.1 billion dollars. How? It sold 500 cell phones, tablets, and phablets every minute. Samsung and its phones and phablets are starting to dominate the market. The iPhone 5 from Apple Inc. was the only phone released from Apple, with the usual features and just a bigger screen. meanwhile, Samsung was having tons of fun bombarding the market with 37 variants of phones or phablets. 

Samung's other bestseller, The Samsung Galaxy S3, is also considered to be a phablet by some. When the iPhone 4S was released against Samsung's Galaxy S3, the fourth quarter market shows that the Galaxy S3 won that battle. The Samsung S series is expected to revamped the S3 to be released during the first quarter.

So is this really the Year of the Phablet? Are we going to be dominated by larger screens? The market for phablets is starting to grow as all the other phone companies rush to produce their own phablets to try to increase their profit.

Black Hole Discovered

Exciting news from the world of astronomy. This Wednesday evening, a new black hole was discovered by a team of scientists at the University of Texas's MacDonald Observatory. The galaxy the black hole has been discovered in has been dubbed NGC 1277, and the shear mass of this black hole is astounding. The black hole, scientists discovered, is about 17 billion times the size of the sun, and makes up about 14 percent of its host galaxy's mass, compared with the 0.1 percent a normal black hole would represent. But the black hole wasn't just discovered. Remco van den Bosch, the study's lead author, says that he and his team of scientists took a year to double-check and submit their research paper before releasing it to the public on Wednesday. The size of it is no laughing matter either. A comparison of the size of the galaxy and a revolution of Earth around the Sun can be found here at: 

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/images/black-hole-most-massive-ill.jpg 

The location of the supermassive black hole is 220 million light-years away in the constellation Perseus, so we won't have to worry about getting sucked away in a black hole. According to Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas, the galaxy is almost all black hole. 

Previously, the galaxy NGC 4486B was found to have the most massive black hole at 11 percent of its mass.

Now, more about the galaxy. NGC 1277 is a lenticular galaxy, giving it the same spiral as the Milky Way’s spiral but without the tail on the end. Gebhardt and his team of scientists estimate that "the stars located in the galaxy would be moving 10 times faster (218 miles a second) than in other comparable galaxies due to the immense size of the black hole, and that near the event horizon — the edge of the black hole where nothing can escape its pull — some stars could be ripped apart." The youngest stars in the galaxy are 8 billion years old. That's twice the age of our own Sun.

Sounds serious. But wait. There's more.


A “Massive Galaxy Survey” is being conducted, and the survey includes 700 nearby galaxies with masses that weigh in on the extreme. Even though there are around 100 galaxies still left to go, they observed NGC 1277 and “five other compact galaxies,” all of which could also have “over-massive” black holes. So instead of dealing with one, there could potentially be five.

Scientists are trying to find the biggest black hole in the entire universe. So far, this one appears to be the winner, considering the closet competitor is in the galaxy NGC 1186B. The black hole located there takes up 11% of the central mass.

Now, you may be thinking, "How is this all possible?" Scientists at the University of Texas use an astronomical instrument called the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which measures the amount of light coming from the galaxies they're measuring.

We're safe. For now.

If you'd like more information on the black holes that the MacDonald Observatory in the University of Texas has documented a list at http://blackholes.stardate.org.

Hurricane Sandy's Wrath and Aftermath Report

Hurricane Sandy blew through New England this week, causing billions in damage in all of New England. The states affected include New England to Ohio and West Virginia. The storm surge in New York City broke records with a 14 foot storm surge and caused more damage in NYC than Hurrican Katrina did in 2004. The hurricane caused millions without power over the course of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Connecticut had 615,000 power outages total. NYC had a number so far in the millions, it wasn't officially mesured. The entire Lower side of Manhattan was shut down from power, and the subway system is forecasted to be closed for 2 weeks do to water in the system. A fire broke out in a section of NYC due to the storm's wrath. burning down housing complexes and buildings. Also in NYC, a crane snapped on top of a 43 foot tall skyscraper and dangled high above the New York streets. Thousands of people had helped out everyone including the hardworking owner of Uncle Paul's Pizza, who made 1,000 pizzas with his 4 other workers over the course of 32 hours. They delivered to people without power, and also had in-store pickup. Sandy's wrath in New Jersey destroyed the famed Jersey Shore boardwalk. The boardwalk lost a total of 50 feet of its wooden stretch. Included on that stretch was a roller coaster, which is now lost at sea. Hurricane Sandy also combined with a blizzard in West Virgina, which ended up with the worst weather in West Virginia in years. Massachuttes, Maine, and many other states also have tons of power outages. There's a reason this storm was dubbed "The Perfect Storm".