Toy Containing Date-Rape Drug Pulled (Aqua Dots)

clipped from money.aol.com Millions of Chinese-made toys for children have been pulled from shelves in North America and Australia after scientists found they contain a chemical that converts into a powerful date rape drug when ingested. Two children in the U.S. and three in Australia were hospitalized after swallowing the beads. Millions of Aqua Dots art sets were recalled on Nov. 7 after several children in the U.S. and Australia were hospitalized. The toys contain beads coated with a chemical that converts into a powerful date rape drug when ingested. Scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolizes into the so-called date rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate. When eaten, the compound - made from common and easily available ingredients - can induce unconsciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma and death. The two U.S. children who swallowed Aqua Dot beads went into nonresponsive comas, commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said Wednesday afternoon.

Sites Already Leaking Black Friday Deals

Let the games begin.

clipped from money.aol.com Hurry up -- grab your coat and car keys! There's no time to waste if you want to score a bona-fide, brag-worthy holiday bargain. Sites like bfads.net are already leaking Black Friday sale details, well ahead of the post-Thanksgiving shopping day that kicks off the holiday shopping season. Despite this new tactic, the Black Friday dance will play out as it has in years past. For those who haven't caught the rerun, allow me to screen the highlights: * The setup: A handful of websites -- BlackFridayAds.com, bfads.net, Gottadeal.com, to name a few -- hype stores' marketing schedules by posting anticipated deals at holiday hot spots like Wal-Mart, Target, Sears, Best Buy, and Circuit City before the ads appear in newsprint or on the stores' websites. First, identify your most-coveted item that will go on sale Buy it before it's a steal: Before the official sale starts, make your way to the store and pick it up at the current, pre-sale price. Ask for a refund on what you overpaid:

Hot Christmas Toys #2 Cookie Monster and Ernie

WOW. I have the original cookie monster and will add these to my collection.

clipped from money.aol.com Elmo is still out there, but this year, T.M.X. Friends from Mattel's Fisher-Price is featuring Cookie Monster and Ernie.

Hot Christmas Toys #1 Hannah Montana In Concert

Hannah Montana in Concert Projected #1

clipped from money.aol.com Analysts expect the Hannah Montana In Concert Collection Doll from Play Along, a division of JAKKS Pacific, Inc., to be at the top of the sales list this holiday season.

Hannah Montana is an American Emmy Award-nominated[1] children's television series which debuted on March 24, 2006 on Disney Channel. The series focuses on Miley Stewart (played by Miley Cyrus), who lives a double life as an average teenage girl at school during the day and a famous pop singer, Hannah Montana, at night, concealing her real identity from the public other than her close friends and family.

The show centers on 14-year-old Miley Stewart and takes place in Malibu, California. She's a teenage girl who has a big secret. Only her close family, best friends Lilly and Oliver, ex-boyfriend Jake Ryan, and bodyguard Roxy know that she is living a double life as "Teen Pop Sensation" Hannah Montana. She lives in a house by the beach with her father Robby (played by Miley's real life father Billy Ray Cyrus) and older brother Jackson (played by Jason Earles), who works down at Rico's Surf Shop by the beach. The Stewarts are from Nashville, Tennessee. Miley's mother died before the show began, leaving singer-songwriter Robby a widower and the sole caretaker of their children, giving up his previous career as a famous country singer. He is also the disguised father and manager of Hannah Montana. Miley's two best friends Lilly Truscott (played by Emily Osment) and Oliver Oken (played by Mitchel Musso) also live nearby and attend school with her. Each episode deals with life, personal conflicts, or problems that are easily solved with lessons learned by the end of the show.

2007 Christmas Stamp Unveiled

“Madonna of the Carnation” featured on 2007 Christmas Stamp


What:
Unveiling and First Day of Sale of the “Madonna of the Carnation” Postage Stamp

When:
Thursday, October 25, 2007
10:30 am

Where:
National Gallery of Art
West Building, West Garden Court
7th Street & Constitution Ave. NW
Washington DC

Who:
Yverne P. Moore, Postmaster, WDC
Alan Shestack, Deputy Director, National Gallery of Art

Details:
Formerly know as Holiday Traditional stamps, the Christmas stamps adorn millions of letters, greeting cards and packages each year. Since 1978, the theme of these stamps has been the Madonna and Child, and the stamps have attracted a devoted following over the years. The 2007 design features Bernardino Luini’s oil-on-panel, “The Madonna of the Carnation”, which dates to around 1515 and is now part of the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The stamp art is a detail of the work, as the image was slightly cropped on all four sides to fit the stamp format.

A viewing of the Bernardino Luini’s “The Madonna of the Carnation” oil-on-panel will be part of the stamp unveiling ceremony. Stamps will be available for purchase and a special pictorial postmark will be offered.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.