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Pat Arnold a government informant The BALCO fiasco continues to roll on. Up until this week all the criminals have copped pleas resulting in pathetically short prison sentences considering the scope of crimes. Well the only one indicted so far to have the balls to make the federal government prove their case is one with no balls at all - at least she wasn't born with any. Olympic cyclist Tammy Thomas was indicted for perjury related to her grand jury testimony on whether she ever took steroids or not.
Today, Pat Arnold, a witness for the government, got on the witness stand and spilled his guts on how he sold drugs to Thomas. His cooperation with the federal government will more than likely convict Thomas - one of his customers. She will more than likely serve much more time in jail than Pat did. And he's the one that made the drug, sold the drug and the primary conspirator in the BALCO mess. Her crime is not telling the ones trying to put her in jail that she took the drug.
I find it interesting that when Pat Arnold copped his plea he made sure he told everyone that would listen that he was providing no cooperation to the government. The fact is he has provided what appears to be extensive cooperation to the government, cooperation that will certainly put others in jail for a much longer time than he spent.
It doesn't look like Pat has quite the fortitude that Barry Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson has. Anderson spent more than a year in jail only because he would not testify before the grand jury about Barry Bonds. Some people would call Anderson a "stand up" guy. Some would call Pat Arnold a rat. Either way you look at it they are simply drug dealers, criminals who have garnered far more than their 15 minutes of fame.
Source: Chemist Says He Gave Steroids to Thomas
The more you pay for a supplement the more you think it works - even when it doesn't work at all It's pretty accurate to say that most supplements do not do what the companies that sell them claim they do. In fact, most claims made for supplements are simply fabricated marketing hype. I know, I know, big surprise huh? Well most of you have heard of the "Placebo Effect". This is where a completely inert product exerts a perceived benefit based solely on the "suggestion" that it will. In other words, just about every sports supplements advertised in the magazines fits the description of a placebo. It's been shown that the stronger the suggestion (read - more ads) the greater the perceived effect.
Well a new study by a team of researchers from MIT performed a double placebo study measuring the subjective rating of pain. That's right, the study was done using just placebos, but the catch was one placebo was described through slick brochures as costing $2.50 per dose. The other placebo was described in a brochure as being marked from $2.50 per dose to 10 cents per dose. The results showed that 85% of the subjects taking what they thought was the full priced drug experienced a reduction in pain. Only 61% taking the low priced placebo reported less pain.
Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist from Duke University said, "The placebo effect is one of the most fascinating, least harnessed forces in the universe." The researchers concluded that the prescribing doctor's enthusiasm displayed to their patients and more dramatic drug packaging could greatly advanced generic drug effectiveness and in-turn save patients money - simply by providing greater perceived benefit.
What I found even more interesting is just how effective both placebos were at reducing perceived pain. These were two inert, worthless placebos with no therapeutic effect whatsoever yet they yielded 61% to 85% effectiveness. Are you beginning to see how supplement companies can sell completely ineffective supplements and have you think they were better than steroids?
Source: Journal of the American Medical Association
Smilin' Bob ain't smiling any more Last month supplement huckster and now convicted felon Steve Warshak, his mother (that's right, his mother) and several other employees and even an in-house attorney were convicted of money laundering, wire fraud, bank fraud and a host of other crimes related to the fraudulent marketing of the worthless supplement Enzyte.
Enzyte is the supplement marketed as a "male-enhancement" product. In other words, people are conned into buying it because they are persuaded it will make their "Johnson" bigger. Guess what - it didn't and it won't. Anyway enough small dick losers bought this product to the tune of over $200 million a year. That tells me that there are allot of dumb people out there with little dicks to match their small IQs.
Warshak faces more than 20 years in prison.
An interesting note, during the trial, James Teegarden Jr., the former vice president of operations at Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, explained in Court how he and others at the company simply made up the content that appeared in Enzyte ads. No surprise there. Pretty much like the ads in fitness magazines, that BS is just made up. The thing is, when you start making $200 million a year by bull-shitting consumers you raise a few eyebrows.
More false advertising fattens supplement company's bank account Well now they are lighter to the tune of $23 million. The company Airborne Health that sells the product Airborne will pony up 23.3 million dollars in a settlement agreement over false claims made for it's Airborne supplement in preventing colds and boosting the immune system.
The selling tactics used by this company was that the product was invented by a school teacher to help her stay cold-free while teaching in germ filled classrooms. It was also said to be supported by a clinical trial. How many times have you heard that?
Since the company was lying through its teeth a class action suit was brought against them. Since they knew they were caught with their pants down they obviously decided to pay the hush money. Their troubles are not over however. The FTC and several attorneys general are investigating their fraudulent claims they have used to pedal their goods for the past 9 years. I would imagine more hand slapping is in order.
Overweight women can improve quality of life with as little as 10 minutes of exercise I know this doesn't directly apply to most of our readers but it may apply indirectly. Quality of life is a hell of a benefit to get from exercise. Add to this the pure health benefits and there is no excuse not to follow and exercise program.
This study focused on sedentary, overweight women and revealed that the more they exercised the healthier they became both physically and mentally. I know the results don't come as a shock to most but considering very few people in the general population exercise any fact bearing information may help change the tide. And we all know the world would be a better place with more mentally stable and fitter women strolling around.
Source: American Heart Association's Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism
Billiard players taking performance enhancing drugs? Go figure on this one. German Billiard Union suspended Axel Buescher for one year and stripped him of his national champion title for testing positive for an EPO masking agent.
EPO is primarily used by extreme endurance athletes such as cyclists and triathletes. I'm not sure just how a billiards players would benefit from its use and of course Buescher claimed he was innocent but he passed on having his B sample tested.
Source: The Associated Press
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