Discovery ordered to turn over tiger bone tapes
March 28, 2008
Assistant Business Editor Ben Mook uncovered an alarming story yesterday when the U.S. District Court for Maryland ordered Discovery Communications, of Silver Spring, to turn over footage to help the defense of an animal rights group that’s being sued in China.
A civil lawsuit filed in Beijing claims The International Fund for Animal Welfare impugned the reputation of a Chinese business through a web article claiming a wine it makes uses tiger skeletons as an ingredient.
The subpoenaed footage, which has not aired in the U.S., is from an episode of Animal Planet’s Crime Scene Wild series, and examines the Guilin Xiongsen Bear & Tiger Mountain Villa Entertainment Center and its making of “bone fortified wine.” Guilin Xiongsen runs a tiger farm, villa, restaurant and winemaking operation at Bear & Tiger Mountain.
The villa’s defense? They’ve got the wrong bones.
“The main ingredients of the ‘animal bone medicated wine’ produced by [Guilin Xiongsen] are rice wine, papayas and African lion bones, and do not include any ‘tiger bone’ ingredients at all,” the company said in the lawsuit.
Read Ben’s online-only story at our main Web site.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
Sphere: Related ContentWeb site neglects Maryland’s intoxicating history
January 3, 2008
As a whiskey drinker, and more specifically, an enthusiastic drinker of Maryland whiskeys (which means, in effect, rye whiskeys), I was thrilled when a friend linked me to whiskipedia, launched on the first of the year.
It’s pretty self-explanatory: an online, open-source encyclopedia of whiskey. But unfortunately, whiskipedia, even though it’s mostly written by “well-known whisky author” Gavin Smith, falls way too short.
I typed in “Maryland,” expecting to read a treatise on Maryland’s glorious history as the rye whiskey capital of the world, but instead found only one reference to the tidewater state, shamefully after Pennsylvania, in the entry about rye.
Baltimore yields 0 results, and Pikesville, the glorious, once-Baltimore-based rye that is my cheap whiskey of choice, is mentioned only once, in the rye article. Absurdly, there is no entry at all for the Whiskey Rebellion, a turning point in whiskey history, as all good hooch-swillers know, that took place in no small part in Maryland.
Frustrated, I typed in the name of my favorite scotch, an Orkney Isles poison called Highland Park, figuring hey, maybe rye just isn’t their thing!
No results.
Until whiskipedia gets it together, I’ll stick to wikipedia, which actually lists the brands of rye available under an extensive rye whiskey entry, and whiskygrotto.com.
ROBBIE WHELAN, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentOffice holiday parties: can’t-miss?
December 14, 2007
Our Maryland Business Friday feature story today highlights The Leffler Agency’s 400-person holiday soiree - one of Baltimore’s annual traditions.
I was struck by a quote from one attendee:
“I literally changed my vacation plans because I’ve missed the party for the last three years,” said Roy Deutschman, an account executive for WERQ–FM 92.3 and WOLB-AM 1010 in Baltimore who rescheduled a trip to Italy just so he could party down with Leffler and friends.
Now, I’m sure the party spared no expense - but rescheduling a trip to Italy? It’s hard for me to imagine that. If I hadn’t attended The Daily Record’s, I would have missed out on a great buffet, an open bar, and a few memorable karaoke performances. But I don’t think it could hold a candle to a trip to Italy.
Did your holiday party offer up a truly can’t-miss opportunity? (Remember, you don’t need to provide your name to comment here).
Maybe something as regrettable as this YouTube clip?
JACKIE SAUTER, Multimedia Editor
Sphere: Related ContentBaltimore: Middle of the drunken pack
December 7, 2007
Well, it could have been better, but it could have been worse. Baltimore is the 46th safest drunken city in a recent survey by Men’s Health magazine. Not bad out of 100.
The survey, which is being reported by KNBC in Los Angeles, looked at drunken driving, liver disease, and other alcohol-induced crimes. But seriously folks, I have never felt that Baltimore is a city that drinks to excess, though we are prone to a certain type of brew.
However, some of our neighbors are more extreme examples from the survey. Richmond, Va. was the ninth best, while Washington was the eighth-worst.
So what do you think? Is Baltimore really that much safer than Washington when it comes to alcohol consumption?
ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentTrouble brewing
August 22, 2007
The attorneys general of Maryland and 29 other places have asked federal regulators to crack down on companies that sell alcohol-and-caffeine blends, claiming their ads target young people and make questionable health claims. (AP, “Attorneys general target drinks that mix alcohol with caffeine”; The Daily Record, Aug. 22).
The companies are using popular nonalcoholic “energy drinks” as a springboard to their alcohol-containing products, one AG claims. “Beverage companies are unconscionably appealing to young drinkers with claims about the stimulating properties of alcoholic energy drinks,” Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers said.
The companies say the products — Miller Brewing Co.’s Sparks and Sparks Plus; Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Extra; and Charge Beverages’ Liquid Charge and Liquid Core drinks — are simply malt beverages with caffeine, which comply with all federal requirements.
Is the beverage industry preying on under-age drinkers, holding out the promise of a beer buzz with an edge? Is an ad that replaces a nuclear power plant’s tower with a can of Liquid Charge making a health claim? Are imbibers of any age likely to think that adding caffeine to alcohol turns it into a health drink?
What do you think?
-BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor, Law
Sphere: Related Content-
Business
Business postsLaw
Law postsRecent Posts
- In the market for a (used) car?
- DNA: What are the odds?
- Three Restaurant Weeks ahead
- Can the city support an NBA or NHL team?
- What’s in a name?
- A foot-stompin’ good time
Recent Comments
- Anonymous: Yes - Harry Johnson!
- Jeff: Of course it can’t. NBA ticket prices are outrageous, and the NHL isn’t any better. (Plus, it...
- Publicus: No.
- Aequitas: There are certainly many types of cases where some (but not necessarily all) people would...
- Anonymous: I think the recent rise in wine festivals is due to ever-increasing alcohol abuse. For some reason,...