OK, I admit that we have a Slap Chop in my house. You’ve seen this product advertised, as well as many others, on late-night TV. Sham Wow, Snuggie, Flobee, Shoedini, Topsy Turvy…the list goes on and on. Do they work? Are they worth the money? Well, Boston.com tested a few of these products for you.

(In case you’re wondering, I think the Slap Chop is a fine product. It’s great for nuts, and other things that are a bitch to chop. Not an easy product to clean, though. Still, it works.)

Infomercials are big business. Even though we’re in a recession, infomercial sales are still booming to the tune of $150 million per year. Even the pitchmen have become famous in recent years. The purpose of the infomercial is to make the product look fun, easy to use, and indispensable. And let’s not forget a sense of urgency. “Order now and we’ll throw in….” But, what you see isn’t always what you get.

Don’t let yourself get sucked in at 3AM! It’s probably just your insomnia talking, but you don’t really need a Magic Bullet. It’s important to read the reviews and do some research before you buy these products. There are several web sites that have already done the heavy lifting for you, such as Consumer Reports, Good Housekeeping, and Honest Infomercial Reviews.

[Via the fine folks at Pat's Papers.]

This story shows some incarcerated common sense. Inmates at the Hillsborough County Jail in Brandon, Florida have spent two years perfecting recipes for three flavors of hot sauce. They grew the peppers themselves as part of a horticulture program, and then produced a commercial sauce. There’s “Smoke,” “Original,” and “No Escape,” with the latter being the hottest.

The revenue goes back into the program for the inmates, and the sauce can only be purchased online (through a mail-in form).

It’s a great idea with a killer marketing hook (forgive the pun). If you’re going to be behind bars with a lot of time on your hands, you might as well do something productive. Better to learn a craft and create a product to whittle away the time. Will jailhouse salsa or maximum security spaghetti sauce be far behind?

Rock on, jailhouse!

[via boingboing.net]

Sometimes I think animal lovers go too far. This is a perfect example. A company in Brazil has manufactured the first sex toy for dogs.

The DoggieLoveDoll is aimed for dogs who are alone a lot of the day, presumably because no owner is around to rub against. What’s wrong with the couch?

And, how disturbing is this photo? (Answer: Really disturbing.)

[Via Gizmodo]

In a move that will elicit many “Yeah, duh” responses, a Chicago radio host declares that waterboarding is torture. Only, he was trying to prove waterboarding isn’t torture. Yesterday, conservative shock-jock Erich “Mancow” Muller subjected himself to a waterboarding experiment in order to silence the critics of the procedure. Mancow expected to chill out for thirty seconds while water was poured down his nose. Instead, he lasted six.

“It is way worse than I thought it would be, and that’s no joke,” Mancow said. Yes, that’s what we thought you would say. If you’ve ever been in a pool and read the description of waterboarding, you should be able to put the pieces together. It would be hellishly horrible. A Vanity Fair reporter did the same experiment last year and said he was traumatized for months afterwards.

It’s not called “torture” for nothing. The technique of waterboarding has been around for centuries and there is a reason why bad people still use it as an interrogation device. Now that Mancow has seen how awful it is, let’s hope he puts his big mouth to use and pressures our government to stop doing it.

As we gear up for fun in the sun this summer, you might find yourself stocking up on sunscreen. The drugstore shelves are crammed full of choices that offer various levels of protection against the sun’s rays. SPF 15, 30, 45, 60, 85…. How are we expected to make heads or tails of it all? Today’s New York Times does a good job breaking down the mystery of SPF.

Popular sunscreen makers, such as Banana Boat, Coppertone, and Neutrogena, keep raising the SPF numbers in their products. There is now a sunscreen with an SPF of 100. We’re conditioned to believe more is better, but does the higher SPF number mean it offers superior protection? No, according to experts. It’s really nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

The difference in UVB protection between an SPF 100 and SPF 50 is marginal. Far from offering double the blockage, SPF 100 blocks 99 percent of UVB rays, while SPF 50 blocks 98 percent. (SPF 30, that old-timer, holds its own, deflecting 96.7 percent).

So, what does matter when it comes to sunscreen?