Billy Mays, 'Hendrix' of Pitchmen, Is Buried

500 family members attend private ceremony

(NEWSER) - An honor guard played taps. American flags lay on caskets. Mourners put flowers on the casket lids. Nearly 500 family members attended the burial today of the remains of victims of Flight 93, at the new Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Penn. A Catholic priest, a Lutheran minister, a rabbi, and a Buddhist sensei officiated over the remains, which had been held in a crypt for 10 years, the AP reports. More»

You know, just in case CNN gig falls through

(NEWSER) - Eliot Spitzer is rumored to be a possible replacement for Campbell Brown on CNN , and in case he doesn’t get that job, Olivia Allin of The Frisky suggests 10 alternatives:

• Britney Spears’ assistant: “The logic here would be that since he’s apparently attracted to sexual young women, Britney could scare him off of that addiction”—and he could help her regain control of her life in the process.
• Unpaid prostitute: “Wouldn’t it be cool if Spitzer were forced to sleep with people he wasn’t attracted to?”

For starters, it makes viewers feel like friends

(NEWSER) - Nearly 25 years after its inception, the QVC network has become "one of the most effective retailing machines ever invented," writes self-described "closet fan" Megan McArdle at the Atlantic . The network didn't reinvent retail, but it's perfected many of its tenets, she explains. Among them:

• Intimacy: QVC's approach is "less a sales pitch than a coffee klatch where friends trade tips on hot new products." The hosts connect by telling a story—"a story about the viewer, and the product’s place in her life."

(NEWSER) - Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi is back, designing for Liz Claiborne, hosting a Bravo show, and … hawking cheesecake? A new QVC series will follow Mizrahi in his daily life and record his colorful chatter as he sells everything from food to furniture, the Wall Street Journal reports. As for the cheesecake, Mizrahi decorates them like spring dresses: “In spring, we will do a polka dot, obviously." More»

(NEWSER) - Many of the As Seen on TV goods hawked by the late Billy Mays were reviewed in the pages of Popular Mechanics; Harry Sawyers runs down the bellowing talent's top five infomercial products.

1. Hercules Hook: A heavy painting and a sack of books were no match for a hollow-wall anchor that Mays touted as "super strong."
2. Mighty Putty: Despite its innocent appearance as a two-part plumber’s epoxy, Mighty Putty managed to pull an 80,000-pound trailer, as demonstrated by Billy.