I love to try new foods and brands at the grocery store, but I really hate it when I end up with something disgusting. Since I'm cheap I usually keep it around while I try and think of a new way to use the item but eventually it just gets pitched. Zeer.com is helping fill this void with a grocery review site which also includes a social networking component which connects you with other reviewers who have similar tastes. This way you know whether or not those Fiber One granola bars are worth tossing in your cart.

Zeer.com really shines for people with food allergies who may often have a limited product selection available to them at higher prices. For example the Tree Nut Allergy group of Zeer.com has several food reviews posted about items which are made in tree nut free facilities including one for frosting which ranks just one star letting others know to save their money. Since the initial review was posted several other users have chimed in to offer their opinions as well as suggestions for other frosting.

On top of everything it offers, Zeer.com also provides the nutrition information for all of the food in its database which is another handy tool for shoppers who would rather do their legwork from the couch rather than the aisle. The site is still growing which means not all of the products they list will have a review attached to it but over the few days I have played with it, the number of reviewed products appears to be growing. Zeer definitely has potential to be a great resource for shoppers looking to save money and waste less food. As the community and the database grows it will become an even better resource for savvy shoppers.

The BBC is reporting on a new drug which sounds like it could fit into the plot of a villain in the old time Batman TV series. The drug is a nasal spray of oxytocin, which increases how much we trust strangers! The drug apparently has a true calling for those with social phobias as research has shown that these phobias are at least in part caused by a lack of oxytocin. The scary part is that if this inhalant were used in a nefarious way it could dull your money managing sense and cost you in any number of transactions.

During the testing of the drug the scientists played "trust games", during these games the control group and the test group gave an amount of money to a trustee who could either invest and return the profits or invest and keep the profits. In the study, of those who took the oxytocin and were ripped off by their trustee, the investment behavior did not change even when they were told the trustee was not honest!

I think it is great that researchers have found a way to help people get over phobias; in fact I can't wait to see my first TV ad for oxytocin on TV next year pledging to help me get out and have fun. After that, I predict it will only be a year before some obscure town reports on a small shop which aerosolizes oxytocin to boost sales of shoddy products. Once that happens I think we can safely expect to see it worked into a Law & Order plot by the end of 2010! Remember kids,don't take nasal inhalers from strangers; they might be trying to gain your trust!