IKEA Monkey

Two and a half months after the remains of a 2-year-old boy were found in Garfield Park Lagoon, Chicago police say they have been unable to make progress in the case because the couple who last took care of the child are refusing to cooperate.

"We have tried numerous times to contact these people...

Antarctica covers an area of almost 14 million square kilometers -- about the same size of Europe.

Missed Connections is one of the most popular areas on Craigslist, and not coincidentally, it is also one of the most depressing.

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Sometimes, I stare at this graph and think, “At least it wasn’t my money.”

Scientists are always studying coffee—it’s a hot topic, you could say. After scaring certain milk-free coffee drinkers into thinking they could possibly be psychopaths , the guys in the white lab coats are back with a different and more agreeable coffee conclusion: the more you drink, the longer you’ll live.

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Woman arrested in a hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and hit and run.

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An L.A. restaurant tops its burgers with a square of dehydrated ketchup, like a condiment fruit leather.

It's beginning to look a lot like dibs season. [ more › ]

Weather forecasts are now predicting that Chicago could be hit by as much as a foot of snow this weekend, as cold wind and a storm bring winter weather to the Midwest for the first time this season. [ more › ]

Taco Bell expects to fully transition to exclusively serving cage-free eggs at all of their U.S. restaurants by December 31, 2016.

The plan follows a similar announcement by McDonald's earlier this year but while McDonald's implementation calls for a 10 year plan, Taco Bell's plan is meant to be completed in a little over a year. It should be noted that while both chains mostly use eggs for their respective breakfast menus, Breakfast counts for about 25% of McDonald's overall sales according to a Bloomberg estimate (possibly more now with the roll-out of all-day breakfast) and only about 6% of Taco Bell's overall sales. Regardless, Taco Bell expects to be the first national fast food/quick serve restaurant to completely switch to cage-free eggs

The brand's eggs will be verified as "American Humane Certified" according to the cage-free egg production standards set forth by the American Humane Association.

Photo via Taco Bell.

Arby's A.1. Special Reserve Steak Sandwich features thin-sliced Angus steak, a slice of natural cheddar cheese, A.1. Special Reserve sauce, and a crispy onion ring on a star cut bun.

I bought one for $5.69.

The steak was beefy and juicy. It came in a thicker cut than Arby's regular roast beef, which made for a meatier (and more satisfying) texture.

The sauce is specially made for Arby's and has more black pepper to it than original A.1. sauce. Other than that, it's really tangy. Too tangy, really. It covered up the taste of the cheddar cheese and overwhelmed the beef.

It was only the lone onion ring that manage to break through the tanginess. There might be only one but it was a large one and cut really thick to boot. The panko crust does a good job of keeping crispy as well.

The bun offered a nice, dense softness.

Overall, while the quality of the ingredients of Arby's A.1. Special Reserve Steak Sandwich were spot on, the A.1. sauce was just too tangy for me. I would have liked it a lot better with a more mild savory sauce (or even no sauce at all). Or, maybe just a few drops of the A.1. Special Reserve since it is the key ingredient.

Nutritional Info - Arby's A.1. Special Reserve Steak Sandwich (227g)
Calories - 470 (from Fat - 140)
Fat - 16g (Saturated Fat - 7g)
Sodium - 1660mg
Carbs - 51g (Sugar - 9g)
Protein - 32g

Olive Garden has partnered with Fox's kids cooking competition, MasterChef Junior, to have the season 2 winner, Logan, come up with two new appetizers for the chain.

The two new menu items are Breadstick Pepperoni Pizza and Italian Cheese Stuffed Meatballs.

Breadstick Pepperoni Pizza features a halved breadstick crust topped with marinara sauce, smoked mozzarella cheese, and giant pepperoni. Marinara also comes on the side for dipping.

Italian Cheese Stuffed Meatballs consists of meatballs stuffed with a combination of mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan in marinara sauce with a drizzle of alfredo sauce on top. It comes served with warm, crisp breadstick crostini.

Through December 14, 2015, Olive Garden customers can vote for their favorite of the two dishes by ordering them. The winning appetizer will stay on the menu for up to 12 months and will be announced during the episode of MasterChef Junior set to air on Friday, December 18, 2015.

People has rudely bypassed all of Jezebel’s picks for Sexiest Man Alive —even “shirtless Poldark star” and Jason Momoa—and anointed Mr. Posh Spice himself, retired soccer star David Beckham. Sure, fine!

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Chris Christie on Wednesday blamed President Barack Obama for the Syrian refugee crisis and called Obama "a joke" who "lives in a fantasy land."

From NASA, an animation of the yearly cycle of the Earth's plant life. The data is taken from satellite measurements (plant density for land and chlorophyll concentration for the ocean) and averaged over several years.

From December to February, during the northern hemisphere winter, plant life in the higher latitudes is minimal and receives little sunlight. However, even in the mid latitudes plants are dormant, shown here with browns and yellows on the land and dark blues in the ocean. By contrast the southern ocean and land masses are at the height of the summer season and plant life is revealed with dark green colors on the land and in the ocean. As the year progresses, the situations reverses, with plant life following the increased sunlight northward, while the southern hemisphere experiences decreased plant activity during its winter.

If you're anything like me, about 2-3 times into the video's cycle, you'll be breathing in tune to the Earth. Oxygen in, carbon dioxide out. Carbon dioxide in, oxygen out. Oxygen in, carbon dioxide out... (via @EricHolthaus)

Tags: Earth   NASA   video

When you get a quote for car insurance, you might think that only a few things matter — your driving record, the cost and use of your vehicle, the type of coverage you need, and other factors directly related to operating an automobile. But the fact is that many insurers are basing your insurance quotes on data points that have nothing to do with driving, like your credit score, marital status, and ZIP code. New research shows that determining price using these types of demographic and financial factors (rather than driving record alone) can have a serious impact on the affordability of car insurance. 

THE TL;DR VERSION

• New research shows that drivers who live in predominantly (more than 75%) white ZIP codes are seeing significantly lower car insurance quotes than those seen by drivers in predominantly African-American areas.
• Even when controlled for population density and income, these pricing disparities can still be found.
• Insurance companies often use credit scores to determine their premiums. This can result in drivers with DWI convictions — but pristine credit — paying less for insurance than drivers with pristine driving records, but poor credit.
• Most major insurers charge higher rates to single (and sometimes widowed) drivers, though this disparity can vary wildly (from 0% to more than 200%) depending on where you live.

While some states have restrictions on the use of things like credit scores in setting an auto insurance premium, only California has a law requiring insurers to offer drivers with clean driving records the lowest premium for which they qualify.

Recent reports from the Consumer Federation of America, and our colleagues at Consumers Union and Consumer Reports have tried to spotlight the various ways in which auto insurers use these unrelated — or at best tangentially related — bits of information to determine how much people will pay for coverage.

Since reading about insurance can be a slog, we’ve tried to boil down some of the most important discoveries to come out of this research.

1. Drivers in predominantly African-American ZIP codes tend to pay more than those living in areas with mostly white residents

This is the conclusion of a report released today by the Consumer Federation of America, which compared quotes from the nation’s five largest insurers to see what effect, if any, the use of non-driving factors had on the price of auto insurance in predominately African-American communities. As we explore the findings of the report, it’s important to note that the analysis did not attempt to prove that auto insurance companies were intentionally raising prices for consumers who live in predominately African-American ZIP codes. The CFA’s research addresses the impact of auto insurance pricing methodologies on these communities, and provides compelling evidence that the current methods of pricing of auto insurance result in good drivers in predominantly African-American communities paying higher prices than similarly situated drivers in predominantly white communities, even when controlling for factors such as urban-density and income.

What You Can Do

If you believe that insurance rates should be based on your driving record and not unrelated factors, you can check this petition from our colleagues at Consumers Union.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners also has an interactive map linking to the sites for insurance regulators in each state.

The same fictional driver profile — 30-year-old single female with a clean driving record, no lapses in coverage, steady employment, a rental apartment, and a “Fair” credit rating, driving a 2000 Honda Civic around 10,000 miles a year — was used to obtain quotes from the insurers in all of the areas included in the survey.

Researchers looked at insurance premiums for this fictional driver in a variety of environments — urban to rural — and across average income levels of area residents, from below $20,000 a year to more than $100,000 annually.

According to the report, “on average, a good driver in a predominantly African-American community will pay considerably more for state-mandated auto insurance coverage than a similarly situated driver in a predominantly white community.”

More precisely, researchers found that when a neighborhood’s racial makeup is at least 75% African-American, car insurance premiums average 70% higher than those quoted for the same driver living someplace where the African-American population is below 25%. For the fictional driver in the study, that means a difference of more than $400 per year ($1,060, compared to $622).

Even at lower concentrations of African-American residents, the average premiums are still significantly more expensive. That same driver would face an average rate of $831 (a 34% difference) if she lived in a community that was between half and three-quarters African-American. The average premium drops to $768 when white residents account for half to three-quarters of the population. That’s still around 24% higher than people pay in predominantly white ZIP codes.

On average, drivers living in predominantly African-American ZIP codes see premiums that are 70% higher than prices in predominantly white areas.
Consumer Federation of America

These are all national averages, and include both rural and urban communities. To get a more accurate comparison, CFA also looked at drivers in similarly dense ZIP codes — and once again found disparities.

In the densest urban communities — where premiums are typically high because of traffic, crime, and potential for damage — the average premium ($1,797) in predominantly African-American ZIP codes is 60% percent higher than in dense urban areas populated primarily by white residents ($1,126); a difference of more than $600.

The gap isn’t as distinct in rural ZIP codes, where predominantly white communities see an average of $542 for their insurance premiums, 23% less than the $669 average found in predominantly African-American rural areas.

The biggest difference in insurance premiums was found when CFA researchers compared upper middle-income drivers. In predominantly white ZIP codes where the average annual income was between $63,000 to $102,000, insurance premiums averaged $717. Compare that to the same income range for predominantly African-American ZIP codes, where the average premium clocked in at $2,113 — an increase of 194%, nearly triple the cost to the driver.

And since having a car is not optional for most working adults — and having insurance is required everywhere but New Hampshire — CFA’s research suggests that some people earning a decent living are effectively being compelled to pay an additional $1,400 a year despite having a clean driving record.

Progressive & Farmers charge drivers in African-American neighborhoods rates nearly double their premiums for drivers in mostly white ZIP codes.

Of the five insurance companies included in the report, Progressive and Farmers demonstrated the most obvious gulf between rates in predominantly white and predominantly African-American neighborhoods. Both companies quoted rates for drivers living in mostly African-American communities that were nearly double the average premium for the same driver in ZIP codes where white residents account for at least three-quarters of the population (Progressive: $1,332 vs. $694; Farmers: $1,271 vs. $662).

GEICO had the lowest average rates of the five (predominantly white: $575; predominantly African-American: $876), but that’s still a difference of 53% for — not to beat this horse to death — the same driver profile.

The CFA says the goal of this report is not to claim that insurers are intentionally charging more in non-white communities.

“We believe, instead, that it would be more productive to focus on the impact of high auto insurance prices and the implications these findings should have for industry, regulators, and policymakers,” reads the report.

As a result of their research, the CFA is calling on state legislators and insurance regulators to, among other things, require that all insurers provide a pricing report showing the premium for a standardized, safe driver in every ZIP code in the state.

Ideally, the report would also include demographic information about each ZIP code, as that added transparency would effectively require insurers to explain why certain communities are paying more or less than others.

2. Convicted drunk drivers with good credit might have better premiums than good drivers with poor credit

You can understand why a poor credit history would result in higher auto loan rates. But what does your failure to make a student loan payment seven years ago, or an unexpectedly huge medical bill you couldn’t pay right away, have to do with the likelihood that you’ll get into an accident?

It’s not like the insurance companies aren’t checking your driving history; if you have a clean driving record, it shouldn’t matter whether your FICO score is 600 or 800.

And yet in all but three states — California, Hawaii, and Massachusetts — insurers are allowed to use your creditworthiness to determine your insurance premium.

Earlier this year, Consumer Reports found that credit scores can have more effect on your insurance rates than any other factor.

In some states, drivers with moving violations on their record could end up paying less than drivers with clean records, solely because of a difference in credit scores.

See the chart below for an example. According to CR’s research (also using fictional, standardized driver profiles), drivers in Kansas with “Excellent” credit and a pristine driving record average $965 a year in car premiums. Merely having “Good” credit raises that average by $233 a year. If a Kansan has “Poor” credit, their insurance could soar to $2,266/year, nearly 2.5 times the rate for someone with credit.

More importantly, it’s almost $1,000 more than the average premium seen by a driver with a drunk driving conviction. So insurers in this case are saying that someone with bad credit is more of an insurance risk than someone whose record shows they willingly risked their lives and others’ by driving while intoxicated.

“From a public safety perspective, this makes no sense,” explains Norma Garcia, senior attorney at Consumers Union.

Tomorrow, Garcia will be testifying before the National Association of Insurance Commissioners about the mysterious world of insurance rates, where she intends to raise the issue of penalizing a driver with poor credit more than one with a DWI conviction.

“According to the most recently available statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there were over 11,000 known blood alcohol content related driver deaths in 2013,” notes Garcia in her prepared remarks. “No doubt, the hazards of drunk driving are painfully real. By contrast, despite the negative view of drivers with poor credit held by many insurance companies, we are not aware of any traffic fatalities attributable to poor credit, yet in many cases, these drivers continue to pay more than the most hazardous drivers on the road.”

3. Unmarried and widowed drivers sometimes pay more than than married folks

In July, the CFA released a report on how marital status impacts car insurance rates. Of the six insurers included in the study, only one — State Farm — showed no variation in rates between single drivers and married ones.

The other insurers — GEICO, Farmers, Progressive, Nationwide, and Liberty — have no such blanket policy with regard to marital status, and single drivers often pay more.

In many parts of the country, singles paid these insurers more than their married counterparts, with the range of rate increases ranging wildly from 0% to more than 200%.

Age didn’t matter, says CFA. The range of price hikes for their fictional 30-year-old single driver were effectively the same when they obtained quotes for a 50-year-old.

What does seem to matter is location. Researchers looked at rates in 10 different markets around the country and found that the insurers were inconsistent in their application of these pricing differences.

For example, in Boston, Farmers quoted rates 12.5% higher for singles than married customers. But in Tampa, the insurer charges single drivers nearly 34% more than married drivers in that market. Then in California, where marital status is only allowed as a low-impact “optional” factor in setting prices, Farmers charges the exact same price regardless of whether or not you’ve ever been married.

While the other insurers made no distinction between single, divorced, and widowed drivers, GEICO bucked this trend by sometimes charging varying amounts for all the different ways in which a driver can be single.

“Hiking rates on women whose husbands die seems both unfair and inhumane.”

Stephen Brobeck

In Louisville, for example, GEICO charges five different rates in six different categories, with “separated” drivers paying the most (nearly triple the premium for married drivers), but divorced drivers seeing the smallest difference (though still almost double the base married rate).

While one could try to argue that being single — even by divorce — is a matter of choice that might reflect on a driver’s likelihood to take risks, what seems indefensible is the higher premiums some insurers charge to widows.

CFA researchers made their young driver a widow, and saw her rates quotes go up by an average of 14%.

“Hiking rates on women whose husbands die seems both unfair and inhumane,” said Stephen Brobeck, CFA’s Executive Director, at the time of the study. “Why don’t insurers instead emphasize driving-related factors such as accidents, traffic violations, and miles driven in their pricing?”

Lots of people say “fuck ISIS,” but how many people actually think about the Islamic State in the context of sexual excitement? Retired Army Col. Kurt Schlichter just penned a pornographic novella about killing hundreds of thousands of innocent Arabs. It is insane and bad and a must-read.

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"Today is not just about making history," Jackie Biskupski said. "It is about people. It is about affecting change."

ConAgra Foods, the processed-food company known for brands Slim Jim and Chef Boyardee, is splitting into two separate, publicly traded companies, spinning off its Lamb Weston division of frozen potato products, the company announced Wednesday.

ConAgra Brands, as it will be known, will comprise the...

A four-bedroom, 26th-floor condominium unit on Lake Shore Drive on the Gold Coast that longtime Chicago radio host Ed Volkman owned from 2004 until 2014 sold in September for $1.18 million.

Volkman, 59, paid $1.51 million in 2004 for the seven-room, 3,400-square-foot unit. He first listed the unit...

Image via Pascal Subtil on Flickr

When I moved to New York, I told myself I wouldn't spend any money on cabs. I was an intern at a TV network, and thus didn't have what one could describe as a steady income: One week I'd be in the office for seven straight days; another, I was lucky to be there for three. Either way, I was making less than $10 an hour. When I finally got a better gig, the occasional late-night cab ride became one of the easiest luxuries to indulge in, especially when I had already indulged in a few drinks; at particularly indulgent moments I'd stand dangerously on the side of the road and wave my arms in the hope that a taxi would screech to a halt.

I noticed, as many probably do, that almost all cabbies were talking on their cell phones, even though New York's Taxi and Limousine Commission has banned the devices—even hands-free ones—for years. Their conversations are free-flowing, constant things, often in languages I don't speak, and in time I became fascinated with the habit. Did they talk on the phone merely out of boredom? Did they just speak to other cab drivers about where to go and where to avoid? Who could possibly sustain such a seemingly never-ending dialogue with another human being?

So I started asking cabbies about who they were talking to. Here are three examples of how that went. (At their request, the interviewees' names have been abridged or changed.)

Image via Prayitno on Flickr

Name: Farooq
From: Pakistan
Lived in New York for: Five years
Who he's always talking to on the phone: His friends, who are fellow cab drivers

Farooq, I have to admit, was an accidental subject. I had no intention of profiling him. I was in Alphabet City last month on a weekend night, and hailed his cab to take me over the Manhattan Bridge to my studio in Fort Greene. Once I had finished describing the route, he didn't waste a second before continuing a phone call I had obviously interrupted. He looked noticeably flustered—he kept turning his head to glance back at me—and I decided, in a moment of both concern and curiosity, to see how he was doing.

"Who's that?" I said, nodding in some general direction toward his headset. "On the line, I mean. Is everything all right?"

Normally, Farooq told me, it would have been his best friend from Pakistan, who was another NYC cabbie. They would be discussing any number of predictable topics: the best places to find fares, which clogged streets to skip, the brutality of a long day or night, the passenger who just vomited out the window. Tonight, though, his pal was delayed returning from the Middle East, and his wife was giving birth. Farooq was on hold with the hospital in Queens where she was in labor.

"First," he said, "I'll drop you at your building. Then I'll go to the emergency room."

"Just let me off wherever," I replied. "I'm serious."

It took him some more convincing, and offering way too much in the way of gratitude, he eventually let me out five minutes from my place.

Image via Tomas Fano on Flickr

Name: Omar
From: Senegal
Lived in New York for: 25 years
Who he's always talking to on the phone: His brother, a fellow cab driver

The next time I got a chance to talk to a cabbie was when I was with two friends and running late to a show. After buckling myself into the passenger seat—yes, I buckle up in cabs, read the signs, dude—I turned to the driver and asked who he was talking to.

"With my brother," Omar said. "He's the only family here. Because he drives a cab too, I never see him." He gestured to my friends—a guy and a girl—in the back seat.

"He's got a lady," he said. "Where's yours?

"We just broke up," I said. "How about you?"

"They're in Senegal," he declared. "I have two."

He has five kids too, ranging in ages from one to 18, and just like his brother does with his own kids, is trying to save up enough cash to send them all to college in the States. Omar's oldest son, he told me, goes to a university in South Carolina, and on his school vacations the kid will come stay with him in Harlem, where Omar has lived for over 20 years.

"I used to get mugged in Washington Heights once a week," he said. "The 80s and the 90s weren't great. A passenger would get in the front seat and put a gun to the side of my head."

"What would you do?"

"At first, nothing," he said. "Then I bought a pistol. But it wasn't worth it."

"And now?"

"And now," he said, "I have a phone."

Image via Vincent Desjardins on Flickr

Name: Mory
From: Guinea
Lived in New York for: 19 years
Who he's always talking to on the phone: His fiancée

On a Sunday afternoon, I flagged Mory down in the East Village, on the corner of St. Mark's and First. He was already on the phone when my friend and I entered the back seat, and after we explained where we were going in Bushwick, he went back to chattering into his Bluetooth. As he drove onto the Williamsburg Bridge, he asked us to repeat our destination. My friend told him the address, and I took the opportunity to squeeze my head into the small opening in the plastic divider separating the front of the car from the back.

"Can I ask you something strange?" I said, as politely as I could. "Who are you talking to on the phone?"

Mory held up his iPhone to show me the face of a beautiful woman and then dropped the call.

"That's my girlfriend," he said. "She's still in Guinea. I'm going back to my country in two weeks, and we're going to get married."

On Motherboard: Aston Martin's SoundCloud Is Basically a Very Expensive ASMR Experience

After they tie the knot, his wife will wait six months and then move to the United States, where she will live as a permanent resident for three years before becoming a US citizen like him. He was worried, though, about the logistics: He recently borrowed $600 to fund his trip back to Guinea, and now he only had two days left to pay back the bank. As a result, he had no other choice but to get as many fares as he could in the next 48 hours. He told me most of his riders are "complete fucking assholes," but his soon-to-be wife's voice puts him in "the right state of mind." He insisted the best hours to work are between the hours of 2 AM and 2 PM, and she also helps him stay awake during that period, as few of his riders ever want to have a casual chat.

The job, he explained, is often tiring, though it's much less exhausting than his previous occupation as a truck driver. He'd trek across the country, pulling over just to eat fast food, briefly sleep, and pick up women, mainly in Las Vegas. Mory followed this same routine for almost a decade, but he eventually decided to settle in Crown Heights, dive into a long-term relationship, and never get near an 18-wheeler again.

When we left the cab, Mory thanked me half a dozen times.

"No one ever talks to me," he said. "They just tell me where to go."

I waved goodbye. After I closed the door, Mory put his earpiece back in.

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Someone snuck onto the grounds of the Lincolnshire Marriott Resort earlier this month and used pesticides to kill thousands of honeybees, officials said.

Kristin Duncan, the resort's general manager, said this week that when her executive chef, Pierre Daval, went out to the hives on Nov. 6 to collect...

Here's the conversation piece you've been looking for.

Unlimited salad and breadsticks, coming right up.

CHARLESTON, SC—Declaring that opening the nation’s doors to displaced Syrians posed a major security threat, GOP leaders warned Tuesday that any refugees who resettled in the U.S. would most likely be driven to terrorism by the way America treats them. “We absolutely cannot provide a safe haven to these Syrians due to the very real threat that the abusive and hateful conduct of Americans will push the refugees toward radicalization and recruitment by extremist militant groups,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), echoing the sentiments of numerous other presidential candidates and state governors who have argued that Syrian asylum seekers would in all probability embrace a radical jihadist worldview after constantly enduring anti-Muslim hate speech, racial epithets, and threats of violence and persecution by both the American people and government officials. “The moment we let these Syrians in, I promise that our most ruthless and cruel tendencies will ...

Flying your favorite furry friend on Delta Air Lines is about to get a little less convenient, and more expensive, starting next year, as the carrier announced that it will no longer allow travelers to ferry their pets from one place to another as checked baggage. 

The airline announced Tuesday that starting March 1, 2016 Delta will only allow bigger animals to be flown on its cargo service. Delta will contact customers with bookings after March 1 that are known to include pets as checked bags.

There are a few exceptions to the new policy: members of the military with active transfer orders, as well as service and emotional support animals can continue to be flown as checked baggage.

Small dogs and cats, those that fit in a pet carrier under a seat, can continue to fly in the cabin with their owners — for a fee, of course.

“Many of us at Delta are pet lovers and we know that they are important members of the family,” Bill Lentsch, Senior Vice President – Airport Customer Service and Cargo Operations, said in a statement. “This change will ultimately ensure that we have a high-quality, consistent service for pets when their owners choose to ship them with Delta Cargo.”

Passengers planning to fly their larger pets with the cargo service should be prepared to jump through a few hoops and pay a bit more for the option.

Pets shipped via the cargo service require a separate booking, which cannot be done for domestic bookings until 14 days before departure.

Dropping off your pet for the trip can also be an issue, as the airline requires the animals to be delivered and retrieved directly from the cargo location.

Additionally, Delta can’t guarantee that pets will be placed on the same flight as their owners, which means travelers may have to return to the airport.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the cost for shipping a pet can be a bit pricey, with rates ranging from $193 to $1,481.18.

The change comes after the airline has faced several issues related to the deaths or misplacement of pets on their flights.

[via The Atlanta Journal Constitution]

Early on Monday, the Associated Press reports, a bear in rural Maryland got his head stuck in a metal milk can.

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A whole, perfectly roasted turkey is a beautiful thing, but it’s not exactly known for being a speedy dish. To cook your Thanksgiving main in an hour, cut that thing up before popping it in the oven.

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 So, as I type, it’s Sunday night and I just recently burned the ever-living hell out of my hand (kitchen accident). But I have to fill up our post queue because Jess is recovering from wisdom-tooth surgery. So I am using only my left fingers — thank God I play the piano; makes this much easier — Read More ...