So the September 18th comic may be delayed until Wednesday September 19th — as I’ve been without power for a few hours and I’m not sure when it’s coming back.
The Federal Trade Commission has sent out warning letters to six major companies that sell cars, phones, and gaming consoles, informing them that it’s illegal to void warranties when consumers try to repair their own items, or use parts not manufactured by their company. The same goes for using third-party repair services. That’s right, you can rip off that stupid “warranty void if removed” sticker without fear.
The letter, described in a FTC press release, expresses their concern regarding certain companies’ warranty provisions that discourage consumers from using other companies’ parts and services. Statements like “The use of [company name] parts is required to keep your... manufacturer’s warranties and any extended warranties intact,” and “This warranty does not apply if this product... has had the warranty seal on the [product] altered, defaced, or removed,” are illegal according to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. The law governs consumer product warranties, and clearly prohibits manufacturers putting repair restrictions on items they offer a warranty on. The FTC says these restrictive provisions may also be considered deceptive under the FTC Act.
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It’s hard to say which companies are being targeted with these notices—there’s a good chance Sony, Microsoft, and Apple are in the mix—but the FTC has asked that each company, review their promotional and warranty materials, then remove or change provisions that suggest the use of specific parts or services within the next 30 days. Thomas B. Pahl, the Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, explains that such strict provisions only benefit the manufacturer:
“Provisions that tie warranty coverage to the use of particular products or services harm both consumers who pay more for them as well as the small businesses who offer competing products and services.”
What does this mean for you? Well, as long as the device cost more than $15, and you don’t do anything else to void your warranty (read them carefully), you can rip off that sticker to try to fix the device yourself with parts made by other manufacturers, or take it to a third-party repair shop to fix it—all without voiding your warranty. It is illegal for the manufacturer to not honor their warranty only because you took the item elsewhere first.
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That said, it’s best to proceed with extreme caution. Just because you can legally open up your Playstation 4 or what have you doesn’t necessarily mean you can do whatever you want in there. Always make sure you know all of the provisions of your device’s warranty before you do anything.
Poetry uses words to create vivid images in our minds and one that stands out as a favorite of ours is “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas. The ITS Dying Light Morale Patch is our tribute to Thomas and our homage of what his poem captures.
Featuring the ruler of the night (the moon) as our visual addition and two of our favorite lines from the poem, the ITS Dying Light Morale Patch measures 3.5″ wide x 1.5″ tall and features a hook backing.
Remember, old age should burn and rave at the close of day.
by Beth Skwarecki on Vitals, shared by Andy Orin to Lifehacker
Birth control pill packs typically include a week of placebo pills, without any hormones. If you skip those pills and start the next pack immediately, you can skip your period. Whether you want to do this is up to you—it may seem weird, but there’s no reason to believe it’s harmful.
As Fusion reports, some sources claim you should make sure you bleed every couple of months, but there’s no particular reason for that caution. Of course you should ask your doctor about any changes you’d like to make with your medication, but don’t await their reaction with suspense. Here’s the spoiler:
So I decided to ask some OBGYNs, and guess what? Every single one I spoke to said there’s no medically necessary reason to have a period if a woman is on hormonal birth control—but that many women simply don’t know that.
If you think about it, there are plenty of other hormonal birth control methods where you don’t get a break from the hormones. Those include implants, injections, and the hormonal types of IUD. Taking birth control pills (or using the hormone-releasing vaginal ring) the same way isn’t a problem—although you will go through more packs of pills or rings over time. If that’s fine with you, skip away.
by Claire Lower on Skillet, shared by Andy Orin to Lifehacker
If you are the type of person who blitzes through the sauce and cheese portion of a pizza to get to the crust, I have good news. Through the power of frying, you can finally make pizza crust the star it deserves to be, rather than an afterthought.
Just take your favorite pizza dough (Food52 has a great recipe in the link below), flatten into 1/4-inch-thick pieces, and dredge it through a mixture of flour, cornmeal, cayenne, and any other spices you desire. Fry in about an inch of 350-degree oil until puffy and golden, flip to get the other side, and set on paper towels to drain.
From there, you can dress ‘em up however you like. Sprinkle your golden, chewy pucks with fresh herbs and flaky salt, dip them in marinara, or spread on a healthy shmear of fresh ricotta. The options are almost endless.
We all have little indulgences we know we shouldn’t take part in. The concert we shouldn’t have spent money on, the ice cream that breaks our diet. It’s fine to want to break those habits, but if you’re indulging a little, don’t beat yourself up with guilt.
As personal finance writer Tawcan explains, indulging in a guilty pleasure isn’t the same as forming a bad habit. A guilty pleasure is temporarily breaking a good habit to give yourself a treat. A bad habit is when those treats are the norm, in place of a good habit. If you really are indulging a guilty pleasure, though, leave out the guilt. All you do is ruin the psychological benefit of indulging, by beating yourself up over it:
So when you’re eating that piece of delicious cheesecake with ice cream on the side and telling yourself that you’re having some guilty pleasure, you’re telling your subconscious mind that you’re eating guilt. Consciously you may feel good, but subconsciously you are making yourself feeling worse and worse.
Instead of spending a solid 2+ hours watching a movie in the theater, having a good time, and not being disturbed, you’re telling your subconscious that you’re watching guilt and you’re missing out on all the different tasks that you’re supposed to do. You feel guilty for spending money on the movie ticket and feel guilty for not managing your time efficiently.
This is a delicate line to walk, because justifying too many bad behaviors can turn into a bad habit real fast. However, if you’re making conscious decisions about how to spend your time or bend your rules, make those decisions with conviction. Don’t just buy indulge the impulse to buy a movie ticket and then feel bad that you spent the money the entire time you’re in the theater. Buy it, enjoy the film, and come back to your responsible life refreshed.
We've all heard stories of people who look at a website mockup and say something like "It needs more pop!" or "Make it sleeker," without being specific about what they're looking for. It can be a pain, but this tongue-firmly-in-cheek graphic translates those phrases to language you can actually use.
If you're a designer, or have worked on a redesign project as a developer, tester, or even project manager, you've probably heard the empty, "gut" feedback from the people in charge about how they want a design to make them feel as opposed to what it should look like. It can be frustrating to be sure, and you'll catch that in the graphic below, but it does actually offer some suggestions and guidance to help you build a design they may be looking for.
Monoprice is a great place for all kinds of stuff, from audio gear and headphones to ink and toner, and if you buy more than 50 of a specific item, you get a big discount for buying in bulk. Now Monoprice is offering that discount to everyone, whether you order one item or a hundred.
To get the discount, all you need is to enter coupon code EMP0823 at checkout. You'll get the 50+ price on all of the items in your cart, which can add up to pretty big savings depending on what it is you're ordering. Plus, you can use the coupon code as many times as you like between now and September 15th, 2013 (which is when the code expires).
Perhaps best of all, Monoprice started emailing and tweeting the code out to friends and family earlier this week, encouraging them to share it with others, so you don't have to worry about someone pulling the plug on the code because of overuse. If you need some suggestions for things to load up your cart with, we can help you out there, too. Did you know Monoprice even sells mechanical keyboards?
In the first movie, we see Cameron’s adolescent fantasies played out through his imaginary friend Ferris. In the second movie, Cameron is older and jaded and his new imaginary friend is a terrorist. In the third movie, Cameron is exposed to gamma radiation and periodically transforms into the “Other Guy” (who is, in fact, just the latest manifestation of his imaginary friend).
