If you’re going to serve fish with the skin, you want it to be crisp, not unappetizing and soggy. Your first instinct may be to reach for a non-stick skillet, but that won’t get you the best result.
Spiders have plenty of benefits, but that doesn’t mean they’re always welcome guests in your home. Here are some easy ways to keep your home from being a spider’s paradise without the need for an exterminator.
Fall Jubilee Details, Election Day Info, Most Expensive Homes in Manassas: Top ... Patch.com Some of the top posts at Manassas Patch, including a man fleeing a hit-and-run wreck with a toddler in the car. Plus, how to post at Patch. Manassas, VA. By Greg Hambrick (Patch Staff) October 21, 2015. ShareTweetGoogle PlusRedditEmailComments0.
Prince William County community calendar, Oct. 22-28, 2015 Washington Post Old Town Manassas walking tour Costumed interpreters share stories about the city during and after the Civil War. Thursday-Friday, noon, Manassas Museum, 9101 Prince William St., Manassas. 703-368-1873. www.manassasmuseum.org. $5.
DC Animal Watch Washington Post These cases were handled by the Washington Humane Society, which operates its shelter at 7319 Georgia Ave. NW, and the District's, at 1201 New York Ave. NE. For information or assistance, call 202-723-5730 or go to www.washhumane.org. Bird rescued: ...
This week’s Arlington Pet of the Week is Irene, a native of South Africa. Irene came to Crystal City after being adopted by a Peace Corps volunteer.
Irene and her owner are very close, and Irene follows her everywhere. Here’s what Irene’s owner had to say about their bond:
Irene and I had an interesting start to our relationship. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa in from 2006 – 2008. One night I returned to my host family’s home after dark, and when I got to my door step, Irene stepped out of the shadows and started walking towards me. I immediately thought she was a rat (which were prolific in my village) and almost stomped on her screaming my head off. I stopped mid scream and realized that she was an adorable tiny puppy! I laughed in relief I didn’t stomp the precious puppy to death! At the time she was all skin and bones and teeny tiny. I picked her up and said “You just won the puppy lottery” and since that moment we were inseparable; she went everywhere with me.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Of the eight finalists in the American Humane Association’s 2015 American Hero Dog contest, Harley is the oldest, smallest and most unlikely of winners.
After 10 years of abuse in a Midwestern puppy mill, Harley has a diseased heart, rotted mouth, fused spine, broken tail, gnarled toes, deformed legs and a missing eye. But the 6-pound Chihuahua was named top dog at a sold-out Los Angeles awards ceremony. More than a million public votes were cast and an expert panel weighed in on Harley’s honor. The show will be broadcast nationally on the Hallmark Channel on Oct. 30.
Here’s a look at all eight dogs, including two military service dogs, three German shepherds and four rescues, that competed for America’s most heroic canine.
___
HARLEY, AMERICAN HERO DOG
Harley is 14, owned by Rudi Taylor of Bethoud, Colorado. Together they’ve raised a half-million dollars through “Harley to the Rescue” to care for over 500 puppy mill dogs. Harley and Taylor have spread their message against commercial breeders to thousands of people.
“Harley is a hero mostly because he gives hope to hundreds of thousands of dogs still living in puppy mills. He inspires so many people. It could be his imperfect look that lets people relate to him. I think he touches their hearts.” — Taylor.
___
DAX, LAW ENFORCEMENT HERO DOG
Dax, an 8-year-old German shepherd, works with his owner Chris Alberini on the K-9 team for the Ashland Police Department.
In 2013, Alberini believes Dax saved his life and the lives of fellow officers as they chased a gunman. “I wouldn’t be standing here talking today if it weren’t for him.” — Alberini.
___
GLORY, ARSON HERO DOG
Glory, a 3-year-old yellow Labrador, is a K-9 dog owned by Keith Lynn. Both work for the Beloit Fire Department in Wisconsin. Glory is trained to detect ignitable liquid but also identifies firefighters who are having a bad day and spends time with them.
“My dog’s a hero because she touches people, she’s very calm and docile, just a ham. She loves everybody.” — Lynn.
___
AXEL, SERVICE HERO DOG
Axel, a 4-year-old German shepherd, lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with retired Marine Capt. Jason Haag. Haag was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury after returning from two tours in the Middle East.
“He saved my life, he saved my family. My wife said I had one more shot and if it didn’t work, she was going to take the kids and leave. He helped with panic attacks, flashbacks and nightmares.” — Haag.
___
HUDSON, THERAPY HERO DOG
Hudson, a 3-year-old blue nose pit bull, was found when he was 3 weeks old nailed by his paws to railroad tracks in Albany, New York. One paw had been cut off. He was adopted by Richard Nash and his family, in Castleton, New York, and trained as a therapy dog to visit schools, hospitals, adult day care and hospice centers.
“Hudson is a hero for the joy he brings to others. He has taught us to overcome and persevere. He taught us the value of human nature and love and kindness, no matter what problems we have in life.” — Nash.
___
MILITARY HERO DOG
Sgt. Rambo is 7, a German shepherd medically retired from the Marine Corps after serving as an explosives detection dog at the Marine base in Cherry Point, North Carolina. He was never deployed but had a front leg amputated. Lisa Phillips adopted him in 2012 and he became Alamo Honor Flight’s mascot, accompanying World War II veterans to Washington, D.C., and serving as ambassador for K-9 Members of the Armed Forces.
“He’s really able to shine the light on our vets, both two- and four-legged. You can see the devotion these dogs give. They are drafted in every sense of the term. All they do is work for human troops for love and affection.” — Phillips.
___
GUIDE/HEARING HERO DOG
Chara is an 8-year-old Norwegian alfhound who lives with handler Kristina Church-DiCiccio in Waynesboro, Virginia. In 2008, Church-DiCiccio developed a neurological condition. She and Chara worked out a way for her to recognize attacks. Two weeks after Church-DiCiccio’s son was born, Chara used her alerting skill to let her know her boy had stopped breathing.
“I literally put my life in my dog’s hands. She’s gone beyond her training as a service signal dog. She’s come up with a miraculous sixth sense to help me out and she saved my son’s life. She is my heart and soul.” — Church-DiCiccio.
___
SEARCH AND RESCUE HERO DOG
Glory is an 8-year-old bloodhound gumshoe specializing in lost pets, living with handler Landa Coldiron in Sun Valley, California. Trained to track lost pets, she has helped close hundreds of cases.
“Glory helps bring closure for so many people with a lost pet.” — Coldiron.
___
Watch: Hallmark Channel Oct. 30, 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. Central. Hallmark Channel is part of Crown Media Holdings Inc.
The Chantilly, Virginia store will anchor a new shopping center on the north side of Westfields Boulevard at Newbrook Drive.
The Wegmans will be the fourth one for Fairfax County. A smaller store is planned for the Tysons Corner area.
The shopping center will include another 46,000 square feet in restaurants and shops spread across five buildings, Fairfax County says.
Property owner Regency Center will complete Newbrook Drive on the north side of Westfields Boulevard. The drive, which now makes a half a loop around the future shopping center, will circle back to a new intersection farther north on Westfields.
Improvements will be made to the intersections to accommodate traffic coming into the center.
And, a 10-foot, asphalt bike and walking trail will be built along Westfields. It will run around the while center.
The county initially approved the building of offices, a hotel and retail on the site nine years ago.
In June, Wegmans opened a 126,000-square-foot store at Hilltop Village Center, a shopping and office near Fort Belvoir in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County.
Wegmans also has a store on Monument Drive in Fairfax.
CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. (AP) — A Virginia school district that suspended students for wearing clothing emblazoned with the Confederate battle flag to school is moving toward a broader policy on the divisive symbol.
The Montgomery County School Board voted 6-0 Tuesday night to have a policy drafted that would ban all clothing, emblems, decals or jewelry with the Confederate flag from all school property in the county.
The Roanoke Times (http://bit.ly/1QRTm7T) reports that board member Penny Franklin said the board’s aim is to create a safe environment conducive to learning.
Last month, about two dozen Christiansburg High School students were suspended for violating the school’s dress code after they rallied in support of the Confederate flag, with some students draping the flag over their shoulders.
The school’s dress code has banned Confederate symbols since 2002.
WASHINGTON — Salem, Massachusetts may be known as the Halloween capital of the country, but a small Southern town is giving it a run for its money.
Every year in October, residents of Clifton, Virginia retreat to the woods at the edge of town and wait patiently for more than 2,000 visitors to walk the park’s dark trail at nightfall. That’s because shortly after the sun goes down, the woods come to life with ghosts, ghouls and yes, clowns.
“We have chainsaws and monsters jumping out of the darkness … We had a scene where a group of people were sitting around and feasting on someone’s head. And then we have all the usuals: We have the zombies and the vampires and the witches,” says Ester Pline, a Clifton resident.
The Clifton Haunted Trail has been a town tradition since 2001, and over the years it’s grown from a small path lit by flashlights, to a production that involves 15 generators, more than 200 volunteers, 24 skits and months of advanced planning and preparation.
“My whole house gets taken over by really creepy things leading up to the trail,” says Pline, who is the trail’s coordinator of creative activities. This year, she is spearheading two skits for the trail: one centered on the Salem witch trials and another involving velociraptors.
“If the scenes aren’t scary enough, then we have this extra thing jumping out to get people,” she says.
However, it’s not usually the case that the trail’s scenarios aren’t “scary enough.” Those involved see to it through elaborate costumes, props and sounds that they terrify all who walk past.
“People in our community take great pride in their skits that they bring to the trail, so they’re very proud if they’re able to really scare somebody,” Pline adds.
It takes about 35 minutes to walk the half-mile haunted trail, which is lit only by a few tiki torches. When visitors approach the trail, they are first greeted by an organist playing sinister tunes. But Pline says they don’t leave the trail on such a kitschy note.
“We save our chainsaws for the end,” she says.
Trail-goers can also expect to see a sighting or two of the town’s own legend: The Bunny Man.
It’s not just the Haunted Trail that’s put Clifton on the map for haunted happenings. Eric Hencken, who also volunteers on the trail, says last year a neighbor counted nearly 800 trick-or-treaters at his home on Halloween night.
“People will donate candy to the town so the people of the town don’t have to shell out 800 pieces of candy,” Hencken says. “The entire town really goes crazy for Halloween.”
The Clifton Haunted Trail will take place on Saturday, Oct. 24 from 7 to 10 p.m. Tickets are available on the event’s website and at the door ($15 for adults, $10 for kids 12 and under).
Prefer to let your friends go in alone while you wait in safety? Outside the trail, the town sets up bales of hay and plays Halloween movies on a big screen; vendors sell baked goods, pizza and barbecue.
Hencken says the trail is truly scary, so he likes to leave it up to each parent’s discretion as far as who should attend (he gives it a PG-13 rating).
But Pline says adults should definitely give it a try — even those who scare easily.
“Those are the ones we like,” she says, with a twinkle in her eye.
Pizza delivery is a tricky business. You have to get a pizza from the restaurant to the car, let it sit in the car for a while, then get it from the car to the customer, all without tilting the box so the cheese slides off. Delivery drivers normally use their own cars for this… but what if there were a purpose-built car designed to keep food warm and advertise Domino’s in traffic?
The process began three years ago, when Domino’s ran a design contest looking for the “ultimate delivery vehicle.” 100 of the vehicles will roll out in test cities over the next few months.
The current version is called the DXP, or “delivery expert,” and is based on the gasoline-powered version of the Chevrolet Spark. It has warming ovens where the backseat and trunk normally would be. Yep: exterior, lockable warming ovens.
In some cities, local Chevrolet dealers might team up with the local Domino’s franchise to promote the new vehicles. Chevy dealers will be in charge of servicing the new vehicles, including the warming ovens and other accessories.
The vehicle isn’t meant for passenger use at all. It’s sort of like a tiny cargo van. It has only a driver’s seat, and can hold a total of 80 pizzas if the need ever arises to deliver that many pizzas.
Will the DXL roll out across the delivery fleet, or just exist as an awesome concept in only a few franchises? It will be interesting to see. Keep an eye out for Pizzamobiles.
Domino’s DXP [Official Site] (Warning: plays music)
Two Cars Stolen, $3000 in Tools Stolen From Another Vehicle and More Manassas ... Patch.com On Oct. 16, 2015, Manassas City Police met with a resident at a storage facility located at 9140 Mathis Ave for a report of a larceny. The reporting party told officers that sometime between Oct. 6 and Oct. 15, someone broke into the unit where she ...
If you were hoping to exchange your lightly used clothing for Target gift cards though the retailer’s partnership with online consignment store ThredUP, then you’re out of luck: turns out, the test ended weeks ago.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that while ThredUP continued to showcase its partnership with Target on its website, the pilot program between the companies is no more.
On Tuesday, ThredUP updated its website to reflect that the pilot test that involved 11 Target stores in Minneapolis has come to an end.
“The Clean Out with ThredUP + Target program has concluded, but you can still order a Clean Out Kit here,” the site states.
A spokesperson for Target confirmed that the pilot test concluded at the end of September, despite a flurry of news and social media reports about the program.
Customers who still have a ThredUP/Target “clean out bag” have until the end of November to send in their clothes to get a gift card to the retailer.
The spokesperson did not elaborate on whether or not the pilot would resume or expand the program in the future.
The program applied to consumers’ unwanted, or unneeded “high-quality children’s and women’s clothing, handbags and shoes.”
Like ThredUP’s normal service, customers fill a clean out bag with their times and either ship it the consignment store or dropped them off at a participating Target.
Once the items arrive at the ThredUP facility, they are sorted to determine what if any fit the site’s clothing needs.
“We do not guarantee any minimum payout,” ThredUP’s website states. “Just like any high-end consignment store, our professional buyers carefully evaluate each item and determine its quality and our ability to resell it.”
Items deemed to be suitable for the consignment store were to be awarded Target gift cards. Pieces listed on ThredUP for under $60 would be paid for upfront.
Clothing and accessories that are unusable will be “recycled responsibly.” Consumers can always ask for their clothing and accessories back, ThredUP says.
This year, college students’ use of Amazon Prime reached critical enough mass to create mail center traffic jams. It’s not just young adults, though: apartment-dwellers are having so many packages delivered that current systems for managing resident mail aren’t working, and landlords are looking for other ways to manage the influx from online shopping.
One large company with 169 complexes across the country, Camden Property Trust, has a pretty simple solution: its building staff no longer accept packages on behalf of residents. At all. The 59,000 households living in their apartments receive about a million packages pr year, and when finding the tenant it belongs to takes maybe ten minutes per day, that’s a lot of lost staff time.
Worse, one Camden complex’s community manager explained to the Wall Street Journal how stressful life with piles of packages was last year: residents wanted their packages, and would poke at the office even before opening hours or when they were about to shut down for the night.
What the WSJ didn’t add when sharing the news about Camden Property Trust was how customers are now supposed to manage their deliveries now. Perhaps they’re just stacking recent arrivals near the mailboxes, or following the example of some complexes that simply give tenants access to a package room or communal package lockers secured with a code.
The fanciest buildings have concierge staff who take care of these things, but the increasing volume of packages has changed how they work, too. They get residents’ blanket permission to drop off packages instead of calling them every time a package arrives. Ideally, apartment complex staff would have nothing to do with package delivery at all.
Ah, fall: the time of year when you need neither the air conditioning nor the heat on in your car, but just need to roll the window down a few inches to feel that lovely autumn breeze. Unless you are one of the 6.5 million people in the world who own certain model Toyota and Scion cars, in which case rolling down that window might just smell like your driver’s side door catching fire.
Toyota announced the recall of 6.5 million vehicles worldwide, 2 million of which are in the United States, due to an issue with the power window master switch, on the driver’s side of the car. The switch needs grease, in order to minimize friction and work properly, and it turns out those switches don’t have enough lubricant on them. That can cause a short circuit, which can then cause the system to overheat, melt, and possibly catch fire.
The full list of affected vehicles includes:
2007 and 2009 Camry and Camry Hybrid
2009-2011 Corolla
2008-2011 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid
2009-2011 Matrix
2006-2011 RAV4
2009-2011 Sequoia
2009-2011 Tundra
2006-2011 Yaris
2009-2011 Scion xB
2009-2011 Scion xD
This is Toyota’s second recall related to the window switch issue; the automaker previously recalled several 2007-2009 vehicles for the same problem. The parts all came from Japanese manufacturer Tokai Rika.
Toyota owners who want to know if their cars are included in this or any other recall can check their VIN on Toyota’s site or safercar.gov.
With nearly 11 million people working in the restaurant industry in the United States, the field has become one of the most populated in the workforce. But a new report finds that while there’s a plethora of positions in the restaurant business, there’s a stark difference between livable-wage and poverty-wage positions and it tends to further segregate employees by gender and race.
The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United released a report [PDF] Tuesday exploring the wide-ranging economic positions of service industry workers and calling for an end for what it calls racial and gender occupational segregation.
“While Jim Crow regulated the enforced separation between white and African American patrons in restaurants,” the report states, “today we largely find that restaurant workers are effectively segregated by race and gender by a partition between livable-wage server and bartender positions and poverty wage busser, runner, and kitchen positions.”
The report, which focuses on a wide range of California restaurants and was compiled using government data, employer interviews and expert interviews, highlight the precarious situation many workers find themselves in financially.
While we suggest you take a look at the findings for yourself, here are our top eight takeaways from ROC United’s report.
1. Restaurant workers occupy seven of the 10 lowest-paid occupations reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to the report.
Employees filling these low-wage positions – including bussers, dishwashers and kitchen staff – experience poverty at nearly three times the rate of workers overall. Additionally, workers of color experience poverty at nearly twice the rate of white restaurant workers.
2. Through its analysis, ROC United found that white males were given the opportunity to work in the highest paying, most exclusive bartender and server positions in fine-dining restaurants.
Women were found to have been steered more toward lower paying positions in casual full-service restaurants, while Latinos and African Americans were more often employed as lower paid bussers, food runners, or kitchen staff in full service and fast food restaurants.
3. When examining restaurant wages by gender and race, ROC United found that women of color – who are often excluded from participating in the most lucrative segments of the industry – earned 71% of what white men earned.
In fact, women of color earned $10.13/hour on average, compared to $11.30/hour for white women, $11.63/hour for men of color, and $14.18/hour for white men.
4. While all workers of color were found to experience segregation in the California dining industry, Latino employees had the highest levels of directly observed occupational segregation with a substantial under-representation in the higher-paying server and bartender positions, the report states.
Conversely, the report found that African Americans, while largely absent from full service restaurant positions, were overrepresented in limited-service fast food occupations.
5. In the restaurants observed in Oakland, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Los Angeles, ROC United determined a majority had white serving and bartending staff, and an overwhelmingly majority Latino kitchen staff.
Despite this, many restaurant owners expressed that they were “diverse” or even “very diverse” in their staffing.
6. Based on interviews with employees, ROC United found that while in some cases employers knowingly discriminated against minorities, it was often structural barriers that kept workers of color from obtaining livable-wage fine-dining service positions.
Things like lack of training, social networks, transportation, childcare, and interactions with the criminal justice system often proved to be barriers that resulted in employers lacking pools of candidates of color for hiring in these often better paid positions.
Additionally, worker and employer interviews conducted by ROC United found that self-selection bias existed: workers of color were less likely to apply for top-tier positions in fine-dining establishments, either because “management and/or clientele behavior makes them uncomfortable, or because they feel they lack the education or skills to succeed in those positions.”
7. The report also found the that racial and gender segregation in the industry was perpetrated in part because of customers.
While many restaurant owners declined to discuss customer bias, some noted that their customers preferred to be served by workers of their own race, while others “just want good service.”
In one particular interview a restaurant owner described customers’ treatment of minority employees: “we do get a sector of the population, we do get a lot of business people, and then we get a lot of entitled people. There is a way in which they talk to the staff which is very inappropriate or is not respectful.”
8. ROC United’s report also brings up questions regarding the industry’s long-held tipping standard and how it is often another avenue of segregation.
In past research, customers have been found to discriminate based on race and gender, leaving greater tips for women who have blond hair or that are rated as physically attractive.
“The tipping system itself, in particular when tips are the primary source of an individual’s income, appears to promote sexual harassment not only in interactions between customers and tipped workers, but in social interactions throughout the restaurant,” the report states.
DALLAS (AP) — A 14-year-old Muslim boy who was arrested after a homemade clock he brought to school was mistaken for a possible bomb will be moving with his family to the Middle East so he can attend school there, his family said Tuesday.
Ahmed Mohamed’s family released a statement saying they had accepted a foundation’s offer to pay for his high school and college in Doha, Qatar. He recently visited the country as part of a whirlwind month that included a Monday stop at the White House and an appearance Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol.
“We are going to move to a place where my kids can study and learn, and all of them being accepted by that country,” Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told The Dallas Morning News before boarding an airplane from Washington back home to Texas on Tuesday.
The statement said the family has been “overwhelmed by the many offers of support” since Ahmed’s arrest on Sept. 14 at his school in Irving, a Dallas suburb. The family said it accepted an offer from the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development to join its Young Innovators Program.
Ahmed, who along with his family will relocate to Qatar, received a full scholarship for his secondary and undergraduate education. Ahmed said he was impressed with the program and thinks he’ll “learn a lot and have fun, too.”
Ahmed took a homemade clock to his high school to show a teacher, but another teacher thought it could be a bomb. The school contacted police, who handcuffed the boy and took him to a detention center. The school suspended him for three days.
A police photo of the device shows a carrying case containing a circuit board and power supply wired to a digital display. Police ultimately chose not to charge Ahmed with having a hoax bomb, and the police chief has said there was no evidence the teen meant to cause alarm. His parents later withdrew him from the school.
But in recent weeks, the teenager has been traveling the world. Ahmed earlier this week told The Associated Press that he had visited Google and Facebook, along with other companies and institutions. He also visited with the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, which has prompted some criticism because al-Bashir is wanted by International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes for atrocities linked to the Darfur fighting. Ahmed’s father is a Sudanese immigrant to the U.S. and a former presidential candidate in Sudan who ran opposing al-Bashir.
Before attending “Astronomy Night” at the White House on Monday, where he chatted briefly with President Barack Obama, Ahmed said he was grateful. He said the lesson of his experience is: “Don’t judge a person by the way they look. Always judge them by their heart.”
On Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol, Ahmed stood alongside California Rep. Mike Honda as the Democrat praised the teen, saying Ahmed had used his negative experience to raise awareness about racial and ethnic profiling. Honda and more than two dozen other congressmen sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch last month calling on the Department of Justice to investigate Ahmed’s detention and arrest.
___
This story has been corrected to show that Ahmed went to high school in Irving and to correct a word in the father’s quote from ‘plan’ to ‘place.’
A few weeks ago, a news story circulated about a cute and successful Kickstarter funding campaign. The story behind the product was simple: a woman who likes to cook eggs traveled through Asia, where adorable food molds are popular. She came home and designed a cat-shaped mold for cooking fried eggs, and the Internet threw money at her: more than $72,000 as of this writing. The end? No, not quite.
Apparently, the kitty egg mold’s time has come. Sometimes different people have the same idea at the same time. In the mid-19th century, two men working separately, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace came up with the theory of evolution. Last century, different teams of researchers all produced polio vaccines around the same time. And in the summer of 2015, at least three different people designed silicone food molds shaped like cats.
Those aren’t equally important accomplishments, but what they have in common is that the world was ready for them. Apparently, it’s the same with cat egg molds. This first came to our attention with the Kickstarter campaign from Egg Addiction.
The idea struck a chord with bloggers and writers all over, since it combined food, cats, and the opportunity to use the word “PURRRR-fect” in a headline. Apparently, though, none of those bloggers apparently bothered to type the words “cat egg mold” into their search engine of choice. That’s because similar products were already on the market in the United States, something that the articles failed to mention.
This is where things get complicated: people accused the campaign’s creator of simply buying egg molds on wholesale site Alibaba and passing them off as her own creation. Not so, the creator says: these sellers are stealing her photos and pretending to sell her design.
However, the Egg Addiction version isn’t the only yolk-eyed kitty on the market. You can find similar items at Sur La Table and Amazon, from popular novelty-item companies Gamago and Fred [Flare] & Friends.
Yet creator Cindy Ho, selling the egg molds under her blog brand of Egg Addiction, says that the different entities all seemed to come up with the same idea around the same time.
“While traveling throughout Asia, I was inspired by the food culture in Taiwan and Japan,” she told Consumerist. “I noticed that fun shaped animal goods get people really excited and happy.” She says that she brought the idea home with her and began creating prototypes, without any idea that other companies were developing their own kitteggs.
The designs differ enough that you probably have an aesthetic preference, and maybe there’s enough room in the marketplace for three cat-shaped egg molds. It’s just a matter of how much you want to spend, and whether you want to wait until February.
What we can’t tell you is which version came first. Kickstarter doesn’t perform that function, either. David Gallagher of Kickstarter couldn’t comment on any user’s specific campaign, of course, but explained that the company does suspend campaigns when someone files a claim under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
“Our rules include a list of things we don’t allow, which includes reselling things that were not produced or designed by the project creator,” he told Consumerist. “When creators are making physical products, we encourage them to share documentation of the development process and explain how they arrived at the current design.” They also must have a working prototype, as the creators of the Skarp laser razor learned last week after raising $4 million in pledges.
The important thing to remember here is that crowdfunding sites aren’t stores. They’re catalogs of cool things that don’t exist yet, and sometimes those projects fail. Research any new and exciting product that you see, including reading comments on the campaign page.
Check out the creators beyond simply clicking the links that they provide on their Kickstarter profile. Check whether something identical or similar is already on the market. If there isn’t already something similar on the market, ask yourself why: is it because the product is technically impossible, or because it’s an amazing original idea?
What passes for a costume for one person might just be considered a normal outfit for others, but at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA, there’s no gray area when it comes to men wearing traditional Scottish garb: a park guest said he was denied entry because he had a kilt on.
That goes against Busch Garden’s anti-costume policy, the park said, especially during its Howl-O-Scream Halloween event.
But the Norfolk, VA man says he wasn’t trying to dress up as anything other than who he is. He’s of Irish, Scottish and English descent, and six years ago, he started wearing a kilt about every other day to do things like go grocery shopping and other mundane, everyday tasks, to show his pride.
“I’ve been a customer for decades and a regular pass holder, and this has left a terrible stain on the honor of my culture as well as my ethnic pride,” he wrote on his Facebook post along with a video of his outfit.
Busch Gardens’ official costume policy says the park doesn’t allow costumes any time of the year to “ensure the safety of guests and team members,” but especially not during Howl-O-Scream.
“The park does not wish to alienate anyone who wears traditional clothing representing their culture or heritage,” Busch Gardens said in a statement. “However, if the clothing could confuse guests into thinking the wearer is part of the official Howl-O-Scream experience then we will not allow it in the park.”
Sonic CEO Cliff Hudson told CNBC’s Squawk Box on Tuesday (warning: link has video that autoplays) that the company isn’t sweating the Golden Arches’ new menu additions.
“They are doing breakfast all-day, but we’ve been doing all menu all-day forever, so this was not a big deal to us,” he said.
Hudson says, so far, the company has worked “pretty good” against McDonald’s and that all-day breakfast shouldn’t really change things.
“I think the customer, when they’re offered choices, and they’re offered made-to-order food, as they are in our case, in a variety of items that can work for them across day parts, then they’re happy to engage you, and we’ve got good traffic, good sales, good profit at our average store,” he said.
Hudson isn’t the first fast food rival to brush off McDonald’s entry into all-day breakfast: earlier this month, Dunkin’ Donuts executives said they weren’t worried about the Golden Arches and that the donut shop had plenty of weapons at its disposal.
“I think competition exists every single day of the year in our industry,” Chris Fuqua, vice-president of Dunkin’ Donuts brand marketing and global consumer insights and product innovation, said at the time. “Breakfast is the biggest part of Q.S.R. that’s growing. When one of the biggest players out there gets into breakfast all-day, obviously we pay attention.”
It’s already illegal to live in a home you don’t own, but police in San Francisco say one squatter upped the criminal ante by stealing and selling more than $300,000 worth of paintings from a mansion that’s on the market.
Police say that most of the paintings stolen were quickly recovered, reports the San Francisco Chronicle, after officers responded to reports of a suspicious person at a multimillion dollar home for sale.
It’s believed that the man had been living there for at least two months, but it’s unclear how he was able to set up residence in what police describe as a mansion in the first place.
He allegedly told police he was in the midst of buying the home, and even produced fake documents to back up his claims, a police department spokesman said. Whether it’s the suspect’s first time allegedly squatting and stealing or just another in a string of such crimes is also unclear at this point.
“For a person to generate legal documents, you’ve got to be a little more sophisticated than your average squatter,” the spokesman said.
While Amazon continues to deflect criticism of its workplace culture, the retailer announced plans to nearly double its workforce this holiday season: adding 100,000 temporary workers to its roster.
The new short-term employees will join about 90,000 current workers (human and robot) at the company’s 70 warehouses and shipping hubs around the country, CNBC reports.
The seasonal hirings represent a 25% increase from last year when the company hired about 80,000 short-term workers.
Amazon executives say the temporary positions are in addition to the recently added 25,000 jobs the company filled in recent months.
While the holiday season is still a few months away, many national retailers are bulking up their seasonal employee roster to ensure customers find what they need and orders are filled without issue.
MLive reported last week that seasonal hiring has already kicked off for retailers across the country and many are seeking more help than last year: Target expects to hire 70,000 additional workers, while Macy’s set the bar at 85,000 and Kohl’s plans to add about 79,160 people.
As for the shipping gang, MLive reports that FedEx plans to hire 55,000 drivers and sorters, while UPS will add 95,000 short-term employees.
WASHINGTON — In the past 50 years, sushi has grown from an exotic delicacy to a staple in the American diet.
In the ‘60s, it was only accessible to in-the-know diners in Los Angeles. Now, sushi is available everywhere — from the grab-and-go section of the grocery store, to the country’s best restaurants. And the sushi craze is not slowing down; the $2 billion industry is expected to grow in the next five years.
But just because Americans are eating more sushi, doesn’t mean they’re eating it correctly.
In fact, sushi expert Aung Myint says we’re doing it all wrong — and he has a few tips for the next time you order a few rolls.
Keep the wasabi and the soy sauce separate
If your first move is to stab a chopstick in a pile of green wasabi, plop the spicy condiment into your soy sauce and stir the two together, it might be time to alter your etiquette.
Myint, of I-Thai in Georgetown, says this American custom is considered poor manners — not to mention it overpowers the flavor of the sushi.
Instead, the wasabi should be added separately from the soy sauce. A dab on top is all you need.
“When you dunk [a roll into soy sauce] with the wasabi separately, it actually tastes better,” Myint says.
In Japan, the question of where to put the wasabi is never an issue, Myint says, because it’s already incorporated in the roll or spread between the rice and the fish in nigiri.
The wasabi should be added separately from the soy sauce. A dab on top is all you need. (WTOP/Rachel Nania)
Eat with your fingers
Good news for those lacking chopstick skills: Eating sushi rolls with your fingers is totally acceptable.
Myint says the three-finger rule (thumb, pointer and middle) is the best way to eat neatly cut sushi rolls. (Save the chopsticks for the packed specialty rolls that might be harder to grab without making a mess.)
Then, dip the rolls — don’t dunk them — into the soy sauce and place them directly in your mouth. There’s no need to shake the soy-covered sushi over the dish if you go for a neat dip in the first place.
However, the three-finger rule does not apply to sashimi. The slices of raw fish should be eaten with chopsticks.
Good news for those lacking chopstick skills: Eating sushi rolls with your fingers is totally acceptable. Here, Aung Myint demonstrates the three-finger rule. (WTOP/Rachel Nania)
The purpose of the ginger
The thin slices of ginger are not meant to adorn the top of your sushi rolls. The role of ginger is “palate cleanser” on the sushi plate.
“If you’re going to have a variety of fish, after a while they all taste the same because we’re dunking with soy sauce,” Myint says. “So if you’re skipping from a salmon to a tuna, get a piece of ginger to clean your palate and then taste the next fish.”
Think of ginger as sushi’s sorbet equivalent: It’s there to help the diner distinguish the different flavors between each course.
Myint says ginger can also be used as a vehicle to deliver soy sauce to your sushi rolls. Using your chopsticks, dip a slice of ginger into the soy sauce, and then brush the ginger on top of your sushi roll.
This is the best approach for the messy sushi rolls that leave a lot of reside in the soy sauce dish.
Ginger can also be used as a vehicle to deliver soy sauce to your sushi rolls. Using chopsticks, dip a slice of ginger into the soy sauce, and then using the ginger, brush the soy onto your sushi roll. (WTOP/Rachel Nania)
Let’s talk nigiri
Whatever you do, Myint says don’t soak the rice side of your nigiri in soy sauce.
“That is the big no-no,” he warns.
Using your fingers or chopsticks, turn the nigiri to the side and dip the fish into the soy. Then, eat the nigiri fish-side first, for maximum flavor.
Using your gingers or chopsticks, turn the nigiri to the side and dip the fish into the soy. Then, eat the nigiri fish-side first, for maximum flavor. (WTOP/Rachel Nania)
WASHINGTON — Ed Walker wasn’t ready to hit the “off” button.
The 83-year-old Radio Hall of Fame host — who dominated Washington’s airwaves in the 1960s as one half of “The Joy Boys,” with Willard Scott — has recorded his final episode of The Big Broadcast, after recently being diagnosed with cancer.
“The last show was a real tearjerker for me,” Walker told WTOP’s Bruce Alan, who had co-hosted a WWRC talk show with Walker from 1987 to 1990. “It wasn’t easy.”
Walker invited Alan to visit and conduct an informal interview last Friday, after making his cancer diagnosis public.
Walker has been the host of WAMU’s longest-running program since 1990, which features vintage radio programs including “Gunsmoke,” “Our Miss Brooks,” and “Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.”
He confided he wasn’t ready to hang up the headphones.
“I’m sorry it had to end like this, but you never have any control over that,” Walker says. “It was a very unhappy moment.”
Born blind, Walker says radio has been his companion since he was a boy. “It was everything to me, not being able to see…it took the place of comic books and newspapers.”
Growing up, “I wanted to be in broadcasting, but I never thought it would come to pass.”
In 1951, Walker met Willard Scott, when both were students at American University.
“He changed my life the day I met him,” Scott told WTOP’s Dick Uliano. “He’s the best friend I’ve had in my life.”
Willard Scott, on retirement of former 'Joy Boys' partner Ed Walker, with WTOP's Dick Uliano
From 1955 to 1972 Walker and Scott were nightly co-hosts of “The Joy Boys,” on WRC Radio, owned by NBC.
At the height of their popularity, the Washington Post said Scott and Walker “dominated Washington, providing entertainment, companionship, and community to a city on the verge of powerful change.”
“We never worked a day in our life,” recalls Scott. “We loved what we did and we loved each other — we never had a fight in our lives.”
“The Joy Boys” show was a raucous, largely improvised comedy show.
“An hour before the show, we would go in the office and have a sandwich and a cup of coffee, and write down some ideas,” says Scott.
Scott says Walker coordinated closely with the show’s audio engineer, cued the comedy bits, and created the live sound effects for the show.
“Eddie ran the show,” Scott says. “I was his sidekick.”
Engineer Mike Berry says while doing comic bits Walker was a master at getting the best sound out of the studio microphone.
“Sometimes it was desirable to make it seem like the voiced person was moving in and out of the studio — Eddie had a small door that he could slam for a sound effect,” says Berry. “It was amazing to watch Eddie work the microphone while doing this.
At the time, Berry says microphones were susceptible to loud noises. “He moved back before doing anything loud, he could simulate distance in two ways, by moving away from the microphone or moving off of its primary axis.”
“The Joy Boys” left the air in October 1974. Walker’s career includes stints at WWDC-AM, WMAL, and WOL.
Longtime fan Bob Bybee, who started a tribute website in 2001, says visitors continue to recount the happiness the show brought.
“They stayed on the air for 20 years, and for good reason,” says Bybee.
“It was good, clean, enjoyable entertainment,” says Bybee. Listeners could tell that the “boys” really had fun doing their show, and that fun came across the airwaves.
After NBC sold WRC, Greater Media changed added a W, and WWRC became a nostalgic music format.
In 1987, WWRC went back to talk — Walker was hired as its first morning host, by program director Ken Mellgren.
“Without exception, Ed Walker is the most talented radio and TV personality I have known,” Mellgren tells WTOP.
Mellgren teamed Walker with Bruce Alan, who at the time was a traffic reporter.
Alan had moved from New York to D.C. after “The Joy Boys” left the air, but he obviously had heard of Walker’s talents.
“He was quick, and funny, and great,” Alan says. “We laughed at the same dumb jokes, and made the same dumb jokes.”
“We did have fun, and that was the secret of what I liked about radio,” says Walker. “It’s ceasing to be fun now, I think.”
In the mid-80s, Walker and Alan’s morning show was competing against raunchier hosts including Doug “Greaseman” Tracht, and Howard Stern in syndication.
“We did stuff that was wacky, never in bad taste,” says Walker, before a comic pause. “I think.”
Walker recorded his final show last week, which will air Sunday evening, Oct. 25, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
“I made the choice I thought was best by stepping aside from The Big Broadcast, and letting somebody younger do it,” says Walker. “The person who takes over probably will have as much love for it as I did, and I hope they do.”
“They probably will,” Alan told Walker, “but the show won’t be the same without you.”
Walker’s Big Broadcast engineer for 24 years, Tobey Schreiner, will miss the conversations he had with Walker while driving him to the studio for their weekly tapings.
“The time spent on those rides, talking about radio, past and present, as well as what was happening in our lives personally, are moments I will treasure for a lifetime,” says Schreiner.
Schreiner says countless visitors to the station approached Walker to say they were lifelong fans.
“He always took the time to shake hands and chat with them in the hall for as long as they liked,” says Schreiner.
Willard Scott says Walker “taught me the meaning of the word ‘humility,’ in the truest sense of the word.”
“He went out like a prince,” says Scott. “It’s the real Ed Walker — heart, soul, and everything.”
Now, for the first time in 60 years, Walker will no longer have a regular audience to entertain and communicate with.
“The memories keep rushing back,” says Walker, wistfully. “I’ll remember them as long as I live.”
Target knows you’ve probably got a bunch of old clothes you don’t wear but which are otherwise fine. It also wants you to spend money at Target buying new clothes (and groceries, and anything else). So now it’s willing to trade you some gift cards for your dust-gathering outfits.
At least, that’s the idea behind the retailer’s newly launched partnership with online consignment shop, ThredUP.
According to ThredUP, the new program applies to consumers’ unwanted, or unneeded “high-quality children’s and women’s clothing, handbags and shoes.”
The items can then be dropped off at select Target locations in Minnesota and FedEx stores. Alternatively, the “Clean Out Bag” can be shipped – at ThredUP’s expense – directly from your mail carrier.
Once the items arrive at the ThredUP facility, they are sorted to determine what if any fit the site’s clothing needs.
“We do not guarantee any minimum payout,” ThredUP’s website states. “Just like any high-end consignment store, our professional buyers carefully evaluate each item and determine its quality and our ability to resell it.”
Items deemed to be suitable for the consignment store will be awarded Target gift cards. Pieces listed on ThredUP for under $60 will be paid for upfront.
“This means you’ll receive a payout as soon as these items are processed,” the company says. “Items that are listed for more than $60 are paid for on consignment. You’ll be paid for these items once they sell.”
The program works similarly for Target customers: once items are processed ThredUP will send an email with gift card information. If times are listed as consignment, the gift card will not be issued until the item is sold.
Clothing and accessories that are unusable will be “recycled responsibly.” Consumers can always ask for their clothing and accessories back, ThredUP says.
While detergent pods still have some safety issues and still sort of look a little bit like candy, here’s one inspiring piece of news about them. A few weeks ago, we wrote about Costco’s Kirkland Signature pods shrinking, losing 10 pods from a 130-pod package. Costco contacted us to point out that our reader actually got this backwards: they had recently made the packages bigger, not smaller.
The different quantities came in the same size jar, meaning that only sharp-eyed consumers would notice the change in the first place. A Costco representative contacted us to clarify. The jars had 120 packets from February to July of 2015, and then they increased the count to 130. While they did raise the price slightly, from $16.99 to $17.99 for the jar, each pod now costs 2.3% less than before.
You never know what you’re going to get when you’re on public transit — there could be a guy clipping his toenails, a bunch of kids dancing and flipping around on subway poles, mariachi bands, snakes… Yes, snakes: a Philadelphia bus had to be evacuated over the weekend after four-foot snake decided he’d rather slither around instead of staying wrapped around his owner’s neck.
It doesn’t have the same ring to it as “snakes on a plane,” but you can’t win’em all: passengers were a bit freaked out to hear that a pet reptile had gotten loose on a SEPTA bus, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer, prompting an emergency evacuation.
The snake’s owner said he’d had the red-tailed boa constrictor — named Redz — draped around his neck and tucked under his jacket, ostensibly to keep other people from running away from him immediately. Somewhere along the bus’ route, he realized Redz had gone missing. He’d curled up in a compartment under a seat, and seemed perfectly ready to stay there.
“People were freaking out a little,” the snake’s owner said.
The bus driver pulled over to allow passengers to flee, and a SEPTA mechanic was able to dismantle the seat so transit police officers could remove the snake.
“There was surely some excitement and some alarm among some folks upon seeing the snake and it getting away from the owner,” a transit authority spokesman said.
SEPTA policy allows passengers to bring service animals or small, contained on buses or trains, something the snake’s owner said he wasn’t aware of. Transit police haven’t decided whether or not any charges will be filed.
While it might be super convenient to have everything in your home connected to the Internet, that interconnectivity can also give attackers a chance to sneak in through seemingly innocent devices. Take the humble tea kettle: a security researcher in England has been hacking into smart kettles across the country and gaining access to private WiFi networks.
The iKettle can be turned on using a smartphone app, so a thirsty person won’t have to get up and start the water boiling to get a nice cuppa. Ken Munro, a researcher with Pen Test Partners, said he’s been able to tap WiFi passwords “easily” from the kettle.
“If you haven’t configured the kettle, it’s trivially easy for hackers to find your house and take over your kettle,” Munro told The Register. “Attackers will need to setup a malicious network with the same SSID but with a stronger signal that the iKettle connects to before sending a disassociation packet that will cause the device to drop its wireless link.”
That means he can sit outside someone’s house with a directional antenna pointed at it, boot the kettle of its access point and connect it to him instead. Once that’s done, he can get it to cough up wireless passwords in plain text.
Some Android app users are more easily hacked since passwords remain on default unless they’re changed — which is a good reminder to always change your password whenever you buy a new smart appliance or other product that connects to the Internet.
Pizza delivery is a tricky business. You have to get a pizza from the restaurant to the car, let it sit in the car for a while, then get it from the car to the customer, all without tilting the box so the cheese slides off. Delivery drivers normally use their own cars for this… but what if there were a purpose-built car designed to keep food warm and advertise Domino’s in traffic?
This year, college students’ use of Amazon Prime reached critical enough mass to create mail center traffic jams. It’s not just young adults, though: apartment-dwellers are having so many packages delivered that current systems for managing resident mail aren’t working, and landlords are looking for other ways to manage the influx from online shopping.
A few weeks ago, a news story circulated about a cute and successful Kickstarter funding campaign. The story behind the product was simple: a woman who likes to cook eggs traveled through Asia, where adorable food molds are popular. She came home and designed a cat-shaped mold for cooking fried eggs, and the Internet threw money at her: more than $72,000 as of this writing. The end? No, not quite.
What passes for a costume for one person might just be considered a normal outfit for others, but at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA, there’s no gray area when it comes to men wearing traditional Scottish garb: a park guest said he was denied entry because he had a kilt on.
It’s already illegal to live in a home you don’t own, but police in San Francisco say one squatter upped the criminal ante by stealing and selling more than $300,000 worth of paintings from a mansion that’s on the market.
You never know what you’re going to get when you’re on public transit — there could be a guy clipping his toenails, a bunch of kids dancing and flipping around on subway poles, mariachi bands, snakes… Yes, snakes: a Philadelphia bus had to be evacuated over the weekend after four-foot snake decided he’d rather slither around instead of staying wrapped around his owner’s neck.
While it might be super convenient to have everything in your home connected to the Internet, that interconnectivity can also give attackers a chance to sneak in through seemingly innocent devices. Take the humble tea kettle: a security researcher in England has been hacking into smart kettles across the country and gaining access to private WiFi networks.
