pileofcrapola

The carmaker Subaru is having a great decade so far: their sales have doubled in the United States and they’re having trouble keeping up with the demand. While that’s great news for Subaru, an in-depth investigation from Reuters shows that Subaru and its suppliers have turned to some questionable but legal labor practices to keep the Foresters coming down the line.

You should check out the entire investigation from Reuters, which includes a diagram of which parts of a Forester come from which suppliers, and video interviews with workers.

1. Subaru’s sales have doubled in the United States since 2011: its Forester SUV crossover is especially popular here. Its marketing features loving families, cute dogs, and exceptionally long-lasting cars, all with the slightly baffling tagline, “Love. It’s what makes a Subaru a Subaru.”
2. Subaru’s manufacturing center is in the city of Ota, Japan, north of Tokyo. While some vehicles sold in the U.S. are assembled in a plant in Indiana, parts come from Subaru and its suppliers in Ota.
3. Subaru and its suppliers hire workers from the developing world, some of whom are in Japan to apply for asylum. Reuters talked to workers who came from 22 different countries in Asia and Africa.
4. Workers also come to Subaru’s suppliers through labor brokers, the same kind used in the clothing and textile industries, and up to a third of their pay goes to the brokers.
5. Some workers come to Subaru through traineeship programs, where the ostensible goal is for the trainee to learn skills and bring them back to their home country. The problem is that trainees can’t switch employers once they get to Japan, and the United Nations and U.S. State Department say that conditions for trainees can be like forced labor.
6. Chinese trainees whose pay stubs Reuters reviewed earned about half what a Japanese temp worker would have earned for the same job.
7. Japan is unique in that it has needs workers but also limits immigration, which is why Subaru apparently depends heavily on guest workers and trainees. Reuters estimates that 30% of the labor force in the plants in Ota are foreigners.
8. Factories that make parts for Subaru also make parts for other Japanese automakers, including Honda, Toyota, and Nissan.
9. Subaru makes about 80% of its cars in Japan, and its increase in sales coincided with a change to the law that lets foreigners seeking asylum work on renewable six-month permits.
10. Subaru says that its suppliers must obey the law in their hiring and treatment of their workers, and that the company isn’t equipped to check the labor practices of all of its suppliers.

Subaru’s secret: Marginalized foreign workers power a Japanese export boom [Reuters]

WTSP 10 News

Tiny baby squirrels found near the White House Washington Post National Park Service employees escorted some surprise visitors off White House property on Monday — five tiny, baby squirrels. Mary Ashley Laine, a veterinarian at City Wildlife — the organization that took in the creatures after the National Park ... Squirrels rescued from White House groundsWTOP Baby squirrels fall from nest on White House lawnWTSP 10 News Meet The White House's Newest Residents: Baby SquirrelsDCist.com all 5 news articles »

WASHINGTON — Firefighters last week rushed into a house up in flames, rescuing two dogs trapped inside, and it was all caught on a helmet camera.

The Fairfax County Fire Department released the video Sunday, showing the flames and smoke as dozens of firefighters battle the blaze on Carrleigh Parkway in Springfield, Virginia July 19.

No one was home at the time, except for three dogs. After a neighbor called 911, more than 60 firefighters ended up responding to the two-alarm blaze. During the 30 minutes it took firefighters to bring the fire under control, two of the three dogs were brought out of the home alive. Only one survived.

The fire department says the home was a total loss. The fire started on a porch in the back of the house.

The post A first-hand look inside a house fire (Video) appeared first on WTOP.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Fredericksburg is the ruler of the roost after a removal effort drove off a flock of pesky vultures.

Agents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services banged on trees with sticks, set off pyrotechnics and used other harassment and intimidation techniques to spur the birds to leave.

Police spokeswoman Sarah Kirkpatrick tells The Free Lance-Star (http://bit.ly/1MwdlK4 ) that the agents drove the birds away in about half the time expected.

Supervisory wildlife biologist Dage Blixt with the USDA has said about 60 vultures began roosting in a wooded area about 15 years ago.

As the flock grew, the vultures became a nuisance.

Gladys H. Oberle School maintenance worker Paul Jett says he has lost count of the number of holes he has patched in the school’s roof.

___

Information from: The Free Lance-Star, http://www.fredericksburg.com/

The post Fredericksburg rules the roost; pesky vultures driven away appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — An Inova Health Systems building in Falls Church has been exterminated for bedbugs, ABC7 reports.

An employee called the TV station to report an infestation at the building on Telestar Court, saying management hadn’t done anything about the problem.

An hour after the station called Inova on Monday, employees were sent home and exterminators brought in.

“We are aware that bedbugs have been found. The situation appears to be contained to the second floor, and we are currently assessing the situation to determine if there are any other locations,” Tracy Connell with Inova Health Systems told ABC 7.

Employees should be able to return to work Wednesday. No patients were affected.

The post Inova building exterminated after bedbugs found appeared first on WTOP.

“Happy Birthday” (aka “Happy Birthday To You”) may be sung millions of times a day at birthday bashes around the world, but putting it in a movie or recording a version of the brief ditty will set you back some money for royalties to Warner Music Group, which has long claimed to hold the copyright for the song. But a recently filed court document claims that there is conclusive proof that the song belongs in the public domain.

The makers of Happy Birthday, a movie about the classic song, have sued Warner/Chappell Music to get back the $1,500 they had to pay to use the song in the film. They are also hoping to represent a class of others who have paid what they contend is a bogus royalty on the “Happy Birthday” song.

In a recent filing [PDF] with the federal court hearing the case, the filmmakers claim they can show “conclusively that Happy Birthday has been in the public domain since no later than 1922.”

Warner/Chappell’s copyright claim is based on a 1935 version credited to writers Preston Ware Orem and Mrs. R.R. Forman, rather than Patty and Mildred Hill, the sisters who actually wrote it decades earlier.

But the filmmakers and others have argued that this copyright is only for a particular piano arrangement of the song, and that the new evidence shows the Hills’ version of the song had already been given over to the public domain by 1922.

According to the plaintiffs, they recently received 500 pages of documents from Warner/Chappell as part of the discovery process. Included in that cluster of documents was the 15th edition of The Everyday Song Book from 1927, which they claim is the “proverbial smoking-gun.”

Included in the songbook is “Good Morning and Birthday Song,” which uses Patty Hill’s words for “Happy Birthday” and the very similar “Good Morning” with sister Mildred Hill’s music.

And while there is a line of text below this song that reads “Special permission through courtesy of The Clayton F. Summy Co.,” there is no specific copyright claimed. However, the filmmakers note that every other individual song in the book has an explicit declaration of copyright.

They were able to obtain a revised Fourth Edition of the songbook from 1922, and again the song contains the permission notice but no copyright claim. This, argue the filmmakers, “is fully consistent with Plaintiffs’ position that the Happy Birthday lyrics had been dedicated to the public many years before then.”

As Ars Technica’s Joe Mullin points out, the lack of an explicit copyright notice in the 1922 songbook is “critical, because under the 1909 Copyright Act which was then in force, a published work had to include the word ‘Copyright,’ the abbreviation ‘Copr.,’ or the ‘©’ symbol, or ‘the published work was interjected irrevocably into the public domain.'”

Additionally, even if the court holds that the “permission” line constitutes a valid copyright in 1922, the laws in place at the time would have put the song into the public domain by 1949. And, even if that copyright had been renewed, it would ultimately have expired at the end of 1997.

The filing from the filmmakers came only days before a scheduled hearing on the copyright issue, so there may be an update coming later this week.

Following reports of Costco shoppers loading up entire trucks full of large boxes of cigarettes, presumably with the purpose of reselling them on the black market in other states, the wholesale club is now posting signs indicating that these customers will face much more scrutiny going forward.

In some parts of the country, buying cigarettes can be much more expensive because of state and local taxes on tobacco. For example, while Virginia has the cheapest cigarette tax in the U.S. at $.30/pack, nearby states tack on substantially larger taxes for tobacco.

According to Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Maryland charges $2/pack; D.C. is $2.50/pack; Delaware and Pennsylvania both charge $1.60. Go even farther up I-95 and you’ll pay $2.70/pack in New Jersey and then there’s New York’s nation’s-highest $4.35.

So if one can buy the cigarettes with both low taxes and in bulk, one could (but should not; please do not) try to cash in by illegally reselling them to smokers sick of paying those huge taxes.

And earlier this year, an investigation by NBC4 in D.C. found Costco customers buying truckloads of bulk smokes, spending upwards of $150,000 at a time. These big-time buyers were doing so under the names of multiple questionable businesses registered with state tax authorities.

One customer bought around $10 million in cigarettes over the course of six months. The addresses given for his four businesses registered with the state included a vacant lot and a private family home.

So now Costco has posted signs in Virginia stores reminding shoppers of its requirements for buying cigarettes in bulk, like presenting a valid photo ID, agreeing to have your vehicle’s license plate information recorded and verified, and the completion of IRS paperwork.

The hope is that this will cut down on the interstate smoke smuggling, though only time will tell if it pans out.

Costco Makes it Clear: Bulk Cigarette Buys to Be Scrutinized [NBC4; WARNING: Incredibly loud auto-play video]

Time keeps moving whether we like it or not, and it’s almost the end of July. The patriotic party decorations and inflatable pool rafts have all sold, the school supplies that took their place in stores’ “seasonal” sections are starting to move, and they need something to fill that empty space on the shelf. That’s why we have Halloween in July.

Bryan sent along this picture from his local Costco, which features kid-sized Halloween costumes. Now, to be fair, these costumes could be aimed at parents taking their small children to conventions and who need a kiddie Batman costume on short notice, but that is probably a very limited market.

Shockingly, this post is an exact tie with last year’s post announcing the arrival of Halloween costumes at Costco: that was on July 28, 2014. Hmm: maybe none of this is very shocking at all.

Karla visited At Home, which logically enough is a home-goods store, a while ago and spotted fall and Halloween décor. This was back during the first week of July. While those hay bales could be for people who like to plan their fall decorations or their haunted houses way in advance, is there any excuse for those pumpkins?

No.

WASHINGTON — When talking about something rare or unusual, people might say “once in blue moon.”  A walk in the moonlight Friday might inspire a person to appreciate the expression.

There’ll be a full moon Friday, the second one this month. Whenever there are two full moons in the same calendar month, which occurs about once every two and a half years, the second one is called a blue moon.”

But Friday’s blue moon won’t look the color. It will appear as it usually does — pale gray and white, like any other full moon.

That’s not to say that the moon can never look blue. Scientists say volcanic eruptions often kick up atmospheric dust that can make the moon look blue; the phenomenon can also happen following forest fires.

To welcome Friday’s rare event, rangers at Shenandoah National Park will lead a hike to the park’s highest peak, Hawksbill Mountain.

The two-mile hike, starting at 8 p.m. on Friday, is expected to last about two and a half hours. and will be lit only by the light of the blue moon.

The post Rare blue moon to make an appearance Friday appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — The National Aquarium has welcomed two new puffin chicks to its Sea Cliffs exhibit.

According to the aquarium, the new puffin chick — Penne — is the first to parents Virgo and Staypuft. Virgo and Staypuft welcomed their first puffin chick on July 6, the aquarium says.

Veteran puffin parents — Victor and Vixen — welcomed their fifth chick, Valjean, on July 11.

Penne and Valjean are the sixth and seventh puffin chicks to successfully hatch in the National Aquarium’s Sea Cliffs exhibit since 2006.

Atlantic puffins generally lay one egg and raise one chick a year.

The two young puffins were named by the aviculturists who work closely with the animals of the Sea Cliffs exhibit. They will remain in their burrows, which mimic the deep burrows that puffins typically use in the wild, for the next 40 or more days.

Then, the two new puffin chicks will begin to explore life outside the burrow by making short exploratory trips to the Aquarium’s puffin exhibit.

The post National Aquarium announces birth of two puffin chicks appeared first on WTOP.

BALTIMORE RAVENS (11-7)

OPEN CAMP: July 29, Owings Mills, Maryland.

LAST YEAR: Despite distraction created by arrest and subsequent suspension of Ray Rice for domestic violence, Ravens reached playoffs for sixth time in seven years under coach John Harbaugh. Justin Forsett stepped in for Rice and had career year with 1,266 yards rushing, and Joe Flacco set personal high with 3,986 yards passing. After winning at Pittsburgh in postseason opener, Baltimore traveled to New England and lost 35-31 to eventual Super Bowl champions.

IMPORTANT ADDITIONS: QB Matt Schaub; FS Kendrick Lewis; WR Breshad Perriman; offensive coordinator Marc Trestman.

IMPORTANT LOSSES: DT Haloti Ngata; WRs Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones; LB Pernell McPhee; TE Owen Daniels; C Gino Gradkowski; RB Bernard Pierce.

CAMP NEEDS: Replace Smith and Jones, who provided Flacco with deep threats he needed to make short passing game click. Ravens hope Perriman, team’s top draft pick, can help fill void. Harbaugh also needs to find tight ends to take over for Daniels and injured Dennis Pitta. Defensively, Baltimore will seek to fill out front line that’s sure to miss Ngata, and cornerbacks and safeties need to get on same page to avoid miscues that plagued unit in 2014.

EXPECTATIONS: Ravens intend to make playoffs again, and this time they’d like to do so as AFC North champions. For this to happen, Baltimore must adjust quickly to Trestman’s offensive scheme and get most out of Flacco and offensive line that is unchanged from a year ago. Ravens also expect rookies, most notably Perriman, TE Maxx Williams and DT Carl Davis, to contribute immediately.

___

AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL

The post Baltimore Ravens Capsule appeared first on WTOP.

WASHINGTON — It may be the dog days of summer, but there’s never a wrong time for Cashmere … at least not when it comes in the form of an adorable, playful pup.

Cashmere is an 11-week-old male hound/Lab mix puppy, currently residing at the Washington Animal Rescue League.  He’s almost too cute for words and has personality plus.

Now he just needs a home ready to shower him with affection, channel his puppy energy and teach him the canine manners necessary for a well-behaved adult dog — perhaps at WARL’s Puppy K class.

About WARL: Founded in 1914, the Washington Animal Rescue League is the oldest animal shelter in Washington D.C. Its mission includes rescuing, rehabilitating and finding homes for animals who have no where else to go. The League also supports animals through affordable veterinary care, community outreach and education. Learn more about the Washington Animal Rescue League at www.warl.org.

If you are thinking of adding a furry friend to your family, check out these other great shelters in the area:

Maryland

Humane Society of Charles County
(301) 645-8181
71 Industrial Park Dr. PO Box 1015 Waldorf, Md. 20604

Humane Society of Charles County offers a low cost spay/neuter program to the public. Please call or visit our website for more information. The shelter is also looking for more foster parents to help its animals.

Prince George’s County Humane Society
(301) 262-5625
P.O. Box 925 Bowie, Md. 20718
Prince George’s County Humane Society is also looking for foster parents. For more information, contact the organization.

PAW — Partnership for Animal Welfare
(301) 572-4729
P.O. Box 1074 Greenbelt, Md. 20768

Paws Animal Kingdom
(301) 920-2318
P.O. Box 11531 Takoma Park, Md. 20912

Montgomery County Humane Society
(240) 773-5960
14645 Rothgeb Dr. Rockville, Md. 20850

The Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County
(301) 740-2511
12 Park Ave. Gaithersburg, Md. 20877

D.C.

Washington Humane Society
(202) 576-6664
1201 New York Ave. NE 20002

ASAP — Alliance for Stray Animals and People
(202) 331-1330
P.O. Box 65438 Washington, D.C. 20035-5438

Metropolitan Guinea Pig Rescue
(202) 575-2210
Approved applicants may attend monthly adoption meets that are usually held at the house of a volunteer in either Northern Virginia or Southern Maryland.

Lucky Dog Animal Rescue
(202) 741-5428
Lucky Dog is a foster home organization and does not run a dedicated housing facility.

Northern Virginia

A Forever Home
(703) 961-8690
A Forever-Home is a nonprofit dog rescue group that operates in the Northern Virginia/Washington Metropolitan area.

Lab Rescue of L.R.C.P.
(301) 299-6756
Lab Rescue of the LRCP is a volunteer driven, nonprofit organization that rescues, fosters and places homeless, abused, and/or abandoned Labrador retrievers.

FOHA — Friends of Homeless Animals
(703) 385-0224
All visitors must speak to a Friends representative before receiving directions to their shelter location.

SPCA of Northern Virginia
P.O. Box 100220 Arlington, Va. 22210-3220
Animal Welfare League of Alexandria
(703) 746-4774
4101 Eisenhower Ave. Alexandria, Va. 22304

Animal Welfare League of Arlington
(703) 931-9241
2650 S. Arlington Mill Dr. Arlington, Va.

Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation
(703) 295-3647
P.O. Box 223953 Chantilly, Va. 20153

HART — Homeless Animal Rescue Team
(703) 691-HART
P.O. Box 7261 Fairfax Station, Va. 22039-7261

King Street Cats Rescue and Adoption
(703) 231-7199
25 Dove St. Alexandria, Va. 22314

The post Pet of the Week: Cashmere appeared first on WTOP.

MyFox Washington DC

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Divit is a guide dog, who has been trained to keep his owner safe and independent and to have impeccable manners in public. Yet Divit’s owner says that they were left at the curb on their way to a vet appointment, simply because the driver assigned to their ride didn’t want to have a dog in the car. Even a service dog, which in theory is allowed to go anywhere that its owner or trainer does.

Uber says that it makes allowances for drivers who have religious issues with certain animals, or allergies, but that drivers “are expected to comply fully with ADA requirements, and we provide our driver community with information on best practices for accommodating riders with disabilities.” Uber also told NBC News that the driver who refused to transport this passenger has had his account deactivated.

You could say that he was fired, but Uber isn’t an employer, it’s an app. The company maintains that it’s simply a service that brings together people who need rides and people willing to accept money for rides. That means they don’t have direct control over their drivers on the ground, who are not their employees.

The timing is bad for yet another Uber driver to be accused of refusing to transport a service dog. The company is facing a civil rights lawsuit by the National Federation of The Blind, where one passenger claims that their guide dog was forced to ride in the car’s trunk when a driver wouldn’t allow it in the backseat.

Uber Allegedly Turns Away Wisconsin Blind Man and His Service Dog [NBC]

More than a year after Chick fil-A began its transition away from drugged-up chickens, and months after McDonald’s announced its plans to eventually go the antibiotic-free route, Wendy’s — the one major burger chain with ads that tout its better, more natural ingredients — is finally dipping its toes into the no-antibiotics pool.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Wendy’s will begin the test this week of antibiotic-free chicken products in a few locations in Orlando; Gainesville, FL; Kansas City, MO; and Austin.

The company says the test is being done in response to rising customer demand for meat sourced from animals not raised on steady diets of low-dose antibiotics.

To run through it one more time. Many farmers feed their chickens, pigs, and cows continual, sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics, primarily because it encourages tissue growth. Unfortunately, this overuse of antibiotics has the unintended result of creating new, drug-resistant “super bugs” that require stronger antibiotics to fight.

Antibiotics sold for use on farm animals account for around 80% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. In late 2013, the FDA asked drug makers to stop selling the drugs that were solely for growth-promotion, but since most livestock antibiotics were approved for both therapeutic and growth-promotion purposes, this really only required farmers to change the reason they purchased the drugs, not the amount they used.

Under increased pressure from doctors, scientists, public health advocates, and a growing number of consumers, several large companies are making the switch to drug-free, especially for chickens.

Both Perdue and Tyson have made commitments to drastically reducing the drugs given to their birds, while restaurant chains like Chipotle, Panera, Chick fil-A, McDonald’s (and hopefully Wendy’s) have helped nudge demand. A coalition of 50 different groups recently petitioned Subway in the hope of getting the company to source antibiotic-free meat.

A Wendy’s exec tells the Journal that the company’s decision to expand the test will depend on customers’ response.

A real estate developer has filed building plans for an 11,000-square foot grocery pickup facility in Sunnyvale, CA, but won’t say who their client is. Sunnyvale is the Silicon Valley town where Yahoo is based, but word in the local real estate community is that their new grocer isn’t a local startup: it’s Amazon.

Amazon has, after all, been experimenting with both parts of this idea: they’ve been delivering groceries to customers’ doorsteps, but struggling with the “fresh” part of the Amazon Fresh brand. The company is also experimenting with using the U.S. Postal Service for early morning grocery deliveries.

They’ve also opened one store on a college campus where students, faculty, and staff can pick up their orders. Combining these ideas solves the problem of delivering perishable food, and also means that live customers will be sitting in front of kiosks providing feedback on the experience.

If this business model sounds familiar, it should: Walmart has set up a very similar drive-thru store near its headquarters in Arkansas. Customers place their orders, announce their location on a kiosk, and wait for an employee to bring out their grocery order. If this facility in Sunnyvale isn’t run by Amazon, it’s possible that it could be a Walmart joint. The green color scheme in the preliminary sketches is only preliminary, but matches both Amazon Fresh and Walmart drive-thru store branding.

Is Amazon going to open a grocery drive-thru? [Retail Wire]

Just a week after Google said it would ship its Google+ Photo platform into the ether, the company announced more plans to distance its social network venture from its other products by ditching a requirement that tied user activities to their public profiles.

Google announced today that it will begin removing the connection between users’ Google+ profiles and other platforms like YouTube, where some people may prefer to remain anonymous.

“People have told us that accessing all of their Google stuff with one account makes life a whole lot easier,” Bradley Horowitz, vice president of streams, photos and sharing at Google wrote in a blog post. “But we’ve also heard that it doesn’t make sense for your Google+ profile to be your identity in all the other Google products you use.”

So, starting today with YouTube and rolling out to other products over the next several months, Google will allow people to use their unsearchable standard Google account to comment or post content.

Under the previous requirement to use a searchable public Google+ account, individuals comments, posts and other actions were plastered on their profile for all to see.

For now, the folks at YouTube say in a blog post that the disconnect between Google+ and the platform only applies to posting comments. However, in the next several weeks, it plans to rollout changes in which a Google+ profile is no longer needed to upload or create a channel.

The company also says it will make it easier for people who currently have a Google+ account but don’t want to actually use it, to manage and remove the public profile.

Everything in its right place [Google]

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating a disruption – that included a visit from the local bomb squad – at Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport Sunday night after authorities say a man boarded a flight without a ticket.

The Dallas Morning News reports airport authorities are investigating how the 26-year-old man was able to make it through a security checkpoint and onto a flight without being noticed.

The man allegedly drove his car to the airport, and left it parked at the terminal curb before heading inside. Once in the airport, he made his way through the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint and to an airport gate without a ticket.

Authorities were alerted to the unticketed passenger via a courtesy call from an airline agent. He was then arrested for criminal trespassing by officers of the airport’s Department of Public Safety, the Dallas Morning News reports.

As for the man’s car, according to CBS DFW, a bomb squad was called in to inspect the vehicle. Traffic in the area was diverted for a short period before it was determined the car posed no threat.

So far, the airport says in a statement that the only flight affected by the incident was the one the man boarded. A full report from the airport and local law enforcement – including which airline was involved – is expected to be released this afternoon.

TSA is investigating how a man boarded a plane at D/FW Airport Sunday without a ticket [Dallas Morning News]
Bomb Squad Called For Suspicious Vehicle At DFW Airport [CBS DFW]

It’s a bad news Monday for up to 950 million — yes, that’s almost 1 billion — Android device owners worldwide. A vulnerability that would let a hacker take over your phone remotely has been announced, and it’s a doozy.

The damage travels by text, Forbes reports, and takes advantage of a weakness in a piece of code called Stagefright.

Stagefright is a tool Android uses to play back media — any text you get that’s an MMS (as opposed to an SMS) is played back to you using Stagefright. Any app that can read your text messages sits on top of that code, from Google Hangouts to your pre-installed default “Messaging” program.

Joshua Drake, the security researcher who discovered the flaw, told Forbes that the only thing a hacker would need to send out exploitations would be phone numbers. Attackers could then send messages to those numbers with bad code packaged in that would allow them to access the receiving device and steal data.

The level of access attackers would gain would allow access to files stored on SD cards as well as on the phone memory. Attackers could also turn your phone into a bug, remotely recording audio and video without your knowledge. Bluetooth access is also hackable via Stagefright. All versions of Android from 2.2 and up are considered vulnerable.

If that sounds terrifying, well, it kind of is. And then it gets worse. The exploit isn’t like a virus-laden e-mail attachment; you don’t actually have to try to view the media in order to be affected. Merely looking at the message in some apps is enough.

And then there are the apps where you don’t even have to open the message: for folks who use Google Hangouts to read their texts, Hangouts would open and access the exploit code “immediately before you even look at your phone… before you even get the notification,” Drake told Forbes, adding that it’s possible then to delete the message before the user even receives an alert, making the attack completely silent.

The good news is, after Drake reported his findings, Google has verified and corrected seven security holes. But here’s the bad news: Google doesn’t update Android phones directly. Service providers do. So Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, and other, smaller carriers all have to push patches to their own Android customers… and they are not known for doing so quickly.

Drake will be speaking about his process for discovering vulnerabilities in Android at the Black Hat InfoSec conference in Las Vegas next week.

Stagefright: It Only Takes One Text To Hack 950 Million Android Phones [Forbes]

Just in case you thought it might be some kind of fluke that Walgreens had their Halloween candy out on July 21, we assure you that Walgreens isn’t alone in this sort of wacky midsummer merchandising. Nope: John sent along this photo taken in a Giant Eagle store of a display of seasonally-themed M&Ms and Snickers bars.

The date this was taken: July 23. We know that you have to fill those seasonal sections up however you can, retailers, but can’t we at least have summer until the end of July?

We’ve already seen pumpkin spice food items creeping into stores as early as mid-July. How can we convince retailers to respect the sanctity of seasons?

For the second time this year, federal regulators have handed down a record-setting fine to an automaker for failing to properly report and investigate possible defects. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration levied a $105 million fine against Fiat Chrysler, following months of investigations into the car maker’s leisurely pace in fixing more than 11 million vehicles connected to 23 safety recalls.

The $105 million civil penalty surpasses the previous record-making $70 million fine regulators imposed on Honda earlier this year for failing to report faulty airbags, the New York Times reports.

“This civil penalty puts manufacturers on notice that the department will act when they do not take their obligations to repair safety defects seriously,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Sunday.

The $105 million penalty includes a $70 million cash penalty, $20 million to be spent on meeting performance requirements, and a $15 million penalty to be assessed if an independent monitor discovers the company has other violations of safety laws.

As part of the agreement, Fiat Chrysler admitted to violating federal rules requiring timely recalls and notifications to vehicle owners, dealers and regulators.

“We also accept the resulting consequences with renewed resolve to improve our handling of recalls and re-establish the trust our customers place in us,” the company said in a statement.

Under the consent order, the company must allow outside oversight of its safety practices. General Motors recently agreed to similar conditions following an investigation into its long-delayed ignition switch defect.

Additionally, the company must buy back nearly 500,000 vehicles with defective suspensions that can cause drivers to lose control.

The NYT reports that owners of more than one million Jeeps with rear-mounted gas tanks that are prone to fires will be given an opportunity to trade in their vehicles at rates above market value. It was this 2013 recall that spurred NHTSA’s review of the company’s many recalls.

The agency and Chrysler have been involved in a bit of back-and-forth with regard to the Jeep vehicles with rear-mounted fuel tanks that sit too low and put the vehicle at risk of catching fire if involved in a rear-end collision.

For nearly three years, Chrysler has maintained that the millions of Jeeps do not have a safety defect. However, safety documents show that the issue has resulted in nearly 75 deaths.

During the summer of 2013, the car manufacturer and NHTSA agreed to a remedy for the issue that involved equipping vehicles with a trailer hitch that could reduce the risk of fires. Since then regulators have shared this displeasure with Chrysler’s slow pace at providing fixes for owners.

NHTSA chief Mark Rosekind said the hefty fine was a direct result of Fiat Chrysler’s prolonged failure to adequately identify and address recalls.

“Fiat Chrysler’s pattern of poor performance put millions of its customers, and the driving public, at risk,” he said.

The fine comes less than a month after regulators held an unusual public hearing to discuss the company’s process for investigating and fixing recalls. During the hearing, NHTSA officials  agreed that the company failed its duties related to the recalls.

Fiat Chrysler Faces Record $105 Million Fine for Safety Issues [The New York Times]

WASHINGTON — The City of Manassas is set to rein in panhandling especially at intersections that are deemed dangerous.

Potomac Local reports that the Manassas City Council is expected to vote Monday, July 27 to restrict 16 intersections in the city so people will no longer be able to stand on the median at the intersections and beg for money.

The 16 intersections have been ranked the most dangerous when it comes to crashes, injuries and property damage.

• Liberia Avenue at Centreville Road
• Liberia Avenue at Euclid Avenue
• Liberia Avenue at Signal Hill Road
• Liberia Avenue at Prince William Parkway/Wellington Road

  

• Liberia Avenue at Mathis Avenue
• Liberia Avenue at Richmond Avenue
• Prince William Street at Grant Avenue
• Church Street at Grant Avenue
• Nokesville Road at Godwin Drive
• Mathis Avenue at Sudley Road
• Sudley Road at Digges Road
• Sudley Road at Plantation Lane
• Centreville Road at Breeden Avenue
• Ashton Avenue at Cockrell Road
• Ashton Avenue at Godwin Drive
• Centreville Road at Kincheloe Drive

Manassas City is following other regions which are cracking down on panhandling.  Last year, Prince William County re-classified panhandling as “aggressive and dangerous solicitation,” making it a more serious offense and increasing the fines and penalties.

The post Manassas City panhandlers: Not on this corner appeared first on WTOP.

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Because no one likes having heavy fabric clinging to sweaty, suffocating legs when it’s hot outside, many people turn to a clothing innovation known as “shorts” to give those limbs some breathing room when the weather is hot. But over in China, Lee jeans has decided to push another option — denim infused with crushed jade stones, a method that theoretically keeps wearers cooler.

The Jade Fusion line launched in Hong Kong in May and is now spreading to the rest of China, reports Bloomberg, where customers may have a hard time getting their hands on a pair, as they’ve sold out in the first seven weeks.

Here’s how it works: The jade fabric pulls sweat away from the body, where it quickly dries, creating a cooling sensation, Stephen Dull, vice president of strategy and innovation for VF Corp, the parent company of Lee, explained to Bloomberg. Or as the brand calls it, “denim refreshment.”

“It’s not magic,” Dull said. “But it takes away of a lot of the smelly, icky, sweaty, sticky feeling you get when you wear denim in the heat.”

This is part of Lee’s efforts to get people out of their soft and stretchy yoga pants and other leisure wear that’s become popular and back into jeans, even when it’s a bajillion degrees outside and the last thing you might want is heavy fabric smothering your legs into a sweaty denim hell.

For now the Jade jeans are only going to be sold in China, Lee says. But who knows, the gemstone jean craze could eventually make its way to America. Not everyone likes wearing shorts no matter how hot it is, after all. Especially when the bright glow of pale legs finally seeing the light of day after a long winter in the dark is not something every person is uncomfortable inflicting on the world.

Forget Shorts, Jeans Made With Jade Help Chinese Beat the Heat [Bloomberg]

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.

WASHINGTON — Millions have seen the video from Texas where driver Sandra Bland is pulled over by a trooper and refuses to leave her vehicle before the two become entangled in a physical confrontation.

It has led to a nationwide question about the constitutional rights of drivers during a traffic stop.

“The officer does not have the right to order you to do certain things, like stop smoking,” says Georgetown University law professor Paul Rothstein.

In the Texas dashcam video, Bland is told to put out her cigarette.

According to Rothstein, officers can only command drivers to do such a thing if their actions are interfering with the officer’s questions. For instance, a driver can be forced to stop talking on a cellphone.

Police officers cannot search a driver’s trunk or his personal belongings without probable cause, but they do have the right to order a driver to leave his vehicle.

“It’s a question of officer safety because if you are still sitting in the car, you might reach for a weapon or something like that,” Rothstein says.

But even if an officer is clearly doing something unconstitutional, some experts advise drivers to listen to the command and do what they are told.

“My suggestion would be to comply on the street, contest in the court. You can always hash that out in front of a judge,” says former Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey.

The post Pulled over: What are your rights? appeared first on WTOP.

If you’re a food company and there’s a Facebook group where more than 16,000 people ask you to bring back a discontinued product, you should probably pay attention. Betty Crocker’s rainbow chip frosting disappeared from stores last year, and we heard from heartbroken and chip-less readers. Now the frosting is back on store shelves, and they have been vindicated.

Rainbow chips vs. rainbow sprinkles might seem like a minor distinction, but the flavor and texture is very different, and the chips version looks much cooler.

“General Mills/Betty Crocker have discontinued Rainbow Chip Frosting and are trying to substitute some Rainbow Sprinkle inferior frosting to consumers,” Kristi wrote to us back in February of 2014, with sprinkle scorn leaking out between her words.

“Even if you don’t bake, I bet if you ask anyone you know –– what is their favorite store bought, canned icing/frosting for cakes? –– the rainbow chip icing would be in the top two,” Beth wrote to us last fall.

Activism from these readers and from many, many other fans of the product finally paid off: it’s back in stores. Technically, its return was announced back in May, but it’s finally appearing in stores. The company even honored the creator of the biggest Change.org petition about the frosting with a do-over of his birthday party because he had to suffer without Rainbow Chip frosting. We are not making any of this up.

In what’s sure to be a fascinating case study for marketing students someday, members are showing their status as frosting-owners and showing their support by…posting selfies where they hold frosting cans, or just pictures of the cans as evidence.

Congratulations, Rainbow Chip fans. Enjoy your colorful treats, and savor your victory.

Bring Back Rainbow Chip Frosting [Facebook]

Prince William County community calendar, July 23-29, 2015 Washington Post “Visual Expressions” exhibit Paintings by members of the Visual Expressions Arts and Craft Group at the Four Seasons Active Adult Community in Dumfries. Through July 31. Manassas City Hall, The Hall, 9027 Center St., Manassas. 703-257-8200. Free.

USA TODAY

'We are shocked by these failures.' Pentagon cites ineffective testing in ... Washington Post A Defense Department review of how an Army laboratory in Utah distributed scores of live anthrax samples to facilities across the United States and overseas found that ineffective irradiation and testing procedures have been used there for a decade ... Pentagon: Poor testing led to Army shipping live anthraxUSA TODAY Pentagon probe of anthrax samples sent to labs in US and abroad finds faulty ...Reuters Pentagon: No "root cause" of live anthrax shipmentsWJXT Jacksonville Yahoo News all 22 news articles »

15 things to do in the DC area on the weekend of July 24-26 Washington Post (blog) The weekend's best bets in nightlife, festivals, music, sports and many other events around the Washington area. British singer Sam Smith has his voice back and sounds good as new. He'll be crooning at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Friday night. (Photo ...